'Flutronix Comes to the Midwest': Chicago Sept. 30 & Madison, Wisconsin Oct. 1

[Flutronix]

Nathalie Joachim and Allison Loggins-Hull are Flutronix. The latest Flutronix Newsletter includes:

Flutronix makes their Windy City debut at Morseland. Opening the night is singer-songwriter Diana Lawrence.
Friday, September 30th
10:00pm
Morseland
1218 West Morse Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
$5 cover

Right after Chicago, Flutronix heads to the University of Wisconsin - Madison for an afternoon lecture and evening performance.
Saturday, October 1st
7:00pm
Morphy Hall - UW Madison Humanities Building
455 North Park Street
Madison, WI
FREE

Flutronix teams up with PUBLIQuartet for an evening of new music for strings, flutes and electronics at the intimate Cornelia Street Cafe.
Monday, October 10th
8:30pm

Barbara Wright-Pryor: “I remember Edward Kennedy 'Duke' Ellington (April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974) with great love and affection.”

[The Irving Bunton Singers (Photo from Duke Ellington's 1963 musical revue My People provided by Barbara Wright-Pryor, President, Chicago Music Association)]

The life and career of Duke Ellington (1899-1974) are featured at AfriClassical.com. This is Part 3 of the commemoration by Barbara Wright-Pryor of Duke Ellington's 1963 musical revue My People:

In 1963, Robert Morris was a young undergraduate music major at DePaul University's School of Music and a member of the Irving Bunton Singers. Duke appointed him arranger for all of the choral music for My People.

The Irving Bunton Singers were Duke's hand-picked chorus for the 1963 production which included Alvin Ailey and his Dance Company, the Talley Beatty Dancers, and briefly, the Arthur Mitchell Dance Company. Mr. Bunton, a pianist and conductor par excellence, was Duke's choral director for that production and subsequently became Supervisor of Music for the Chicago Public Schools.

I remember Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899-May 24, 1974) with great love and affection. He was indeed a "genius beyond compare" and America's most prolific composer with an oeuvre of more than 3000 compositions. His autobiography, Music is My Mistress, is yet available at online book stores.

Chicago Broadway World: 'Chicago Sinfonietta Bids Farewell to Founder Paul Freeman'

[Paul Freeman conducting Chicago Sinfonietta]

April 20, 2011
Chicago Broadway World

“Maestro Paul Freeman, who founded the Chicago Sinfonietta 24 years ago, takes the podium as Music Director for the final time for the last concert of the Sinfonietta's 2010-2011 season, titled Women in Classical Music. Joining Maestro Freeman as guest conductor for the program will be Chicago Sinfonietta Music Director Designate Mei-Ann Chen. The Chicago Sinfonietta presents Women in Classical Music Sunday, May 22 at 2:30 pm at Lund Auditorium of Dominican University, 7900 W. Division Street in River Forest, and Monday, May 23 at 7:30 pm at Orchestra Hall of Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

"'This momentous occasion in the Sinfonietta's history is indeed a bittersweet one. With these final two concerts, we say goodbye to our beloved Founder Paul Freeman and celebrate the arrival of our brilliant new Music Director, Maestro Mei-Ann Chen,' said Sinfonietta Executive Director Jim Hirsch. The Women in Classical Music concert celebrates the influence of female conductors, composers and musicians. The Monday, May 23 program opens with a five-minute video tribute to Maestro Freeman, including a greeting by Yo-Yo Ma. The concert will be broadcast live by WFMT 98.7 FM beginning at 7:30 pm. Fifth Third Bank, the concert's principal sponsor, has generously agreed to sponsor the live broadcast that will stream nationwide on the web.

“Maestro Freeman opens the program, conducting selections from Alberto Ginastera's Danzas Del Ballet Estancia, op.8a, a work inspired by José Hernández's Argentinean nationalist poem Martín Fierro. This piece was chosen by Freeman for his final concert because of his great love of the work. Following this work will be an historic 'passing of the baton' moment, as Freeman not only passes the podium duties to Chen for most of the remainder of the concert, but also symbolically passes stewardship of the Chicago Sinfonietta to her as well.”

“Paul Freeman founded the Chicago Sinfonietta in 1987 with the mission to increase diversity in classical music. Since then, he has built Chicago's premier mid-sized orchestra into the 'nation's most diverse symphony orchestra,' championing the work of conductors, musicians and composers of all racial and gender minorities. In 1996 Freeman was named Music Director of the Czech National Philharmonic Orchestra in Prague; there he unearthed and recorded forgotten works by early Czech composers and also brought a range of American music to European audiences. In the early 2000s, he launched a new African Heritage Symphonic Series of recordings on the Cedille label, with an album of works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, William Grant Still and the Nigerian-born composer Fela Sowande.

