“Currently Joachim is riding a wave of success for her album Fanm d’Ayiti (Women of Haiti), which The New York Times called ‘an evening-length artistic exploration of matriarchy, drawing Haitian folk and popular traditions into the world of contemporary classical music.’ The reverse could also be said, that contemporary classical music is being drawn into Haitian folk and popular traditions. Either way, it is a cross-pollination and celebration that prompted Steve Smith of The New Yorker to write, ‘No more joyous chamber-music collection has arrived this year.'” – San Francisco Classical Voice
A Powerful Chamber Opera Reveals the Complexity of Contemporary Hong Kong
“In the 70-minute chamber opera Mila, Hong Kong playwright Candace Chong Mui Ngam has come together with composer Eli Marshall to tell the story of a Filipina woman named Mila who has traveled far from home to work as one of the thousands of so-called ‘domestic helpers,’ sometimes referred to as FDWs (foreign domestic workers).” – San Francisco Classical Voice
Composer Gabriel Kahane on Marrying Social Justice With Contemporary Classical Music
“I’m a politically minded person and have spent a lot of time thinking about poverty and income inequality. The idea of tackling this subject matter in the context of a symphony orchestra, which optically tends to be perceived as an institution that caters to people of privilege … I didn’t know exactly how to attack it. What I did was to treat homelessness and housing insecurity as symptoms of broader systemic inequality, and to try to implicate the audience in the story that I was telling and to really kind of hold their feet to the fire.” – Portland Mercury
“Porgy and Bess” and the Legacy of Black Opera
“Black opera singers are now cast in a wide range of roles and great operas written by black composers have gained more recognition. Yet, Porgy and Bess has maintained its cultural status as the pinnacle of black opera, despite being written by and composed by white men and women — George and Ira Gershwin and Dubose and Dorthy Heyward. Dr. Jason Oby, the chair of the Department of Music at Texas Southern University and the artistic director for the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, joined The Takeaway to discuss Porgy and Bess and the legacy of black opera singers and composers.” (audio) – WNYC Studios
Equity in Music Education: Cultural Diversity in the Music Classroom—EMBRACE the Challenge
“Teaching middle school choral music in a culturally diverse middle school in Hawaii resulted in new knowledge about welcoming the challenges posed by diversity to the benefit of both students and educator. Concise strategies described in this article are applicable to any music program.” – Music Educators Journal
Socially inclusive practices in the music classroom: The impact of music education used as a vehicle to engage refugee background students
“This article reports on the impact of music education for students in a secondary school in Victoria, Australia. Socially inclusive practices were a focus of the study as the school has a high percentage of young people with a refugee background. … Key findings from this case study research indicated that a music classroom which fostered socially inclusive practices resulted in a positive transcultural learning space. This research raises important questions about the critical role of music education and the arts in contemporary and culturally diverse school contexts.” – Research Studies in Music Education
After 150 Years, Vienna State Opera Presents Its First Opera By A Woman
“One hundred and fifty years is a long time. But I’ve always said it’s never too late. So it’s good that they finally have thought about it. And at least if you’re the first, there has to be a second and a third and so on. So it’s always good to have a starting point.” – BBC
Vijay Iyer: Artist As Ally Of Adjacent Cultures
“This can’t just be about me sounding cool or looking awesome. It has to be in service of something larger. You want to actually open a conversation and activate people’s imaginations, and allow them to imagine a different world than the one we’re in. And that’s the kind of work that an artist can do, because we’re not there to answer questions exactly. We’re there to stir something up, and also to offer an alternative to the reality that we’re inhabiting.” – Boston Review
Singing With Murderers And Playing With Refugees: Music As A Lifeline
A video report on a prison choir in Argentina, founded by a psychologist to bring hope and encourage non-violent behavior, and an orchestra made up of migrant musicians in Rome. – Al Jazeera
MACCO Season Commits to Works from Diverse Voices
“Columbus conductor and clarinetist Antoine Clark wants women musicians and musicians of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds to be heard. Clark is bringing his vision to the McConnell Arts Center Chamber Orchestra’s (MACCO) 2019-20 Masterworks series, Amplified: Do More than Listen, Hear Our Voices. The focus of the series’ three concerts – Voices Past and Present, Voices of Hope and Voices of Freedom – will be on works by women composers and composers of color, all presented alongside works by major composers of the classical music canon.” – WOSU (Columbus, Ohio)
What It Takes to Choreograph an Opera in a Soup Kitchen
