Symphony Fall 2021

symphony FALL 2021 n $6.95

S Y M P H O N Y

THE MAGAZINE OF

THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

The New New Normal Things looked like they were getting back to normal—or the “new normal”—for orchestras a few months ago. The pandemic had other plans. Now vaccine mandates, masks, social distancing, COVID tests are part of the fall season. How’s everyone coping?

FALL 2021

Anti-Asian Discrimination at U.S. Orchestras

Orchestra Musicians in the Spotlight

What’s Ahead for Pops

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Prelude

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here is nothing like hearing an orchestra live and in person. Okay, that’s not a novel insight, but the return of in-person concerts this fall was a stark reminder of what we have missed—and a revelation. Hearing an orchestra in full throttle after all this time was almost too much. A kind of synesthesia kicked in. You didn’t so much hear the tympani as sense their rumbles tsunami-ing from the stage and into your mind. Plangent inner voices emerged from plush textures.

Strings in extremis had the urgency of an ice pick. And a single horn felt like heartbreak—or a burst of sonic joy.

Orchestras have been deploying virtual concerts, Zoom concertos, and related digital media to make more music available in more ways—it’s a trend that’s here to stay. The pivot to digital means that pressing issues in classical music, such as racial inequity and underrepresentation, are being addressed with immediacy. Conductors chat from home on YouTube; musicians share their artistry and their lives online. All the same, watching a concert on a phone or laptop—well, there ain’t nothing like the real thing.

In this issue, we report on how orchestras are coping with vaccination and masking mandates, personal distancing, and even ventilation systems. This is happening as orchestras are reckoning with social injustice, centering voices that were long ignored. And while musicians of Asian descent are often highly visible on orchestra stages, that representation has not translated into equitable roles behind the scenes or at the creative level.

And this issue looks at the myriad, sometimes unexpected new roles that orchestra musicians are adopting—not merely adopting but embracing.

symphony THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

VOLUME 72 , NUMBER 4 / FALL 2021

symphony® the award-winning quarterly

magazine of the League of American Orchestras, discusses issues critical to the orchestra community and commun­icates to the American public the value and importance of orchestras and the music they perform.

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Robert Sandla

MANAGING EDITOR

Jennifer Melick

PRODUCTION AND

Ginger Dolden

DESIGN ADVERTISING DIRECTOR ADVERTISING ASSOCIATE

Stephen Alter Danielle Clarke-Newell

PUBLISHER

Simon Woods

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Dartmouth Printing Co. Hanover, NH

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symphony FALL 2021

THE MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

2 Prelude

by Robert Sandla

6 The Score

Gary Payne

6 14 24 36

Rob Shanahan

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John Abbott

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ABOUT THE COVER

In Texas, ROCO—formerly the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra—performs a gala concert at POST Houston, a just-opened commercial and cultural space that was previously the Barbara Jordan Post Office. Mei-Ann Chen led the in-person performance, the first for ROCO after more than a year of virtual concerts. The orchestra launched its 2021-22 in-person season, which takes place at multiple venues, a few days later.

Photo: Daniel Ortiz 4

Orchestra news, moves, and events

14 In Memoriam: Conductor Michael Morgan

Michael Morgan’s commitment to music education, community connections, and social justice transformed the orchestras he conducted and the way we think about orchestras’ roles. Members of the classical music community share their memories.

16 Forward Thinking

League President and CEO Simon Woods speaks with Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater in New York City, about the benefits of embracing a model of shared artistic leadership.

22 Conference 2021

Nearly 1,400 orchestra professionals gathered from June 7 to 17 for the League’s online National Conference, which explored how our world has changed and what the future might look like.

24 Anti-Asian Discrimination at American Orchestras

Musicians of Asian descent are visible on orchestra stages across the country, but their numbers do not reflect their voice, power, or influence, and many experience maltreatment or marginalization in their professional lives. by Mari Yoshihara

32 Aiming for a More Inclusive Canon

In an excerpt from his new book, Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Classical Music, Joseph Horowitz examines why classical music in America “stayed white” and failed to become more inclusive.

36 Safety First

Orchestras are adopting new health protocols to keep everyone safe for the return of in-person concerts this fall. Actions vary from orchestra to orchestra, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. by Brin Solomon

42 Helping Sounds

Five orchestra musicians are doing critically important work in their communities—work that is being honored by the League of American Orchestras’ Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service. by Jasmine Liu

48 Musicians in the Spotlight

Musicians have been taking new roles at orchestras during the pandemic, commissioning music, stepping up as soloists, and curating performances. by Nancy Malitz

54 Return to Pops

Pops artists are beginning to return to orchestra stages. Ten pops artists reveal how they have fared, what they have missed, what they look forward to, and what they have planned for the season ahead. by Steven Brown

62 2021 Guide to Symphony Pops Advertisers 72 Voices of Hope

Works for orchestra and chorus have been missed for more than a year due to the pandemic, but they are returning this fall. Concerns about the health risks of singing and uncertainty over new variants mean that Beethoven’s Ninth or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony can be a balancing act. by Brian Wise

77 Advertiser Index 78 League of American Orchestras Annual Fund 80 Coda

Byron Stripling is eager to begin his pandemic-delayed season as the Pittsburgh Symphony’s principal pops conductor.

Text marked like this indicates a link to websites and online resources.

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The Score NEWS, MOVES, AND EVENTS IN THE ORCHESTRA INDUSTRY

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Jeff Blake

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Kevin Mazur - Getty Images for Live Nation

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Michael Dwyer

Hilary Scott

Outdoor Overtures 6

It’s not just Lollapallooza. Big crowds have been turning out for orchestra concerts outdoors, which continues to be one of the safer environments for live music. On Independence Day weekend, the South Carolina Philharmonic (1) drew a sellout crowd of 5,000 at Segra Park, usually home to the Columbia Fireflies minor-league baseball team. Music Director Morihiko Nakahara conducted music by John Williams, excerpts from West Side Story and Hamilton, plus Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture and Sousa’s Stars and Stripes Forever—with fireworks. Kentucky’s Owensboro

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Symphony (2) performed a free concert before an estimated 3,000 listeners; the event was dedicated to first responders and medical personnel working throughout the pandemic. On Owensboro’s riverfront, Music Director Troy Quinn led the full orchestra as it performed together for the first time in 15 months, joined by country music singer/songwriter Lee Greenwood. At New York City’s “WE LOVE NYC: The Homecoming Concert” in Central Park in August, Marin Alsop led the New York Philharmonic (3) in Bernstein’s Candide Overture, tenor Andrea Bocelli sang, and pop diva Jennifer Hudson sang Puccini’s “Nessun dorma”—before thunderstorms shut things down. Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival (4) reported that the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park was filled to near capacity for most of its concerts this summer. The Boston Landmarks Orchestra (5) celebrated its 20th summer season at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade with a free concert led by Music Director Christopher Wilkins featuring music by Beethoven, Gershwin, James P. Johnson, Jules Massenet, Nkeiru Okoye, Florence Price, and William Grant Still. In September, crowds turned out to hear the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (not pictured) give its annual concert on Art Hill in Forest Park, led by Music Director Stéphane Denève. At Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts, events included a sold-out Boston Pops’ (6) Independence Day concert at the Shed with Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste (in photo) and singer Mavis Staples, led by Keith Lockhart. The Fourth of July concert, for a COVID-19-reduced capacity crowd of 9,000—normally 18,000—marked the Boston Pops’ first show for an in-person audience in over a year.

Anne Parsons, president and CEO of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, at the ceremony unveiling street signs named for her in Detroit, June 30, 2021.

New in Detroit: Anne Parsons Way

How do you get to Anne Parsons Way? Eighteen years leading the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, that’s how. In June, longtime DSO President and CEO Anne Parsons was recognized by the City of Detroit with the addition of a secondary street name, Anne Parsons Way, to the existing Parsons Street next to Orchestra Hall. At the unveiling ceremony, DSO trumpets Stephen Anderson and William Lucas performed a fanfare, and there were remarks by DSO Board Chairman Mark Davidoff, City of Detroit Director of Arts and Culture Rochelle Riley, DSO cellist Haden McKay, and Parsons herself.

Parsons retires from the DSO in 2022. Under her leadership, the DSO hired Leonard Slatkin (2008) and Jader Bignamini (2020) as music directors; improved its financial outlook; and expanded its digital initiatives. Parsons led the DSO in developing a comprehensive diversity, equity, and inclusion strategy and a Mission and Values Taskforce, and the DSO added programs including the new Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a community-driven process to create musical experiences throughout the city, and Detroit Harmony, which will provide an instrument and music education to students and create jobs through workforce partnerships.

Seven New Board Members at League

Seven new board members have joined the Board of Directors of the League of American Orchestras. The newly elected board members, to serve three-year terms, are: Carmen Amalia Corrales (trustee, incoming board secretary, co-chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, and member of the Executive Committee, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra); Chris Doerr (board member, treasurer, past board chair, Jacksonville Symphony); Afa S. Dworkin (president and artistic director, Sphinx Organization); Gary Ginstling (executive director, National Symphony Orchestra); Lina González-Granados (Sir Georg Solti Conducting Apprentice, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; conducting fellow, the Philadelphia Orchestra); Andrea Kalyn (president, New England Conservatory of Music); and Robert Naparstek (president, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Music School). Current League Board Member Howard Palefsky (board member and immediate past chair, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) has been elected treasurer.

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Gary Payne

Joshua White

The Score

The Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center in L.A.’s Inglewood neighborhood.

Music at Menlo’s Spieker Center for the Arts in Atherton, California.

The Brevard Music Festival’s 400-seat Parker Concert Hall.

Craig Cozart

Kevin Meechan

The San Diego Symphony performs at the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, led by Music Director Rafael Payare.

New Views, New Sounds

Several long-planned concert halls and orchestral spaces opened recently. The San Diego Symphony’s new year-round outdoor venue, the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, opened with an August 6 gala performance led by Music Director Rafael Payare. With many people hesitant to return to indoor venues during the pandemic, and with San Diego’s mild climate, the orchestra opted to perform at the Shell through the fall, instead of returning to the Jacobs Music Center. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new Judith and Thomas L. Beckmen YOLA Center, a home for the LA Phil’s Youth

Orchestra Los Angeles in the Inglewood neighborhood, opened for classes this fall after a planned August grand opening was postponed due to the COVID-19 surge. The 25,000-square-foot building is dedicated to the 14-year-old YOLA music education program and is the fifth YOLA site, joining sites in South LA, the Rampart District, Westlake/ MacArthur Park, and East LA. Music at Menlo’s new Spieker Center for the Arts in Atherton, California opened to the public in July. The building includes a 384-seat hall and administrative offices for the festival, co-founded in 2003 by cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han. The festival previously had presented concerts at venues including St. Mark’s Church (Palo Alto) and Menlo-Atherton High School. In August, the Brevard Music Center’s new 400-seat Parker Concert Hall welcomed audiences; the hall overlooks Lake Milner and hosts a chamber series this season. Parker joins Brevard’s existing open-air, 1,800-seat Whittington-Pfohl Auditorium. Parker will house Brevard student programs and serve as a year-round resource for western North Carolina.

Matt Turner

Community, Collaboration, Climate Change

Artists working with the Adelaide Symphony on Floods of Fire, from left: Noriko Tadano, Julian Ferraretto, Farhan Shah, Elizabeth McCall, Lorcan Hopper and Zhao Liang.

A year ago, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra launched Floods of Fire, a collaborative composition project that draws on the cultural heritage of a spectrum of communities in South Australia to explore the impact and process the trauma of the devastating fires and floods that hit the country in 2019-20. Floods of Fire is a partnership of the orchestra with members of diverse communities, local arts groups, and musicians from a broad range of cultural backgrounds—and they participate in workshops with composers including Julian Ferraretto, Hilary Kleinig, Adam Page, Luke Harold, Grayson Rotumah, Jakub Jankowski, Zhao Liang, and Belinda Gehlert. Conductor Luke Dollman and Chris Drummond, artistic director of Adelaide theater company Brink Productions, are linking the varied narratives, visions, and approaches to artmaking. Audiences get a look at the project during the ASO’s Festival of Orchestra in November—although Floods of Fire’s value may reside as much in its meaning for its co-creators as it does for viewers.

Wallace Foundation Launches $53M Initiative for Arts Groups of Color In August, the Wallace Foundation announced a five-year, $53 million initiative focusing on arts organizations of color as part of its efforts to help foster equitable improvements in the arts. The initiative will examine how arts organizations of color, facing strategic challenges, leverage their community orientation to increase resilience and sustain relevance. Wallace invited eligible arts organizations to apply for support, and invited researchers to submit proposals for studies associated with the initiative; grantees will be announced at a later date. The foundation will select 10 to 12 organizations, with budgets between $500,000 and $5 million, in the visual and performing arts, literary and media arts, and community-based organizations focused on artistic practice. Each selected organization will receive five years of funding totaling approximately $2 to $3 million to develop and pursue projects that address their own strategic challenges and will participate in peer learning and research to advance knowledge in the nonprofit arts field. Visit www. wallacefoundation.org/ArtsOpenCall to learn more.

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Facilitating U.S. Artist Visas and International Travel

Beginning in March 2020, international travel for many musicians and other artists came to a standstill, with so few live performances taking place due to the pandemic. Throughout this time, the League has been responding to the challenges that have sprung up in a variety of ways, not just on behalf of orchestras but of all U.S. arts organizations. These efforts include advancing COVID-specific policy requests to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the U.S. Department of State, meeting with agency staff to convey the unique and particular needs of the arts, and advising stakeholders how to navigate the current climate for obtaining travel waivers for the many artists flying from or through dozens of travel-restricted countries. With the 2021 return to live performances and announced plans by the Biden Administration to reduce COVID-19 travel restrictions, the U.S. artist visa process will be ramping up, along with all manner of other sectors petitioning for other types of visas. In response to the need for more specific, up-to-the-minute guidance on visas and international travel, the League recently co-presented a free webiner; ongoing news and assistance is publicly available at https://www.artistsfromabroad.org/, which has a dedicated news page on COVID-related visa news and international travel.

Putting Women Composers on the Map Spanish musicologist Sakira Ventura has created an interactive map featuring more than 500 women composers—and counting. The map, at https://svmusicology.com/ mapa/?lang=es, has photo icons representing each composer, overlaid on a world map; users can click on a picture to learn more about that composer. Included are composers from the past, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s often overlooked sister Maria Anna (Nannerl), Hawaiʻi’s Queen Liliuokalani, and the ninth-century Byzantine-Greek composer and hymnographer Kassia. Given classical music’s historical timeline, many composers are in Western Europe, but the map includes composers from a wide geographic range. Living composers include Alma Deutscher (U.K.), Tawnie Olson (Canada), Elena Kats-Chernin (born in Uzbekistan, now based in Australia), Juhi Bansal (India), Eleanor Alberga ( Jamaica), and Gabriela Lena Frank (U.S.). Ventura’s goal: to give these composers their due. As she told the Guardian newspaper in August, “If I’m putting together a map of female composers, it is because these women don’t appear anywhere else.” She plans to continue adding to the map/database.

MUSICAL CHAIRS The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music have selected five musicians for the next class of CSO/ CCM Diversity Fellows: LUIS CELIS AVILA (double bass), TYLER McKISSON (viola), LUIS PARRA (cello), SAMANTHA POWELL (cello), and MWAKUDUA KUO SAN “DUA” WANGURE (violin).

The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra has named WILLIAM BANFIELD to a three-year composer residency, which began in July 2021.

ANNE BERQUIST has been selected as the Las Vegas Philharmonic’s executive director.

KARIN BROOKES, Early Music America’s executive director since 2017, has been appointed administrative director of the Historical Performance program at the Juilliard School in New York City.

GABRIEL BRUCE has been chosen as conductor and director of the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra in Sioux Falls has appointed TIMOTHY J. CAMPBELL as director of the South Dakota Symphony Chorus.

Indiana’s Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed CHUN-MING ( JIMMY) CHEN as conductor of the Evansville Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.

ANTOINE T. CLARK is the Wheeling (WV) Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor. Clark will retain his posts as music director of the Northern Ohio Youth Orchestra–Philharmonia Orchestra and the Ohio Wesleyan University Chamber Orchestra.

Philadelphia Orchestra Acting Associate Principal Bass JOSPEH CONYERS has added a post as director of the Young Artists Orchestra program at Boston University.

North Carolina’s Charlotte Symphony has named ANNE MARIE FORBES as vice president of development.

Violinist HILARY HAHN has been selected as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural artist in residence, for the 2021-22 season.

South Carolina’s Spoleto Festival USA has appointed MENA MARK HANNA as general director.

The East Texas Symphony Orchestra has named ROBIN HAMPTON executive director. D.M. EDWARDS is the orchestra’s new board chair.

CHRISTOPHER HARRINGTON has been selected as president and CEO of the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. Harrington held a variety of leadership roles at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra since 2012.

The Amarillo Symphony has appointed DAVID HYSLOP as interim executive director.

MELANIE M. KALNINS has joined Artis— Naples, the Florida-based parent organization of the Naples Philharmonic and the Baker Museum, as vice president of marketing and patron engagement.

The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia has promoted ANDREW LANE to the newly created position of vice president, touring and artist management. Lane previously oversaw Curtis on

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The Score

Afghanistan National Institute of Music Closes, as Taliban Resumes Power

World Economic Forum

It’s hard to believe that less than a decade ago, young musicians from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) were making a splash with an international tour, including performances at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, and the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The co-educational school—based in Kabul and founded in 2010 by Dr. Ahmad Sarmast and a symbol of gender equality in Afghanistan—closed its doors abruptly in August after the Taliban resumed power in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal of military forces. Many citizens fear they will be attacked or punished by the Taliban, given its history of punishment for those who practice nonreligious music. After more than a month of efforts on their behalf by many organizations around the world, in early October 101 students, former students, faculty and relatives of those who went to the school fled, arriving first in Qatar and eventually in Portugal, which has granted them visas. Many others have been unable to leave, with women, girls, journalists, musicians, and all those who helped the Americans during the war at particular risk. The League of American Orchestras is among American arts organizations actively engaging in an international effort to support music rights for the people of Afghanistan; draw attention to their plight with hashtags including #StandWithANIM; #MusicIsAHumanRight; #SupportANIM; #FriendsofANIM; #AfghanWomen; #AfghanMusic; and encouraging people to donate to the official U.S.based nonprofit supporting the Afghanistan National Institute of Music here, with all donations going toward securing the safety of the school and student body.

MUSICAL CHAIRS Tour and the launch of Curtis’s artist management initiative.

MATTHEW LODEN is now dean of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, after serving as CEO of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

The Greensboro Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina has named HEATHER LOFDAHL as music director of the Greensboro Symphony Youth Orchestra.

DOMINIQUE LUECKE has been hired as executive director of the La Crosse Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin.

The Wichita Falls Youth Symphony Orchestra in Texas has selected MATTHEW D. LUTTRELL as music director.

Florida’s Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra has elected MELODY LYNCH as its new board president.

Pennsylvania’s Lancaster Symphony Orchestra has named SARA MALE, who has played cello in the orchestra for a decade, as board chair.

JESSICA MOREL has been appointed music director of the Greater Princeton Youth Orchestra.

The American Pianists Association has selected PETER MRAZ as president and CEO. The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance, the parent organization of the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Dayton Ballet, and Dayton Opera, has appointed PATRICK J. NUGENT as president and CEO. EMER OLIVAREZ has joined the Southwest Florida Symphony in Fort Myers as grants and communications manager.

The Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra has appointed SARA PARKINSON as executive director.

The Alabama Symphony Orchestra has selected MARK PATRICK as executive director.

DAWN POSEY has been chosen as the Bellingham (WA) Symphony Orchestra’s new concertmaster.

Courtesy VSO

Louisiana Philharmonic Music Director CARLOS MIGUEL PRIETO has added the post of artistic adviser of the North Carolina Symphony, while the Raleigh-based orchestra seeks a permanent music director.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s Jukebox Quartet performs at Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Waitsfield, July 13, 2021.

Made in Vermont

This summer, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s VSO Jukebox Quartet presented free concerts at breweries around the state to keep the music going during the pandemic. At Lawson’s Finest Liquids in Waitsfield in July, Assistant Principal Second Violin Brooke Quiggins, violinist Laura Markowitz, Assistant Principal Viola Stefanie Taylor, and Principal Cello John Dunlop performed music ranging from Scott Joplin and Elena Kats-Chernin to arrangements of rock tunes by Jimi Hendrix and Nirvana. The quartet, established in 2017, performs throughout the state, year round. This October, the VSO made its full-orchestra return to the Flynn Center in Burlington, the first such concert since February 2020. Led by Akiko Fujimoto, the first of seven music director candidates this season, the program included music by Beethoven, Ravel, and Jessie Montgomery, plus the world premiere of a cello concerto by Jordanian-Canadian composer Suad Bushnaq. The VSO plans to launch a competition for young Vermont composer/ musicians to create songs based on Bushnaq’s cello concerto and co-present a public lecture with Bushnaq and three Vermont-based immigrant musicians.

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The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, located in Winston-Salem, has appointed SAXTON ROSE as dean of the School of Music.

EMMA SCHERER has joined the Santa Fe Symphony Orchestra and Chorus as executive director.

Michigan’s Grand Rapids Symphony has announced the one-year appointment of YANIV SEGAL as conductor of the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony.

Canada’s Calgary Philharmonic has selected MARC STEVENS as CEO and president; Stevens previously was general director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra.

The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in Connecticut has appointed HEIDI STUBNER as executive director.

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Remembering 9/11

Flags were placed on the lawn of Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra’s Kleinhans Music Hall for its September 11 concert, “American Resilience: 20th Anniversary Commemoration to 9/11 Heroes.”

Orchestras around the country marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks with concerts and other tributes.

On September 11, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, in collaboration with the Western New York Families of September 11 and the American Red Cross, Western New York Chapter, presented “American Resilience: 20th Anniversary Commemoration to 9/11 Heroes,” conducted by John Morris Russell. The concert at at Kleinhans Music Hall included George Walker’s Lyric for Strings, Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man, and the Largo from Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9. Charleston, South Carolina’s Colour of Music Festival—which brings together classically trained musicians, composers, and performers of African descent together to showcase Black classical artistry—performed a free concert marking the 20th anniversary of September 11, conducted by Julius P. Williams. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s concert at Meyerson Symphony Center featured music by American composers including Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Augustus Hailstork, Charles Ives, and John Williams, and ticket proceeds from the concert benefited Carry The Load, a Dallas-based organization honoring members of the military, veterans, first responders and their families. Music Director James Blachly led Pennsylvania’s Johnstown Symphony Orchestra in an hour-long outdoor concert on September 11 at the

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Flight 93 National Memorial; on September 10, an ensemble from the Johnstown Symphony provided music as part of a luminaria ceremony at the national park. On September 11 at California’s Del Mar Surf Cup Sports Park, David Chan led saxophonist Branford Marsalis, soprano Gabriella Reyes, and the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra, which comprises principal players from multiple U.S. orchestras, in a concert benefitting the National Conflict Resolution Center. Music Director Gianandrea Noseda led the National Symphony Orchestra’s free concert at the Kennedy Center on September 10, which featured the commissioned world premiere of James Lee III’s An Engraved American Mourning. included the “The President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. On September 11 at the Sandy Promenade in San­dy, Utah, Connor Gray Covington led the Utah Symphony’s concert at the annual Utah Healing Field’s 9/11 ceremony presented by the Colonial Flag Foundation.

