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8.559955 Release date: 11 Apr 2025
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Composer Michael Daugherty , violin soloist Anne Akiko Meyers , and conductor David Alan Miller after a performance of Blue Electra with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, Troy, New York, 24 April 2023 © Chris Shields
Michael DAUGHERTY (b. 1954) Blue Electra * Last Dance at the Surf
Click to listen to Blue Electra for Violin and Orchestra: I. Courage LISTEN
To the New World ** Anne Akiko Meyers, Violin * Elissa Johnston, Soprano obbligato **
Albany Symphony David Alan Miller
About David Alan Miller, Conductor GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller has established a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. Music director of the Albany Symphony since 1992, Miller has proven himself a creative and compelling orchestra builder and masterful interpreter of American contemporary music. Through commissioning and recording new works for orchestra alongside innovative educational and community outreach initiatives, he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony ’s reputation as one of the nation’s leading champions of American symphonic music and one of its most cutting-edge orchestras.
This recording showcases three new evocative works by GRAMMY Award-winning American composer Michael Daugherty, exploring the triumphs and tragedies of flight. Blue Electra is a dramatic violin concerto inspired by the sensational life and mysterious disappearance of aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart in 1937. Last Dance at the Surf is a one-movement dance symphony for orchestra that reflects upon rock ’n roll legend Buddy Holly’s final performance in 1959 at the Surf Ballroom in Iowa and his tragic death in a plane crash just hours after his show. To the New World for orchestra celebrates the triumphant Apollo 11 moon mission in 1969 and Neil Armstrong’s historic moonwalk. Under the baton of GRAMMY Award-winning conductor David Alan Miller, the Albany Symphony is joined by GRAMMY Award-winning violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, who performs Blue Electra with electrifying musicality and emotion. Each new release of Michael Daugherty ’s music is eagerly anticipated, and this stunning recording joins acclaimed titles such as the ‘high-octane road trip’ ( Gramophone ) of Route 66 (8.559613), the GRAMMY Award-winning Metropolis Symphony (8.559635), described as ‘an iconic example of the Andy Warhol school of modern American composition, in which pop-inspired material rubs shoulders with classical forms… terrifically entertaining’ by ClassicsToday.com , and Mount Rushmore (8.559749) with American Record Guide remarking that ‘Daugherty becomes more impressive with every release. Don’t miss this’. • Key features: • Anne Akiko Meyers is one of today’s leading violinists and a muse of distinguished composers, conductors, orchestras and presenters both in America and beyond. She has commissioned, premiered and recorded violin works that have been performed around the world, including Michael Daugherty’s Blue Electra which premiered in 2022. In 2024 she received a GRAMMY Award nomination for her live recording with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Albany Symphony
Companion titles – Michael Daugherty, Composer
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