“The first annual ‘SHIFT: A Festival of American Orchestras’ won’t take place until March of 2017, but organizers yesterday announced their choice of participating orchestras for 2018,” writes Susan Elliott on Friday (6/3) at MusicalAmerica.com. “SHIFT is the revised version of Carnegie Hall’s Spring for Music, which ended in Spring of 2014.… Now run by the Kennedy Center and Washington Performing Arts, it is an annual weeklong showcase for four American orchestras, each of which performs a KenCen concert (tickets are all $25) and supports city-wide collaborations and residencies. The four coming in 2017, previously announced, are the Boulder Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and The Knights. The new crop, arriving in April of 2018, consists of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. Applicants are chosen for their ability ‘to be creative, interesting, and provocative, and to present work that embodies each orchestra’s identity, heritage, standards, and artistic vision.’ Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said, ‘We congratulate these ensembles [and] look forward to seeing how they will inspire and interact with our D.C. audiences both inside and outside our concert hall.’ ”
Posted June 3, 2016