NWAOnline.com: Fort Smith Symphony Music Director John Jeter "chose Price's 1952 Violin Concerto No. 2 to open the symphony's 2021-22 season on Sept. 11"

Florence B. Price (1887-1953)

Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

by Becca Martin-Brown | August 29, 2021

Price, Beach, Dvorak: Fort Smith Symphony opens season Sept. 11

"Playing Florence Price's violin concerto is so empowering," says Er-Gene Kahng, concert master for the Fort Smith Symphony. "It is an opportunity to celebrate Arkansas history, champion historically overlooked voices, and perform a beautiful concerto."

Kahng ought to know.

"Er-Gene was the first violinist to record and perform the concerto after it was rediscovered in 2009," explains John Jeter, the Fort Smith Symphony's music director. "She was the first to perform it with orchestra in 2018 with the Arkansas Philharmonic, conducted by Steven Byess. She can be considered the expert violinist for this work and has already performed it with four different orchestras. One can't experience a more authoritative performance anywhere else!"

Jeter chose Price's 1952 Violin Concerto No. 2 to open the symphony's 2021-22 season on Sept. 11, along with the "Masked Ball Waltz" (1894) by Amy Beach and Symphony No. 8 (1889) by Bohemian composer Antonin Dvorak. According to Jeter, Beach was the first recognized female American concert composer in the United States, while Price, from Arkansas, was the first to be recognized as a female African-American composer.

"The Beach and Price works are beautiful pieces in a classic Americana style," says Jeter, adding that Price's works, with their "ever present blues and spiritual feel," are popular choices for the 2021-22 season across the country. "These works provide a great contrast to the clearly direct and sunny central European musical style of Dvorak, whose 8th Symphony is one of the popular of all Romantic Era orchestral works.

"We wanted to present masterworks composers as well as showcase female composers and composers of color," he explains. "It is truly amazing how many wonderful composers there are out there, and we are making an effort to expand our repertoire to explore this great variety of music. The programming for this concert features two beautiful works that are rarely performed."

***

FAQ

Fort Smith Symphony:

Orchestral Brilliance

WHEN — 7 p.m. Sept. 11

WHERE — ArcBest Performing Arts Center in Fort Smith

COST — $20-$50

INFO — 452-7575, fortsmithsymphony.org

FYI — Concert tickets include two free drinks at the Bakery District After-Party as well as the link to the live video streamed version of the concert. Streaming only tickets are not available due to music licensing restrictions.

First Ever "Advancing Diversity Week" September 20, 2021 - September 23, 2021, to address issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

NEWS: The Media Industry Announces the First Ever "Advancing Diversity Week" September 20, 2021 - September 23, 2021, to address issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) in the media industry.  The 4 day virtual conference hosted by MediaVillage.com and AdvancingDiversity.org is 

themed; “From Inclusion to Belonging” and will include the 50 Most Influential Leaders Changing the Face of Media and Advertising, a HBCU Virtual Tour Bus, a GenZ Community Town Hall Assembly, panel discussions and much more. It is the first ever multi-day gathering designed to bring together the media, advertising, marketing and entertainment community in a shared commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) and Belonging. Building an intersectional network of professionals, educators, nonprofits to advance diversity in media, marketing and advertising. 

Featuring 50 Most Influential Leaders Changing the Face of Media and Advertising (speaker link below and: 

• 2021 Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors will honor: Byron Allen (Entertainment Studios), Mark Pedowitz (The CW Network, Chairman), Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications, American Advertising Federation and many more. (see below)

• GenZ Community Town Hall Assembly with leaders of Twitter, Disney Advertising Sales and WarnerMedia, the ten Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors Inductees

• HBCU “Award Tour Virtual Bus” road trip, in partnership with the American Advertising Federation (AAF), bringing the industry and opportunities to HBCUs and regions off the beaten path.

