From The New World: DvoŘák’s 9th

Joshua Weilerstein, conductor
Jeff Thayer, violin

KLEIN: Partita for Strings
BARTÓK: Violin Concerto No. 1
DVOŘÁK: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, “From the New World”

Joshua Weilerstein leads an East European journey of remembrance and rediscovery. The program opens with Gideon Klein’s Partita for strings, adapted from the young Czech Jewish composer’s 1944 String Trio, written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp shortly before his death at age 25. Its Moravian folk song variations – tender, haunting, and defiant – are both a farewell and an elegy of hope.

Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1, never heard in his lifetime, was written in 1907 as a love offering to violinist Stefi Geyer. Its two movements chart the arc of passion – from glowing lyricism to dazzling virtuosity – with music that reveals the composer’s heart at its most vulnerable. San Diego Symphony concertmaster Jeff Thayer performs as soloist.

The concert closes with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World”, one of the world’s most beloved symphonies. Written during the composer’s American sojourn, it fuses Czech lyricism with the rhythms and spiritual depth of Black American music shared with him by composer Harry T. Burleigh. For some, it embodies the American experience; for others, it expresses the longing of exile. Whatever one’s perspective, its timeless melodies remind us that great music speaks across cultures – connecting memory, identity, and the universal human spirit.