“Four orchestras of different sizes and styles have been selected to inaugurate the Shift: A Festival of American Orchestras festival in 2017: the Boulder Philharmonic, the North Carolina Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Knights, a Brooklyn-based ensemble,” writes Michael Cooper in Thursday’s (5/28) New York Times. “Their selection was announced in Cleveland,” where the League of American Orchestras is holding its annual conference. Shift, to be held in Washington, D.C. from March 27 to April 2 and presented by the Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts, will emphasize “community outreach. In addition to offering $25 tickets to performances in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, the festival will invite the orchestras into Washington neighborhoods. The Boulder Philharmonic plans to underscore its theme of ‘Nature & Music’ by performing outdoors near monuments and parks, and is planning to offer what it is calling ‘Guided Hikes’ led by musicians and nature guides. The North Carolina Symphony plans to work with local schools, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will hold chamber concerts and choral workshops intended to tap into the city’s choral tradition, and the Knights plan to play side-by-side concerts with young musicians and to perform in nontraditional spaces.” Shift, presented in cooperation with the League of American Orchestras, is a successor to Spring for Music, held annually at Carnegie Hall from 2011 to 2014. The second and third years of the festival will be 2018 and 2019.
Posted May 29, 2015