“New York City’s On Site Opera, known for staging works in non-traditional spaces, is presenting Amahl and the Night Visitors next month inside the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, which serves lunch to the homeless every weekday. … Choreographer Winston A. Benons Jr. … was brought on by On Site’s director Eric Einhorn to reenvision the opera’s ‘ballet’ section where townspeople perform for the three kings. It traditionally features either classical ballet or a European folk dance, but Einhorn wanted a new take. So Benons mined his background in both Afro-diasporic dance (particularly from Cuba, Haiti and Brazil) and modern forms, but also added something more.” – Dance Magazine
Moving beyond resilience education: musical counterstorytelling
“Education discourse has recently turned toward resilience and grit. This article critiques the neoliberalism embedded in resilience education and the manner in which a resilience focus encourages docility, adaptation and vulnerability in youth in response to oppressive conditions rather than addressing oppression directly. As a site of resilience for marginalised youth, music is implicated in resilience education’s failure to address systemic oppression.” – Music Education Research
How Pink Martini Became A New Vision For An Orchestra Collective
“After college, I actually wanted to be the mayor of Portland,” Thomas Lauderdale recalls, “but working in the campaigns and political fundraising can be so dreary. And the music at those rallies really sucked.” Therein was the impetus for forming the band. Lauderdale had become the de facto social director of Portland’s underground political scene, staging rallies, parties and functions at coffeehouses, private homes and auditoriums citywide. – Monterey County Now
Harmonic Convergence
“A new orchestra of musicians from multiple South Asian countries aims to promote understanding through music. Co-founder Nirupama Rao discusses the role orchestras can play in building bridges across geopolitical divides.” – Symphony Magazine
Head of the Class
“In previous decades, musicians may have learned [such] skills [as grant writing, marketing, and audience development] on the fly, but more and more educational institutions are beginning to make this training part of their curricula. … Moreover, pressing contemporary issues — such as diversity, inclusion, and social equity — that might once have seemed distant from the focus of the academy are increasingly being elevated to central concerns. … Representatives from several organizations that have started offering this kind of training for undergraduate and graduate students share their thoughts on navigating this shifting new landscape.” – Symphony Magazine
The Enduring Power of the Detroit Jazz Collective Tribe
“Led by four jazz musicians, Tribe’s members put out their own records; published a widely influential, Afrocentric magazine with a circulation reaching 25,000; organized concerts, often in tandem with dancers and theater performers; and taught music to local children. In the process, it helped define a path forward for Detroit’s arts community as the revolutionary spirit of the 1960s gave way to an uncertain future in a city ravaged by postindustrial decline.” – The New York Times
MacArthur ‘Genius’ Tyshawn Sorey Is Opera Philadelphia’s Next Composer-In-Residence
“Although he has never written an opera, his appointment grew out of Cycles of My Being, a set of emotionally complex songs he composed for [tenor Lawrence Brownlee and] Opera Philadelphia exploring the African American male experience.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Conductor works through autism, depression, cancer to lead Burlington orchestra
“As a conductor, Kim Diehnelt has to do a lot of schmoozing and interacting with people. She was so uncomfortable with that, she considered hanging up her baton. Then four years ago, she was diagnosed with autism and depression. … Rather than hang up her baton, Diehnelt has found the right outlet for her musical passion. She is the new conductor for the Me2/Orchestra in Burlington, founded in 2011 for musicians with mental illness and those who support them. She auditioned successfully for the orchestra less than two weeks after a double mastectomy and will debut with Me2/ on Nov. 21 in Burlington.” – Burlington (Vt.) Free Press
After Trauma, a Silenced Vocalist Sings Again
“The trauma of her assault is the subject of [soprano Lucy] Dhegrae’s four-concert Processing Series, which opens on Saturday at National Sawdust in Brooklyn. The series attempts to shed light on the complex relationship between mind and body. At the core of each concert is a new work written for Ms. Dhegrae that is intended to be both about healing and actively therapeutic for the performer.” – The New York Times
Ofentse Pitse is the first young black woman to own and conduct an all-black orchestra
“[POWER Lunch host Ntokozo Mazibuko] speaks to entrepreneur Ofentse Pitse, the first young black woman to own and conduct an all-black orchestra [in South Africa].” (audio) – POWER Lunch (South Africa)
Root Of All Music: The Marginalized Fringe
Ted Gioia argues that that is music’s basic pattern throughout history – for symphonic music, church music, operas, chamber music, atonalism, you name it. No matter how disciplined, codified and venerated the music may be now, it always started on the fringe, rooted in sex, blood and altered states. – Art & Seek
