Thursday, November 28, 2019
Eric Conway: Morgan State U. Band performs magnificently in...Macy's...Parade!
Dr. Eric Conway writes:
What a glorious day for Morgan State University!
This morning, the Morgan State University Magnificent Marching Machine performed at the 2019 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. They were truly magnificent!
If you missed them this morning, please see link below to footage extolling the band and its director, Melvin N. Miles, Jr.
Fair Morgan!
--
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. - Aristotle
***************************
Eric Conway, D.M.A.
Fine and Performing Arts Department, Chair
Morgan State University
1700 East Cold Spring Lane
Carl Murphy Fine Arts Center, Room 329C
Baltimore, MD 21251
John Malveaux: J'Nai Bridges is Nefertiti in Met Opera HD encore of Akhnaten Dec. 4
J'Nai Bridges
John Malveaux of
writes:
Metropolitan
Opera HD Live will encore Philip Glass AKHNATEN Wednesday Dec. 4, 2019.
J'Nai Bridges sings the role of Nefertiti. See J'Nai interview
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
Cynthia Erivo To Receive the 'Rising Star Award' at the 2020 ABFF Honors
Cynthia Erivo
CYNTHIA ERIVO TO RECEIVE THE ‘RISING STAR’ AWARD AT THE 2020 AMERICAN BLACK FILM FESTIVAL HONORS
Show Returns to Los Angeles Sunday, February 23, 2020
#ABFFHonors
November 26, 2019, Los Angeles, CA – Today, ABFF Ventures announced Cynthia Erivo will receive the “Rising Star Award” at the 2020 ABFF Honors.
The fourth annual ceremony, hosted by actor and comedian Deon Cole,
will take place on Sunday, February 23, 2020 at the Beverly Hilton in
Los Angeles.
ABFF Honors is
the American Black Film Festival’s awards season gala dedicated to
saluting excellence in the motion picture and television industry. The
event celebrates Black culture by paying tribute to individuals who have
made significant contributions to American entertainment through their
work, as well as those who champion diversity and inclusion in
Hollywood. In addition to the acclamations, the show presents a
competitive award for “Movie of the Year” and a “Classic Television
Award” in recognition of a time-honored series that has made an
indelible impact on audiences.
Each year, ABFF Honors
presents a “Rising Star Award” in recognition of an individual’s recent
success and future promise in the film and television industry.
Previous recipients have included Tiffany Haddish (Kids Say the Darndest Things), Issa Rae (Insecure) and Ryan Coogler (Black Panther).
Cynthia Erivo is a Tony®, Emmy®, and Grammy® award-winning actress who burst onto West End and Broadway stages in The Color Purple and has taken the big screen by storm. Erivo’s film debut was in 2018 in Drew Goddard’s Bad Times at the El Royale. She then went on to star as “Belle” in Steve McQueen’s drama Widows,
opposite Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki. Erivo
made her Broadway debut reprising her starring role as “Celie”, which
she first played in 2013 at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, in the
critically acclaimed revival of The Color Purple.
Erivo currently stars in Kasi Lemmons’ Harriet,
bringing the legacy of Harriet Tubman to the big screen. She will soon
start production starring as Aretha Franklin in the next installment of
the Emmy-winning global anthology series Genius: Aretha. Erivo can next be seen in the HBO series The Outsider, which
will premiere on January 12, 2020. Upcoming, Erivo will star alongside
Daisy Ridley and David Oyelowo in the highly anticipated sci-fi
thriller, Chaos Walking. She will also star in John Ridley’s Needle in a Timestack, alongside
Orlando Bloom, Freida Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr. In addition, Erivo is
set to executive produce and star in Warner Brothers’ musical take on
the American folk tale “Rip Van Winkle.”
“When
an artist as talented as Cynthia Erivo shares their gifts with the
world, we have to recognize their brilliance. We are delighted to
present Ms. Erivo with the 2020 ABFF Honors ‘Rising Star Award.’ Her
versatility and ability to push boundaries is undeniable and deserves to
be celebrated,” says Nicole Friday, Executive Producer.
The 2020 ABFF Honors is executive produced by ABFF Ventures founder Jeff Friday, Nicole Friday, Suzanne de Passe and Rikki Hughes.
The
confirmed sponsors to date include American Airlines, Cadillac, and
Hilton (Red Carpet Sponsors); Prudential Financial and Sony Pictures
Entertainment (Supporting Sponsors).
To learn more about ABFF Honors, including the awards categories and past awards ceremonies and honorees, visit www.ABFFHonors.com.
