American Discoveries

Featuring

Reuben Blundell
Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra
Priscilla Alden Beach
Linda Robbins Coleman
Alexandra Pierce

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Linda Robbins Coleman is a composer, pianist, writer, and arts advocate whose music is performed throughout North America and Europe.

Recording & Production

These world-premiere recordings are part of the Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra's initiative to promote orchestral repertoire by diverse American composers, starting with three 20th-century works by female composers.

Composition History

Alexandra Pierce's 'Behemoth' was commissioned by the University of Redlands Community Symphony Orchestra and won first prize in the 1977 Mu Phi Epsilon National Competition.

Composition History

Priscilla Alden Beach's 'City Trees' was first performed in 1928 by the Rochester Philharmonic, conducted by Howard Hanson, director of Eastman.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Alexandra Pierce describes her piece 'Behemoth' as an exploration of musical bas-relief and the relationship of melody to bass, inspired by Michelangelo's unfinished marble works.

Composer Biography

Priscilla Alden Beach, a descendant of Mayflower passengers, studied at Smith College and Eastman, where she began her master's degree in composition.

Composition History

Linda Robbins Coleman's 'For A Beautiful Land' was commissioned and premiered by the Cedar Rapids Symphony Orchestra in 1996 as part of the Iowa Sesquicentennial Celebration.