Saxophonist Timothy McAllister, composer Steven Mackey, and conductor Lawrence Renes take bows; photo: Jon Pendleton
A wonderful new saxophone concerto by Steven Mackey featuring Timothy McAllister and some classic John Adams from Seattle Symphony – my review for Classical Voice North America:
SEATTLE – Rather than propose a grand narrative of American music, the Seattle Symphony’s all-American program on Nov. 20 with guest conductor Lawrence Renes set three sharply contrasting voices side by side: Copland’s atmospheric Quiet City, Steven Mackey’s brand-new saxophone concerto Anemology, and John Adams’ ever-astonishing Harmonielehre — a lineup that underscored how differently American composers have approached the orchestra over the past century…. continue
Happy 80th birthday to Leonard Slatkin! I had a chance to speak with the great American maestro about his career — and ongoing projects — for this story in Gramophone‘s August issue:
His vivid curiosity is unmistakable in the variety of projects planned for this milestone birthday year. These range from publishing a pair of books and spending more time on his own composition to launching a new partnership as artistic consultant to the Las Vegas Philharmonic. Appearances on the podium are naturally also on the calendar. This autumn brings reunions with the three American orchestras indelibly shaped by Slatkin’s years at their helm (in St Louis, Washington DC and Detroit); some international conducting engagements beckon as well.
My preview of Seattle Opera’s world premiere of Jubilee, created and directed by the extraordinary Tazewell Thompson, has been posted at Opera Now. Jubilee will run on 12-26 October 2024 at McCaw Hall in Seattle.
In 1903, in his classic The Souls of Black Folk, the influential sociologist and activist W E B Du Bois famously declared that the African American spiritual ‘stands today not simply as the sole American music, but as the most beautiful expression of human experience born this side of the seas’. Du Bois singled out a group of performers for their role in bringing widespread attention to this legacy: ‘The Fisk Jubilee Singers sang the slave songs so deeply into the world’s heart that it can never wholly forget them again’…. continue
Damien Geter’s much-anticipated new opera American Apollo will be unveiled this weekend at Des Moines Metro Opera. The librettist is Lila Palmer and revolves around Thomas Eugene McKeller, a Black hotel worker who became a model for the painter John Singer Sargent.
“As a work of historical fiction, the opera imagines the story behind Sargent’s spare, nude portrait and sensual sketches of McKeller, whose image was transformed by Sargent into white-skinned Greek gods featured prominently in murals throughout Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Themes of erasure, the white gaze, and the intimate relationship between the two men are explored in this powerful new work,” according to DMMO’s website.
In the cast are baritone Justin Austin as McKeller, tenor William Burden as John Singer Sargent, soprano Mary Dunleavy as Isabella Stewart Gardner, with David Neely conducting and Shaun Patrick Tubbs directing.
Writes Geter in his composer’s note: “As a composer, one of my goals is to help bring to life stories that have long been ignored in the traditional canon, and more largely, across the spectrum of human experience. It is safe to say that many of these unknown or forgotten stories belong to Black people and other folks of color who, because of white supremacy, have not been represented to the fullest extent with regards to the vast array of personalities, emotions, and multi-dimensions that we see in real-life people. Stereotypes tend to run amok in opera when it comes to people of color. ..”
The Danish String Quartet’s multi-year “Doppelgänger” Project has paired newly commissioned works by four leading contemporary composers with chamber music masterpieces by Franz Schubert (three of them quartets, the last one being Schubert’s String Quintet in C major). The project has now concluded with the premiere of Thomas Adès’s new string quintet Wreath.
Wreath — for Franz Schubert is the latest creation from one of the world’s most-sought-after composers. “I am most grateful to the great Danish String Quartet for giving me the time and encouragement to realize and develop this new path in my work,” Adès writes in the freshly completed score.
My program notes for the Cal Performances performance in April 2024 can be found here.
My latest for Strings magazine: meeting up with the insatiably curious Rachel Barton Pine.
Stickers for Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax are emblazoned on the case that contains Rachel Barton Pine’s signature “ex-Bazzini, ex-Soldat” Joseph Guarneri del Gesù from 1742. The charismatic violinist doesn’t just defy categories. Her life as an artist is fueled by omnivorous curiosity, which Pine combines with searing musical intelligence and an impeccable virtuosity—all in the service of finding a deep connection to her audience….
Eric Banks conducts The Esoterics during a rehearsal Nov. 19 at Queen Anne Christian Church in Seattle (Luke Johnson / The Seattle Times)
In advance of this weekend’s world premiereof A Calendar of Light by composer Dale Trumbore and poet Barbara Crooker (Sat in Seattle and Sun in Tacoma, both at 7.30pm), I wrote a profile of Eric Banks and The Esoterics, the ensemble he created as a grad student 30 years ago in Seattle:
Eric Banks: photo (c) Jorge Gustavo Elias
Having arrived early to a Queen Anne church to lead a rehearsal of a cappella choral group The Esoterics on a crisp November afternoon, founding director Eric Banks wraps up his latest text exchange with composer Dale Trumbore. They’ve been going over details of her new choral work, A Calendar of Light, which The Esoterics will premiere in just a little more than a month. Even though daylight saving time ended a couple days before — creating the brief illusion of an extra hour — he stays focused and has no temptation to slow down….
Cal Performances presents the Takács Quartet in a program Sunday afternoon 12 November at 3pm including the world premiere of Flow by the California-based violist and composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama (shown above discussing her music), along with Haydn’s Sunrise Quartet and the second of Beethoven’s Op. 59 Razumovsky quartets.
My program notes include an introduction to Flow :
The string quartet, according to composer Nokuthula Ngwenyama, “is considered a ‘perfect’ ensemble. It inspires delicacy, sensitivity and adventure. The core range is smaller than that of the piano, yet its timbre allows for beauteous interplay.” For the first of its two Cal Performances appearances this season, the Takács Quartet presents the world premiere of Ngwenyama’s debut in the genre, which the ensemble commissioned “because of our admiration for her as a virtuosic violist and performer who understands the dramatic and sonorous possibilities of a string quartet.”
Bows (l to r): Georgia Mann, Pouyan Biglar, Iman Habibi, Jessika Kenney, Sharon Azrieli, Steven Mercurio, Zhongxi Wu, Rita Ueda and Naomi Sato (photo: Chris O’Donovan Photography)
Launched a little less than a decade ago, the Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) have already grown to become Canada’s largest competition devoted to music composition. The biennial initiative has expanded to embrace an international scope and last weekend made its London debut at Cadogan Hall with a programme of all three prize-winning works from the 2022 rounds. Steven Mercurio, a member of the AMP Jewish Music jury, led the Philharmonia Orchestra and guest soloists.
This birthday week for Steve Reich also brings his latest world premiere. I had the honor of writing the program note for Jacob’s Ladder. The New York Philharmonic and Synergy Vocals will perform the new work at this week’s concerts, which also include Leif Ove Andsnes in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony. (Notes can be accessed via link next to program listing here.)
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 