Gulf Coast Chamber Orchestra is bringing a delightful evening of classical works to Fort Myers on March 25. The program features Valerie Coleman Seven O’Clock Shout, Price Ethiopia’s Shadow in America and Dvorak Symphony No. 7 in D minor, Op. 70. The performance will be at the Music & Arts Community Center at 13411 Shire Lane, Fort Myers.

Valerie Coleman’s Seven O’Clock Shout was commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2020 and written to honor frontline workers in the COVID-19 pandemic. This lively work, which treats us to a huge variety of sound colors. Coleman comments, “To me, Seven O’Clock Shout is a declaration of our survival. It is something that allows us our agency to take back the kindness that is in our hearts and the emotions that cause us such turmoil. . . We cheer on the essential workers with a primal and fierce urgency to let them know that we stand with them and each other.”

Price wrote Ethiopia’s Shadow in America before 1933; its score was lost for several decades and recovered in 2009. There is no record of a performance earlier than one given by the University of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra in January 2015. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic delaying performances of her music around the world, she has rapidly become one of the most widely programmed American composers of her generation. Given a vast catalog, boundless creativity, and an engrossing life story, it’s easy to understand why.

The Symphony No.7 by Antonín Dvorak is a work of unprecedented expressive power. It was composed at the height of his powers, and its composition was marked by a number of unusual features. The symphony’s three movements are performed without a break, and the overall form of the piece reflects its programmatic content: it begins with a long, solemn introduction that depicts the “dark forest” mentioned in the composer’s program note; this is followed by a lively scherzo which represents the two main characters’ escape from their pursuers; finally comes a lyrical slow movement (the third movement) depicting the prospects for happiness that await them.

Source: Gulf Coast Chamber Orchestra