Tag: Artistic Planning

Review: Chelsea Komschlies’s “Mycelialore” at Grant Park Music Festival

Posted on August 28, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the August 14 Third Coast Review (Chicago), Louis Harris writes, “The Grant Park Orchestra played an excellent concert at Jay Pritzker Pavillion on Wednesday evening…. Giancarlo Guerrero was his typically perky self at the podium, and the orchestra’s prowess was on full display for … Clayton Stephenson’s stellar performance of Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 [and] a powerful performance of Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3 … The concert started with a recent work [Mycelialore] that set to music a phenomenon found in nature…. Composer Chelsea Komschlies explained the unusual fungal root structure of mushrooms, known as a mycelium. These fungal roots can spread great distances in the ground, forming an interconnected organism that connects trees and other plants. She … imagined what it could sound like if the interconnected mushrooms and plants could communicate via the mycelium…. She used a large orchestra enhanced by electronica….. The effect that Komschlies created of mushrooms talking to each other was startling…. She added a very charming melody, later interspersed with moments of cacophony…. With Mycelialore, Chelsea Komschlies was very effective in setting nature to music.” Mycelialore was commissioned by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program, an initiative of the League of American Orchestras in partnership with the American Composers Orchestra.

Mankato Symphony Orchestra Announces 2025-26 Season, Its 75th

Posted on August 21, 2025 by - News Briefs

In the August 12 Bring Me the News (Minnesota), Dustin Nelson writes, “From ‘Ode to Joy’ to intimate chamber music performances, the Mankato Symphony Orchestra’s new season will be lively. The MSO will be celebrating a milestone during its just-announced 2025-26 season. Titled ‘Cheers to 75!,’ the MSO is marking 75 years since its first downbeat in 1950 with familiar orchestral staples in its Symphonic Series and intimate performances throughout its Music on the Hill chamber music series…. The MSO kicks off the season with a free outdoor performance on Sept. 6. The show, dubbed ‘Symphony on the Prairie,’ features music from ‘West Side Story,’ a tribute to John Williams, and arrangements of music by Queen, ABBA, and Journey, among other works. Later in the season, the MSO’s Symphonic Series will feature a celebration of Latin American composers, a program centered around Beethoven’s ‘Ode to Joy,’ and a season finale that includes George Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue.’ Its Music on the Hill series, curated by Artistic Director Richard Belcher, will feature four cozy chamber music performances in the Trinity Chapel at Bethany Lutheran Church, with works by Shostakovich, Florence Price, and Amy Beach, among others.”

Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra Gives World Premiere by Marina López, Commissioned by League of American Orchestras

Posted on August 20, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Monday’s (8/18) Cincinnati Business Courier, Janelle Gelfand writes, “Summermusik explored the intersection of music and the arts in the Art Deco era for its third main-stage program Aug. 16. Music Director Eckart Preu’s jam-packed lineup of music from the ‘20s and ‘30s included plenty of jazz … In between were … little-known works by John Alden Carpenter and Respighi, as well as a world premiere by Mexico City-born composer Marina López” and Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major with pianist Terrence Wilson. “For the centerpiece, composer Marina López introduced her ‘Moño’ (‘Bow’). The work is a 2023 Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation orchestra commission.” The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation Orchestral Commissions Program is an initiative of the League of American Orchestras, in partnership with American Composers Orchestra (ACO) and supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. “López, who lives in Pittsburgh, said her piece imagines the Mexico City of her grandparents’ youth, when the mambo popularized by Cuban bandleader Damaso Perez Prado was the rage. It was the golden age of Mexican cinema and Cuban immigrant musicians played alongside Mexican musicians in the clubs…. The piece, which combines sonata form with mambo dance form, ranged from slow and sensuous to raucous and upbeat. It began with a mellow melody for trumpet accompanied by piano and strings, as if in a dream. As the music grew, mambo rhythms and melodic phrases overlapped each other into a complex tapestry … Bright and engaging, it captured the era’s spirit and the audience gave it an enthusiastic reception.”

