Anthony & Demarre McGill

Flutist Demarre McGill and clarinetist Anthony McGill join New World Symphony for a program centered on folk memory, new music and orchestral storytelling. The concert takes place Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17 at New World Center as part of New World Symphony’s 2026-2027 season. Conducted by Kellen Gray, the program features the brothers as soloists in Billy Childs’ new concerto A More Perfect Union for flute and clarinet.

The concert opens with Jessie Montgomery’s Strum, a string orchestra work shaped by folk-like rhythms and layered textures. The program continues after intermission with Tania León’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Stride and Carlos Simon’s Tales: A Folklore Symphony, extending the evening’s focus on cultural memory, movement and contemporary orchestral voice.

Demarre McGill is Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony and a recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant and Sphinx Medal of Excellence. Anthony McGill is Principal Clarinet of the New York Philharmonic and the first African American principal player in the orchestra’s history. Gray, who has served as Associate Artist of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Conductor & Artistic Director of the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, is known for programming that highlights African-diasporic composers and folk-influenced repertoire.