Author: Joanna Bettelheim

With most live performances on hold, staff of Ohio’s Canton Symphony Orchestra have added several remote programs during the pandemic, including a six-part video series about music theory at its website, recorded and taught by Associate Conductor Matthew Jenkins Jaroszewicz. In addition, Manager of Education and Community Outreach Rachel Hagemeier has organized a “Scenario Planning for Teachers” resource for music teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic; Hagemeier also created “Beyond the Music,” a series in which music professionals speak about management, performance, and education, and is programming the orchestra’s in-person “Symphony Uncorked” series in partnership with Gervasi Vineyard, the orchestra’s only live performances since March. Nathan Maslyk, the orchestra’s manager of marketing, has created a digital historical timeline featuring photographs, newspaper clippings, and records spanning each decade since the orchestra was founded in 1938, with a goal of making the full history of the orchestra accessible online.

“As a piano tuner, Verne Edquist … prepared the pianos for well-known musicians, among them Gina Bachauer, Victor Borge, Duke Ellington, Arthur Rubinstein, Andras Schiff, Rudolf Serkin and Liberace,” writes James Barron in Thursday’s (10/1) New York Times. “But he was chiefly known as the personal tuner for the famously eccentric virtuoso Glenn Gould, whose pianos Mr. Edquist nurtured from the 1960s to the early ‘80s, making exacting adjustments that shaped the sounds heard on Gould’s recordings. Mr. Edquist died on Aug. 27 in Toronto. He was 89. His son Carl said the cause was kidney failure. Tuning pianos is a subtle art, but there was nothing subtle about how he became Gould’s tuner. The first time they encountered each other, he flatly refused to work on Gould’s … Chickering, an 1895 grand.… [When] larger pins were installed, just as Mr. Edquist had advised,” the piano worked well. “Gould later enlisted Mr. Edquist to be his private tuner and ready Gould’s preferred Steinway for recording sessions…. Charles Verne Edquist was born on Jan. 10, 1931, in Fairy Glen, Saskatchewan.” Edquist’s wife, Lillian, died on Sept. 20. He is survived three sons and a daughter.

“Arts broadcaster Suzy Klein regularly attempts to rescue the legacy of black classical composers,” writes Phil Harrison in Sunday’s (9/27) Guardian (U.K.). “She continues undeterred with [the] BBC Four documentary Black Classical Music: The Forgotten History, co-presented with Lenny Henry, which does an appropriately unapologetic job of illuminating the racism underpinning the classical canon. We begin in the 1500s, before the foundation of the Atlantic slave trade, when hundreds of African people were already living fairly ordinary lives in Britain…. With slavery came dehumanization (George Handel personally profited from the trade), and with this dehumanization came the establishment of the Europhile classical tradition that continues to this day…. Despite being born on a slave ship, Ignatius Sancho became the first published black composer in history, while the rakish Parisian Chevalier De Saint-Georges found some of his violin stylings copied by the cheeky Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart…. The BAME [Black and Minority Ethnic] orchestra Chineke!, … reanimates the neglected works of these composers. But it is not always that simple: chunks of this music now barely exist. For example, to perform Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Symphony in A Minor, Chineke! has to use a score with whole bars missing.”

“Eckart Preu had a concern we can all sympathize with. He was worried that the audio or video on his Zoom call might be bad” during a recent conversation, states Rob Caldwell on Tuesday (9/29) at WCSH TV (Portland, ME).“ ‘The kids are home,’ he explained, ‘and the bandwidth may be a problem.’ So it goes, even for the conductor and musical director of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, now getting ready for a digital concert that will be streamed [starting October 6]. The performance will be tailored for the age of Covid. Only 23 musicians will take the stage, and there will be masks, plastic partitions, social distancing. Preu, though, can’t wait to pick up his baton and lead his musicians. ‘Music is taking care of our souls in so many ways,’ he said with conviction. ‘I think classical music in particular gets to the heart of who we are. Particularly in times like this, we need someone or something to take care of our emotion, spiritual well-being—and I think classical music is better suited than anything I know of.’ … His enthusiasm is infectious.” The PSO’s season-opening concert will feature music by Vivaldi, William Boyce, and Max Richter.

“With live, in-person performances still extremely limited, classical music lovers can be grateful for the wealth of streamed events and recordings coming our way,” writes Georgia Rowe in Wednesday’s (9/30) Marin Independent Journal (CA). “Cal Performances launches its new At Home series Thursday with top-quality streams from around the world…. Digital ‘watch parties’ are included with each event…. The series begins [Oct. 1] with violinist Tessa Lark [and] pianist Andrew Armstrong in a live recital performance from New York’s Merkin Hall…. For its first virtual presentation of the season, the San Francisco Early Music Society presents Agave Baroque. The American ensemble, which includes members of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, welcomes countertenor Reginald L. Mobley in a program celebrating Black and Latino composers, including Scott Joplin, Florence Price and Black American guitar virtuoso Justin Holland…. Keeping kids occupied during a pandemic has brought a unique set of challenges. ‘Reading Is Instrumental,’ Berkeley Symphony’s latest initiative, can help. The series features live readings accompanied by Symphony musicians. Launched last week with award-winning actress Rita Moreno, new episodes arrive each Friday, [with] readers including actor Andy Samberg, Oakland A’s star Marcus Semien, author Maxine Hong Kingston and the Symphony’s music director, Joseph Young.”

“Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on Thursday [announced] a virtual season for 2020-21 featuring 16 episodes imagined and directed by designer and interdisciplinary artist James Darrah, who has been named LACO’s creative director of digital content,” writes Jessica Gelt in Thursday’s (10/1) Los Angeles Times. “Darrah directed the world premieres of composer Ellen Reid’s Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘prism’ and Missy Mazzoli’s adaptation of the Lars von Trier film ‘Breaking the Waves.’… For his new position, Darrah is teaming up with LACO music director Jaime Martín on a slate of offerings dubbed ‘LACO Close Quarters.’ The linchpin of Darrah’s vision involves the creation of a digital studio at Wilhardt & Naud, a multidisciplinary arts campus in downtown L.A.’s Chinatown. Darrah is scouting the campus to find collaborators for the new season, consisting of original visual episodes informed by LACO music recorded and filmed separately at the Colburn School’s Olive Rehearsal Hall…. If health guidance allows a live, socially distanced audience in the future, that audience might take part in the art via an outdoor space near the digital studio. The new LACO season will stream biweekly, and at no cost to viewers, at 6:30 p.m. Fridays from Nov. 6 to June 4.”