Friday, November 30, 2018

Morgan Choir sings Antigone in Ferguson on University of MD - College Park campus










Dr. Eric Conway writes:

Hello everyone,

Last night, the Morgan State University Choir performed Phil Woodmore's Antigone in Ferguson at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. This performance was under the direction of the composer with musicians and chorus members from Ferguson, MO who premiered this piece over two years ago.  Woodmore adapted Sophocles' Greek tragedy Antigone to highlight the civil turmoil after the killing of Michael Brown. The Morgan choir learned this piece at the beginning of this semester for our Performing Arts Convocation on October 4, 2018.

The group from Ferguson, MO has performed this piece all over the country since the premiere. The company just returned from a five-week run in Harlem, New York.  This performance was very different from our Morgan performance.  The composer has since decided to have the choir sing Gospel songs as the audience entered the auditorium prior to the formal start of the piece to get in a receptive spirit.  During our rehearsal, Phil asked the chorus on stage, in the best sense of the typical Greek chorus, to react to the lines spoken by the actors on stage with total abandonment.  The actors were professionals, including Baltimore native Tracie Thomas from the musical Rent, vividly brought the Sophocles’ text alive.  The soloists who at this point had scores of performances under their belts, sang all the songs from memory and with conviction. The band made up of saxophone, piano, Hammond organ, guitar, and drums was quite effective.

After the formal performance was over, topics in the tragedy were discussed in a town-hall meeting fashion.  After five panelists shared their unique perspectives on how this piece impacted their lives, the floor was open to the audience and choir members to discuss what the performance meant to them individually.   Other related topics were including pride, misogyny, responsibility, love, among others.  After an hour-long impassioned discussion with fairly riveting personal expressions of how Sophocles’ Antigone was still relevant in 2018, the choir sang “Thank you Lord," where the first line in the piece was appropriately:  “Tragedies are common place”. . .   

On so many levels, this may be one of the choir’s most fulfilling performances of the year — with a great musical as well as humanistic experience. See attached photos, program, and video from the evening.  If you get a chance, please listen to the entire performance, but especially the profound discussion and comments based around the topics at the end of the evening.  

Best,
EC

Link to PreConcert Gospel Songs:

Link to Antigone in Ferguson Presentation:

Link to post concert discussion:

Link to entire concert:

Rick Robinson: CutTime Newsletter - Noel Night at La Palma Dec. 1, 4:30 PM


Rick Robinson writes:

November 30, 2018

Dear Friends,        
 
It's been awhile since I wrote to you. CutTime® had a rather wild August followed by a disappointing 4th quarter. Upcoming gigs and some new plans promise to make us irresistible if a bit less public next year.

Thanks to grants from ArtOps to some Highland Park (MI) non-profits, CutTime Simfonica was invited to perform more than a few times in my hometown with our new project partners, the Urban Requiem Project. My compositions, and some improvisations based them, dramatically supported the street poetry of Claretha (Peace) Bell and Kevlar Afrika.

Live music and spoken word knock classical music into the Highland Park! We performed for Literacy in the Park, Nandi's Knowledge Café, Detroit Repertory Theatre, the Boys and Girls Club and 333 Midland art gallery. URP Founder Virgil Taylor caught some great video. Watch Can You Hear Me Now and Art As a Weapon.

By GK Photo

My hopes ran even higher when Bedrock Detroit and Library Street Collective invited CutTime Players to perform for the launch of the colorful new light display of artist Phillip K Smith on the Detroit Skybridge. We were asked to play mostly slow classical to enhance the slowly-changing colors of the display.

For the occasion I composed two short, new works; a deep, colorful, breathing meditation, plus a rather exhilarating prelude about Henry Ford (Model-T Magic) cranking up the very first car engine and flying off into the future (since the theme was reinvention). Sadly, it drizzled most of the first hour we were to play on Spirit Plaza downtown. The sound system malfunctioned as a result and our shortened concert was missing critical bass and percussion.