Register / Overview: https://week.advancingdiversity.org

Agenda: https://week.advancingdiversity.org/agenda

Speakers: https://week.advancingdiversity.org/speakers

The 2021 Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors Experience on Thursday, September 23.companies and inductees are:

• Entertainment Studios, Byron Allen, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• Howard University’s Cathy Hughes School of Communications, Gracie Lawson-Borders, Dean and Professor
• The CW Network, Mark Pedowitz, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
• MOBE (Marketing Opportunities in Business & Entertainment), Yvette Moyo, Founder
• 4A’s (American Association of Advertising Agencies), Marla Kaplowitz, President and Chief Executive Officer
• 4A’s Foundation, Simon Fenwick, Executive Vice President of Talent and Engagement   
• AAF (American Advertising Federation), Steve Pacheco, President and Chief Executive Officer
• American Family Insurance, Sherina Smith, Vice President and Head of Marketing
• Citi, Carla Hassan, Chief Marketing Officer
• dentsu Americas, Jacki Kelley, Chief Executive Officer

Kelly Hall-Tompkins: Tickets for Music Kitchen Forgotten Voices at Carnegie Hall on Sale Now

 

August 30, 2021

Kelly Hall-Tompkins writes:

As of today at 11am, tickets for our world premiere of Forgotten Voices on March 31st at Carnegie Hall are officially on sale for individual ticket buyers!  We are so thrilled to present Forgotten Voices in Association with Carnegie Hall, or as I like to call it, 'The People's House.'  Forgotten Voices features comment texts of the homeless shelter clients we have served over 15 years of Music Kitchen concerts.  The composite cycle is comprised of 15 songs by composers Courtney Bryan, Jon Grier, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Gabriel Kahane, James Lee III, Beata Moon, Paul Moravec, Angélica Negrón, Kevin Puts, Steve Sandberg, Kamala Sankaram, Jeff Scott, Carlos Simon, Errollyn Wallen, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, performed by artists Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Producer and Violin, Allison Charney, Soprano, Adrienne Danrich, Soprano, Jesse Blumberg, Baritone, Mark Risinger, Bass, Ling Ling Huang, Violin, Andrew Gonzalez, Viola, Alexis Pia Gerlach, Cello, Peter Seidenberg, Cello, and John-Paul Norpoth, Double Bass. 

We are also thrilled to have as special guest NBC Senior Correspondent and dedicated friend of Music Kitchen Harry Smith, and to also now welcome as special guest Actress Jessica Hecht.  Jessica is not only an award-winning film and tv actress and my friend and colleague from Fiddler on Broadway, but she is also a passionate humanitarian activist.

Especially after what we have seen and lived over the last year and a half, it is more important than ever to make forgotten voices heard.  I am so excited to share with you this very special window into our work in the shelters for over 16 years.  I look forward to seeing you there and throughout this next season as we find our way together.

Thank you for your support of Music Kitchen - Food for the Soul. 

Sincerely,

Kelly

Your Sponsorship and Donations are So Important

In case you were wondering,

Music Kitchen is still small.

But our impact is big and we are doing something REALLY BIG

(and historic and unprecedented and...)

"It takes a village" - Thank you for being part of ours.

We rely on your generous support now more than ever!

Click Here to Donate to Forgotten Voices

Donation Options- Choose what works best for you

Quick and easy, 1-2-3!

1. Online: Single and Monthly Donations via Paypal, Please click the button above

2. Zelle: Music Kitchen now also receives donations via Zelle via MusicKitchennyc@gmail.com.  Both methods are quick and easy!

3. Checks: Can be sent as employer payroll deductions (you know who you are, thank you so much!!) And as always, if you prefer to send a personal check, please mail to: 

P.O. Box 907

Attn: Kelly Hall-Tompkins

New York, NY 10040

For premiere sponsorship opportunities,

please contact me for details

Forgotten Voices

Song Cycle Commissioned by Music Kitchen 

~ With Support from Carnegie Hall ~

Celebrating 30,000 Homeless Shelter Clients,

and The15th Anniversary

  Featuring Comment Texts by Homeless Shelter Clients

Set By 15 Composers 

Premiered One Song Each Month

for 15 Months in a Selected Shelter

World Premiere of the Complete Song Cycle at Carnegie Hall

TheOrchestraNow.org: "Dismal Swamp": William Grant Still’s evocative portrait of enslaved people taking refuge while seeking freedom 7 PM, May 12, 2022

