Rodena Preston: If We May Never Pass This Way Again
John Malveaux of
writes:
Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Dr. Rodena Preston, sister of Billy Preston, made her heavenly transition
Friday, September 15, 2017
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Fred Onovwerosuoke: New York Times: Halim El-Dabh, Composer of Martha Graham Ballets, Dies at 96
Mr. El-Dabh, who composed hundreds of pieces, including symphonies, concertos, chamber music and vocal works, was also known for compositions that combined Western instruments with Eastern ones, notably the darbuka, a goblet-shaped drum on which he was a skilled performer.
He was also in the vanguard of electronic composition, creating pieces in that medium as early as the 1940s.
Writing about Mr. El-Dabh in 1975, The Washington Post called him “a modern composer of stature and accomplishment.”
Mr.
El-Dabh’s most famous composition is almost certainly the score for
“Clytemnestra,” one of four ballets for which Ms. Graham commissioned
him. The only full-evening-length dance she choreographed, it is widely
considered her masterwork, spanning more than two hours and reworking
the mythic Greek tragedy of murder and retribution.
Errollyn Wallen: This autumn sees premieres and performances of my work in bus depots, halls, chapels and harbours
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Sphinx Recipients of 2018 Medals of Excellence: J'Nai Bridges, mezzo-soprano; Alexander Laing, clarinet and citizen artist; and Christine Lamprea, cello
On March 21, 2018, Sphinx will honor three artists of color who demonstrate the following qualities: artistic excellence, outstanding work ethic, a spirit of determination, and ongoing commitment to leadership.
These outstanding artists are the recipients of the 7th annual Sphinx Medals of Excellence. The awards will be bestowed at the official Sphinx Medals of Excellence luncheon at the The Kennedy Center and honorees will be celebrated at a black-tie private dinner in Washington, D.C. The three Medalists will also each receive a $50,000 artist grant to advance their career development.
Mezzo-soprano J'Nai Bridges has
performed in operas with the San Francisco Opera, the Los Angeles
Opera, Vancouver Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and more. She also
regularly performs as a soloist, including performances with Yo-Yo Ma
and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and with the L.A.
Philharmonic and Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela under the
baton of Gustavo Dudamel. In 2015, Bridges completed a three-year
residency with the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric
Opera of Chicago. She is a recipient of a 2016 Richard Tucker Career
Grant and first prize winner of the 2016 Francisco Viñas International
Competition.
Alexander Laing
Alexander Laing,
citizen artist and principal clarinet of the Phoenix Symphony, is a
performing and teaching artist. He has completed fellowships with the
Tanglewood Music Center, New World Symphony, Aspen Music Festival and
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. He serves on the board of directors for
Arizona School for the Arts, on both the Artistic and Strategic Planning
Committees for Gateways Music Festival, and co-chairs the Institutional
Readiness task force for the League of American Orchestras' Diversity
Forum. Laing recently started The Leading Tone,
a nonprofit after school music program that brings music instruction to
kids while exploring music as a context for youth development.
Christine Lamprea
Colombian-American cellist Christine Lamprea
was the first place Laureate of the 2013 Sphinx Competition. She
performs around the world as a soloist, recitalist, and chamber
musician. In addition to performing at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the
Kennedy Center, and the Costa Rica National Symphony, Lamprea is
dedicated to teaching and outreach - she worked with Ecuadorian youth as
part of a residency between The Juilliard School and "Sinfonia Por La
Vida," a social inclusion program modeled after Venezuela's El Sistema
program, and served as a Gluck Community Service Fellow at Juilliard,
performing in hospitals and nursing homes in and around New York City.
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Sergio A. Mims: Chineke! Orchestra 9/16 at Birmingham Orchestra Hall performs Coleridge-Taylor, Mendelssohn & Elgar. Roderick Cox conducts; Tai Murray is violinist
Chineke! Orchestra
Roderick Cox
Tai Murray
Sergio A. Mims writes:
The Chineke! Orchestra will perform this Saturday at Birmingham
Orchestra Hall in a concert of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Mendelssohn and
Elgar. Roderick Cox is conducting with violinist Tai Murray as soloist
Chineke! Orchestra - Coleridge-Taylor, Mendelssohn and Elgar
START 7:30PM FINISH 9:10PM
7:30pm
Artists
- Chineke! Orchestra
- Roderick Cox
- Conductor
- Tai Murray
- Violin
Programme
- Coleridge-Taylor Ballade for Orchestra in A minor Op 33, 13’’
- Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor Op 64, 26’ ’
- Elgar Enigma Variations, 29’’
Classics by Elgar and Mendelssohn plus a magical British rediscovery, as Chineke! Orchestra makes its Birmingham debut.
Everyone
loves Nimrod, but there’s more to Elgar’s Enigma Variations than just
an unforgettable musical portrait gallery of his Worcestershire friends.
Mendelssohn’s popular Violin Concerto and the passionate,
unfairly-neglected Ballade by Elgar’s friend Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
complete a wonderfully warm-hearted concert.
John Malveaux: TheGuardian.com: Civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome freed from copyright
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr used elements of the song in his final sermon.
Photograph: Agence France Presse/Getty Images
John Malveaux of
writes:
WE SHALL OVERCOME copyright issue https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/11/we-shall-overcome-civil-rights-anthem-copyright-lawsuit
The first verse of the civil rights anthem We Shall Overcome is no longer under copyright, a New York federal judge ruled on Friday.
Described as the “most powerful song of the 20th century” by the Library of Congress, the suit against the existing copyright holders was brought last year by the same legal team who had successfully disputed longstanding ownership claims over Happy Birthday to You.
Lawyers leading the class action against the Richmond Organization
and Ludlow Music, claimed We Shall Overcome was an adaptation of an
African American spiritual and therefore in the public domain and had
only later been adopted by folk singer Pete Seeger, copyrighted, and established as an anthem of the 1940s labor protest movement.
They pointed to Seeger’s 1963 memoir in which he wrote that he’d been
advised by his music publishers: “If you don’t copyright this now, some
Hollywood types will have a version out next year like ‘Come on baby,
we shall overcome tonight.’”
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