Happy Thanksgiving from NOBLE
The
National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) would
like to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. We encourage
families to enjoy a peaceful holiday season filled with gratitude and
joy.
"Thanksgiving
is a time to reflect on the things we have to be thankful for: family,
friends, and everyone in our community that keeps us safe," said NOBLE
National President Cerelyn J. Davis.
The
American Automobile Association (AAA) predicts 49.3 million holiday
travelers will hit the roads starting today through Sunday. "For those
that are traveling by car, we ask that you abide by the rules of the
road to ensure you and others are able to have a safe journey to your
final destination. We encourage all travelers to have extra patience
during the busy travel season."
Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
John Malveaux: Kristin Lewis will be featured soloist at Disney Concert Hall Dec. 2020
Soprano Kristin Lewis
John Malveaux of
writes:
Soprano Kristin Lewis is from Arkansas but lives in Vienna, Austria. She
will be featured soloist with mezzo soprano Mihoko Fujimura Dec. 3, 4,
& 5, 2020 at Disney Concert Hall under the baton of Maestro Zubin
Mehta conducting the LA Phil and LA Master Chorale performances of
Mahler's gigantic RESURRECTION. Meet Kristin Lewis in 2014 interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u99RGeCKK0A
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
LACO.org: Sheku + Isata Kanneh-Mason in Recital Tuesday, Dec. 3, 8 PM
Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Sheku Kanneh-Mason — who rose to worldwide fame after performing at the royal wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry
— has quickly become one of the most eloquent and charismatic presences
on the classical music scene.
Accompanying the BBC Young Musician
winner is sibling Isata Kanneh-Mason, whose stunning debut album was just released on Decca Classics. Poignant sonatas by Lutosławski and Barber are at the heart of this once-in-a-lifetime recital.
StockDailyDish.com: Paul Freeman enlightened us with 'Black Composers Series'
Paul Freeman Conducting the Chicago Sinfonietta
November 25, 2019
Everyone in musical Chicago — and beyond — knows how hard Paul
Freeman worked to bring sorely needed diversity to classical music.
The most famous facet of the late conductor’s campaign was the
Chicago Sinfonietta, which Freeman established in 1987 to open up
minority staffing and repertoire in American orchestral music.
But Freeman made an equally important – though far less celebrated –
contribution in the mid-1970s, when he recorded the landmark “Black
Composers Series” for CBS Masterworks. On its nine LPs, Freeman
documented signal compositions by William Grant Still, George Walker,
Hale Smith, Olly Woodrow Wilson, T.J. Anderson and other black composers
who had been mostly excluded from concert and recorded life in America.
Thanks to Freeman’s efforts, listeners finally were able to savor and
study contemporary recordings of Still’s “Afro-American Symphony”
(1930), Smith’s “Ritual and Incantations” (1974) and earlier works, such
as Jose Maurico Nunes-Garcia’s Requiem Mass (1816).
The “Black Composer Series” was reissued in the mid-1980s by the
nonprofit College Music Society, and now – at last – it’s out again, for
the first time in a Sony Classical boxed set of separately jacketed CDs
remastered from the originals. In addition, the new package includes a
disc titled “Symphonic Spirituals,” featuring music for voice and
orchestra recorded by Freeman and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in
1979.
Though the repertoire gathered here barely scratches the surface of
black creativity in classical music, it makes a powerful statement about
scores long ignored or worse.
Predictably, not everyone saw the virtue of Freeman’s labor of love.
“Some people criticized me when we released the ‘Black Composers Series,’” he told me in 1990.
“Some people said: ‘Why do we have to ghetto-ize music?’
“The reason is that some issues must be ghetto-ized to get noticed,
before they become part of the mainstream. When I recorded the ‘Black
Composers Series … most people hadn’t even heard of the music on the
set. Today many of those pieces have become part of the standard
repertoire.”
Certainly works by Still, Anderson, Smith, Wilson, David Baker,
Ulysses Kay and Walker (the first African-American composer to win a
Pulitzer Prize in music) are heard in concert more now than when Freeman
first released his series of recordings. Next season, for instance,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director will conduct Still’s “Mother
and Child” and the Symphony No. 3 of Florence Price (who faced double
discrimination as a black woman in classical music).
Freeman’s dedication to this cause arose, in part, from the racism he experienced first-hand.
“When anyone used to ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always would say: ‘a musician,’” Freeman told me.
“And they would always say: ‘Ah yes, like Louis Armstrong.’
