Harlem Chamber Players: FREE Concert This Wednesday at 7 PM: Mozart and Beethoven Wind Serenades

The Harlem Chamber Players

with Conductor Tali Makell

Mozart and Beethoven Wind Serenades

  

Wednesday, June 5, 2013 at 7 PM

Goddard Riverside Community Center - Bernie Wohl Auditorium

647 Columbus Avenue at 91st Street, New York, NY 10025

Click here to view and print a flyer.

  

Mozart Serenade in C Minor, K. 388
Excerpts from Mozart's Così fan tutte arranged for wind octet
Beethoven Wind Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 103  

This concert is FREE and open to the public. 

Reservation required. Click here to reserve your free tickets online.

Visit our website or call 212-866-1492 for more information.

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Baltimore Sun: Morgan State alumnus Soloman Howard, who plays Muhammad Ali, rehearses for the new opera "Approaching Ali."

Soloman Howard 

Morgan State alumnus Soloman Howard, who plays Muhammad Ali, rehearses for the new opera "Approaching Ali." The music was composed by D.J. Sparr, a graduate of the Baltimore School for the Arts who was raised in Carroll County. (Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun / May 29, 2013)

The Baltimore Sun

Tim Smith

Maryland roots in new 'Ali' opera: Composer D.J. Sparr grew up in Carroll County, graduated from Baltimore School for the Arts

June 1, 2013

In his typical rhyming style, Muhammad Ali might call it something like "a whopper of an opera."

The legendary boxer, who floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee, has inspired "Approaching Ali," a chamber opera with music by Carroll County native and Baltimore School for the Arts alum D.J. Sparr. The work is based on Davis Miller's 1996 book "The Tao of Muhammad Ali."

Contemporary political figures have ended up in operas, "Nixon in China" by John Adams being the most prominent example. There is at least one opera about the Kennedys, at least two operas about Marilyn Monroe, and another about the slightly less significant, but certainly famous, Anna Nicole Smith.

"Setting Ali as an operatic character made sense," Sparr said. "He's sort of mythological, bigger than real life. He seems more than a single human being."

Washington National Opera gives the world premiere of the hourlong "Approaching Ali" next weekend at the Kennedy Center. It was developed as part of its American Opera Initiative, a project to commission new works by young, emerging American composers writing about American themes.

When Sparr saw a news release about the launch of the initiative a year ago, he was intrigued and sent off an email to the opera company.

"All of a sudden, a week later I was on the phone with them," Sparr, 37, said.

With Ali as the topic for an opera, it's no wonder he got the company's interest. He was quickly accepted into the program. 

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NANM Invites African American Composers and Composers of African Descent to Submit Works for Winds, Brass and Percussion for Competition Repertoire

Marvin V. Curtis

Marvin V. Curtis is Dean of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at

Indiana University South Bend.  He writes:

The National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc. (NANM) is preparing the repertoire list for the 2013-14 competition which will be Winds (including Alto Saxophone), Brass, and Percussion (mallet). Our current list was last updated in 2008 and, as National Scholarship Chair, I am looking to update the repertoire including works by African American composers and composers of African descent in these categories. 

If you are interested in having your work listed, please send me a title of any works suitable for contestants ages 18-30 along with details on length and information where contestants can locate the music (web-sites, publishers, etc.) Please include information on recordings that may be available. 

You may contact me directly at cvm491@aol.com or through Facebook. Deadline for submission is June 30, 2013. I would appreciate a pdf of the work for the files at NANM. They will not be given to contestants. Contestants will be required to contact the appropriate publishing medium. Contestants must provide copies of the scores to the judges.

Thanks,

Marvin Curtis

cvm491@aol.com

Dean

Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts

IU South Bend

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Those who have missed the many performances of 'Delights & Dances' of Michael Abels will welcome this first-rate recording from Cedille Records

Michael Abels

Delights & Dances; Harlem Quartet; Chicago Sinfonietta; Mei-Ann Chen, Conductor; Cedille CDR 90000 141 (2013)[Cover: Harem Dancers (the Jack Cole Group) performing at the Harem Nightclub in New York City, January 1, 1947 (Photo by Gjon Mili/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)]

The composer Michael Abels (b. 1962) first came to our attention when his composition Global Warming (8:18)was recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta. The recording was conducted by the Sinfonietta's Founder, Dr. Paul Freeman, for African Heritage Symphonic Series, Vol. III; Cedille CDR 90000 066 (2002).

