A new model for promoting diversity in the concert hall through a multifaceted collaboration among composers, performers, and educators reaches one of its first milestones this weekend. The inaugural orchestral concert of Composing Inclusion, a partnership between the Preparatory Division, the New York Philharmonic, and American Composers Forum, takes place on May 6 at the renovated David Geffen Hall.
My preview of this event for the Juilliard Journal is here.
Here’s my profile of James Díaz, whose and does the Moon also fall? is among the new commissions.
The program:
Jordyn Davis As I AM (World premiere—Juilliard Preparatory Division Co-Commission with the New York Philharmonic and American Composers Forum)
James Díaz and does the Moon also fall? (World premiere—Juilliard Preparatory Division Co-Commission with the New York Philharmonic and American Composers Forum)
Trevor Weston Subwaves (World premiere—Juilliard Preparatory Division Co-Commission with the New York Philharmonic and American Composers Forum)
Jordyn Davis’ and James Diaz’ commissions are part of Composing Inclusion: a collaboration between the New York Philharmonic, American Composers Forum, and Juilliard’s Preparatory Division, made possible with funding from the Sphinx Venture Fund.
Trevor Weston’s work was co-commissioned by American Composers Forum, Juilliard’s Preparatory Division, and the New York Philharmonic. It was funded, in part, with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.
This is the final concert in a three-concert series traversing Biber’s Mystery Sonatas. The Glorious Mysteries begin with the events of Easter and the Resurrection. The capstone of the final set of sonatas is the Passacaglia for solo violin (also known as the “Guardian Angel”).
The concert takes place in the intimate St. Augustine’s in-the-woods Church in Freeland on Whidbey Island, which boasts spendid acoustics.
And to top it off: Tekla Cunningham’s trademark springerle cookies pressed with images of a Guardian Angel will be served at the reception.
PROGRAM:
The Glorious Mysteries
Sonata XI in G Major: The Resurrection Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (1644-1704)Sonata – Hymn: Surrexit Christus hodie and variations
Canzona on ‘Christ ist erstanden’ Georg Reutter der Ältere (1656-1738)
Sonata XII in C Major: The Ascension H.I.F. von BiberIntrada – Aria tubicinum (trumpet) – Allemanda – Courante and double
Ricercar in G minor for solo cello Domenico Gabrieli (ca. 1651-1690)
Sonata XIII in D minor: The Descent of the Holy Ghost H.I.F. von Biber Sonata – Gavotte – Gigue – Sarabanda
Intermission
Sonata XIV in D Major: The Assumption of the Virgin H.I.F. von Biber[Sonata] – Arias 1 and 2 – Gigue
Capriccio in G Johann Jakob Froberger (1716-1767)
Sonata XV in C Major: The Coronation of the Virgin Mary H.I.F. von Biber Sonata – Aria with 3 doubles – Canzona – Sarabanda and double
Passacaglia in G minor for solo violin H.I.F. von Biber
From Whidbey Island Music Festival:
About the Mystery Sonatas:
Named for the 15 Mysteries of the Rosary (also known as the Rosary Sonatas), these three sets of 5 sonatas for violin and continuo, plus a concluding Passacaglia for solo violin, were completed around 1676. Dedicated to the Archbishop Gandolph in Salzburg, these sonatas are as compelling, affecting and moving as they were when they were written almost 350 years ago. In the manuscript copy, each sonata has a copper-plate print at the opening of the sonata showing the story of the piece.
About scordatura:
Scored for a single violin supported by continuo, Biber asks the violinist to tune differently for each sonata. Only the first sonata (the Annunciation) and the final Passacaglia share the standard G-D-A-E tuning. The Resurrection sonata has the most extreme tuning, involving switching the G and the D strings. This technique of mistuning the violin, called scordatura, gives a tremendous range of affects and emotions to this music. Retuning brings the violin into different key areas and creates a kaleidoscope of overtones and sonic effects, helping Biber to create specific emotions or affects in the listener.
ARTIST BIOS
Tekla Cunningham
Elisabeth Reed, Oakland, CA teaches Baroque cello and viola da gamba at the University of California at Berkeley and at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she is co-director of the Baroque Ensemble. Recent teaching highlights include master classes at the Juilliard School, the Shanghai Conservatory and Middle School, and the Royal Academy of Music. A soloist and chamber musician with Voices of Music, Pacific Musicworks, Archetti, and Wildcat Viols, she has also appeared with the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the American Bach Soloists and the Seattle, Portland, Pacific, and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestras. Elisabeth directs “Voice of the Viol”, the renaissance viola da gamba ensemble of Voices of Music. She can be heard on the Virgin Classics, Naxos, Focus, Plectra, and Magnatunes recording labels and has many HD videos on the Voices of Music Youtube channel. She is a Guild-certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method™ of Awareness Through Movement ™ with a particular interest in working with musicians and performers.
