Sodelo, the Southern Delaware Orchestra, presents a pair of concerts celebrating both America and Delaware this month.
Entitled “American Spirit, Coastal Soul,” the performances feature well-known American works like Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man,” alongside works by Delaware composers, including Mark Hagerty’s “United Sounds of America,” featuring Delaware’s Poets Laureate, Al Mills and Nnamdi Chukwuocha alongside soprano Makeda Hampton, and “Coastal Delaware Suite,” by composer and Sodelo tuba player Brian Cox.
A lifelong Delawarean with generations of roots in the First State, Cox says his piece was a joy to write.
“I got inspired by some of the sights, the sounds, the history, the culture of Southern Delaware, particularly the beach towns, and it just flowed out of me,” he says.
The work, which is getting its world premiere at these performances, highlights four beach towns: Lewes, Rehoboth Beach, Bethany Beach, and Dewey Beach.
Cox says that, while audiences will hear many familiar favorites, he hopes that listeners will be inspired to hear new compositions as well.
“We're really hoping that the challenge that we're taking up as musicians in the orchestra of delivering this new music rubs off on our audiences and hopefully they'll want more,” he says.
Sodelo takes the stage on July 11 at Milford High School and July 12 at Cape Henlopen High School. Both concerts are at 3:00 pm.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