In September, CutTime Simfonica finally debuted in Ann Arbor, at U Mich Hospital's main lobby for the Thursday lunchtime series, Gifts of Art. They gave us some video I've been posting on our YouTube channel, and invited us back for Valentine's Day at noon.

Specially requested to return, the weather prevented us from playing October's Open Streets Detroit event in Corktown/Mexicantown. It was slightly too cool to play under the train overpass at Michigan Depot. At 60-degrees, it's neither fun nor healthy to play strings with cold fingers. Here's a cool video, however, from the year before. 

While we made the final round, the Urban Requiem Project ultimately lost a Knight Foundation Arts Challenge grant this month. Our grand proposal was to compose a full-length, URBAN REQUIEM commemorating the industrial century of Detroit (and Highland Park) with our poets, classical and soul musicians, gospel choir and old footage of Detroit's people, factories and life. Numerous community and popup concerts would have led up to and inspired the process. On to plan C.

In December, CutTime Simfonica plays its 3rd annual Noel Night (Dec. 1) at the Mediterranean restaurant La Palma 4:30-5:45 featuring lots of Baroque favorites, Charlie Brown music and MOT Concertmaster Eliot Heaton.  The food is great and you might as well get a table if you're around.

And CutTime Players returns to Rocky River Senior Center Auditorium (near Cleveland) for its 2nd Christmas concert on Thursday Dec. 6 at 7:30. This is our 4th CutTime concert there in 2 years; they love CutTime® so much! For Players, I recruit and rehearse Cleveland freelancers there. For Simfonica lately, I've been bringing my A Team from Detroit, as we will again March 24 (Su) 3p to Rocky River Presbyterian.

Besides a number of private bookings so far, in 2019 around Detroit, Simfonica will play a full-length public concert at Birmingham Unitarian Church on Feb. 8 (Fr) 7:30.

Other related events are the orchestration premiere of my Elegy (2009) by Colour of Music Festival Orchestra in Pittsburgh (PA) on Feb. 13, and that of Highland Park, MI: City of Trees by Michigan Philharmonic in Canton (MI) Apr. 6.

With the repeated failure of my efforts to work the edges of the non-profit world, I'm resigning myself to hit more commercial buttons in 2019, adding visual projections, songs, a dancer and some "purple cows."

Have a great holiday season and stay tuned for surprises in the next newsletter. It's time to cut classical music loose!

Yours,

- Rick Robinson (Mr. CutTime)

Thursday, November 29, 2018

NewRepublic.com: Mychal Denzel Smith reviews the film "If Beale Street Could Talk"

If Beale Street Could Talk
(Annapurna Pictures)

The New Republic

For the December issue of The New Republic, New York Times best-selling author Mychal Denzel Smith reviews If Beale Street Could Talk, Barry Jenkins’ film adaptation of the James Baldwin book of the same name.

The film deals with many emotional subtleties, Smith explains in Finding A Way. “It took a delicate hand to ensure these somewhat competing truths did not break the narrative apart.” That has something to do with Jenkins’s talents: “He provides space for his character’s flaws while never allowing those flaws to define them.”

You can read the entire piece here.


Eric Conway: The Morgan State Marching Band Show - Sat. Dec. 1, 2018 at 4 PM


Dr. Eric Conway writes:


Hello,

On this coming Saturday, December 1, 2018, at 4 PM, the Murphy Fine Arts Center will present The 2018 Marching Band Show!  Over the years, this event has grown and grown and grown.  Many of you have never attended an indoors Marching Band show, but it is something to behold. Beyond the great music one would expect to hear from Morgan’s Magnificent Marching Machine,  one will also have a feast for the eyes.  You will find spectacular marching band formations as well as great dancing, all undercover in the beautiful Gilliam Concert Hall at the Murphy Fine Arts Center.  If you do not have a previous engagement, please consider coming out to see this show — and bring your children as well, they will love it!

Sergio Mims: Sony Classical releases Black Composers Series on CD for first time

Sergio A. Mims writes:

This is some very exciting news.

