Ryan Bancroft conductor Alisa Weilerstein cello Globally renowned cellist Alisa Weilerstein joins BBC NOW in this season closing concert for one of the most highly regarded of all cello concerti. Melodic genius, irrepressible energy and a love of his native folk music radiate as Dvořák looks back at life well lived, full of joy but also of deep loss in his virtuosic cello concerto. Similarly, intuitive musical invention, rich orchestration, and an exploration of the cathedral “as a symbolic doorway into and out of this world” form a platform for floating and contemplative other-worldly atmospheres to unfurl in Higdon’s expertly crafted sonic journey through a sacred space and upward into the heavens – Blue Cathedral. Picture the scene – November 1934, Carnegie Hall and a brand-new symphony is unveiled, receiving rapturous applause and multiple bows for its unassuming composer. That composer was a 35-year old African American man, William Dawson, who had run away from home aged 13 to follow his dream of studying music; and the piece… the Negro Folk Symphony. Oozing a sensuousness and directness of melody, Dawson set out to compose music that was “unmistakeably not the work of a white man” and found his inspiration from the “negro folk music” he had learned as a small child. This expertly crafted and highly emotionally charged symphony is pure genius, and who better to conduct this exhilarating finale to the season than our Principal Conductor, Ryan Bancroft.