On September 21, 2007 AfriClassical posted: Harlem Quartet Debuts “Delights and Dances by Michael Abels at Sphinx Laureates Concert. The post began:“The Sphinx Laureates Concert at Carnegie Hall on Sept. 25, 2007 will feature the Harlem Quartet's premiere of Delights and Dances, a work by Michael Abels which was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization to celebrate its 10^th Anniversary as well as its dedication to promoting the works of Black and Latino composers.”

The Michael Abels page at SubitoMusic.comstates: “In spring 2012, Abels’ Delights and Danceswas featured on the Chicago Sinfonietta’s season finale-concerts, joined by the Harlem Quartet. Commissioned by the Sphinx Organization, the three-movement work (performed as a single movement) is scored for string quartet and string orchestra. Afterward, both ensembles recorded the piece for future release on Cedille Records.” The liner notes by Andrea Lamoreaux tell us the CD was recorded June 19-20, 2012 in Wentz Concert Hall at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois.

The members of the Harlem Quartet are Ilmar Gavilán, violin; Melissa White, violin; Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola; Paul Wiancko, cello. Cedille Records is a nonprofit organization also known as The Chicago Classical Recording Foundation. Dr. Paul Freeman (b. 1936)founded the Chicago Sinfonietta in 1987 to achieve, in the words of its mission, "Musical Excellence Through Diversity". He served as Music Director from its founding through the 2010-2011 Season. Paul Freeman is featured at AfriClassical.com and was succeeded by Sinfonietta Music Director Mei-Ann Chen.

Andrea Lamoreaux provides a brief overview of the history of the concerto in Classical Music. She writes, in part: “In the 19^thcentury, with the solo concerto firmly established as the preferred musical idiom, only a few composers carried on the concerto grosso tradition. Ludwig Spohr was one; England's Sir Edward Elgar composed his Introduction and Allegro for solo string quartet and string orchestra; and in the first half of the 20^thcentury, prolific Czech composer Bohuslav Martinú created several works of the concerto grosso variety. On this album, the Chicago Sinfonietta compiles three recent examples of this type of work, showcasing the virtuosity of the Harlem Quartet, which performed these works with the Chicago Sinfonietta unde the leadership of musical director Mei-Ann Chen in concert prior to their recording sessions.”

Ms. Lamoreaux writes of the recording's opening work: “Michael Abels composed his Delights & Dances for for string quartet and string orchestra specifically for the Harlem Quartet.” “Along with the standard curriculum, he explored his African-American roots by studying gospel music and African drumming. Abels received two Meet the Composer (now New Music USA) grants, one allowing him to work with young musicians through the Watts Tower Arts Center in Los Angeles, the other providing a residency with the Richmond Symphony (VA) and its youth orchestra. His works include the 1997 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tribute Dance for Martin's Dream and 1991 composition Global Warming, which is not just a reference to climate change, but also to the thawing of international relations Mr. Abels hoped for after the collapse of the Berlin Wall.”

The CD Delights & Dances includes four works. The disc opens with Delights & Dances for String Quartet and String Orchestra (13:03) by Michael Abels. The CD is a World Premiere recording of the work. The second work, in four movements, is Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra(20:49) of Benjamin Lees. An-Lun Huang composed Saibei Dance, from Saibei Suite No. 2 (4:08). The disc concludes with another World Premiere recording,West Side Story Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (25:47). It has ten movements and is composed by Leonard Bernstein and arranged by Randall Craig Fleischer.

The liner notes says of the Michael Abels composition: “The introductory section commences at a measured pace, Largo, with the further notation, molto rubato,indicating rhythmic freedom. Indeed, the opening passage for solo cello sounds almost like a cadenza. The solo picks up the cello's ascending seven-note motive and they combine in a short duet, joined soon by the two solo violins. When the orchestra enters, it plays pizzicato, in short, detached, syncopated patterns.” Hearing the work in a single movement contributed to our feeling that this 13-minute extravaganza for strings was transpiring very quickly. “Eventually, the solo quartet and the strings of the orchestra are united in a grand unison tutti for a full-throttle, upbeat conclusion.”

