New York City Housing Symphony Celebrates 40th Anniversary, Part 2

[Kay George Roberts, Conductor; Janet Wolfe, Founder of New York City Housing Symphony]

On March 30, 2011 AfriClassical posted: “New York City Housing Symphony Celebrates 40th Anniversary, Part 1.” We quoted Kay George Roberts, whose statement began: “In July 1987, I made my NYC debut conducting the New York City Housing Orchestra for a concert in Damrosch Park with soloist Jerome Ashby, associate principal french horn of the New York Philharmonic. A professional symphony founded in 1971, the sixty-member orchestra consisted of diverse minorities and played for those living in the City's housing projects at free summer concerts, both in the projects and at city parks.”

The Harlem Chamber Players is a multi-ethnic classical music ensemble founded in 2008 by Liz Player, its Artistic Director. Each year it presents a series called “Music at St. Mary's With The Harlem Chamber Players,” at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 521 West 126th Street, between Broadway and Amsterdam. One of the group's Board Members is Janet Wolfe. Its website, HarlemChamberPlayers.org, introduces her:

“Janet Wolfe, Founder of New York City Housing Authority Symphony Orchestra

A long-time patron of minority musicians in New York City, Janet Wolfe is the inspiration behind the creation of Harlem's music series Music at St. Mary's. She founded New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Symphony Orchestra in 1971, and she hosts a yearly gala benefit concert featuring many of New York City's finest minority chamber musicians every February in honor of Black History Month. Many of the musicians who perform now with The Harlem Chamber Players have also played in the NYCHA Symphony Orchestra and in some of the yearly gala concerts Ms. Wolfe hosts at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.”

“In February of 2010, Ms. Wolfe was featured in The Daily News article 'Janet Wolfe, 95, keeps NYCHA orchestra humming along.' Ms. Wolfe was also featured in 1996 in The New York Times article 'Sowing the Classics, Reaping New Listeners.'”

Errol Lewis wrote the article which appeared in The Daily News Feb. 3, 2010. He begins with these observations:

“Janet Wolfe relies on her connections with luminaries like former President Bill Clinton to run the NYCHA Symphony Orchestra. The photos displayed throughout Janet Wolfe's upper West Side apartment are many and striking, each with a story. In one shot, she's perched on Bill Clinton's lap (his idea, she says). In another, she is with opera legend Luciano Pavarotti, and a third shows Wolfe laughing it up with the late Max Roach, the jazz drummer and composer.”

Ralph Blumenthal wrote the article in The New York Times, published August 8, 1996 in commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of the New York City Housing Authority Symphony. He gives this introduction:

“O.K., so maybe it doesn't have the ring of Academy of St. Martin in the Fields or Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. But when it comes to putting live classical music where the people are, the New York City Housing Authority Symphony plays second fiddle to none. For 25 years, mostly in the summer, the orchestra and its chamber ensembles, made up of professional musicians earning scale, have been concertizing free in plazas of the city's 340 public housing developments. They introduce audiences who might not make it to Carnegie Hall or Lincoln Center to live classical and jazz performances, and in particular they showcase black musicians long under-represented in the classical concert halls.

“To mark its anniversary and raise money to continue, the orchestra is to perform on Sept. 9 at Alice Tully Hall in an all-Beethoven program featuring Awadagin Pratt in his conducting debut.”

Blumenthal notes that the first 25 years had certainly had their challenges, then says: “Yet Ms. Wolfe, a former actress and dance teacher, has all but singlehandedly kept the orchestra going by her relentless and zany badgerings of officials and benefactors and by her disarming penchant for bawdy badinage.”

AfriClassical had a brief telephone interview with Janet Wolfe on March 22, 2011. We asked how she came to be the person who started the orchestra. She replied:

“Oh, because I needed a job! I was divorced. I had two little girls, I think they must have been about 8 and 10, I don't remember how old, and I went down to see the Chairman of the Housing Authority, a man by the name of Simeon Golar. I said 'Sim, I gotta have a job, I gotta support two little girls.' And he said 'What could you do for the Housing Authority?' I said 'Nothing,' and he laughed. I said 'I don't know what you do here!' He said 'Well, I grew up in public housing, and I was never exposed to classical music. Could you start an orchestra?' I said 'Sure!' That's how it started.”

Janet Wolfe was asked about the Feb. 21, 2011 concert of the orchestra, which was conducted by Kay George Roberts and consisted of music by composers of African descent:

“Kay George Roberts did a fantastic job of this concert! She did the first half, and then Jack Jeffers conducted the jazz half, the second half.”

Comments by email:

William, This looks great. Thanks for including The Harlem Chamber Players in your article. Liz (Liz Player)

Dear Bill, You did a fantastic job putting the information on the NYCHS together - I really admire your dedication! Thank you so very much! Kay (Kay G. Roberts)