Author: Jennifer Melick

The Minnesota Orchestra’s annual Composer Institute takes place from January 6 to 10, culminating with a concert by the Minnesota Orchestra of music by this year’s seven emerging composers. All of the composers will be present to introduce their music onstage at the January 10 concert, which will be emceed by Fred Child, host of American Public Media’s “Performance Today” program. The participating composers are Theo Chandler, Paul Frucht, Clare Glackin, Marc Migó, Patrick O’Malley, Liza Sobel, and Nicky Sohn. Music Director Osmo Vänskä will lead the Minnesota Orchestra and three soloists—MSO Associate Concertmaster Felicity James and sopranos Danielle Beckvermit and Lisa Marie Rogali—at the January 10 concert at Orchestra Hall. The Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, co-presented by the American Composers Forum, has been directed for the past six years by composer Kevin Puts.

“A young cellist moves from Latvia to London to chase her dreams of studying at a world-class conservatoire—but it comes at a cost,” writes Rosie Pentreath in Thursday’s (1/2) Classic FM (U.K.). “Cellist Margarita Balanas has [created] a powerful short film exploring music, missed loved ones and struggles with mental health….Featuring Balanas’ performances of music by Latvian composer Pēteris Vasks, the 11-minute short—called Pianissimo—tackles ambition, longing and loneliness as a young cellist reflects on home from a world away…. Balanas’ film focuses on how mental health issues can be hidden behind smiles, and tackles themes of leaving home for distant shores…. During her studies at the fictional Royal Conservatoire of Music in London, the male protagonist she leaves behind in Latvia struggles with mental health issues that ultimately claim his life…. Pianissimo’s plot is fictional, but nonetheless mirrors Balanas’s own experiences. ‘I left my hometown when I was 15 years old to study in London. I felt out of place not knowing the language nor the place I would call “home” for the next 11 years,’ she [says]. ‘We have all felt broken or hurt at some point—whether it’s because of distance, rejection or continually chasing dreams.’ ”

“Beethoven’s late music sounds the way it does because he was already deaf when he wrote it. The premiere of ‘The Rite of Spring’ was a historic explosion of anti-modernist outrage,” writes Joshua Kosman in last Monday’s (12/30) San Francisco Chronicle. “These are things that everyone knows…. And they’re all wrong…. With the winningly outraged name ‘Not Another Music History Cliché!’ … since 2016 California musicologist Linda Shaver-Gleason has been [compiling] a clear-eyed and level-headed accounting of the ways in which the conventional wisdom about classical music … consistently leads us astray…. Sadly, however, ‘Not Another Music History Cliché!’ has now come to the end of its life … because Linda, at 36, is coming to the end of hers … after several years of increasingly difficult chemotherapy…. It was through Linda’s presence on Twitter and Facebook that I came to know both her and her work—and also to understand the degree of personal intimacy that is possible in [social media]…. A year ago, Linda signed a contract … to write a book based on ‘Not Another Music History Cliché!’ … Is a posthumous completion too much to hope for? It seems like an apt legacy for this generous thinker and writer.”

“For many of us, the new year brings a whole new batch of wellness goals,” writes Natalie Gempel in Friday’s (1/3) D Magazine (Dallas, TX). “Gyms are notoriously crowded this month, though, so it’s a good idea to look for outside-the-box ways to get a workout. Starting on Tuesday, January 7, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will offer free yoga classes twice a week in the lobby of the Meyerson Symphony Center. The classes are part of a larger wellness initiative that the DSO has been slowly rolling out, including meditation classes for staff and musicians. The serene, I.M. Pei-designed building makes a good backdrop for Zen-inducing activities. The new yoga classes will take place every Tuesday and Thursday from 8-8:45 a.m. They’re free and open to the public—all levels welcome—and there’s no prior registration required. Just show up with your own yoga mat, a bottle of water, and your resolutions.”

“With the possibility of losing the Sarasota Orchestra looming, city commissioners are considering a resolution that would send a clear message to one of the area’s oldest cultural institutions: Don’t leave Sarasota,” writes Timothy Fanning in Tuesday’s (12/31) Sarasota Herald-Tribune. “City commissioners will consider a resolution on Jan. 6 that recognizes the orchestra’s long relationship with the city and ‘declares its continuing support and encouragement’ for keeping it in Sarasota. [City commissioners voted] against the orchestra’s proposal in May to build a … concert hall [in] Payne Park…. Joseph McKenna, president and CEO of the Sarasota Orchestra, said that he continues to work closely with city staff…. The orchestra pitched building a 2,500-seat concert hall on seven acres of the 39-acre Payne Park this spring … but that met with organized opposition…. City officials are especially sensitive to the possibility of losing the Sarasota Orchestra after the recent relocation of two other cultural institutions outside of the city…. In October, [City Commissioner Liz] Alpert urged fellow commissioners to codify their commitment to the orchestra and help find a home within city limits. The commission … [instructed] city attorney Robert Fournier to draft the resolution.”

Actor John Lithgow will join the Philadelphia Orchestra for its annual winter fundraising concert and ball at the Academy of Music on January 25, led by Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The concert celebrates the 163rd anniversary of the Academy of Music, the orchestra’s performance home from its founding in 1900 until 2001, when it moved next door to the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. On January 23 and 24 the Philadelphia Orchestra will return to the Academy of Music for its first subscription concerts there since 2001, with Nézet-Séguin leading a program of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.3, which was premiered by the Philadelphians in 1936 on the Academy stage; Vivian Fung’s “Dust Devils”; and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 with Yefim Bronfman. “As stewards of this treasured icon, it is essential that we preserve and enhance the Academy for future generations,” said orchestra President and CEO Matías Tarnopolsky. “On this spectacular evening when we celebrate the building we love and cherish so deeply, may we also be reminded of the vital role the Academy plays in our lives all year long, and of the role we play in ensuring this beacon of our community continues to shine.”

“Peter Schreier, a German tenor renowned for his performances in Mozart operas and Bach oratorios, and for the balance of vocal elegance and dramatic urgency he brought to the German art song, died on Dec. 25 in Dresden, Germany,” writes Anthony Tommasini in Tuesday’s (12/31) New York Times. “He was 84…. Midway through his career, Mr. Schreier also turned to conducting. He would sometimes sing the Evangelist roles in Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John passions as he led the performances. Mr. Schreier’s voice might have lacked the honeyed tone of other tenors who specialized, as he did, in lighter lyric opera roles and German lieder. But he won consistent praise for a combination of technical know-how and musical insight…. The pianist Andras Schiff collaborated frequently with Mr. Schreier in recitals and recordings, performing all three Schubert song cycles with him as well as works by Schumann, Mozart, Beethoven and Janáček…. He was drawn to certain 20th-century German operas, especially the title role of Hans Pfitzner’s ‘Palestrina,’ and sang the Physicist in the 1974 Berlin premiere of Paul Dessau’s ‘Einstein.’ … He retired from singing in 2005 [and] settled with his wife, Renate, who survives him, in a country house outside Dresden.”