John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:
John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:
The concert will be streamed via Zoom, and will feature interviews with the musicians, performances of music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and a live Q&A that audience members can participate in.
John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:
Los Angeles Philharmonic Soundstage Episode 1-explore expressions of love
John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:
Sep. 23, 2020
To help accelerate the expansion and growth of its popular online TWC TV web series, D.C.’s only two time Grammy award-winning choral ensemble, The Washington Chorus, is proud to announce and welcome acclaimed arts critic and media personality Patrick D. McCoy as its new Guest Host and Creative Producer for the TWC TV series this October, November, and December.
“With over 7,000 series views, hundreds of dedicated live watchers, and a growing global audience, TWC TV has grown from a small idea to a beloved online program that brings together choral music lovers from around the world,” said TWC Executive Director Stephen Beaudoin. “From insightful artist and community partner interviews to sharing powerful music and performances, the feedback we’ve gotten is that this is a vital new initiative with lots of potential. And who better to help realize this potential than D.C.’s own acclaimed arts critic and bon vivant, Patrick D. McCoy? With Patrick as our guest host and creative producer these next few months, I’m truly excited to experience the vital conversations, stories, and music that will be shared on TWC TV.”
As Guest Host and Producer for the fall and winter shows, Mr. McCoy will curate and creatively produce five TWC TV episodes, also serving as the series host, bringing to light many of the artists, issues, and ideas connected to The Washington Chorus’ fall and winter programs through in-depth artist interviews, online performances, and more. His TWC TV guest host and creative producer role is modeled as a pilot program, and currently scheduled for five episodes: October 15, October 29, November 12, December 3, and December 17, 2020. All episodes will stream for free online via TWC’s YouTube channel on Thursdays at 5 pm Eastern.
Known across the DMV region for his insightful interviews of renowned classical music artists and his incisive commentary and sparkling personality, Mr. McCoy says he is delighted to join as Creative Producer and Guest Host of the TWC TV series in the fall and winter of 2020.
“This new relationship with The Washington Chorus represents a paradigm shift in my work as an arts journalist, but particularly, as a media personality that has focused on covering the DC performing arts scene in a variety of mediums and platforms,” Mr. McCoy says. “It was The Washington Chorus' former Executive Director Dianne Peterson and former artistic director Julian Wachner that considered my efforts with respect early on. That spirit has continued throughout the last 10 or so years, more recently with former Maestro Christopher Bell and now with current music director, Maestro Eugene Rogers. Even though this now means that during this particular season of hosting, I will not be able to 'cover' their efforts from an editorial standpoint. I am actually a part of the team and truly grateful for this unexpected invitation from current executive director Stephen Marc Beaudoin."
The Washington Chorus notes with gratitude the support of TWC TV from the HMFB Family Foundation, and for this and all TWC programs from the DC Commission on Arts and Humanities, National Capitol Arts and Cultural Affairs program and the US Commission on Fine Arts, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and the support of many more generous individuals, businesses, and foundations.
About Patrick D. McCoy:
Patrick D. McCoy distinguishes himself as a choral conductor, singer, host and music journalist residing in the Washington, D. C. area. A native of Petersburg, VA, he earned the BM in vocal performance from Virginia State University and a Master of Music in Church Music from Shenandoah Conservatory. Juxtaposing a busy schedule between writing and public appearances, his work has been published in The Washington Post, Early Music America, Prince Georges Suite Magazine, Classical Voice North America, The Afro-American Newspaper, CBS Washington and Examiner.com. Over the last 10 years, McCoy has become an important voice in the DC arts community and can be found at many of the major concert venues. As a media personality, he has appeared as a guest on DC's WPFW "Jazz Stories" with host Aaron Myers and as a guest judge on NBC-4's "Be A Voice."
Additionally, Mr. McCoy maintains an active schedule as a vocal soloist, teacher, moderator, panelist and adjudicator. Hosting his own podcast "Across the Arts with Patrick D. McCoy" since 2010, he has recently added the virtual component to the experience, bringing live interviews to social media. Formerly the performing arts columnist for Washington Life Magazine, his column "Perfect Pitch" featured luminaries in the arts such as Renee Fleming, Joshua Bell, Denyce Graves, Martina Arroyo, Lawrence Brownlee, Michael Tilson Thomas, Nicole Cabell and Julian Wachner, among numerous others.