Ode to JOy

412-563-6505 dan2@dankamin.com S ee for you rs elf at w w w.dankamin.c om 11

The Score

A Place for Us

MUSICAL CHAIRS

Twentieth Century Studios

Director Steven Spielberg’s film of West Side Story, based on the 1957 Broadway musical, was slated for release a year ago, but the pandemic halted that. Now the film—featuring Leonard Bernstein’s iconic score performed by the New York Philharmonic and led by Gustavo Dudamel—will open in theaters this December Ariana DeBose and cast members in the new Steven Spielberg film of and appear on Disney Plus. The musical—book by Arthur Laurents, West Side Story. music by Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim—transposed Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to Hell’s Kitchen in New York City, which seethed with racial conflict. Conceived, directed, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, a frequent Bernstein collaborator, the musical revolves around turf wars between rival gangs: the Sharks, recent immigrants from Puerto Rico, and the Jets, a White gang whose members loathe new arrivals. Tony Kushner (Angels in America) adapted Laurents’s script, and Justin Peck choreographed the film—with a nod to Robbins’s original dances. Unlike the 1961 film, this West Side Story features Puerto Rican and Latinx actors, plus one notable return: Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her Anita in the 1961 film, appears as Valentina, a new character.

SHANTA THAKE has been named chief artistic officer at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York.

Illinois’ Elgin Symphony Orchestra has appointed MARC THAYER as its chief executive officer; he was previously Symphony New Hampshire’s executive director.

BRAMWELL TOVEY has been named music director of Florida’s Sarasota Orchestra. He will retain his posts as principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra and artistic advisor at the Rhode Island Philharmonic.

The Houston Symphony has announced JURAJ VALČUHA as its next music director..

THOMAS WILKINS is the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s inaugural principal guest conductor. He retains his conducting posts at the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra; he stepped down in June as the Omaha Symphony’s music director.

KATIE WYATT, co-founder of Kidznotes, the North Carolina-based orchestra-training program for youth, has been named executive director of Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

Youthful Summer Sounds

Chris Lee

Chris Lee

This summer, Carnegie Hall’s three National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America ensembles—NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz—once again convened in person, after an all-digital format in 2020. The musicians—208 musicians, representing 40 U.S. states—met for a monthlong residency at Purchase College, SUNY, with COVID-19 health protocols in place, for private lessons and master classes led by faculty made up of esteemed jazz artists and principal players from American orchestras. The residency was capped by a livestreamed performance by the three ensembles on July 24, in place of a tour. Carlos Miguel Prieto, music director of the Louisiana Philharmonic, served as conductor for NYO-USA; Mei-Ann Chen, music director of the Chicago Sinfonietta, led NYO2; and Sean Jones returned as artistic director and Carnegie Hall’s NYO-USA, NYO2, and NYO Jazz perform in a virtual concert, July 24, 2021, led by bandleader of NYO Jazz. Repertoire included Hindemith’s (clockwise from top left) Sean Jones, Mei-Ann Chen, and Carlos Miguel Prieto.

Symphonic Metamorphosis after Themes by Carl Maria von Weber, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”), Anna Clyne’s Sound and Fury, and a commissioned piece from young composer Molly Joyce. The jazz ensemble’s performance will be released as an album this fall. The National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America is free to all participants; in addition to the original NYO-USA ensemble (ages 16-19) launched in 2013, Carnegie Hall added NYO2 (ages 14-17) in 2016, and NYO Jazz in 2018. Since the program’s inception, the ensembles have performed in concert halls in 15 countries in Europe, North America, South America, and Asia.

Shuttered Venues Grants Enter Supplemental Phase

As the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) continues to implement the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants (SVOG) program, eligible applicants are now being invited to accept supplemental grant awards. More than 300 orchestras have received essential COVID-19 relief funding through the initial round of SVOG awards, and the League has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts to both support the program and to help orchestras navigate the application and compliance procedures. To qualify for a second grant, entities must demonstrate a minimum 70% decline in earned revenue in the first quarter of calendar year 2021, compared to the same quarter of calendar year 2019. The SBA is also working on the details of the steps that grantees will need to complete when closing out the initial and supplemental grant reporting process and will issue further information when it is available.The League remains in frequent dialogue with the SBA regarding the Shuttered Venues program and keeps orchestras informed regarding all forms of federal assistance through its COVID-19 Relief Resource Center at https://americanorchestras. org/learn/covid-19/federal-assistance/.

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Met Milestone

Matt Turner

It was a milestone that was a long time coming: In September, Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones became the first work by a Black composer to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera since the company was formed in 1883. The season-opening performance was also the first at the Metropolitan Opera House since the pandemic began in 2020. Fire had its world premiere in 2019 at Opera Theatre of St. Louis; the composer, best known for scoring multiple Spike Lee films, is also composer of 2013’s Champion: An The Metropolitan Opera’s opening-night performance of Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with composer Terence Blanchard Opera in Jazz, about boxer Emile Griffith, also (center, in checked suit), Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin (front row left) and members of the cast and crew. premiered in St. Louis. Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with a libretto adapted by Kasi Lemmons from Charles Blow’s 2014 memoir of the same name, centers on Blow’s upbringing in segregated rural Louisiana, where he was molested when he was young; themes include racism, violence, and the abuse of power. The score features a jazz quartet embedded within the orchestra. The performance, staged by Camille Brown and James Robinson, featured baritone Will Liverman as adult Charles and seven-year-old Walter Russell III as Char’es-Baby (young Charles); Latonia Moore sang the pivotal role of Billie, Charles’s mother; and Angel Blue sang the multiple roles of Destiny/Loneliness/Greta. The audience in the house responded with thunderous applause; the performance was also livestreamed for outdoor audiences in Manhattan’s Times Square and Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem. Blanchard has stressed in interviews that while he may be the first Black composer to have a work performed at the Met, he is far from the first one qualified to do so, citing Scott Joplin and William Grant Still as past examples. The second opera by a Black composer to be staged at the Met will come in 2023, after only a two-year wait: Anthony Davis’s 1986 opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, in a production by Robert O’Hara that will first make its debut in spring 2022 at Detroit’s Michigan Opera Theatre.

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13

In Memoriam: Conductor Michael Morgan (1957-2021)

Michael Morgan with the Oakland Symphony Orchestra

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ichael Morgan, whose commitment to music education, community connections, and social justice transformed the orchestras he conducted and the way we think about orchestras’ roles and impact, died on August 20 in Oakland, California from a severe infection following a kidney transplant in May. He was 63. Morgan had served as music director of California’s Oakland Symphony Orchestra since 1991; he was also music director of California’s Bear Valley Music Festival and the Gateways Music Festival in Rochester, New York. In addition, he was artistic director of Oakland Symphony Youth Orchestra and music director emeritus of the Sacramento Philharmonic and Opera.

Michael DeVard Morgan was born in Washington, D.C. on September 17, 1957. He began studying piano at age 14

eight, conducted his junior high school orchestra at age 12, and while in high school was a conductor of the D.C. Youth Orchestra. He studied composition at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and was mentored at Tanglewood by Gunther Schuller, Seiji Ozawa, and Leonard Bernstein. In 1986, he was appointed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s assistant conductor; in 1992, he made his New York Philharmonic conducting debut. At the Oakland Symphony his programming ranged from canonic works to new music and programs celebrating Native American and LGBTQ+ communities. His three-decade commitment in Oakland made a deep impact on an entire generation there, and spurred new models for how orchestras interact with their communities.

After his death, there were many heartfelt tributes to Morgan.

Oakland Symphony Executive Director Mieko Hatano wrote at the orchestra’s website, “This is a terribly sad moment for everyone in the Oakland Symphony family. We have lost our guiding father.” Oakland Symphony Board Chair Jim Hasler added: “Michael’s impact on our community and the national orchestra field cannot be overstated….

We have been blessed over the past 30 years, as Michael built the foundations of an Oakland Symphony dedicated to diversity, education, artistic collaboration and a celebration of music across genres and cultures.”

Morgan was scheduled to lead the Gateways Music Festival, which features professional classical musicians of African descent, in Rochester in April 2022 and at its Carnegie Hall debut the same month. “How we will face the Gateways Carnegie Hall debut without him, I do FA L L 2 0 21

not even know,” wrote Gateways Music Festival President and Artistic Director Lee Koonce. “But the fierceness of his excellence, from his first day on the podium, to 25 years of Gateways, to his debut with the San Francisco Symphony just two months ago, is what made this moment possible. If not in body, we will carry Michael Morgan with us in spirit.”

Violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins wrote: “Sharp of wit and brilliant of artistic mind—that was Maestro Michael Morgan. I had the great honor of working with him as concertmaster and soloist, from my student days straight through to the present moment…. Through his vast knowledge of the Black composers that many in the field are only now beginning to seek out, I discovered and played my first notes of symphonies by Florence Price, William Dawson, Olly Wilson and contemporary composers such as Carlos Simon.”

Jesse Rosen, former League of American Orchestras president and CEO, wrote, “Like many, there is a hole

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in my heart since Michael’s passing. He used to kid that we knew each other since we were in diapers—not quite true, but a good 40 years. Beyond my sadness, though, is the awe for Michael as a transformative leader of the entire orchestra community. Before Michael, many orchestras subscribed to the not very helpful idea that bigger is better and that there was one version of success: big budget, new concert hall, long season, famous guest artists. Just read Autopsy of a Symphony Orchestra, which chronicled the demise of the Oakland Symphony in 1986, to see where that approach led.

Michael took the reins there in 1988 and wisely never looked back. It was Michael, more than any single person I can think of, who firmly established a new ethos that the life of an orchestra must be marbled together with the life of its community, with the music and the experience of the artists and audience at the absolute center. Today, that vision animates the life of the orchestra community, and we have Michael to thank.”

League of American Orchestras President and CEO Simon Woods commented, “I believe that I first met Michael Morgan on a panel at a League Conference in the late 1990s, and I always had a very special affection for him. He was a tremendous musician who turned the Oakland Symphony into a unique community asset and a model for other orchestras. Beyond that, he was a great human with a huge heart. Just last fall the two of us did a long Zoom discussion for the Oakland Symphony. Michael as usual was perceptive, passionate, insightful, funny, and, above all, generous of spirit. The world always seemed a better place when you were with him. I feel humbled and honored to have shared space with him, and although it’s hard to process that he’s gone, he leaves wonderful memories and an indelible legacy across our field.”

Morgan is survived by his mother, Mabel Morgan, and a sister, Jacquelyn Morgan.

At press time, plans for a memorial service were pending.

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Forward Thinking

Power in Sharing

Arts organizations have long been dominated by the singular artistic leader at the top whose vision sets the course for the organization. As society changes and expectations for the sharing of power grow, that model is shifting in exciting ways. The Public Theater in New York is embracing a model of shared artistic leadership, with new voices and perspectives at the top—and is finding fresh success. What might orchestras learn? Simon Woods interviews Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater.

Craig T.-Mathew/Mathew Imaging

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Joan Marcus

Simon Woods, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras

Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater in New York City

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ver the past decade the theater world has been though extraordinary changes as it has sought to refract and reflect 21st-century society in ever more relevant ways. The orchestra world is now enter­ing its own moment of deep re-evalua­tion about what it stands for and how we interact with the communities around us. And yet we rarely take the time (and I include myself in that failing) to look around us and see what we might learn from other art forms. I recently had the chance to sit down for an expansive conversation with one of the great names in contemporary theater, Oskar Eustis, the artistic director of the Public Theater in New York City. To say that the conver­sation was inspiring hardly does justice to how energizing I found it. Eustis is a leader of vast charisma, but his remarks centered on his own journey of learning as he rethought what it meant to be an artistic leader, welcomed other voices to the table, and allowed them to lead the organization in new directions.

The message is clear: the opening up of traditional roles of leadership is a journey into deep enrichment, both artistic and human, and one that none of us should be afraid of.

Oskar Eustis has been deeply involved with bringing some of the most extraordinary works of art of our time to life on his stages, including Tony Kushner’s Angels in America and Hamilton.

Since taking over as artistic director of

the Public Theater in New York City in 2005, Eustis has not only maintained its position at the vanguard of this country’s most forward-looking theaters, he has propelled it in bold and influential new directions, onstage and off.

What fascinates me about Oskar is that he is decidedly the leader of the Public Theater—that is not open for negotiation. But he has had the humility and daring to open himself up to a completely different model of artistic leadership at his own institution. This topic is intriguing and important for us in an orchestral world that has traditionally relied on the notion of the powerful, singular artistic leader who wields significant influence over their organizations and is the focal point not only for artistic decisions, but for marketing and fundraising as well.

SIMON WOODS: Thank you so much for speaking to me today! Let me start by asking you to explain how the notion of shared artistic leadership emerged in your organization. When did you realize that the traditional models of leadership wouldn’t work for what you hoped to achieve?

OSKAR EUSTIS: There have been discussions throughout my career about collective leadership—my first theater company was a collective. But as my career moved on, so for about the last 30 years, it narrowed into a more traditional structure where I was an artistic director.

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Joan Marcus

Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks and director Oskar Eustis in rehearsal for Parks’s White Noise at the Public Theater, 2019.

I’ve run two big theaters over the last 25 years. The accepted form was the artistic director as the sole artistic authority, sharing some administrative and executive authority with an executive director. But the artistic director being the font of all artistic decision-making became what I did almost de facto, because it was the standard set by the field.

If I take the example of the Public Theater, it was founded by Joseph Papp, who was a charismatic megafauna if there ever was one. He was the visionary leader at the top. After a brief interim he was replaced by George C. Wolfe, who was also, by any definition, a strong leader. I have always been less focused on my own work as a director and more focused on the playwrights I work with, and a little more distributive, but not entirely. It was still basically the model of all artistic decisions were made by me. I could delegate certain programs, but that was my choice.

I think the demand for change started to rise to a fever pitch after George Floyd was murdered, but the setup for those demands was the seven years before them, when for a number of reasons—my advancing age and seniority—created a bigger and bigger gap between me and the rest of my staff. I was by far the oldest person on the artistic staff. Also, several of my best top leaders were poached to run other organizations. There was an increasing gap between my age, experience, and seniority, and other artistic staff.

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Additionally, seven and a half years ago, I had a personal tragedy, which among other things made me turn inward, be less social, and drove me back to directing more. The impact of that was that my artistic executive decisions were made more quickly, often more privately, because I was on a rehearsal break and had to decide something.

The uproar of complaints about my privatized decision-making process was based not only on what was unleashed when George Floyd was murdered, meaning demand for greater equity across the field, but also a specific response to my own behavior over the previous years.

I had to recognize both of those things

“The Public Theater has been a progressive institution from its founding in 1954.

But our internal structure looked like every other theater in the country, and was autocratic, individualistic, and top-down.”

at once. It was an enormous questioning of the legitimacy of my authority, and it’s what Habermas, the German social scientist, called a legitimation crisis.

Regardless of what your job title is, what your job responsibilities are, you can’t actually do your job unless people accept the legitimacy of you having that authority. I was suddenly in a position where a whole lot of my staff and people in other fields said, “Why do you get to make all these decisions? What sense does it make that a straight White man over 60 is making all of the decisions for the Public Theater?” I was forced to acknowledge both realities: that personally I had become more privatized and less collegial, with fewer opportunities for diverse voices to influence me, and that structurally, they were absolutely correct. The Public Theater has been a progressive institution from its founding in 1954. On our stages for over half a century we have been trumpeting values of equality, of democracy, of inclusion. But our internal structure looked like every other theater in the country, and was autocratic, individualistic, and top-down.

I was seeing the correctness of the arguments that something needed to change, and I knew if I didn’t change, I could lose my ability to be an artistic director.

George Floyd was murdered on Memorial Day 2020, and our internal discussions began three days later. Huge

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Joan Marcus

In addition to his work as the Public Theater’s artistic leader, Oskar Eustis is a director. Above, he’s in rehearsal with Linda Emond and Nikki M. James for Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day at the Public Theater, 2019.

“The core principle ... is that we will be improved if there is a diversity of voices entering into decisionmaking about key things.”

confrontations, anger, chaos, as I think happened at many institutions, but perhaps more at mine because of our values.

We had a staff of 250 people, roughly half BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Color]. We also have values that speak about equality, democracy, anti-racism, and racial inclusion. The staff believes wholeheartedly in those ideals, so they expressed real disappointment. For several weeks, I was lost and blindsided. After a while, I’d gotten my feet under me enough so I could say, all right, what is my job? I defined my job as listening to artists and my staff and my board, listening to their desires, their complaints, their critique with as much seriousness as I can muster, take it in as deeply as I can, then do what I think is right. Out of that, the first set of choices about distributive leadership came.

WOODS: Talk to me a little bit about how it actually works. This extraordinary rethinking that went on in your head: where did it lead, and what does it look like?

EUSTIS: The choice I made in August of 2020 was to try to make the 18

decision-making table at the top of the artistic organization reflect the values and diversity of the Public. I have had one associate artistic director since I’ve been here; she is a White woman. I added two more associate artistic directors, both of them incredibly talented and people of color. There was an artistic director and three associate artistic directors, each with their own portfolio in addition to being associate artistic director.

I then added to my artistic team the managing director of the theater, who is basically accountable for all the administrative, logistical, financial, production sides of our shows, as well as the director of producing, who oversees the line producers on the shows. We had a table of six people: three men, three women, three White, three BIPOC. The commitment I made was that every serious artistic decision, programming, hiring of directors, creating of new programs, shows, will be made with those six people present after full and frank discussion. The ultimate authority is still mine. I’m still accountable to the board. I don’t ever get to say, “I didn’t want to do that, but we had to.” I’m accountable. You can’t separate responsibility from authority.

Once people who respect each other are talking fully and frankly, the gravitational pull towards consensus is enormous.

There has not been a moment in the last year where I have had to say, “I hear all of you, I know you disagree with me, and I’m overriding you.” There have been occasions where one or two people have dissented, but we’ve never had a moment where people said, “I can’t stand behind

this decision.” That’s been terribly important: all of us stand behind those decisions.

So far it’s worked. I can see many ways in which it might fail. But it has absolutely allowed more diversity of opinion before we make decisions. And that has changed some of the decisions we make.

WOODS: It’s interesting that this is not just an artistic grouping, but you brought in executive leadership as well. What is the relationship between this group and financial and other decisions that might more naturally fall into the executive domain? Do they surface at that table, or is that purely a place where you focus on artistic content and vision?

EUSTIS: Our discussions are entirely about artistic choices, but include how long will it take to build this set, how much is this going to cost. Out of those decisions, budgets are created that then go to another room, where Executive Director Patrick Willingham, who is my co-CEO, and I argue it out and make the final decisions. The group is not all-powerful within the institution, but only within the artistic and production decisions.

WOODS: It doesn’t appear to have diluted the creativity of the organization. In fact, quite the reverse. The 2021-22 season is staggering in its plurality and breadth

“The choice I made in August of 2020 was to make the decision-making table at the top of the artistic organization reflect the values and diversity of the Public Theater.” and cultural richness. Do you think that has come out of the discussions that have emerged in that brain trust?

EUSTIS: Absolutely. We know from life experience that decisions are influenced in ways that we are not even conscious of—by who we’re talking to, who we’re spending time with, who we’re listening to. For example, there is a play that I had rejected before this group came together.

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Simon Luethi

But everybody in the group except me was enthusiastic about this play. We spent two weeks talking about the play, and by the end of the two weeks I said, “You’re right. Let’s do it.”

WOODS: Was that challenging for you, or did that come naturally? Did it threaten your sense of your identity as an artistic leader? I have a reason for asking that question, which relates to the orchestra field.

EUSTIS: I felt stunningly threatened before I set up this structure, because I felt that the entire staff in the artistic field was telling me I should not be able to make decisions. But creating this group instantly felt more pleasurable, more relieved, because it’s a good thing for me to argue about why I like and don’t like plays. Mixing it up with people was a gift.

I’ve gotten an education that I couldn’t have gotten any other way.

WOODS: In the orchestral world, we are used to quite hierarchical structures with an executive director and a music director at the top of the pyramid. They may be very collaborative with others in the organization, but nonetheless tend to be conscious of their position at the top of the tree. As I think about what lessons there are for us, what I am hearing is that something that appeared threatening initially was in fact deeply enriching to you?

EUSTIS: Absolutely.

WOODS: And that the journey was powerful enough to you as an artist that it might have value for others, too.

EUSTIS: I certainly hope so. The core principle that led to the formation of this group—and has influenced many other practices within the theater—is that we will be improved if there is a diversity of voices entering into decision-making about key things. This is happening on the production level, it’s happening in the marketing department. That principle that we are not weakened but strengthened by bringing more voices to the table is proving to be incredibly true.

I think we’re going to experience problems as we start producing full-time again. One of the advantages of autocratic decision-making is it can happen very quickly, and sometimes things need to happen quickly. But the gain that we’re getting from decisions being made a little more slowly, but more thoughtfully and with more participation of different points

Hamilton was developed and performed at the Public Theater before becoming a smash hit on Broadway. Oskar Eustis, fourth from left, with Hamilton creative team members (from left) Andy Blankenbuehler, Ron Chernow, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Thomas Kail, and Alex Lacamoire.

of view, is going to far outweigh the gains that we make for speed.

WOODS: Pinnacle leaders can often be perceived to be blocking the emergence of new talent. In a sense, you’re providing service to the field in allowing new names to flourish and the talent pool to become bigger.

EUSTIS: A major plank of our transformation is that we have consciously said for the first time that it is the obligation of the Public to support the career development of every staff member. For many years we were completely focused on the artists—it was our job to develop artists.

Now we have to do that for the staff members too. That is a real shift.

WOODS: Let’s pivot to Public Works, which is an incredibly inspiring program.

I’ve always believed that working with— not at—communities should be core to how we show up in our cities and regions.

I’m very interested to hear you talk about that, and particularly about what you have mentioned before, the notion of the

“Artistry is not a binary that people have or don’t have; it’s a scale. Every human being has the desire and need to express something artistically.”

“decolonization” of the relationship with community. What is the relationship between that work and the shared-leadership commitment?

EUSTIS: One of the important things for me is that the Public Works program was formed out of theory before anything pragmatic happened. Though there’s a lot we’re doing, we felt we’re not completely fulfilling the thing that we said is the most important: are we, with a steal from Lincoln, “of, by, and for” the people?

The fundamental idea was to change the theater from being an object, a commodity that can be bought and consumed, back into what it really is, which is a set of relationships among people. It has no object created, it’s just different relationships between people. We set up a program with people in under-resourced communities that would make theater, and for a year director Lear deBessonet spent time with community-based organizations around the five boroughs of New York and got to know them. We had identified that what we can’t do is community organization, we don’t know anything about it, so we needed to find partners who were experts at that.

Now we have ten partner organizations that really have reach and impact on their communities, and who understand that the theater might have something to offer that they couldn’t. Lear didn’t say, “This is what we want to do.” She said, “What do you want the Public Theater to do for you? What do you need that the Public Theater could do?” I have two favorite examples. The Senior Center

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Joan Marcus. Black Lives Matter Harlem Street Mural courtesy of Harlem Park To Park.