Sony Classical has announced they are finally releasing for the first time and remastered on CD their acclaimed Black Composers Series from the 1970's. The set provided the opportunity for many listeners to hear for the first time music written by such great black composers as Jose Mauricio Nunes-Garcia, Jose White, David Baker and George Theophilus Walker and the greatness and lasting legacy of the music, many works of which are conducted by Paul Freeman.

The 9 disc CD set is available for pre-order on Amazon.

Composers in the set include:

Olly Woodrow Wilson 
Chevalier de Saint-Georges 
Thomas Jefferson Anderson 
William Grant Still 
Talib Rasul Hakim
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor 
Adolphus Hailstork 
Ulysses Simpson Kay 
Hale Smith 
George Theophilus Walker 
Roque Cordero 
Jose Mauricio Nunes-Garcia 
Jose White 
David Baker 
Fela Sowande

The artists and orchestras included on this series are: 

Paul Freeman (Conductor)
London Symphony Orchestra 
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra 
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 
Faye Robinson (Soprano)
Betty Allen (Mezzo Soprano) 
William Brown (Tenor) 
Matti Tuloisela (Baritone) 
Richard Bunger (Piano) 
Natalie Hinderas (Piano) 
Robert Mann (Violin) 
Earl Carlyss (Violin) 
Samuel Rhodes (Violin) 
Miriam Fried (Violin) 
Jaime Laredo (Violin) 
Claus Adam (Cello) 

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Minority-Owned Tech Startup Mixtroz Raises Over $1M for Networking Software


Black mother-daughter tech team is among the first minority and woman-owned
startups to hit million-dollar funding mark


Birmingham, Ala. – November 27, 2018 –  Mixtroz, a minority and woman-owned tech startup specializing in connecting people at live events in real time, has reached the historic fundraising mark of $1 million. Kerry Schrader and Ashlee Ammons, the founding mother-daughter team behind Mixtroz, have joined the exclusive circle of only 40 black females to close $1 million in seed funding.

“Achieving this milestone is a huge success for us, especially considering  we are black, female, non-technical tech founders,” comments Kerry Schrader, Mixtroz co-founder, CEO and a former HR executive. “As a startup, Birmingham has proved to be a perfect homebase for us. They have figured out how civic, corporate and tech ecosytems must come together to breed success, and we attribute a lot of our accomplishments to the supportive business community here. In fact, we would not have reached this milestone without the active support from Innovation Depot’s Velocity Accelerator; Bronze Valley, a Birmingham-based fund and online resource; as well as local corporations  who have become Mixtroz customers; and of course Birmingham’s robust investor community.”

Mixtroz has an impressive track record: In May 2018 they pitched to a panel of judges, including AOL co-founder and Revolution CEO Steve Case, as part of Revolution’s Rise of the Rest bus tour stop in Birmingham. They won the competition, securing  a $100,000 investment from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and a coveted place in their portfolio as the only business from Alabama thus far. This kicked off their now fully funded $1 million seed round.

The Mixtroz networking software can be used anywhere where 25 or more people gather. The team focused its intial efforts primarily on events hosted by enterprises, institutes of higher education, and conferences and conventions. The app-based technology drives attendees from phone to face-to-face meetings, creating diverse groups in an effort to spark dynamic conversation. At the same time, event hosts gain valuable data on those interactions to quantify  a networking ROI. Ashlee Ammons, co-founder, COO and notably first intern to NBA star LeBron James, says: “The fact that we were able to acquire prestigious clients clearly shows that there is a real need for our product. People attend events to make valuable connections. In the digital age, if the main motivation was to consume content, we’d all just livestream at home. Mixtroz is a way to make the most of your time when you have decided to make the effort to leave the house and attend an event.”

Mixtroz allows the organizer and/or sponsor to tailor specific questions capturing unique data from event attendees. It eliminates the need for antiquated “icebreaker” games as well as the arduous task of matching people by hand. “It’s a win-win for the attendees and the organizers,“ states Ammons. “The attendees are guaranteed to meet people of interest at events, and the organizers and sponsors can gather valuable information about the event participants in real time.”