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

The Orchestra Now

August 25, 2021

THE ORCHESTRA NOW (TŌN) ANNOUNCES 2021–22 SEASON SEPTEMBER 11, 2021 – MAY 22, 2022

***

World Premieres of Leonard Slatkin’s Brahmsiana and Scott Wheeler’s Birds of America for Violinist Gil Shaham; Rare Performances of Bristow’s Symphony No. 4, Arcadian; Lutosławski’s Symphonic Variations; Messiaen’s Le tombeau resplendissant; Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater; and Still’s Dismal Swamp

***

New Voices from the 1930s
Thursday, May 12, 2022 at 7 PM
Leon Botstein, conductor
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Frank Corliss, piano
William Grant Still: Dismal Swamp
Carlos Chávez: Piano Concerto
Witold Lutosławski: Symphonic Variations
Karl Amadeus Hartmann: Symphony No. 1, Essay for a Requiem

The rarely-heard masterpieces in this concert spotlight works from the late 1930s, including William Grant Still’s evocative portrait of enslaved people taking refuge while seeking freedom, and Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s commentary on conditions under the Nazi regime. The program also features Mexican Symphonic Music Director and composer Carlos Chávez’s virtuosic Piano Concerto, called “imaginatively scored” and praised for its “elemental strength” and the “originality of its orchestral coloring” by The New York Times at its 1942 premiere. Leading progressive Polish music composer Witold Lutosławski’s adventurous Symphonic Variations was written while he was still a student at Warsaw University. His first substantial orchestral work, the Variations contain many folk-like themes.

Tickets priced at $25–$60 are available online at carnegiehall.org, by calling CarnegieCharge at 212.247.7800, or at the Carnegie Hall box office at 57th & Seventh Avenue. Ticket holders will need to comply with the venue’s health and safety requirements, which can be found here.

IndyStar.com: Indianapolis "Opera in the Park" 7 PM Sept. 11, with music of Nkeiru Okoye and William Grant Still. Tickets are free but reservations are required

Nkeiru Okoye

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

IndyStar

Domenica Bongiovanni

Aug. 26, 2021

Opera in the Park

Sept. 11. MacAllister Amphitheater at Garfield Park, 2450 Conservatory Drive. Tickets are free but $10 donation suggested. Reservations required: indyopera.org

Soprano Angela Brown, pianist Joshua Thompson and tenor Ganson Salmon will perform along with Indianapolis Opera resident artists and the Indianapolis Opera Chorus on a program that includes Cole Porter, Giacomo Puccini, Nkeiru Okoye and William Grant Still. Alfred Savia will conduct. The concert will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with "God Bless America."

NYTimes.com: Michael Morgan, Adventurous Oakland Maestro, Dies at 63. As music director of the Oakland Symphony, he sought diversity...

Michael Morgan (1957-2021)

(Alexander Lim)

As music director of the Oakland Symphony, he sought diversity in his audiences as well as in his programming.

The New York Times

By Neil Genzlinger

Aug. 26, 2021

Michael Morgan, the music director of the Oakland Symphony, who in his 30 years in that post sought to bring orchestral music to a broader audience, particularly young people and people of color, died on Aug. 20 in Oakland, Calif. He was 63.

The cause was complications of an infection, the orchestra said. Mr. Morgan had received a kidney transplant in May and had just resumed conducting last month.

As one of the few Black maestros leading a substantial professional orchestra, Mr. Morgan was eager to diversify the symphony’s programming and its audience.

“My main goal,” he told the weekly newspaper The California Voice in 1991 as he was beginning his Oakland tenure, “is to show the rest of the field of orchestra music that you can make an orchestra relevant and of interest to the community, especially to Black youngsters who some may think are not interested in anything.”

He made countless visits to schools in the area. He brought in an eclectic list of guest artists to the Paramount Theater, the orchestra’s home base, including Isaac Hayes in 2001 and Carlos Santana in 2010. He initiated a program called “Playlist” in which guests including the comedian W. Kamau Bell and the labor activist Dolores Huerta selected and introduced pieces to be performed.

Colleagues said Mr. Morgan was interested in more than simply putting on an entertaining program.

