Brendan Slocumb’s first novel, The Violin Conspiracy released this month by Anchor Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, is charting on Amazon, has quickly gained national media buzz, and become a Good Morning America Book Club selection in only a matter of days. Its surprising success has caught its author pleasantly off guard.
Represent Classical spoke with the author and musician this week about the book and his personal inspiration behind the story.
Read MoreThe Sphinx Organization has awarded two grants of $100,000 and one grant of $97,500 for 3 projects that meet the Sphinx Venture Fund’s mission to support initiatives designed to solve a challenge or an issue related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in classical music.
Read MoreA new gift of $2.1 million from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support the League of American Orchestras’ next phase of their Catalyst Fund: an incubator program to advance equity, diversity, and inclusion practices in American orchestras. The new grant follows the receipt in 2019 of $2.1 million from the Mellon Foundation to fund a three-year pilot program that provided grants to 49 orchestras.
Read MoreEar Taxi Festival, one of the largest urban celebrations of new and experimental music, runs September 15 to October 4 in venues across Chicago.
Presented by New Music Chicago, the festival is now in it’s 5th year and celebrates new, contemporary classical, experimental, creative, electronic, and other types of music and “sound-practice” composed by, improvised by, and performed in Chicago by Chicagoans.
Read MoreRC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Armando Castellano: President, Founder and Artistic Director of Quinteto Latino in the latest installment of “Conversations” about the contributions and experience of Latinx/Latin Americans to classical music, and the importance of changing the nature of arts leadership.
Each episode of Represent Classical’s “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.
Read MoreApollo Chamber Players releases their fifth studio album “With Malice Toward None, August 20 on Azica Records.
The album is “a collection of globally-inspired compositions and collaborations, with each composer sharing their own personal interpretations of folk music.”
Read MoreThursday 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreThe League of American Orchestras’ upcoming annual conference, “Embracing A Changed World”, will be held Monday, June 7 to Thursday, June 17 virtually online.
Read MoreSound 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.
Read MoreWhile many classical music organizations are looking inward to address racial equity issues, a new initiative is taking a new approach to advocating for young musicians of color. The National Instrumentalist Mentoring and Advancement Network (NIMAN) is a network made up of like-minded organizations and individuals seeking to promote racial equity in classical music.
Read MoreSound 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.
Read MoreIn the history of the United States, there exists no industry or institution that has been spared from the systemic oppression of white supremacy. This publication was founded to push back on the pervasiveness of white supremacy within the industry of classical music.
Read MoreTonight 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read More“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.
Read MoreSound 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."
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreSound 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.
Read More