The company of the Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Merry Wives at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, summer 2021. Adapted by Jocelyn Bioh from Shakespeare’s Merry Wives of Windsor and directed by Saheem Ali, the production was set in South Harlem amid a community of West African immigrants.

in Brownsville, Brooklyn, an under-resourced neighborhood in New York City, wanted a jazzercise class. We said okay, and started a jazzercise class at the Senior Center. Domestic Workers United, which is the union of nannies, caregivers, and housekeepers, who are overwhelmingly people of color, said that they wanted a classical play-reading group in Spanish. We set up a play-reading group, every two weeks, where we read Shakespeare in translation and also Calderon and Lope de Vega. This was part of trying to establish authentic relationships with the communities.

Pretty soon, the women in the jazzercise class, who we were also bringing to see our shows, got excited about the idea of doing dances like you might do in the theater. Domestic Workers United got excited thinking that instead of just reading these plays, they could say these plays. We came up with the first Public Works Pageant, which was a musical adaptation of The Tempest almost ten years ago that starred 180 community members, five professional actors, and five professional musicians.

I knew that this was a great social program, wonderful for the people in it.

What I didn’t know was it would create the best art that I’d see that year. That has been true for the almost ten years since.

The Public Works shows are magnificent artistically. That forced us to realize that the idea of professional artists as opposed to amateur artists, or people who have certification and people who don’t, is a

“I knew that Public Works was a great social program, wonderful for the people in it. What I didn’t know was it would create the best art that I’d see that year.”

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false dichotomy. Artistry is not a binary that people have or don’t have; it’s a scale.

Every human being has the desire and need to express something artistically.

Some of us get to spend all of our lives doing that, and some of us only get to do it on very rare occasions. Some of us have spectacular natural gifts, some of us don’t. But everybody’s on a continuum.

If you throw out the distinctions and the barriers, and try to use theater for its full revolutionary value, and not just for the professional part, it can democratize and share in the culture as a whole.

WOODS: In our preparatory discussion for this, you said that caring about politics is about caring about being a human being. There are many people in the arts who believe that our fear of getting involved with politics and breaking the boundaries of our non-profit status has impeded us from becoming more urgently engaged in the issues of our time. Your phrase, that “caring about politics is about caring about being a human being” is an access point into doing work around social justice that has the chance to create much wider meaning for the organization.

EUSTIS: The Public was founded on a basis of inclusion from the very beginning in the early 1950s. Joe Papp, our founder, who never went to college, who had been a card-carrying member of the Communist Party in the 1930s and ’40s, believed that Shakespeare belonged to everybody, and that Shakespeare could be performed

by Americans in all of their variegated FA L L 2 0 21

skin tones and accents. Raúl Julia doing Shakespeare in his gorgeous Puerto Rican accent is central to our heritage. But what changed me deeply was working with Lear deBessonet. I come from a very political, very leftist background. I can talk about social justice in explicitly political ways, and I do all the time. Lear was raised in a different culture, in a religious upbringing. The values in my upbringing of equality, of not privately taking the wealth created by other people, but rather collectively creating wealth that belongs to the collective, are deep values in me.

When Lear and I started talking about this, she said, “Oh, what matters to me is the divine spark in every human soul.”

When she said it, chills went up my spine, and I realized that she is approaching equality from an extremely different direction, but one that, in ways, is more powerful. Lear, for example, had no interest in creating shows that talked about contemporary political issues, or took a stance on the Vietnam War or whatever. She had an interest in creating shows that were about respecting the power and imagination of every person on stage, and the plays

tended to be about how communities can empower individuals, not how individuals lead communities. She approached it from a very different political lens than I had, but with a commonality of values that now goes throughout our organization— we try to multiply the different ways that ideas of democracy and equality and inclusiveness can be manifested, so they’re not limited to those who agree with us.

WOODS: What advice do you have for orchestras? What have you learned that you would say to us as we contemplate the riches that we might find in the future, were we to think differently?

EUSTIS: I will answer this only with a complete understanding that I am so far from being an expert in your field that it’s not even funny!

WOODS: That’s why I’m asking you.

EUSTIS: One thing is that the idea of strictly dividing the professional from the non-professional is a dead end. It’s a legacy that in this country has been used to divide the educated who can appreciate the arts from the uneducated who supposedly can’t. There’s an elitist impulse behind it that our society is now rejecting

in a very fundamental way. To thrive, any art form has to figure out how to embrace the idea that it isn’t for a cultured few, it can be for everybody.

Music a perfect example. Historically, Italian opera was a popular mass art form.

Now in the United States, Italian opera is sung in Italian, and the only people who go to it are people who either don’t care if they understand the words, or who like reading supertitles. We’ve deliberately made it a narrower and more elite form.

What fertilizes the performing arts are sudden expansion of democracy, sudden expansion of inclusion, moments of saying that we can make music that’s for everybody. And it doesn’t necessarily just have to be the music we make, we can enable music in people that can revolutionize things.

You don’t have to start from what people call an artistic impulse. You can start from a human impulse of how you want your work to be better, how you want your work to matter more. Then you figure out how to do it. There have been great successes in that, and I hope the classical music field embraces that.

Welcome to Texas, Maestro Spano!

Photo by Karen Almond

The Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra welcomes highly acclaimed Maestro Robert Spano as its next Music Director.

Come and experience the innovative new leadership of symphonic music in Fort Worth.

President and CEO Keith Cerny Maestro Robert Spano For information on FWSO’s 2021/2022 Season visit fwsymphony.org

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Conference 2021

Embracing a Changed World

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ome 1,400 orchestra professionals gathered virtually from June 7 to 17 at the League of American Orchestras’ 2021 National Conference. With the theme of “Embracing a Changed World,” the Conference—the League’s 76th and the second to be held online—tackled big questions about the future through new perspectives, actionable content, and provocative discussion. It was the first Conference since President and CEO Simon Woods joined the League, and it featured many new voices; an unprecedented number of orchestral performances; a redesigned format encouraging discussion among attendees; and adjustments to make the Conference more accessible for people with a wide range of disabilities.

Conference sessions and events were grouped under five thematic days: Concert Hall vs. Digital, Better Together, Showing Up for Racial Equity, New Directions, and Reframing the Narrative. An Innovation Day featured sessions led by experts in the fields of acoustics, finance, brand strategy, audience retention, wellness, and patron engagement.

Ten orchestras showcased music that ranged from classical and contemporary works to world premieres by Tré Bryant, Roger Tallman, Michael Daugherty, Alexis Lamb, and Nina Shekhar. The orchestras were the Albany (NY) Symphony, Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, Greensboro Symphony Orchestra, Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Interschool Orchestras of New York, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, New Bedford Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and San Diego Symphony.

Visit https://leagueconference.org/ to learn more, watch videos and read transcripts of 2021 Conference sessions, and much more.

Wynton Marsalis, musician and managing and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, spoke at the Opening Session of the 2021 National Conference with League President and CEO Simon Woods about the future of the arts and orchestras in expanding musical offerings and audiences.

“What’s productive [in moving forward] is: get the greatest achievements of Afro-American composers, women composers, whoever we deem as ‘other.’ There have been great people of

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The League’s 2021 National Conference featured new ideas, new voices, new formats, new music, and drew thousands of orchestra professionals—all online. every race, ethnicity, gender. Find them. However, the achievements of Beethoven, Bach—there’s no way you should ever undermine those great masters. Our communities, both White and Black, need to know that music.

I’ve taught in schools around America, and White people don’t know about their music, either. We have a challenge: to teach everyone who these great masters are. And they can’t be seen only through the prism of race. I don’t see them through that prism. However, I work in a field that sees them that way. We need to correct those things ... Systems in our country are a certain way ... from the urban renewal that ran highways through Black folks’ communities to the travesty of the prison plantation system that exists now. Music cannot solve all those things....

What does Beethoven say in the Ninth Symphony? Live that message.... We need a holistic community approach that deals with parents and kids who are not exposed to our music. And by ‘our,’ I mean classical music. Beethoven’s music is my music. We need to figure out what we can do to expose them to the power of this music.”

Doug McLennan, founder and editor of ArtsJournal.com, which aggregates arts and culture news from around the Internet, speaking at “How Has Technology Changed Orchestras Forever?”

“Have orchestras had to rethink how to do things, rethink who they are and how to reach [people] and learn to operate virtually in meaningful ways and maybe even change the definition of what constitutes an artistic experience? Yes.... But will this period have produced fundamental change that sends orchestras down a different path? I’m not so sure. Of course, we now know how to collaborate over Zoom and that’s cool, I guess.... Many

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staff, collaborating organizations.... Before the pandemic, we defined community in somewhat an insular way…. The pandemic and ... our pivot to virtual reality challenged us to take stock of our relationships... It was no longer clear how to separate ‘us’ from ‘them’ and who we are versus who we serve. We chose to lean into this new reality. We affirmed our dedication to a community that includes, yes, those who sit on our stage or in our concert audience, but also the people who enable our regional performance and music education ecosystem, which includes stakeholders from donors to parents to frontline service providers and beyond. It’s a much more expansive community than we’d allowed ourselves to envision before. It’s a perspective that casts a broader lens over who we are and who we impact now. It also asks us to look into the future to how we want our community to look, sound, and feel, and what voices we need to elevate as we continue to evolve.”

Marc Bamuthi Joseph, vice president and artistic director of social impact at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, speaking at “The Arc of Art and Community Solidarity.”

“The experience of privilege and vulnerability shapes what I think is the way to attack the question of equity in the classical music business. To do this work, we have to question our institutional aesthetics. My mentor, the great Liz Lerman, says that aesthetics are what a people believe to be good, beautiful, and true. So I ask you: Who are your people? Maybe answer that question for yourself, or on behalf of your organization. What do your people believe to be good? To be beautiful? To be true? Classical music is a genre whose aesthetics are duly concerned with a centuries-old canon. My aesthetics are duly concerned with a centuries-old canon as well, and the ethos of beauty. And ‘overcome’ is present throughout. Who are we—the assembled body of artists and administrators that steward classical music in this country—talking about when we use the phrase ‘the community’?...

In this industry, whose aesthetics force us to constantly look back for beauty, how do we move socially forward?... What does a culturally transformative organization think about diversity, equity, and inclusion? Many of us are working on diversity of staff and canon.... To be inclusive means that we’re conscious of welcoming disparate cultures and cultural literacies with an aim towards tolerance, balance, and safety.”

Janna Walters-Gidseg, executive director of the Pioneer Valley Symphony, a community-based orchestra in western Massachusetts, speaking at “Survive to Thrive: Why Community Is Central to Our Success.”

“The Pioneer Valley Symphony has been a community organization since 1939, and during that time we identified as a symphony of skilled musicians united by our love of music. Over the past 25 years or so we expanded our identity beyond this, and our core stakeholders include students, educators, artistic

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orchestras required and honed new skills in being able to stream and make videos.... Being online has certainly expanded the reach of audience for many orchestras.... I suspect some orchestras will [continue to] stream concerts as a regular thing, but I expect after initial gestures and hybrids, most orchestras will go back to some version of what they have always done—and why not? One of the biggest things over the last 16 months ... is the universal desire to get together physically in the same space....

We’re beyond being wowed by the mere fact you can hear a performance a click away or it’s possible to buy your tickets online.

How about making these things fun or making them playful or making them a delight to participate in? Addictive, even? ... The promise and the biggest dividends are still to come.”

Ashleigh Gordon, artistic/executive director and violist at Castle of our Skins, a Boston-based concert and educational series devoted to Black artistry in music, speaking at “The Summer of 2020,” which examined the impact of calls for racial equity and representation on orchestras, programming, and artistic leadership.

“With respect to the canon, there are four ... concepts that are shared by myself and Castle of our Skins cofounder Anthony Green. The first is craft, having to do with skill, with merit— which is far from being objective and is wrapped up in subjective preferences determining the parameters by which we gauge craft. In our field, this has led to an idealization of an elite, highly exclusive group of composers and values, rules, processes, aesthetics that were narrowly created but exported as being universal.... The second point is time, which is related to repetition.

Repetition is not only a good practice tool but it’s also good for securing something in our collective consciousness.... A newly created work or an overlooked composer don’t have that benefit of time, the generations of exposure, plus the repeated airtime to be driven into our collective consciousness. We can spend 2020 celebrating Beethoven’s anniversary, increasing his exposure and not acknowledging William Grant Still’s 125th anniversary— and therefore keep him relegated to a place of forgetfulness.…

Classification doesn’t really do well for hybridity as it relates to music styles and to composers that have footholds in multiple spaces.... These points [relate] to what we consider to be beloved, what we consider to be part of what we call the canon of classical music.”

Save the dates! The League of American Orchestras’ 77th National Conference takes place in person in Los Angeles, June 1-3, 2022.

The 2022 Conference will be hosted by the Los Angeles Philharmonic and presented in partnership with the Association of Stay tuned for more details at https://leagueconference.org/.

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ANTI-ASIAN DISCRIMINATION AT AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

BY MARI YOSHIHARA M us i c i a ns o f A s i a n d e s c e n t a r e v i s ib l e o n o r c h e s t r a s ta g e s a c r o s s t h e c o u n t r y . Y e t t h e i r p r e s e n c e o n s ta g e b e l i e s t h e fa c t th at m a n y A s i a n m us i c i a ns e x p e r i e n c e m a ltr e atm e n t o r m a r g i na l i z ati o n i n th e i r p r o f e s s i o na l l i v e s , a n d c o nfl ate s n um b e r s w i th vo i c e , p o w e r , a n d i nfl u e n c e .

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Detailed Findings Racial / Ethnic Diversity: Musicians Over a span of 34 years, the proportion of musicians from African American, Hispanic / Latino, Asian / Pacific Islander, American Indian / Alaskan Native, and other non-white backgrounds increased four-fold, from 3.4% of all musicians in 1980 to 14.2% in 2014. Nonetheless, by 2014 these musicians still constitute less than 15% of the orchestra musician population.

When the data is more closely examined, it is clear that the modest shifts towards diversity that we observe have been largely driven by Asian / Pacific Islander musicians. Since the League first reported detailed racial / ethnic categories in 2002, the proportion of Asian / Pacific Islander orchestra musicians has increased by 70%, from 5.3% in 2002 to just over 9% in 2014.

This chart is based on data submitted by over 500 distinct orchestras that participated in the League of American Orchestras’ Orchestra Statistical Report (OSR) survey at least once between 1980 and 2014.

Comparatively, the growth in representation of other racial / ethnic groups has been much more modest.

Specifically, the proportion of Hispanic / Latino musicians started at 1.8% in 2002 and grew to just 2.5% in 2014.

Meanwhile, the proportion of African American musicians hovered 1.8% throughout 9.2% at around9.8% 10.5% the 12-year 12.1% period.

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White musicians 2013

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1990

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9.8%

90.8%

2004

95.6%

9.2%

93.4%

2003

6.6%

95.6%

2002

4.4%

6.6%

2000

3.4%

4.4%

1995

3.4%

1980

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he considerable presence of Asians in American orchestras has been evident for decades, but the more complex reality of what it means to be an Asian American musician in the United States has rarely been addressed head on. What prompted the League of American Orchestras to take up the issue recently was the rapid growth of anti-Asian hate and violence painfully crystallized by the mass murder in Atlanta last March, in which six out of eight victims were Asian women. On June 15, the League’s 2021 National Conference featured a session entitled “Spring of 2021: A Renewed Awakening of a Needed Conversation” to address the issues of Asians and Asian Americans in the orchestra world. The conveners (Jennifer Koh and Ed Yim; both are members of the League’s Board of Directors), moderator (Eun Lee), and panelists (Vijay Iyer, Christine Lim, Shzr Ee Tan, and myself) were all of Asian descent and spoke candidly about race and racism in the classical music field.

The sense of hope that may have arisen from such a conversation taking place in the League’s official forum did not last long, however. Only ten days after the session, news of the “Zukerman incident” spread quickly. According to reports, during a virtual masterclass at the Juilliard School, violinist Pinchas Zukerman commented to the students—two young sisters whose videorecorded performance had been shared in advance—that their playing was “almost too perfect” and needed “a little more vinegar—or soy sauce.” It was a crude version of the common characterization of Asian musicians as technically precise but artistically lacking and in need of more, well, flavor.

Yet Zukerman did not stop there. In telling the students to play more lyrically, he said, “I know in Korea they don’t sing.”

One of the sisters spoke up and informed him that they are not Korean but of half Japanese descent. Unperturbed, Zukerman continued, “In Japan they don’t sing, either.” He then mimicked a presumably Asian sing-song vocal style. He returned to the topic during the Q&A and proclaimed, “In Korea they don’t sing. It’s not in their DNA.” ( Juilliard later stated that Zukerman was not a faculty member and that his “offensive cultural stereotypes” did not represent the school’s values, and

White musicians

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8% 10%

6%

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5.3%

8%

4% 6%

5.3% 2%

2%

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4%

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2.5% 2002

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Asian/ Pacific Islander musicians

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Hispanic1.8% / Latino musicians African American musicians

Asian / Pacific Islander musicians 2004

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Hispanic/Latino musicians AfricanDiversity American musicians Gender in the Orchestra

The League of American Orchestras’ 2016 “Racial/Ethnic and Field” study, with research Racial /diversity Ethnic andin Gender in the among Orchestra musicians, Field l 3 and data analysis by Dr. James Doeser, documents gender and ethnic/racial U.S.Diversity orchestras conductors, staff, executives, and board members. Read the complete report at https://americanorchestras.org/knowledge-research-innovation/diversity-studies.html.

Zukerman apologized for what he termed “culturally insensitive remarks.”)

In the subsequent days and weeks, many musicians of Asian descent expressed their fury through various platforms. Many also shared stories of similarly offensive treatments by their teachers, jurors, conductors, critics, peers, and audiences that they have experienced throughout their careers. What was notable was not Zukerman’s comment

Asian musicians have been given a place insofar as they are performers of music written and programmed by others, yet rarely have been sought out for their own creative voices or visions.

itself—which was extreme in its absurdity but the tenor of which was, sadly, all too familiar to Asian and Asian American musicians—but the chorus of uproar that it incited. Although many musicians of Asian descent have been targets of such offenses for decades, it was rare for them to raise a collective voice prior to this incident. Partly prompted by the outrage and controversy it caused, several mainstream media outlets including the New York Times gave substantial coverage of not only the Zukerman incident itself but the larger subject of the situation of Asian musicians in classical music.

Demographic Patterns The presence of Asians in classical music has been steadily growing since the 1960s, when Japanese musicians began to build careers in the United States and 25

SPRING OF 2021: A RENEWED AWAKENING OF A NEEDED CONVERSATION

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During its 2021 virtual National Conference in June, the League of American Orchestras presented a session entitled “Spring of 2021: A Renewed Awakening of a Needed Conversation,” which addressed the issues, challenges, and opportunities facing Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders in the orchestra world. Speakers at the session were (clockwise from top left): Ed Yim, Christine Lim, Shzr Ee Tan, Vijay Iyer, Eun Lee, and Mari Yoshihara. Visit https://americanorchestras. org/conference-2021-spring-of-2021-arenewed-awakening-of-a-needed-conversation/ to watch video of the session.

elsewhere, most notably conductor Seiji Ozawa. Korean musicians followed suit in the 1980s, forming a new wave of Asian musicians on the American and the world stage. Musicians such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianist Mitsuko Uchida, violinists Midori Gender Diversity: Orchestra Staff and Chang—all whom has come TheSarah proportion of women on staffof in orchestras decreased slightly since the League began collectingand from different cultural backgrounds staff diversity data in 2010: the following chart shows a upbringing—became international slow but steady narrowing of the gap between men stars and women.this period and remain so today. during However, 2010 there have been consistently –rise albeit Since thesince 2000s, China’s economic only slightly – more female top executives (e.g., executive and the classical music boom propelled by directors, CEO, president) than male, with the percentage female top executives ranging Lang, from 50.4% to 55.1%. theof popularity of Lang Yuja Wang, 100%

Racial / Ethnic Diversity: Board Members 80% The League began collecting race / ethnicity data 59.6% 59.2% 58.0% 56.2% 55.7% 60% on orchestra board members in 2010. Since then, the percentage of African American, Latino / Hispanic, 40% 44.3% 43.8% 42.0% 40.8% 40.4% Asian / Pacific Islander, American Indian / Alaskan Native 20% and other non-white board members has hovered at just under 8%, including 3-4% African American and 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1-2% Hispanic / Latino representation.

For comparison, a national survey by BoardSource4 found that the Male staff Female staff representation of non-white people on nonprofit boards across the United States had increased from 16% in 2010 to 20% in 2014.

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Gender Diversity: Board Members

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Orchestra boards are moving slowly but steadily toward gender parity. Currently, around 58% of orchestra board members are men, and around 42% are women.

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and other artists have shifted the landscape of the industry. Orchestras and soloists eagerly seek performances in China; Juilliard opened a conservatory campus in Tianjin, China; few music schools today can afford not to actively recruit students from China. Many of the Chinese musicians who have studied in the U.S. 59.2% 59.6% 58.0% 56.2% 55.7% continue to build careers in American 43.8% 44.3% 42.0% 40.8% 40.4% orchestras, universities, and the freelance world. These demographic patterns correlate to the Asian nations’ economic staff Female staff conditions,Male which shape people’s cultural aspirations and social mobility as well as the availability of musical instruments, 7.6% 7.6% 7.5% 7.9% 7.8%and training. performances, recordings, In addition to Asian-born musicians who have built their careers in the United 92.4% 92.4% 92.5% 92.1% 92.2% States, there are also many Asian American artists whose families have lived in the country for generations, as well as those Non-white board members of mixed descent with multiple family and White board members cultural routes across the world.

“Asian musicians” are thus highly diverse—in terms of national and ethnic origin, citizenship, language, religion, geographical length of residence 58.8% 59.0% location, 58.2% 57.9% 57.8% in the United States—and by no means 42.1% 42.2% 41.2% 41.0% 41.8% form a coherent category with shared roots, identities, or experiences. And yet, they are all too often perceived to be Male board members Female interchangeable: board members homogenous and one of the most common experiences they share is being mistaken for another Asian musician, not infrequently by colleagues with whom they have been working for

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As documented in the League’s “Racial/Ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Orchestra Field” study, board membership at orchestras has remained predominantly White over many years.

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Experiences range from everyday microaggressions to blatantly racist remarks to unwanted sexual advances.

Are Asians actually dominating American orchestras? According to the League’s “Racial/Ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Orchestra Field” survey, which includes data gathered in 2014, Asian/Pacific Islander musicians comprised just over 9 percent of orchestra musicians, up from 5.3 percent twelve years prior. (The “Racial/Ethnic and Gender Diversity in the Orchestra Field” study was commissioned by the League with research and data analysis by James Doeser; it reports on gender and ethnic/racial diversity in orchestras among musicians, conductors, staff, executives, and board members. The full study is available at

80%

http://leadingwithintent.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/LWI-BLF-Report-Print-Layout1.pdf 60%

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quite some time. They are also assumed to all play in the same way, with technical precision but little voice of their own, as was evidenced by Pinchas Zukerman’s remarks. The sense of Asian homogeneity and interchangeability is accompanied by a widespread perception that Asians are dominant in classical music, often expressed with varying degrees of shock and dismay, like “Juilliard is wall-to-wall Chinese and Koreans” or “Asians are taking over American orchestras.”

