Author: Jennifer Melick

Maine’s Bangor Symphony Orchestra has announced details of its 2022-23 season, which will open on October 9 with Music Director Lucas Richman conducting Nancy Galbraith’s Fantasy for Orchestra (2003), Bartók’s Dance Suite, and Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor with Ifetayo Ali-Landing as soloist. In March, the orchestra will perform the world premiere of a new work by Kenneth Fuchs. A second world premiere is planned in April of a new work by Firefly (Bangor resident Jason Brown) that incorporates the composer’s interpretation of traditional Wabanaki music. (Maine’s four Indian tribes are the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot, and Passamaquoddy, known collectively as the Wabanaki.) Also planned during the season are Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with UMaine Singers and Oratorio Society, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot, and Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Martinez. Women composers highlighted during the season will include Clara Schumann and Augusta Holmès, a French/Irish contemporary of Tchaikovsky. Three performances of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker are planned in December with Robinson Ballet and Bangor Area Youth Choirs.

“A new report from the Institute for Composer Diversity, produced in partnership with the League of American Orchestras and based on data from hundreds of orchestras across the United States, found that compositions by women and people of color made up almost one quarter (23 percent) of pieces programmed by orchestras in the 2021-22 season, up from just five percent in 2015,” writes Hugh Robertson in Saturday’s (6/24) Limelight (Australia). “There is a similar percentage of works by living composers.… These figures are in stark contrast to programming by Australian orchestras, who have been criticized in recent years for conservative and unrepresentative programming…. Before COVID forced the cancellation of so many concerts, Australian orchestras only had between one and six percent of their advertised programs comprising works by Australian composers, save the Adelaide Symphony who came in at 15.9 percent…. The past two years have been a time of major change, with new Chief Conductors appointed in Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland, new Chief Executives in Sydney and Queensland.… We wait to see whether Australian orchestras will finally make room for music by First Nations peoples, women, gender non-conforming people, composers of color, and living composers.”

“The Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra has announced that it has hired Micayla Bellamy to fill the role of managing director,” writes Tamara Markard in Monday’s (6/27) Greeley Tribune (CO). “Bellamy will help support the organization by creating, managing and implementing GPO programs including special events, concert, fundraisers and community programs, explained a press release…. The managing director will also serve as a liaison between the GPO and the Greeley Philharmonic Guild, assisting with promotion and implementation of events associated with the orchestra…. Before accepting the position, Bellamy taught music and life skills courses to middle and high school students in Evergreen…. Bellamy partnered with students and organizations to create art-based projects such as performances, fundraisers and community events. Bellamy also served as an intern for the 2021 Greeley Multicultural Festival. During her internship, she assisted in organizing the event as well as the fall festival’s collaborative performances. Bellamy attended the University of Northern Colorado where she earned a bachelor’s degree in Music Education. She then went on to Colorado State University where she completed a Master of Arts Leadership and Cultural Management degree.” Nick Kenny is CEO of the Greeley Philharmonic Orchestra, and Lowell Graham is music director.

“The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra announced its roster of guest conductors for the 2022-23 season, after which it expects to conclude its search for a music director,” writes Stephanie Smittle in Tuesday’s (6/28) Arkansas Times. “Geoffrey Robson has been the symphony’s interim artistic director since the departure of Philip Mann as music director in 2019. All but one of the guest conductors, Vladimir Kulenovich, have worked with the symphony before and are making a return visit.” Kulenovich will conduct a program of Joseph Bologne, Bruch, Hindemith, and Mozart in October. Five other conductors will conduct concerts from November through May: Stephen Mulligan, Akiko Fujimoto, Andrew Crust, Geoffrey Robson, and Matthew Kraemer. “ ‘Our guest conductors have been selected specifically by our own musicians because they are outstanding musicians themselves,’ Chief Executive Officer Christina Littlejohn said.… The season program [includes] some smart-as-hell program choices to anticipate (A Rachel Barton Pine appearance! Hindemith! Margaret Bonds’ ‘Montgomery Variations!’ A spotlight on the ASO’s harpist Alisa Coffey! Fanny Mendelssohn! New stuff I’ve never heard of!).” Composers represented during the season include Beethoven, Berlioz, Doreen Carwithen, Delius, Dvořák, James Lee III, Gabriel Pierné, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Robert Schumann, Sibelius, and Still.