“Michael wasn’t afraid to address social issues head-on, and we (the Oakland Symphony) were the tools he used to bridge the gap between races and different political beliefs,” Dawn Harms, co-concertmaster of the symphony, said by email. “There was nothing like an Oakland Symphony concert with Michael at the helm. The audience was so incredibly diverse, joined together under one roof, rocking the Paramount Theater with such a joyful, enthusiastic noise.”

A feature article about Mr. Morgan in The San Jose Mercury News in 2013 bore a telling headline: “Nobody Falls Asleep When Michael Morgan’s Conducting.”

Michael DeVard Morgan was born on Sept. 17, 1957, in Washington. His mother, Mabel (Dickens) Morgan, was a health researcher, and his father, Willie, was a biologist.

He grew up in the city, where he started taking piano lessons when he was 8. By 12 he was conducing his junior high school orchestra.

Mr. Morgan studied composition at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio. At 22 he entered the international Hans Swarowsky conducting competition in Vienna — just for the experience, he said later — and ended up winning. That earned him a chance to conduct Mozart’s “The Abduction From the Seraglio” at the Vienna State Opera in 1982.

Georg Solti made him assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1986. In his seven years there he also regularly directed the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and the Chicago Youth Symphony. And he began to develop a sense of mission.

“When I began my career, I was not involved in the idea of being a role model or increasing minority numbers in the field,” he told The Chicago Tribune in 1993. “I came to realize, however, that someone has to take responsibility.”

Mr. Morgan was a guest conductor with numerous major American orchestras, as well as with New York City Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis and the Washington National Opera. When he conducted the New York Philharmonic in 1992, news accounts said he was only the fifth Black conductor to do so.

At the time, he told The New York Times that he felt his race was both a help and a hindrance.

“I have a very nice little career now,” he said, “but I also know that sometimes that’s because it has been to the advantage of an organization to have me, an African-American, around. I see what others my age do, and that there are more star-studded careers that I have no doubt I would have if I were not Black.”

UNCSA.edu: Louise Toppin in Recital: Works of Margaret Bonds, Harriette Davison, Rosephanye Powell, Maria Corley and Adolphus Hailstork Livestreamed

Dr. Louise Toppin

UNCSA Box Office
Stevens Center
405 West 4th Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-721-1945
boxoffice@uncsa.edu

University of North Carolina

School of the Arts

Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Guest Artist Series

Coloratura soprano Louise Toppin performs a recital of art songs and spirituals of the African Diaspora featuring works by women composers such as Margaret Bonds, Harriette Davison and Rosephanye Powell; and a world premiere song cycle, "For Terry," by Maria Corley. Also included in the program are compositions by the celebrated composer Adolphus Hailstork.

Louise Toppin launched the African Diaspora Music Project (ADMP) in 2019, and it now contains 4,000 songs by composers of African descent. Currently a professor at University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance, Dr. Toppin is also known for her extensive operatic, orchestral and oratorio performing career.                               

Ticket price: $20 regular / $15 student

• Thursday, September 23, 2021 | 7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.                         

Watson Hall
1533 South Main Street, Winston-Salem, NC

Louise Toppin in Recital
Live from Watson Hall: Register for free access to the livestreamed version of this performance. 

African American Composer Initiative: Good News - That's the name of our new CD!

                 

African American Composer Initiative

Live concert CD featuring tenor Othello Jefferson.

Our musical journey together since 2010 has been rooted in the joyous experience of sharing the vibrant music of African American composers in live concert. Because of COVID, we were unable to perform our concerts in 2021. So, we made a way where there seemingly was no way, by producing a CD titled, “Good News.”

Taken from our live concerts, 2017 to 2020, it features Othello Jefferson, a gifted tenor brilliantly singing traditional and contemporary settings of spirituals, freedom songs, art songs, and opera arias. Also performing are all singers and instrumentalists of AACI and guest artists Valerie Capers and John Robinson.

Composers on the CD include the early master arrangers and preservers of spirituals: Roland Hayes, Hall Johnson, Harry Burleigh, Zenobia Powell Perry; and accomplished composers of today – Regina Baiocchi, Valerie Capers, Charles Lloyd Jr, Shawn Okpebholo, and Dolores White.

