On July 16, the Minnesota Orchestra’s annual free International Day of Music will return this summer for the first time since the pandemic began, marking the opening weekend of the orchestra’s summer season at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Running from noon to midnight, the event showcases performances by 20 different ensembles—from Salsa del Soul to Lady Midnight—on four stages, including a free performance by the Minnesota Orchestra outdoors. Conductor Chia-Hsuan Lin will lead a one-hour program that culminates in the “Great Gate of Kiev” movement from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. At the conclusion of the piece, church bells across downtown Minneapolis will peal in coordination. Organized in partnership with City of Bells—the Minneapolis nonprofit dedicated to coordinating, restoring and celebrating bells throughout the community—the concert will include bells ringing at five downtown churches: St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, the Basilica of St. Mary, St. Olaf Catholic Church, and Central Lutheran Church, as well as Westminster Presbyterian Church, located directly across 12th Street from Peavey Plaza, where the orchestra will be performing.
Author: Jennifer Melick
Jennifer Melick, Symphony magazine’s former longtime managing editor, is a freelance journalist based in Detroit.
Pittsburgh Symphony to launch European concert tour—as will the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras
“After three years of domestic-only performances, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is once again embarking on a European tour,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Friday’s (6/17) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “It’s an opportunity for the PSO to strut its stuff and an essential status symbol of a top orchestra. In August, the orchestra will visit Cologne, Dresden, Dusseldorf, Essen, Hamburg, Ljubljana, Salzburg and other cities to perform music by, unsurprisingly, European composers including Beethoven, Dvořák, Mahler and Tchaikovsky. The orchestra’s first overseas performance is Aug. 18 at the Ljubljana Festival in Slovenia. The PSO is the only American orchestra to be invited to this year’s Salzburg Festival in Austria, a particularly impressive feat for the ensemble. These festival appearances are by invitation only, and an invitation indicates a certain quality of playing that the PSO has cultivated for years now. The final concert is Sept. 4 in Cologne, Germany. Coincidentally, the Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras will also be on tour at the same time, even hitting some of the same halls within days of PSO concerts. So European audiences will experience a triple barrel dose of Midwest and East Coast American orchestral muscle. Music director Manfred Honeck will lead the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s concerts.”
Rhode Island Philharmonic to expand diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in music education
“The Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School announced Tuesday … a major four-year partnership with Papitto Opportunity Connection in an effort to expand diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives within its music education programming,” writes James Bessette in Tuesday’s (6/21) Providence Business News (RI). “Rhode Island Philharmonic Executive Director David Beauchesne [said] that Papitto will provide more than $3 million over the next four years to support the philharmonic’s work to promote diversity within the music education it provides to the community…. Along with increasing financial aid for students to attend the music school and offer more free community concerts, the philharmonic also hopes to expand [its program] at Agnes Little Elementary [which] offers students [free] afterschool music instruction three days a week [and] hire more guest artists and conductors, faculty and staff, and orchestra extras who identify as Black, Indigenous or people of color…. The philharmonic has increased the number of BIPOC artists hired from 20% to 50% over the last four performance seasons. Additionally, the philharmonic increased from 4.5% to 19% the number of works performed … written by BIPOC composers…. ‘We believe we have a long way to go…. Nevertheless, we are encouraged by our progress,’ Beauchesne said.”