"Throughout his career Maestro Freeman has been recognized as one of the first major African-American conductors to make a mark in the symphonic world, exemplifying his ability to break through the 'color barrier.' He has conducted more than 100 orchestras in 28 countries and has made more than 200 recordings, performing music ranging from the mainstream European repertory to completely unfamiliar pieces by composers from a great variety of backgrounds. Freeman will remain Music Director Emeritus following his retirement from the Chicago Sinfonietta.” [Maestro Paul Freeman (b. 1936) is profiled at AfriClassical.com along with Composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912), William Grant Still (1895-1978) and Fela Sowande (1905-1987)]

Ebony.com: 'Eric Owens Interview By Sergio Mims'; 'It’s like Shakespeare. It’s so timeless'

[Sergio Mims (left) with Eric Owens at Chicago Lyric Opera on Friday, March 4, 2011]

Sergio Mims sends us this interview with bass-baritone Eric Owens:

Ebony.com

By Sergio Mims

“Highly (and universally) acclaimed bass-baritone Eric Owens is, without question, one of the most-talked about and in-demand opera singers today. With major roles in a new production of Wagner’s Das Rheingold, Verdi’s Aida, Le Grand Macabre with the New York Philharmonic and, especially, Doctor Atomic, Owens’ powerful and majestic voice is thrilling audiences in opera houses and concert halls all over the world. We recently had a chance to speak with Owens about his career and music just before he was to make his debut in Handel’s Hercules, starring in a new production by the always-thought-provoking and controversial stage director Peter Sellars at the Lyric Opera in Chicago.

EBONY: In this production of Hercules, the director has broken with tradition and made the title character a returning Iraq War veteran trying to readjust to his wife and his life after the war. There are even strong references to Abu Ghraib in it. What’s it like to work with Sellars?

OWENS: Peter is so intense. I mean, he brings such so emotional depth and joy to every project he’s involved in, along with vast knowledge. And you never feel that you’re just skimming along on the surface. The rehearsals were very intense. There were times when it would just get under my skin so much—in a good way—that I just couldn’t shake off what we had done that day. It just gets so emotional. One day, I think I just cried afterwards [laughs]—my whole evening was ruined!

EBONY: I saw a videocast with Sellars and some real Iraq war veterans. It was the first time most of them had ever seen an opera, and all of them were incredibly moved by it. Which brings up the point that too many people still look at opera as some dry, dusty, antiquated thing. Many operas deal with issues that are just as relevant today as they were when they were written.

OWENS: Absolutely! It’s like Shakespeare. It’s so timeless. These [characters] and their emotions and their conflicts—these topics are just as relevant today, and Peter always tries to make a piece have more of an immediacy and more of a relevance in people’s lives than becoming just a museum piece in a glass case. It’s vibrant and alive.

'So let’s hear it for Florence Price, who really is the gutsy and substantial composer that everyone thought she would be.'

[Florence B. Price and Manuscript]

Earlier today, AfriClassical posted: “Columbia Chronicle: 'Florence Price reborn; Local composer’s work found after more than 70 years.'” It discussed Suzanne Flandreau's discovery of two manuscripts of compositions of Florence B. Price, whose works are compiled at AfriClassical.com by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma. Suzanne Flandreau has been moved to offer her own account of the discovery, which she has made available to us:

“I just opened the envelope--but I did know what that manuscript meant when I saw it. We have Cheryl Wall to thank for knowing its importance and sending it on to us.

“Our manuscript version is for three pianos. Price may have arranged it to perform at music clubs and schools. It belonged to Cheryl’s aunt, Nannie Strayhorn Reid, a Chicago piano teacher. (I like to think she played one of the accompanying pianos, with Price as soloist.) There are two other known two-piano versions (both privately held) and one of them has the orchestra instrumentation noted. The original score and parts are still unlocated, but Trevor Weston, who reconstructed the concerto, told me that our version was helpful to determine voice leadings. So his reconstruction will be recorded in a week or so. Karen Walwyn is the piano soloist.

“Our New BMRE performed the concerto with Karen at our Black Prism concert in February. It’s a very exciting piece and could easily enter the general repertoire. It would be a welcome change from Rhapsody in Blue, which has been over-performed for lack of anything similar! The Symphony No. 1 in E Minor is also historic (as Vanessa points out) but ours will be the first commercial recording. It is also an exciting piece that deserves to be heard and generally performed. So let’s hear it for Florence Price, who really is the gutsy and substantial composer that everyone thought she would be.”

