Author: Mike Rush

“There has been a lot of research into the Nazis’ plunder of Jewish-owned artwork in Europe during World War II, though far less attention has been paid to the looting of instruments,” reports Eleanor Beardsley on Wednesday (7/29) at National Public Radio. “But a number of scholars have been focused on bringing this facet of Nazi crimes to light. [French archivist Caroline] Piketty was among many experts who attended a conference in January in Paris titled Looted Music, Sources and Research Methods. The gathering … included historians, musicologists and lawyers…. Piketty says in the spring of 1945 … French authorities opened three warehouses to the public to display hundreds of pianos that had been stolen by the Nazis. Those who had lost an instrument were invited to write a letter for an appointment to visit…. ‘There were pianos in so many Jewish homes, even the most modest ones,’ Piketty says…. A 1997 French government commission that looked into looted Jewish property reported 8,000 pianos missing after the war, with 2,221 recovered. Archivist Piketty … studied the letters of 3,000 Parisians searching for their pianos. She says about half of them got their instruments back.”

“Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and WQXR, New York City’s classical music station, are partnering to present a seven-day, on-air pandemic edition of the annual Mostly Mozart Festival,” writes Sarah Shay in Tuesday’s (8/5) Musical America (subscription required). “This summer marks the first time that the Festival has been cancelled since its founding in 1966. Scheduled for August 10-16, the series will mix music with conversations about some of today’s most compelling social issues. It opens with a number of pop-up concerts throughout all five of New York’s boroughs, streamed live on WQXR’s Facebook page. ‘Camp Wolfgang’ will feature a day-long program for children; WQXR hosts will program music by and share stories about the composer throughout the day; evenings will offer full-length archival concerts as well as a range of discussions that explore racism and inequality and Black artists’ contributions and innovations to classical music.… The closing night recreates Beethoven’s legendary 1808 concert … Original plans for a live performance will be replaced by a March 2020 recording by the Cincinnati Symphony and the May Festival Chorus, led by Louis Langrée, music director of the Symphony, the May Festival, and the Mostly Mozart Festival…. ‘Black Experience in the Concert Hall: The Mozart Effect’ will bring together violinist Sanford Allen, the first Black instrumentalist in the New York Philharmonic; vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin; vocalist Julia Bullock; tenor Lawrence Brownlee; and Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra cellist Alvin McCall to discuss their relationship to Mozart’s music and their experiences in the classical music industry.”

“To the casual viewer, the ecru-colored musical score sitting on a stand in the Moravian Music Foundation in Old Salem looks pretty much like any other sheet music,” writes Lynn Felder in Sunday’s (8/3) Winston-Salem Journal (North Carolina). “ ‘It’s immediately familiar and looks like the music of today,’ said Timothy Redmond, music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony. “Upon closer inspection, a couple of things jump out: 1) The score has no rehearsal letters or measure numbers, so an orchestra leader couldn’t easily tell players where to start over during practice, and 2) The score was published in 1809. Oh, and it’s a first edition printing of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, also called the ‘Pastoral.’… Greeted with the fact that the local Moravian Archive has a first edition of Beethoven’s Sixth, the Winston-Salem Symphony, which had been planning to perform Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony back in April, pivoted and decided to present the Sixth instead. Sadly, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the concert was … canceled…. David Blum, a research librarian at the Moravian Music Foundation, realized that the foundation owns an original edition of a set of parts of Beethoven’s Sixth … The ‘Pastoral’ was influential on all that came after it, Redmond said.”

“The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has … announced that there will be no 2020-21 season as previously planned for the full orchestra,” writes William Littler in Saturday’s (8/1) Toronto Star. “Matthew Loden, CEO of the TSO, [says] the orchestra will be breaking up into smaller units to perform in a variety of venues, hopefully expanding the breadth of its audience along the way…. The TSO anticipates returning to a regular full orchestra season in 2021-22…. The TSO … will be playing in smaller venues with correspondingly diminished box office receipts…. A big question for 2020-21 has to be whether the public will be sufficiently supportive to make up for lost revenue…. Loden anticipates salary reductions … although the goal is to keep everyone employed. ‘Our first priority is to keep everyone safe,’ he says, ‘and there is an awful lot of creativity being generated by this crisis.’ Already groups of players are at work in online projects, some of them working as well in collaboration with the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra on retirement facility visits….’Taking a small ensemble to Sunnybrook (Health Sciences Centre) to give people a little bit of music in a difficult day can make all the difference,’ Loden says.”

The Sphinx Organization has announced that conductor Lina González-Granados, composer Carlos Simon, and oboist Titus Underwood are the three recipients of this year’s Sphinx Medals of Excellence. Each recipient will receive a $50,000 career grant at a private celebration co-hosted by the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on March 31, 2021. Lina González-Granados is artistic director of Unitas Ensemble, an ensemble she founded that performs works by Latinx composers and provides free performances for underserved communities. She currently serves as the Solti Conducting Apprentice at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is the conducting fellow of the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Seattle Symphony. Carlos Simon, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, composes for large and small ensembles as well as film scores. Recent commissions have come from the Philadelphia Orchestra, Washington National Opera, Reno Philharmonic, American Composers Orchestra, Arizona State University Symphony Orchestra, and Irving Klein String Competition. Titus Underwood is principal oboe of the Nashville Symphony. Prior to the Nashville Symphony, he was acting associate principal oboe of the Utah Symphony. He received a Master of Music from the Juilliard School and earned a Bachelor of Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music. The Sphinx Organization is a Detroit-based social justice organization dedicated to transforming lives through the power of diversity in the arts.

