Posts in music
PriceFest 2021 Celebrates Life and Legacy of Composer Florence Price

The International Florence Price Festival will be holding its 2nd annual festival "PriceFest 2021: A New Black Renaissance” online from August 20-August 23rd, 2021, sponsored by the University of Maryland School of Music.

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Classical Music Industry Leaders On the What, Why, and How of EDI

Thursday at the League of American Orchestras virtual conference “Embracing a Changed World”, a number of leading figures held discussions in two sessions focused on racial equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). They focused on tangible solutions to barriers facing orchestras and organizations attempting to reckon with equity, diversity, and inclusion from within.

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New UK Based “Black Lives in Music” to Use Data, Advocacy to Advance Equity

The UK-based organization Black Lives in Music (BLiM) is using data and advocacy to amplify and empower Black musicians and music creators, in response to the widespread calls for equity for Black musicians.

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"Embracing A Changed World": League of American Orchestras Conference Begins June 7

The League of American Orchestras’ upcoming annual conference, “Embracing A Changed World”, will be held Monday, June 7 to Thursday, June 17 virtually online.

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Afro-Diasporic Opera Forum Studies Impact of Black Composer Contributions on the Genre

The International Contemporary Ensemble, in partnership with Opera Omaha and FringeArts, presents the Afro-Diasporic Opera Forum online from May 26-28.

The Forum is a free, three-day series of online events produced by colleagues and collaborators of the International Contemporary Ensemble to celebrate, share, and reflect on four operas that have made a major impact on the organization and its collaborators.

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“From Our Home to Yours”: Concert Series to Showcase Young Filipino American Artists

The FilAm Music Foundation announces its upcoming virtual concert series beginning May 29 to showcase its roster of young musicians. The concerts will be broadcast free and streamed on the FilAm Music Foundation’s Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube feeds. Donations are encouraged to help support scholarship and performance opportunities for up and coming Filipino American classical musicians.

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FRIDAY: Sound Off-Live from Broadway Presbyterian Church

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a livestreamed concert beamed live from Broadway Presbyterian Church, featuring four of New York City's finest chamber musicians in a program of music by historical and contemporary Black American composers.

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Concertia's Inaugural “Emerging Composers Fellowship” Accepting Applications

The Texas based nonprofit arts organization, Concertia, is offering a new composer fellowship this spring. Three recipients will be chosen for awards that include cash grants and opportunities to have a performance of a previously unperformed, unpublished work, or the opportunity to have a studio quality recording of a newly commissioned work.

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El Sistema USA Launches Individual Membership

El Sistema USA (ESUSA) has launched an individual membership tier. A nationwide membership organization, ESUSA serves as the connective tissue between U.S.-based music programs inspired by the successful El Sistema model. The El Sistema program, established by maestro José Antonio Abreu in Caracas, Venezuela in 1975, provides musical instruction to youth with the greatest need at no cost, with an emphasis on ensemble programming. The continued success of this program in Venezuela inspired the replication of its programming model around the world, and eventually, the formation of ESUSA.

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Sound Off x Justice Committee: Celebrating Richie Perez

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a pre-recorded and livestreamed Groupmuse concert Wednesday March 31 at 7 p.m. ET in collaboration with the Justice Committee to celebrate the life of co-founder Richie Perez and his incredible impact. Proceeds from the concert directly benefit performing musicians' stipends and the Justice Committee’s liberatory work.

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Tonight: Activist Orchestra "The Dream Unfinished" Debuts New Show

Tonight at 4:30 p.m. EST, The Dream Unfinished will debut a new YouTube series spotlighting the economics and labor of learning repertoire outside of the classical music canon, lesser-known masterworks by underrepresented composers, diversity, equity, and inclusion within classical music, and concrete tips for everyday people to become instruments for change.

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Composition for Abolition: How Sound Off is Changing the Nation One Note at a Time

Saturday, February 27 at 7 p.m. EST, Sound Off: Music for Bail will present a live-streamed concert featuring string quartets by Florence Price, Yaz Lancaster, and George Walker with the support of the Groupmuse Foundation’s Planetary Music Movement (PMM).

The abolitionist musical collective Sound Off: Music for Bail celebrates Black composers and raises money for national bail funds in a live-streamed concert on Groupmuse, an online concert platform.

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Composer J.E. Hernandez' "Voces Fantasmas" Honors The Plight of Detained Immigrants

“Voces Fantasmas” by Houston-based Mexican American composer and filmmaker J.E. Hernandez is a multi-disciplinary artistic work that honors immigrants being held in U.S. federal detention. It is based on Hernandez’ own 60 day imprisonment at Houston Immigrant Detention Center.

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Series Debut: "Conversations": D-Composed on Intentionality and Honoring Black Creativity through a New Chamber Music Experience

Represent Classical talks with Chicago based ensemble D-Composed: Yelley Taylor – Artistic Director, Violist, Arranger Caitlin Edwards – Violinist Kyle Dickson – Violinist Tahirah Whittington – Cellist & Composer Kori Coleman – Founder/Executive Director

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Sound Off x Bass Players for Black Composers: New Works for the New Year

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a recorded concert in collaboration with Bass Players for Black Composers, a performing and commissioning organization that "encourages the expansion of solo repertoire for bass and the normalization of works by Black composers through commissioning diverse artists in all stages of their careers, disseminating works, facilitating performances, and producing educational programs."

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Lift Music Fund Microgrants Are Elevating BBIPOC Student Musicians

The Lift Music Fund is a new microgrant program open to U.S. students aged 11 to 22 who identify as Black, Latinx, or Native American/Indigenous/First Nations. Funds of up to $250 per awardee are given to help offset the costs of studying music.

The next application deadline for the Lift Music Fund is January 15th at 11:59 PM EST. Interests students may apply here.

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Lewis Prize for Music Announces 2021 Accelerator Finalists

10 finalists have been chosen for this year’s Lewis Prize celebrating people building “positive change in their communities through music". The programs they lead include choral, jazz, orchestra, musical theatre, and audio and music tech programs that foster the “holistic growth of young people” in their local communities.

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Lyric Opera Online Season A Mix of New Black, Latine, and Traditional European Opera

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2020-21 entirely virtual season (having canceled all in person mainstage performances due to the pandemic), has commenced with performances celebrating Black excellence and Latine music traditions.

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CSO/CCM Diversity Fellowship Accepting 2021-23 Applications Until Dec. 1

University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (CSO) are now accepting applications for the 2021-23 Class of CSO/CCM Diversity Fellows. Applications and pre-screen materials are due December 1 online.

The Diversity Fellowship is awarded to 5 graduate level students of violin, viola, cello and double bass from “populations that are historically underrepresented in classical music.” The fellowship includes a full tuition scholarship to complete a two-year Master of Music or Artist Diploma at CCM, and a performance commitment of five weeks per season with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

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Sound Off: Music For Bail x The City Reliquary: Dorothy Rudd Moore & More

Sound Off: Music for Bail will host a livestream premiere at 7 p.m. EST on November 14 from Brooklyn’s City Reliquary museum featuring Dorothy Rudd Moore’s “Modes”, Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 4, Op. 44 No. 2, and William Grant Still's “Lyric Quartette”. The evening’s performance of Moore’s "Modes" will be the first ever full recording of this work.

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