Longue Vue and the Marigny Opera House present Freedom Ride opera March 22 and 23, 2013

Following Civil Rights Landmark Anniversary, Historic Struggle becomes Artistic Triumph as Opera Freedom Ride Performed at Marigny Opera House in March 2013

Vignettes from the Longue Vue-commissioned opera Freedom Ride, twice nominated for Big Easy Awards, will be performed at the Marigny Opera House in late March 2013. Composer Dan Shore will debut new material for the opera, which has been previewed at Longue Vue, Xavier University of Louisiana, the 2012 French Quarter Festival, and the 2013 Tribute to the Classical Arts. The Marigny Opera House shows take place on March 22 and 23, 2013 at 8 p.m. Tickets are available at the door for $15/general admission and $10/students and seniors.

Longue Vue debuted three vignettes from Freedom Ride on October 20 and 22, 2011, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the historic civil rights freedom rides. Additional selections were performed at Xavier University on March 13, 2012, to complement a lecture and conversation with original Freedom Riders. Shore, a composer and librettist who is also on the faculty at Xavier University, wrote new music for the French Quarter Festival as well, leading to the second Big Easy Award nomination. “Experience the turmoil and triumph as a young woman from New Orleans must decide whether or not to risk everything she has to join the Freedom Riders and the civil rights movement in 1961,” says Shore.

The performance at the Marigny Opera House, an unaffiliated, non-denominational, neighborhood church and performance venue offering community-based arts programs, recovery group space and writers workshops, will feature the Xavier University of Louisiana Concert Choir and soloists Dara Rahming, Tyrone Chambers, Ivan Griffin, and Valerie Francis.

Freedom Ride came about as a result of a meeting between Shore and former Longue Vue Executive Director Joe Baker, who envisioned a musical work that would celebrate both New Orleans and the Civil Rights Movement. “Longue Vue is thrilled to be a center for commissioning new works and enlivening civil discourse in New Orleans, in the tradition of Longue Vue founders Edith and Edgar Stern,” says Baker. Bringing that discourse to young people, New Orleans-area students will be invited to rehearsals in order to observe the overall process of staging a professional theatrical production.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council and in part by a Community Arts Grant made possible by the City of New Orleans. These grants are administered through the Arts Council of New Orleans.

The Marigny Opera House’s performances of Freedom Ride will take place Friday, March 22 and Saturday, March 23, at 8 p.m. at 725 St. Ferdinand Street. Tickets will be sold at the door; no advance tickets or reservations. For more information, contact Christopher Bowers at 504.293.4719 or cbowers@longuevue.com.

Oakland Public Conservatory: 'Preparatory Studies in Music' March 13 - May 22, 4-6pm

Upcoming at

OPC

 

Preparatory Studies in Music 

 

Instrumental Music Instruction 

Strings, Woodwinds, Brass 

Percussion, Guitar, Piano 

Ages 7-17

March 13 - May 22   4-6pm

Final Concert May 26  6pm

  

TUITION

  $15 per class-$25 Registration Fee
Must enroll for Full Session

No Drop-In 

For more information  

(510) 836-4649

email: prep@opcmusic.org 

Philly.com: 'James DePreist remembered at Union Baptist Church'

James DePreist Bust by Rip Caswell on display at Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, Oregon

Philadelphia Orchestra violinists Paul Roby (left) and William Polk perform Mozart Monday at a memorial for conductor James DePreist.

James A. DePreist is featured at AfriClassical.com

Philly.comMonday, March 4, 2013, 4:38 PM

Peter Dobrin, Inquirer Classical Music Critic

 James DePreist.

After a career that brought him to orchestra podiums in Helsinki, Rotterdam and Los Angeles, James Anderson DePreist was memorialized Monday near 19th and Fitzwater Streets in South Philadelphia at his boyhood church, steps from his onetime home.

"Jimmy was the prince of our family," cousin Sandra Grymes said of DePreist, who died Feb. 8 at 76. He lost his father at age 6, she told the gathering of about 80 friends and family members at Union Baptist Church, and was raised by three Anderson women who were "able to make space for him to do his own thing." One of them was his aunt Marian Anderson, the celebrated contralto.

DePreist's mother wanted him to be a lawyer, but Anderson "exercised a quiet subversion," feeding his interest in music and giving him orchestral scores.

"Jimmy grew up listening to her stories - the acclaim, the discrimination," said Grymes. "He was the son she never had, and she was his muse." She also recalled the episode in the 1960s when, on a tour of Southeast Asia, DePreist contracted polio. "Aunt Marian called Bobby Kennedy, and Jimmy was flown home on a military plane being used to transport soldiers in the Vietnam War."