When the performers move on to the Benjamin Lees concerto, the recording's transition seems subtle and entirely appropriate. The second work is longer than the opening piece, and is followed by the much shorter Saibei Dance of An-Lun Huang. A more dramatic transition brings us to the familiar dance tunes of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, in ten movements arranged by Randall Craig Fleischer. As Andrea Lamoreaux writes, “Fleischer's rich and vivid scoring echoes the original sound of Bernstein's 1950s Broadway hit, which updates the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by transferring the story to the streets of modern-day New York City.”

Those of us who have been reading glowing reviews of Delights & Dances of Michael Abels in The New York Times since 2007, yet have somehow missed its many live performances, will welcome the arrival of this first-rate performance by the Harlem Quartet and the Chicago Sinfonietta, conducted by Mei-Ann Chen, on Cedille Records.

Disclosure:A review copy of this recording was provided by the record label.

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Listen Magazine: CD 'Duke Ellington: Black, Brown & Beige' on Naxos (2013) is 'Beyond Big Band'

Duke Ellington: Black, Brown, and Beige 

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra 

JoAnn Falletta, Conductor 

Naxos 8.559737 (2013)

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) was a Jazz and Classical Musician who is featured at AfriClassical.com

Listen Magazine
ListenMusicMag.com
Summer 2013

Beyond Big Band

by Bradley Bambarger

This album looks beyond Duke Ellington's big-band masterpieces to his more rarely heard scores arranged for full orchestra, conducted by JoAnn Falletta.  The taster suite here of Black, Brown & Beige - Ellington's epic midcentury tone poem on the African-American experience - has its charms.  Toscanini commissioned the "tone parallel" Harlem, orchestrated by Maurice Peress; this raucous cousin to Rhapsody in Blue fizzes.  Especially valuable is The River, a 1970 score for Alvin Ailey brimming with suave, soulful melodies.  Ellington left another melodic ballet score, Three Black Kings, unfinished at his death, but his son, Mercer, put the finishing touches on it.  The Ellington band's theme song, "Take the 'A' Train," appears as a coda - lush and performed with irresistible verve.

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MELODEON: Soprano Marti Newland in Songs of Margaret Bonds and Hall Johnson Sunday, June 9, 2013 4 PM Church of the Epiphany, 74th and York, NYC

The Noon Recess - Winslow Homer

Marti Newland, Soprano

MELODEON

Marti Newland, soprano
Manami Ono, violin
George Spitzer, baritone
Artis Wodehouse, Mustel harmonium, piano, Schoenhut pianos

Program
For the 1902 Mustel Art Harmonium
         19th Century American Synagogue music by Louis Lewandowski (1821-1894) and Jacob Sandler (1860-1931)
        The Immovable Do by Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Songs by Ernst Bacon (1898-1990) for low voice and piano
         The Commonplace/Whitman
             Grand Is the Seen/Whitman
             How Still the Bells/Dickinson
             Omaha/Sandburg
             It’s Coming-the Postponeless Creature/Dickinson
             Brady/Ernst Bacon
                
Afro-American Spirituals arranged for soprano and piano

         Hall Johnson (1889-1970):
                      His Name So Sweet Hall Johnson
                      Witness
                      Let’s Have a Union
                      Take My Mother Home

         Margaret Bonds (1913-1972):
                  Lord, I Just Can’t Keep from Cryin’
                      Dem Bones
                      He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

For vintage Schoenhut toy pianos
         Four Notes: a Cycle of Solfegic Pieces by Ernst Bacon

[2013 is the Birth Centennial of Margaret Allison Bonds, 

who is profiled at AfriClassical.com, 

which features a comprehensive 

Works List and a Bibliography 

by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma, 

www.CasaMusicaledeLerma.com]

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Joseph Conyers Comments: 'I'm currently on tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra in China...Thank you for your interest and post'

Joseph Conyers

Yesterday, May 31, 2013, AfriClassical posted: Joseph Conyers, Assistant Principal Bass, Philadelphia Orchestra, is Director/Double Bass, Project440.org & Adjunct Faculty, Temple University

Joseph Conyers Comments:

Mr. Zick: I'm currently on tour with the Philadelphia Orchestra in China, and my internet connection in Hangzhou blocked me from your website! I could not view it until now here in Shanghai.  Thank you for your interest and post.  Take care,

Joseph Conyers

Assistant Principal Bass, The Philadelphia Orchestra

Executive Director, Project 440

www.project440.org

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