“It’s been pretty busy at the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra,” writes Gabriel Granillo in Sunday’s (1/12) Arizona Daily Sun (Flagstaff). “FSO has made the most of its 70th season. It’s a milestone for which conductor Charles Latshaw is grateful…. The orchestra prepares for its upcoming performance Jan. 24 with PROJECT Trio, a Brooklyn-based beatbox/classical trio. Q: The Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 70th season this year.… What does the milestone mean to you? Latshaw: … Not only is the orchestra itself 30 years older than I am, but many of the musicians have been in their positions longer than I’ve been alive. It means that FSO has a great wealth of wisdom and experience on stage.… Q: … When did you know you wanted to be a conductor? Latshaw: … I had never even heard an orchestra until I was a teenager. The Russian National Orchestra came through my hometown of Toledo, Ohio on tour…. They began the concert with the first movement of Sergei Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and from that first moment I heard the power and might of a full orchestra, I knew I wanted to be a musician for the rest of my life.”
Author: Jennifer Melick
Jennifer Melick, Symphony magazine’s former longtime managing editor, is a freelance journalist based in Detroit.
Langrée extends contract as Cincinnati Symphony music director through 2023-24
“The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra took the occasion of the orchestra’s 125th anniversary gala to announce that it has extended the contract of music director Louis Langrée” through the 2023-24 season, writes Janelle Gelfand in Sunday’s (1/12) Cincinnati Business Courier (OH). “Langrée … is in his seventh season with the CSO.… The announcement comes as Langrée waits to see whether he and the orchestra will win a Grammy Award [on January 26] for ‘Best Orchestral Performance’ for ‘Transatlantic,’ an album featuring the first recording of a new critical edition of Gershwin’s “An American in Paris,’ the original version of Varese’s ‘Amériques’ and Stravinsky’s Symphony in C…. By the end of the 2020-21 season, Langrée and the CSO will have commissioned or co-commissioned 31 new works…. His tenure has been marked by other bold initiatives and multi-season projects [including] The Concertos for Orchestra project: During the 2015-16 season, composers from three continents, Zhou Tian, Thierry Escaich, and Sebastian Currier, were each commissioned to write a work demonstrating the virtuosity of each section of the orchestra…. CSO initiatives launched during Langrée’s tenure include CSO Proof, CSO Look Around, Luminosity, One City/One Symphony, and the MusicNOW collaboration with composer Bryce Dessner.”
Composer David Lang: Why I wanted to tell the prisoners’ story from Beethoven’s “Fidelio”
“I was in my early 20s when I first saw Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera, on stage,” writes composer David Lang in Friday’s (1/10) Guardian (U.K.) “Beethoven himself was unhappy with the opera. He drastically rewrote it several times over the course of many years…. Fidelio is full of beautiful music, and beautiful ideas, but it has real dramatic problems…. The most famous part of the show is the stirring Prisoners’ Chorus at the end of the first act: We trust in God! We will be free! And then … we don’t hear from them again until the very last moments of the opera… I decided to make my own version of the piece…. My new opera, Prisoner of the State, doesn’t use any of Beethoven’s music, but I did want to have it constantly in contact with his libretti…. I added the prisoners to almost every scene.… It was Beethoven, with such works as Fidelio and the Ninth Symphony, who pioneered the idea that a composer could challenge society, that music has the power to stand up for something…. I—and all composers everywhere—inherited that job from Beethoven himself. Maybe that is the best 250th birthday tribute we can give him in 2020.”
In photo: The New York Philharmonic’s world premiere production of David Lang’s Prisoner of the State, David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center, June 2019. The BBC Symphony Orchestra gave the European premiere of the work at the Barbican in London last week. Photo: Chris Lee
Register for a seminar on Creating a Culture of Innovation
Arts administrators from orchestras of all budget sizes are invited to register for the League of American Orchestras’ Mid-Winter Seminar Creating a Culture of Innovation facilitated by Derek Young, president and CEO of YMG Enterprises, LLC. Young is a speaker and coach on transforming corporate culture, and a former board member and community engagement chairman of the Nashville Symphony.
