Stories of Interest
This is a collection of stories that are about interesting people doing interesting things.
JUNETEENTH 2021
Juneteenth is no longer a day celebrated by people in individual states without federal attention. Now it’s a federal holiday signed into law by President Joe Biden. There are many events honoring the day Black Americans were liberated from slavery. Hear about a few of them including my own experience celebrating Juneteenth in my hometown of Houston, Texas.
Links to events mentioned in the report:
Austin – Stay Black and Live Vol. 2
Chicago’s Musical Pathways Initiative
The Orchestra of New Spain in Dallas Celebrates Juneteenth with Chevalier de St. Georges
The National Museum of African American Music
Ms. Opal Lee is being honored with a Juneteenth Jamboree
KMFA 89.5 in Austin, is airing two programs honoring Juneteenth.
COMPOSER’S CADENZA – Jimena and Melika
Melika Fitzhugh and Jimena Palma de Gyvés
Those of you who create, whether it be music, art or writing, know that it can be a mental exercise in either futility or joy. Two women from very different parts of our world were winners of the 2021 String Quartet Smackdown from Golden Hornet in Austin, Texas. Melika Fitzhugh and Jimena Palma de Gyvés used unusual methods to create their award winning work.
COMPOSER’S CADENZA – Richard Danielpour
A new album released last month seeks to offer some solace to those who’ve had to endure this terrible pandemic. Composer Richard Danielpour wrestled with the pandemic effect himself. In this inaugural (and probably infrequent) edition of COMPOSER’S CADENZA, he talks about his struggles, how Pianist Simone Dinnerstein got him through with the result being their collaboration: An American Mosaic. The album honors those who have been and still are ESSENTIAL.
This is about Carlos Bandera, a Baltimore based composer who’s career made leaps and bounds in the summer of 2018.
There are more STORIES OF INTEREST on the ARCHIVE page.