HSO—American Portraits
AMERICAN PORTRAITS | SAT, APR 18, 2026 | 7:30PM | Shriver Hall
In our final program of the season, HSO will take on two great musical portraits. Copland’s Lincoln Portrait sets some of Abrham Lincoln’s most stirring words to music in this powerful piece, commissioned during World War II to express the “magnificent spirit of our country.” We pair this work with a newly commissioned piece by American Veteran and composer, J. Kimo Williams. This new work, Douglass Portrait, is based upon the text of another great American hero—Maryland’s own Frederick Douglass. Both works will be narrated by JHU alum and Shakespearean actor Gerrad Alex Taylor. We open the program with the winners of HSO’s biannual concerto competition. As we conclude our season, we celebrate Johns Hopkins, Maryland, and America in this program that speaks so compellingly to freedom and courage in the face of adversity. This program is funded in part by the JHU Sesquicentennial Committee, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Johns Hopkins University.
Performances by HSO Concerto Competition Winners:
CHAUSSON: Poeme – Erika Ito, violin – 2026 Concerto Competition Winner
IBERT: Flute Concerto – Supriya Weiss, flute – 2026 Concerto Competition Winner
GRIEG: Piano Concerto, Mvt. 1 – James Liu, piano – 2026 Concerto Competition Winner
J. KIMO WILLIAMS: Douglass Portrait (HSO commission, world premiere)—Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration; Kyle Engler, narration
COPLAND: Lincoln Portrait—Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration
Gerrad Alex Taylor, narration
Kyle Engler, narrator