Author: Jennifer Melick

Boston University Tanglewood Institute, a training program for young musicians in Lenox, Massachusetts, has announced its 2022 concert calendar, which will begin on July 16 with a concert by the institute’s Young Artists Orchestra at Seiji Ozawa Hall. Mei-Ann Chen will conduct the ensemble in Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances, Anna Clyne’s Masquerade, Louise Farrenc’s Symphony No. 3, and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis. Also planned are a July 24 concert dedicated to Anne Hobson Pilot, former principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Director of the BUTI Young Artists Harp Program from 2002 to 2021. That program will include “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson, with harpist Charles Overton; Julia Perry’s Homunculus C.F.; excerpts from Valerie Coleman’s Concerto for Woodwind Quintet; Jessie Montgomery’s Strum; Florence Price’s Adoration; and Rosephanye Powell’s Non Nobis Domine; guest harpist Angelica Hairston will also perform during the concert. The summer’s final Young Artists Orchestra performance will take place on August 13, led by Paul Haas; repertoire will include Jessica Meyer’s Go Big or Go Home; Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5; Respighi’s Pines of Rome; and the world premiere of Valerie Coleman’s Ashé, commissioned by BUTI and conducted by Joseph Conyers.

“The San Diego Symphony on Friday announced that Sycuan has donated $1.1 million” to the orchestra, writes Madison Geering in Thursday’s (6/30) San Diego Union-Tribune. “A newly established plaza was unveiled at The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park Friday, named the Sycuan Community Plaza in honor of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation and Sycuan Casino Resort. This donation … is the largest one made to Southern California’s arts and culture sector by a sovereign tribal nation and will be used to enhance the symphony’s infrastructure and community outreach endeavors. ‘(Sycuan has) always been a vital partner for this orchestra,’ said San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer.… Sycuan is also a contributor to the symphony’s Music Connects program, which aims to increase access to live music. The partnership between the symphony and Sycuan goes back 20 years and includes the sharing of venues and amenities, availability of discounts and access to different performance opportunities. These benefits are available to tribal members, Sycuan casino employees and symphony patrons. ‘Through the Kumeyaay spirit of giving, it is very important for us to invest in all aspects of our community, especially arts and culture,’ ” said Cody Martinez, chairman of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.

“The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has announced a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with its musicians, and its eighth consecutive year with a balanced budget,” writes Scott Freeman in Tuesday’s (7/5) ArtsATL (Georgia). “The orchestra exceeded its Annual Fund revenue goals, and the symphonic world is abuzz over the appointment of Nathalie Stutzmann as the ASO music director…. The new agreement includes raises for the musicians for the next three years, and increases the portion of the musicians’ salaries that is earmarked for the orchestra’s ‘Behind The Curtain’ virtual concert series and livestreams. It adds progressive parental leave policies…. ‘The musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra worked together with us closely … through the initial phase of the Covid-19 pandemic,’ Jennifer Barlament, the ASO’s executive director, said in a press release. ‘This helped solidify an already strong working dynamic….’ Cellist Daniel Laufer, the chair of the Atlanta Symphony Players’ Association, was part of the negotiating team in 2012 and 2014 [when contract negotiations between management and musicians ended in lockouts]. He called the new agreement ‘a remarkable turnaround’ from 10 years ago [and said it] ‘demonstrates a very important step to help both attract and retain talent on stage.’ ”

