A Houston Century
Stephen Lawrence (left) and Christopher Mosley perform at the ASO’s TDP Alumni Legacy concert on January 4, 2014, in Atlanta Symphony Hall. Lawrence graduated from TDP in 2003 and attended Loyola University; Mosley graduated from TDP in 2003 and attended Georgia State University.
From its founding in 1913 to the modern era under Music Director-Designate Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the Houston Symphony chronicles its history in an exhaustively researched, lavishly illustrated 200-page tome published this winter. Written by music journalist and longtime Houston Symphony program annotator Carl R. Cunningham, with assistance from volunteer archivists Terry Ann Brown and Ginny Garrett, Houston Symphony: Celebrating a Century is bursting with archival artwork. Pictured below is the newspaper ad placed by Houston Symphony founder Ima Hogg promoting the orchestra’s first concert and announcing that “seats from 25 cents to $1.00” are on sale at a variety of retail establishments.
Talent Development Program Turns 20
1OO C e l e b r at i n g a C e n t u ry
Jeff Roffman
This season represents a milestone for an important initiative promoting diversity in the arts: the 20th year of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s Talent Development Program, established to help young African-American and Latino students pursue careers as professional musicians. TDP came about as a result of efforts by ASO board member Azira G. Hill, who questioned why her daughter was the only student of color in the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. Many of the program’s alumni—now graduated from top conservatories and working as professional musicians—performed this winter at a sold-out concert in Atlanta Symphony Hall. At the alumni concert, Ann Hobson Left to right: Former WSB-TV news anchor Monica Kaufman (who Pilot, longtime former principal harp in the emceed the TDP Alumni Legacy Boston Symphony Orchestra, was presented Concert); TDP Founder Azira with a Lifetime Achievement Award. The G. Hill; TDP alumna and harpist anniversary celebrations continue with Angelica Hairston; and former recitals featuring current TDP students, on Boston Symphony Orchestra Principal Harpist Ann Hobson Pilot, May 3 and 4 in the Woodruff Arts Center.
Jeff Roffman
HOUSTON SYMPHONY
who was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Carnegie Hall
Vienna Comes to Carnegie Richard Strauss’s lucky horseshoe, Beethoven’s medicine spoon, measures from the “Unfinished” Symphony in Schubert’s own hand, an undated ticket to a concert organized by Mozart in the 1780s (below), and a lady’s fan autographed by Mahler, Brahms, SaintSaëns, and other musicians active in fin-de-siècle Vienna (right) all came to Carnegie Hall this winter. These and nearly two dozen other artifacts are on view for the first time in the U.S. The exhibit—a visual companion to Carnegie’s citywide “Vienna: City of Dreams” Festival, presented February 21-March 16 and comprising more than 90 musical and cultural events, including performances by the Vienna Philharmonic—continues at Carnegie’s Rose Museum through May 5.
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SPRING 2014