DePreist lost the use of his legs, and as an African American who conducted from a seated position, he was a rare sight in the orchestral world, if a welcome one. 

TheEpochTimes.com on Sujari Brit: 'I felt I was witnessing the emergence of a major talent.'

Full house at Carnegie Hall where New York Concerti Sinfonietta features debut soloists. (Kexi Cao)

Backstage at Carnegie Hall: Soloists surround Artistic Director Julie Jordan and New York Concerti Sinfonietta in Debut concert on Feb. 25. (Kexi Cao)

Sergio Mims sends this link:

The Epoch Times
International Competition Concerts Demonstrate Global Reach

Youthful prodigies also debut

By Michael Sherwin

March 05, 2013

Youthful Performers

The Feb. 25 concert began with three young debut award winners. Leading off the program was Seito Nakazawa, who just turned 11, performing Pablo de Sarasate’s “Zigeunerweisen” (“Gypsy Airs”), op. 20. There was something endearing about watching this pint-sized player who is young enough to be in the fifth grade. Meticulously bedecked in formal concert wear—including tuxedo, pleated shirt, and black bow tie—he exhibited a poised stage demeanor.

...

Next was Sujari Britt, a remarkable 11-year old who attends the Precollege Division of the Manhattan School of Music. First Prize winner of the New York Concerti Sinfonietta’s Young Artist Debut award, Sujari performed the first two movements of the Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor, op. 85.

Sujari played the work with deep feeling and complete command, displaying a rich, burnished, velvety tone. Sujari’s intonation was flawless over the entire range of the fingerboard. Her phrasing and dynamic variation placed her among the elite.

More important than the technical accomplishment was her preternatural musicality, showing an involvement with and sensitivity to the music far beyond her years. It was a memorable interpretation, by turns plaintive, passionate, and—in the concluding scherzo—playful (the manner in which she nonchalantly tossed off the ending was delightful).

In November 2009, Sujari, then 8 years old, performed a duet with noted cellist Alisa Weilerstein for President Obama at the White House. Dr. Julie Jordan is to be commended for affording Sujari this appearance with the New York Concerti Sinfonietta at Carnegie Hall. I felt I was witnessing the emergence of a major talent. Sujari’s Elgar eerily evoked memories of the late Jacqueline du Pré. With the right training and career guidance, it is no exaggeration to say she could achieve greatness.

Concerts@First: 'The First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia to Host March 9 Concert with Leslie Burrs, Opera North Inc.' and Soloists at 8 PM

Patrick D. McCoy sends this link:

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/3/prweb10495982.htm

MusicUNTOLD will partner with Long Beach Symphony to provide FREE tickets to under served patrons March 10, 2013

Long Beach Symphony Orchestra

Enrique Arturo Diemecke, Music Director

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

Access to the ARTS

MusicUNTOLD will partner with Long Beach Symphony to provide FREE tickets to under served students, seniors, disabled and others to attend Sunday's 3-10-13 Long Beach Symphony Orchestra Matinee performance of Stravinsky's RITE of SPRING.

see www.musicuntold.com

 

Thanks

John Malveaux

BahamaIslandsInfo.com: 'Symposium celebrates diversity of Afro-Caribbean musical talent'

Mrs. Audrey Dean Wright, Associate Professor and Head of Visual Arts and Performing Arts at The College, shared with the audience what inspires her as a Bahamian musician.

The Audience at the music symposium included music majours at The College of The Bahamas and members of the Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

(From Left) Dr. Marjorie Brooks-Jones, Dean of Faculty of Liberal and Fine Arts and Dr. Christine Gangelhoff, Assistant Professor of Music at The College of The Bahamas and co-coordinator of the symposium were among the attendees at the 2013 Bahamas International Symposium on Composers of African and Afro-Caribbean Descent recently held at The College of The Bahamas.

(From Left) Mr. Cleophas Adderley, Executive Director of the National Musical Heritage and Research at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; Mrs. Audrey Dean Wright, Associate Professor and Head of Visual Arts and Performing Arts at The College; Mr. Christian Justilien, Assistant Professor and Band Director at The College and Mr. K. Quincy Parker, University Transition Secretariat Attaché, composer and arranger were among the panelist that presented at the recent 2013 Bahamas International Symposium on Composers of African and Afro-Caribbean Descent held at The College of The Bahamas.