For the leaders of American orchestras, the constant challenge of securing sustainable resources, refreshing the mix of offerings, and maintaining team motivation requires higher and higher levels of vision, tenacity, and influence. Leaders understand that innovation is essential for the continued growth and maturation of a winning arts enterprise. This interactive program will focus on how to model, teach, promote, and protect the winning behaviors of an innovative work environment.
Creating a Culture of Innovation takes place Saturday, January 25 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm in New York City. Learn more and register for Creating a Culture of Innovation and the League’s Mid-winter Seminars.
Indianapolis Symphony to honor Raymond Leppard, late music director, Jan. 13
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra will celebrate the life and legacy of Raymond Leppard, the orchestra’s music director from 1987 to 2001, on January 13 at 5 p.m. at the Hilbert Circle Theatre. Leppard died on October 22, 2019 at age 92. Musical tributes will be presented by colleagues from the ISO and Indianapolis Symphonic Choir; ISO Music Director Krzysztof Urbański; ISO Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly; pianist and University of Indianapolis faculty member Richard Ratliff; violinist Joana Genova; and cellist Austin Huntington. The event will be free and open to the public. Leppard’s husband, Dr. John Bloom, and family have requested that donations be made to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in his honor. The British native made Indianapolis his permanent home and became a U.S. citizen in 2003. In addition to serving as the ISO’s music director, Leppard held a long-standing association with the English Chamber Orchestra and conducted orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Israel Philharmonic, and the BBC Symphony. Leppard was active in the revival of Baroque operas beginning in the 1960s, including operas by Cavalli and Monteverdi.
How the Dubuque Symphony puts together its “Ultimate Rock Hits” concert
“Dubuque Symphony Orchestra music director and conductor William Intriligator might best be known for interpreting the classical likes of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Tchaikovsky,” writes Megan Gloss in Tuesday’s (1/7) Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA). “But at heart, he fancies himself a rocker…. The maestro will again take the helm of the ensemble’s Ultimate Rock Hits … Jan. 17-18.… The concerts will feature an approximately 25-piece orchestra backing an assortment of local rock musicians, including eight vocalists…. A sampling of what audiences can expect to hear will include songs made popular by everyone from The Eagles to Warrant, Bryan Adams, No Doubt, Alanis Morissette, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Sevendust, Guns N’ Roses, Audioslave, Fleetwood Mac and more…. The [Joie Wails Band] rock ensemble begins meeting months in advance to rehearse, while the orchestra secures performance rights, pens arrangements courtesy of Chicago-based DSO flutist and piccolo player Scott Douglas and works out the logistics. The two entities come together for only one rehearsal…. As much as it’s an opportunity for the local rock musicians to stretch themselves, it’s also a chance for DSO players to show off non-classical chops…. ‘These concerts are a testament to the incredible range of our DSO musicians,’ Intriligator said.”
Louisville Orchestra concert to be shown live on giant screen at ice-skating rink
“For the first time in Louisville … a unique event [will combine] outdoor ice skating and a live performance by the Louisville Orchestra at Paristown Pointe,” writes Kirby Adams in Thursday’s (1/9) Louisville Courier Journal (KY). “Friday starting at 8 p.m., you can glide across the ice on the Paristown Fête de Noël rink while a live multi-camera simulcast of the Louisville Orchestra’s performance of ‘Gabriel Kahane at the LO’ takes place inside Old Forester’s Paristown Hall. The concert will be shown on the giant outdoor projection screen, situated directly over the ice rink…. The simulcast of the concert inside is free. This is the second time the Louisville Orchestra has used the enormous screen attached to the north-facing wall of the new venue run by the Kentucky Center for the Performing Arts [which is] similar to the immensely popular free outdoor simulcasts at the New World Symphony in Miami, Florida and the Soundbox simulcasts of performances by the San Francisco Symphony … ‘Bringing the Louisville Orchestra to the community in this magical ice-skating setting is a perfect example of sharing the cultural heritage of the historic Village of Paristown with the entire community,’ [said] Steve Smith, managing partner of Paristown.”