South Carolina’s Aiken Symphony names Scott Weiss music director
“Scott Weiss is on track to be the Aiken Symphony Orchestra’s new music director and conductor” beginning July 1, writes Larry Wood in Saturday’s (6/18) Post and Courier (SC). “As the conductor of the University of South Carolina Symphony Orchestra, … Weiss conducts six masterworks concerts a year…. As the new conductor of the Aiken Symphony Orchestra, Weiss will … conduct not only works from classical music but also holiday favorites and popular standards from Broadway and the American songbook… ‘I love … to conduct the great works by composers like Beethoven and Mendelssohn…. But it’s also exciting to have our Pop Series here as well. That’s a change of pace for me to wear different musical hats.’ … Weiss majored in trumpet performance at Indiana University and, after graduation, played trumpet professionally…. At USC, … he leads the Master’s and doctoral conducting program in orchestral conducting. Some of Weiss’ students and students in USC’s School of Music play with the Aiken Symphony…. The Aiken Symphony Orchestra … was established in 2015. ‘Already in its short history, the orchestra has made, I think, a huge impact on the Aiken community,’ he said. ‘I’m excited to take it over and continue the orchestra’s journey.’ ”
Changing lives: Billings Symphony Orchestra’s music program for incarcerated women
“It’s not a scene you associate with the Montana Women’s Prison, but since 2014 the music program, administered through the Billings Symphony Orchestra and funded primarily through the Montana Arts Council and the Sample Foundation, offers a respite from the grind of prison life,” writes Jaci Webb in Friday’s (6/17) Billings Gazette. “The program’s official title is ‘Tutti Behind Walls’ as tutti is a musical term for ‘all voices together.’ In prior years, inmates have been able to try out different instruments and take in performances by visiting musicians. Prison chaplain Suzanne Moran describes the program as a ‘sanctuary where the women can just be themselves.’ Since its inception, noted Billings classical guitarist Elizabeth Adcock has led the class along with Candy Holzer, former education director of the BSO who has since retired. Adcock’s last class was in early June. Patrick LaFountain, who plays in the Billings band Soul Funk, will take over leadership of the class when it resumes this fall…. [Inmate] Lindsay, who said she is up for parole in 2030, said music is her calling. ‘Music has changed my life for the better.’ ”
Pop-up event with Yo-Yo Ma and Lecolion Washington, spotlighting work of Community Music Center of Boston
Yo-Yo Ma and Lecolion Washington perform a pop-up concert in Boston’s Nubian Square. Washington is executive director of the Community Music Center of Boston. Photo: Lane Turner
“When Yo-Yo Ma and Lecolion Washington met at a party last October, … Ma found out that Washington, who is executive director of the arts education nonprofit Community Music Center of Boston, was a bassoonist,” writes Serena Puang in Friday’s (6/17) Boston Globe. At the party, Ma and Washington “air-played about 40 measures of [Mozart’s Sonata for Bassoon and Cello in B-flat major]. On Thursday, Ma made a surprise appearance with Washington … at the Dudley Cafe in Nubian Square. The duo had kept in touch and become fast friends. They performed the [Mozart] and a piece called ‘Lecolion Loops,’ which Washington [previously] commissioned from composer Daniel Bernard Roumain [and] recorded [on] a CD of bassoon pieces by Black composers…. Ma visited the music center and met the faculty and staff, student workers, and board members to learn about their work … with more than 4,000 [public school] students…. ‘Everybody calls us the best-kept secret,’ chief financial and operating officer Meghan Jasani told Ma… ‘I want us to be well known for what we do and that we provide music education to all students.’ ” Lecolion Washington wrote the introduction to the Symphony magazine article “Creating Authentic, Community-Driven Partnerships.”
New report finds significant increases in performances of works by women and composers of color by American orchestras
The 2022 Orchestra Repertoire Report, produced by the Institute for Composer Diversity in partnership with the League of American Orchestras, with support from the Sphinx Organization’s Venture Fund, shows substantial gains in performances of works by women and composers of color at orchestras nationwide. The 2022 Orchestra Repertoire Report examines the programming of works by composers of color, women composers, and living composers by U.S. orchestras this season as well as longitudinal programming trends from 2015 through the current season. The data was gathered directly from season announcements and the websites of medium- and larger-budget orchestras (League budget groups 1-5).
Key findings include:
• Works by women composers and composers of color (living and deceased) rose by 400%, increasing from 4.5% in 2015 to 22.5% in 2022.