Suzanne Flandreau

Head Librarian and Archivist

Center for Black Music Research

Columbia College Chicago

600 S. Michigan Ave.

Chicago, IL 60605

Telephone: 312-369-7346

Fax: 312-369-8029

http://www.colum.edu/cbmr

http://www.facebook.com/centerforblackmusicresearch

http://twitter.com/cbmrccc

WGNTV: 'Chicago clarinetist sits center stage alongside world renowned musicians'

[Clarinetist Anthony McGill on stage with Pianist Emmanuel Ax and Cellist Yo-Yo Ma for a performance with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra]

WGNTV presents a 3-minute Black History Month feature on Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, during a visit to Chicago for a visit to his former Chicago youth orchestra, as well as a performance with Yo-Yo Ma, Emmanuel Ax and the Chicago Symphony as one of its “Citizen Musicians” who are dedicated to connecting people with Music.

WGNTV: "Musician Anthony McGill paves the way for young Chicago musicians"

http://www.wgntv.com/lifestyle/black-history/

ChicagoDefender.com: 'R. Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and Allied Arts presents its Black History Program'

[ABOVE: The Collected Piano Works of R. Nathaniel Dett; Summy-Birchard (1973)]

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

ChicagoDefender.com

Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs art exhibited at the South Shore Cultural Center

by Earl Calloway

“The R. Nathaniel Dett Club of Music and Allied Arts presents its Black History Program in dedication of Morris T. Dalton Sunday at 4 p.m. at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 3801 S. Wabash Ave. Artists performing include The Classic Act Choral Ensemble, Ragina Bunton, soprano; James Murray, saxophone; Curtis Boyd, baritone; Charles H. Wagner, tenor; Clancy Johnson, baritone; Charles J. Smith, piano; St. Thomas Praise Dancers; Mittie Cowan, soprano; Sabrina Dianne Smith, dramatist; Phyllis Calderon, violin; Glenn Klipp, piano; and Shirley Savage, dramatic speaker. [R. Nathaniel Dett is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma is featured.]

Imani Winds: 2009 NANM Gala Artists in Concert, Monday, July 27, 7:30 PM

The Imani Winds will be in concert in the Grand Ballroom, The Double Tree Hotel, Chicago Magnificent Mile, 300 East Ohio Street,Chicago, Il 60611 Ticket price: $35.00. Tickets may be purchased at http://www.nanm.org or at the Hyde Park Suzuki Institute, 5500 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, on Mondays through Thursdays from 2:00 until 7:00 p.m., and on Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. Please call 773-643-1388 to confirm ticket availability. If ordering by mail, please make checks payable to NANM, Inc., and furnish a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Celebrating our 90th Anniversary in Chicago, “Our Hometown.” NANM (The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc.) 11551 South Laflin Street, Post Office Box 45053, Chicago, IL 60643 773-568-3818 (Voice) 773-785-5388 (Fax)

Sodi Braide's Recital Streamed Live by WFMT Feb. 18, 12:15 pm (Central Time)

[Sodi Braide in performance on the piano]

On Feb. 14, 2009 AfriClassical posted: “Nigerian Pianist Sodi Braide Gives Recitals in Illinois & Ohio Feb. 16-18, 2009”. Our friend Sergio Mims is a classical music radio host in Chicago. He sends us this word: “I forgot to tell you that Sodi's Wednesday Dame Myra Hess concert in Chicago will be live streamed online at http://www.wfmt.com/main.taf?p=4,5,8  WFMT is the premiere classical music radio station in Chicago and they always broadcast (and livestream on their website) the Dame Myra Hess Wednesday concerts. The concert begins at 12:15 PM Central Standard Time.”  

William Grant Still's 'Three Visions' on Program at Chicago's Third Unitarian Church, Feb. 8

[Three Visions: A Suite for Solo Piano; William Grant Still Music; Flagstaff, Arizona]

ThirdUnitarianChurch.org

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Music Program

“TUC's Director of Music, Donald Neale, will perform "Three Visions", a suite for solo piano by African American composer William Grant Still

Prelude: The Blues from Lenox Avenue

Meditation: Summerland

Offering: Radiant Pinnacle

Postlude: Dark Horseman”

The Sheet Music Collections page at http://www.WilliamGrantStill.com lists the work as follows: “William Grant Still: Three Visions - Still's most often performed piano work, THREE VISIONS, which contains the original version of the timeless piece, SUMMERLAND, and includes discussion by concert pianist Mark Boozer. Price: $18.95.” [William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, where a complete Works List by Dr. Dominique-René de Lerma is also found]