Tag Archive for: Judlyne Lilly Gibson

New Album:  African American Voices II With Conductor Kellen Gray.

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Prepare to hear the sounds of three very different African-American composers from different eras of classical music in the 20th century.  On the album African-American Voices II, curated and conducted by Kellen Gray, there’s Margaret Bonds and the music of Ulysses Kay and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. 

Kellen Gray is coming stateside next month (January) to work in Minnesota and in Washington, DC. 

Here are the links to the opportunities I mentioned.

Winston-Salem Symphony and UNCSA to Launch Fellowship for String Players

The National Academy Orchestra of Canada is looking for members.

For our African listeners, Spotify has a SSA Early Career Program.

The National Association of Negro Musicians is calling for proposals for its 2024 convention.

The Last Album Of The Emerson String Quartet & Tina Davidson’s Hymn

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There are two new very different albums that came out recently that could be on your holiday list.

Composer and author Tina Davidson has released her latest album Hymn of the Universe.  It’s a choral work performed by VocalEssence and based on the writings of Jesuit Priest and Scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. 

And The Emerson String Quartet has released its final album after 47 years of performing all over the world.  On Infinite Voyage, they perform the music of  Schoenberg, Chausson, Berg and Hindemith sung in part by Soprano Barbara Hannigan. 

The Emerson String Quartet (1976 to 2023) with Barbara Hannigan.

Inset: Paul Watkins and Tina Davidson

Is it Time to Start Your Chamber Music Career? 

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The Austin Chamber Music Center has opened its application season for the 2024 Coltman Chamber Music Competition. They’re inviting exceptional ensembles from across the country to compete for cash prizes and performance opportunities. Artistic Director Michelle Schumann says some past winners of this competition have gone on to solid careers in the chamber music space, like the 2023 Grand Prize Winner the Kodak  Quartet. 

Here’s a link to the performances of the 2023 winners of the Coltman Chamber Music Competition. 

Christopher Nupen.  One of the classical music artists we lost in 2023. 

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With TikTok, Facebook and other social media platforms, it’s hard to imagine a time when the only way to see a documentary was on television.  That is the world the late Christoper Nupen lived and worked in.  Starting in the 1960’s Nupen’s company, Allegro Films, started with Double Concerto.  Nupen continued to produce ground breaking documentaries about classical musicians that revealed their off-stage lives and showed how much fun they had making the music they performed.

Matthew Percival, creative director, and partner at Allegro Films is now in charge of Nupen’s legacy with plans to make more films.

Are You Composing While Black?  On Classical Music In Color

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Two composers and musicians, George Lewis and Harald Kisiedu have gathered some of today’s composers and musicologists in a book of essays called Composing While Black.  There are nine essays in the book that talk about their experiences composing, performing and being in a world that isn’t always welcoming to Black musicians, classical or otherwise. 

George Lewis and Harald Kisiedu

Regarding the items mentioned in the podcast:

 

The 2025 Cliburn Competition Applications are open.

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Terence Blanchard’s opera Champion, is now streaming on MetOpera On Demand

Is It Time Already To Apply To Summer Music Schools? 

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We’re a little more than a month away from 2024 which means it’s time to make plans for the summer. Specifically summer music programs for young musicians.  Equity Arc has partnered with at least 17 summer music programs to provide applications fees and scholarships for BIPOC musicians via their Common Application for Summer Study. 

Magee Capsouto, the Associate Director at Equity Arc says they’re trying to provide more diversity in the nation’s orchestral summer programs.  

The Carnegie Hall Connection with Austin Soundwaves

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Austin Soundwaves will be able to serve more students in several ways after receiving a grant from Carnegie Hall’s Play USA program. Their mission is to train  student musicians across the greater Austin area and to provide diverse opportunities for learners of all ages and backgrounds.  Last year they served more than 1,100 students through 23 school partnerships and programs.

Deputy Director Hermes Camacho says they are very excited about the possibilities.

Cliburn Competition Applications for 2025 Are Open

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Cliburn Competition Applications Are Open.  Already you say?  Didn’t the Cliburns just crown a winner, Yunchan Lim of South Korea?  Well, yes but that was an entire year ago.  Now they’re looking for the next winner for the Seventeenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 2025. 

Jacques Marquis President and CEO of the Cliburn Competition says it takes a long time to find the pianist ready to embark upon an international career. 

The Pressure Of Being The First One. The Dreams of a Nigerian Violinist and Florence Price. 

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Rosalyn Aninyei  is doing her best to create and maintain a world class orchestra in her home country of Nigeria.  Florence Price is getting the festival treatment at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.  Blake-Anthony Johnson talks about his path to become the first African American to be the CEO of a world-renowned orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta.

There’s a new album of music by Florence Price and William Dawson via the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Here’s a link to the Margaret Bonds Symposium at Queens University in  Charlotte, North Carolina.

Dvořák: A Bohemian Rhapsody

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How much do you really know about your favorite composer?  You love the music, but how did the composer come to write a particular piece?

Judith Lynn Stillman – the Artist-in-Residence and professor of music at Rhode Island College in East Providence answers that question and many more with her plays-within-a-concert.  Her latest is Dvořák: A Bohemian Rhapsody.  Did you know he loved trains??  It opens in East Providence with a livestream so anyone anywhere can watch it.

Judith Lynn Stillman – the Artist-in-Residence and professor of music at Rhode Island College in East Providence answers that question and many more with her plays-within-a-concert.  Her latest is Dvořák: A Bohemian Rhapsody.  Did you know he loved trains??  It opens in East Providence with a livestream so anyone anywhere can watch it.

If Judith Stillman wasn’t playing the piano for her latest production, she and you might enjoy Crescendo.  It’s the documentary about the 2022 Cliburn Competition.  The free screening is in Fort Worth on October 26th.