Grant Park Music Festival’s 2020 season
“Reflecting the city-wide Year of Chicago Music celebration, the Grant Park Music Festival will present two commissioned world premieres and spotlight local musicians and ensembles in its 2020 season,” writes Lawrence A. Johnson in Tuesday’s (1/7) Chicago Classical Review. “In addition to its customary mix of classical standards and choice rarities, this summer’s lineup at the lakefront music festival will offer more events that, says the festival release, reflect the city’s musical dynamism and ‘breathtaking diversity.’… The 2020 festival ‘aspires to better reflect our community by presenting more works by women and composers of color.’ Among those will be the Violin Concerto No. 2 by jazz composer and pianist Billy Childs, which will receive its world premiere with Chicagoan Rachel Barton Pine as soloist.… ‘We tried to focus on soloists that have ties to Chicago …’, said Carlos Kalmar, artistic director and principal conductor. The other as-yet-unnamed premiere will be … by genre-traversing Chicago native Mischa Zupko.… The festival will open June 10 with Kalmar leading the Grant Park Orchestra in Florence Price’s Concert Overture No. 1, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto (with the Tempest Trio) and orchestral excerpts from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg…. The festival will run for ten weeks.”
“(re)-creations,” Vancouver Symphony’s Jan. 11-16 new-music festival
“For its last seven seasons, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has enlivened the dull dark days of January with a festival of new music, including both orchestral and chamber combinations,” writes David Gordon Duke in Wednesday’s (1/8) Vancouver Sun (Canada). “For Festival 2020, titled (re)-creations, VSO music director Otto Tausk … wanted to revisit some spectacular masterworks of the recent past by big name international composers.… The festival will include … composers like Missy Mazzoli and Max Richter. But the real thrust is in two orchestral concerts anchored by music from a trio of contemporary luminaries: Kaija Saariaho, Unsuk Chin, and Thomas Adès. Though hardly unknown to the Vancouver audience, they all cry out to have major works performed by our hometown orchestra…. Festivalgoers here can sample [Saariaho’s] D’om le vrai sens, Jan. 11, at the Chan Centre, which features Finnish clarinetist Kari Kriikku, who gave the work its premiere a decade ago…. It will be a treat to hear [Unsuk Chin’s] prize-winning Violin Concerto … with Viviane Hagner.” Thomas Adès’s Luxury Suite from Powder Her Face—Suite No. 2 will be performed on a January 16 program with Max Richter’s Recomposed: Vivaldi—The Four Seasons.
New Jersey Symphony’s Winter Festival to tackle Wagner’s “Ring” Cycle—in brief
“Works like the Wagner Ring Cycle—four operas, 16 hours of music, brimming with mythological, social and philosophic significance, and in German to boot—can’t be called user-friendly,” writes Jim Beckerman in Thursday’s (1/9) Record (Bergen County, N.J.). “The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is taking on the challenge in its 2020 Winter Festival at several area venues. Their ‘In the Spotlight’ concerts this week and next, including … ‘The Ring Without Words,’ … are designed to give greenhorns a bite-size sampling of these musical feasts…. ‘For us, the educational aspect is kind of central to our mission,’ says Patrick Chamberlain, director of artistic planning for the symphony…. ‘It’s taking the most iconic, recognizable music, and using it in a way that might be more digestible for the audience.’ … Lorin Maazel’s ‘Ring Without Words,’ an orchestral ‘greatest hits’ selection, follows the trajectory of the four operas … and has a special significance for [NJSO Music Director] Xian Zhang. She studied under Maazel, one-time conductor of the New York Philharmonic. ‘She’s honoring him in his role in her life and career,’ Chamberlain says.” In a preconcert presentation, “Musicologist Jeffrey Swann will … discuss Wagner, his work, and his musical innovations.”