The sound of America 
A musical journey across the continent in seven stops

From sacred deer to the bright lights of Broadway – the journey that conductor Gustavo Dudamel invites us to take at the Waldbühne concerts promises a rich musical adventure. The programme for the Berliner Philharmoniker’s end-of-season concert features seven diverse works and stories from North and South America. Join us on this musical tour through the Americas.

Gabriela Ortiz: “Kauyumari”

Our first stop takes us to Mexico, to the region inhabited by the Wixárika people (also known as the Huichol). Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz has created a single-movement work inspired by the Wixárika’s religion and music: Kauyumari is a sacred blue deer, regarded as a messenger between humans and the gods. For Ortiz, it symbolises vision and transformation – and becomes a musical guide through a world beyond the visible. Gustavo Dudamel conducted the work’s world premiere in Los Angeles in 2021.

Arturo Márquez: “Danzón No. 8”

We remain in Mexico, with music which is once again deeply rooted in the country’s history. Composer Arturo Márquez is best known for his series of Danzones. The danzón is a dance form brought by colonialism from France to Cuba, and thence to Mexico. In Cuba, it was initially reserved for the white upper class in exclusive salons, but was later transformed by Haitian refugees and African slaves, who shaped its modern form. Cuban émigrés popularised the dance in Mexico, where it remains beloved to this day.

Aaron Copland: “Old American Songs”

For our third stop, we travel through 1950s America with Aaron Copland. During this time, Copland collected and lovingly arranged folk songs, seeking a musical identity independent of European models. He was particularly drawn to the quirky and whimsical: we meet, for example, a drunken farmer imitating his animals – much like Old McDonald Had a Farm (which actually predates Copland’s setting and comes from an 18th-century opera). It’s Americana with a wink.

Evencio Castellanos: “Santa Cruz de Pacairigua”

A church, a folk festival, a tropical summer: in 1954, Venezuelan composer Evencio Castellanos set to music the dedication of the church of Santa Cruz in his homeland – bringing us back to South America. The piece opens with a ceremonial march, transitions into a lively dance, and ends with a musical fireworks display which carries the celebration deep into the night.

Roberto Sierra: “Alegría”

Roberto Sierra grew up in Puerto Rico and later studied with György Ligeti. He describes his music – a blend of European avant-garde and Latin American folk tradition – as “tropicalisation.” Alegría (“Joy”) is a vivid example. The orchestration is rich in colour and driven by breakneck energy. At one point, Sierra instructs the musicians to play a pattern as fast as possible, regardless of what the rest of the orchestra is doing – an exuberant, contagious burst of joy that sweeps everything along.

Duke Ellington: “Three Black Kings”

We return to the USA for the sixth stop on our journey. Three Black Kings is the final work in the extraordinary oeuvre of jazz legend Duke Ellington, who composed more than 2,000 pieces. In addition to his better-known jazz work, Ellington wrote symphonic works, composed film scores, and even began working on an opera. Among his influences, he counted classical composers such as Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Three Black Kings is a tribute to the biblical Melchior, the Spanish King Balthazar – and, in the third movement, Martin Luther King. This final movement was left unfinished and was completed by Ellington’s son, Mercer, after the composer’s death.

Leonard Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story”

For the grand finale, North and South America come together in dances from Bernstein’s iconic musical West Side Story. In this retelling of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers are not divided by feuding families, but by social and ethnic tensions between rival youth gangs – Puerto Rican immigrants and white Americans. The Symphonic Dances present New York as a bubbling melting pot, fuelled by mambo, jazz, chaos – and hope.