Author: Jennifer Melick

“When the world stopped in awe last week to gaze at the photos released from the James Webb Space Telescope, the snapshots accomplished a challenging feat: they made astronomy accessible to the general public,” reports Rebecca Tauber in Friday’s (7/22) Boston Public Radio. “ ‘Black Hole Symphony’ performance at [Boston’s] Museum of Science this summer [does] the same, bringing the science of the universe to everyday listeners through music. ‘It takes audiences on this journey straight to the heart of a black hole galaxy,’ composer and conductor David Ibbett said…. The show, which can only be performed in planetariums like the Museum of Science’s, combines 360 degrees of visuals with a piece from the chamber orchestra inspired by the galaxy. As Ibbett explained it, cellist Johnny Mok plays representations of gravitational waves, flutist and piccoloist Jessica Smith plays representations of X-rays and gamma rays and singer Agnes Coakley Cox serves as the ‘voice of the universe,’ alongside guitarist Matt Russo and violinist Ryan Shannon…. The symphony … was born out of conversations between [Ibbett] and a scientist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.… After their summer performances, they plan to tour in different planetariums and ultimately return to Boston.”

“The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony has announced their 2022-23 season, ‘Journeys and Soundscapes,’ featuring world-class soloists, innovative experiences and symphonic music spanning Bach through Prokofiev,” writes Stephi Wild in Friday’s (7/19) Broadway World. “PACS will continue to offer immersive concert experiences through its partnership with InsideOut Concerts, and Instrument Laboratories for children through its partnership with the Lucy Moses School…. PACS will offer InsideOut Concerts programs that transform classical music concerts into interactive and immersive experiences by seating audiences alongside the musicians…. ‘While the classical music world is in 100% agreement that growing audiences is essential to our future, traditional approaches involving traditional concerts haven’t really moved the needle,’ says music director David Bernard. ‘With InsideOut Concerts, where we seat the audience alongside the orchestra musicians, we have pivoted the classical concert to be more of an experience for the audience….’ PACS offers two events on each concert day. The first event … is designed for families with children, offering a shorter program … followed by an Instrument Laboratory…. The second event … is designed for adults, offering the full program followed by a reception … where the audience can mingle with the conductor” and musicians.

“In 1838, Georgetown University was facing bankruptcy. Their solution? To raise funds by selling 272 enslaved men, women and children of African descent to sugarcane plantations in Louisiana,” writes Jennifer Reason in Friday’s (7/22) Capital Radio (Sacramento, CA). “Composer Carlos Simon is setting out to shed light on this abhorrent event with a new work called, ‘Requiem for the Enslaved.’… It’s a 21st-century rendering comprised of a chamber ensemble, an improvised trumpet, spoken word from hip-hop artist Marco Pave … Gregorian Chant, and Simon on piano. Georgetown asked Simon to compose ‘Requiem’ after discovering such a horrific event in their own history…. In preparation, Simon went down to the very plantations in Louisiana where the group of enslaved Black Americans were sent…. During the visit, he also looked up the descendants of the enslaved people…. He said, ‘I wanted to get their blessing. I wanted to make sure that I was first saying things that they thought would be respectful.’ … According to Simon, the overall purpose of ‘Requiem’ is to commemorate those who have passed on and to give life to the memory of those who were enslaved.” The work was recently recorded on the Decca label.

“The Nashville Symphony has hired Tonya McBride Robles as chief operating officer,” reads an unsigned article in Friday’s (7/22) Nashville Post (TN). “According to a release, McBride Robles replaces outgoing COO and long-time Nashville Symphony employee Jonathan Marx. Her tenure begins Sept. 6. McBride Robles brings more than 20 years of experience working with symphonies and choruses across the East Coast. Most recently, she spent the past six years at Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as senior vice president and chief operating officer. In addition, McBride Robles has worked with the Annapolis (Maryland) Symphony Orchestra; … Concert Artists of Baltimore; and San Antonio Symphony. She also has worked in elementary education as both a teacher and an administrator…. At BSO, McBride Robles was key in reaching a five-year agreement with the musicians in 2020…. She also led efforts to increase BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) representation in artistic programming and engaged the BSO’s first artistic partner, Baltimore rapper and spoken word artist Wordsmith…. Marx, who has been with the Nashville Symphony since 2008, is leaving the organization to pursue a Master of Science degree in social work at the University of Tennessee at Nashville.”

The Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra, based in Philadelphia, has received a $300,00 grant from the Mellon Foundation to support its community-centered programming over the next three years. In announcing the grant, orchestra founder Jeri Lynne Johnson said the Mellon grant represents the largest investment in the organization’s mission since its founding in 2008. As part of the grant, Black Pearl will undertake a new project called the “Kaleidoscope Initiative” to support emerging composers, especially composers of color. The project, Johnson said, “represents an expansion of Black Pearl’s mandate to normalize diversity in classical music by focusing on creating access and opportunities in the creative process of music-making.” Black Pearl will perform world premieres of works by three composers. Each performance will be recorded; Johnson noted that such recordings play an important role in building a composer’s creative career through competitions, prizes, fellowships, job positions, and promotion for performance with other orchestras.

