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
September
23, 2019: As
highlighted in our first AAN Newsletter, the community open rehearsal with Maestro Muti and the Chicago
West Community Music Center (CWCMC) inspired a diverse audience at the Columbus Park Refectory in Chicago. Under
the leadership of Founders and Directors Darlene and Howard Sandifer, the CWCMC
featured Entr’acte no. 3 from Schubert’s Rosamunde
and Puccini’s famous aria “Vissi d’arte” from Tosca. Maestro Muti and the young musicians shared an exhilarating
musical dialogue and a post-rehearsal meet-and-greet reception. Maestro Muti
said he is looking forward to working with these wonderful students next year.
October
13–20, 2019: Congratulations
to the CWCMC on being selected to participate in an international
conference at
the University of Chicago in Paris. Celebrating the First Pan-African
Conference in 1919, sponsored by W.E.B. Dubois, the event featured
intellectuals from all over the world. Sixteen instrumentalists and
vocalists of
the CWCMC accompanied a keynote address given by Howard Sandifer, on the
life
of James Reese Europe, an African American bandleader and member of the
369th Brigade in World War I. While in Paris, these young American
students and their
Parisian counterparts shared cultural exchanges of ideas and music,
representing true ambassadorship.
October
25, 2019: Cynthia
Clarey, vocals, Beckie Menzie piano and vocals, and Irwin Berkowitz,
percussion, gave us a powerfully moving experience through storytelling,
music, and humor in “Bridge Over Muddied Waters.” This courageous
presentation,
inspired by Ms. Clarey to address “the waters in our country muddied
with hate,
fear, and division,” traced where we have been and how we got here,
while
finding truth, compassion, and humor. Cynthia Clarey’s story is one of
heartening inspiration and courage.
Upcoming AAN Events
November
23: Preconcert Meet the Composer Q&A with James Lee III
December 21: An Evening of Holiday Cabaret Magic with Anne and Mark Burnell
January 24: Tribute to the Role of Music in the Battle for Civil Rights
February 29: 4th Annual Celebration of National Black History Month
In closing this
newsletter, we have included the special note from Maestro Muti in memory of
the great Ms. Jessye Norman who passed away on September 30, 2019 in New York.
Ms. Norman made
her CSO debut in March 1974 in Schumann’s Das
Paradies und die Peri conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini, and her final
performance with the Orchestra was as narrator in Copland’s Lincoln Portrait at the Ravinia Festival
in July 2009 under James Conlon. She recorded Bruckner’s Te Deum conducted by Daniel Barenboim along with two Grammy Award
winning albums: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony led by Sir Georg Solti and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle conducted by Pierre
Boulez.
"Jessye
Norman was a remarkable singer and a great musician. I had the
good fortune to collaborate with her many times in opera, concerts, and
recordings. She first performed with me in 1970 in Florence in Handel’s
oratorio Deborah, and the following year in Meyerbeer’s opera
L’Africaine. Her voice was unique for the depth and beauty of its
timbre—her soul
immense!"—Riccardo Muti Zell Music Director, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra
Feel
free to contact me directly at aan@cso.org or by phone at 312-294-3045. I
continue to look forward to your participation and feedback. Thank you for your
support of the CSO African American Network.
Joyfully yours,
Sheila A. Jones
Director of Community Stewardship
African American Network
No comments:
Post a Comment