Archive — Represent Classical

All Black Gateways Orchestra To Perform To Capacity Audience at Carnegie Hall Debut

All Black Gateways Orchestra To Perform To Capacity Audience at Carnegie Hall Debut

With just under one month to go until their groundbreaking Carnegie Hall season feature on Sunday April 24, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, composed entirely of Black musicians, will perform for a capacity audience as tickets for the concert are nearly sold out.

The 7 day Gateways Music Festival, which runs from April 18 to 24, consists of two full orchestra concerts, six chamber music performances, two piano recitals, two film screenings, two lectures, a panel discussion, a Young Musicians Institute, and an “after hours” jam session.

Opinion: “Another Opera for White People”

Opinion: “Another Opera for White People”

Diversity, equity, and inclusion, as engaged by arts institutions across the country, have centered performers, but what about audience members? With a few exceptions (including the diverse audience turnout for the Metropolitan Opera’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones”), opera audiences remain predominantly white.

The creation of a fictional, white character in “Emmett Till” for the sake of affirming the feelings of these predominantly white audiences is not only a perpetuation of a status quo that countless arts administrators, advocates, and activists work to dismantle, but a celebration of it.

CONVERSATIONS: Brendan Slocumb on Opportunity, Building Habits, and "The Violin Conspiracy"

CONVERSATIONS: Brendan Slocumb on Opportunity, Building Habits, and "The Violin Conspiracy"

RC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Brendan Slocumb in the latest installment of “Conversations” on finding opportunity, building habits for practice and discipline, and “The Violin Conspiracy”.

Each episode of Represent Classical’s “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.

Brendan Slocumb is violinist, music educator, conductor, and author.

Suzuki Association of the Americas Looks to the Future: Q and A with Exec. Dir. Angelica Cortez

Suzuki Association of the Americas Looks to the Future: Q and A with Exec. Dir. Angelica Cortez

Everyone that I’ve talked to has some relationship in the music world to Suzuki. Their teacher was trained in it or their parents were involved in it. Everyone is like one person removed at most from Suzuki. To me, it was such a huge opportunity to connect with the organization, and to really build on its history. The Suzuki model and the Suzuki philosophy is founded on this idea that music can be a tool for developing youth, instead of music being just kind of this gift that we give to people. We're using music as a tool for young people to understand themselves, to understand how they want to contribute to society, to understand how to connect with each other, to connect with their families.

COLUMN: Escaping Escapism - Arts Institutions in Times of World Tragedy

COLUMN: Escaping Escapism - Arts Institutions in Times of World Tragedy

It would be a long shot (no pun intended) to expect orchestral musicians, for example, to put down their instruments and pick up weapons, but there are steps that can and have been made in the arts sector toward supporting the people of Ukraine during this most challenging time. What does support for Ukraine from arts organizations look like, though? It's a question that a few arts institutions have engaged directly, one that holds historical precedent, and even one that could challenge the very notion of an arts organization's role in this broad world of social and political challenge.

WORLD PREMIERE: National Phil Performs Hailstork and Martin’s Requiem for George Floyd

WORLD PREMIERE: National Phil Performs Hailstork and Martin’s Requiem for George Floyd

The National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale, in partnership with The Washington Chorus, will present the world premiere of composer Adolphus Hailstork and librettist Herbert Martin’s Requiem Cantata in memory of George Floyd: “America’s Requiem – A Knee on The Neck” on March 26 and March 28 in Bethesda, MD.

EVENTS: "Girls of Yellow Diamonds" Concert To Honor Asian American Women

EVENTS: "Girls of Yellow Diamonds" Concert To Honor Asian American Women

Wear Yellow Proudly will present “Girls of Yellow Diamonds” a concert featuring Asian women composers and poets Friday, March 11 at 7:30 pm. ET at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia.

The event aims to uplift the stories of Asian women, honor the memory of the victims of the March 2021 Atlanta shootings, and celebrate International Women’s Day. Mezzo-sopranos Alice Chung, Sophia Maekawa, Pauline Tan, and pianist Ting Ting Wong will perform.

Author Brendan Slocumb on the Inspiration Behind His Successful Debut Novel "The Violin Conspiracy"

Author Brendan Slocumb on the Inspiration Behind His Successful Debut Novel "The Violin Conspiracy"

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.

NEW RELEASE: James Sanders & Conjunto "Evidencia"

NEW RELEASE: James Sanders & Conjunto "Evidencia"

James Sanders and his Latin jazz ensemble Conjunto, will celebrate the release of their new album, Evidencia on Friday at 8:30 p.m. with a performance at Constellation in Chicago.

Sanders is a violinist with the Chicago Sinfonietta orchestra, where he’s been a member since 1993. Though he didn’t study jazz during his college career or prior (he is a graduate of Yale), his dual musical citizenship, was mirrored in his bilingual upbringing.

