Author: Jennifer Melick

On January 12, a woodwind quintet from the Florida Orchestra will perform music by William Grant Still, Valerie Coleman, Astor Piazzolla, and others at Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. The program opens the fifth year of the orchestra’s Woodson Concert Series, with this season’s theme being “Telling Our Stories,” exploring personal and shared stories through chamber music by diverse composers on Sunday afternoons. Admission to the Woodson Concert Series is pay-what-you-can at the door; additional 2020 concerts in the series will include a brass quintet on February 9, a string trio (March 29), and cello/piano duo (May 3). The Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum’s mission is “to preserve, present, and interpret African American history and to engage a broad and diverse audience through these activities, as well as promote an understanding among various groups that comprise the St. Petersburg community to enhance our ability as a society to respect, value diversity, and foster equal rights and social justice.”

“The center of Terrence Malick’s films [is] a spiritual theme—a question—examined through motion and music,” writes Tim Greiving in Sunday’s (1/5) Los Angeles Times. “ ‘A Hidden Life,’ his latest, [has] the same elliptical, poetic style he’s been exploring since 1978’s ‘Days of Heaven.’ It has an elegiac score by James Newton Howard, featuring violin solos by James Ehnes and a main theme that conjures the heartbreaking beauty of paradise lost. But, as with all of the director’s films, it also features a collage of classical masterworks…. Malick’s [1973] ‘Badlands’ … starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek [had] an underscore by George Tipton … and some tunes by James Taylor, but the main thrust was a recurring use of Carl Orff’s childlike piece for xylophone, ‘Gassenhauer.’ … [For] ‘Days of Heaven,’ Malick … asked composer Ennio Morricone to incorporate ‘Aquarium’ from Camille Saint-Saens’ ‘The Carnival of the Animals.’ … [In] ‘The Thin Red Line,’ [scored by Hans] Zimmer … Malick also used music by Gabriel Fauré, Charles Ives and Arvo Pärt … and the basis for some of Zimmer’s score … was an American folk hymn the director heard on NPR.”

“How do you go about providing a platform for cutting edge contemporary classical music?” writes Ken Walton in Wednesday’s (1/8) Scotsman (Edinburgh, Scotland). “Belfast-born composer and sound designer Matthew Whiteside has the answer, and he’s been proving it for the past four years as founder and artistic director of The Night With… (TNW), a gig series that’s become something of an underground phenomenon—literally so in the case of its regular Glasgow pub venue, the Hug and Pint’s … higgledy-piggledy basement, and in [venues in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, and Belfast]…. The most recent series, ending last month, saw Glasgow and Edinburgh audiences increase by around 25 per cent over 2018. Now, says Whiteside, it’s time to step things up a gear: TNW is set to launch its first live album [featuring] performances by … former Arditti Quartet violist-turned-composer Garth Knox, wacky contemporary ensemble The Hermes Experiment, and Ensemble 1604, the period instrument band with a modern twist. And that’s just the start of a year in which he hopes to confirm significant expansion plans for TNW, including exciting collaborations overseas. Whiteside has already established links with like-minded musicians in Australia, who are open to the idea of reciprocal activity.”

“Kings Place may be among the smallest of London’s music venues, but … it has explored some big themes,” writes Ivan Hewett in Friday’s (1/3) Telegraph (U.K.). Beginning January 10, Kings Place’s yearlong Nature Unwrapped series will “examine the way nature has inspired musicians across the ages. It’s a vast topic… Vivaldi’s Four Seasons goes beyond the lilting melodies and folk-like drones of the typical pastoral, conjuring up the barking of dogs and the twittering of birds…. Songs of composers such as Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock are suffused with a longing for a lost English arcadia. That longing has these days taken on a new relevance, with the growing awareness of the environmental catastrophe that many believe is likely to occur if global warming is not halted…. Nature Unwrapped is so much more than a cozy and charming survey of nature music of past times. Many of the more than 70 events are contemporary.… There are pieces involving the sound of live insects, an installation inspired by the life of bees … and an extinction-themed concert from the Riot Ensemble. But the overriding impression, faced with this new form of environmentally conscious ‘nature music,’ is that the wheel has come full circle.”