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In July, violinist Jennifer Koh wrote an article for the New York Times about her own and others’ experiences as Asian American musicians, and proposed ways for classical music to “empower and create space for all members of our community.”

https://americanorchestras.org/racial-ethnic-and-gender-diversity-in-the-orchestra-field/.) At the New York Philharmonic, the percentage of Asians on the roster is as high as 30 percent and comprises almost two-thirds of the violin section.

Relative to their approximately 6 percent share in the total U.S. population, Asians are indeed “overrepresented” in American orchestras, numerically speaking. (As a point of comparison, the percentage of Asian musicians in the Berlin Philharmonic is roughly 5 percent, London Symphony Orchestra 3.5 percent, and the Vienna Philharmonic less than 1 percent.) This is in stark contrast to African Americans, who comprise approximately 18 percent of the U.S. population yet have hovered around 1.8 percent of American orchestra musicians, and Hispanic/Latinos, who were 17 percent of the nation’s population but were about 2.5 percent of orchestra members. Similar patterns are seen in the student bodies of conservatories and music schools across the U.S. as well as among contestants in major music competitions around the world.

Asians’ “overrepresentation” in classical music reinforces the narrative of the “model minority,” the phrase that came AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

to be used frequently in American media in the post-WWII decades to describe Asian Americans’ collective achievement.

This narrative typically attributes Asian Americans’ academic success and upward social mobility to their cultural characteristics (like the Confucianist ethos and the commitment to education), family investment (parents paying for lessons; driving long distances for lessons, performances, and competitions; mothers supervising children’s practice at home; sometimes the entire family relocating for children’s music education, etc.), and individual effort (practice, practice, and more practice).

In doing so, it glosses over the historical and structural factors that led to Asian Americans’ upward mobility and the relative lack thereof among other racial minorities. It also ignores the vast diversity within the Asian American population. The image of Chinese, Korean, and Japanese American students who grow up practicing figure skating, chess, and violin under the watchful eyes of their tiger mothers and attend prestigious universities en route to medical schools or law schools defies the reality that, even within each of those ethnic groups, more than a quarter of them have annual household incomes below $40,000. By focusing on the success of a select slice of the Asian American population, the model minority narrative diverts attention away from the real struggles many Asians face because of their race, ethnicity, and citizenship status, which intersect with their gender, sexual orientation, class, religion, and language barriers. It also discredits other racial minorities’ fight for justice and equality by suggesting that they ought to be able to achieve success like Asians have only if they work hard enough.

A seven-year-old Chinese American leading Vivaldi’s Four Seasons or a tenyear-old Korean girl performing a Prokofiev piano concerto is an iconic picture of the model minority. Asian Americans’ presence in classical music jives well with the logic of the model minority narrative.

Asians’ serious pursuit of, and success in, music of European origin seems to affirm the status of classical music as a coveted form of cultural capital and Asians’ eager and successful assimilation into White culture. As a field that requires many years of rigorous training and disciplined practice, classical music is easily associ-

ated with individual effort, commitment, and sacrifice. Especially in the American orchestra world, where most auditions are conducted behind a curtain, the faith in meritocracy—that it’s the chops and nothing else that matters—prevails, skirting the question of who gets to the curtain and how.

Yet the notion that Asians are overrepresented in American orchestras—and classical music in general—conflates numbers with voice, power, and influence. Despite—and sometimes because of—their numerical presence, many Asian musicians experience maltreatment or marginalization in their professional lives.

Such experiences range from everyday microaggressions to blatantly racist remarks about their heritage or unwanted sexual advances and harassment undergirded by the notion of Asian women’s sexual appeal and availability. Compounded with the stereotype of docile, quiet Asians who do not rock the boat, many acts of racism that would no doubt be called out if they were directed at African Americans frequently go unaddressed when Asians are the target. While some Asian musicians have courageously stood up and spoken up about these issues, such voices are often dismissed with the claim that the number of Asians in American orchestras is proof of the lack of discrimination against them and show that Asian classical musicians are a privileged class whose grievances are unwarranted.

In such a climate, many Asian musicians are still hesitant to raise their voices on these matters, as they fear repercussions for their own careers or creating tensions within their workplace. Even amid the rising anti-Asian hate and violence since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, few orchestras have addressed the issue head on, whereas many music organizations have begun to take steps to address anti-Black racism in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Furthermore, while Asians have

“Asian musicians” in the United States are highly diverse. Yet they are all too often perceived to be homogenous and interchangeable.

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EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION AT THE LEAGUE As part of its longstanding commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in the orchestra field, the League of American Orchestras offers multiple resources, initiatives, and publications focusing on EDI. The League’s online Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Resource Center provides practical insights, advice, and paths to greater diversity and inclusion at orchestras. It is intended to be a useful source of information and practices that will help change discriminatory systems, so that musicians, administrators, volunteers, and board members—regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, or any other dimension of diversity—will thrive in the orchestra field.

Visit the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Resource Center at https://americanorchestras.org/learn/ equity-diversity-and-inclusion/.

Two recent League publications address the vital importance of EDI at orchestras. How Orchestra Boards Can Advance Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, written by Carmen Corrales and Douglas Hagerman, offers practical advice, contextual information, and strategies for boards and orchestras to become truly representative of the communities they serve. Learn more at https://americanorchestras. org/edi-guide-for-boards. Making the Case for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Orchestras offers concrete answers and helpful resources that orchestras can use to advance anti-racism and EDI at all levels of their organizations. Read more at https:// americanorchestras.org/making-the-case-for-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-in-orchestras.

The Catalyst Fund, launched in 2019, has provided annual grants to help League-member orchestras increase their understanding of equity, diversity, and inclusion and to practice more effective EDI strategies. Catalyst Fund grants, supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 each, have been awarded to 49 U.S. orchestras, which were required to use the funds to retain a skilled EDI practitioner to advance EDI learning objectives. In September, the League of American Orchestras received a $2.1 million leadership gift from the Mellon Foundation to continue work through the League’s Catalyst Fund and launched the Catalyst Fund Incubator program, which will provide 20 orchestras with three years of support enabling them to work with an EDI consultant, participate in a peer learning community, and receive mentorship and guidance. Visit https://www.americanorchestras.org/learning-leadership-development/the-catalyst-fund.html.

In 2018, the League partnered with the Sphinx Organization and the New World Symphony to create the National Alliance for Audition Support (NAAS), a field-wide initiative with the goal of increasing diversity in American orchestras. Supported by a four-year, $1.8 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, along with additional financial and programmatic contributions from America’s orchestras, NAAS offers customized support to Black and Latinx musicians to enhance their audition skills, increase their participation in auditions, and expand their representation in orchestras. Visit https://americanorchestras.org/learning-leadership-development/ diversity-resource-center/national-alliance-for-audition-support.html

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Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume performs at a #StopAsianHate march. Protests in Cleveland following the murder of George Floyd gave Hashizume a renewed determination to make an impact through music. “Music gives us a chance to be together,” said Hashizume, who is profiled in the article about Ford Musician Awards ​elsewhere in this issue.

numerical presence among orchestra musicians, most orchestras can count on one hand—if they need any fingers at all— Asian composers whose work they have performed in any season. Music by Asian composers is often performed on occasions like the Chinese New Year or Asian American History Month or when the guest conductor is of Asian descent. Such niche programming then puts expectations of stereotypical “Asian sound” on the works to be performed, drawing facile connections between particular sonic qualities and the composer’s ethnicity and national origin. Moreover, Asians have quite a minuscule place in administrative leadership: less than 8 percent of orchestra board members are non-White, including 3 to 4 percent African American and 1 to 2 percent Hispanic/Latino, and the number of Asians is too small to be disaggregated in the data. In other words, Asian musicians have been given a place insofar as they are dutiful performers of music written and programmed by others, yet rarely have been sought out for their own creative voices or visions.

Asian musicians in U.S. orchestras represent only a very particular slice of “Asian America” today, and their presence should not be used to check off “ad­ dressing the Asian American community” on the orchestras’ agendas. Because of the confluence of history, politics, and economics, Asians in American orchestras—and classical music at large—are overwhelmingly East Asian, i.e., ethni-

cally Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Yet, after the Chinese, the largest Asian ethnic groups in the U.S. are Indian, Filipino, and Vietnamese, and there are more than a dozen other ethnic groups that have sizable presence in the country. (It is also important to note the problem of the category “Asian American/Pacific Islander” frequently used in many demographic data, including the League’s Racial/ Ethnic and Gender Diversity report.

Asians Americans and Pacific Islanders have distinct histories and relationships to the United States, and the structures of racism against them are different.

Grouping them together in effect subsumes Pacific Islanders under the larger Asian American umbrella and renders them even more invisible.) Many Asians are in the U.S. because of war or political and economic turmoil caused in no small part by U.S. foreign policy. A great many Asians and Asian Americans struggle to make a living by cooking people’s food and washing their dishes; cleaning people’s homes and offices and hotel rooms; working in factories or warehouses or on farms; selling produce and drinks; tending to people’s bodies; taking care of people’s infants, the sick, and the elderly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many Asian Americans have fallen victim to the illness while caring for others or have been assaulted and killed while doing their job or walking down the street.

Embracing Asian Americans as part of the nation and making symphonic

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New York Youth Symphony

On April 9, New York Youth Symphony Concertmaster Myra Cui led a live chamber music concert at New Jersey’s Bergen Town Center Mall to benefit the families of hate crimes targeting the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities.

music relevant and meaningful to them would require a lot more than being content with the presence of many Asians on the orchestra stage. Those numbers show that a certain segment of the Asian and Asian American population gained access to quality music education, worked hard, and did well in the auditions— nothing more, nothing less. It does not illustrate that Asian Americans reign in the classical music world nor that they are working harder and doing better than other minorities. It most certainly does not prove that there is no racism in American orchestras or in American society. There is.

How to reckon with the past and the present and move forward? Learn what “Asian America” is. Orchestras can then begin to reimagine what it is they want to share through music, with whom, and to what end. Think hard about whose voices are needed for such reimagining. Finding those voices and learning to listen to them will shape the thinking behind what music to play, who would conduct and perform, where they should perform, and how to reach and welcome their audiences. Think beyond “inclusion.” Asians are not the “others” who are waiting to be allowed entry through the gatekeepers’ benevolence. They—and other minorities—are partners in the exciting process of musical transmission and innovation.

But partnering requires mutuality and equality.

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

On March 19, in response to the rise in anti-Asian American violence, the League of American Orchestras issued a statement condemning violence and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. Read the full statement at https:// americanorchestras.org/statement-on-violence-and-discrimination-against-asian-americans-and-pacific-islanders-march-2021/.

MARI YOSHIHARA is a professor of American Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa and specializes in U.S. cultural history, U.S.-East Asian relations, Asian American studies, and gender studies. She is the author of Musicians from a Different Shore: Asians and Asian Americans in Classical Music (Temple, 2007) and Dearest Lenny: Letters from Japan and the Making of the World Maestro (Oxford, 2019).

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League Giving Days 2021

Celebrating and supporting the resilience and future of American orchestras.

Members of our community came together to affirm the importance of the League’s work on behalf of their orchestras with gifts of all sizes during our 2021 League Giving Days. The generosity of our donors allows us to continue our critical work for our members and for the field. Now more than ever, we are Stronger Together.

THANK YOU TO OUR STRONGER TOGETHER: LEAGUE GIVING DAYS 2021 DONORS. WITH YOUR HELP, WE RAISED $219,986!

A special thank you to the Julian Family Foundation for their continued generosity, and for their leadership during League Giving Days 2021 with a $100,000 challenge grant.

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Aiming for a More Inclusive Canon In 1893, composer Antonín Dvořák predicted that American classical music would incorporate and celebrate music by Black artists.

That didn’t happen.

Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music, by music historian and cultural critic Joseph Horowitz, offers a provocative new interpretation of why classical music in America “stayed white” and failed to become more inclusive, more expansive, richer.

An excerpt from the foreword gives a look at the themes and variations of Horowitz’s latest book.

Dvořák’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music will be published this November by W. W. Norton & Company.

Excerpts used with permission of the publisher, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Copyright © 2021 by Joseph Horowitz. All rights reserved. Learn more about the book at https://wwnorton.com/books. To learn about the companion series of six Dvořák’s Prophecy documentary films that Joseph Horowitz has produced for Naxos, visit https://bio.to/DvoraksProphecyEL.

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n 1893 the Bohemian composer Antonín Dvořák, residing in New York City, predicted that a “great and noble school” of American classical music would be founded upon America’s “negro melodies.” This prophecy was famous, influential, and controversial.

In retrospect, it was shrewd, compassionate—and naïve. The Black musical motherlode migrated into popular realms: the music that defines America to this day. But classical music in America stayed white. How and why that happened is a central thread of this book. The barriers to integration were both institutional and aesthetic.

My larger theme is a failure of historical memory. Classical music in the United States, I argue, is crippled by a condition of “pastlessness.” A misleading narrative, popularized

by Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Leonard Bernstein, maintained that there was no American music of consequence before 1910. During interwar decades when literary historians and writers identified a “usable past” that included Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman and Herman Melville, American composers decided they had none. This act of amnesia was supported by a clean modernist aesthetic that devalued Emersonian “mud and scum.” It mistrusted the vernacular. It distanced American composers and institutions of performance from Dvořák’s prophecy and from the astonishing sorrow songs that Dvořák esteemed as folk music protean with melody, rhythm, and sentiment. The same amnesia overlooked the music of Black concert composers in Dvořák’s wake. And it diminished the reputation and influence of two great creative talents—Charles Ives and George Gershwin—whose music found deep roots in vernacular song and dance. To this day, classical music in America remains Eurocentric. American orchestras and opera companies mainly perform foreign repertoire. The anchoring American canon Dvořák anticipated never materialized.

Additionally, there exist new impediments to recovering our musical past. These include misplaced accusations of “cultural appropriation.” With the

passage of time, appreciating Dvořák’s prophecy, and the era in which it occurred, seemingly becomes harder, not easier.

As a cultural historian specializ-

Unjust obscurity cloaks formidable creative achievements by Black composers, among them William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses, and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3. ing in the history of classical music in the United States, I have spent three decades immersed in the Gilded Age and fin-de-siècle, 1865 to World War I. For American classical music, this was a period of brisk ascent and peak achievement. What came after was an equally swift downward slope forecast by wartime Germanophobia and sealed by the failure to secure a native canon.

(This two-part trajectory is the central premise of my Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall [2005].) In American historiography generally, my fifty-year swath is oddly volatile, subject to radically different interpretations. A melee of historical actors, trends, and events—political, social, cultural—has been variously explored or neglected, used or abused.

This book argues for a new un-

Classical music in America remains Eurocentric. The anchoring American canon Dvořák anticipated never materialized.

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derstanding of the history of classical music in America—one that strives to “use the past” with open ears. I begin by focusing on a pair of seminal pre-World

War I achievements by Mark Twain and Charles Ives. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Ives’s Symphony No. 2 are twin landmarks in defining a distinctively American style in fiction and concert music via vernacular speech and song.

I next consider subsequent readings of the same prewar period, beginning with the search for a usable past influentially undertaken by [cultural historians] Van Wyck Brooks and Lewis Mumford beginning around 1915, and subsequently

by Copland, Thomson, and Bernstein (acting as music historians). I observe that the quest for literary forebears, revisiting 1865-1915, led somewhere, and that the musical quest did not. Pastlessness does not notably afflict American literature or visual art; there exists a viable canon of American novels and poems, and also of American art and architecture. Mark Twain’s achievement led to Hemingway and Faulkner. Ives’s, however, was not “used” by Copland and his contemporaries: modernists attuned to the future.

Their mistrust of all possible forebears discouraged honest retrospection.

This Oedipal predilection equally overlooked the sorrow songs in which Dvořák discerned “music that suits itself to any mood or purpose.” Dvořák’s perspective—“there is nothing in the whole range of composition that cannot be supplied with themes from this source”— was shared by important American musicians and musical thinkers around the turn of the century. And yet the postWorld War I bifurcation of American music—“popular” versus “classical”— was an unhappy bifurcation of Black versus white. Indeed, an aversion to jazz, less virulent abroad, became a defining feature of the interwar musical high culture of the United States.

An aversion to Gershwin among American-born classical musicians was part of the same skewed picture.

So was the unjust obscurity cloaking William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony, Nathaniel Dett’s The Ordering of Moses, and Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3—formidable creative achievements whose lineage is indeed traceable to Dvořák and his milieu.

My excavation of a past denied 33

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and forgotten ultimately yields a new paradigmatic narrative for American classical music, starting with the sorrow songs and privileging Ives, Gershwin, and other Americans for whom vernacular resources seemed vitally proximate, and whose democratic largesse resonated with a capacious cultural saga that includes Twain, Whitman, and Melville.

Stressing nineteenth-century beginnings, I discover an unexpected convergence of musical and literary pasts. In effect, the vexed fate of classical music in the United States generally, and of “Black classical music” specifically, furnishes a case study of how generations of chroniclers, cumulatively burdened with inherited assumptions, can fail to use the past profitably.

Freshly revisiting Dvořák’s prophecy of 1893—a prediction that was also a diagnosis—yields opportunities to reexamine how the New World went about importing Old World musical traditions that Americans have fitfully attempted to make their own.

In fact, I believe that Americans in general are losing touch with the past, with our history and cultural inheritance.

We live in an age of instant gratification.

We no longer know our forebears. This is one reason we feel so fractured today.

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Dvořák was bent on excavating roots.

This exercise has never seemed more timely.

Ultimately, Dvořák’s Prophecy is a

The story of American music imposes a dense nexus of culture and race, of historical, political, and moral reckonings. call for action—for better understanding the American past, and hence better appreciating the challenges and opportunities of our fraught contemporary moment.

The story of American music imposes a dense nexus of culture and race, of historical, political, and moral reckonings. We are a nation stained with twin original sins. What was done to the indigenous Americans who came first, and to the enslaved Africans who came after, can neither be undone nor—it increasingly seems—wholly overcome.

How should such bitter knowledge

inflect historical understanding and interpretation?

After three decades of experience producing concerts, I find that I am more than ever disposed to use music to poke at the fissures of the American experience. This exercise can be cathartic; it also invites opposition and frustration.

Above all, it reveals how little we know our musical past and the uses, constructive or otherwise, to which it may be put.

In effect, I have treated classical music in America as a case study of how the past has been remembered, distorted, or denied. My governing conviction is that the past greatly matters.

The author of ten previous books about American music, JOSEPH HOROWITZ is co-founder and executive producer of PostClassical Ensemble, an experimental chamber orchestra based in Washington, D.C. He has also served as an artistic consultant to more than two dozen American orchestras. An annotated playlist for his inclusive “new paradigm” for American repertoire may be found at http://josephhorowitz.com/content. asp?elemento_id=71.

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Safety First

Orchestras are adopting new health protocols to keep everyone safe for the return of in-person concerts this fall. The emergence of the Delta variant and fluctuating COVID-19 infection rates mean that proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID-19 test, plus masking and social distancing, are being implemented for audiences, musicians, and staff alike. Actions vary from orchestra to orchestra, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. How is everyone coping?

By Brin Solomon

Carnegie Hall photo by Richard Termine. Inset: Excelsior Pass, an app for New York residents that displays proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

N

ot that long ago, debates about audience dress at concerts revolved around tuxedos versus t-shirts.

Going into the fall of 2021, the stakes are a bit higher.

Should patrons wear masks? Should they come with proof of vaccination? Can they even sit next to each other in an enclosed space? As orchestras around the country gear up for their new seasons, they face not only an ongoing pandemic but also a seemingly intractable culture war that has made basic public safety measures into political third rails. In such a landscape, what are orchestras doing to keep people safe? How are they staying on top of the ever-changing COVID-19 crisis? To

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get an inside look at the thinking behind their plans, I spoke with administrators at five orchestras around the country to hear how they’re approaching the fall season.

The first piece of the puzzle is, of course, keeping the musicians, administrators, and concert hall staff safe. It doesn’t matter what your audience policy is if your musicians can’t play the concert, your stagehands can’t prepare the stage, your ushers can’t manage the hall, or your janitors clean it. Unsurprisingly, then, the organizations I spoke to require all workers to be fully vaccinated. “We have agreed, musicians and management, that the orchestra and staff would all be vaccinated

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was pending. (The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that employers are allowed to mandate vaccines as a means of protecting the safety and well-being of their workforces.)

At the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra’s outdoor concert at Quiet Waters Park on September 4, the audience spontaneously observed self-distancing protocols. Bottom row from left: ASO Executive Director and Chief Development Officer Edgar Herrera says that the orchestra’s vaccine mandate has widespread support. Annapolis Symphony musicians, including violinist Paul Bagley, wear masks during concerts and rehearsals. Music Director José-Luis Novo leads the orchestra on May 1, 2021. Cellists (from left) Pei Lu and April Studeny in masks.

and provide proof of vaccination” says Christina Littlejohn, CEO of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. The Dallas Symphony Orchestra gave its workers a deadline of August 1 to be vaccinated, before the governor banned vaccine mandates. Edgar Herrera, executive director and chief development officer of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra in Maryland, emphasizes that his orchestra’s policy had been put in place with union support. “The musicians’ union fully supports this policy because it makes them feel and be safer,” he says.

In cases where an orchestra does not own its concert hall, shares it with other groups, or performs in a multi-use performing arts center, some venues are imposing vaccine mandates, masks, or other precautions that orchestras must observe. Many localities have regulations regarding vaccinations and masks, and those can vary widely. At the national level, on September 9 the Biden adminis-

tration required that workers at businesses with more than 100 employees must be immunized or face weekly testing, and also issued an executive order mandating COVID-19 vaccinations for all federal employees, subject to some exceptions.

Orchestras are keeping a close eye on city, state, and federal protocols, and are adopting the latest health guidance as it emerges.

Not all musicians are happy to follow these new rules. On August 30, the Wilmington Star-News reported that Martha Dippold, who has played clarinet with the Wilmington Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina for several years, refused to comply with the orchestra’s vaccine mandate for musicians and performers. Citing a need to keep all musicians, staff, and audiences healthy, the orchestra turned down Dippold’s request for a religious exemption and did not permit her to perform at its season-opening concerts; at press time, a longer-term resolution of the situation

Orchestras are keeping a close eye on city, state, and federal protocols, and are adopting the latest health guidance.

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Research Matters Even when vaccinated, people at orchestras are still encouraged to mask up and keep their distance, but this isn’t always possible in a concert hall. Few stages can accommodate six feet between everyone, and woodwind and brass players obviously cannot play masked. Early on in the pandemic, social media feeds filled with images of bassoonists in plexiglass cubes and other such contraptions, but audiences shouldn’t necessarily expect to see such things when they come to concerts this fall.

“It turns out that a clear airflow to vents is more important,” says Erik Finley, vice president and general manager of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Plexiglass barriers between musicians can create stagnant air that traps viral particles and increases the odds of infection. The SLSO performed with barriers for a mere two weeks before its team of medical advisors and researchers told the orchestra to take them down. Multiple studies conducted during the pandemic reported that barriers like these are minimally effective, at best.