“Good News,” is available September 3, 2021, in streaming and CD formats; and you can pre-order it now at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

It is our hope to return to live performance in early 2022, if national, state, and county health mandates will allow us to do so. Thank you for your ongoing support as AACI looks forward to welcoming you back to the concert hall before long. In the meantime, may the glorious music of “Good News” unite us in spirit by bringing hope and sustenance in these challenging times.

Sincerely,
LaDoris Cordell, Jodi Gandolfi, and Deanne Tucker,
co-founders, African American Composer Initiative

NYTimes.com: When Europe Offered Black Composers an Ear: Spurned by institutions in America, artists were sometimes given more opportunities across the Atlantic.

The Afro-Caribbean conductor Rudolph Dunbar conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in William Grant Still’s “Afro-American Symphony” in September 1945.

Credit...Bettmann/Getty Images

The New York Times

by Kira Thurman

August 27, 2021

In early September 1945, amid the rubble of a bombed-out Berlin, the Afro-Caribbean conductor Rudolph Dunbar stepped onto a podium and bowed to an enthusiastic audience of German citizens and American military personnel. It was the first Berlin Philharmonic concert to be led by a foreign musician since before World War II. 

The orchestra had gathered in an old movie theater functioning as a makeshift concert hall in the newly designated American zone of the city. First on the program was “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Then came a fairly standard set of orchestral pieces, with Carl Maria von Weber’s “Oberon” Overture followed by Tchaikovsky’s “Pathétique” Symphony. But one piece stood out from the rest: William Grant Still’s “Afro-American Symphony.” When it premiered in 1931 in Rochester, N.Y., it was the first symphony by a Black American to be performed by a major orchestra.

Still’s symphony received a robust round of performances in the United States in the 1930s. That decade was a watershed for Black composers like him, who finally managed to convince powerful American ensembles to perform their music. The “Afro-American Symphony” was quickly followed by Florence Price’s Symphony in E Minor, in 1933, and William Dawson’s “Negro Folk Symphony,” in 1934. These works appeared frequently on concert programs in America at the time — and then disappeared.

***

It was Dunbar, a clarinetist who had studied at the Institute of Musical Art (later the Juilliard School), who brought back Still’s music. In New York, the two had struck up a friendship before Dunbar set off in 1924 for Europe, where he studied and performed for over a decade. A student of renowned musicians like the conductor Felix Weingartner and the clarinetist Louis Cahuzac, he was steeped in the world of European art music.

But he was also a committed Black activist. Running in the same circles as Black Marxists and Pan-Africanists like George Padmore, Dunbar had long made plain his loathing of white supremacy, whether in the form of Nazism or British imperialism. In fact, he’d already performed Still’s “Afro-American Symphony” for its European debut a few years earlier, on a concert with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Albert Hall to raise funds for Black soldiers fighting the Nazis.

Dunbar was invited to perform in Berlin by Leo Borchard, whom the victorious Allies had appointed the Philharmonic’s conductor, and was also an anti-Nazi dissident and resistance fighter who aided German Jews fleeing the Third Reich. The message of Dunbar’s debut could not be clearer: Classical music could not be divorced from a global fight against racism.

***

The work of racial justice in the arts has always been a global effort. Europe’s role in this fight, however, deserves closer inspection. Spurned by the barriers white-dominated institutions placed on them in the United States, Black American composers and musicians have long perpetuated the idea that European audiences were more welcoming. Writing to The New York Age newspaper while studying abroad in London in 1908, the Black American composer Clarence Cameron White said as much: “On every side you find the European musician and music-lover as well realizes that music is too broad and too universal to be circumscribed by the complexion of the skin or texture of the hair.”

There is some truth to White’s claim. Some of the earliest performances of William Grant Still’s music had taken place in Paris. At the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in February 1933, the Pasdeloup Orchestra performed his symphonic poem “Africa,” led by the Austrian conductor Richard Lert, who later fled to the United States after the rise of the Nazis. Safely exiled in Los Angeles, in 1944, Lert invited Black American bass Kenneth Spencer to join him in a performance of Nathaniel Dett’s oratorio “The Ordering of Moses,” another work by a Black composer that would soon disappear for decades.

