Come Celebrate Juneteenth with Opera Creole and New Orleans Opera

 

Come celebrate Juneteenth with us

in partnership with New Orleans Opera!

Friday, June 17th at the Opera Guild Home 5-8pm

Sunday, June 19th at New Orleans Museum of Art.2:00 pm

June 17th Free Tickets

June 19th at NOMA Free at the Door

TicketNews.com: Juneteenth Concert Set for Hollywood Bowl and CNN Broadcast on June 19, conducted by Thomas Wilkins and Derrick Hodge

 

June 10, 2022 Itir Yildiz

CNN1 Hollywood Bowl Juneteenth

The famous Hollywood Bowl hosts “Juneteenth: A Global Celebration for Freedom” event which is going to reach a wide audience over the capacity of the venue via CNN’s live broadcast on June 19. Produced by Live Nation Urban and Jesse Collins Entertainment, the inaugural celebration concert features Black artists and musicians of different genres ranging from R&B, hip-hop, country to jazz, pop, and classical. Whereas the tickets to the concert are available on the website of the venue or the links below, it will also air live on CNN on June 19 at 8pmET for pay TV subscribers via CNN.com and CNN OTT and mobile apps under “TV Channels” or CNNgo where available.

The lineup of celebration includes Khalid, Yolanda Adams, Anthony Hamilton, Billy Porter, Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jhené Aiko, Killer Mike, Lucky Daye, Mary Mary, Michelle Williams, Mickey Guyton, Robert Glasper, and The Roots.

A 68-piece all-Black symphony orchestra “The Re-Collective Orchestra” will also play at the event under the conduct of Thomas Wilkins and Derrick Hodge, marking as the first black orchestra to perform on Hollywood Bowl’s stage in its 100-year history. Questlove and Adam Blackstone are the musical directors of the evening.

Decca Classics: Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Myfanwy (Arr. for Solo Cello) 03:40 from the forthcoming album "Song" out 9 September

SHEKU

KANNEH-MASON

SONG

DECCA CLASSICS

Song, the new album from cellist Sheku-Kanneh Mason, features music from across the entire spectrum
of classical, folk, jazz and pop – all personally curated by Sheku. The eclectic mix of styles are tied together
by one thing – the unique singing voice of Sheku’s cello.

 

Sheku Kanneh-Mason became a household name in 2018 after performing at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor Castle. His performance was greeted with universal excitement and was seen
by nearly two billion people globally.

 

Sheku initially garnered renown as the winner of the 2016 BBC Young Musician Competition, the first black musician to take the title. He has released two chart-topping albums on the Decca Classics label, Inspiration (2018) and Elgar (2020). The latter reached #8 in the overall UK official album chart, making Sheku the first cellist in history to reach the UK top 10.

 

Metropolitan Opera: $10 Tickets to an Evening with Rising Star Baritone Justin Austin and Tenor George Shirley

 What does it mean to be an American?

Fresh off the heels of his Metropolitan Opera debut in Hamlet, Artist Propulsion Lab baritone Justin Austin will gather friends for an evening of discussion and song, exploring what it means to be an American. Panelists include Ricky Ian Gordon, composer of the contemporary opera Intimate Apparel, which was staged at Lincoln Center Theater this past fall, and George Shirley, the first African American tenor to sing a leading role at the Metropolitan Opera in the 1961.

The program features music from and across the many different cultures of the United States including works by Aaron Copland, Moses Hogan, and Jang Il-nam. 

Monday, June 13 at 7pm. Tickets $10.

BUY TICKETS

Twitter: Patrick D. McCoy shared "Enjoying the Ride with Countertenor John Holiday >> Early Music America"

Holiday in Juilliard’s 2013 “Radamisto” 

(Photo: Nan Melville)

                Enjoying the Ride with Countertenor John Holiday

by David Shengold
Published June 3, 2022

This feature appears in the May 2022 issue of EMAg, the Magazine of Early Music America. Non-members can read for FREE through June 17, 2022. Members can read EMAg articles free at any time by logging in.

On a Rocket to Stardom, the Versatile Countertenor Remains Committed to Early Music

In an age of remarkable countertenors, John Holiday cuts a unique profile. At 37, less than a decade out of Juilliard, he’s made a striking impact in the early-music world and, with equal adeptness, on the new-music scene—enlivened by a foundation of church and popular genres.

Stage director Francesca Zambello, who runs both the Washington National Opera and Glimmerglass Opera in upstate New York, has hired Holiday for both companies. In an email to me, she calls John Holiday “one of the most versatile opera singers I have ever met: Not only an accomplished countertenor, he’s a jazz and gospel singer, and pianist extraordinaire.”

Zambello engaged him as the lead in Vivaldi’s Cato in Utica and Handel’s Serse, where Holiday “dominated the stage both vocally and dramatically. After many a performance he would perform his cabaret act, keeping the Glimmerglass audience engaged with his work on the keyboard and his raconteur style going all night long after singing a demanding role.”