“A quartet of Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra string musicians will be ‘Live on the Lawn’ Friday on the grounds of the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center,” writes Shirley McMarlin in Tuesday’s (7/28) TribLive.com (Pennsylvania). “The concert … features the WSO String Quartet—violinists Dena Miller and Samantha Nelson, Sarah Ferrell on cello and Sasha Shapiro on viola. The bill includes a Mozart string quartet and light classics by Bach and other composers. ‘The second half will include some more popular pieces, like Mission Impossible and Pirates of the Caribbean, and will finish up with some lovely sacred pieces and some patriotic pieces,’ says WSO Executive Director Endy Reindl…. ‘We’re all dying for some live music,’ says WSO Marketing Manager Joy Carroll. The Friday concert and another planned for Aug. 28, featuring Beo String Quartet, replace the symphony’s annual summer chamber concert series at Unity Chapel in Unity, which could not be presented due to pandemic restrictions.… Attendance at ‘Live on the Lawn’ is limited to 250; advance registration is required, with limit of four guests per registration…. Masks must be worn when entering and exiting the grounds and entering and exiting the building…. Groups should maintain 6 feet of distance from others.”

“The pandemic effect hit the Cheyenne Symphony Orchestra early on, causing it to postpone the ‘Mahler and Beethoven’ concert planned for late March,” writes Ellen Fike in Tuesday’s (7/28) Cheyenne Post (WY). The performance, featuring the Adagietto from Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 and Beethoven’s “Egmont” Overture and Symphony No. 3, “will occur in August, with a matinee and evening concert. Cheyenne Civic Center’s new seating plan factors in enough space to allow for social distancing during concerts…. The 800 ticket holders will be divided into two groups of 400 [and] the civic center will require the string and percussion players, and music director William Intriligator, to wear masks…. ‘That show usually requires 95 musicians on stage,’ CSO executive director Lindsey Reynolds said. ‘We’ve amended it to have [around] 50 players…. The ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ show now will be performed on June 12, 2021…. The first CSO concert that will again be open to the public will be sometime in October…. ‘We’re going to do some smaller events that have been reprogrammed to fit a smaller orchestra and musical repertoire for them,’ Reynolds said.… The orchestra is planning to return to a traditional-size orchestra in January.”

“The Grand Teton Music Festival has a new executive director,” writes Richard Anderson in Tuesday’s (7/28) Jackson Hole News and Guide (WY). “The board of the 59-year-old classical music nonprofit announced Tuesday that Emma Kail will take the lead administrative post, effective Sept. 1.” She will succeed Interim Executive Director Simon Woods, who becomes president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras in September. “Kail, 40, has extensive experience as both a musician and a classical music administrator…. She graduated from the storied Interlochen Arts Academy of Michigan, studied trumpet performance at Indiana University and earned a master’s degree in music at the Cleveland Institute of Music … and an Artist Diploma from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. In the early 2000s, she switched to the administrative track, starting with the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, the Omaha Symphony and the University of Chicago. In 2007-08, she was an orchestra management fellow with the League of American Orchestras (where she briefly met GTMF Music Director Donald Runnicles) after which she spent two years as director of artistic administration for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. In July 2010, Kail was hired as director of operations for the Kansas City Symphony, where within a year she was elevated to general manager, a post she held for nearly nine years.”

“As ongoing COVID-19 precautions persist, the Eugene Symphony Association has canceled its traditional summer schedule and is reimagining plans for its 2020-2021 season,” writes Matthew Denis in Sunday’s (7/26) Register-Guard (Eugene, OR). “This would have marked ESA’s 12th year presenting its free summer concert series in Eugene, fifth year in Cottage Grove and fourth in Roseburg. ‘Pausing this tradition is truly heartbreaking, but we look forward to … these community celebrations in summer 2021,’ Executive Director Scott Freck said…. The Eugene Symphony had already rescheduled many of its [2019-20] concerts…. The symphony is working to find performance dates in the 2020-2021 season for ‘Bolero,’ originally scheduled for May 14, 2020, Rachmaninov’s Second, rescheduled for May 30 from March 19, Beethoven’s Fifth, rescheduled for June 20 from April 23, ‘Peter & the Wolf’ Family Concert, rescheduled for June 21 from April 26, and pianist and songwriter Ben Folds, canceled after being rescheduled to Oct. 30. Specific 2020-2021 dates have yet to be confirmed.… While away from the concert hall, Eugene Symphony launched a virtual hub at eugenesymphony.org” that includes music-education videos, curated playlists, previously recorded orchestra concerts, and new performances by orchestra musicians from home.