NSOI: Leonard Slatkin conducts Dvořák’s New World Symphony

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland
Leonard Slatkin conductor
Ciarán Hinds narrator 

Rossini The Thieving Magpie Overture
Slatkin The Raven (Irish Premiere)
Dvořák Symphony No. 9, ‘From the New World’

Dvořák’s legendary Symphony No. 9 From the New World takes centre stage in this vividly imaginative programme. Composed while the Czech composer was living in the United States, Dvořák drew inspiration from African-American spirituals and Native American music, blend-ing nostalgia for his homeland with the bold spirit of a new world. Its sweeping melodies, including the iconic Largo theme (later performed at the funerals of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Gerald Ford), have become emblematic of hope, praised by the New York Evening Post as “the greatest symphonic work ever composed in this country.”

Six-time Grammy Award-winning conductor Leonard Slatkin returns to the National Concert Hall to lead National Symphony Orchestra Ireland in this vividly imaginative programme which opens with Rossini’s sparkling The Thieving Magpie Overture, and features the Irish premiere of Slatkin’s The Raven, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, with narration by Irish actor Ciarán Hinds.

An unmissable evening of music.

Presented by NCH