“A 12-year old Brooklyn girl is uplifting audiences and making history as one of the youngest composers for the New York Philharmonic,” reports Monica Morales on Wednesday (11/4) at WPIX TV (New York, N.Y.). “Grace Moore is a seventh grade student at Poly Prep in Dyker Heights [Brooklyn]…. In October, Moore had a world premiere of a piece she created [as] a participant of the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program—a program that teaches people as young as eight to create music, then have the some of best musicians in the world perform it…. According to Gary Padmore, the director of the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers program, the objective is to help Moore and kids like her from diverse backgrounds. … ‘Every child has the ability to be creative and tell their story,’ said Padmore. Moore feels she is breaking barriers as a young woman of color and wants to inspire others to create and appreciate music. ‘I hope everyone follows their hobbies and do what they love,’ said Moore.” Included is footage of New York Philharmonic musicians performing Moore’s piece, Summer, as part of the NY Phil Bandwagon series of outdoor concerts.
Author: Joanna Bettelheim
Toledo Symphony performs smaller-scale concert for in-person and online audiences
“Those planning to watch the Toledo Symphony Orchestra concerts this weekend will find a pair of realities at work. The first is the lineup itself … including George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue,” writes Mike Pearson in Thursday’s (11/5) Blade (Toledo, OH). “The second reality might be called ‘the foreseeable future.’ Thanks to pandemic distancing, there will be no more than 25 musicians onstage, out of the usual 65, and the audience at the Peristyle will be limited to 225 ticket-holders, in a venue that seats 1,700. … Like an increasing number of orchestras across the country the TSO has begun live streaming its concerts [which] allows for more intimate access to the performers. Five cameras are employed, three of which are robotic and remotely operated….. All Toledo Symphony concerts will be staged both in-person and virtually through the end of the year …. ‘It’s a little bit like playing for a live TV audience and for TV at the same time,’ ” says pianist Michael Chertock, the soloist in Rhapsody in Blue. The concerts, led by guest conductor Andrew Grams, will also feature George Walker’s Lyric For Strings and Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man and Appalachian Spring.
Composer Osvaldo Golijov returns, with “Falling Out of Time”
Osvaldo Golijov with Silkroad musicians at a workshop for Falling Out of Time in 2018. Photo by Stephanie Berger
“Osvaldo Golijov was one of the most celebrated stars in classical music. Then came a long, unexpected drought,” writes Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in Thursday’s (11/5) New York Times. “In 2011, the Israeli novelist David Grossman published ‘Falling Out of Time,’ a haunting fable about a grief-stricken father who sets out on a journey to connect with his dead child…. The book found its way into the hands of Golijov, a composer who … over the past 10 years … has been all but silent. Mr. Grossman’s ‘Falling Out of Time,’ though, became the seed of his creative regeneration. Last month the Silkroad Ensemble released a recording of Mr. Golijov’s 80-minute song cycle based on the text… ‘I was really depressed,’ Mr. Golijov, 59, said … recently, of his creative drought. ‘That is the shortest answer.’ … ‘Falling Out of Time’ dealt with tragedy, survival and the mystery of existence. ‘I had been looking for the perfect story to ask all these questions,’ Mr. Golijov said…. His score makes use of the wide palette of instrumental sounds offered by the Silkroad Ensemble…. Since the pandemic hit earlier this year, he said, he has been writing ‘like crazy.’ ”
Princeton Symphony to film “Fanfare for the Common Man” in downtown Princeton, NJ
On October 12, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra will head to Princeton, New Jersey’s Palmer Square to shoot a film of Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man featuring its brass and percussion musicians, led by Music Director Rossen Milanov. Filming will be done between 3:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. by PCK Media, directed by Eric Schultz, and will use multiple cameras, including a drone camera. At 5 p.m., the musicians will perform the entire fanfare for shoppers, families, and anyone in the vicinity. The filming and performance, with an October 13 rain date, are open to the public; audience members are likely to be included in the filming. The project is the brainchild of PSO Executive Director Marc Uys, who says, “For many of the musicians involved, this project represents their first and only work in six months. They are extremely grateful, and excited to be playing with colleagues again. The final product will be a high-quality piece, shining a light on Princeton Symphony Orchestra and Princeton’s vibrant downtown.”