“Now, at that point in my life, I didn’t know how important Louis
Armstrong and jazz music were. But I did know that I had no desire to be
the next Louis Armstrong or anything like it.
“At the time, I couldn’t understand why nobody said to me: ‘Ah yes,
like Arturo Toscanini.’ The implied message was that my role was to be
Armstrong, not Toscanini, and that hurt.”
The “Black Composers Series” and Chicago Sinfonietta represented
Freeman’s response to such slights, which eminent choral conductor
Robert Shaw illuminated for me in 1988.
“I think we have to admit that one of the reasons so few works by
black composers turn up in the concert hall is that, in generations
past, most gifted black musicians didn’t even bother to pursue classical
music; they went straight into the popular fields, where they were
treated more humanly and welcomed,” said Shaw, one of the earliest
American conductors to advocate for concert music by black composers.
“We also have to admit that white society is generally indifferent to
black culture, and this is an indifference shared not only by the
unenlightened but also by the intellectual elite.”
Freeman made musical history with the “Black Composers Series,” but
he knew that would not be enough – that listeners needed to encounter
this work in concert, particularly played by an ensemble that encouraged
diversity.
Announcing the 23rd Annual Sphinx Competition Semi-Finalists
The
23rd Annual Sphinx Competition, presented by DTE Energy Foundation,
takes place February 5-8, 2020. Eighteen of the nation's top young
string musicians will compete in the Junior Division (ages 17 and under)
and Senior Division (ages 18-30).
Congratulations to the 2020 Semi-Finalists!
The Junior and Senior Divisions culminate in concerts at the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fischer Music Center in Detroit.
Honors Concert: Friday, Feb. 7 at 12pm. Free to the public.
Junior Division finalists compete for the top $10,000 prize and perform with the Sphinx Honors Orchestra.
Finals Concert: Saturday, Feb. 8 at 7:30pm. Optional $5 donation.
Senior
Division finalists compete for the $50,000 Robert Frederick Smith Prize
and solo appearances with major orchestras. This must-see event also
includes:
- Real-time voting for $5,000 Audience Choice Award winner, sponsored by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
- Guest Conductor Roderick Cox with the all-Black and Latinx Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, presented by Mercedes-Benz Financial Services
- The Detroit premiere of Sphinx founder Aaron Dworkin’s The American Rhapsody, a new spoken word multimedia work
The Sphinx Organization
Monday, November 25, 2019
DallasNews.com: Voices of Change celebrates varied music by black composers
Paul Garner (clarinet), Jolyon Pegis (cello) and Ebonee Thomas (flute)
perform in a Voices of Change concert at Southern Methodist University's
Caruth Auditorium on Nov. 24, 2019. (Scott Cantrell)
With works ranging from dreamy to jazzy, Dallas’ modern-music group presents “My Soul Dances"
John Malveaux: Sun. Dec. 8, 2019 Dr. Dee & Cantor Don Gurney Holiday Concert
John Malveaux of
writes:
Sun. Dec. 8, 2019 Dr. Dee & Cantor Don Gurney Holiday Concert, Wilshire Blvd. Temple, Los Angeles. See
https://bythax.org/who-is-dr-dee/?fbclid=IwAR11AgnhXsc7JcKWvY76a3fAbMzVLcVvSQhHvEagTjtGyzTBusAS9R4kqKg
https://bythax.org/who-is-dr-dee/?fbclid=IwAR11AgnhXsc7JcKWvY76a3fAbMzVLcVvSQhHvEagTjtGyzTBusAS9R4kqKg
Sunday, November 24, 2019
ToledoBlade.com: Toledo Symphony in Florence Price's "Mississippi Suite"
Florence B. Price (1887-1953)
Wayne F. Anthony
November 22, 2019
Conductor Feddeck, cellist Schwarz deliver ‘Masterworks’
Toledo Symphony’s Masterworks Concert proved an excellent evening of
riparian reflection on Friday as guest conductor James Feddeck was
joined by cellist Julian Schwarz. Two canons of the literature were
programmed, joined by a third, rarely heard work, as equally charming in
scope.
Feddeck was, quite simply, brilliant, eliciting one of the most
musically exciting evenings from the Toledo Symphony this season. His
sensitivity is astounding; his musical understanding sublime; the
synergy between he and Schwarz was musical perfection.
Smetana’s perennial favorite, “The Moldau,” opened. One of six tone poems he wrote in tribute to his Czech homeland, the work holds infinite audience appeal, tracing the river’s route from hill springs through the countryside, and eventually on to the sea.