Mixtroz is leveraging the secured funding to support the growth and continued evolution of its newly launched SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) platform and grow its core team.

About Mixtroz
Founded in Nashville, Tennessee, in 2015 by mother-daughter duo Kerry Schrader and Ashlee Ammons, Mixtroz is a tech startup that creates community anywhere 25 or more people are gathered using the power of technology coupled with face-to-face engagement.

In May 2018, the duo won an $100,000 investment from Steve Case’s Rise of the Rest® tour, which kicked off their now fully funded $1 million seed round. Impressed by the city’s progressive and inclusive approach to startups, Mixtroz has recently relocated its headquarters to Birmingham, Alabama. Learn more at www.mixtroz.com

The New Republic: "Battle Lines" by Gordon S. Wood



The New Republic

For the December issue of The New Republic, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gordon S. Wood considers how two books—No Property In Man: Slavery and Antislavery At The Nation’s Founding by Sean Wilentz and The War Before The War: Fugitive Slaves And The Struggle For America’s Soul From the Revolution to the Civil War by Andrew Delbanco—offer new perspectives on the events leading up to the Civil War.

As Wood writes in Battle Lines,” Wilentz sets out to demonstrate that the Constitution did not enshrine slavery as abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison had claimed. Meanwhile, Delbanco focuses on the fugitive slave laws that hastened the breakup of the Union. Wood notes that both writers “hold out the hope that the Constitution, flawed as it may be, can be the instrument for doing the right thing.”

You can read the entire piece here.

Southside Friends of Chicago Sinfonietta: "A Magical Holiday Breakfast" Dec. 8


Join the Southside Friends of the Chicago Sinfonietta for a magical holiday breakfast, fantastic silent auction, live music and much more!

This event raises critical support for the Chicago Sinfonietta’s education outreach programs






Tuesday, November 27, 2018

TheLaker.com: Pianist Nyaho in Concert on Dec. 2 [Wolfeboro, NH]

Dr. William Chapman Nyaho


November 26, 2018

Wolfeboro Friends of Music heralds the winter season and coming holidays with a spectacular program by pianist Dr. William Chapman Nyaho, to be given on Sunday, December 2 starting at 2 pm. Dr. Nyaho was last heard in the area in 2011. The concert will take place at Anderson Hall, Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro.

The sonorities of Brewster’s Yamaha concert grand will sound forth as Dr. Nyaho opens with Bach transcriptions including “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” in the Myra Hess version. More transcriptions are slated in an enticing group of Gershwin songs embellished by the scintillating pianist Earl Wild published as “Seven Virtuoso Etudes”.

Dr. Nyaho promises selections such as “Fascinating Rhythm”, Embraceable You”, “The Man I Love”. Centerpiece of the concert will be Beethoven’s final piano sonata when we may expect these words of one reviewer of Nyaho, to be revealed: “Effortless technique, splendid rhythmic grasp and fullness of tone allowed his performance to reach great heights…” (The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, CA.). Sonata No. 32 in C minor, Op. 111 demands a dedication of purpose and wondrous attention as the final Arietta rises through a multiplicity of figures to end softly in a heavenly transcendence.

Dr. Nyaho is a productive musicologist, collector, publisher, since over the decades he has compiled and published with Oxford University Press, five performing volumes of piano pieces titled “Piano Music of Africa and the African Diaspora”. He introduces us to Robert Nathaniel Dett, born in Niagara Canada in 1882 and who died in 1943 after a fulsome career as composer, pianist, choral conductor, organist and music professor who performed at Carnegie Hall and at Symphony Hall in Boston. Attendees of the concert also will hear Dett’s piano suite “In the Bottoms (Suite characteristique)” in five movements marked Prelude (Night), His Song, Honey (Humoresque), Barcarolle (Morning) and Dance (Juba).