For the St. Louis Symphony, that team’s advice carries a lot of weight. An interdisciplinary panel of experts from Washington University, it includes both medical doctors—one of whom, Dr. Abigail Carlson, left last fall to work at the Centers for Disease Control—and structural engineers who can answer detailed technical questions about performing conditions. “This team conducted aerosol studies in our space so we could come up with a plan that was specific to our hall,” covering everything from patron seating to the air filtration system, Finley says.

“There’s actually a hospital-approved study at Washington University that will be coming out in the fall based on our performance environment.”

Orchestras including the Houston Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra also collaborated with researchers at local universities and institutes on studies of aerosol spread, mitigation strategies, 37

Surveying Orchestra Audiences

being, allowed to require patrons to wear masks. In other states, regional restrictions can cause difficulties. The Annapolis Symphony plays in two concert halls, each of which is in a different county. At one point, the two counties had different caps on the largest permissible size of an indoor gathering.

“We had to cancel a live-stream because we couldn’t make [the county’s] numbers work in the hall that we stream from,” Herrera says ruefully, though the concert would have been allowed in the other county.

Lest they have to turn people away over a miscommunication, orchestras are going to great lengths to inform patrons of these new admittance policies. “We made sure people saw the safety requirements at least four times when buying their tickets,” says Tyler Rand, executive director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in Michigan, “and when we

and safety protocols, and a coalition of more than 125 performing arts groups including the League of American Orchestras released a report earlier this year on reducing the spread of COVID-19 at performing arts activities. Several orchestras and concert halls turned to specific scientific guides during the pandemic; the Annapolis Symphony convened an eightto-nine-person task force that still meets on an as-needed basis.

When it comes to audience members, there are different wrinkles.

“Unfortunately, our governor issued an executive order, so we cannot require our audiences show proof of vaccination, which we wish we could do,” says Kim Noltemy, president and CEO of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. As such, the DSO is the only orchestra I spoke to not requiring audience members to be vaccinated. The orchestra is, for the time

The Audience Outlook Monitor, organized by the arts consulting firm WolfBrown, is a longitudinal tracking study to keep tabs on arts attendees’ thoughts, concerns, and intentions about returning to in-person events during the pandemic. The League of American Orchestras partnered with WolfBrown to survey the preferences of orchestra audiences while also creating resources for the orchestra field. Beginning in February 2021, 15 League-member orchestras started surveying their patrons, either monthly or bi-monthly, depending on the size of their customer database; surveying will continue through November.

Participating orchestras access their results via WolfBrown’s dashboard and share results with each other.

The 15 orchestras agreed to share aggregated results with the larger orchestra field through a dashboard created specifically for League members. Periodic summaries, webinars, and briefings keep orchestras up to date with the latest survey results. Learn more at https:// www.audienceoutlookmonitor.com/ league-of-american-orchestras.

Orchestras including the Houston Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, and St. Louis Symphony Orchestra collaborated with scientists on studies of aerosol spread, mitigation strategies, and safety protocols.

Orchestra Participants in the COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor The Cleveland Orchestra Detroit Symphony Orchestra Madison Symphony Orchestra New World Symphony New York Philharmonic North Carolina Symphony Omaha Symphony

Kelly Hicks Photography

Nashville Symphony

San Francisco Symphony Tucson Symphony Orchestra Walt Disney Concert Hall 38

Kelly Hicks Photography

San Diego Symphony

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The Philadelphia Orchestra

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Pacific Symphony

Kelly Hicks Photography

Oregon Symphony

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra string players wear masks at a rehearsal for the orchestra’s September 16 Celebrate Little Rock, Together free concert. Bottom row from left: CEO Christina Littlejohn says, “We have agreed, musicians and management, that the orchestra and staff would all be vaccinated and provide proof of vaccination.” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson. Percussionists rehearse while masked. Robson and musicians rehearse for the Celebrate Little Rock, Together concert.

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What the Stats Say Having decided what patrons must do to gain entry, orchestras must then decide how many patrons to grant entry to.

Along those lines, many orchestras are moving to paperless tickets and programs in order to cut down on contact points that could conceivably spread the virus. Partly because it cannot guarantee that every member of the audience will be vaccinated, the Dallas Symphony is selling only 60 percent of possible tickets.

The other orchestras I spoke to are putting 100 percent of their tickets on sale.

But then again, as Arkansas’s Littlejohn wryly notes, given the pandemic, “It’s been a while since we sold at capacity anyway.”

The DSO is asking audiences what they think. “We did a survey of our audience, and 90 percent are fully vaccinated,” Noltemy says. “So that makes us feel good, but of course you never know who isn’t, so we’re following all of the mask mandates and the distancing that we can.”

This figure is largely in line with a survey of orchestras that are members of the League of American Orchestras and their audiences that found that, as of July, 96 percent of respondents were partially or fully vaccinated. The COVID-19 Audience Outlook Monitor, administered by the arts consulting firm WolfBrown, is a longitudinal study of audience attitudes about going to cultural events during the pandemic. The League is hosting 15 orchestras for the study, which also surveys arts and culture groups in multiple genres; participating organizations circulate the survey to audiences from five to nine times in 2021, depending on the size of their database.

(Read the report at https://www.audienceoutlookmonitor.com/league-of-american-orchestras.)

That said, being vaccinated isn’t the same thing as feeling safe. The Audi-

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send people their tickets in the mail, they’re actually wrapped in a ‘please read first: important information’ document.”

These efforts seem to have paid off: For the orchestra’s first concert of the season, only one patron showed up without the necessary documentation, and, according to Rand, this seems to have been a case of forgetfulness, not ignorance.

Music Director Fabio Luisi leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, September 16, 2021; Luisi enters and exits the stage wearing a mask, and conducts without it. Bottom row from left: President and CEO Kim Noltemy says, “Our governor issued an executive order, so we cannot require our audiences show proof of vaccination, which we wish we could do.” Signs such as these at the Dallas Symphony have become widespread at concert halls and theaters.

ence Outlook Monitor found that only 60 percent of vaccinated respondents felt ready to return to in-person events; 33 percent were waiting for lower case numbers, which means they’re likely to stay away for some time yet given the current caseload statistics—statistics that could rise or fall at any time.

The survey reveals some useful indications of what might be necessary to get audiences coming back to the symphony: 61 percent of respondents said they’d be more likely to attend if everyone in the audience had to show proof of vaccination status to attend, and 9 percent said they’d only attend if such a policy were in place. But some of these things are simply not under orchestras’ control. Numerous respondents said they were waiting for it to be possible to vaccinate children under 12, and others said that they were waiting for cases to drop to near zero. And indeed, at least one respondent who said they

would not attend a concert that required everyone in the audience to be vaccinated said that they were motivated in equal parts by equity concerns (the young and the immuno-compromised cannot be vaccinated and thus cannot attend) and by fears of breakthrough cases among the vaccinated leading to new variants, potentially turning even fully vaccinated concerts into transmission events.

The generally high vaccination rates among those surveyed probably do much to explain the minimal negative response orchestra administrators say they’ve received for instituting these policies. “So far we haven’t had any pushback,” Annapolis’s Herrera says. “In fact, we’ve had people reach out to thank us for doing this, saying they appreciate it.” Other orchestras I spoke with reported a handful of complaints, but, as Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson notes, “There are always people

“We’ve learned a lot about how to be a modern, flexible, involved, and aware organization,” says Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Artistic Director Geoffrey Robson.

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the idea of gently diverting such patrons to a digital broadcast of the performance instead so that they would still get their money’s worth, but notes, “we’re still finalizing how this will work.”

Audience members cheer the September 18, 2021 concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra at Powell Hall, where concertgoers and artists are required to show proof of vaccination and wear masks. Bottom row from left: Music Director Stéphane Denève led the orchestra on October 15, 2020, the first performance in Powell Hall since March 2020. Violinists Eva Kozma, left, and Kristin Ahlstrom wear masks and maintain social distance. At the St. Louis Symphony, masks and hand sanitizers are becoming familiar sights.

behind the shroud of the internet who will say things just to provoke a reaction.”

The Ann Arbor Symphony’s Rand says that some of patrons did not receive the new requirements well at first, but that a robust education campaign was successful in allaying qualms. (Ann Arbor is also accepting recent negative PCR test results in lieu of vaccine cards.)

The DSO’s Noltemy summed up the attitude of administrators regarding these complaints: “At the end of the day, I’m the one who can’t sleep if I’m the one responsible for someone getting COVID because of us.”

So the mask and vaccine requirements aren’t going away just because of a few complaints. How are such people going to be handled at the door? “We know a lot of orchestras are using app-based systems,” St. Louis’s Finley says, “but there’s so much that can’t be handled with an app. We’ve tried to keep everything personal, to listen to everyone.”

Ushers at St. Louis Symphony concerts will be checking vaccination status at the entrance, as will staffers at the Arkansas and Annapolis orchestras; these groups expect to hire additional ushers to help get patrons seated in a timely manner.

“We’re understanding folks, and our patrons are understanding folks,” Robson says, “so there’s no doubt we can resolve any issues that come up around vaccination status equitably.”

But he emphasized the need for handling things on a case-by-case basis that couldn’t easily be effected with the impersonal automation of an app.

Lurking in the background is the question of what would happen if an unvaccinated person showed up with a ticket to the evening’s performance. Perhaps understandably, no one wants to get too specific about such a hypothetical. “Any administration of any protocol is going to involve a dialogue, not just smacking down a rule,” Finley says. Robson floats

Quick thinking by orchestras has been necessary in order to stay on top of the pandemic’s curveballs— curveballs that will likely keep coming for a while yet.

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Adapting and Then Adapting Again Arkansas is far from alone in turning to digital alternatives. Many orchestras were making forays into the world of streaming before the pandemic, but COVID-19 accelerated the timelines— sometimes in big ways. “Last summer, we installed a robotic camera system and a digital control room,” the Dallas Symphony’s Noltemy says, “and this allowed us to make huge strides in terms of our online presence, because there’d been such hesitation for so many years about whether our audiences would watch anything online.” Such fears seem to have been misplaced: The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s nightly Facebook stream has racked up nearly one million viewers from 30 countries over the course of the pandemic; the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra pushed up its digital timeline by two years, and its online educational resources have reached around 35,000 students, many of whom may live far from the city.

Under the guidance of Herrera, the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra developed its own digital platform to give more control over the final product, which is an indication that these streaming options aren’t just temporary stopgaps. All the orchestras interviewed had expanded their digital presence over the course of the pandemic, and only Ann Arbor was planning to scale back now that in-person concerts were becoming viable again. “We took a lot of time to get in-depth audience feedback,” Rand explains, “and what people really want from an orchestra like ours is the live experience. There isn’t the demand in our community for streaming. No one has requested it.” But others touted streaming’s greater flexibility, noting it also creates a more inclusive orchestra for people who cannot attend in person due to distance or disability. “How could we go back?” Arkansas’s Robson asks.

Adding ushers and livestreaming costs money, and one might wonder whether these strategies to take care of everyone’s physical health are adding FA L L 2 0 21

BRIN SOLOMON is a music journalist, composer, playwright, lyricist, and liturgist who lives and works in New York City. Bylines include VAN Magazine, The Log Journal, San Francisco Classical Voice, Opera Canada, and New Music USA.

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Kalia Tu Photography

Ann Arbor Symphony/Kelvin Baker

Ann Arbor Symphony/Kelvin Baker

Ann Arbor Symphony/Kelvin Baker Ann Arbor Symphony/Kelvin Baker

to these musical institutions’ financial burden. This turns out not to be the case.

“We had actually initially planned for COVID to be gone by now,” Arkansas’s Littlejohn explains, “so it was already in our budget to do streaming this year.”

“Fundraising has been better than ever,” Herrera says of Annapolis’s financial outlook, “because we guaranteed to pay our musicians, regardless of if they could play or not. And that created tremendous goodwill.” To shore things up further, the symphony released a new five-year plan to account for the changed financial landscape in the wake of the pandemic’s onset.

Things will probably not unfold exactly according to that plan, but Herrera isn’t alone in seeing this crisis—in spite of everything—as an opportunity for transformation. “The name of the game is being more nimble than our business may have been in the past,” the St. Louis Symphony’s Finley says, a sentiment that Arkansas’s Robson echoes: “A symphony orchestra has typically not been an organization that has been quick on its feet, and boy has this situation lit a fire there. We’ve learned a lot about how to be a modern, flexible, involved, and aware organization.” At the Ann Arbor Symphony, Rand emphasizes this flexibility as well: “We have multiple backup plans in place, and can pivot as necessary as things evolve.”

This quick thinking has been necessary in order to stay on top of the pandemic’s curveballs—curveballs that will likely keep coming for a while yet.

Some of the changes COVID-19 has wrought, though, have been a long time coming. As Arkansas’s Littlejohn puts it: “I’m a 25-year veteran in this field, and it’s been fascinating to dig through my old files and see all these things that year after year were on the ‘it would be so nice to do’ list that this year we just did. It turns out you can just figure it out.”

At the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, ushers and volunteers prepare to greet concertgoers. Bottom row from left: Musicians, including Associate Concertmaster Kathryn Votapek, wear masks for rehearsals and performances. The orchestra opened its 2021-22 season on September 10, led by Lina González-Granados; masks and proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test were required of musicians, audience members, and staff. Ann Arbor Symphony musicians perform wearing masks. Executive Director Tyler Rand says, “We have multiple backup plans in place, and can pivot as necessary as things evolve.”

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Helping Sounds

By Jasmine Liu

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ncreasingly, orchestras are reinterpreting and expanding their roles in their communities and recognizing that some of their most valuable work may take place outside the confines of concert halls. Orchestras and their musicians have developed partnerships with local nonprofits, schools, residential communities, and hospitals, and musicians are bringing music to those who likely do not hold season tickets but still benefit from world-class music all the

Five orchestra musicians are doing critically important work in their communities—work that is being honored by the League of American Orchestras’ Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service.

same. This is in direct contrast to old stereotypes in which orchestras were often seen as institutions of fine art housed in beautiful state-of-the-art halls, dressing up was de rigueur, and the audience’s role was to passively and unobtrusively absorb the performance.

Every year since since 2016, the Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service, presented by the League of American Orchestras and made possible by the generosity of Ford Motor Company Fund, have recognized five musicians who have displayed deep commitment to community engagement.

This year’s award-winning musicians

have done just that—and have shown resilience in the face of hardships posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. All have found ways to continue their work even as physical gathering became impossible, reflecting the personal importance of their work. That work ranges from helping patients in hospitals, bringing music and food to peoples’ homes, providing music therapy as part of mental health programs, and providing music education at a time when many public schools’ music programs were on hiatus during the pandemic. The Ford Musicians Awards are now in their sixth year, and the work these musicians are doing is gaining new

When the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra launched the Music Wellness Program in 2003, violinist Sean Claire joined the string quartets that played in hospital lobbies. Claire became a certified music practitioner. Over the years, the Knoxville Symphony’s Music Wellness Program also expanded. A music therapist also joined the staff and guided musicians in how to navigate the hospital milieu better.

Top: Knoxville Symphony violinist Sean Claire performs (with Knoxville Symphony violinist Sarah Ringer) at Knoxville’s World’s Fair Park amphitheater for the orchestra’s Independence Day concert in 2021. Bottom: Knoxville Symphony violinist Sean Claire plays for chemotherapy patients at the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

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Sean Claire poses with a patient after playing violin at the University of Tennessee Medical Center oncology inpatient unit.

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Ford Musicians’ work ranges from helping patients in hospitals, bringing music and food to peoples’ homes, providing music therapy as part of mental health programs, and providing music education at a time when many public schools’ music programs have been on hiatus during the pandemic. urgency given increased community needs during the pandemic. What follow are the stories of the community work that Sean Claire, Jeremy Crosmer, Lorien Benet Hart, Miho Hashizume, and John Turman have tirelessly done over the past year and more.

Sean Claire/Knoxville Symphony Orchestra From a young age, Sean Claire understood that classical music had special, inexplicable life-giving properties. One experience he remembers took place on a visit to his chiropractor’s office. While waiting in the backyard for his appointment, Claire took out his violin and began practicing. When the patient before him left, his chiropractor told him that his violin music had engendered a breakthrough: he had struggled to work through the problems his previous patient had until the sounds of Claire’s violin wafted over.

Claire’s violin playing had released his chiropractor’s “energy blockage,” and allowed him to resolve the issue at hand.

When the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra launched the Music Wellness Program in 2003, Claire was immediately intrigued, and he joined the string quartets that played in hospital lobbies.

As the program continued, Claire—and four other musicians who regularly visited hospitals to play music—sought to hone their expertise in music therapy. Several of them enlisted in the Music for Healing & Transition Program, a nonprofit that trains and certifies musicians to provide live therapeutic music, which taught them how to use music with individual patients.

This included learning how to read patients’ reactions and conditions, and how to tailor their music to specific needs.

They also learned how to choose music to match certain moods. When was it appropriate to play quieter, more introspective music, versus celebratory, happy music?

Would it make a difference to play music in Dorian, Phrygian, versus Mixolydian

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modes? Claire became a certified music practitioner. Over the years, the Knoxville Symphony’s Music Wellness Program also expanded: they played music in several hospitals in addition to the University of Tennessee Medical Center—the main hospital partner—and beyond just lobbies, they brought their music to inpatient areas and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). A music therapist also joined the staff and guided musicians in how to navigate the hospital milieu better.

Claire says that one particularly poignant, moving moment for him unfolded in the NICU. He had been playing softly for several infants in the unit, but one infant in particular was fussy and wailed loudly. The infant had been recovering from a drug addiction that he inherited from his mother. After Claire had been playing for several minutes, the infant began to quiet down, and visibly searched to locate the source of the music. “You could see his eyes coming out of this fog of wherever he was, focusing on the instrument and hearing the music coming from it. He just stared at it for a while,” Claire remembers. When the nurse asked the infant if he liked the music, he made a noise—the first time he had responded to human communication.

This fall, Claire and his fellow musicians will record five-minute set lists that patients can listen to while at hospitals, which they can access by scanning QR codes.

Jeremy Crosmer/Detroit Symphony Orchestra “The Unstable Table”—that’s the name of a song that was birthed by several Kadima Mental Health Services participants in collaboration with Detroit Symphony Orchestra cellist Jeremy Crosmer. The song explores themes of blurred realities and dreams. “The floor opens up and you fall into the sky, / Beatle Paul was there and he didn’t even die, / I was dreaming that I was dreaming about going home,

LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS’ FORD MUSICIAN AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN COMMUNITY SERVICE Since 2016, 25 professional orchestra musicians from across the country have received Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service from the League of American Orchestras.

Supported by Ford Motor Company Fund, the awards recognize professional musicians’ deeply impactful work outside the concert hall, much of it virtual this year due to the pandemic.

In addition to receiving their awards at the League’s National Conference, the musicians are featured in a Conference session highlighting their inspiring education and communityengagement work. The five 2021 recipients were recognized on June 7 at the opening session of the League’s online National Conference, and presented their work at “Partnering Effectively,” a June 14 Conference session for musicians and education and community engagement staff. Each musician receives a cash award of $2,500 and complimentary registration to the Conference. The musician’s orchestra receives a grant of $2,500 to support professional development for its musicians, as well as complimentary registration for one staff member to attend the Conference.

Read more about the 2021 Ford Musicians at https://bit.ly/ ford2021awardees. Videos of the musicians in action are posted on the League’s website at https:// americanorchestras.org/videos2021-ford-music-awardees/.

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/ But then it turns out, I was really just alone,” the lyrics go. Weekly jam sessions like this take place at Kadima, a residential facility that provides therapeutic and social services to people who face mental health challenges, and which partnered with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra beginning in 2017. Under the auspices of Kadima’s Creative Expressions program, Crosmer, other musicians at the orchestra, and music therapists work together to design, and lead participants in, creative musical activities.

Group composition is just one of many activities for participants. Mood vectoring is another: in this activity, a participant chooses a mood that they identify with, a musician plays a musical motif associated with that mood, and the musician slowly guides the music toward a more positive mood motif. Just sitting back and listening to music is another.

“From what I’ve observed, often just playing music together, or listening to music together—there’s so many times when I’ve seen participants who may be

really shy or nervous, and as soon as they start making music, they open up completely and their entire personality shines through,” Crosmer says.

“What I do is bridge the gap between professional musicians who are used to reading sheet music and playing what’s on the page, with the music therapists who have very specific handson activities and interactions that they need to be doing with the participants in the group,” Crosmer explains. Crosmer’s involvement with Kadima at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra continues the work he did at Grand Rapids Symphony, where he designed booklets musicians could use to aid music therapists in their work.

DSO Principal Percussionist Joe Becker and bass clarinetist Shannon Orme have worked with Crosmer since the start of the Kadima project in 2017.

Guest artists from the orchestra frequently visit their classes, and during the pandemic, musicians have dropped by—virtually—almost every week to talk about their instruments and discuss their favorite recordings. Although classes have moved to Zoom for the ostensible future, Crosmer reports that they’ve made

virtual jam sessions work. If they play at exactly 92 beats per minute, the latency lag is unnoticeable. “I find ways to allow the symphony musicians to participate without being too far out of their comfort zones,” Crosmer says.

Lorien Benet Hart/Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra In the fall of 2016, violinist Lorien Benet Hart, along with a few other Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians, volunteered in a food delivery run with 412 Food Rescue, a newly established Pittsburgh nonprofit that arranges for food wholesalers to donate pallets of food to city centers, senior housing facilities, and Section 8 housing, while allowing volunteers to use an app to complete smaller deliveries. Donning Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra T-shirts, the musicians encountered a handful of people who had never gone to a PSO concert. When Hart asked what prevented them from making it to a concert, they cited a variety of reasons: they didn’t know if they belonged in the space of the concert hall, they weren’t sure they had the right clothes to wear, they didn’t know exactly what music would be

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

“The Unstable Table”—that’s the name of a song that was birthed by several Kadima Mental Health Services participants in collaboration with Detroit Symphony Orchestra cellist Jeremy Crosmer. The song explores themes of blurred realities and dreams. Weekly jam sessions take place at Kadima, a residential facility that provides therapeutic and social services to people who face mental health challenges.

Top: Detroit Symphony Orchestra cellist Jeremy Crosmer. Above: John, a Vietnam War Veteran and former Detroit police officer diagnosed with PTSD (at right in photo, speaking with Crosmer), at a sensory-friendly open rehearsal of The Firebird in fall 2018. John said, “You make veterans feel good. This is what we fought for.”

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Cellist Jeremy Crosmer (center, in orange and blue shirt) at a Detroit Symphony Orchestra rehearsal, prior to the pandemic.

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Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra violinist Lorien Benet Hart initiated efforts to launch the Body and Soul Partnership, a collaboration with 412 Food Rescue. PSO musicians volunteer as food deliverers and perform pop-up concerts in lobbies for 10 to 15 minutes at each stop. “They come out of this process not only with food to feed themselves and their families, but with a lighter sense of being,” Hart says.

Top: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra violinist Lorien Benet Hart (front center) and fellow musicians perform pop-up concerts in building lobbies while participating in a partnership between the orchestra and Food Rescue 412, a nonprofit that donates food to city residents. Bottom: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians volunteer as food deliverers and perform pop-up concerts during visits to city centers, senior housing facilities, and Section 8 housing.

on offer, or they didn’t have childcare or transportation. Hart and the musicians realized that they could extend far more than the brute strength of lifting boxes.