***
Florence Price was the first African American woman to be recognized as a
symphonic composer in her own right. Little known, she recently plunged
into the limelight when a number of her scores, thought lost, were
uncovered in an abandoned home in Illinois.
Her “Mississippi Suite” is the American counterpart to the Smetana.
Quotations of familiar spirituals and folk melodies waft through the
sonic landscape in an almost perfume-like parade of nostalgic
remembrances.
Again, Feddeck imbued the work with verve and direction, showcasing the composer’s skill both as an orchestrator and a master of the compositional craft. His rendering gave the listener every reason to seek a second or third hearing of this rediscovered symphonic landmark.
Red Clay Dance Presents Winter Sharecase And Holiday Party Dec. 14 at Fuller Park
Red
Clay Dance Company (RCDC) engages its community by hosting a Winter
Sharecase and Holiday Party Saturday, December 14 at 2 p.m. at Fuller
Park Auditorium, 331 W. 45th Place, Chicago.
The performance features students of Red Clay Dance Academy, the
official school of Red Clay Dance Company, and Red Clay Dance’s Youth
Ensemble. The Academy is committed to offering world-class dance
training for youth, teens, and adults. Classes are open to students aged
one and older from beginners to advanced dancers.
The gathering is also the culmination of an online series of
commentaries this fall, entitled Words to Live By. Each post has focused
on a different word that has importance and meaning for the RCDC
community: Artivism, Glocal, and Community Engagement. The commentaries
are available at redclaydance.wordpress.com.
There will be a brief discussion on the series after the performance,
followed by a holiday celebration with music, refreshments, games, and
prizes.
Red Clay Dance Academy presents its Winter Sharecase
and Holiday Celebration Saturday, December 14 at 2 p.m.
at Fuller Park Auditorium, 331 W. 45th Pl., Chicago.
Admission is free; RSVPs are required at redclaydance.com/performances.
All programming is subject to change.
For more information about RCDC, visit redclaydance.com.
and Holiday Celebration Saturday, December 14 at 2 p.m.
at Fuller Park Auditorium, 331 W. 45th Pl., Chicago.
Admission is free; RSVPs are required at redclaydance.com/performances.
All programming is subject to change.
For more information about RCDC, visit redclaydance.com.
Red Clay Dance Company
Red Clay Dance Company lives to awaken “glocal” change through creating,
performing, and teaching dances of the African Diaspora—change that
transforms cultural and socioeconomic inequities in our local and global
community. Founder Vershawn Sanders-Ward conceived the idea of RCDC
while on her first trip to Senegal, West Africa, when she became
fascinated by the interconnectedness of dance and everyday life. The
name Red Clay comes from her childhood memories of playing in red earth
during her summers in Mobile, Alabama.
RCDC is supported by the Chicago Community Trust, the Alphawood
Foundation, the MacArthur Fund for Arts and Culture at the Richard H
Driehaus Foundation, the Lloyd A. Fry Foundation, the Gaylord and
Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, the Springboard Foundation, the Polk Bros.
Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council Agency, and the Chicago
Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
Photos by Raymond Jerome.
Top: Red Clay Dance Company Youth Ensemble performing during the summer 2019 Bud Billiken Parade.
Bottom: Red Clay Dance Academy students performing during the Juneteenth celebration at Sweetwater Foundation in summer 2019.
Top: Red Clay Dance Company Youth Ensemble performing during the summer 2019 Bud Billiken Parade.
Bottom: Red Clay Dance Academy students performing during the Juneteenth celebration at Sweetwater Foundation in summer 2019.
Clipper Erickson: All-Dett concert broadcast on WWFM can be heard on the Web
R. Nathaniel Dett
Clipper Erickson writes:
The
all-Dett concert I participated in at Westminster was broadcast on WWFM. It's available to listen to on the web on demand:
StockDailyDish.com: Elevating Music By Black Composers Is A 20-Year Mission
Rachel Barton Pine
November 23, 2019
For One Violinist, Elevating Music By Black Composers Is A 20-Year Mission
Growing up in Chicago, took it for granted that there was a great
body of classical music by black composers. She heard it on the radio.
She played it in local orchestras as a student. The Center for Black
Music Research is in Chicago. So, when the violinist recorded her first
concerto album in 1997, she naturally included music by Afro-Caribbean
and Afro-European composers.
“I wasn‘t thinking about any of the social justice aspect or anything
like that,” Pine says. “But after the record came out, I started
getting a huge number of requests from students and parents and teachers
about, you know, ‘Where can I find repertoire like this for kids of
different levels?‘ “
So she began a nearly 20-year quest to catalog as much of this music
as she could find. She had some time on her hands: Two years earlier,
she was caught in a closing Chicago train door and dragged 200 feet. She
lost one leg and severely damaged the other, and had more than 40
surgeries. But during the long recovery process, she devoted some of her
spare time to searching for music.