Yo-Yo Ma to Perform with Milwaukee Symphony in Spring 2026

Posted on August 20, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Tuesday’s (8/19) Milwaukee Magazine, Evan Musil writes, “It’s not every day that the world’s most-famous classical musician strolls into town, but that’s exactly what cellist Yo-Yo Ma will do next spring. On March 25, Ma will join the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for a one-night-only concert at the Bradley Symphony Center, the orchestra announced on Tuesday. They’ll perform Czech composer Antonín Dvořák’s Cello Concerto in B minor, conducted by music director Ken-David Masur. The last time Ma played with the MSO was in 2016 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center, but it wasn’t his most recent time in Milwaukee. Ma visited the Cream City in April 2022 for a recital with pianist and longtime collaborator Kathryn Stott at the Bradley Symphony Center. This will be Ma’s first time playing the center with its principal tenant. The 19-time Grammy Award-winning musician has recorded over 120 albums and played with orchestras all over the world. Born in 1955 to Chinese parents living in Paris, Ma began learning cello at age 4 and later studied at the Juilliard School and Harvard University. Among his many accolades are the National Medal of the Arts (2001) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2010).”

Composer Arvo Pärt’s Enduring Influence

Posted on August 14, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Friday’s (8/9) Gramophone (U.K.), Andrew Mellor writes, “As composer Arvo Pärt marks his 90th birthday on September 11, we can recognize [his] aesthetic as one of the most resonant and wide-reaching in all contemporary art. People who claim no interest in notated music cleave nonetheless to the still, spiritual sounds made by the Estonian composer, as his compatriots do to the music of their most famous son. ‘He is the one Estonian who is recognized the world over,’ says Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the country’s president from 2006 to 2016 … ‘Contemporary classical music has a far broader audience than it would have reached without him.’ Every year is a big year for Pärt. Plenty of polls rate him either the most performed composer alive, or a close second to John Williams. Unsurprisingly, 2025 is proving even bigger…. There will be at least 48 Pärt-themed concerts in Australia alone, and plenty more in the Philippines, Korea, China and Japan, with a notable surge in the composer’s heartlands of Europe and America … ‘There is a worldwide Arvo Pärt cult,’ jokes the Finnish conductor Eva Ollikainen, fresh from recording the composer’s four symphonies with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. ‘People just really want to hear this music.’ ”

Virginia Symphony Prepares for 105th Season

Posted on August 11, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Sunday’s (8/10) Williamsburg Yorktown Daily (Virginia), a staff-written report states, “With five performances across Hampton Roads during Opening Weekend Sept. 12-14, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra begins its 105th season with a flourish. Performances include Coffee Concert: Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony + Cellist Jan Vogler and Schubert’s Cello Quintet. This season marks the fifth season for Music Director Eric Jacobsen … The VSO noted it joins in the America250 celebration with over 25 American composers and soloists featured throughout the season. Described as a season of ‘American Spirit and Symphonic Brilliance,’ the orchestra will showcase the storied sounds that frame the history of the United States…. President and CEO Shannon Kelly said, ‘We have several new offerings in store, including two world premieres, the new chamber music series, VSO Up Close, and the expansion of VSO’s PB&J family performances into Newport News….’ The 2025-26 Subscription Season features 47 performances across the Hampton Roads area through the end of May, including Yo-Yo Ma & Kayhan Kalhor: One Night Only, Gershwin’s ‘An American in Paris’ & Copland’s ‘Rodeo,’ Dvořák’s ‘New World’ Symphony + Gil & Orli Shaham and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.”

Enrico Lopez-Yañez on What Orchestras Bring to Pops—and Pops Bring to Orchestras

Posted on August 7, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Wednesday’s (8/6) Irvine Standard (California), an unbylined article states, “The Pacific Symphony returns to Great Park Live on Aug. 23. with Disco Fever–Let’s Dance! featuring hits such as ‘We Are Family,’ ‘Stayin’ Alive,’ and ‘I Will Survive, brought to life by the full symphony and an onstage dance-off. We spoke with Principal Pops Conductor Enrico Lopez-Yañez about what audiences can expect at the show…. Q: What surprised you in orchestrating disco hits? Lopez-Yañez: One thing I found fascinating was the tremendous number of orchestral instruments that already existed in the original songs of this era. So many of the most iconic bands and hit songs from the ’70s included brass sections or strings. Q: How does Disco Fever help redefine the symphony? Lopez-Yañez: We’ve seen the role of orchestras shift from simply being curators of historic pieces of art to being ensembles that reflect and serve their entire community. That means presenting a wider breadth of offerings. The symphony orchestra can enhance music of every genre, from rock and jazz to hip-hop and electronic dance music.”

