Invited to teach young musicians at the school which became Juilliard, and to craft a new American music, Antonin Dvorák came to New York for several years. Using the techniques and enthusiasm he had brought to the national music of his native Bohemia, Dvorák espoused the causes of Native- and African-Americans, studying their melodies and infusing his symphonic and chamber music with them to create the sonorities we still recognize as the sound of American classical music.
Joelle Wallach, returning after her rich introduction to Handel's Messiah in December 2008, will illustrate Dvorák's life, music, and significance with lecture, slides, and musical examples.
Dr. Joelle Wallach's music for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voices and choruses has been honored with commissions by the New York Philharmonic Ensembles and the New York Choral Society and a nomination for the 1997 Pulitzer Prize in Music. She holds degrees from Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University, as well as the first doctorate in composition given by the Manhattan School of Music. A frequent pre-concert lecturer for the New York Philharmonic, Dr. Wallach speaks on a broad range of musical subjects, bringing fresh insights to familiar works.