EVENTS: Midwest Premiere of "The Chevalier"-Music of The Baroque ft. Brendan Elliott

EVENTS: Midwest Premiere of "The Chevalier"-Music of The Baroque ft. Brendan Elliott

Music of the Baroque will perform the Midwest debut of the concert theater work “The Chevalier”, written by Bill Barclay and featuring violinist Brendan Elliott, February 18 to 20 in Chicago.

NEW RELEASE: Catalyst Quartet ft. Michelle Cann "UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price"

NEW RELEASE: Catalyst Quartet ft. Michelle Cann "UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price"

Catalyst Quartet today releases UNCOVERED Volume 2: Florence B. Price on Azica Records. The 2-CD length digital album is the second in a series of a multi-volume anthology highlighting the GRAMMY award-winning string quartet’s works by important Black composers.

Volume 2 is entirely devoted to the six known string quartet and piano quintet works of composer Florence B. Price – including four world premiere recordings – performed with pianist Michelle Cann, recipient of the 2021 Price Award.

The Human Element: Connecting With Your Audience: Q&A with Tiffany Poon

The Human Element: Connecting With Your Audience: Q&A with Tiffany Poon

Pianist and popular YouTuber Tiffany Poon answers our questions on audience interaction, humanizing classical music, and assisting up and coming musicians through her nonprofit organization Together With Classical.

“Cool Story”: Jonathan Bingham's Plan to Record and Publish Unheard Howard Composers

“Cool Story”: Jonathan Bingham's Plan to Record and Publish Unheard Howard Composers

As a student at Howard University in 2010, composer Jonathan Bingham attended a small chamber music concert by “The President’s Own” United States Marine String Quartet with about 40 other audience members. On the program was the 1st movement of a string quartet by the late composer Mark Fax (1911-1974). A private recording of the concert was made by Howard and shared with Bingham and other composition students and faculty.

EVENTS: Pianist Tiffany Poon to Debut at Kennedy Center in All Schumann Recital

EVENTS: Pianist Tiffany Poon to Debut at Kennedy Center in All Schumann Recital

Tiffany Poon will perform December 12 at 2 p.m. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of Washington Performing Arts' 2021-2022 season. The program features the works of composers Clara and Robert Schumann.

Sphinx Org Announces 2022 Venture Fund Recipients

Sphinx Org Announces 2022 Venture Fund Recipients

The 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.

american orchestras, awards, chamber music, competitions, composers, commissions, conservatories, funding, music, music administration, music education, music schools, opera, opportunities, orchestras, social justice, strings, support for BBIPOC music, young artistsChristine EscobarNovember 12, 2021music competitions, competitions, composers of color, Sphinx Venture Fund, Sphinx, sphinx organization, BBIPOC musicians, BBIPOC classical musicians, BBIPOC composers, Art of the Piano Festival & Foundation, Awadagin Pratt, Nina Simone Piano Competition, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, Manhattan School of Music, Alexa Smith, New York City Opera’s Duncan-Williams Voice Competition, The Juilliard School, Weston Sprott, Composing Inclusion, New York Philharmonic, American Composers Forum

CONVERSATIONS: Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate On Being True to Your Identity

CONVERSATIONS: Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate On Being True to Your Identity

RC Editor Christine S. Escobar speaks with Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate in the latest installment of “Conversations” on being true to your identity and defining how the world sees you.

Each episode of Represent Classical’s “Conversations” series features in depth interviews with industry leaders, notable musicians, movers, shakers, and innovators.

Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate is a critically acclaimed Oklahoma based composer and pianist dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition.

New $2 million Mellon Foundation Grant to Fund DEI Practices in 20 American Orchestras

New $2 million Mellon Foundation Grant to Fund DEI Practices in 20 American Orchestras

A 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.

EVENTS: Ear Taxi Festival Celebrates Chicago’s New Music Scen

EVENTS: Ear Taxi Festival Celebrates Chicago’s New Music Scen

Ear 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.

"The Hill We Climb": John Clayton’s Music with Amanda Gorman’s Words, Premiered by Amit Peled, Mount Vernon Virtuosi

"The Hill We Climb": John Clayton’s Music with Amanda Gorman’s Words, Premiered by Amit Peled, Mount Vernon Virtuosi

Amit Peled and the Mount Vernon Virtuosi (MVV) today release a new performance film set to the world premiere of composer John Clayton’s The Hill We Climb. The piece is inspired by and set to the poem of the same name by American poet and activist Amanda Gorman, recited at the presidential inauguration in January 2021.

UrbanArias Commissions Song Cycle for Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 100th Anniversary

UrbanArias Commissions Song Cycle for Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 100th Anniversary

“UNKNOWN”, a song cycle honoring the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery on the centennial of its founding will have its world premiere performance Tuesday, October 5, at 7:30 p.m. at the Barns at Wolf Trap in Vienna, VA.

Featured performers for the performance are baritones Michael Mayes and Schyler Vargas, and mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, accompanied by members of the Inscape Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Robert Wood, the Founder and Artistic Director of UrbanArias.