Letters to America

Wed, May 6 at 8:00pm

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“Letters to America” is the culminating event of the Durham Symphony Orchestra’s (DSO) 50th Anniversary season. Join them for a landmark event celebrating the 250^th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence and 50 years of the DSO serving the community, promoting music education and uplifting the love and legacy of American Classical Music! The event brings together DSO’s community and arts partners, the Pauli Murray Center, Hayti Heritage Center, North Carolina Poet Laureate Jaki Shelton Green, and Kristi Vincent Johnson, Director of Dance at NCCU.

The concert will feature two new compositions: a “Symphony: Dark Testament” by Maestro Curry and “Letters to America” by North Carolina composer Brittany J. Green, co-commissioned by the DSO. Written for orchestra and Grammy Award–winning soprano Karen Slack, “Letters to America” uses text derived from historical sources and public contributions and marks the 250th anniversary by centering the voices, stories and experiences of Black women in America. The Durham performance will include a video dance vignette inspired by the work and produced by students from NCCU.

The program will close with Antonín Dvořák’s “Symphony No. 9” (“From the New World”), which anchored Maestro Curry’s first performance with the DSO. This beloved symphony offers yet another lens on America—that of a great European composer whose mature work showcases the innate beauty and grandeur of African American spirituals and Native American music.

More about the Durham Symphony and William Henry Curry

Since its founding in 1976, the Durham Symphony Orchestra (DSO) has been a leading performing arts organization in Durham, contributing actively to the rich cultural life of the city and the greater Triangle community. In 2009, William Henry Curry was named Music Director, becoming the first African American music director of a symphony in the South. Resident Conductor of the NC Symphony for 20 years, he has enriched the DSO mission with his exceptional experience in education, outreach, and diverse programming. He is well known and appreciated by audiences throughout the region. The DSO performs affordably priced and free concerts in a wide variety of community spaces, including Durham’s landmark venues, the Carolina Theatre of Durham and the Hayti Heritage Center.

More about Karen Slack

Praised as “one of opera’s strongest voices at present – both as a singer and a shaper of its culture” (The Washington Post) and for her “sizeable voice that captured all of the vacillating emotions” (The New York Times), soprano Karen Slack is a recipient of the 2022 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and a 2025 MPower Artist Grant. Slack is a sought-after performer, curator and artistic advisor known for her fiery charisma and groundbreaking approach to engagement. Her debut album, “Beyond the Years: Unpublished Songs of Florence Price” on Azica Records, won the 2025 Grammy® Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album.