In NYC, Broadway’s 41 theaters to remain closed through May 2021
“The Broadway League has announced yet another extension of the stage shutdown in New York City,” writes Rob Bailey-Millado in Friday’s (10/9) New York Post. “The organization confirmed that it is suspending ticket sales and performances through May 30, 2021, marking another COVID-19-induced delay before live theater productions will return, according to an announcement Friday via Twitter…. ‘With nearly 97,000 workers who rely on Broadway for their livelihood and an annual economic impact of $14.8 billion to the city, our membership is committed to re-opening as soon as conditions permit us to do so,’ said Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, in a statement…. Returning productions are tentatively projected to resume performances over a series of rolling dates beginning June 2021…. Broadway performances were suspended on March 12, 2020…. ‘My heart breaks for everyone who works on Broadway or depends on it to make their living,’ said Mary McColl, executive director for Actors’ Equity…. McColl also made a public plea for support on a federal level.… Although the shutdown still holds firm, the long-delayed 2020 Tony Award nominations for excellence in theater are set to be announced … October 15.”
Obituary: Maynard Solomon, influential biographer of composers, 90
“Maynard Solomon, a musicologist and record producer best known for influential, lucidly written biographies of Beethoven and Mozart as well as a hotly debated scholarly article on Schubert’s sexuality, died on Sept. 28 at his apartment in Manhattan. He was 90,” writes Anthony Tommasini in Thursday’s (10/8) New York Times. “The cause was Lewy body dementia.… Mr. Solomon’s compelling 1977 biography of Beethoven, later revised and reissued, offered fresh, meticulously researched accounts of the composer’s life and perceptive yet mostly nontechnical discussions of the compositions…. Mr. Solomon’s ‘Mozart: A Life’ was a finalist for the 1996 Pulitzer Prize in biography…. His 2004 book ‘Late Beethoven: Music. Thought, Imagination’ was also influential… Maynard Elliott Solomon was born on Jan. 5, 1930, in Manhattan.… In 1950 … Maynard and his brother, Seymour, founded Vanguard Records…. Vanguard and its Bach Guild label released an impressively diverse catalog of valuable recordings … and issued pivotal albums of folk music, blues and jazz. The classical repertory included English madrigals, overlooked Bach cantatas, masses by Haydn and a landmark survey of the complete Mahler symphonies.… Mr. Solomon taught regularly in adjunct and visiting professor stints at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, Columbia, Harvard and Yale, and joined the graduate faculty at the Juilliard School.”
San Diego Symphony’s Payare steps in to conduct “La Bohème”
“With less than three weeks to go before San Diego Opera’s drive-in production of Puccini’s ‘La bohème’ opens in a sports arena parking lot, the company announced a casting change and new conductor today,” writes Pam Kragen in Tuesday’s (10/6) San Diego Union-Tribune. “Soprano Ana María Martínez will step into the lead role of Mimi to replace singer Angel Blue, who is unable to perform. And San Diego Symphony music director Rafael Payare will conduct the opera’s 24-member orchestra of San Diego Symphony musicians. Payare replaces the previously announced Italian conductor Valerio Galli, who couldn’t come to San Diego due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19…. With the new additions to the artistic team, this ‘La bohème’ will have a distinctively Latin flavor. Martínez was born in Puerto Rico, [tenor Joshua] Guerrero is Mexican-American, and Payare is from Venezuela…. Payare is best known for his symphonic conducting work, but he has extensive experience in the opera world. He made his debut at England’s Glyndebourne Festival in 2019 conducting Rossini’s ‘The Barber of Seville’ [and] has conducted [at] Royal Swedish Opera and [Sweden’s] Malmo Opera…. Tickets … will be sold by the carload … for as many people as there are seat belts per vehicle.”
