Author: Ginger Dolden

“Pianist Lara Downes’s new and recent recordings of new or neglected music by women and composers of color are broadening the repertoire for classical pianists, and enriching our musical environment,” writes Brett Campbell in Friday’s (7/9) Oregon Arts Watch. “ ‘Beautiful things can come out of difficulty,’ … Downes says introducing her recording of composer Elena Ruhr’s alluring new Quiet Streets, a composition for piano, saxophone and electronics [about] performing music in a virus-hushed city…. It’s one of her two virtual mini concerts … streaming free on the Oregon Bach Festival site…. Downes’s biweekly National Public Radio podcast series, ‘Amplify’ … features her video conversations with soprano Julia Bullock, jazz pianist Jon Batiste, … Rhiannon Giddens, clarinetist Anthony McGill, and other prominent artists of color…. This year, she also launched Rising Sun Music, a digital-format record label presenting works by Black composers spanning two centuries…. Her spiffy new album releasing next week, New Day Begun, pairs Downes with … violinist Regina Carter, bass-baritone Davóne Tines … and PUBLIQuartet in music by Sam Cooke, jazz vocal legend Abbey Lincoln, the great 20th-century African American composers William Grant Still and Duke Ellington, and contemporary voices such as Daniel Bernard Roumain, Alvin Singleton and more.”

Maine’s Portland Symphony Orchestra will open its 2021-22 season at Merrill Auditorium with Music Director Eckart Preu leading Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Maine composer Daniel Sonenberg’s First Light: A Fanfare for Maine, which was commissioned by the PSO and was to premiere at the Maine Bicentennial Concert in March 2020. Also included on the opening program will be Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement featuring pianist Michelle Cann and Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite. The season will feature 39 concerts and will conclude in June with Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique. Other season repertoire will include Arturo Márquez’s Concierto de Otoño; Karen Tanaka’s Water of Life; Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Ballade Op. 33; Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion; Poulenc’s Concerto for Organ and Timpani in G minor; and symphonies by Brahms, Dvořák, Shostakovich, and Bruckner. The season will also include five pops programs, the orchestra’s annual “Magic of Christmas” events, and three family concerts.

“The Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 70th year of admission-free performances in Institute Park with two free concerts July 11 and 18,” conducted by Jorge Soto, writes Richard Duckett in Sunday’s (7/4) Telegram and Gazette (Worcester, MA). “ ‘The concerts have stood the test of time,’ said Paul Levenson, executive director of the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra…. After being shut down for over a year by the pandemic, MSO will be performing again for the first time since 2019…. The 7 p.m. July 18 concert at Institute Park sees MSO exploring a new program with ‘Jazz in the Park: Celebrating Great African-American Composers.’ … Paul Levenson noted [that] as far back as 1962, [Massachusetts Symphony founder] Harry Levenson devoted a concert entirely to the Black neoclassical composer Ulysses Kay (1917-1995)…. Kay was present and thanked Levenson for giving him his ‘first one-man show.’ … At first the concerts were known as the Worcester Industrial Pops Concerts, Paul Levenson noted…. The orchestra’s name has changed along the way, … from Little Symphony through to the Central Massachusetts Orchestra in 1976 and then Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra. But the concerts at Institute Park, last year excepted, have remained.”

“What if you were hosting a music festival and a film festival broke out?” writes Rob Hubbard in Monday’s (7/5) Star Tribune (Minneapolis). “That’s sort of what happened to the 2021 incarnation of the Twin Cities New Music Festival … produced since 2018 by a consortium of composers known as the 113 Collective…. The festival opens Thursday and continues through Saturday [in] downtown St. Paul. Park Square Theatre’s Andy Boss Thrust Stage will feature concerts of contemporary music from a plethora of adventurous musicians…. Meanwhile, Studio Z in the Lowertown neighborhood will be home to three evenings full of film built around recent compositions…. One composer being spotlighted is New York-based Bethany Younge…. Her music [will provide] the soundtrack to films inspired by her pieces…. Steven Kazuo Takasugi … will have several works performed at the festival [including] two Saturday night concerts … at Park Square, one featuring a chamber orchestra, the other an octet…. ‘Anthony Green’s new piece, “Connections,” is a poignant commentary on disconnection and reconnection and will feature his live narrations via Instagram Live,’ [said Co-Artistic Director Tiffany Skidmore]…. There’s a visual art component, as well, with Benjamin JM Klein’s sound art installation, ‘Dementia NOS.’ ”