Dallas Opera’s Hart Institute attempts to correct gender inequality among conductors
“‘Historically speaking, it’s a man on the podium leading an orchestra,’ said Lisa Bury, Dallas Opera’s chief advancement and strategy officer. ‘There have been women, and very successful women, but the vast majority have been male, and in an era, i.e. the 21st century, it’s time as an industry to collectively improve the ratio and work together to achieve gender parity at the podium.’ That’s why Dallas Opera founded the Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors, a two-week residency for about a half dozen conductors and, now, administrators, which culminates in a concert attended by members of the public as well as officials, agents and managers.” – ABC News
The Theaster Gates project Black Monastic is all about preserving black art and culture in all forms
“‘Black Monastic [is] a performance program examining the history of black sound and how it is present in today’s contemporary music. ‘Black Monastic’ was created by celebrated local artist Theaster Gates and the Rebuild Foundation for the Red Bull Music Festival, running through the end of November. Extending the Rebuild Foundation’s practice of preserving black art, music, culture, and physical spaces, ‘Black Monastic’ will also feature additional celebrated local artists like Ben Lamar Gay, Kiara Lanier, and Joshua Abrams.” – Chicago Tribune
Sphinx Virtuosi “For Justice and Peace” Confronts Social Justice Issues
“On Friday, October 11th, 2019, the Sphinx Virtuosi string orchestra concluded their annual United States tour at Carnegie Hall with a program entitled ‘For Justice and Peace.’ Six hours later, Atatiana Jefferson was murdered by Fort Worth Texas police without warning inside her home while playing video games with her 8-year-old nephew. The concert had included commentary on gun violence to black bodies, an elegy for a murdered black man whose case shifted UK criminal justice, two musical reminders of the 400th anniversary of slavery’s start in the United States, and some Bartok and Schubert in their local police and national military contexts.” – I Care If You Listen
Opera’s Woman Problem: There Just Aren’t Enough Of Them In Decision-Making Roles
The Stage senior reporter Georgia Snow talks to women working as directors, designers, and administrators in opera in the UK — who tell her that things are getting better, but not fast enough. (Opera companies are, after all, large, expensive, slow-moving machines.) Says English National Opera’s new artistic director, Annelese Miskimmon, “Unless we reflect our audience we can’t serve them. According to every statistic I have seen, it’s women who buy opera tickets. So it doesn’t matter what people’s own feelings are – it’s sensible economics.” – The Stage
Singer wants to ‘un-whitewash’ classical music history with free Boston concerts
“‘The [Every Voice] project, in a way, seeks to kind of un-straightwash and un-whitewash music history, especially in the classical sphere,’ said [countertenor Reginald] Mobley, a native of Florida for whom activism and music frequently mix. … Each concert focuses on a few groups within the community; this year, music by black and Jewish composers will be performed by members of the [Handel & Haydn Society] Orchestra and Chorus and a youth chorus from the H&H Vocal Arts Program.” – The Boston Globe
Afro Yaqui Music Collective Works to Resurrect Silenced Voices
“On Thursday, October 24, 2019, the Afro Yaqui Music Collective took the stage on Pittsburgh’s North Side for an evening of jazz-fusion fueled activism in the name of unjustly forgotten or silenced voices–in particular, that of Puerto Rican historian, writer, and civil rights activist Aruturo Alfonso Schomburg.” – I Care If You Listen
Pioneering classical harpist joins Albany Symphony at Albany Civil Rights Institute
“[Ann Hobson] Pilot played with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for four decades before retiring from the orchestra in 2009. She is one of four African-American musicians who broke the color barrier with symphonies in the 1960s.” – The Albany (Ga.) Herald
Dallas Symphony And Opera Make A Major Push For Women Conductors
“I won’t say women are discriminated against as much as not given the same pathways as men. mostly because there is a male dominance in terms of personnel in the business. It’s been generations of music schools having faculty members who were renowned male soloists or conductors. The system was created that way, so it takes a lot of time to get women in those roles and as mentors to other talented women.” – Dallas Morning News
Soprano Julia Bullock Is Forging A Major Career Entirely Away From Standard Opera Repertory
“Instead of singing Mozart or Verdi, she has made a precocious impact on the concert stage and as a curator, serving as artist in residence last season at the Metropolitan Museum of Art — where she delved deeply into the African-American experience, past and present — and this season in the same role with the San Francisco Symphony.” Says director Peter Sellars, “This is who we’ve been waiting for. You see someone who’s not just a vehicle, but an agent of change. She’s actually moving the whole art form into a new relevance.” – The New York Times