THOMAS DAUSGAARD AND THE SEATTLE SYMPHONY RELEASE GEORGE WALKER’S REVELATORY SINFONIA NO. 5, “VISIONS”

Seattle, WA — From Thomas Dausgaard and the Seattle Symphony comes the recording of the world premiere performance of George Walker’s Sinfonia No. 5, “Visions” to be released on March 5, 2021. Performed live for the first time in April 2019 by the Seattle Symphony and Music Director Thomas Dausgaard, this moving work by a true American master comes to life in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall.

Walker was a trailblazer throughout his distinguished career, breaking barriers first as a pianist and then as a composer. Having studied piano at Oberlin Conservatory and the Curtis Institute of Music, he was the first Black soloist to take the stage with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Hindered by prejudice in his performance career, Walker turned his talents toward composition. He became the first African-American composer to receive a Pulitzer Prize, and in the enormous catalog of solo, chamber and orchestral works that he left behind, listeners discover his “distinctively laconic style purged of excess and meticulously designed from meaningful gestures” (The New York Times).

"For me, the title ‘Visions’ refers to the sublime feeling at the end of the work, and maybe you can sense as in a ‘vision’ how all its parts peacefully return to their original organic form,” shares Music Director Thomas Dausgaard. “In this way Walker’s music is very modern: only through the reflection in us does it show its true soul. If we make a leap, we can bring peace."

Sinfonia No. 5, “Visions” was Walker’s final completed work. Though the piece was already underway, the massacre of nine Black parishioners at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina at the hands of a 21-year-old white supremacist in June 2015 spurred Walker to complete the work and pay tribute to the victims. Sinfonia No. 5 exists in two versions — one for orchestra alone, and a second that incorporates spoken text which Walker wrote for a cast of speakers. It is the latter version featured in the Seattle Symphony’s recording, with vocalists Clayton Brainerd, Ed Morris, Stephen Newby and Shaina Shepherd joining the orchestra in this live performance.

Seattle Symphony Media is pleased to share Walker’s legacy and groundbreaking work with listeners everywhere through a digital-only release. Sinfonia No. 5, “Visions” will be available worldwide for digital download on March 5, 2021 through all major online music retailers and streaming services. This recording is also available in an immaculate 5.1 digital surround version engineered by the 2017 Grammy Award winner for Best Surround Sound and 2021 Grammy Award nominee for Producer of the Year, Classical, Dmitriy Lipay.

To obtain a review copy of the release, photos, liner notes or any other information on Seattle Symphony Media, please contact Dinah Lu at press@seattlesymphony.org.

RECORDING DETAILS

GEORGE WALKER
SINFONIA NO. 5, “VISIONS”

Thomas Dausgaard conductor
Clayton Brainerd vocals
Ed Morris vocals
Stephen Newby vocals
Shaina Shepherd vocals
Seattle Symphony 

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