Gateways Music Festival Spring Festival 2025 swings into NYC

Gateways Music Festival will be in New York City from April 24 to 27 for a series of magical musical moments.

Gateways said Spring Festival 2025 kicks off in Rochester and then moves to the Big Apple.

The NYC events are capped by the Gateways Festival Orchestra’s return to Carnegie Hall on Sunday, April 27, under the baton of Anthony Parnther. The orchestra sold out during its last appearance in 2022, its debut at the famed institution.

Gateways Music Festival “exists to celebrate and continue Black artistry in classical music.”

Its orchestra comprises Black professional classical musicians drawn from the nation’s leading orchestras and music faculties.

Other NYC events include Gateway’s orchestral commission of spirituals by Damian Sneed, featuring GRAMMY-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges; William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, led by Anthony Parnther, the first time since its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall over 90 years ago; a concert by GRAMMY-nominated violinist Curtis Stewart; a recital with Rochelle Sennet on piano; a symposium; and masterclasses at Harlem School of the Arts and Weill Music Institute. A list of events follows the press release below.

After launching with a series of concerts and conversations in Rochester, New York, on April 21, Gateways said Spring Festival 2025 will land in Manhattan for performances, lectures, and masterclasses from April 24 to April 27, rounding out the week-long event.

The Gateways Festival Orchestra is at the heart of the festival, composed of Black professional classical musicians drawn from the nation’s leading orchestras and music faculties.

Gateways said its finale concert at Carnegie Hall (April 27) marks the orchestra’s highly anticipated first return to the venue since its historic, sold-out debut in 2022.

Led once again by conductor Anthony Parnther, Gateways said this season’s finale program complements folk-inspired symphonies by Antonín Dvořák and William Levi Dawson with the New York premiere of a new Gateways commission from Damien Sneed, featuring GRAMMY-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges.

Gateways said other festival highlights include solo recitals by GRAMMY-nominated violinist Curtis Stewart and pianist Rochelle Sennet, inspiring talks, discussions, and educational initiatives, and performances by the Gateways Brass Collective.

Gateways said Spring Festival 2025 is presented in association with the University of Rochester’s Eastman School of Music.

Gateways said its rich spring offerings continue to impact the classical music landscape profoundly.

By celebrating and sustaining the tradition of Black classical artistry, providing a home for musicians who carry the tradition forward, and presenting performances that bring together multiracial, multigenerational audiences, Gateways said it is writing its classical narrative.

“Gateways isn’t just a festival — it’s a home. A place where Black classical musicians bring their full selves to the stage, and where audiences can come together to listen, connect, and celebrate,” said Gateways Music Festival President and Artistic Director Alex Laing.

“This April, we invite everyone to come out, see world-class artists, and be part of a cultural moment,” he added. “Whether it’s your first festival, or you never miss one, if classical music has been part of your life for decades or you’re experiencing it for the first time, Gateways Spring Festival promises to challenge, inspire, and uplift.”

Fresh off a landmark 30th anniversary season in 2023-2024, which included significant debuts in Chicago and Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center as well as a 1 million dollar Mellon Foundation award, the Gateways Festival Orchestra heads to New York with a thoughtfully curated program that honors the enduring power of folk traditions, with special focus on Negro spirituals.

Gateways said the finale concert on April 27, at 2 p.m. at Carnegie Hall, opens with Antonín Dvořák’s Eighth Symphony, a work inspired by the dances and folk tunes of the composer’s Bohemian homeland.

Dvořák believed that “Negro melodies … must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States.”

Gateways said the program concludes with William Levi Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, a towering landmark in American composition, first heard at Carnegie Hall just days after its 1934 world premiere.

Rooted in the spiritual tradition and shaped by Dawson’s travels in West Africa, Gateways said his work represents a resounding declaration of Black cultural pride.

The two symphonies bookend the New York City premiere of Reflections of Resilience: Five Spirituals, a new Gateways Music Festival commission from NAACP Image Award- and Sphinx Medal of Excellence-winning musical polymath Damien Sneed, featuring the GRAMMY-winning mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges.

Sneed describes the new work as “five spirituals carefully woven together in a musical tapestry highlighting the tradition of the African American spiritual.” The Carnegie Hall concert will stream live to home audiences worldwide as part of WQXR’s Live from Carnegie Hall series.

For complete Spring Festival information, please visit www.gatewaysmusicfestival.org.