The program features music by notable Black, Brown, and Asian historical and living composers performed by violinists Aurora Mendez and Celina Farmer, violist Jay Julio, and cellist Angelique Montes. Featured speaker Tatiana Hill will offer a history of her work with the NYC Office of the Community Liaison in the wake of Judge Shira Scheindlin’s 2013 ruling that “stop-and-frisk” policies are unconstitutional, and the path forward ten years later. General admission tickets are $15. Proceeds from these concerts directly support musicians and speakers. Free tickets are available at request to remove financial barriers to attendance.
On September 15, violinist Vijay Gupta, cellist Joel Noyes, and Kuchipudi dancer Yamini Kalluri had intended to present “Beyond Borders”, a multidisciplinary Groupmuse event combining poetry, classical music, and dance. The lingering existence of COVID-19 unfortunately necessitated a change in the programming. With Kalluri having tested positive the morning of, the remaining performers regrouped on this evening in Brooklyn, NY at Christ Church Cobble Hill that celebrated the eclectic and the intentional.
The fearless approach that Slocumb continues to take in his follow-up book Symphony of Secrets envisions histories of Black composers and performers of diverse experiences pushing against oppressive systems, fighting for their lives and their art, and indeed winning. It offers hope as historical contributions by musicians of color continue to be excavated, and diverse modern-day masters continue to get increased recognition.
Brooklyn new music institution National Sawdust played host to Wednesday’s March 15 show titled joy. The name was apt; from the moment Palaver Strings and double bass soloist Kebra Seyoun-Charles began filing on stage in their appropriately diverse and festive attire, the packed audience received them with a roar of applause.
Chineke!, Europe’s first majority-Black and ethnically diverse orchestra, led by conductor Andrew Grams, will make its inaugural North American tour this month performing in six cities across Canada and the U.S.
Featuring music by living Black composers, the concert program will be led by Interlochen Orchestra director Dr. Leslie Dunner, recipient of the Leonard Bernstein American Conductors Award and the NAACP's James Weldon Johnson and Distinguished Achievement Awards.
In collaboration with Groupmuse’s Planetary Music Movement and PROTESTRA, Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a hybrid program of chamber and orchestral music by leading contemporary and historical Black American composers alongside "Yet Unheard" a cantata dedicated to the life and memory of Sandra Bland by Rome Prize-winning composer Dr. Courtney Bryan at Playwrights Horizons Downtown.
Yet through intelligent curation and a bit of ingenious staging, a clear but multifaceted thematic line emerged: combining performances and reimagining pieces by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson,Julia Perry, and Stewart himself with call-and-response, group singing, and even a mid-concert dialogue, pulling from community and scholarly knowledge offered by Stewart, Blachly, and guest lecturer Dr. Fredara Hadley, also of the Juilliard School.
This year BIPOC classical composers' works have been Grammy nominated in several award categories and BIPOC classical musicians perform on a number of Grammy nominated recordings in the Classical Music category, as well as the Americana category.
The 3-day event is sponsored by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and is now in its fourth year. The symposium's organizers say despite the fact that more women graduate from prominent conservatories and schools of music than their male counterparts, they are "severely underrepresented in titled conducting positions, in programming by major orchestras, on stage as soloists, and in management leadership positions."
Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon is one of America's busiest composers, and her catalogue is even more vast than many people realize. She joins Garrett to talk about the Pulitzer win, her late brother, and the influence of East Tennessee on her musical identity.
Quinteto Latino's mission is to disrupt racial and economic disparities within the classical music field by championing past, present, and future contributions by Latino composers and musicians. The organization promotes classical music by Latino and Latin American composers through performances, commissions, mentoring, and child and adult education.
The Indo-American Arts Council, a New York City based non-profit that promotes Indian theater, performing arts, media, fashion, and literature in the United States, will celebrate 75 years of Indian independence this month with three concerts August 13 to 15 at Carnegie Hall featuring top Indian classical and contemporary musicians.
Inspired by the viscerally provocative poem, "Here, Bullet" by Brian Turner, the art song of the same name by composer Kurt Erickson is, among many things, a plea for western classical arts spaces to directly address gun violence.
Pianist Josh Tatsuo Cullenhas recorded an entire album of Florence B. Price's music for solo piano, specifically pieces that were discovered in 2009 at the composer's summer home after her death.
"Scenes in Tin Can Alley: Piano Music of Florence Price" (Blue Griffin) was released on June 3.
While this story may seem inappropriate, exaggerated, and even far-fetched for many classical concert goers, the reality of gun violence is becoming more widespread and normalized across American society. As of mid-July, 2022, over 300 mass shootings had been reported in the United States, with associated deaths stacking up to over 60. Orchestral and opera venues have long been considered “safe spaces” where issues of systemic racism, patriarchal norms, and class division (among others) have been pushed to the proverbial nosebleeds, but as the issue of gun violence continues to grow, so should the attention that arts institutions are paying this issue.
With the ever-growing awareness and celebration of Juneteenth, let it shine as an example of what’s possible through our collective diversity. Let Juneteenth, and the evolutions of music and culture that it has inspired, be something we all celebrate.
The opera, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Anthony Davis, debuted in 1986. This new performance will be staged just a short distance from the house in the Roxbury neighborhood where Malcolm X (1925-1965), born Malcolm Little, lived during his formative adolescence.
Each episode of Represent Classical's “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.
Featured in this episode: Nnenna Ogwo – pianist and Founder and Artistic Director of JuneteenthLP
Do you remember the first time you went to go see a live production of an opera? Maybe it was during a school field trip, or for a date that you wanted to impress. I’ve met people whose first experience in an opera house was born out of a pure curiosity that led to the purchase of a ticket.
Everyone has a different story about their introduction to this art form, but what isn’t engaged as much is the residual emotional impact of said introduction. For me, the introduction came by way of performing on the stage, but I wasn’t able to measure the emotional impact opera had on me until I engaged opera as an audience member.