“At the beginning of the new year, Island City Opera made an announcement,” writes Janos Gereben in Tuesday’s (1/7) San Francisco Classical Voice, “which has immediate reverberations in musical circles, likely to be the first of numerous similar statements: ‘It is with a heavy heart that, due to circumstances beyond our control, we must postpone our current plans for the March 2020 production of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers.’ The reason? ‘As of Jan. 1, 2020, the State of California put into effect new regulations … [that] present significant new administrative and financial requirements.’… This is just the beginning of a flood of potential problems, complaints, job losses, and project cancellations—all the result of uncertainty and confusion as the ‘gig work law,’ Assembly Bill 5, signed into law in September, now takes effect. Uber and Lyft drivers, musicians, dancers, singers, artists of all kinds, freelance journalists, etc., under contract now will have to be employed, rather than paid as independent contractors…. Major consequences of changing the status of contractors to employees includes basic labor and employment protections, paid sick days, workers’ compensation benefits, unemployment insurance benefits, and sharing tax payments.”

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra’s annual Elvis Pops Concert will take place this year at the Graceland Soundstage, with Terry Mike Jeffrey and his band joining the orchestra to perform songs from throughout Elvis Presley’s career. The January 10 concert is part of four days of Elvis-themed events at Graceland from January 8 to 11, including private tours of Graceland Mansion with Priscilla Presley; birthday cake and coffee served at nearby Vernon’s Smokehouse; a tour of the Graceland Archives; an Elvis Birthday Party on Wheels that will tour the Elvis Presley Museum, the “Elvis at 13” statue, and Tupelo Hardware Company, where Elvis’s mother, Gladys, purchased his first guitar; and a January 11 concert featuring Priscilla Presley, longtime Elvis music manager Jerry Schilling, and musicians including TCB Band members James Burton, Glen Hardin, and Ronnie Tutt.

“Emanuel Borok, concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra from 1985 to 2010 and an esteemed solo and chamber musician and teacher, died Saturday at age 75 after battling lung cancer,” writes Scott Cantrell in Monday’s (1/6) Dallas Morning News. “A native of the former Soviet Union, Borok came to the DSO from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, where he served 11 years as associate concertmaster, and as concertmaster of the Boston Pops. As the DSO’s first-chair violinist under music directors Eduardo Mata, Andrew Litton and Jaap van Zweden, Borok was credited with cultivating the sound and discipline of the orchestra’s violin sections. He helped prepare the orchestra for its 1989 move from Fair Park Music Hall to the Meyerson Symphony Center…. Beyond the DSO, Borok appeared widely as a soloist and chamber musician … After teaching at the University of North Texas and University of Houston, in 2013 he became distinguished artist-in-residence at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts…. He also led master classes” at leading conservatories and festivals. “Borok was trained at the Darzinya Music School in Riga, Latvia, and the Gnessin School of Music in Moscow. In 1971, he won the position of co-concertmaster in the Moscow Philharmonic…. Survivors include his wife, Marilyn; son, Mark Borok, and daughter, Sarah Borok.”

“Classical music statisticians will be happy to note that their annual fix has been published by the London-based Bachtrack, featuring such not-so-trivial news that, other than Sweden, the U.S. tops the rest of the world in the amount of contemporary music played,” writes Susan Elliott in Tuesday’s (1/7) Musical America (subscription required). “Precisely what kind of contemporary music—orchestral, choral, opera, chamber—is not clear, but, to get an idea, John Williams is at the top of the list … Williams this year supplants Estonian composer Arvo Pärt in the No. 1 slot. Women composers are making inroads, occupying 23 of the top 100 contemporary composers, twice as many as just two years ago. Among the 23, only four are Americans: Lera Auerbach, Jennifer Higdon, Julia Wolfe, and Missy Mazzoli. They are also making progress on the podium, with eight in the top 100 worldwide. Tied at the highest rank (21) are Susanna Mälkki and JoAnn Falletta … In 2013, Alsop was alone among the top 100, at No. 70…. Andris Nelsons is ranked as the world’s busiest conductor, followed … by Valery Gergiev, Paavo Järvi, Jakub Hruša, Jaap van Zweden, François-Xavier Roth, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Herbert Blomstedt, Daniel Harding, and Semyon Bychko.”