***

In Torino, Italy, in 1952, the Black American conductor Dean Dixon introduced the music of Ulysses Kay — who was residing at the American Academy in Rome as a winner of the prestigious Rome Prize — to Italian audiences. “Once you secure the allied interest of Europeans according to the highest standards available, you will be heard,” Dixon said.

Later, during the Cold War, Kay toured Soviet Russia on behalf of the State Department. In the 1980s, the pianist Althea Waites brought the music of Florence Price to German audiences — who eagerly applauded. “There they listen to my music instead of looking at me,” Waites said. In recent years, composers such as Tania León and George Lewis have also received premieres in Europe.

John Malveaux: August 21, 2021 Dianne Nicolini, KUSC Classical Radio 91.5 FM,1-3 PM programmed Justin Holland's Peek-a Boo Waltz.

Portrait from the book Men of Mark (1887)

John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

August 21, 2021 Dianne Nicolini, KUSC Classical Radio 91.5 FM,1-3 PM programmed Justin Holland's Peek-a Boo Waltz. I was unaware of Justin Holland's history and contributions in classical music. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justin_Holland

HollywoodBowl.com: Sept. 2, 8:00 PM: Music by Ulysses Kay, William Grant Still, Margaret Bonds, and George Gershwin. Julia Bullock, Soprano

Ulysses Kay (1917-1995

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

Margaret A. Bonds (1913-1972)

Julia Bullock

Hollywood Bowl

A star lineup comes together for a night of American song from Broadway and beyond, with music by Ulysses Kay, William Grant Still, Margaret Bonds, and George Gershwin.

***

Two lucky readers will win two tickets to a night of American song from Broadway and beyond, with music by Ulysses Kay, William Grant Still, Margaret Bonds, and George Gershwin performed by the LA Philharmonic, featuring Aaron Diehl on piano and vocals from Julia Bullock, under the direction of Thomas Wilkins at the Hollywood Bowl on September 2.

***

The contest closes on Friday, August 27 at 11:59pm ET. Winners will be notified the following day.

***

Program

• KAY Overture to Theater Set
• GERSHWIN Variations on “I Got Rhythm”
• BONDS & GERSHWIN Selected songs
• Intermission
• STILL “Singing River” from Wood Notes
• GERSHWIN (arr. Bennett) Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture

Artists

• Los Angeles Philharmonic
• Thomas Wilkins, conductor
• Aaron Diehl, piano
• Julia Bullock, soprano

"Moulin Rouge! The Musical" Hires Chloe Beck as Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

Chloe Beck

Producers Carmen Pavlovic and Bill Damaschke are pleased to announce Chloe Beck has joined the Moulin Rouge! The Musical company as Director of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. She officially began in the newly created role on July 12^th following ten years in higher education, most recently at New York University. Her work will focus on the Broadway production, the forthcoming US National Tour and the show’s productions opening internationally.

Chloe Beck said, “After living through the pandemic and noting the effects of Covid-19 and police brutality on BIPOC, queer, trans and non-binary bodies, I knew that I could not stop fighting for equity and inclusion after protests slowed down. It’s time for me to bring my love of the arts, fresh perspectives and passion for cultivating belonging into the EDI space. It’s time to not only wish for “truth, beauty, freedom and love” in this world, but time to work towards it. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a place where everyone is welcome and it’s a privilege to work alongside so many passionate people striving to prove just that. The time for systematic change on Broadway is now and I’m ecstatic to be one of the leaders of that change.”

Carmen Pavlovic and Bill Damaschke said, “We are thrilled to have found an ideal leader in Chloe Beck in the role of Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at Moulin Rouge! The Musical. Recognizing the need for long overdue and necessary change in our industry we strongly believe Chloe will be a key partner in driving strategies, programs and initiatives to give our company the tools required to embed Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in our culture and day to day operations. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is based on a world in which all are welcome. Working with Chloe, we are committed to making this a reality in every aspect of the production.”