• Works by living composers almost doubled, increasing from 11.7% to 21.8%.
• Works by women composers of color increased by 1425%, from 0.4% in 2015 to 6.1% in 2022.
• Works by living women composers of color increased by 1050%, from 0.4% in 2015 to 4.6% in 2022.
• Changes in diverse programming occurred across all measured orchestra budget groups and geographic regions.
Four winners of Astral Artists’ 2022 national competition: bassoon, accordion, two sopranos
Astral Artists, a nonprofit mentoring program specializing in developing early careers of classical musicians, has announced four winners of its 2022 National Competition. They are: Iwo Jedynecki, classical accordion; Andy Sledge, bassoon; and sopranos Sage DeAgro-Ruopp and Kayla Harriott. Each musician will perform at Astral’s Showcase Concert in mid-October 2022 in Philadelphia and join Astral’s career development program with the start of the 2022-23 season. This year, Astral auditioned voice, small chamber ensembles, woodwinds, brass, and percussion candidates for placement in its program of approximately 25 musicians. A three-round process included live auditions in Philadelphia before an independent panel of musicians, managers, conductors, and presenters from across the U.S., and a final interview round. Competition winners receive customized career mentorship, a portfolio of promotion assets, innovative performance opportunities, community engagement opportunities, artistic exploration, and networking with professionals in the field. Dan Visconti is Astral’s artistic director; Lourdes Starr-Demers is president and CEO. For more information, visit https://www.astralartists.org/.
Three new recording projects ask: What is America?
“The question of ‘What is American/Who is America/What is America?’ has plagued and inspired thousands since the nation’s founding,” writes A. Kori Hill in Wednesday’s (6/15) icareifyoulisten. The article examines three new recordings responding to those questions, “What is American by PUBLIQuartet … , which takes us on a music history journey; This is America from violinist Johnny Gandelsman …, which highlights composers’ reactions to the pandemic, social injustices, and political volatility; and harpist Emily Levin’s GroundWork(s), which will feature new works for harp from 52 composers premiered in their respective hometowns over the next several years…. What is American … communicates a now standard maxim in American music historiography: American culture is indebted to Black creative practices. It’s a message woven through the album’s organization…. Gandelsman’s This is America [features] new works/commissions [including] Clarice Assad’s O [which] makes a direct correlation between the breath denied to George Floyd (‘I can’t breathe’) and the breath denied to those with COVID-19…. [In] GroundWorks(s) Levin’s goal is to commission 52 new works for harp…. Still in its early stages, GroundWork(s) has six confirmed composers: Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate (OK); Aaron Holloway-Nahum (IL); Reena Esmail (CA); Michael Ippolito (FL); Kareem Roustom (MA); and Angélica Negrón (PR).”
Santa Rosa Symphony to broadcast recent concerts on local TV stations
“Santa Rosa Symphony, in partnership with Northern California Public Media, will televise four of its 2021-2022 Classical Series concerts in July on two NorCal Public channels: Public Broadcasting Service channel KRCB and its sister station, non-PBS channel KPJK of San Mateo,” writes Diane Peterson in Thursday’s (6/16) Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA). “All four of the concerts in the Santa Rosa Symphony World Premiere Series were conducted by the symphony’s Music Director Francesco Lecce-Chong at the Green Music Center’s Weill Hall on the Sonoma State University campus before a live audience…. The series’ world premiere concerts include ‘The Fretless Clarinet’ Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra by David Krakauer and Kathleen Tagg; ‘One’ for Orchestra by Gabriella Smith; ‘Valley of the Moon’ for Orchestra by Michael Daugherty; and ‘Los Braceros (The Laborers)’ Cantata for Mariachi and Orchestra by Enrico Chapela Barba.” The article lists the full programming and air dates for the broadcasts on July 5 and 10, 12 and 17, 19 and 24, and 26 and 31, with the KPJK dates listed first and KRCB dates second.