With the accelerating pace of technological change, the League of American Orchestras posts a monthly digest of relevant news and information regarding changes, trends, and developments that may affect the digital media activities that orchestras use. For each monthly digest, the League’s digital media consultants, Michael Bronson and Joe Kluger, draw from a variety of websites and publications to provide excerpts or summaries of articles. (These do not necessarily represent the views of the League.) Among the topics in this month’s Digital Media Digest: the National Symphony Orchestra will launch its own record label on February 21; two classical-music streaming services plan to improve access to classical music by offering new software and guided listening; the Detroit Symphony Orchestra announces state-of-the-art tech and camera upgrades for “Live from Orchestra Hall” webcast series. As a service of the League, members with questions about the information in this digest or about other digital media topics—e.g., planning, strategy, and production—may contact Michael Bronson at mconbrio@mindspring.com or Joe Kluger at jkluger@artsEmedia.com.
Author: Mike Rush
Bangor Symphony to premiere work by Reinaldo Moya in 2020-21
Composer Reinaldo Moya will write a new work to be performed by Maine’s Bangor Symphony Orchestra in the 2020-21 season. Moya received the commission after winning the inaugural $20,000 Composer Award from the Maine-based Ellis-Beauregard Foundation. Moya was selected through a juried national competition; the jury included composers Nico Muhly and Gabriela Lena Frank and conductor David Alan Miller. Moya, who lives in Minnesota, is a graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system and was a founding member of the touring Simón Bolívar Orchestra. He received a bachelor of music from West Virginia University, and holds master’s and doctoral degrees from the Juilliard School. His music has been performed by ensembles including the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Da Capo Chamber Players, Attacca Quartet, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Minnesota Opera. He is currently on the composition faculty at Augsburg University in Minneapolis. The Bangor Symphony Orchestra’s executive director is Brian Hinrichs, and Lucas Richman is music director. The Ellis-Beauregard Foundation’s stated mission is “to encourage, expand and sustain the courageous and imaginative dialogue that is fundamental to the arts.”
Inaugural Lewis Prize for Music supports educational opportunities for young people
“The Lewis Prize for Music, a new philanthropic organization focused on fostering music education and career development in young people, announced its first slate of winners,” writes Lauren Messman in Tuesday’s (1/14) New York Times. “The $1.75 million will be awarded to the leaders of nine organizations … The prize … was founded in 2019 by the philanthropist Daniel R. Lewis…. $500,000 [in] multiyear support was given to Community MusicWorks, which provides classical music educational programs in Providence, R.I.; My Voice Music, which brings songwriting, recording and performance mentorships to mental health treatment and detention centers in Portland, Ore; and The David’s Harp Foundation, a San Diego-based organization that works to develop job skills through music with youth in the juvenile justice system.” $50,000 awards were given to “programs aimed at inspiring Native American music educators and composers, bringing traditional Mexican music education to the children of immigrants, providing music and entrepreneurship training for young musicians of color in Detroit, and building support for the next generation of New Orleans brass band musicians. Project 440, which offers entrepreneurial training for young musicians in Philadelphia, and Spy Hop Productions, which partners with schools and arts- and community-based organizations to offer music mentorships in Salt Lake City, each received $25,000.”
Orlando Philharmonic gets informal with new “Resonate” event
“For a new event called ‘Resonate,’ the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra is going casual,” writes Matthew J. Palm in Sunday’s (1/12) Orlando Sentinel (FL). “ ‘Resonate,’ which takes place Jan. 15 at the Plaza Live … features ‘Sanctuary,’ a [world premiere] for violin and orchestra by Lisa Bielawa [with violinist] Jennifer Koh…. The evening is actually divided into two separately ticketed concerts. The first, at 7 p.m. in the Plaza’s bigger theater, features ‘Sanctuary’ and Mozart’s Symphony No. 36. Then follows an hourlong cocktail hour, with opportunities to talk about the music with friends, new acquaintances or composer Bielawa, [Music Director Eric] Jacobsen and the musicians…. Afterward, a special 9 p.m. performance in the Plaza Live’s smaller hall will take place for fewer than 200 music lovers who will be seated around the stage. Jacobsen will trade his conductor’s baton for his cello. Philharmonic principal clarinetist Nikolay Blagov will solo on Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A major. And more of Bielawa’s original works will be heard. ‘It’s all a nice way to invite people in,’ Jacobsen says…. ‘And it’s fun.’ … The orchestra [will] move its main concerts to Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts this fall.”
