Schenectady’s own, Mayor Gary McCarthy, as Lincoln Portrait guest narrator

One of the signature pieces on the program “A Celebration of Two Heroes” is Aaron Copland’s stunning “Lincoln Portrait”, commissioned during the early years of World War II by conductor Andre Kostelanetz for a program of three new works by American composers. Copland chose excerpts from Lincoln’s own words for the narration. The score includes quotations of Springfield Mountain and Camptown Races. According to Copland, “I hoped to suggest something of the mysterious sense of fatality that surrounds Lincoln’s personality. The challenge was to compose something simple, yet interesting enough to fit Lincoln.” The piece has been performed on many significant occasions and with innumerable narrators, among them Carl Sandburg, William Warfield, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Copland himself.

Join the SSSO and Mayor McCarthy at Proctors Theatre, 3 p.m. Sunday February 6. The concert will also feature Valerie Coleman’s “Seven O’Clock Shout” and Mendelssohn’s “Reformation Symphony.” Tickets are available at Proctors Box Office in person, by calling 518-346-6204, or online.