Scott Suchman
WaShington
I
americanorchestras.org
a group of neighborhoods encompassing Howard University and the residential areas Shaw and Logan Circle was alive with free musical and educational activities presented by the National Symphony Orchestra. The seven-day “NSO in Your Neighborhood” included a Saturday-afternoon family concert at the historic Lincoln Theatre; ten school performances, eight master classes, and a variety of recitals and ensemble concerts; joint appearances by NSO musicians and local jazz artists; a screening of the documentary Duke Ellington’s Washington at the African American Civil War Museum; and
V. Valentin Fotografie
n May of this year the Cleveland Orchestra made two unprecedented appearances at St. Colman Catholic Church on the city’s west side, both led by Assistant Conductor James Feddeck: a Thursday evening classical program and a concert for local schoolchildren the following morning. But it wasn’t just the mighty band from across town that came to the neighborhood that week. For five days preceding those concerts at St. Colman, musicians from the orchestra—and a few members of its affiliated youth orchestra and youth chorus as well—appeared at thirteen other venues in the area, ranging from Battery Park Wine Bar and the Cleveland Public Theatre to St. Augustine Health Ministries and a local mom-and-pop grocery store called Stockyard Meats. It was all part of “The Cleveland Orchestra at Home in Gordon Square.” Planned in partnership with the Gordon Square Arts District, the Detroit Shoreway Community Development Organization, and local businesses, all events were free and open to the public. Earlier this season, the nation’s capital witnessed a similar cultural encampment by a major orchestra. In Washington, D.C.,
A quintet from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs in January at St. Jane Frances de Chantal parish in Sterling Heights, Michigan, as part of the DSO’s Neighborhood Residency Initiative.
a concert at Howard University saluting the centenary of that historically black institution’s music department. As with the Gordon Square residency in Cleveland, all performances were free, although some venues required a cover charge for food and drink. At the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the concept of neighborhood embraces music and social service, city and suburbs. A Neighborhood Residency Initiative, launched in fall 2011, encompasses essentially all of the DSO’s considerable activity that takes place outside of Orchestra Hall: orchestral concerts, ensemble performances,
Detroit
29