Los Angeles favorite Thomas Wilkins returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall for a holiday inflected program. In 1960, Duke Ellington merged the Tchaikovsky ballet with his own aesthetic, transforming the Sugar Plum Fairy into Sugar Rum Cherry and “The Dance of the Reed-Pipes” into “Toot Toot Tootsie Toot” creating an instant American classic with his spin on the Russian chestnut. But Tchaikovsky gets his full due with his enchanting First Symphony, which the composer lovingly called “a sin of my sweet youth.” From its chilly opening along a winter journey and through misty landscapes, the composer eventually arrives in a spring filled with the blooms of flowers and young love.
In between Carlos Simon’s Four Black American Dances takes off on a wildly clever and musically rich ride through African American history that The Washington Post described as “a testament to his talent as one of the most dynamic composers going.”