“You know, going to the Library of Congress and digging up the one
copy of this and that, and going to the Haiti music archives in
Montreal. Going to the attic of the composer‘s grandniece to sort
through unsorted boxes of papers and manuscripts. I mean, there have
been some amazing archaeological adventures,” she says.
One of the pieces she found was a 1927 work called “Levee Dance,” by
the Tennessee-born composer Clarence Cameron White. It‘s one of the
pieces that Pine has recorded for a new album called Blues Dialogues,
for violin and piano.
YouTube
“My parents would put on Chicago blues records when they weren‘t
playing the classical station when I was growing up, and it‘s just sort
of been in the air,” she says. “I mean, I really consider it to be my
indigenous music — of, you know, of where I live.”
Saturday, November 23, 2019
AACI Concert tickets now on sale
Tickets are now on sale for our "Hold Fast to Dreams" AACI Concerts on January 25 and 26, 2020. Be sure to reserve your seat.
Thanks to those of you who have already donated to help us produce these
concerts. Thus far, we have raised $2,000 to match our $6,000 challenge
grant. We need to raise another $4,000 to get us over the finish line. Please donate today. We can do this!
To donate online, please click here:
To donate by check - make check to InterMusic SF, with AACI at the bottom of the check and mail to:
AACI
c/o LaDoris Cordell
4124 Wilkie Way
Palo Alto, CA 94306
With best wishes and appreciation for your partnership in our musical journey,
LaDoris Cordell, Jodi Gandolfi, Deanne Tucker, co-founders, AACI
|
For more information on the African American Composer Initiative, please visit:
www.aacinitiative.org. |
CSO African American Network - Winter 2019 Newsletter
Festive greetings!
Despite
the chilling temperatures across Chicago, the CSO African American Network is heating
up with the exciting adventures opening the 2019/20 season.
We
are thrilled about our new AAN Create Your Own Subscription offer. You
can now design your own AAN subscription series by selecting your
preferred dates and seating options from our newly-announced list of 19 AAN-hosted events and Chicago Symphony Orchestra concerts.
With
this offering, you can curate your very own subscription to the Chicago
Symphony Orchestra and AAN events with a discount. The savings kick in
at three or more events! Create your own subscription now.
We are
happy to announce a few feature that will debut in the next installment of the AAN Newsletter called
“Appreciatively Yours,” bringing recognition to AAN members and friends who
have made special contributions to enhance and encourage the growth of the
CSO’s community stewardship of the African
American Network. Stay tuned.
Highlights from the AAN's Fall 2019
Friday, November 22, 2019
Composers.com: Nightsongs by H. Leslie Adams selected for vocal competition
H. Leslie Adams
American Composers Alliance
Nightsongs by H. Leslie Adams selected for vocal competition winner's concert at UNC, Dec. 3
The award-winning UNC Symphony Orchestra will perform alongside the winners of the UNC Annual Concerto Competition
Winners, on December 3rd at 7:30pm in the James and Susan Moeser
Auditorium at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Singer Bradley Barefoot has won the vocal competition and will present, among other works, three pieces by H. Leslie Adams from "Nightsongs" in their chamber orchestra versions, conducted by Tonu Kalam.
In
addition to the winning concerto selections, the orchestra will present
the premiere performance of Durham composer Maxwell Ramage’s
atmospheric tone poem, Taiga. Tickets are $10 general admission, $5
students/UNC faculty and staff.
Sphinx Organization: Announcing the second cohort of Sphinx LEADers!
Sphinx LEAD (Leaders in Excellence, Arts & Diversity) is entering its second year and we are thrilled to announce the incoming cohort of LEADers.
Congratulations
to the nine outstanding administrators, entrepreneurs, and musicians
selected to participate in this 2-year professional development program!
Sphinx
LEAD exists to empower arts leaders of color and to evolve the
landscape of administrative leadership in the country. Sphinx is
thrilled to collaborate with Carnegie Hall, Interlochen Center for the Arts, Minnesota Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard School, New World Symphony, Cleveland Institute of Music, and Curtis Institute of Music to host Leadership Retreats where LEADers will learn from experts in the field and maximize valuable networking opportunities.
Sphinx LEAD is made possible with underwriting support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Fund II Foundation, with additional support provided by Victoria Robey.