ABOUT CHLOE BECK

As a seasoned student affairs professional, Chloe Beck has created safe, diverse, and inclusive spaces for key stakeholders across campuses nationwide. She has worked extensively in training and development, anti-bias response, and mental health and wellness. Chloe has spearheaded the creation and implementation of several affinity groups, initiatives and programs ranging from black women in leadership to navigating LGBTQIA rights in the workplace. Chloe has facilitated training around EDI topics for over 10 years and blends media, academics, and culturally relevant colloquialisms to engage and make EDI topics accessible and easy to grasp. Chloe’s motto for EDI work is simple, “we call each other in, not out” and once we are all “in'' the room, we can begin to work on building the bridges to authenticity, access and acceptance. 

ABOUT MOULIN ROUGE! THE MUSICAL

The Tony-nominated hit musical Moulin Rouge! The Musical resumes performances on Friday, September 24, 2021, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (302 West 45^th St, NYC).

The first musical of the 2019/2020 Broadway season, Moulin Rouge! The Musical opened to critical acclaim at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre on July 25, 2019.

“Spectacular! Euphoric! In Moulin Rouge! The Musical, life is beautiful,” raves The New York Times. “Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a fabulous new musical. The high begins the instant you walk into the theatre,” said the New York Post. Entertainment Weekly concludes that “it’s easy to believe that Moulin Rouge! The Musical could run for 50 years.” 

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is directed by Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers and with a book by Tony Award winner John Logan, choreography by Tony Award nominee Sonya Tayeh and music supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Tony Award nominee Justin Levine.

The design team for Moulin Rouge! The Musical includes Tony Award winner Derek McLane (sets), Tony Award winner Catherine Zuber (costumes), Tony Award nominee Justin Townsend (lighting), Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski (sound), Drama Desk Award winner David Brian Brown (wig and hair design), Sarah Cimino (Make-up design) and Tony Award nominee Matt Stine (Music Producer). Casting is by Jim Carnahan and Stephen Kopel.

The cast of Moulin Rouge! The Musical includes Natalie Mendoza as Satine, Tony Award nominee Aaron Tveit as Christian, Tony Award nominee Danny Burstein as Harold Zidler, Tony and Olivier Award nominee Sahr Ngaujah as Toulouse-Lautrec, Tam Mutu as The Duke of Monroth, Ricky Rojas as Santiago and Tony Award nominee Robyn Hurder as Nini. Ashley Loren is the Satine Alternate. The cast includes Jacqueline B. Arnold, Holly James, Jeigh Madjus, Joe Beauregard, Keely Beirne, Giovanni Bonaventura, Olutayo Bosede, Maya Bowles, Kyle Brown, Sam J. Cahn, Bobby Daye, Mia DeWeese, Karli Dinardo, Tilly Evans-Krueger, Aaron C. Finley, Bahiyah Hibah, Ericka Hunter, Cameron Mitchell Jackson, Tasia Jungbauer, Jose-Luis Lopez Jr., Reed Luplau, Kara Menendez, Kaitlin Mesh, Fred Odgaard, Dylan Paul, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Benjamin Rivera, Julius Anthony Rubio and Brandon Stonestreet.

Ricky Rojas is appearing with the support of Actors' Equity Association. The producers gratefully acknowledge Actors' Equity Association for its assistance of this production. 

Enter a world of splendor and romance, of eye-popping excess, of glitz, grandeur and glory! A world where Bohemians and aristocrats rub elbows and revel in electrifying enchantment. Pop the champagne and prepare for the spectacular spectacular...Welcome to Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

Baz Luhrmann’s iconic film comes to life onstage, remixed in a new musical mash-up extravaganza. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is a theatrical celebration of Truth, Beauty, Freedom, and - above all - Love. Moulin Rouge! The Musical is more than a musical; it is a state of mind.

As in the film, Moulin Rouge! The Musical celebrates over 160 years of music – from Offenbach to Lady Gaga. The stage musical features many of the iconic songs from the movie and also includes recent hits released since the movie premiered 20 years ago.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is nominated for 14 Tony Awards including Best Musical. The production has already won the 2020 Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical and Danny Burstein received the organization’s highest acting honor, Distinguished Performance. It also received ten Outer Critics Circle Award Honor citations, including New Broadway Musical.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical is produced by Carmen Pavlovic and Gerry Ryan OAM for Global Creatures and Bill Damaschke. General management is by Foresight Theatrical.