He currently serves as Organist/Choirmaster at Saint John's Episcopal Church in Beltsville, MD. He is a member of the Music Critics Association of North America, a former member of the Shenandoah University Alumni Board of Directors, a past board member of The Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) The Association of Anglican Musicians, National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. and a life member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. Patrick credits all of these accomplishments to God and in loving memory of his mother.
To learn more, visit www.patrickdmccoy.com
It is very challenging to commend only two single composers of African heritage that have made significant innovations in the evolution of the genre of classical music.
However, I do not want the opportunity to pass without making an attempt to do so, not least the brilliant American composer Florence Price, who, in 1933, became the first African American woman to have a symphony performed by a major US orchestra.
For me, the innovations of the Franco-Guadeloupean composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745 – 1799) embody the tipping point of the Classical period. While the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved African people raged on, Europe was experiencing a significant period of decadence in culture and the arts. We think that the essence of classical music was crystallised with the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. However, Bologne was the pioneer of many of the musical forms that we associate with these composers.
He was not only a composer, but a virtuoso violinist, conductor, champion swordsman, businessman, entrepreneur and political activist. The most highly regarded works of Joseph Bologne include six comic operas, seven violin concertos and several songs, symphonic works and chamber pieces. In 1776 he was mooted as the best person to head the Paris Opera, but protests over his ethnic heritage prevented him from obtaining the role. Today, the accomplishments of Joseph Bologne are still yet to be recognised. Imagine what his accomplishments could have been if he was afforded fair and equal opportunities in the 18th century?
Black Classical Music: A Forgotten History will be broadcast on BBC Four on Sunday 27 September at 9pm
Sep 23, 2020
Few artists have dedicated themselves to championing the works of composers of African and African American descent the way that conductor Marlon Daniel has.
A Chicago native, Daniel has performed new works by such composers as Fred Onovwerosuoke, Dominique Le Gendre, and Adolphus Hailstork, among others. He also founded the Festival International de Music Saint-Georges in Guadaloupe and was the first conductor to lead a performance of the composer’s long-lost opera “L’Amant Anonyme” in over 230 years. He was also the inaugural music director of the Colour of Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.
Daniel, a winner of the “Special Talent Award” at the 2018 Bucharest Symphony Orchestra’s International Conducting Competition, has also premiered several new works by contemporary composers around the world.
The conductor, who recently started working as the Director of Orchestral Ensembles at Fordham University, recently spoke to OperaWire about his career, the music of Chevalier de Saint-Georges and other black composers, and the systematic racism inherent in the world of classical music.
Marlon Daniel: An official Festival of Guadeloupe, the Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges is the most prestigious classical music festival in the Caribbean. It is a tribute to Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745-1799), the greatest fencer of his time and a colonel at the time of the French Revolution. He was a violinist, conductor and composer who influenced the great composers of his time, including Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and authors such as Alexandre Dumas.
The festival is one of the most unique music festivals in the Caribbean and shows an unprecedented cultural richness and diversity, offering a plethora of spectacular concerts and cultural and educational events (conferences, masterclasses, workshops and exhibitions) featuring renowned international artists throughout the archipelago of Guadeloupe.
MD: The festival was originally started as an experiment in 2011 to test the viability of having an international festival in the homeland of Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The results were overwhelming but we also found out that it would be a tremendous amount of work to sustain the festival. It took several years to form a team and build an infrastructure, while navigating geopolitical and social changes in Guadeloupe, including considerable shifts in political parties and governmental support for the arts. Part of the issue was that we were tied to the government for our primary funding.
So in 2016, I worked with a team of dedicated musicians, historians, academics and social activists and we created the ‘Association Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges’ which is the equivalent of a non-profit organization in the US and a Verein in Germany. This Association is the foundation and spearhead of the festival as we know it today.