“The Emerging Black Composers Project, the annual commissioning and mentorship program run in partnership by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the San Francisco Symphony, has named the Bay Area composer and singer Jens Ibsen as its second winner,” writes Joshua Kosman in Tuesday’s (6/28) San Francisco Chronicle. “The prize brings a cash award of $15,000 and a chance to workshop a new work, which will then have its world premiere as part of the Symphony’s 2023-24 season conducted by Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen…. Ibsen, 26, was born in Accra, Ghana, to a Ghanaian mother and an American father. He grew up in Pacifica and Daly City…. He holds degrees in music from Pepperdine University … and from the Mannes School of Music…. As a composer, Ibsen boasts a varied musical portfolio that ranges from opera to heavy metal…. The Emerging Black Composers Project was created in 2020…. Michael Morgan, the late music director of the Oakland Symphony, was an early backer of the project, along with Salonen and San Francisco Conservatory Music Director Edwin Outwater. The first award was given in 2021 to New Jersey composer Trevor Weston, whose … orchestral work is scheduled for its world premiere Sept. 29-Oct. 2.”

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has released Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement, in what is announced as the first commercial recording of the work featuring the composer’s own orchestration. The album features pianist Karen Walwyn performing with the orchestra, led by Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson; the recording was released in advance of Florence Price Day, April 9, marking 135 years since her birth in Little Rock, Arkansas. Deutsche Grammophon has released John Williams’s Violin Concerto No. 2, featuring the Boston Symphony Orchestra and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; Williams conducts the recording, which also includes the composer’s film music. Also out from the Boston Symphony Orchestra this month is DG’s new Shostakovich recording of the composer’s Symphony Nos. 1, 14, and 15 and Chamber Symphony in C minor, led by Music Director Andris Nelsons. In November, the Cleveland Orchestra will release a recording of music by George Walker; Music Director Franz Welser-Möst leads the performances, which include Lilacs for voice and orchestra with soprano Latonia Moore; Antifonys for string orchestra; and Sinfonias No. 4 and No. 5 with narrator Tony Sias. Michigan’s Jackson Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Matthew Aubin have released the first recording in the orchestra’s new Equal Billing Project, which aims to record and support the music of composers not adequately recognized during their lifetimes. The new recording on the Claves label includes music written in the 1940s by French composer Fernande Decruck. The Knights ensemble and tenor Nicholas Phan are featured on a new Avie recording of Nico Muhly’s Stranger, Lorne Ys My Likinge, and Impossible Things. The Time For Three string trio—violinists Nicolas Kendall and Charles Yang, and bassist Ranaan Meyer—and the Philadelphia Orchestra appear on a new Deutsche Grammophon recording, Letters for the Future, featuring concertos by Kevin Puts (Contact) and Jennifer Higdon (Concerto 4-3). The California-based music collective Wild Up and Artistic Director Chris Rountree have released Julius Eastman Vol. 2: Joy Boy on New Amsterdam Records. The new album follows last year’s Julius Eastman Vol. 1: Femenine and includes performances of previously unrecorded Eastman compositions including Joy Boy and Buddha.

Sony Classical has released A Gathering of Friends, an album featuring music by John Williams and performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the New York Philharmonic. The recording includes Williams’s newly revised version of his 1994 Cello Concerto; Williams’s 2018 concert work Highwood’s Ghost with Ma joined by the New York Philharmonic and Jessica Zhou, principal harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and new arrangements Williams created for Ma of film music from Schindler’s List, Lincoln, and Munich. Deutsche Grammophon has released A Concert for Peace, with violinist Daniel Hope and Ukrainian pianist Alexey Botvinov. Recorded in Dresden and Berlin, the program features music by composers including Valentin Silvestrov, Myroslav Skoryk, and Jan Freidlin. Musicians provided their services free of charge, and proceeds will go to charities working to help the people of Ukraine. Violist Jordan Bak has released Impulse, his solo debut album, on the Bright Shiny Things label. The album features the world premiere recording of Tableau XII by Tyson Gholston Davis, and a diverse roster of composers including Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Joan Tower, Rebecca Clarke, Quinn Mason, Jeffrey Mumford, and Tōru Takemitsu.

“A gift of $20m from a mysterious international donor could be the start of a major restoration for one of Queensland’s most-loved buildings—The Old Museum at Bowen Hills,” writes Phil Brown in Thursday’s (6/23) Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Australia). “To help the cause, the state budget this week allocated $7.6m for the building [for] business case and master planning [and] maintenance over the next four years. The Old Museum has been used as a film set, but primarily is home to the acclaimed Queensland Youth Orchestras. The anonymous donor is a big fan of the organization and wants to help secure QYO’s long-term future in the beloved heritage venue. QYO has trained thousands of classical musicians over the decades … QYO president, former arts minister Ian Walker, said the business case funding, coupled with this $20m donation, ‘Our vision for the restoration would make it possible for us to share these heritage spaces with all of Queensland. In addition to creating a world-class, medium-sized concert hall, a full restoration would include additional rehearsal and administrative facilities for QYO, and a repurposing of the Exhibition Hall and basement spaces for all creative Queenslanders to use and enjoy.’ ”