“The sense of pure elation was palpable Thursday evening as members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra walked onstage to perform their first concert before a live audience in more than 14 months,” writes Hedy Weiss in Friday’s (5/28) WTTW TV (Chicago). “The orchestra, like the audience, was reduced in size…. But their sound was as full and beautiful as ever as they played a meticulously chosen program … that alternately heralded a triumphant return and evoked the emotional turmoil of the pandemic era. The expert conductor for the evening was Michael Mulcahy, a trombonist with the CSO for more than three decades. There could have been no more ideal opener than Aaron Copland’s brief but rousing ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ with its initial blast of timpani … It was followed by Gunther Schuller’s fascinating, intensely difficult … ‘Symphony for Brass and Percussion’ … [and] Samuel Barber’s aptly titled ‘Mutations from Bach’ … followed by ‘Street Song for Symphonic Brass,’ a 1988 piece … by Michael Tilson-Thomas…. Closing the program … was the … Presto barbaro … section of Leonard Bernstein’s film score for ‘On the Waterfront,’ with its memorably brutal evocation of life among New York longshoremen and mobsters.”
Author: Ginger Dolden
Opera Theater of St. Louis stages Still’s rarely performed one-acter, “Highway 1, U.S.A”
“Thanks to his rich catalog of symphonic and chamber music, [William Grant] Still … was widely known as the pathbreaking ‘dean’ of Black American composers,” writes Seth Colter Walls in Friday’s (5/28) New York Times. “But his operas have struggled to gain a foothold in the repertoire. ‘Troubled Island’ … premiered at New York City Opera in 1949, but continues to wait for a second production…. Still’s one-act stunner ‘Highway 1, U.S.A.,’ premiered in 1963, has also been a rarity. But it will enter the limelight this weekend with … a new staging, directed by Ron Himes, at Opera Theater of St. Louis … conducted by Leonard Slatkin … and featuring a cast of rising stars.” The production will feature Nicole Cabell, Will Liverman, Christian Mark Gibbs, and Rehanna Thelwell. “Cabell credited the company with finding a way to forge ahead with an operatic work of ‘cultural significance.’ … St. Louis plans to film the performances with an eye to streaming the work later…. ‘That’s the thing with Black composers in general,’ Liverman said. ‘I think the music’s out there. It’s just not performed enough.’ ”
South Bend Symphony launches outdoor pops concerts
“Andrew Lloyd Webber songs, as singer Alli Mauzey describes them, sound like Pringles: You can’t stop at one,” writes Andrew Hughes in Sunday’s (5/30) South Bend Tribune (IN). “And that’s what she and fellow singers Debbie Gravitte and Gary Mauer will do with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra during the second half of Wednesday’s Broadway pops concert at Four Winds Field at Coveleski Stadium. The first half of the concert features songs from older Broadway musicals, while the entire second half consists of Lloyd Webber songs…. SBSO Music Director Alastair Willis … has loved musical theater since childhood, and … particularly loves Broadway pops concerts … Originally scheduled for Feb. 13 of this year at the Morris Performing Arts Center, Wednesday’s pops concert instead was moved to the ballpark, where social distancing-capacity for the concert is 1,200 people…. For the SBSO, it marks a return to … the site of its long-running and popular ‘Pops at the Cove’ summer concert from 1990 to 2008…. In addition to Wednesday’s concert, the SBSO also performs ‘The Music of Queen’ on June 19 and ‘Patriotic Pops’ on July 1 at the stadium, with a fourth outdoor concert scheduled for Aug. 28 at Potawatomi Park.”
Quad City Symphony sets schedule for 2021-22 in-person season
“After an unprecedented season, that featured a mix of concerts in empty and limited capacity concert halls, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra is hoping for something far closer to normal for its 107th season in 2021-22, starting in August,” writes Jonathan Turner in Saturday’s (5/29) QuadCities.com (Iowa/Illinois). “ ‘From the New World’—named for the iconic Antonin Dvořák symphony that will kick off the Masterworks Oct. 2-3—will feature six dynamic Masterworks programs, the beloved Quad City Bank & Trust Riverfront Pops, the return of ‘QCSO at the Movies,’ four intimate ‘Up Close’ chamber concerts, and several special events.… QCSO Music Director and Conductor Mark Russell Smith said…. ‘We are also pleased to shine a spotlight on the incredible talent within our orchestra this season with concertmaster Naha Greenholtz performing Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4, and principal horn Marc Zyla performing Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1 and Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings.’ ” Among other works, repertoire will include Michael Abels’s Frederick’s Fables, William Grant Still’s Poem for Orchestra, Jennifer Higdon’s Viola Concerto with soloist Roberto Diaz, Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, Mozart’s Symphony No. 36, and Tchaikovsky’s Romeo & Juliet Fantasy-Overture.
Remembering 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre with Hailstork’s “Tulsa 1921,” with Harlem Chamber Players, J’Nai Bridges
“It’s hard to see art in the smoldering aftermath of the Tulsa Race Massacre, when White Americans destroyed a wealthy Black community in 1921, killing dozens and leaving entire city blocks in ashes,” writes AJ Willingham in Sunday’s (5/30) CNN. “But composer Adolphus Hailstork … doesn’t want us to cover our ears…. In his latest work, ‘Tulsa 1921: Pity These Ashes, Pity This Dust’ with libretto by Herbert Woodward Martin, the story … is told by a young girl, picking through the destruction…. This emotional aria … will premiere on June 19 during an online musical event commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre, organized by the Harlem Chamber Players, Harlem Stage and Harlem School of the Arts. Along with Hailstork’s work, the event features other works from Black composers…. ‘Pity These Ashes’ is written for chamber orchestra and a single mezzo-soprano voice. At the piece’s premiere, that voice will belong to J’Nai Bridges.… Facing professional and creative barriers, musicians of color have long found fellowship, support and opportunities in groups created with them in mind…. ‘We need this space so we can make music together, the way we want to,’ says Liz Player, founder of the Harlem Chamber Players.”