Co-producers of the Broadway production include Aaron Lustbader, Hunter Arnold, Darren Bagert, Erica Lynn Schwartz/Matt Picheny/Stephanie Rosenberg, Adam Blanshay Productions/Nicolas & Charles Talar, Iris Smith, Aleri Entertainment, CJ ENM, Sophie Qi/Harmonia Holdings, AF Creative Media/International Theatre Fund, Baz & Co./Len Blavatnik, Endeavor Content, Tom & Pam Faludy, Gilad-Rogowsky/InStone Productions, John Gore Organization, Mehr-BB Entertainment GmbH, Spencer Ross, Nederlander Presentations/IPN, Eric Falkenstein/Suzanne Grant, Jennifer Fischer, Peter May/Sandy Robertson, Triptyk Studios, Carl Daikeler/Sandi Moran, Desantis-Baugh Productions, Red Mountain Theatre Company/42ND.CLUB, Candy Spelling/Tulchin Bartner, Roy Furman and Jujamcyn Theatres.

Released by 20^th Century Fox, Baz Luhrmann’s MOULIN ROUGE! premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. At the 74th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, and won two.

The Moulin Rouge of Paris, managed by Jean-Jacques Clerico (CEO), is a dazzling and spectacular universe, the symbol of the Parisian way of celebrating since 1889. Starting life as a popular cabaret and dance hall, the venue became an iconic music hall in the Roaring Twenties, and then a theatre where numerous famous French and international artists stepped out into the limelight. Today, the Moulin Rouge and its 60 artists present the Féerie revue show: two hours of amazement between cabaret and music hall styles where dance scenes and surprise acts intersperse – without forgetting the Moulin Rouge’s most emblematic dance, the French Cancan! Since its creation, the Moulin Rouge of Paris has always been an invitation to live and share all the emotions and effervescence of a unique party extravaganza. http://www.moulinrouge.fr/

The Grammy-nominated Moulin Rouge! The Musical Original Broadway Cast Recording, produced by Baz Luhrmann, Justin Levine, Matt Stine & Alex Timbers, is now available by Baz Luhrmann’s label, House of Iona, and RCA Records. The album debut at #1 on Billboard’s Cast Album chart.

MAC is the Official Makeup Partner and Preciosa is the Official Crystal Partner of Moulin Rouge! The Musical.

As recently announced by The Broadway League, the owners and operators of all 41 Broadway theatres in New York City will require audience members to be vaccinated with an FDA or WHO authorized vaccine and to properly wear a mask at all times except to eat and drink when seated for all performances through October 2021. Guests under the age of 12 who are unvaccinated, and those who need reasonable accommodations due to a medical condition or sincerely held religious belief that prevents vaccination, must present proof of a negative COVID-19 test. See further details and requirements regarding vaccinations, testing and safety protocols here. https://www.jujamcyn.com/broadwayreturn/#covid19

The Metropolitan Opera: Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11: Saturday, September 11, at 7:45PM ET; Eric Owens is bass-baritone

The Metropolitan Opera

 

Eric Owens

The Metropolitan Opera

Ahead of Opening Night on September 27, we invite you to join us for a concert performance of Verdi’s Requiem commemorating the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the extraordinary Met Orchestra and Chorus in a concert that marks the first performance in the Metropolitan Opera House since the pandemic closure began in March 2020. The program will also feature a quartet of compelling soloists—soprano Ailyn Pérez, mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča, tenor Matthew Polenzani, and bass-baritone Eric Owens. 

Audiences in New York City and beyond will also be able to see and hear live transmissions of Verdi’s Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11. The performance will be transmitted live as part of Great Performances on PBS, and live audio from the performance will also be broadcast directly outside the Met in Lincoln Center Plaza. As part of a citywide remembrance, the Met will be participating in the 9/11 Tribute in Light, bathing its façade in sky-blue light. The English-language text of the Requiem will also be projected onto the façade of the opera house during the performance.