“How can we get music into these communities?” Hart asked.

That’s when Hart initiated efforts to launch the Body and Soul Partnership, a collaboration between the Pittsburgh Symphony and 412 Food Rescue. PSO musicians would volunteer as food deliverers, while bringing their instruments along for the ride, performing pop-up concerts in lobbies for 10 to 15 minutes at each stop. For Hart, it was about “feeding the hearts and stomachs of our communities. There’s no dignity in a handout. At the very base level, the act of needing food is not a dignified place for a human,” Hart says. “By providing this music, we elevate that process, and we at least distract from that. They come out of this process not only with food to feed themselves and their families, but with a lighter sense of being.”

When residents hear live music

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performed in their apartment buildings as part of the Body and Soul Partnership, they are often initially wary. But Hart has noticed people’s heads popping out of windows as crowds slowly gather. When buses drop kids off at home after school, they often flock to the musicians. And Hart says people have sung, danced, and beatboxed along with their music.

In-person performances have been put on hiatus, but during the pandemic, Hart got in touch with city and county housing offices to arrange for video clips of their music to be placed in community spaces.

Miho Hashizume/The Cleveland Orchestra Before the pandemic hit, Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume accompanied music instructors to their weekly lessons for second graders at Mound Elementary School in Cleveland’s Slavic Village neighborhood. She played a mostly supportive role, checking on progress and helping students. But when

the staff involved in the music education program were let go, she became the only member of the project.

In 2020, as coronavirus arrived in the U.S. and lockdowns took effect in cities nationwide, Hashizume uploaded instructional videos on Class Dojo, an educational app in which students could receive virtual lessons digitally. But she noticed that only one or two of the 30 students in the class were accessing those lessons.

Curious to find out why students were not logging on, she called parents one by one. She proposed offering private lessons over Zoom or FaceTime. Although they expressed excitement at the prospect of taking classes with a professional musician, parents were cautious of connecting online. Many families lacked the necessary bandwidth to reliably connect to virtual classes. Hashizume discovered that the digital divide in Cleveland was severe, and she decided to scrap the online lessons altogether and organize classes in front of the school. But even then, only three or four students participated.

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The difficulty of arranging transportation prevented students from showing up.

So Hashizume began going to students’ homes, where she gave lessons on their porches. She was able to teach 15 students regularly, as frequently as once per week.

Beginning in May, protests following the murder of George Floyd and systemic police violence roiled Cleveland. On her way to an outdoor lesson, Hashizume saw a street blocked off with a huge Black Lives Matter sign. As she got out of her car and walked to the sign, she saw mothers and grandmothers weeping.

The scene left a strong imprint on her, and gave her a renewed determination to continue the music program at Mound Elementary. Reading books like Caste by Isabel Wilkerson and The Color of Law

by Richard Rothstein gave her a deeper understanding of systemic racism in the United States, and the resolve to do what she could to make an impact through music. “Music gives us a chance to be together,” Hashizume explains. “The biggest

accomplishment we gained was trust from that community. My prime goal is not to train them to be classical musicians, but to give them tools to achieve their goals.”

Hashizume is aware of the challenges her students face; she was informed early on that at least 10 percent of her students were likely exposed to lead poisoning, which is known to cause attention deficit disorder and memory problems. She believes that music enables self-expression and heightened focus. She remembers in particular when a student who had been suspended from school earlier in the day practiced music for a short period of time, and then was able to explain to her with perfect lucidity why she had been unable to control her anger. Her introspection impressed Hashizume. “From simple exercises, they have this amazing ability to flourish,” she says.

John Turman: would he be interested in hosting a program for children aged zero to five? Thus was born the symphony’s Tiny Tots series, introducing the youngest children to instrument families and the musicians in the orchestra. The goal is to present great music to young audiences, and children are encouraged to participate actively during concerts through movement and song.

Then came the pandemic. It would have been easy to simply put the Tiny Tots series on pause: the proposition of keeping young kids engaged with virtual programming was a tricky one, and physical gatherings were out of the question. A couple of weeks into Washington State’s initial lockdown, Turman was talking with fellow brass musicians, who had already been rehearsing for the next Tiny Tots show, when it occurred to him to propose that they all record themselves using a click track. Each player agreed and sent in brief clips of themselves playing snippets of pieces, demonstrating their instru-

John Turman/Seattle Symphony In 2018, the Seattle Symphony’s education department approached horn player

Ken Blaze

Before the pandemic, Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume accompanied music instructors to their weekly lessons for second graders at Mound Elementary School.

Later, she uploaded instructional videos on Class Dojo, an educational app. The digital divide in Cleveland was severe, and she decided to organize classes in front of the school. The difficulty of arranging transportation prevented students from showing up, so Hashizume began going to students’ homes, where she gave lessons on their porches.

Top: Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume. Above: Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume helps Mound Elementary School string students tune their instruments. During the pandemic, transportation proved difficult for many students, so Hashizume began going to students’ homes.

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Cleveland Orchestra violinist Miho Hashizume (bottom row, center) in performance with the orchestra.

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Above: Seattle Symphony French horn John Turman. Below: Turman hosts a “Tiny Clips for Tiny Tots” virtual session. Turman came up with the idea to transform the orchestra’s Tiny Tots music education series into a virtual series; musicians send in clips of themselves playing musical snippets and demonstrate their instruments for young children.

ments. “Tiny Clips for Tiny Tots” was born. Soon, Turman invited each section of the orchestra to do the same thing the brass section had done.

The technical challenges of putting together “Tiny Clips for Tiny Tots” were immense. Turman drew from filmmaking lessons he learned in high school, and applied green screen and visual effect techniques he had used in video projects in college. And because each musician’s recording was done separately, Turman spent a lot of time fine-tuning the audio, ensuring that its quality would be as good as it would have been had they played together in the same room.

Now that musicians are beginning to play in the same room again, repertoire possibilities have exploded for what music can be showcased on “Tiny Clips for Tiny

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The technical challenges of putting together “Tiny Clips for Tiny Tots” were immense. Seattle Symphony horn player John Turman drew from filmmaking lessons he learned in high school, and applied green screen and visual effect techniques he had used in video projects in college.

Tots.” And with a complete season under his belt, Turman has streamlined the writing and filming process. “The way that we’re writing and filming this season is like a film studio,” Turman says. “We have a dedicated writing week. We’re going to go through all the shows and programs and make prop lists of all the equipment and filming plans.” In the second season, Turman says he will integrate scientific lessons, as well as Seattle area landmarks, with music education.

JASMINE LIU is a journalist from the San Francisco Bay Area who writes about literature in translation, contemporary art, classical music, and more. She holds bachelor’s degrees from Stanford University in anthropology and mathematics.

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Musicians in the Spotlight Musicians have been taking new roles at orchestras during the pandemic, commissioning and performing new music, stepping up as soloists, and curating and filming performances, often outdoors—even in an airplane hangar.

By Nancy Malitz

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were spending the summer. “Philip Pandolfi and I have been colleagues for 25 years, and Mike’s colleague Ronald Samuels has been in the orchestra 20 years.” Rusinek, who joked that he told Ludwig to “make the second part the hard part,” said he was especially happy because people don’t necessarily think of the seconds as soloists, adding, “these guys could be principal players in any orchestra.”

While winds and brasses are being highlighted by their orchestras in new ways to make up for their lack of stage time early in the pandemic, musicians from every section have become closely involved in programming while developing new skills. Amid evolving safety restrictions that affect rehearsals, concert halls, and in-person and online performances, orchestras nationwide are putting their own musicians center stage, whether that stage is virtual, outdoors, in more intimate venues, or as the soloists in brand-new scores commissioned just for them.

At the Pittsburgh Symphony, Ludwig’s Concerto for Two Clarinets and Two Bassoons is scheduled to debut in February 2022, on a program led by Honeck that includes Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, which is scored for a large orchestra that includes piccolo, flutes, oboes, English horn, E-flat clarinet, soprano

Alicia Dallago

hen music performances halted in the spring of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in the U.S., it was devastating for the entire orchestra community, but wind and brass players were particularly hard hit. As smaller ensembles began returning to the stage, they mostly featured musicians who could play their instruments while wearing masks, like strings and percussion; many orchestras, in an effort to prevent aerosols from spreading the virus among musicians, made the decision that performances with winds or brass could involve only a few players onstage at a time. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Heinz Hall implemented safety protocols that didn’t allow any winds and brass to perform together. Yet more than anything, musicians needed to play.

Thus it came as great news for Pittsburgh Symphony Principal Clarinet Michael Rusinek and Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres, who are married, that Music Director Manfred Honeck had commissioned a new quadruple concerto for them and their stand partners from American composer David Ludwig.

Goeres was thrilled. “The four of us are very close friends,” she said recently from Aspen, where she and Rusinek

Rob Davidson

Edward DeArmitt / PSO

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres performs in a filmed Beethoven program at Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright landmark near Pittsburgh, in October 2020.

Above left, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres and Principal Clarinet Michael Rusinek perform the world premiere of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Double Concerto, June 2019. This season, Goeres and Rusinek will perform with Second Clarinet Ronald Samuels (above right, top) and Second Bassoon Philip Pandolfi (above right, bottom) for the world premiere of David Ludwig’s Concerto for Two Clarinets and Two Bassoons, led by Music Director Manfred Honeck.

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During the pandemic, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra musicians including Principal Cello Anne Martindale Williams have been featured in the PSO’s “Front Row” series of virtual concerts.

Mary Persin, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s vice president of artistic planning, says during the pandemic “there was nothing else to do but be as creative as we possibly could.”

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Owen Zhou

Clockwise from top left: Boulder Philharmonic Concertmaster Charles Wetherbee, Assistant Principal Second Violin Sharon Park, Executive Director Sara Parkinson. All have taken on new roles during the pandemic.

Music Director Michael Butterman conducts the Boulder Philharmonic in a streamed concert at the Brungard Aviation hangar at Boulder Municipal Airport, October 2020.

clarinets, bass clarinet, three bassoons, contrabassoon, eight horns, three trumpets, three trombones, tenor tuba, and tuba: a celebration of winds and brass sufficient to rattle the rafters at Heinz Hall. Ludwig is the dean and director of Juilliard’s Music Division and, incidentally, pianist Rudolf Serkin’s grandson.

While winds and brasses are being highlighted to make up for their lack of stage time early in the pandemic, musicians from all sections have become involved in programming while developing new skills.

Mary Persin, vice president of artistic planning at the Pittsburgh Symphony, recalls the hard news that the orchestra would have to cancel last season’s massive celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday. “We were going to do the entire symphony cycle in one week, as well as all 16 string quartets at the Carnegie Library, and none of it could go on as planned,” she says. “So we were forced into some tight corners, and there was nothing else to do but be as creative as we possibly could. That meant getting outside of the hall, which has always been part of our mission, but we were able to do that in a bigger way than normal, and it turned out to be this incredible, unexpected silver lining.

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“We staged our homage to Beethoven at Fallingwater, the Frank Lloyd Wright landmark in our backyard, just an hour from Pittsburgh,” Persin continues.

“It made so much sense. Wright was also a pathbreaker in many ways. We filmed during the first week of October. It was exquisite, with fall’s changing leaves and colors, and the sound of water, and birds flying overhead. And being in the open air afforded us a chance to have duos, and trios, and the trombones all together. A performance of Clair de lune”—a chamber arrangement featuring Principal Oboe Cynthia DeAlmeida, Principal Harp Gretchen Van Hoesen, and Principal Flute Lorna McGhee—“will stay with me forever, with the falling leaves gathering at the base of the harp, and the breeze in the trees, and the cast of light overhead—just unbelievable music in a stunning setting.”

Boulder Philharmonic: Aflutter in an Airplane Hangar The Butterfly Lovers, a violin concerto, was already booked for Boulder Philharmonic Concertmaster Charles Wetherbee to perform with the orchestra as solo violinist when COVID hit.

“I have the same memory that I did as a kid growing up,” he says of Chen Gang and He Zhanhao’s concerto, which is based on a tragic Chinese legend of star-crossed lovers that dates back to the seventh century. “I jumped at the chance.

Folks will always say it is one of their favorite all-time pieces. But I can’t recall hearing it live.” Now the concerto is

rescheduled alongside an aerial ballet in April 2022 inside the Brungard Aviation hangar near Boulder Municipal Airport.

It’s the hangar now used by the Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance troupe, with which the orchestra has previously partnered.

Music Director Michael Butterman will lead the concert, which in addition to The Butterfly Lovers concerto will also feature Mason Bates’s Undistant, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Overture, and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite. “We only started performing at [the hangar] because of COVID,” Wetherbee says. “I was kind of amazed how good the sound is, actually. It’s a really cool venue. The dancers have used it for many years. The height is great, and the support structures are exposed for easy fixing of their lines. It also has been good for us because of the cross-ventilation, with doors at the two ends.

“Some of the choreography will be on the floor, and some in the air,” Wetherbee says. “Of course, it is more challenging to play music when your colleagues are literally yards away, but the high ceilings are not crazy high, probably about the same as a large concert hall.

We’re going to use the hangar until we can truly get back into the main concert hall.” All of the Boulder Philharmonic’s seven 2020-21 virtual season concerts were filmed inside the hangar. The orchestra’s 2021-22 season will begin in October with the first of several shortened, limited-capacity performances at Mountain View United Methodist Church in Boulder, followed by full-or-

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National Philharmonic violist Jim Kelly, who also serves as the ensemble’s president and CEO, designed a virtual concert series with Concertmaster Laura Colgate during the pandemic.

Concertmaster Laura Colgate curated the National Philharmonic’s filmed “Music That Travels Through Space” program, which featured space- and night-themed music and NASA images, with performers including cellist Lori Barnet, trumpeter Chris Gekker, clarinetist Suzanne Gekker, and pianist Elizabeth Hill.

National Philharmonic Concertmaster Laura Colgate (at left) curated a new biweekly virtual and broadcast series of themed hourlong performances.

chestra performances in 2022.

The Boulder Philharmonic’s executive director, Sara Parkinson, stepped into leadership in early 2020. Her tasks included trimming the budget and hunting for a venue that would allow the orchestra to keep playing safely. As the local health department clamped down, the hardest things to see put on hold, Parkinson says, were the field trips to elementary-school students. In response, Assistant Principal Second Violin Sharon

“We did this early on in the pandemic, because it gave all of us something to cling to,” National Philharmonic Concertmaster Laura Colgate says of the orchestra’s forays into streamed and TV performances.

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Park, who is also on the Boulder Philharmonic’s board, taught herself how to create video resources for teachers, students, and people stuck at home. “It took many weeks, and a flurry of ramping up my video editing skills, but it did allow us to help bridge the gap,” Park recalls.

National Philharmonic: Smaller Space, Livestreams, and TV When Jim Kelly, a violist with the Bethesda, Maryland-based National Philharmonic, and since 2019 also the orchestra’s president and CEO, met with the musicians in March 2021 to discuss the local requirement that all performers be vaccinated, he got a unanimous response: “Everyone was on board with the decision that anybody who didn’t want to be vaccinated could stay at home, without it affecting tenure or their spot on the sub list, although they wouldn’t be paid,” he recalls. “We did 15 concerts, streamed online and aired on WETA television, and at least we were able to provide that

work.” The orchestra is made up mostly of musicians in the Washington, D.C. metro area, many with teaching positions or private studios. “Pre-COVID, we were performing concerts or chamber music every two weeks, generally some sort of event 20 to 22 weeks a year,” Kelly says.

But types of events had to change, and so did the venue. The Music Centre at Strathmore’s 1,976-seat concert hall, where the National Philharmonic usually performs, was just too vast for the smaller-scale musical offerings they had in mind (the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Annapolis Symphony Orchestra are among other groups that perform at Strathmore). The musicians switched over to the AMP by Strathmore, a multi-purpose, configurable, high-tech dining and concert space in Bethesda, which seats several hundred people. Only a few years old, the AMP is where “more of their non-classical things happen,” says National Philharmonic Concertmaster Laura Colgate. “Because of the size of AMP, and because of what we felt we could do in terms of cameras and props and lighting, it was the better way to go.”

The concertmaster also stepped up to curate a new series of TV-friendly Sunday performances that were filmed five days prior and edited for broadcast on WETA television. The performances were given at two-week intervals, each an hour long with educational vignettes.

The themes typically involved a partner, such as one program with a chef, “Music That Feeds the Soul,” with music by Amy Beach and Scott Joplin. Between numbers, a local chef delivered a how-to demo for dishes like winter-squash gnocchi with roasted mushrooms and brown

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orchestra to put content online.

In April 2022, Eric Jacobs, the Seattle Symphony’s clarinet/bass clarinet and a passionate new-music advocate, will perform the premiere of a newly commissioned work by Angélica Negrón and Peter Shin for “singing clarinet,” involving vocalization and electronics. It’s to be performed in the orchestra’s Octave 9 performance space, which opened in 2019 and is capable of 360-degree video projections and chameleon-like acoustical changes. “This is the venue that we hope can be a Seattle arts incubator,” says Raff Wilson, the orchestra’s vice president of artistic planning. “It’s an amazing cohort of young voices we are seeing now,” he says of the musicians and composers.

“They reflect the music of this time, the way they tack and adjust to what has happened.” Wilson says the orchestra’s 2021-22 season opener is indicative of its exploration and reinvention: the world premiere of Remember, scored for full orchestra, by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail.

Seattle Symphony: New Music, New Space Violinist Eduardo Rios hadn’t yet completed a full season with the Seattle Symphony as assistant concertmaster on the March 2020 day that President and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan walked into the rehearsal and told everybody to stop playing and head home. “Then, after not working for over five months, I was feeling in desperate need to do something with my life,” Rios recalls.

Born in Lima, Peru, he was a winner of the 2015 Sphinx Competition and previous fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, now eager to make his way in Seattle. “So when I finally heard that the orchestra was reopening, but that it was a voluntary thing, and only if you felt safe and were okay with participating, I pretty much did all I could,” he says. Rios joined other Seattle Symphony musicians in September 2020 for the orchestra’s first streamed performance, which took place at Benaroya Hall and featured Seattle vocalist and guitarist Whitney Mongé performing Mary D. Watkins’s Five Movements of Color: Soul of Remembrance, Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. “Of course, there was no audience and no clapping, and we were reduced in size, but it was still the Seattle Symphony,” Rios recalls. “I got those nerves that you get from being recorded or filmed. It pushes you to a different level, to play it perfectly every time.” Thiagarajan, who had seen very quickly the need to create an online presence, credits the musicians for being instrumental in allowing the

Quad City Symphony: “Vaccine Variations” Organizing a pandemic response gets complex for an orchestra covering four cities across two states, but Quad City Symphony Orchestra Executive

James Holt

Monte Luke

Craig Matthews

butter. Ingredient kits could be ordered in advance, so viewers could cook the same chef ’s meal at home. The idea was to develop programs that could be made available for posting at the orchestra’s website and its Vimeo, Facebook, and YouTube pages, all while meeting the requirements of the musicians’ contract agreements.

“Editing with only five days was a Herculean effort,” Kelly says. “Who knew?”

Another program, “Music that Travels through Space,” featured Alistair Coleman’s Acquainted with the Night for trumpet and piano as well as Golijov’s Tenebrae arranged for string quartet, framed by magnificent space images from NASA and the Hubble space telescope. The learning curve on all the video programming was steep, Colgate admits. “The shows aired every other Sunday, and they had to be between 57 and 58 minutes long exactly.

Music and scripts and the camera work had to be figured out precisely. It was a huge team effort involving a lot of work, strict deadlines, and much of it beyond the scope of what we usually have to think about. But with the expansion into streamed and TV performances, the orchestra’s audience has increased as well, with a major increase in new donors. And after the first few shows, we found our groove.”

“One of the biggest things was that we did this early on in the pandemic, because it gave all of us something to cling to,” Colgate says. “It was super helpful, not just to keep our audience in place, but for the community to be able to experience this music even when they couldn’t be there in person.”

The Seattle Symphony and guitarist Whitney Mongé perform at Benaroya Hall, September 19, 2020, the orchestra’s first streamed performance,.

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Clockwise from top left: Seattle Symphony Assistant Concertmaster Eduardo Rios, President and CEO Krishna Thiagarajan, clarinet/bass clarinet Eric Jacobs, and Vice President of Artistic Planning Raff Wilson. Thiagarajan credits the musicians for being instrumental in allowing the orchestra to put content online.

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Nicholas Propes

Director Brian Baxter says that all four communities in Illinois (Moline and Rock Island) and Iowa (Bettendorf and Davenport) have offered great support. “Our first show since the March shutdown was in September 2020, an outdoor pops concert that took a lot of collaborative work, in particular by the musicians, so that they could perform as much as they could, as safely as they could,” Baxter says. “It was really kind of tear-inducing—we’ll never again take for granted what we do. And none of it would have been possible if we weren’t all rolling in the same direction.”

One of the orchestra’s regular performance spaces, Davenport’s Adler Theatre, seats 2,200, which Music Director Mark Russell Smith says is normally almost too big: “We can’t fill all those seats. But during COVID, it was great for distancing, and we could put 42 musicians onstage.”

French horn player Marc Zyla, who is also the QCSO’s director of community engagement, is hopeful that his chance to play the Strauss Horn Concerto may actually come in December, given COVID rates. But he’ll take what comes—and he’s been creative. “We kind of just took an approach that whatever happens, we need to make stuff and stay busy. We feel like we are one of the first orchestras to have a TikTok account,” Zyla says of the QCSO’s short-form videos, on 15-second repeat and abun-

Nicholas Propes

Quad City Symphony Orchestra Music Director Mark Russell Smith conducts the orchestra at the 2,200-seat Adler Theatre in Davenport, Iowa; the size of the space allows for social distancing during the pandemic.

Left to right: Quad City Symphony Orchestra French horn player Marc Zyla, Music Director Mark Russell Smith, and Executive Director Brian Baxter.

dant social-media tie-ins, that he helps to manage. And even though the musicians got vaccinated, he said the percentages of vaccinated in the region were “just okay” at first. “So each week for about six weeks we’d send a quartet of our string players to go to medical clinics and play for about an hour. We called it ‘Vaccine Variations,’ and the media were really good in terms of picking it up. We feel we did a nice job of helping everybody get back to normal.”

Philadelphia Orchestra: Fresh Winds, Online and In Person The Philadelphia Orchestra’s new principal oboe, Philippe Tondre, who took his place in the orchestra’s storied wind corps during the pandemic, contends that his biggest initial challenge was just getting into the U.S. from his native France. His bow with the Mozart Oboe Concerto in January 2021 won notably warm applause from his colleagues.

A March 2021 virtual concert featured Mozart’s Gran Partita, and its dazzling

roles for 13 winds.

Last winter, winds and brass had not been able to be onstage together in many months, but Tondre says he was just grateful to be playing. “That was the first issue,” he recalls. “The orchestra did incredible work trying to be active.

It is vital to be able to use the stage.”

Meanwhile, Tondre has created a series of charming videos documenting the many sounds his oboe can make, and his sometimes baffling new experiences—including Philly Cheesesteak.

Principal Tuba Carol Jantsch is preparing for the December world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s new tuba concerto. She can take pride in the fact that it exists at all. “There weren’t any tuba concertos until John Williams,” she says, “but when Wynton came to town four years ago to work with [violinist] Nicola Benedetti on some edits here and there for his violin concerto, which is almost cinematic, he was chummy with the brass section, and he said some nice things about my playing.