New York Philharmonic’s roving concerts: at the Shed, from a truck, at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery
From left, New York Philharmonic musicians at Green-Wood Cemetery: Max Zeugner, David Finlayson, Richard Deane, Ethan Bensdorf, Leah Ferguson, Yoobin Son, Alison Fierst, Christopher Martin, Qianqian Li, Na Sun, Sumire Kudo, Cong Wu, and Quan Ge. Photo: Jonas Fredwall Karlsson
“The New York Philharmonic has been emerging from its pandemic shell in stages,” writes Justin Davidson in Thursday’s (5/27) New York Magazine. “Impromptu performances from the back of a pickup truck, a string ensemble in an empty church, the first appearance in front of a tiny audience spread through a huge space at the Shed— these bits of concert life have kept the players faintly tethered to their routines. Soon, 17 members of the orchestra will pop up among the sepulchres at Green-Wood Cemetery as part of the series ‘Death of Classical.’ That might not seem like the obvious location to stage the revival of performance culture, but when Green-Wood opened in 1838, it was intended to be one of New York’s grandest, most verdant, and most romantic public parks…. The cemetery performance will still be a long way from the full force of 100 musicians, with their sound that moves like an ocean breaker, rumbling, flowing, and bursting with beautiful violence. ‘I miss that swell, that surround sound,’ says the trumpet player Ethan Bensdorf…. He’ll finally get to experience that at a Memorial Day concert in the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, though the public will only hear it livestreamed.”
Applications open for annual $500K Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Awards
Applications are being accepted through July 16, 2021 for the third annual Accelerator Awards given by the Lewis Prize for Music, which invests in youth music programs to facilitate positive community change. Three multi-year awards of $500,000 each will be awarded in January 2022. Founded in 2018 by philanthropist Daniel R. Lewis, the Lewis Prize for Music believes that high-quality music instruction combined with multi-generational mentorship, wellbeing support, and economic opportunity enables young people to thrive. Accelerator Awards provide multi-year support to enable leaders and organizations to make sustained progress toward community change initiatives that align with the prize’s values. A webinar for potential applicants on May 27 at 9:30 a.m. PT / 12:30 p.m. ET will outline the Accelerator Award application process, with time for questions. Learn more at https://www.thelewisprize.org.
Arts education center to expand free programs for students in Hartford, Connecticut
“A Hartford arts education organization announced plans Monday to double its programming by expanding into a neighboring property and renovating the historic temple it’s called home since the 1970s,” writes Rebecca Lure in Tuesday’s (5/25) Hartford Courant (CT). “The Charter Oak Cultural Center will spend about $4.5 million to restore its classroom and performance space at 21 Charter Oak Ave. … and to turn an adjacent, historic property into an education annex…. The Charter Oak Cultural Center, which is still holding virtual classes only, has long been ‘bursting at the seams’ in its 145-year-old building, executive director Rabbi Donna Berman said… The center’s free Youth Arts Institute now annually serves 1,000 Hartford kids ages 6 to 18. After the expansion, it will serve 1,500. Daily camps this summer are teaching piano, hip-hop dance, theater, yoga, creative writing and more. The center also runs an all-city youth orchestra, a music partnership with Hartford police, and an after-school instrumental program…. High demand … has resulted in waiting lists … according to Susan Mazer, director of the Youth Arts Institute…. Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin [said] arts will be an important part of kids recovering and healing ‘from this devastatingly difficult year.’ ”
Multiple concerts featuring video-game music make their way to Montreal, Canada
“If you’re the type to either hum themes from games like Halo, Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda or Pokemon … you’re in luck: a chamber ensemble will be performing OPENWORLD at Laval’s Salle André-Mathieu May 23 and at Place des Arts’ Maison symphonique downtown May 30,” writes J.P. Karwacki in Thursday’s (5/20) Gazette (Montreal, Canada). “The event promises to include pieces from classic titles of the 1990s as well as music from more recent titles, performed by the … film concert orchestra Orchestre FILMharmonique. The group has been behind concerts of music from such films as Star Wars: A New Hope and Lord of the Rings in the past. As with those performances, spectators can expect visual aids on-screen…. If you’re a Montrealer who’s interest is more than piqued by concerts of video game and movie music, it’s worth noting that Place des Arts intends to host a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in Concert event in September; that performance was originally slated to occur in 2020, but had to be postponed.”
Could pandemic disruption be a catalyst for artistic creativity?
“In 2019, arts and culture … contributed £10.5bn to the [U.K.] economy’s output and employed 226,000 people,” writes Larry Elliott in Sunday’s (5/23) Guardian (U.K.). “Lockdown has hit the sector hard, and by the final three months of 2020 activity was down almost 50%. Yet … the long-term future looks a lot brighter. In part, that’s because 15 months of restrictions have generated a hunger for going out…. Adversity can also be the spur for creativity…. Shakespeare … wrote some of his most famous plays during and after outbreaks of the [bubonic] plague…. While the pandemic has been raging, big technological changes have been unfolding, [forming] the components of a fourth industrial revolution…. Industrial revolutions tend to be the catalyst for artistic revolutions…. The first performance of Stravinsky’s the Rite of Spring was a seminal moment in modern classical music. Joyce’s Ulysses took the novel in a direction that would have been unthinkable for Trollope and Dickens. The second industrial revolution produced new artistic mediums—the cinema and TV, for example—but it also had a marked impact on existing ones…. This is an age of disruption…. In these circumstances … it would be surprising if there was no artistic response.”