Bahama Islands Info
Sunday 03 March 2013

NASSAU, Bahamas -- It’s hard to live anywhere for three-and-a-half years and remain unchanged by the experience. Ask Audrey Dean-Wright. She lived in Haiti for that long and was devastated when the catastrophic, deadly earthquake struck the country in 2010.

At first, it was hard for her to process. But eventually, Mrs. Dean-Wright, Associate Professor and Head of Visual Arts and Performing Arts at The College of The Bahamas, resorted to what she knew best to express her anguish. She wrote a song called “Port-Au-Prince Tombé”, or “Port-au-Prince Has Fallen”.

One of Mrs. Dean-Wright’s music students at The College, Lavanda Brown, performed the song recently at the 2013 Bahamas International Symposium on Composers of African and Afro-Caribbean Descent. The symposium brought together the diverse creative genius of some of the best musicians in The Bahamas, the region and the world.
...
Musicians were represented from around the world and discussed their musical influences and inspiration.  Audience members also interacted with composers. The topics explored included: “Cultural Identity in Bahamian Art Music”, “Perspectives on Composers and Performers of African Descent In Classical Music”, and “Diversity in Classical Music”.

At the symposium, Christian Justilien, Assistant Professor and Band Director at The College, shared his musical journey. He said one of the major turning points in his life was when he went off to school in the Unites States at the age of 12. He had the honour of playing with the Dade County Honours Orchestra, a significant accomplishment as no other student from Miami Edison Senior High School had played with the orchestra in over 50 years. His first experience playing with them has been hard to forget.

“The director raised the baton and we are getting ready to play the first piece. As soon as that baton comes down, I hear this sound that I have never heard before, I literally froze up. I couldn’t play because it was so beautiful. I just had to stop and look around.  I could remember this time thinking, ‘How did you get here?’”  he recalled.
“That prompted me to get into listening to just all types of music. My repertoire of things that I enjoy ranges from jazz and classical to marching banding.”
These various experiences captivated the audience members who came to the symposium. Senior Music Fellow at The University of the West Indies Peter Ashbourne’s was no different. Mr. Ashbourne wrote a Reggae Opera called ‘Mikey’, based on the life of a dub poet Mikey Smith.
...  
Other composers represented were: Cleophas Adderley, Executive Director of the National Musical Heritage and Research at the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture; Carlos Carrillo-Cotto, Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Illinois and Assistant Professor at Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico; Dominique Le Gendre, Associate Artist at The Royal Opera House and K. Quincy Parker, composer and arranger. Others included Paul Shaw, Associate Professor at The University of Minnesota School of Music; Adam Walters, French Horn Section Leader at The Academy for the Performing Arts, University of Trinidad and Tobago and Marlon Daniel, Music Director of Ensemble du Monde and co-coordinator of the symposium.

Dr. Christine Gangelhoff, Assistant Professor of Music at The College of The Bahamas and co-coordinator of the symposium, said that the event was “fantastic.” “There were a lot of great conversations between the students and the panelists and among the panelists themselves. I was really happy with it,” she said.

'Here's One' of William Grant Still by John McLaughlin Williams, Violin & Norma McLaughlin Nelson, Piano on YouTube (3:12)

Africa: Piano Music of William Grant Still;
Denver Oldham, piano; Koch International Classics 3-7084-2H1




William Grant Still (1895-1978) is profiled at AfriClassical.com, which features a comprehensive Works List by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, http://www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com Recordings, sheet music and books of William Grant Still are available at www.WilliamGrantStill.com, which is operated by the composer's daughter Judith Anne Still

John McLaughlin Williams writes:

Bill, 

Here's a recent performance of William Grant Still's terrific setting of the spiritual "Here's One". I'm assisted by pianist Norma McLaughlin Nelson (my mom).

William Grant Still: Here's One
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YO4CWQcSN2c

Best regards,

JMW

Published on Mar 3, 2013

John McLaughlin Williams, Violin
Norma Mclaughlin Nelson, Piano

Of all Negro Spirituals, "Here's One" can undoubtedly be counted among the most affecting of all. The lyrics are a simple expression of devotion to God:

Talk about a Child that do love Jesus;
Here's One, Here's One
Talk about a Child done been Converted;
Here's One, Here's One

William Grant Still originally created his setting of "Here's One" for solo voice, and later for chorus. The stellar American violinist and Still's great friend Louis Kaufmann (for whom Still wrote his celebrated Suite and the Pastorela) was so taken by Still's setting that he transcribed it for violin and piano. Kaufmann changed the key of Still's original, and little else. Here William Grant Still has created one of the most moving spiritual settings ever penned. Kaufmann's transcription stays true to its source, giving us a concentrated and intense three minutes of sustained religious ecstasy.