Aspen Music Festival and School Stages World Premiere of “Siddhartha, She”

Posted on August 6, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Friday’s (8/1) Aspen Daily News (Colorado), Geoff Hanson writes, “More than 150 musicians, dancers, chorus members and actors will bring to life one of the Aspen Music Festival and School’s most ambitious projects in its history this weekend. The world premiere of experimental opera ‘Siddhartha, She’ happens Saturday at the Klein Music Tent. The piece is based on Hermann Hesse’s allegorical 1922 novel ‘Siddhartha’ about the Buddha’s search for enlightenment. It is the brainchild of the two-time Grammy-nominated composer Chris Theofanidis, AMFS composer-in-residence, and poet and librettist Melissa Studdard. AMFS President and CEO Alan Fletcher said … ‘[Theofanidis and Studdard] are the fundamental creative partners in this work but they have, from early in the creative process, brought in brilliant artists and collaborators, so that the work is a simultaneity of inspiration involving movement, visual art, video installations, words, music, and spiritual thought.’ Robert Spano will conduct the Aspen Festival Orchestra and will be joined by the Denver-based Kantorei choir with its artistic director Joel Rinsema…. The show will star sopranos Caitlin Lynch and Maya Kherani; mezzo-sopranos Kelley O’Connor and Tamara Mumford; countertenor Key’mon Murrah and baritone Nmon Ford…. ‘Siddhartha, She’ is next set to be performed at Yale University, where Theofanidis is on the faculty, in November.”

Review: LA Phil’s “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Starring Cynthia Erivo

Posted on August 5, 2025 by - News Briefs

In Monday’s (8/4) Variety, Chris Willman writes, “The ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ presented [by the Los Angeles Philharmonic] as a three-night event at the Hollywood Bowl … was a big old smash…. In Cynthia Erivo as Jesus, the great betrayer [Judas] finally met his brilliantly cast match … Putting a woman in the part to begin with already establishes a sense of otherness that breaks away from the tendency to play Christ as a shaggy-haired hippie. Erivo really does come in with a look and persona that’s a fascinating combination of warm and otherworldly … Purely vocally, too, it’s hard to conceive of a better-sung Jesus than the one Erivo gave us over the weekend. It transcends being ‘gender-blind’ casting; the part suddenly sounds like it was always written for a powerful woman’s voice…. Adam Lambert’s Judas is unmistakably a rock god, all the cooler for being, as he predicts, damned for all time…. Musical director and conductor Stephen Oremus … has managed to navigate the tricky balance between the band that was visible on stage throughout and the orchestra that mostly stayed out of sight behind an LED screen/curtain … Whatever [director Sergio Trujillo’s] reasons for rendering the strings and horns invisible, it did have the effect of visually focusing the show more on its rock roots.”

New Indigenous Directory for Musical Storytelling Available Online

Posted on July 24, 2025 by - News Briefs

White Snake Projects, an activist opera company based in Boston, has launched an Indigenous Directory for Musical Storytelling, a searchable online platform designed to highlight Native American arts professionals, connect them with opportunities, and expand the performing arts ecosystem by increasing participation by Native performing artists. The free resource is open to arts workers, organizations, and businesses. On the site, Native performing arts professionals can post profiles that showcase their work, including bios, images, and videos. The site features a range of arts professionals, from composers and performers to costume, lighting, sound, projection, and set designers, as well as stage managers and teaching artists. By providing those without websites an opportunity to build an online presence, the site aims to reduce economic barriers to participating in the creative economy. The Indigenous Directory for Musical Storytelling will help arts organizations identify potential artists, performers, musicians, collaborators, and clients. Learn more at https://theidms.org/.