Cincinnati Symphony to mark 125 years with Gershwin, Winstead, Ysaÿe, Ellington, Bjarnason, Scriabin
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s upcoming 125th-anniversary concert will honor “beloved musicians of the past and present,” writes Madeline Mitchell in Sunday’s (1/12) Cincinnati Enquirer (OH). “A 1924 perforator recording of Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ will be played by the ‘ghost of Gershwin’ on a Disklavier piano, which operates in playback with moving keys, hammers and pedals…. The symphony will accompany Gershwin’s ghost, led by CSO music director Louis Langrée—just as they accompanied the live Gershwin in 1927, under the direction of Fritz Reiner.… Langrée [said], ‘Why shouldn’t we try to invite back the ghost of Gershwin?’ …. The night opens with a world premiere commission by retired CSO principal bassoonist William Winstead [featuring] the current musicians of the CSO, the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and retirees…. The symphony will perform … Duke Ellington’s ‘New World A-Comin’,’ which the CSO recorded with Ellington in 1970.” Also on the program: Exil! by former CSO Music Director Eugène Ysaÿe; Daniel Bjarnason’s ‘Collider,’ premiered by the CSO in 2015; and Scriabin’s Prometheus: Poem of Fire, with “each key on the light keyboard corresponding to a color that will light up onstage, Langrée said.”
League’s Rosen and Noonan honored for outstanding arts advocacy by APAP
“The Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) yesterday honored a number of its members during a special awards ceremony” in Manhattan, writes Susan Elliott in Tuesday’s (1/14) Musical America (subscription required). “There were many accolades for Mario Garcia Durham, who exits as APAP’s president and CEO in April…. National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Mary Anne Carter … presented him with a plaque commemorating his 20-year ‘legacy of leadership in the arts.’ … The Sidney R. Yates Award for Outstanding Advocacy on Behalf of the Performing Arts went to the League of American Orchestras and specifically its President and CEO Jesse Rosen, and its VP for Advocacy Heather Noonan. Rosen, in his final year in at the League, was quick to point out that Noonan had done a brilliant job of lobbying in Washington, D.C., and of building partnerships with other arts-service organizations to strengthen the cause…. Emil Kang, now program director for arts and cultural heritage at the Mellon Foundation, received the William Dawson Award for his previous work as executive and artistic director of Carolina Performing Arts, a multi-discipline presenting organization he founded in 2005 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC.”
Baltimore Symphony announces $7.25 million in donations; Vision Committee continues to plan orchestra’s future
“The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has raised $6 million in the past month as the group works on a plan for its future,” writes Amanda Yeager in Tuesday’s (1/14) Baltimore Business Journal. “The BSO announced the gifts Tuesday and said they will go toward operating costs. The symphony also said it has received a $1.25 million gift for its endowment. The money represents a ‘significant investment’ in the BSO’s future and could help the organization balance its budget for the first time in more than a decade, CEO Peter Kjome said…. The announcement comes nearly four months after the symphony’s management and its musicians came together … to announce a deal ending a summer-long dispute over salary, benefits and the length of the BSO’s season. As part of the agreement … the Vision Committee, a new standing committee of the BSO’s board that includes musicians, was established to assemble a plan for the future, and the orchestra hired arts consultant and former Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser to weigh in on the process. Kjome said the group would likely be ready to share specific recommendations next month…. Donors include board members and supporters from Greater Baltimore and Montgomery County.”
In photo: Music Director Marin Alsop conducts the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Photo by Kenneth K. Lam