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Rob Shanahan

In December, Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Tuba Carol Jantsch will perform in the orchestra’s world premiere of Wynton Marsalis’s new tuba concerto.

Philippe Tondre, a native of France, was hired as the Philadelphia Orchestra’s principal oboe during the pandemic. He introduced himself to audiences with a humorous video sharing his reactions to unfamiliar U.S. customs and traditions—such as his new hometown’s Philly Cheesesteak.

Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Tuba Carol Jantsch will premiere Wynton Marsalis’s tuba concerto in December.

“After the first readthrough, I thought, ‘This is super cool,’ ” says Jantsch.

“And I said, ‘Yes, so the tuba concerto is next, right?’ And he didn’t say no! So I made sure they knew I was fully pushing for this—I am really good friends with his copyist, who’s a bass player. We bass-clef people have to stick together! I think he saw the potential for how Wynton’s writing could make a concerto for bass that makes the instrument alive like the world has never seen before. After the first read-through, I thought, ‘This is super cool.’ Wynton had been talking about how virtuosity comes in different forms, and the finesse with which you play a bass line doesn’t need a ton of notes to be virtuosic. You will hear it. This movement just grooves so hard.”

NANCY MALITZ is the founding music critic of USA Today, an editor at ClassicalVoiceAmerica.org, and publisher of ChicagoOntheAisle.com. She has written about the arts and technology for the New York Times and Opera News, among other publications.

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Return to Pops Pops artists, like the orchestras they perform with, took a hit last season. Now they are beginning to return to orchestra stages across the country and hitting a note of realistic optimism. Ten pops artists reveal how they have fared, what they have missed, what they most look forward to, and what they have planned for the season ahead.

By Steven Brown

A

DAVE BENNETT Singer and multi-instrumentalist Dave Bennett made his name by taking orchestra audiences on voyages across the decades—paying tribute to artists from Benny Goodman to Elvis Presley and the Beatles. When the pandemic sent him home, he looked in a different direction.

“This was a time for me to kind of tell my own story,” Bennett says. He had written music before, but “the things I started writing were mainly guitar-based, a different style than I usually play. These songs started to come out well. So I kept hammering away at it.”

Bennett began trying out the songs on audiences during his quartet’s initial flurry of return-to-action gigs in mid2020. The second-wave shutdown late last year “was tough” on his mental state, he recalls, even more so than the first lockdown. But this year has kept him busy. As audiences hear his new material, he says, “It’s really cool that everyone has 54

Courtesy Dave Bennett/Vancouver Symphony

s gradually improving COVID-19 statistics and more widespread use of vaccine mandates encourage orchestras to reopen, orchestras’ pops series and their headliners are returning to action onstage—for the most part. Engagement books are refilling, new material is being premiered, and thoughts are turning to future possibilities. All the while, wary eyes remain on the virus, lest it surge and spoil the plans.

Here, 10 pops headliners and conductors share their experiences and outlooks.

Dave Bennett in performance with Canada’s Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, January 2019.

been asking, ‘Where can we get these?’ ” So he recorded his eight new songs, and he hopes to have them on the market— recording label to be determined—by year’s end.

As the season began, he looked forward to pops concerts with the

Allentown and Houston symphonies.

“As weird as the world is right now, I’m probably in the most exciting and content spot I’ve ever been in,” Bennett declares.

“I’m a very thankful guy.”

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“I want people to get an experience of the orchestra that makes them take more interest in this fantastic instrument.

I want them to go home saying, ‘Wow. Orchestras. Cool!’ ” —Stewart Copeland

“As weird as the world is right now, I’m probably in the most exciting and content spot I’ve ever been in.

I’m a very thankful guy.” —Dave Bennett STEWART COPELAND Drummer and composer Stewart Copeland had to wait a year because of the pandemic, but he finally premiered his “Police Deranged for Orchestra”—a celebration of his onetime band The Police—with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in August. More performances are in store in the United States and Europe into next year.

“This is about the orchestra,” Copeland says of the new show. It draws on “the beautiful colors and textures that an orchestra has”—which have been resounding in Copeland’s ear ever since he listened to The Rite of Spring and other 20th-century classics as a teenager. “I’ve got my Stravinsky and Ravel scores that I refer to, and I’ve stolen from them just as they stole from people before them, I’m sure,” Copeland says. Recasting “Roxanne” and other Police hits, “I’ve taken some liberties, and given the orchestra space to be an orchestra. I just love the sound.”

The lockdown gave Copeland more AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

time to focus on composing, but he was “always mindful that my fellow musicians, the players out there, were having a really tough time.” When he and the group he takes with him—three singers, a guitarist, and a bass player—premiered “Police Deranged” with the San Diego Symphony, he relished finally hearing the orchestral effects he had imagined.

Copeland says that when he performs with an orchestra, “I play really quietly. I rock out when appropriate, but in a lot of it, I’m holding way back. I put that flute part there, so I want to hear it!”

He also soaks up the audience response.

“It’s a lot of fun because a regular night at a rock show is a huge smash in the symphony world—everybody rushing down to the front of the stage, singing every song, dancing,” Copeland says. “I like being right in the middle between these two cultural territories.” And he hopes Police fans will make a discovery. “I want those people to get an experience of the orchestra that makes them take more interest in this fantastic instrument,” Copeland adds. “I want them to go home saying, ‘Wow. Orchestras. Cool!’”

DUKES OF DIXIELAND The Dukes of Dixieland’s manager, John Shoup, opened a jazz club in New Orleans this past April. “How dumb is that?

In the middle of a pandemic,” he quips, laughing. But his business venture had a purpose. Jazz@Blue Dog, next to the Sheraton New Orleans, gave the Dukes a place to play on weekends—in place of the pops concert that they played with

The Dukes of Dixieland

“I think an arrangement for a choral group and a symphony with the Dukes of Dixieland would be phenomenal.”—John Shoup, Dukes of Dixieland orchestras across the country before the pandemic.

“My guys don’t want to travel right now,” Shoup says. “They don’t want to get on planes. I don’t blame them. They all said, ‘There’s no real rush. We’ve got a gig.’ ” The new club and the Dukes’ 55

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Dukes of Dixieland Roger Mastroianni

DAN KAMIN When an offer came in for an orchestral date this fall, more than a year had passed since actor and comedian Dan Kamin had performed shows like his popular “Comedy Concertos” or “Charlie Chaplin at the Symphony” before a live audience. Yet he hesitated. Who could predict whether the virus might spike again? Kamin recalls, “I said, ‘Why don’t we hold off for a little while, until we’re more certain?’ I wish I had a good answer—a rational answer” as to what could provide that certainty.

Kamin has put himself before audiences virtually, though, thanks to his first love as a performer: magic. “I had this sudden realization in the early months of the lockdown that one thing that works on Zoom is close-up magic, because you can get up closer than you do in real life,” he points out. With two cameras zeroed in tightly on his hands, he performs shows he has devised for the close-up medium—such as “The Quarantined Cards,” the story of a family of aces that appear and disappear because they have to socially distance. He always performs these shows live with viewer interaction, to demonstrate that he isn’t cheating by splicing in prerecorded sections.

Corporate and other groups pay a fee, but he performs for private individuals for free. “Magic releases pleasure in people,” Kamin says. “This is our time to be helping each other. It’s what I can do.” In the meantime, he looks ahead to making a different kind of magic with orchestras.

The Dukes of Dixieland perform with the Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart.

Dan Kamin, center, performs his “Haunted Orchestra” show with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2014, with a little help from some scary friends.

Fred P. Kenderson

weeknight home, the steamboat City of New Orleans, don’t make up for the musicians’ lost tours and gigs with orchestras, but they’re doing okay financially, Shoup says.

For now, Shoup and the Dukes are keeping the music-making at home while looking ahead. Everyone’s vaccinated, new orchestral parts are ready, and the Dukes expect to resume touring in 2022, Shoup says. His mind is also on gospel music, which landed the Dukes a Grammy nomination for a 2000 recording with a New Orleans choir.

He’s looking into having arrangements made. “I think a choral group and a symphony”—with the Dukes, of course—“would be phenomenal.”

“This is our time to be helping each other.

It’s what I can do.”

—Dan Kamin

NNENNA FREELON Jazz singer Nnenna Freelon savors the experience of performing with orchestras. “It’s like being on a magic carpet ride,” she says. Since the pandemic’s arrival, however, she has limited herself to virtual performances. What would make her feel safe going back onstage?

“For me personally, there is a list of questions that would need to be answered. Things like, are they disinfecting the microphones? Is everyone on the staff vaccinated?” Freelon says. “Can they eliminate all possibility of harm or illness? No. That wasn’t possible before this. But it would show that they are takFA L L 2 0 21

“This enforced solitude [away from the stage] has made it possible for me to think and write deeply about grief in all its aspects. As a musician, singer, and storyteller, it’s natural for me to respond to this in my art.”

—Nnenna Freelon

John Such Management

CAPATHIA JENKINS “I feel really fortunate,” says vocalist Capathia Jenkins. Many of her concert dates that the pandemic squelched are being rescheduled, and the singer-actress has been busy since a flurry of summertime outdoor concerts—including one in the Czech Republic. She especially looks forward to December. “The holiday season is always wonderful, but to think that we’ll all be back together again will be even more special,” she says.

During the shutdown, Jenkins did a few streamed performances—including from the home of frequent collaborator Tony DeSare, who lives a half-hour from her in Georgia. She declares herself hopeful about the music business getting back on its feet as safety protocols coalesce. But the grief that gripped her during the lockdown, when she couldn’t work, has left an imprint. “I feel like I have a mild anxiety, just under the skin. Is the phone going to ring and everything go away again?” During the lockdown, she recalls, “I was so sad. It doesn’t seem far away. But I’m glad it’s in the rear view for now.” What’s ahead

Chris Charles

ing care of the artists who are working for them.”

“I am mourning my lack of connection” with audiences and fans, Freelon adds. But she used the time to launch a podcast: “Great Grief,” inspired in part by the loss in 2019 of her husband. “This enforced solitude (away from the stage) has made it possible for me to think and write deeply about grief in all its aspects,” Freelon says. “As a musician, singer, and storyteller, it’s natural for me to respond to this in my art. That’s how I come to the podcast world…not as a therapist or counselor.”

“The holiday season is always wonderful, but to think that we’ll all be back together again will be even more special.”

—Capathia Jenkins

John Such Management

for Jenkins? Among other gigs, multiple dates singing an Aretha Franklin tribute shows with orchestras.

Capathia Jenkins takes a bow with Tony DeSare (left) and Steven Reineke (on podium) at a 2019 New York Pops concert at Carnegie Hall.

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STEVEN REINEKE The Houston Symphony managed to do an entire nine-program pops series last season with in-person, socially distanced audiences. Social distancing onstage forced Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke to try new ideas, “some of which may stick around,” he says. “We did

a big-band concert, where we had no strings and I brought in a sax section.

People really loved that. It was like the Houston Big Band.” Another program featured wind ensemble. Billed as “Musical Storytellers,” it included programmatic works such as a movement from Johan de Meij’s Lord of the Rings Symphony. “A lot of people from the orchestral community, including the Houston Symphony, said, ‘This was really great.’ Maybe we can do it once every season or once every two seasons.”

As more orchestras return to action, Reineke is especially optimistic about the northeastern United States, where vaccine mandates are taking effect at leading venues—including Carnegie Hall, where he’s the New York Pops’ music director, and Washington’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, where he’s the National Symphony Orchestra’s principal pops conductor. He thinks that when COVID-19 eventually comes under control, performing and attending concerts “will look very similar to what we used to do.”

Meanwhile, Reineke’s mind is on the reckoning with social injustice that the country went through prompted by the police killings of George Floyd and others. Programs like the hip-hop concerts he has done at the National Symphony can bring in wider audiences, he says, but “the bigger question is, how do we make the orchestras themselves look more like the communities they’re in?

This is where orchestras have to change.”

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“I can’t tell you how many times singers have said to me, ‘I’m so happy to be singing again.’ ‘I’m so happy to be performing again.’ ” —John Such AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Melissa Taylor

John Such Management

“The bigger question is, how do we make the orchestras themselves look more like the communities they’re in? This is where orchestras have to change.”

—Steven Reineke

Steven Reineke leads the Houston Symphony and vocalist Renée Fleming during the orchestra’s September 11, 2021, opening night. Reineke is principal pops conductor at the Houston Symphony, New York Pops, and the National Symphony Orchestra.

JOHN SUCH John Such, executive director of John Such Artists’ Management, which represents multiple pops artists, knows firsthand that COVID-19 remains a threat: He recently came down with it.

Thanks to his vaccination, he says, two days of flu-like symptoms were about all he experienced. Wariness of another surge in the virus tinges his optimism as he sees his clients getting back to work.

The pandemic prevented what would been “an amazing year” for his artists, Such says, but “a fair number of those engagements have been rebooked for 2022. I feel encouraged by the number of calls and engagements we have coming up.” Recognizing the financial squeeze orchestras face, Such and his artists have often agreed to rethink their fees. “I don’t know any artist so far who” has not been willing to at least discuss that, he says.

As his clients have gone back before live audiences, Such has grown familiar with an after-concert refrain. “I can’t tell you how many times singers have said to me, ‘I’m so happy to be singing again.’

‘I’m so happy to be performing again,’ ” Such recalls. “I don’t think any of the artists took it for granted, necessarily.

But the lockdown showed them how lucky they were to be able to perform, and how much they missed it.”

TAKE 6 Full-blown touring has yet to come back for the soul and R&B vocal group Take 6 due to the pandemic, but “we’re doing some things here and there,” founder Claude McKnight says. “We’re blessed to have gigs coming in.” The group, which usually performs widely, has been getting around enough to watch the concert business grappling for ways to coexist with COVID. “We’ve seen some venues where everybody (in the hall) is masked up.

We’ve seen some venues where very few people are masked up,” McKnight says.

“We’ve seen some venues where they’re requiring vaccinations. We’ve seen some venues where you have to have had a COVID test within 48 hours. It’s all over the place.” Until a consensus about protocols develops, enabling performers and audiences to feel safe, “I’m not sure we will get back to what we took for granted (before the pandemic)—at least not anytime soon.”

Popular rituals like greeting fans after concerts are off-limits because of the risk, McKnight said, and he misses the personal contact. But the pandemic pushed Take 6 into a new way of reaching its public: last February, the group created a Valentine’s Day show for streaming, and McKnight foresees more

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John Abbott

“Innovation doesn’t always happen because you’re looking to be innovative.

Sometimes it happens because you’re forced into it.”

—Claude McKnight, Take 6 such projects. “Innovation doesn’t always happen because you’re looking to be innovative,” he says. “Sometimes it happens because you’re forced into it.”

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“We have been through an incredibly difficult time, but we have learned what to do to survive and how to keep music alive and orchestras playing. You can’t put a price on that.”

—Jeff Tyzik

Jeff Tyzik

JEFF TYZIK After conducting concerts last season that had limited in-person audiences, Jeff Tyzik encountered his first full-sized crowd at Colorado’s outdoor Bravo! Vail Music Festival this July. Not only were he and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra fired up, but the feeling he got from the audience of 3,000 was, “Wow! Have we missed this,” recalls Tyzik, the Dallas Symphony’s principal pops conductor.

“The electricity that night was as exciting as anything I have felt in 40 years.”

Another eager audience greeted Tyzik in September, when the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra—where he’s also principal pops conductor—welcomed its first in-person listeners since the lockdown. The concerts illustrated the transition that orchestras are maneuvering. A stage extension enabled the 55 players to maintain a degree of social distancing, Tyzik says. Attendance was limited to half the Eastman Theater’s capacity, and the available tickets sold out.

Concertgoers wore masks and presented vaccination cards “with no resistance,” Tyzik says, adding that the crowd was “enthusiastic and obviously happy to be there, so it’s a good sign.”

Tyzik has a broad view of the pops business. In addition to his Dallas and Rochester posts, he’s the principal pops conductor for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Oregon Symphony; not only does he guest-conduct all over, but he’s in touch with still others that book

Take 6, with founder Claude McKnight at center foreground.

Jeff Tyzik leads the Dallas Symphony Orchestra at the 2010 Bravo! Vail Music Festival in Colorado.

shows he helps produce. What has he observed? “I get a sense that everybody is guardedly optimistic, but fearful that it would be quite easy to run up against major difficulties again, depending on how things go with the Delta variant,” he says. “The one thing I’m happy about is that we have been through an incredibly difficult time, but we have learned what

to do to survive during that and how to keep music alive and orchestras playing.

You can’t put a price on that.”

STEVEN BROWN is a Houston writer who specializes in classical music. He’s the former classical music critic of the Orlando Sentinel, Charlotte Observer, and Houston Chronicle.

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SYMPHONY POPS LISTINGS 2021 The following paid listings have been supplied to Symphony by League of American Orchestras business partners who represent pops attractions and conductors in the areas of pops performance. What follows does not imply endorsement by the League of American Orchestras or Symphony. It is not intended to be fully comprehensive, but to be a reference point for orchestras charged with pops programming.

AMERICANA/ COUNTRY SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com

DUKES OF DIXIELAND Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

HEARTLAND: THE WOMEN OF C O U N T RY M U S I C Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com STEVE AMERSON Classic Concert Productions info@classiccp.com classicconcertproductions.com Amazing arrangements, superb orchestrations, unforgettable songs, impeccable musicianship. The finest in pops concerts with fully licensed Broadway, Christmas/holiday, and patriotic arrangements.

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Big Band/Swing C O U N T B A S I E O R C H E S T R A’ S 8 5 T H A N N I V E R S A RY Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com D AV E B E N N E T T Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com DONNY MOST – A “SWING FEST” TO BE S AV O R E D Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info Keeping up with Donny Most (Ralph Malph) since “Happy Days” is not an easy task. Donny has a suitcase filled with fully orchestrated swing arrangements for up to 16 pieces, and when he’s not on set filming, he’s ready to travel. “This is a man who knows his way around a song, watch out Michael Bublé”—Huffington Post.

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DUKES BRING NEW ORLEANS TO YOU! Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com After COVID-19 and 48 years, we’re still performing All New Orleans Music. Now streaming our latest outdoor concert www. dukesofdixieland.com and come visit us on the Steamboat Natchez in the French Quarter.

LINDA PURL – SWINGING SONGS OF OUR LIVES dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info Singing and swinging America’s hit parade, Linda is reminiscent of the legendary big band singers of the ’30s and ’40s. She has catapulted her acting career on “Happy Days” and “The Office” to singing on the world’s concert and cabaret stages.

Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.

L U S H L I F E : D U K E E L L I N G T O N & B I L LY S T R AY H O R N Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com N AT K I N G C O L E T R I B U T E W I T H CAESAR Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com hirecaesar.com Caesar’s smooth velvet voice is often compared to Nat King Cole’s, but he has his own interpretation and style for today’s sophisticated listener, that is essentially and superbly...Caesar.

T H E R AT PA C K ! 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F F R A N K !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Broadway A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY A N D L I Z C A L L AWAY – “ B R O A D WAY W I T H T H E C A L L AWAY S ” Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com BEHIND THE MASK: THE MUSIC OF LLOYD WEBBER, HAMLISCH, S C H WA R T Z , A N D M O R E !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com B R AV O B R O A D WAY !

John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows B R O A D WAY A - Z : A B B A T O L E S M I Z !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com B R O A D WAY G E N T L E M E N Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com B R O A D WAY B Y R E Q U E S T : Y O U R AUDIENCE PICKS THE SHOW Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com B R O A D WAY R O C K S !

John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows FA S C I N AT I N G G E R S H W I N Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com T H E G O L D E N A G E O F B R O A D WAY !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com

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JULIE BUDD – “ B R O A D WAY S H O W STOPPERS 2” Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info “The consummate performer”— Holden, New York Times. Ms. Budd has appeared as guest artist with more than 60 orchestras. Her dazzling new show, “Broadway Show Stoppers 2,” is fully scored and orchestrated, now booking 2022/2023 & 2023/2024 seasons.

K E R N T R I B U T E F E AT U R I N G S H O W B O AT I N C O N C E R T Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com M A S T E R S O F T H E M U S I C A L T H E AT E R : C E L E B R AT I N G L L O Y D W E B B E R , GERSHWIN, BERNSTEIN, AND MORE John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows M Y FA I R B R O A D WAY ! T H E H I T S O F LERNER AND LOEWE Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com N O W P L AY I N G O N B R O A D WAY !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com O S C A R O N O S C A R ! F E AT U R I N G O S C A R ANDY HAMMERSTEIN III Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com THE ROARING TWENTIES! Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com A RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN C E L E B R AT I O N John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows

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SO IN LOVE! THE COLE PORTER CONCERT Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com SOMETHING WONDERFUL: THE SONGS OF RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com STEVE AMERSON Classic Concert Productions info@classiccp.com classicconcertproductions.com Amazing arrangements, superb orchestrations, unforgettable songs, impeccable musicianship. The finest in pops concerts with fully licensed Broadway, Christmas/holiday, and patriotic arrangements.

Conductor/ Pops BOB BERNHARDT Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com BYRON STRIPLING Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

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E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I P R E S E N T S : T R AV E L O G U E S , T O U R I TA L I A !

M O R R I C O N E , R O TA & R E S P I G H I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com

E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I P R E S E N T S : T R AV E L O G U E S , T O U R I TA L I A !

M O R R I C O N E , R O TA & R E S P I G H I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com

JEFF TYZIK Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com

G I A D A VA L E N T I – S O N G S F R O M T H E MOVIES Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com www.giadavalenti.com A show to entertain the whole family with singer Giada Valenti, including: “Moon River”, “La Vie en Rose,” “A Million Dreams,” “Skyfall,” “Diamonds Are Forever,” “Smile,” “When You Wish Upon a Star,” “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” “My Heart Will Go On,” “Somewhere,” “Can You Feel The Love Tonight?,” “Cinema Paradiso.”

With musical arrangements by Jorge Calandrelli, Chris Walden, and Gaetano Randazzo.

Family Concerts A N N A M A R I A M E N D I E TA’ S “ TA N G O DEL CIELO” Kirschner Creative Artists owen_k@kcartists.com TangoDelCielo.com Anna Maria Mendieta’s “Tango Del Cielo”—multimedia music and dance from her award-winning album with harp and orchestra featuring Argentine tango, flamenco, classical, Latin jazz, and a tribute to the silent films!

CLASSICAL KIDS LIVE! Classical Kids Music Education paul@classicalkidsnfp.org ClassicalKidsLive.com Classical Kids are far and away the best for introducing children to classical music! Beethoven Lives Upstairs, Gershwin’s Magic Key, Mozart’s Magnificent Voyage, Vivaldi’s Ring of Mystery, Tchaikovsky Discovers America.

DAN KAMIN’S COMEDY CONCERTOS dan2@dankamin.com dankamin.com NY Phil raves about Dan’s “unique talent for physical comedy and wonderful feel for music.”

Baltimore Symphony calls him “absolutely captivating.” Check out The Classical Clown, The Lost Elephant and more.

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

P O E T RY I N C O N C E R T frank@frankoden.com poetryinconcert.com Frank Oden’s performance poetry brings humor, character, narrative arc, and theatrical production values to family and educational concerts.

