Author: Mike Rush

The New York Youth Symphony has created an educational video mini-series showcasing the history and works of women composers, and composers from the LGBTQ+ and BIPOC communities. The series, called “The Unsung,” is part of a new repertoire initiative led by NYYS Chamber Music Director Lisa Tipton and Assistant Director Tylor Thomas during the 2020-21 season. The series launched with four episodes, each featuring works by five composers. Episode 1 focuses on David Baker, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff Scott, Valerie Coleman, and Jesse Montgomery; additional episodes feature Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de St. George, William Grant Still, Sam Coleridge Taylor, Undine Smith Moore, and George Walker (episode 2), Florence Price, Amy Beach, Ethel Smyth, Libby Larsen, and Joan Tower (episode 3), and Beata Moon, Kenji Bunch, Bright Sheng, Reena Esmail, and Ananda Sukarlan (episode 4). Among artists appearing in the videos are composers Libby Larsen and Beata Moon, Bronx Arts Ensemble Artistic Director Judith Insell, cellist Tomoko Fujita, and pianist Adrienne Kim. NYYS Executive Director Shauna Quill says the videos continue “our work in honoring and uplifting composers who have paved the way, and composers who continue to push for greater representation within the music community.”

“Giving is a partnership—a kind of oath of commitment for collective improvement and well-being,” writes David Amado, music director of the Delaware Symphony, on Monday (12/14) on the Charitable Giving Coalition blog. “It is a partnership that keeps art aloft. That so many choose to give an evening to the Delaware Symphony—engaging in an abstract world of sound and form—is extraordinary. That our community chooses to give of their time, energy, and resources is a humbling testament to the power of art…. During this season of giving, say ‘yes’ to encouraging all Americans to give to charity. ‘Yes’ to supporting the culture and core of our communities: our libraries and museums; our shelters and soup kitchens; services, like orchestras, whose roles are to make us more connected, healthier, gentler, and more human…. Let’s say ‘Yes’ to celebrating the indelible masterpieces of the past and discovering ones of the future. ‘Yes’ to art by, for and with those unfairly deprived by systemic cultural hurdles. ‘Yes’ to embracing diversity on stage and in the audience. ‘Yes’ to making great music a part of our communities’ lives.”

“Three Northern Nevada organizations … are among the 180 recipients nationwide to receive grants from the USA Today Network and the Gannett Foundation’s A Community Thrives program,” writes Marcella Corona in Friday’s (12/11) Reno Gazette Journal (NV). “The grants, which total $25,200, were awarded to High Sierra AHEC (Area Health Education Center), Feeding Pets of the Homeless, and the Reno Philharmonic Association Inc. The money will go toward expanding educational programs within both High Sierra AHEC and the Reno Philharmonic…. Tyler Slaughter … teaches students how to play the violin free of charge as part of the Reno Philharmonic’s RPA Kids program, which specifically targets students from Title I schools…. [At] the Reno Philharmonic, the grant money will help expand … virtual violin classes. The Gannett Foundation awarded the nonprofit a total of $16,800. Organizers plan on selecting teachers and students to participate in the program starting in January. Those students will then go on to mentor other students. Tim Young, CEO of the Reno Philharmonic, described the expansion as a ‘real win-win. There are teachers who have not been able to work, so we’re able to provide them that teaching opportunity. And there are students who are stuck at home who really need … enrichment.’ ”

“Molly Joyce is among of the most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome,” writes Michael Andor Brodeur in Sunday’s (12/13) Washington Post. “She’s composed spectral, searching works for orchestra, choir, string quartet and percussion ensemble; collaborated with virtual-reality artists, dancers and poets; and studied with the likes of Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnick and Missy Mazzoli. She also teaches composition at NYU, and this year released her stunning debut album, ‘Breaking and Entering.’ And Joyce has achieved all this not so much despite a severe impairment of her left hand (the result of a childhood car accident) but through it. She has carved a unique sound as a composer by treating disability … not as an impediment but as a wellspring of creative potential.… She holds composition degrees from Juilliard, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague and Yale. But as her studies broadened … she made a startling realization … ‘Classical instruments are made for very specific abilities,’ she says … ‘even new-music compositions are reiterating these flawed notions of what human ability can and should be, or disability in general.’… Joyce’s music … offers a path forward.”

“In October, fifth-grader Abby McGuire’s mom took her shopping for a Christmas present: a full-size guitar,” writes Colleen Schrappen in Sunday’s (12/13) St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO). “ ‘I heard from her instructor that if she wanted one, we better get it right away,’ said Julie McGuire, who lives in Chesterfield. Instruments have been harder to come by during the pandemic…. Guitar Center, the largest musical instrument retailer in the United States, reported an 85% jump in business in August…. But it wasn’t enough to stave off bankruptcy, which the company blamed on not being able to bounce back from the spring shutdown of most of its nearly 300 stores. Small stores have been hit hard, too. St. Louis Strings specializes in orchestral instruments…. The coronavirus has shifted shopping habits [and] that’s taken a toll on this year’s revenue…. The components of a single violin or guitar originate in multiple countries. Most manufacturers halted production in the spring … and safety and sanitation measures slowed the process…. Higher-end stores, like Killer Vintage in Lindenwood Park, have fared better. Owner Dave Hinson’s customers … are … ‘flocking to music,’ Hinson said. ‘There’s nowhere to hear it, so they’re making their own.’ “

“The classical music world was counting on Beethoven’s 250th birthday this year…. But … countless Beethoven-related events had to be scuttled … or re-imagined,” writes Thomas May in Thursday’s (12/10) Seattle Times. “That’s the approach taken by 17 arts organizations across the Seattle area to create This is Beethoven, a digital, cross-disciplinary festival that will be premiered as streams over four days starting Dec. 16…. The idea for the festival was spearheaded by Kristin Lee and Andrew Goldstein, co-founders of Emerald City Music [which invited] a wide spectrum of artists to collaborate…. The 17 partner organizations range dramatically in size and constituency…. All of the festival performances were recently recorded live for presentation as streams…. There will be accounts of the Fifth Symphony (the Amazon Symphony Orchestra) and the less-often-heard, head-spinningly inventive Eighth (Northwest Sinfonietta)…. [In a] contribution from three artists based at the University of Washington, actor Jeffrey Fracé, who teaches at the School of Drama, crafted a script from his readings of Beethoven’s letters, which he is developing into a multilayered performance piece together with pianist and UW artist-in-residence Cristina Valdés and dancer Rachael Lincoln, assistant professor in the Department of Dance.”

In an interview on Saturday’s (12/12) National Public Radio, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Principal Cello Rainer Eudeikis speaks about how the orchestra has adapted to the pandemic by performing music virtually. “Eudeikis: We’re performing concerts, but in a very different arrangement…. Normally, a full-sized orchestra performance would involve anywhere from 80 to a hundred players onstage…. We’ve had to adapt the repertoire. We’re playing pieces that just don’t require as many players … And even though it’s been tough, I do have a lot of optimism for when things return to normal and people realize how hungry they’ve been for the music that we make. And we at the symphony are definitely going to come out stronger from this from a performance perspective…. Even though we aren’t able to reach our local audience, our live audience, in necessarily the same way, we are still able to reach them virtually. And also, there are people who would normally not be able to come to an Atlanta Symphony concert … who can … watch us from anywhere in the world. I think that’s an important aspect to what the organization is doing that will continue even after things supposedly go back to normal.”