Charlotte Symphony promotes city unity in concert at ballpark
“In an event aimed at bringing the city together ‘through the power of music,’ the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra announced it will hold an hour-long concert at Truist Field in uptown this month,” writes Joe Marusak in Thursday’s (10/8) Charlotte Observer (NC). “ ‘A Concert for Charlotte,’ set for 7 p.m. Oct. 24, is meant to celebrate the Queen City, symphony music director Christopher Warren-Green said Thursday in announcing the event. The concert will feature Opera Carolina singer Jennifer Wiggins as well as [composer] Nkeiru Okoye’s ‘Charlotte Mecklenburg,’ a piece the symphony commissioned for Charlotte’s 250th anniversary. Works by Barber, Beethoven, Gluck, Jessie Montgomery, Rossini and John Williams are also on the bill. And there will be fireworks at the end of the event…. Charlotte-based singer [Jennifer Wiggins] said she hopes the piece [she will sing] will ‘allow people to find closure from any heartbreak they might be experiencing and help them realize it’s OK to mourn the ones you’ve loved and lost.’… The symphony and the Knights [baseball team] have worked with Atrium Health on COVID-19 safety procedures, including crowd-size limits and reduced seating capacity for proper social distancing. Ticket buyers must wear masks and follow other government health guidelines.”
Timeline celebrates Spokane Symphony’s 75-year history
“For 75 years, Spokane Symphony has survived recessions, strikes and conductor crises—all while growing into an exceptional arts institution,” writes Jim Kershner in Wednesday’s (10/7) Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA). “The orchestra has been led by a Pulitzer Prize-winning conductor. It has recorded CDs for major labels. It has accompanied legends, including Van Cliburn, Itzhak Perlman and Ella Fitzgerald. In the 2000s, it purchased and renovated the Fox Theater, an Art Deco masterpiece, making it one of the few orchestras of any size to own its own hall.” The article features Kershner’s timeline of the orchestra, which includes entries from 1914, when the orchestra performed its first concert at the Orpheum Theater conducted by Leonardo Brill, to 2019, when James Lowe became the orchestra’s eighth music director—his first season with the orchestra was interrupted in March 2020 by COVID-19. The article also includes a chart of longest-serving members in the 67-musician orchestra, topped by Principal Trumpet Larry Jess, in the orchestra for 51 years. The Spokane Symphony has postponed its 75th-anniversary season to 2021-22 due to the pandemic.
Alexandria Symphony awards microgrants for community initiatives focusing on classical music
“Yesterday afternoon the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra announced the [seven] recipients of a micro-grant,” writes Kevin Dairy in Tuesday’s (10/6) Zebra Press (Alexandria, VA). “Each recipient will complete a project involving classical music by June 2021 with assistance from the grant. Upon project completion, one of the following objectives will be met: confront systemic racism in classical music, connect to all parts of the community, promote underrecognized artistic voices, and improve the lives of children…. Alexandria Symphony Concertmaster Claudia Chudacoff will record [Ecuadorian composer] Chia Patino’s mournful Wild Swans with a string quartet…. Avalanche Bass Quartet, led by ASO musician Kimberly Parillo, will present a socially distanced outdoor concert at the Mason District Amphitheater in Annandale…. WindSync [woodwind quintet], led by ASO oboist Emily Tsai, will present a virtual workshop to … students [and] provide future opportunities for students to attend in-person performances. QuinTango, led by ASO violinist Joan Singer, will teach [public school] students to play a tango…. ASO assistant principal cellist Jihea Choi and violinist Sonya Hayes will present a workshop to middle school students…. Ms. Choi and Ms. Hayes will demonstrate string techniques and begin a conversation about systemic racism in classical music via Zoom.”