“Matthew Loden, CEO of the Toronto Symphony since 2018, is to exit to return to Texas and become dean of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music as of October 1,” reports Susan Elliott in Wednesday’s (7/8) Musical America (subscription required). “He succeeds Robert Yekovich, who exits after 18 years…. Loden served as director of admissions of at the Shepherd School from 2002-2007. The onetime VP and general manager of the Aspen Music Festival and School, he was executive vice president for institutional advancement and interim co-president of the Philadelphia Orchestra before arriving in Toronto…. Loden succeeded in securing the TSO a $10 million gift within the first year he arrived and is credited with bringing on the TSO’s new music director, Gustavo Gimeno. ‘The decision to return to Texas was deeply personal—to be closer to our family—and coincided with an offer from Rice University,’ he said…. With a master’s degree in violin performance from Eastman School of Music, Loden spent the early part of his career performing with noted ensembles, including the Kennedy Center and Houston Grand opera and ballet orchestras…. Among teaching and consulting positions, he served as advisor to” the League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Management Fellowship Program.

“A London hospital has celebrated the National Health Service’s 73rd birthday with a special performance of a new piece of classical music composed by a six-year-old boy in tribute to health workers and scientists,” writes Lucy Campbell in Monday’s (7/5) Guardian (U.K.). “Apollo Premadasa first emailed St. Bart’s hospital in the City of London last year during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to tell them he had written the piece, Pandemia, as a ‘thank you’ to health workers everywhere. The piece, written for a string quartet in C minor, has three movements—‘Survival,’ ‘Hope’ and ‘Fight.’ … As Monday marked the first opportunity for a public performance of the piece and its world premiere, the six-year-old, who studies multiple instruments including cello and trombone at Junior Guildhall, said finally hearing it played by musicians in real-life was ‘amazing.’ His piece was played by four Barts Health medical staff from Newham hospital and the Royal London hospital, with the concert taking place in the Great Hall of St. Bartholomew’s hospital.…. On Monday, the Queen awarded the prestigious George Cross to the health service … in recognition of ‘acts of the greatest heroism or of the most courage in circumstances of extreme danger.’ ”

“It’s always fun to announce a new season for the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance— Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera and Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra,” writes Meredith Moss in Sunday’s (7/4) Dayton.com (OH). “But has there ever been a time when the annual announcement came with such relief and joy? The thought of having dancers, musicians and singers on stage at the Victoria Theatre and Schuster Center is something to celebrate…. In addition to the Opera, Ballet and DPO Masterworks season, the Philharmonic offers a SuperPops, Rockin’ Orchestra and Family Series. Also slated are … Handel’s Messiah … and the annual New Year’s Eve celebration…. Says DPO conductor and artistic director Neal Gittleman, ‘I know the DPO musicians will be so happy to be back to playing for full audiences again, and … in a normal stage setup,’ says Gittleman…. ‘Even though the Beethoven sesquicentennial technically ended on December 16, 2020, we’ll still be celebrating … with three more installments of our Beethoven’s Symphonies Cycle, and they’re three of the big ones: Three, Seven, and Nine,’ says Gittleman…. The orchestra will also return to one of the planned themes for 2020-21, playing music of several female composers including Jennifer Jolley [Blue Glacier Decoy], Reena Esmail [Meri Sakhi Ki Avaaz (‘My Sister’s Voice’)], Stella Sung [Oceana] and Clara Schumann [Piano Concerto].”