McGill, Saint-Georges & Beethoven

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges—violin virtuoso, composer, son of an enslaved mother, colonel in Europe’s first Black regiment, and champion fencer—has finally been rediscovered by the classical music world! In an exciting new guise, the Clarinet Concerto arranged by Derek Bermel—replete with both technical flamboyance and lyricism—gets its World Premiere performance by Anthony McGill. In the same year Bologne passed from this earth, 1799, Beethoven was deeply immersed in creating his First Symphony, a beautiful amalgam of the classical style and—with unexpected key changes, unusual dynamics, and bold tempos—an audacious step into the new century.