SFCV.org: LA Phil closes its season "...with the swinging flourish of Black composer William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 (“Afro-American”)"

William Grant Still (1895-1978)

San Francisco Classical Voice

Josef Woodard

June 6, 2022

The finale of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s 2021–2022 subscription concert season, Sunday afternoon at Walt Disney Concert Hall, might have been considered an anomaly by the standards of another orchestra. As part of the LA Phil’s multi-genre Power to the People! festival, the concert included deep roots in Latin American culture (unveiling Puerto Rico-born composer Angélica Negrón’s Moriviví and reprising Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs, which set love poems by the great Chilean poet, here powerfully sung by mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges) and closed with the swinging flourish of Black composer William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 1 (“Afro-American”).

...

It has been an unusually good year for the legacy of seminal Black American composer William Grant Still (1895–197[8]), as the classical music firmament seeks to address the general societal/cultural move towards greater racial inclusivity. The first version of his “Afro-American” Symphony (circa 1930, revised in 1969) was performed by the LA Phil in 1940, conductor David Broekman presiding. Cut to the final slot of the 2021–2022 season, and Dudamel and the orchestra brought out its finery and made an admirable attempt at injecting genuine swing patois into this hybrid of classical Euro-American and jazz-blues characters.

At this point, Still’s score can play like a time-stamped slice of musical history rather than a vibrant piece of musical argument. But the symphony remains an important adjunct to the established body of jazz-infused orchestral writing, beyond the domain of better-known and more widely performed models by white composers like George Gershwin and Darius Milhaud. Still winks in the direction of Gershwin in his symphony’s “Humor” movement, folding in a melody resembling the hook of Ger  shwin’s “I Got Rhythm.” Yes, Still did have that, and from a direct cultural source.

His First Symphony duly provided an alternative brand of all-American finale, to this concert and to a fine, probing orchestral season.

NJSymphony.org: June 11-12, 2022 Season Finale: Aaron Dworkin/Coleridge-Taylor: "The American Rhapsody: Symphonic Variations on an African Air"

Aaron Dworkin

(New Jersey Symphony)

New Jersey Symphony

June 11 - 12, 2022 

2021-22 Season

Season Finale:
An American Rhapsody

New Jersey Symphony Classical

Xian Zhang conductor
Chris Komer horn
Manuel Valera piano
Ismail Lawal drums
Diallo House bass
Aaron Dworkin poetjournalist
Gary Edison voiceover actor
New Jersey Symphony

Program Notes | Season Finale: An American Rhapsody

Season Finale:
An American Rhapsody

By Laurie Shulman ©2022

Aaron Dworkin/Coleridge-Taylor: The American Rhapsody: Symphonic Variations on an African Air

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an Afro-British composer whose popularity in the early 20th century briefly eclipsed Edward Elgar’s. Born to a Black father from Sierra Leone and a white English mother, Coleridge-Taylor identified with his African heritage and regarded the dignity of the Black man as part of his artistic mission. His Symphonic Variations on an African Air is Coleridge-Taylor’s most ambitious and successful orchestral composition. Aaron Dworkin chose it as the musical canvas for his spoken word, multimedia work The American Rhapsody. Dworkin selected the text from speeches and writings by George Washington: not only our nation’s first president but also a gifted military commander, patriot and entrepreneur who valued education and the arts. Dworkin combined words and music in a process he has dubbed “musetry.” The narrative delivers America’s story in Washington’s words. Dworkin has framed it as a tribute to freedom, courage and other ideals, as well as addressing the moral stains inherent in our history.

STRING AWAKENING: CTS Juneteenth Orchestra June 18 @ 7 PM, First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, Free Admission & Parking With RSVP

RSVP at: www.challengethestats.org

PRESENTED BY CHALLENGE THE STATS

IN RESIDENCE AT FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ATLANTA

AS PART OF THE CONCERTS @ FIRST CONCERT SERIES

STRING AWAKENING: A CTS Juneteenth Orchestra

FREE admission and parking w/ RSVP at: https://bit.ly/StringAwakeningCTS

Date and time

Sat, June 18, 2022

7:00 PM – 9:00 PM EDT

Location

First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta

1328 Peachtree Street Northeast

Atlanta, GA 30309

Join us as the Challenge the Stats Juneteenth Orchestra performs music, dance, and drumming influenced by the African Diaspora!

About this event

Challenge the Stats in Residence at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta presents String Awakening--CTS Juneteenth Orchestra. This concert features an all BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) orchestra of professional and student musicians performing music influenced by the African diaspora in honor of Juneteenth. This event is presented as part of the Concerts @ First Concert Series.

This unforgettable event commemorates Juneteenth, the federal holiday in the United States celebrating African American culture and marking the emancipation of enslaved African Americans.

In partnership with Concerts at First, Symphonic Revolution, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Talent Development Program (TDP) and First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta.

