His interpretation has never been equalled here – violinist Joseph White s 1875 New York debut | Focus thestrad.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thestrad.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2021-05-25T21:36:00
Cuban-born violinist Joseph White’s 1875 debut with the Philharmonic Society of New York was both a triumph and enormously significant – as the orchestra’s first performance with a soloist of African descent. Yavet Boyadjiev explores the event itself and the circumstances surrounding it
During the second half of the 19th century, the increasingly prosperous and cosmopolitan city of New York emerged as the leading cultural centre of the US. Dominated musically by German immigrants and hardly a step behind European capitals, the city established such first-rate musical institutions as the Academy of Music (1854), Steinway Hall (1866) and the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York (1842), staging the latest operas and performing up-to-date symphonic repertoire. Individual entrepreneurial promoters established a vibrant music scene with chamber music and solo recitals by major European soloists. Attracted by lucrative fees, violinists such as Ole B