Guest Conductor: Benjamin Firer

In our first “Postcards from America” concert of the 2025-2026 season, we explore works by New York and New York-influenced composers. Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony and Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” are just two of the iconic works featured in this program.

Gwyneth Walker: America 250!

The Lake Forest Civic Orchestra is proud to present the world premiere of Gwyneth Walker’s America 250! – a three-movement suite for orchestra, composed in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States (1776-2026). Inspiration for this music is taken from songs depicting colorful and adventurous episodes in American history.

Widely performed throughout the country, the music of American composer Gwyneth Walker is beloved by performers and audiences alike for its energy, beauty, reverence, drama, and humor. Dr. Gwyneth Walker (b. 1947) is a graduate of Brown University and the Hartt School of Music. She holds B.A., M.M. and D.M.A. degrees in Music Composition. A former faculty member of the Oberlin College Conservatory, she resigned from academic employment in 1982 in order to pursue a career as a full-time composer.

For nearly 30 years, she lived on a dairy farm in Braintree, Vermont before returning to live in her childhood hometown of New Canaan, Connecticut.

Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue

Myunghee Chung, Soloist

Dr. Myunghee Chung, native of Korea, holds Bachelor and master of Music degrees from the Juilliard School and Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Manhattan School of Music.  She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including first prize at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Young Performer’s Competition and the William Kapell International Piano Competition.  Her playing has been described as “clean, strong…marked by a bell-like quality that never disappeared even under the severest pressure.”  She has performed throughout  North America with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony orchestra, as well as in Europe and Asia.

Myunghee Chung has also been a active chamber musician – member of the Seraphin Piano Trio for 4 years and UW-Whitewater Piano Trio for many years, and with artists such as David Kim, David Taylor and Alison Balsom.

She had taught at the Missouri Southern State University, University of New Mexico and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, from which she retired in 2022.

Dvořák – Symphony No. 9 in E Minor – “New World”

Program: G. Walker – World Premiere “America 250!”, Gershwin – Rhapsody in Blue, Dvořák – New World Symphony

Tickets: $20 General Admission
Seniors & Students: $10
Military Admission Complimentary

Related Blog Posts: Interview with Gwyneth Walker

For more information or tickets: https://www.lakeforestcivicorchestra.org/concerts-tickets/p/nativenewyorker-oct-5-2025

Buy Tickets online at www.lakeforestcivicorchestra.org