“Stefan Soltesz, a prominent and in-demand Austrian conductor, died on Friday night after collapsing during a performance at Munich’s main opera house,” writes A.J. Goldmann in Saturday’s (7/23) New York Times. “Mr. Soltesz, 73, was conducting the Richard Strauss opera ‘The Silent Woman’ at the Bayerische Staatsoper, or Bavarian State Opera, when he fell from his podium shortly before the end of the first act. He was pronounced dead at a hospital several hours later, said Michael Wuerges, the spokesman for the company…. Mr. Soltesz, who was born in 1949 in Hungary, conducted at major opera houses across Europe over the past four decades. He held musical directorship positions at the State Theater of Brunswick, in Germany, from 1988 to 1993, and at the Flemish Opera in Antwerp and Ghent, in Belgium, from 1992 to 1997. His most recent appointment was in Essen, Germany, where he led that city’s opera house, the Aalto Theater, as well as the Essen Philharmonic from 1997 to 2013…. Soltesz also led performances throughout Asia, and in 1992, he made his United States debut with the National Opera with … Verdi’s ‘Otello’ at the Kennedy Center…. Mr. Soltesz is survived by his wife, Michaela Selinger, a mezzo soprano.”

“Complaining about the acoustics in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall has been a virtual blood sport for Sydney concertgoers for the past five decades,” writes Murray Black in Friday’s (7/22) Australian. “The Concert Hall has undergone a refurbishment lasting more than two years. It reopened on Wednesday night with [Simone] Young conducting the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the acoustics have been transformed. Wave-like contoured sound diffusion panels now enclose the auditorium, and magenta-tinged acoustic ‘petals’ hover above the stage…. On stage, the orchestra was seated on semicircular risers. The result was a newfound sonic clarity and warmth.… The SSO’s return to its true home … also marked Young’s first performance as the orchestra’s new chief conductor.… [In] Mahler’s second symphony (Resurrection) … Young’s and the SSO’s magnificent account captured both the vast emotional range and intricate musical complexities of this gigantic symphonic fresco…. Although Mahler’s mighty symphony dominated the program, Australian composer and didgeridoo virtuoso William Barton’s new work, Of the Earth, sounded the first musical notes in the reworked hall…. The performers’ nuanced dynamics, subtly shifting textures and incisive rhythms revealed an intriguing, sophisticated soundscape, thrillingly enlivened by the use of clapsticks fashioned from some of the Opera House’s discarded timbers.”

“On a Sunday morning in May [on] the Warner Bros. scoring stage … musicians tuned their … instruments, ready for the downbeat of the conductor’s baton and the red ‘recording’ light to flicker on,” writes Tim Greiving in Wednesday’s (7/22) Los Angeles Times. “None of this would be exceptional for an orchestra accustomed to recording Hollywood film scores—but these musicians were teenagers from high schools in the Los Angeles area [in a] three-hour session, [playing music] from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’… Students … age 13 to 18 auditioned for this inaugural event of the Rise Diversity Project, which capped a week of Zoom workshops and a full day of rehearsals…. Hailing from Asian, Latinx and Black communities, the young musicians traveled from Long Beach, Diamond Bar and Glendale to the soundstage in Burbank. The Rise project was conceived and organized by Musicians at Play, a nonprofit founded in 2015 by April Williams and her husband, Don…. Said [program] mentor Danielle Ondarza, a French horn player who’s been playing sessions for 23 years, … ‘You can’t get experience unless you get called for the job.’ … April Williams plans to implement [Musicians at Play] earlier in the school year next time around.”

“The Boston Symphony Orchestra has welcomed three new violinists, a cellist, an assistant librarian, and two clarinetists,” reports Susan Elliott in Thursday’s (7/21) Musical America (subscription required). “Jung-Eun (Jenny) Ahn, a native of Seoul, South Korea, has been playing with the orchestra and the Boston Pops intermittently since 2014, and came on full-time in March.… She has also played with the Chicago Symphony and Canada’s National Arts Center Orchestra…. Assistant librarian Russell Allyn is a onetime Tanglewood orchestra library fellow who has worked in the libraries of the New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, BSO, and Minnesota Orchestra. Cellist Will Chow, from San Francisco, arrives after serving as principal cello of the Pittsburgh Symphony, which he joined in 2016…. Second clarinet Christopher Elchico holds [degrees] from UCLA and … the Jacobs School of Music…. He has performed with the major orchestras of Los Angeles, Cincinnati, Kansas City and with Houston Grand Opera. Bass clarinet Andrew Sandwick, with the Dallas Symphony since 2018 and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra beforehand, has [performed with] the orchestras of Cleveland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco…. Violinist Takumi Taguchi is a recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, where he served as co-concertmaster of the Curtis Symphony…. He has been a soloist with the Seattle Symphony, his hometown orchestra, and performed chamber music…. Violinist Sophie Wang hails from Irmo, South Carolina, and has performed with the South Carolina Philharmonic, where she was senior assistant concertmaster; she also served as assistant principal second violin of the Columbus (OH) Symphony Orchestra.”