MD: We are still a new festival and my goals are based on building sustainability and quality. I want to be careful not to grow too big too fast. We still heavily rely on governmental grants and I’d like to become independent from those and attract a larger and more diverse group of sponsors. On an artistic and musical note, I want to present some of the most exciting and diverse emerging artists on the concert stages today. Not necessarily the most famous; I’m a big fan of the underdog because I am one. I am especially fond of giving rising stars a platform.
MD: What we know as the “Classical Style” is epitomized in the music of Saint-Georges. We believe today that this period was exclusively the domain of composers of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Saint-Georges’ existence proves otherwise. Many of the 18th-century composers who we today consider great like Haydn and Mozart were influenced by Saint-Georges.
If it wasn’t for Napoléon, the French Revolution, slavery, and systematic racism, we would have much more of his output. If I was to characterize his style, it would be classical, rooted in Rococo flourishes that almost anticipates the virtuosity of later Romantic period composers.
MD: It’s difficult to characterize an operatic style as “L’amant Anonyme” is the only surviving complete opera of Saint-Georges. What we can say is that we see in this and other vocal works by Saint-Georges a clear focus on combining the vocal agility and virtuosity of Baroque operas with beautiful melodies and ensemble numbers that move the plot along.
One can only wonder how Saint-Georges’ style would have evolved and the effect on history had he been allowed to take the position of artistic director of the Académie Royale de Musique, now known as the Paris Opera. Unfortunately, a 1776 petition to Queen Marie Antoinette from the three leading opera divas assured Her Majesty that “their honor and delicate conscience could never allow them to submit to the orders of a mulatto.” Rather than embarrassing the queen, with whom Saint-Georges had a close relationship, he withdrew his name.
MD: I grew up in Chicago Illinois and began my musical career as a pianist at a young age. I was encouraged by my grandmother who was a big fan of PBS. I remember growing up watching Great Performances and Live from Lincoln Center. Unfortunately, there were not so many musicians of color on these shows. However, as a young pianist, I was inspired by pianist André Watts and conductor Paul Freeman. I studied at the North Shore Music School and the American Conservatory of Music but the turning point in my life was meeting French pianist Cécile Ousset. She advised me to leave Chicago. I wanted to go with her to France but was too young or too scared to travel to Europe. So, after graduating high school, I settled on New York and Manhattan School of Music. I did follow this dream later studying French language at the Sorbonne in Paris and piano at Fontainbleau with Gaby Casadesus.
I discovered conducting in my last year at Manhattan School of Music. I had seen Daniel Barenboim conduct a Mozart concerto from the keyboard. I thought this was a fantastic idea. So, I gathered many of my string-playing friends and put on a concert. I performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto in B-Flat Major, K. 595 from the keyboard, and a few other orchestral works. The extraordinary thing is that it went so well all my friends declared me a hero for the performance and wanted to know when the next concert would take place. So, I decided to really study conducting. This led me to studies at the Prague Academy and eventually the mentorship of renowned Finnish pedagogue Jorma Panula.
MD: Actually, I am torn between three memorable moments: The first was when I conducted the Russia premiere of William Grant Still’s Afro American Symphony. Though this piece is very common among American conductors (especially Black conductors in the month of February) to my surprise it had never been performed in Russia. I felt like I was carrying the tradition and reputation of my country and all Black classical musicians on my shoulders. The composer’s daughter wrote a letter declaring me a champion of her father’s works. I have never been so proud.
The second was in 2017 when I conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Cuba (National Symphony of Cuba), where I was the first American conductor invited since President Obama lifted the U.S. embargo of Cuba in 2015 and the only African American to conduct the orchestra in the orchestra’s sixty-year history.
The last is after a community engagement concert featuring the music of Saint-Georges entitled ‘Before There Was Mozart’ in the Bahamas. The performance attracted an incredible four hundred (400) kids. All these kids were so engaged with the story and music! They could not believe that a classical music concert featured a composer that looked just like them. But what really made this a special moment was afterward a little girl came to me and said “I never knew there was such a thing as a Black conductor. Now I feel like I can do anything.” I will never forget this moment.
Dr. Eric Conway writes on September 23, 2020:
John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes: