According to Broadway World, conductor André Raphel will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra on March 3, 4 and 5, 2023 performing a piece about a Black Reconstruction leader who was murdered in Philadelphia. According to Broadway World; “He will be leading the opening program in the “Voices of Loss, Reckoning and Hope” Festival, a series exploring complex social issues. The program includes Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Petite Suite de Concert from 1911; William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony; and the program’s centerpiece work, Uri Caine’s gospel and popular-based The Passion of Octavius Catto, with the Uri Caine Trio (Uri Caine, piano; Mike Boone, bass & Clarence Penn, drums), vocalist Barbara Walker, Tanglewood Festiival Chorus, and the Catto Chorus.”
“Uri Caine’s The Passion of Octavius Catto, is an oratorio about the Reconstruction-era civil rights leader, Octavius Catto, who was murdered in Philadelphia in 1871. The enthralling work combines classical, gospel, jazz and pop styles. A recording of The Passion of Octavius Catto conducted by André Raphel , with the Uri Caine Trio, Barbara Walker and the Catto Chorus was released on August 30, 2019 on 816Music. Maestro Raphel states, “The Passion of Octavius Catto is a piece of music unlike anything I have ever conducted given its historical significance. Uri’s work fuses together different musical styles and does it in the framework of telling Catto’s story. Catto wasn’t just an important figure in Philadelphia history; he was a forgotten figure in U.S. history.” The work was commissioned by the Mann Music Center and the Pew Center for the Arts. It had its world premiere under the baton of André Raphel leading the Philadelphia Orchestra with the Uri Caine Trio and vocalist Barbara Walker at the Mann Center in 2014.”
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