Further, the audience may view his five volumes of the Oxford publication during intermission, as well as obtain Nyaho’s CD’s ‘Senku’ and ‘Asa’ issued by MSR Classics. Chapman Nyaho’s performances have taken him to Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia as well as to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Princeton University. He is a frequent guest at colleges and universities and serves in the capacity of adjudicator for national and international piano competitions. He is an active member of the Music Teachers’ National Association, currently teaches at Pacific Lutheran University and a beloved piano instructor at his home studio in Seattle.

Odyssey Impact Screens "The Rape of Recy Taylor" in Harlem on Friday, Dec. 7


ODYSSEY IMPACT TO LAUNCH NATIONAL SOCIAL IMPACT CAMPAIGN
AROUND AWARD-WINNING FILM THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR

IN AN EFFORT TO EMPOWER WOMEN AND PROMOTE RACIAL JUSTICE


Special Screening Event in Harlem, NYC on December 7 will Kick Off Dynamic
Initiative with Faith Communities, Universities, Women’s Groups, NGOs & more


NEW YORK, NY [November 27, 2018] — ODYSSEY IMPACT™ will kick-off a national social impact campaign for its award-winning documentary THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR with a special free screening event in New York City, followed by a lively panel discussion, Nick Stuart, President and CEO of Odyssey Impact, announced today. The official launch will be held on Friday, December 7, 2018 in Harlem at The Abyssinian Baptist Church, one of several strategic partners across the country teaming up to host events. (To register in advance for tickets, click here.)

The event is one of many programs being planned by diverse groups and to be held in churches and on college campuses around the United States. Odyssey Impact is collaborating with an array of key organizations and influencers—faith communities, universities, seminaries and theological schools, women’s groups, health organizations, NGOs, and more to help elevate the voices of Black women and all women, empower survivors to share their stories, diminish discrimination and promote equality.

“Odyssey Impact’s initiative around Recy Taylor’s brave but brutal story is a real opportunity to shed light on a dark corner of history and end the cycle of silence and violence that persists today around sexual assault and racial injustice—and a call to action to replace it with a positive culture of healing, support, and tolerance,” said Nick Stuart, President and CEO of Odyssey Impact and Transform Films. 

Directed, written and produced by Nancy Buirski and co-produced by Transform Films, THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR exposes a legacy of physical abuse of black women and reveals the intimate role of Civil Rights icon Rosa Parks in Recy Taylor’s story. A 24-year-old black mother and sharecropper, Recy Taylor was gang raped by six teenage white boys in 1944 Alabama while walking home from church one evening. Common in the Jim Crow South, few women spoke up in fear for their lives. Black men—the husbands, fathers, brothers of the assaulted—felt equally powerless to protect their women. Yet Recy Taylor courageously identified her rapists. The NAACP sent Parks, its chief rape investigator, who rallied support and triggered an unprecedented outcry for justice. An attempted rape against Parks was but one inspiration for her ongoing work to find justice for countless women like Taylor.

Odyssey Impact™ believes that powerful documentaries with messages of social justice can motivate meaningful social change by raising awareness, changing attitudes and inspiring people of all faiths and good will to engage their communities on important issues in their lives.

The national social impact initiative around THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR is designed to engage and inform the public about sexual violence against women and underscore the historical trauma faced by Black women during the Jim Crow South, and the structural racism still affecting women today. The aim is to encourage a new dialogue and spark positive change. To do so, Odyssey Impact has developed numerous resources and discussion guides to accompany the film, which will be available for download to help format and facilitate events by local grassroots organizations. A community toolkit, surveys and local organizing tools are additional components to assist with educational and community outreach. For information, go to www.odyssey-impact.org

“By taking a tactical approach to connect faith leaders, congregations, students and other key audiences with tools to participate in candid conversations about rape culture and race, Odyssey Impact hopes to reframe the dialogue, promote healing for victims and spur real change,” said Melissa Potter, Head of Social Impact and Communication, Odyssey Impact.

