American classical music is filled with rags to riches stories of impoverished immigrants who went on to inspire not only classical music, but entirely new genres of music worldwide, from jazz, blues and ragtime to rock ‘n’ roll. Starting with Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize winning string quartet Entr’acte, The New World features Anton Dvořák’s famous Largo from his iconic New World Symphony that took inspiration from African American spirituals and went on to embody the quintessential ‘American sound’. This American melting pot of cultures created a rich source of inspiration that went on to inspire a new class of composers including George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Arty Shaw. Likewise in South America, the son of Italian immigrants Astor Piazzolla would go on to revolutionise the tango.
Making his performance and composition debut with Southern Cross Soloists (SXS) is Grammy award-winning guitarist, John Jorgenson alongside SXS Didgeridoo Soloist in Residence, Chris Williams for the SXS Didgeridoo Commissioning Project.