Toronto Star on Rashaan Allwood: 'Young pianist soars with a perfect 100'

[At 18, Rashaan Allwood, pictured in his parents' living room in Mississauga, is already a piano phenom. The first-year U of T music student recently added a National Gold Medal from the Royal Conservatory for scoring 100 points on piano performance in January, the tops in Canada. He also won 3 categories at the Kiwanis music competition last week.   (Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)]

Chris Foley sends this link:

Toronto Star

By: Royson James City Columnist, Published on Tue Mar 05 2013

Even for a rare piano talent who has won medals at every level since 2002, this performance at the highest level of the Royal Conservatory was astonishing. Rashaan Allwood, 18, played through a one-hour piano exam of baroque, classical, romantic, impressionist and 20th century music with such panache and precision that enthralled adjudicators gave him a perfect score.

Allwood’s “perfect 100” set the music fraternity abuzz in January, when he received the national gold medal as Canada’s top student sitting an exam for the world-renowned Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto (ARCT) diploma.

The first-year University of Toronto piano performance student even surprised himself with what a conservatory spokesman calls a “very, very, very rare” achievement.

“When I saw the score I didn’t believe it, so I called them to confirm it,” Allwood told the Star. “It seemed unfathomable.”  The conservatory, which holds 100,000 exams a year, confirmed his brilliance. “It felt really, really amazing,” said the Mississauga resident. “I think they were saying, ‘You have the potential to be really, really good. This is our way of giving you a boost.’ It’s something to encourage me to work even harder than before; not to be cocky.”
...

Pulling away from the daily dose of Rob Ford nonsense, I attended Rashaan’s performance at the 70th annual Toronto Kiwanis Music Festival last week. He entered three categories: Chopin, Bach and Beethoven. He won them all. “One step above everyone,” was just one of many accolades delivered by adjudicator, acclaimed pianist Jean Desmarais. Rashaan’s performance of Chopin’s Fantasy in F Minor broke new ground, Desmarais said. He had never envisioned the composition could be played that way but, not only did Rashaan do it, he “convinced me.”

...

Teacher Anna Fomina has taught hundreds of students in Moscow and the Mississauga School of Music over 40 years. “Rashaan is the most talented,” she says.  He lives the music, embodies it and makes it his own. And he’s not afraid to capture the emotion of a composition and deliver it to the heart of the listener.

“Most students have talent, but they understand the music with their head so they play like a computer, a machine; Rashaan feels with his heart, so he touches people’s hearts,” says Fomina.

...

His gold medal performance demanded he play five works of contrasting styles. For an hour he played Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Ravel and Prokofiev, plus Russian composer Moszkowski. The two adjudicators thanked him for his “uninterrupted excitement” and “virtuosic fluency.”
...
Rashaan’s dad didn’t leave it to the teacher — not with a musical discipline that is more demanding than regular homework from school, she says. He surrounded him with all kinds of music, including European classical recordings — a fact that helped him develop an appreciation for all kinds of music and a love of Bach.

...

With a strong sense of his identity, Rashaan says he is not deterred by the lack of African-Canadians in his music circle.

Flutist Laurel Zucker to Perform 'Prelude for Unaccompanied Flute' of Ulysses S. Kay, Jr. at AT&T Center in Los Angeles, 3 PM August 18, 2013

Ulysses S. Kay, Jr.

 is profiled at AfriClassical.com, 

which features a comprehensive 

Works List and a Bibliography by 

Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, 

www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com.

Laurel Zucker

John Malveaux of www.MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

Virtuoso Flutist Laurel Zucker has accepted an invitation to perform Ulysses Simpson Kay’s Prelude for Unaccompanied Flute during CONCERT to celebrate 50^th Anniversary of MARCH on WASHINGTON and Dr. MLK’s ‘I HAVE A DREAM’ speech on Sunday August 18, 2013, 3:00PM, AT&T Center Theater/Auditorium (downtown Los Angeles). KUSC Classical Radio 91.5 FM, www.KUSC.org is media sponsor. Gramophone Magazine describes Ms. Zucker's flute playing as "as polished and gratifying as Rampal and Galway. Ms. Zucker will be giving masterclasses and performances in the InterHarmony Chamber Music Festival in Italy and Germany July 14-August 11, 2013. See http://www.amazon.com/Ulysses-Kay-Prelude-Unaccompanied-Flute/dp/B001051P3A and  http://www.laurelzucker.com/index.php

Thanks

John Malveaux

www.musicuntold.com