More and more women are now speaking up after sexual assault. This documentary tells the story of black women who came forward when danger was greatest, and whose noble efforts to take back their bodies led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott and movements that followed. They continue to resonate today in movements and significant events that address rape culture, sexual aggression, gender violence and racial justice—such as the worldwide Women’s March (2017), Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and #ChurchToo.
 
The film is dedicated to the countless women whose voices have not been heard. It is in memory of Recy Taylor, who is featured in the documentary, but who passed away in December 28, 2017, just days before her 98th birthday. Taylor has since been declared a Civil Rights pioneer, following the film’s release and a rousing tribute by Oprah Winfrey at the 2018 Golden Globes, a few weeks after her death.

THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR has earned distinction at film festivals around the world. It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2018 NAACP Image Awards and was awarded the Special Prize for Human Rights Award at the Venice Film Festival (2017). The film made its national television premiere when it was chosen by STARZ to lead the channel’s launch of a documentary tier in July 2018.

THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR (USA, 91 minutes) is directed, written and produced by Nancy Buirski, and produced by Beth Hubbard. Produced by Claire L. Chandler and Susan Margolin. Executive producer is Regina K. Scully. Executive producers are Geralyn White Dreyfous, Amy Tiermann, Mark Trustin, CarolAnne Dolan, Derrick Harkins, Nick Stuart, Barbara Dobkin, Bobby Kondrat, Jack Turner. Editor is Anthony Ripoli. Director of photography is Rex Miller.

For more information about the film and to view a trailer, visit www.therapeofrecytaylor.com. To host a screening or download resources and discussion guides to engage in community and educational outreach, go to www.odyssey-impact.org/the-rape-of-recy-taylor/

About TRANSFORM FILMS®
TRANSFORM FILMS INC. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Odyssey Networks, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that believes powerful documentaries with messages of social justice can motivate meaningful social change by raising awareness, changing attitudes and inspiring people of all faiths and good will to engage their communities on issues important in their lives and in society as a whole. Transform Films works with leading independent filmmakers to produce documentaries that illuminate our humanity by telling compelling, character-driven stories of compassion, hope and the quest for a more just world. Transform Films, Inc. is the affiliated production company of ODYSSEY IMPACT(TM) , which strategically builds and executes social impact campaigns around documentaries via mobilizing faith leaders, individuals and communities around issues such as poverty, mass incarceration, gun violence, intolerance, racial justice, hate crimes, and gender violence. Transform films such as NEWTOWN; MILWAUKEE 53206; THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR , and LESSONS FROM A SCHOOL SHOOTING: NOTES FROM DUNBLANE have garnered critical acclaim at film festivals around the world and have aired on broadcast outlets such as PBS' Independent Lens, America Reframed, STARZ Channel and Netflix. Recent accolades include the 2018 Peabody Award, the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival's Best Documentary Short, the 2018 UNAFF Grand Jury Award for Best Short Documentary, and the 2017 Venice International Film Festival Human Rights Award. More info at www.TransformFilmsInc.com.

About ODYSSEY IMPACT™ 
ODYSSEY IMPACT(TM) , a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, believes that powerful documentaries with messages of social justice can motivate meaningful social change by raising awareness, changing attitudes and inspiring people of all faiths and good will to engage their communities on issues important in their lives and in society as a whole. The organization is dedicated to strategically building and executing social impact campaigns around documentaries by its affiliated production company, TRANSFORM FILMS INC., via mobilizing faith leaders, individuals and communities around issues such as poverty, mass incarceration, gun violence, intolerance, racial justice, hate crimes, and gender violence. Films such as NEWTOWN; MILWAUKEE 53206; THE RAPE OF RECY TAYLOR , and LESSONS FROM A SCHOOL SHOOTING: NOTES FROM DUNBLANE have garnered critical acclaim at film festivals and have aired on broadcast outlets such as PBS' Independent Lens, America Reframed, STARZ Channel and Netflix. Recent accolades include the 2018 Peabody Award, the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival's Best Documentary Short, the 2018 UNAFF Grand Jury Award for Best Short Documentary, and the 2017 Venice International Film Festival Human Rights Award. More info at www.Odyssey-Impact.org.