ArkansasOnline.com: "Opera in the Rock to focus 2022-23 season on Black performers, composers"

Mikayla Hartfield performs "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess" during an Opera in the Rock “Let’s Talk Opera” discussion at The Hall in Little Rock on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. Hartfield was part of the discussion with Marcia Sells, chief diversity officer for the Metropolitan Opera, and Victoria Ramirez, executive director of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Only U.S. opera company to focus entire season on 'building the Black experience,' CEO says 

by Eric E. Harrison | June 1, 2022

Opera in the Rock, Little Rock’s reconstituted professional opera company, will be “the only opera company in the United States dedicating its entire season to build the Black experience," said Fred Owens, the company's president and chief executive officer, during Wednesday's announcement of the 2022-23 season.

The season will offer one fully staged opera; one concert version of a full opera; a “Masked Gala” with internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as its headliner; a recital by soprano Takesha Meshe Kizart-Thomas honoring Black opera stars and jazz luminaries; and a “Divas in the Rock” fundraiser paying tribute to the late singer Whitney Houston.

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Opera in the Rock to focus 2022-23 season on Black performers, composers

Only U.S. opera company to focus entire season on 'building the Black experience,' CEO says by Eric E. Harrison | June 1, 2022 at 2:18 p.m.

 

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Mikayla Hartfield performs "Summertime" from "Porgy and Bess" during an Opera in the Rock “Let’s Talk Opera” discussion at The Hall in Little Rock on Wednesday, June 1, 2022. Hartfield was part of the discussion with Marcia Sells, chief diversity officer for the Metropolitan Opera, and Victoria Ramirez, executive director of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Stephen Swofford)

Opera in the Rock, Little Rock’s reconstituted professional opera company, will be “the only opera company in the United States dedicating its entire season to build the Black experience," said Fred Owens, the company's president and chief executive officer, during Wednesday's announcement of the 2022-23 season.

The season will offer one fully staged opera; one concert version of a full opera; a “Masked Gala” with internationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves as its headliner; a recital by soprano Takesha Meshe Kizart-Thomas honoring Black opera stars and jazz luminaries; and a “Divas in the Rock” fundraiser paying tribute to the late singer Whitney Houston.

Everything this season will feature either a Black composer, a Black cast or a Black featured act, or all of the above.

Owens and new artistic director Ella Marchment revealed the schedule at The Hall on Little Rock's West Ninth Street, which was the center of Little Rock’s Black business district in the first half of the 20th century. All of the performances will take place there.

The company has rebuilt itself after the departure of its executive artistic director, Kate Sain, in October, as well as the February cancellation of the remainder of the 2021-22 season by her replacement, who cited “a change in artistic vision.”

“Fred and I decided to dedicate a season to Black artists because all of our senior management team are technically ‘racial’ outsiders,” Marchment explains in the company’s season brochure. “I myself, am of mixed-race Asian, South American heritage and my family is more predisposed to listen to reggae music than opera.”

Marchment directed the opera company’s production of the one-act opera “Scalia/Ginsburg” in August 2021 and was scheduled to direct the canceled production of Gaetano Donizetti’s opera “Anna Bolena” in May.

Opera in the Rock's 2022-23 schedule:

• Sept. 9: “Masked Gala.” Red carpet and cocktail reception, 6 p.m.; dinner (a “wonderfully prepared culinary experience, curated by a local chef”) and awards ceremony, 7 p.m.; performance by Denyce Graves, 8 p.m.; after-party, 9:30 p.m.

Graves, known primarily for singing title roles “Carmen” and “Samson et Dalila,” has performed in major opera houses and in concert halls throughout the world, including, in March 2006, a recital at the University of Central Arkansas in Conway.

• Nov. 19-20: “Porgy and Bess” (music by George Gershwin, libretto by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward), in a concert version by Andrew Litton, featuring the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

• Feb. 11-12: “Divas in the Rock: A Whitney Houston Tribute.”

Singleton CD review bandcamp.com: The Best Contemporary Classical on Bandcamp: May 2022

Alvin Singleton

Alvin Singleton forwards this review of his new recording by the Momenta Quartet, "Four String Quartets":

This essential new recording features New York’s Momenta Quartet surveying each of Alvin Singleton’s string quartets, which span 42 years—1967 to 2019, the last of which this ensemble commissioned for its 15th anniversary. Each of these neatly contained works eschew the sort of conventional structures works for this configuration usually employ. Instead, they tell beautifully unfolding stories, like a sonic road trip past quietly evolving landscapes. The earliest piece, “String Quartet No. 1,” is unsurprisingly the most traditional-sounding entry, with elaborately detailed contrapuntal scaffolding containing elegant passages that toggle between bittersweet romanticism, knotty pizzicato, and slaloming lines of emotional ambiguity. “Secret Desire to Be Black,” commissioned by the Kronos Quartet in 1988, cycles through repeating sequences marked by subtly shifting change, building into a strident fury released by a needling violin figure and a sudden calm, slowly winding down into unexpected serenity. My favorite work is “Some We Can” from 1994—an homage to the singer Marian Anderson—which offers a thrilling rollercoaster ride of slashing high-velocity lines. A head-snapping descent into an ominous stillness heralds the return of even more thrilling locomotion, with sustained tones and lyric swells following later. Singleton’s sense of scale and proportion are remarkable. “Hallelujah Anyhow” engages in a similarly jagged, wildly dynamic experience.