“Lina González-Granados, whose contract as the Chicago Symphony’s conducting apprentice has been extended through next year, needed no … springboard when she stepped in for Riccardo Muti on June 16,” writes Hannah Edgar in Thursday’s (6/30) Chicago Tribune. “González-Granados was recently named resident conductor of the Los Angeles Opera, where she will open the 2022-23 season…. Born and raised in Cali, Colombia, González-Granados already globe-trots for podium engagements, especially in Latin America…. Stateside, she’s guest conducted ensembles like the Philadelphia Orchestra and Seattle Symphony, where she held similar conducting fellowships. That’s all to say: It’s not González-Granados’s first rodeo. As [the CSO’s] Solti Conducting Apprentice … it’s her job to prepare … But this month’s ordeal was a special nail-biter. Halfway through an open rehearsal on June 16, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association president Jeff Alexander announced onstage that Muti had tested positive for COVID-19…. With the remaining rehearsal time, she could only run through the Beethoven Violin Concerto with soloist Anne-Sophie Mutter…. That left the Brahms [No. 1] symphony unrehearsed until that evening’s show…. ‘They asked me if I was ready to conduct at least that day and Friday, and I said yes,’ she says.” González-Granados is a board member of the League of American Orchestras.

“Musicians in the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra are coming soon to a park near you from July 2 through July 31,” writes Peter Hall in Friday’s (7/1) Buffalo Rising (NY). “One concert deserves special mention and that’s ‘A Concert for Healing’ to be held on Buffalo’s East Side, … July 24 … at the Johnnie B Wiley Pavilion…. In the spirit of providing comfort and hope for all affected by the recent mass shooting tragedy in the Buffalo community, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and BPO Diversity Council offer this free performance, conducted by Maestro JoAnn Falletta along with Assistant Conductor Jaman E. Dunn, which will feature the full orchestra and vocalists Sirgourney Cook and Rev. Julian Armand Cook performing music that allows for moments of quiet reflection and celebrates the resiliency of the City of Good Neighbors. Included will be works by African American composers including Adolphus Hailstork’s ‘Three Spirituals’ and ‘Fanfare on Amazing Grace’ and William Grant Still’s ‘Mother and Child.’ This performance is free and open to the public.” Also included is coverage of the Buffalo Philharmonic’s season-ending June performance featuring the world premiere of Wang Jie’s The Winter That United Us, commissioned by the League of American Orchestras with the support of the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

The Utah Symphony begins its six-concert 2022 Deer Valley Music Festival on July 1 with Stewart Copeland: Police Deranged for Orchestra, featuring the orchestra performing with rock drummer/composer Stewart Copeland at Snow Park Outdoor Amphitheater in Park City. Additional orchestra concerts through August 6 will feature alt-rock band Guster and jazz band the Hot Sardines; Broadway performers Kristin Chenoweth and LaKisha Jones; a program of music by John Williams; an orchestral program led by John Morris Russell featuring Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with pianist ChangYong Shin; a concert of music by ABBA; Capathia Jenkins in Aretha: A Tribute; and a music-theater program dedicated to the memory of Stephen Sondheim. Utah Symphony musicians will also perform in five Wednesday chamber concerts at St. Mary’s Church in Park City.

Conductor and violinist Terrance Malone Gray died on June 26 at age 59. “He was Chicago Symphony Youth Orchestras’ longest-serving employee, conducting ensembles for almost 30 years,” states an unsigned article on Tuesday’s (6/28) Violin Channel. “He was also a faculty member and conductor at the Chicago School for the Performing Arts, as well as a member of the St. Neri Chamber Players and the first violin section of the Chicago Sinfonietta—the latter of which he was a founding member…. Born in Wisconsin, he started his musical career began on violin under the tutelage of Elizabeth Grabow Mueller. Gray went on to study … at DePaul University…. He served as concertmaster of the DePaul University Orchestra and as concertmaster of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Upon graduating, he became Music Director of the South Side Family Chamber Orchestra and the principal conductor of CYSO’s Concert Orchestra. In 1999, Gray was appointed the principal conductor of the Illinois Chamber Symphony, and during the 2002 season was Music Director/Conductor and Professor of Violin at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. In 2010, he had his premiere performance conducting the Chicago Sinfonietta…. That same year, Gray was awarded a Conductor of the Year award from the Illinois Council of Orchestras.” No cause of death was given. He is survived by his children Nyah and Esai.