Hailed by The Miami Herald for his “superb continuo… brilliantly improvised and ornamented,” GRAMMY-nominated historical keyboardist, composer, and conductor Henry Lebedinsky has performed with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Charlotte Symphony, Seraphic Fire, Sonoma Bach, and the Cantata Collective, among others. Recent conducting engagements include the Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Sonoma Bach’s Live Oak Baroque Orchestra. As part of a career built on collaboration, he serves as co-Artistic Director of the San Francisco Bay Area’s AGAVE and Seattle’s Pacific MusicWorks. With countertenor Reginald L. Mobley, he has introduced listeners on three continents to music by Black composers from Baroque to modern, including recent appearances at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris and Festival Printemps Musical des Alizés in Morocco. In 2014, he founded Seattle’s Early Music Underground, which brought Baroque music to brewpubs, wineries, and other places where people gather, and presenting it in multimedia contexts which both entertain and educate. Lebedinsky’s works for choir and organ are published by Paraclete Press, Carus-Verlag Stuttgart, and CanticaNOVA, and two volumes of his poetry and hymns are in preparation. He holds degrees from Bowdoin College and the Longy School of Music, where he earned a Master of Music in historical organ performance as a student of Peter Sykes. Currently entering his third decade as a church musician, he serves as Missioner for Music at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on Whidbey Island.
ABOUT THE WHIDBEY ISLAND MUSIC FESTIVAL
Founded in 2006 by Tekla Cunningham, the Whidbey Island Music Festival is a beloved annual event that presents great performances of baroque and classical chamber music in relaxed and intimate indoor and outdoor venues on beautiful Whidbey Island, with repertoire from Monteverdi to Florence Price. We bring music of the past four centuries to life with vivid and moving concert performances on period instruments.
All Classical Portland (one of the largest classical radio stations in the U.S.) today announced their relocation from the Portland Opera building to downtown Portland’s KOIN Tower in early 2024. The move will expand the range of activities All Classical can offer.
And it is hoped that this move will serve as a national beacon for arts-based urban regeneration at a time when many businesses and organizations have been moving out of downtown Portland. The new state-of-the-art location at KOIN Tower is in the heart of Portland’s downtown, where All Classical is building a new space to host community concerts and events. The recording studio will be made available to document local artists.
When he was 14, James Díaz started taking keyboard lessons thanks to the toss of a coin. His parents wanted to have one of their two sons receive training so as to be able to play in the local church. Díaz, born in 1990, would commute every day from his working-class district on the outskirts of Bogotá. …
Music from Shostavich’s Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, Tenth and Eleventh Symphonies was performed live to Eisenstein’s film. (Seattle Symphony photo)
I wrote about a very interesting film + live symphony event at Seattle Symphony with guest conductor Frank Strobel:
In 1925, Sergei Eisenstein made cinematic history with the release of Battleship Potemkin, his feature debut. Dmitri Shostakovich, still a precocious teenager, was hard at work on his First Symphony, which also caused a sensation when it was premiered the next year by the Leningrad Philharmonic.
Abel Selaocoe and the Seattle Symphony; photo (c) Carlin Ma
What a memorable concert this was — my latest Seattle Symphony review:
“I feel very welcome here,” said Abel Selaocoe just before making his debut with the Seattle Symphony. Not only did he seem completely at home: in remarks introducing Four Spirits, his new work for cello, voice and orchestra, the young cellist-composer invited the audience to enter into his musical world, indicating that he would cue them when to sing along at the appropriate moment. “I’ll see you on the other side,” he winked, just before taking up his position to launch the piece.
This week the Nashville Symphony and Giancarlo Guerrero present the world premiere of Hannibal Lokumbe‘s boundary-breaking The Jonah People: A Legacy of Struggle and Triumph. This bold and uncompromising opera draws on Hannibal’s own family history and the biblical parable of Jonah and the Whale to tell and epic, visionary story that honors the countless Africans stolen from their homeland as well as their descendants through the generations.
You can find my program guide to this extraordinary collaborative work here:
John Luther Adams onstage at Carnegie Hall after the New York premiere of his ‘Vespers of the Blessed Earth’ by the Philadelphia Orchestra and The Crossing. (Photos by Chris Lee)
A most interesting concert at Carnegie Hall, pairing a new major work by John Luther Adams with the never-old Rite of Spring: my review for Classical Voice North America is now online.
I had the pleasure of writing this profile of Sameer Patel, Musical America’s New Artist of the Month for April 2023:
As he describes the career choices that have led to his current position, Sameer Patel refers to a verse from the Bhagavad Gita: “‘It’s better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another’ — in other words, to follow your own virtue or path or journey.”
Lucerne Festival launches its new year tonight with the first offering in a three-day spring celebration featuring the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. Replacing the ailing Riccardo Chailly tonight is Iván Fischer. He leads the orchestra in the continuing Mendelssohn cycle, pairing the First Symphony with music by Schubert and Chopin’s F minor Concerto (Rafał Blechacz the soloist). Listen to Susanne Stähr’s excellent introduction to Mendelssohn’s First (in German) here.
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 