Chelsea Opera: Melissa Wimbish is Josephine Baker in "Josephine" on Dec. 1


Josephine Baker (1906-1975)
(Library of Congress)


Melissa Wimbish as Josephine

Photo Credit: Teresa Wood

Chelsea Opera

On Saturday, December 1 at 7:00 pm, Chelsea Opera presents the New York City premieres of Josephine and After Life, two one-act operas by Tom Cipullo. The performance is at Christ & St. Stephen's Church (120 W 69th St., NY, NY). Tickets range from $20-$45 and are available online. Complete details are below and at ChelseaOpera.org.

In Cipullo's monodrama Josephine, the entertainer and activist Josephine Baker grants an interview in her dressing room shortly before her last triumphant appearance. Using Ms. Baker's own words as the libretto, Josephine explores the title character's equally charming and volatile personality as she muses on sex, race, war, and her experiences in pre-war Paris. The NYC premiere features the soprano Melissa Wimbish, whom the Washington Post declared "vocally stunning and theatrically riveting" at the world premiere.

After Life brings Gertrude Stein (mezzo Jennifer Beattie) and Pablo Picasso (baritone Steven Eddy) back from the hereafter to debate their legacies as well as their activities in WWII Paris. Their confrontation is interrupted by the ghost of a Holocaust victim (soprano Sara Paar) who forces them to reconsider the meaning of death. In the words of Tom Cipullo, "the real value of art comes after such horrific moments, helping us, as individuals and as a culture, make sense of the incomprehensible." 

David France: #GivingTuesday for Roxbury Youth Orchestra, Boston

David France



"Orchestras should be accessible and being in this program gives me a chance to learn an instrument I couldn't normally afford."
-Xavier

For so many of our young people MUSIC is their way into The American Dream! Your gift this #GivingTuesday gives these young people a supportive community to express themselves and keeps this chance of a lifetime in their neighborhood.  If you haven't yet, give to Revolution of Hope this #GivingTuesday to keep the arts in the city.

A donation to Revolution of Hope is more than a gift; it's an investment in the future of this incredible group of teenagers.

"Being in the Roxbury Youth Orchestra has exposed me to so many different, cultures, personalities, and backgrounds.  This is pretty unique and I'm enjoying getting to know new people."
-Lyana               
         

Make a one time gift

Monday, November 26, 2018

Vanderbilt.edu: Rediscovered: A Lecture Concert on the Music of Florence Price

 
Florence B. Price (1887-1953)

Vanderbilt University

Nov. 26, 2018

Location: Steve and Judy Turner Recital Hall • 2400 Blakemore Avenue • Nashville, TN 37212
  • Audience: Free and Open to the Public
Tuesday, November 27
8 p.m.
Steve & Judy Turner Recital Hall

Douglas Shadle, lecturer
Patrick Dailey, countertenor
Vanderbilt Symphonic Choir
Tucker Biddlecombe, conductor

Rediscovered: A Lecture Concert on the Music of Florence Price

Florence Price was the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major symphony orchestra — in 1933. Bringing together the European classical tradition in which she was trained and the haunting melodies of African-American spirituals and folk tunes, Price’s music has experienced a recent resurgence in the concert hall. Joining Douglas Shadle and the Vanderbilt Symphonic Choir is countertenor Patrick Dailey from Tennessee State University, who will perform some of Price’s arrangements of African-American spirituals.

John Malveaux: Composer Roy Harris was devoted to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln

Roy Harris
(YouTube)

John Malveaux of 
writes:

The current shaky social and political climate reverberates aspects of the 60's tension and pushing back in Roy Harris 1967 Symphony 11. Although I befriended Roy Harris after Symphony 11, we often discussed race, and politics. Roy was devoted to the legacy of Abraham Lincoln and he was a member of the first cultural exchange with the former Soviet Union. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dr_jg-hl0g