Cowboy Jamboree, The Haunted Symphony, What is Mucus Music? (comedy), Blue Dot (climate crisis).

RANDY OTTO IS WINSTON CHURCHILL Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com kcartists.com Renowned speaker and actor Randy Otto has embodied Winston Churchill for over four decades and hundreds of performances. Now adding his narrations to Peter and the Wolf and Lincoln Portrait.

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S H A R O N M C K N I G H T – A W H I R LW I N D OF DAZZLING ENERGY Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info A Tony nominee and Theater World Award-winner, Sharon presents her iconic reenactment of the Landing Scene from MGM’s classic Wizard of Oz, in which Sharon recreates all of the characters—even Toto. It’s eight minutes of sheer delight and ends with “Over the Rainbow” and other children’s classics. Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons.

Film with Orchestra

Great American Songbook A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY – “ F E V E R : T H E P E G G Y L E E C E N T U RY ” Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY – “ T H E JUDY GARLAND SONGBOOK” Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY ’ S “STREISAND SONGBOOK” Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com

C H A R L I E C H A P L I N AT THE SYMPHONY dan2@dankamin.com dankamin.com A classical concert goes horribly wrong in The Classical Clown, followed by two Chaplin classics, Easy Street and The Immigrant, to top off an uproarious evening of comedy and music.

ARETHA: A TRIBUTE John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows

E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

THE MUSIC OF JAMES BOND AND MORE John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows

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SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com

C A PAT H I A & T O N Y S I N G T H E G R E AT AMERICAN SONGBOOK John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

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J U L I E B U D D - C E L E B R AT I N G 2 0 T H C E N T U RY S O N G B O O K Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info Timeless and acclaimed artist Julie Budd presents favorite songs from Berlin and Gershwin to Carole King, fully scored and orchestrated from a quintet to full orchestra. Ms. Budd has been a guest artist with more than 60 orchestras worldwide. Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 seasons.

T H E L A D I E S O F T H E G R E AT A M E R I C A N SONGBOOK John Such Artists’ Management jsuchmgt@aol.com johnsuchartists.com/shows L I N D A P U R L S I N G S A M E R I C A’ S T I M E L E S S FAV O R I T E S Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info T H E M A N H AT TA N T R A N S F E R – T H E 5 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R AT I O N Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com MARISSA MULDER – MUSICAL MEMORIES TO CHERISH Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info A winsome and lyrical soprano, hailed as “the breakout artist of the decade” by the Wall Street Journal. Marissa interprets songs

by Lennon/McCartney, Jerome Kern, Joni Mitchell, and Carole King. Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.

MICHAEL LINGTON’S A SONG FOR YOU Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com kcartists.com Michael Lington’s “A Song for You” brings beautiful and soulful interpretations of the next generation of the Great American Songbook to your orchestra pops series.

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

N AT K I N G C O L E T R I B U T E WITH CAESAR Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com hirecaesar.com Caesars’ smooth velvet voice is often compared to Nat King Cole’s, but he has his own interpretation and style for today’s sophisticated listener, that is essentially and superbly...Caesar.

NNENNA FREELON – FROM ELLA TO SARAH, WITH LOVE Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com PROHIBITION Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com S T E V E L I P P I A – S I M P LY S W I N G I N ’ – F R A N K S I N AT R A A N D F R I E N D S Andersen Arts Group Lori@andersenreps.com andersenreps.com SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com TA K E 6 , N N E N N A F R E E L O N , A N D C L I N T H O L M E S – U N F O R G E T TA B L E A F T E R A L L Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com TA K E 6 – S P R E A D L O V E W I T H T H E P O P S Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com U N F O R G E T TA B L E : N AT & N ATA L I E C O L E Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com

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Holiday Pops G I A D A VA L E N T I – L O V E U N D E R T H E CHRISTMAS TREE Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com www.giadavalenti.com Make a seasonal family tradition with Giada Valenti’s holiday concert, “Love Under the Christmas Tree,” as she takes her audience on a festive musical journey to celebrate the season. Musical arrangements by Jorge Calandrelli, Pat Williams, Chris Walden, and Shelly Berg.

J U L I E B U D D - A J O Y O U S H O L I D AY C E L E B R AT I O N Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info Sing out and sing-along with the incomparable Julie Budd as she leads a program of popular holiday music of Christmas, Hanukah, and Kwanzaa, many performed in the original language.

The entire program is fully scored and orchestrated, from five musicians to full orchestra. Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.

N AT K I N G C O L E T R I B U T E W I T H C A E S A R Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com hirecaesar.com Caesars’ smooth velvet voice is often compared to Nat King Cole’s, but he has his own interpretation and style for today’s sophisticated listener, that is essentially and superbly...Caesar.

NEW YORK VOICES SWINGIN’ CHRISTMAS Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com

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STEVE AMERSON Classic Concert Productions info@classiccp.com classicconcertproductions.com Amazing arrangements, superb orchestrations, unforgettable songs, impeccable musicianship. The finest in pops concerts with fully licensed Broadway, Christmas/holiday, and patriotic arrangements.

S T E V E L I P P I A – A S W I N G I N ’ H O L I D AY A F FA I R Andersen Arts Group Lori@andersenreps.com andersenreps.com

Jazz/Blues (Original and Tribute) DUKES BRING NEW ORLEANS TO YOU! Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com After COVID-19 and 48 years, we’re still performing All New Orleans Music. Now streaming our latest outdoor concert www. dukesofdixieland.com and come visit us on the Steamboat Natchez in the French Quarter.

E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

T H E M A N H AT TA N T R A N S F E R – T H E 5 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y C E L E B R AT I O N Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com

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MICHAEL LINGTON’S A SONG FOR YOU Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com kcartists.com Michael Lington’s “A Song for You” brings beautiful and soulful interpretations of the next generation of the Great American Songbook to your orchestra pops series.

N AT K I N G C O L E T R I B U T E W I T H C A E S A R Kirschner Creative Artists events@kcartists.com hirecaesar.com Caesars’ smooth velvet voice is often compared to Nat King Cole’s, but he has his own interpretation and style for today’s sophisticated listener, that is essentially and superbly...Caesar.

NNENNA FREELON – FROM ELLA TO SARAH, WITH LOVE Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com PAT T I A U S T I N ’ S “ N O W A N D T H E N ” Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com TA K E 6 – S P R E A D L O V E W I T H T H E P O P S Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com

Light Classics E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I P R E S E N T S : T R AV E L O G U E S , T O U R I TA L I A !

M O R R I C O N E , R O TA & R E S P I G H I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com

AMERICANORCHESTRAS.ORG

Nostalgia T H E R AT PA C K ! 1 0 0 Y E A R S O F F R A N K !

Broadway Pops International ceo@broadwaypops.com broadwaypops.com PROHIBITION Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com S T E V E L I P P I A – S I M P LY S W I N G I N ’ – F R A N K S I N AT R A A N D F R I E N D S Andersen Arts Group Lori@andersenreps.com andersenreps.com

Other A N N A M A R I A M E N D I E TA’ S “ TA N G O D E L CIELO” Kirschner Creative Artists owen_k@kcartists.com TangoDelCielo.com Anna Maria Mendieta’s “Tango Del Cielo”—multimedia music and dance from her award-winning album with harp and orchestra featuring Argentine tango, flamenco, classical, Latin jazz, and a tribute to the silent films!

E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I P R E S E N T S : T R AV E L O G U E S , T O U R I TA L I A !

M O R R I C O N E , R O TA & R E S P I G H I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com

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Virtual Offerings A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY – V I R T U A L LY YOURS Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com PINK MARTINI’S THOMAS & CHINA – VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com Live Virtual Concert: Duo perform 40-minute live concert via video + 20 min Q&A Virtual Archive Video Concert: Presenter-chosen archive of live concert video songs. Bandleader Thomas Lauderdale, Singer China Forbes intro songs/answer questions live KEEP AUDIENCES ENGAGED!

CLASSICAL NIGHT FEVER – THE U LT I M AT E S Y M P H O N I C B E S T O F ’ 7 0 S DISCO Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com DANCING IN THE STREETS: THE MUSIC OF MOTOWN Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com DECADES: BACK TO THE ’80S Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com E M M A N U E L F R AT I A N N I Collective Media Concerts execdirector@collectivemuse.com Collectivemuse.com Emmanuel Fratianni has delighted and engaged sold-out audiences of over 75 North American and worldwide orchestras. Of Italian origin by way of Hollywood, Emmanuel is available for film music, jazz symphonic, video games, pop artist, and multimedia concert programs.

Rock/Pop (Original/ Tribute)

AN EVENING WITH CHINA FORBES Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com

A N N H A M P T O N C A L L AWAY – T H E L I N D A R O N S TA D T S O N G B O O K Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com B L O O D , S W E AT & T E A R S F E AT U R I N G K E I T H PA L U S O ( “ T H E V O I C E ” 2 0 1 8 ) Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com

KINGS OF SOUL Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com L E G E N D S : T H E PA U L S I M O N SONGBOOK Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com

BRASS TRANSIT Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com

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MARISSA MULDER – HONORING L E G E N D A RY S I N G E R / S O N G W R I T E R S Dennis Ritz Artists dennisritz@att.net dennisritzartistsrepresentative.info An artist with an extraordinary ability to interpret and project the heart and soul of masterful singer/ songwriters, including: John Prine; Lennon/McCartney; and Joni Mitchell. Musical Director Jon Weber, former host of NPR’s “Piano Jazz.” Now booking 2022/2023 and 2023/2024.

QUEENS OF SOUL Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com REVOLUTION: THE MUSIC OF THE B E AT L E S – A S Y M P H O N I C E X P E R I E N C E Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com

M Á I R É A D N E S B I T T – C E LT I C V I O L I N I S T Ed Keane Associates ed@edkeane.com Edkeane.com PINK MARTINI Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com Q U A R TA N G O ’ S “ F E E L T H E H E AT ” W I T H A R G E N T I N I A N TA N G O D A N C E R S Marilyn Rosen Presents marilyn@marilynrosenpresents.com marilynrosenpresents.com SYMPHONY ROSTER Fox Performances michael@foxperformances.com foxperformances.com

T W I S T N ’ S H O U T: T H E M U S I C O F T H E B E AT L E S – A S Y M P H O N I C E X P E R I E N C E Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com WOMEN ROCK Greenberg Artists Jami@greenbergartists.com Greenbergartists.com

World Music A N N A M A R I A M E N D I E TA’ S “ TA N G O D E L CIELO” Kirschner Creative Artists owen_k@kcartists.com TangoDelCielo.com CHERISH THE LADIES Cherish the Ladies joanie@cherishtheladies.com cherishtheladies.com

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Voices of Hope Last spring, as coronavirus positivity rates dipped in the U.S. and COVID-19 vaccines became widely available, orchestras’ fall season announcements included a hopeful sign: programs featuring orchestra and chorus. The powerful sound of massed voices and orchestra has been sorely missed for more than a year, but with worries about the health risks of singing and with uncertainty over Delta and other new variants, presenting Beethoven’s Ninth or Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony can be a tricky balancing act.

By Brian Wise

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coronavirus is not the manageable issue Requiem on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. igns of normalcy, or at least what that orchestras and choruses hoped it The 2021-22 season arrived in passes for it in 2021, could be found would be when most season calendars September with a growing slate of oramong several symphonic choruses were planned—not as the threat of the chestras and choruses reporting vaccinathis summer. The Milwaukee Symphony Delta variant looms over rehearsals and tion requirements for singers, masks in had more than 50 applicants at its chorus concerts. rehearsals, and sometimes creative staging auditions, a 60 percent increase over “For us to welcome back our singers plans: the Met and the Grant Park recent, pre-Covid-19 years. Marin Alsop is just momentous,” says James conducted the Handel and Haydn Burton, the Boston Symphony OrSociety in Beethoven’s Ninth chestra’s choral director and conSymphony on August 27 and more Orchestra schedules are dotted with ductor of the Tanglewood Festival than 10,000 listeners flocked to Beethoven’s Ninth, Handel’s Messiah, Chorus, which is slated to return Boston’s DCR Hatch Memorial and Mozart’s Requiem. Several in a series of holiday concerts with Shell, among H+H’s largest ever turnouts. orchestras are marshaling choruses for the Boston Pops in December. He adds, however, “There is a great On Labor Day weekend, operas or works on themes of inclusion sense of anticipation, obviously Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the tempered with where we are in the Metropolitan Opera’s orchestra and racial healing. cycle of the pandemic and coping and chorus in two performances of with the day-to-day realities of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, planning and protocols. I think the marking the end of an 18-month excitement is tempered a little bit.”

Orchestra and Chorus in Chicago have pandemic-induced silence and the ratIf the past 18 months have put a halt each held concerts in which choristers ification of a new collective bargaining to most group singing, the 2021-22 seawere stationed in front of the orchestra, agreement with the musicians. A week son is shaping up as a cautious comeback allowing airflow to be directed away from later, Nézet-Séguin and the Met orchestra year for the art form. From coast to coast, the instrumentalists on stage. But the and chorus gave a performance of Verdi’s

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Performing Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony “had obviously a great symbolic significance and it was a good way to celebrate kind of resuming public performance,” says Charles Calmer, the Oregon Symphony’s vice president for artistic planning. orchestra schedules are dotted with performances of Beethoven’s Ninth, Handel’s Messiah, and Mozart’s Requiem. A handful of orchestras are marshaling choruses for opera productions or pieces on topical themes of inclusion and racial healing. Of particular note is Joel Thompson’s 2016 orchestral/choral work Seven Last Words of the Unarmed, which sets the final words of unarmed Black men killed in encounters with the police and is expected to receive performances this season by the Minnesota Orchestra and the American Composers Orchestra, both in May 2022.

Yet emblematic of an uncertain peri-

od, some ensembles have already put the brakes on their choral plans. As COVID cases spiked in Virginia this summer, the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra replaced its season-opening October performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the composer’s Fifth Symphony. Orchestra officials cited the difficulty of finding a sufficiently large rehearsal space and enough singers to perform. The Madison Symphony Orchestra in Wisconsin similarly scrapped its opening performances of Beethoven’s Ninth, on account of local COVID restrictions that prohibit singing or playing wind instruments without a mask.

Recent history haunts the choral field: In March 2020, a two-hour choir rehearsal in Washington State turned into a “super-spreader” event, infecting 53 people. Two later died. Artistic planners at several orchestras say they are quietly preparing backup pieces.

Gauging Plans to Return Despite these hurdles, a majority of U.S. choruses are pressing forward, according to preliminary results of an August 2021 survey by Chorus Connection, a U.S.-based company that provides chorus management software. Some 78 percent of the 550 choruses that responded to an

online questionnaire said they plan to give concerts this fall, and another 11 percent said they will make music “in some form,” though not before live audiences.

At the Oregon Symphony, incoming Music Director David Danzmayr is scheduled to lead three performances of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony in October with the Oregon Repertory Singers and the Portland State Chamber Choir.

“We decided to go for it,” says Charles Calmer, the orchestra’s vice president for artistic planning. Performing this work “had obviously a great symbolic significance and it was a good way to celebrate

“Everybody just wants to know, ‘How can I check off the boxes and know that I’ll be 100 percent okay?’ That’s just not the situation that we’re in right now,” says Liza Beth, vice president of membership and communications at Chorus America.

In a pre-pandemic photo, Carlos Kalmar conducts the Oregon Symphony and the Portland Symphonic Choir, University of Puget Sound Adelphian Concert Choir, and vocalists Amber Wagner, Dana Beth Miller, Dimitri Pittas, and Raymond Aceto. David Danzmayr, the orchestra’s new music director, is scheduled to lead three performances of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony in October with the Oregon Repertory Singers and the Portland State Chamber Choir.

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Beth, vice president of membership and communications at Chorus America, the advocacy, research, and leadership-development organization that advances the choral field. “Our field feels a real responsibility so that this is something that can be part of people’s lives again.” Beth says that the return of large choral works is motivated by a desire among arts organizations to present “big, transformative audience experiences” that only massed voices can deliver. And choral groups, whether volunteer or professional, can provide community bonding experiences in polarized and contentious times. Still, there are few absolutes when it comes safety protocols.

“Everybody just wants to know, ‘How can I check off the boxes and know that I’ll be 100 percent okay?’ That’s just not the situation that we’re in right now,” says Beth, whose organization has hosted several online panels with doctors addressing how to perform safely in a public setting.

“It will be a risk-assessment exercise.”

Chorus America recommends that all of its eligible members be vaccinated, “because we feel that that is the best way to keep our field safe and to keep our field strong and growing,” says Beth.

According to the Chorus Connection survey, some 72 percent of ensembles will require vaccination proof for participation this fall. Though compliancy has been widespread, say choral directors, there have been instances of resistance.

The San Francisco Symphony’s longtime choral director, Ragnar Bohlin, resigned in August because of vaccine mandates instituted by both the company and the city of San Francisco. Bohlin had been an outspoken opponent to COVID vaccines on his Facebook page. But the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission states that employers are allowed to mandate vaccines as a means of protecting the safety and well-being of their workforces.

Masks may be a trickier proposition.

Alex Speir

Hilary Scott

kind of resuming public performance.

We certainly had internal conversations about whether this was a good idea. We’re taking every precaution we possibly can.”

Faced with a fall surge in cases among unvaccinated Oregonians, the orchestra will mandate a proof of vaccination for performers and require all but the wind and brass players to wear masks.

Elsewhere, a number of symphonic choruses are delaying the reintroduction of choral works until 2022. The Nashville Symphony moved its annual performance of Handel’s Messiah from its customary December slot to April, when it will be offered complete, as an Easter oratorio.

But because Messiah employs relatively modest forces (Handel is believed to have used fewer than 30 singers at its premiere), the holiday favorite can be done on the miniature.

“In general, I think our field wants to go above and beyond” when it comes to health and safety measures, says Liza

(Deaf West and LA Master Chorale) Courtesy LA Phil

(Deaf West and LA Master Chorale) Courtesy LA Phil

In August, the Handel and Haydn Society performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 to a crowd of 10,000 people at Boston’s DCR Hatch Memorial Shell. Led by Marin Alsop, H+H performed former U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith’s new version of “Ode to Joy.” The H+H Orchestra and Chorus were joined by soprano Susanna Phillips, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, tenor Issachah Savage, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and members of H+H’s Youth Choruses.

This season, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic will present a semi-staged Beethoven Fidelio, to be performed by actors from the Deaf West Theatre (left) and sung by hearing performers, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale (right).

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Hilary Scott

The Boston Children’s Chorus is scheduled to perform in Britten’s War Requiem this season with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

Jonathan-Kirn

Jonathan-Kirn

The Tanglewood Festival Chorus performs at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall, led by James Burton, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s choral director, August 28, 2019. After a year-plus hiatus, the chorus will perform in two Boston Symphony Orchestra programs this season.

Music Director Ken-David Masur and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, shown in 2018, will perform with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus this season in a new semistaging of Grieg’s Peer Gynt. Masur says that given the many challenges, “We felt that, if it’s safe, we can still create very good and memorable experiences for all the people who want to sing.”

Greg Helgeson

Richard Ten Dyke

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Verdi’s Requiem in May 2016 at the Marcus Center, the orchestra’s former home. Asher Fisch conducted the performance, which featured soprano Amber Wagner, mezzosoprano Stefanie Irányi, tenor Garrett Sorenson, and bass Morris Robinson.

Musica Sacra and Musica Sacra Orchestra perform at Carnegie Hall, led by Kent Tritle, before the pandemic. This December, Tritle will return to Carnegie to lead lead Musica Sacra and the Oratorio Society in separate, abridged Messiah performances; numerous orchestras have announced Messiah performances in their own cities.

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Soloists Ruby Hughes and Sasha Cooke perform with the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, led by Music Director Osmo Vänskä, June 2017.

About 54 percent of respondents to the Chorus Connection survey said that they will perform with masks this fall, with some using singer-focused mask brands like VocalEase and Resonance. These are built with breathable, acoustically transparent materials while sitting away from the face, with spandex seals that flex with the jaw and chin. Among the groups using masks is the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, whose home at the renovated Bradley Symphony Center is equipped with a newly installed HVAC system called Plasma Air that is intended to scrub the air of viral particles. “Maybe it would have been easier to say, ‘Well, let’s just skip this year,’ ” says the orchestra’s music director, Ken-David Masur. “We know that some have done that. But we also felt that, if it’s safe, we can still create very good and memorable experiences for all the people who want to sing.”

Voices of Relevance and Inclusion Among the highlights of Milwaukee’s choral-rich season is a semi-staged adaptation of Grieg’s music for Ibsen’s Peer Gynt, which Masur believes can channel the current zeitgeist. “Peer is this restless boy who wants to feel that there are no consequences in life and that he can just go out and party and explore the world,” says Masur, who previously led the production

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Rachel Summer Cheong

Harlem Chamber Players Arielle Pentes

Sing Harlem Choir

Sing Harlem Choir (top left) and Harlem Chamber Players (top right) will be among the performers in American Composers Orchestra’s world premiere of The Gathering in May 2022 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The work, featuring music by (left to right) Carlos Simon, Courtney Bryan, Joel Thompson, and others, is co-curated with National Black Theatre.

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has been the most challenging thing for all choruses.”

The Tanglewood Festival Chorus’s Burton is looking forward to spring performances of Britten’s War Requiem with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. “I know we haven’t been fighting a war,” he says. “But it’s been a war of sorts. Given this sense of extreme expression which is demanded of the performers, I wonder if our singers will feel that they finally got an outlet for expressing some of the inevitable frustrations of the last year-anda-half.” The full reunion of the orchestra and Tanglewood Festival Chorus will take place in February in Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, which Burton calls “a flagship moment where the armada sails into harbor with all guns blazing.” The Britten performance also will include singers from the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir; safety protocols for those performers had not been finalized at press time.

The American Composers Orchestra, based in New York City, is speaking to the current moment with The Gathering, a May concert at Harlem’s Apollo Theater co-curated with National Black Theatre.

The production is a modern spin on a “ring shout,” an ecstatic blend of call-andresponse singing, stomping, and clapping, which is rooted in rituals practiced by

enslaved Africans. Joel Thompson’s Seven Last Words of the Unarmed will be presented on the program, alongside Carlos Simon’s Amen!, Courtney Bryan’s Sanctum, and other pieces addressing issues of racial strife and social justice. “Rather than reenacting a ring shout, which would be a very specific kind of thing, we decided to try to evoke the spirit of the ring shout and bring it to contemporary context,” says ACO Artistic Director Derek Bermel. Singers from Black churches and choral ensembles will participate, “allowing for a space for a community to grieve.”

For some conductors, choral masterworks can function as a break from the daily news churn. “I don’t try to take something that is universal like a Mozart Requiem and make it particular to a special moment in our life,” states Fabio

Steve Hockstein

by director Bill Barclay with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 2017. “Similarly, we have this escapist mentality, especially now that we are cooped up.”

Elsewhere, Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in April will present a semi-staged production of Beethoven’s Fidelio, to be performed by actors from the Deaf West Theatre and sung by hearing performers, including the Los Angeles Master Chorale. “Even though, in some ways, it’s very traditional repertoire that we are singing in the spring, it’s all music that explores these themes of bursting forth and liberation and literally breathing,” says Los Angeles Master Chorale Artistic Director Grant Gershon. He cites the Prisoner’s Chorus in Fidelio, in which the prisoners emerge from their dungeon and sing, “O welche Lust, in freier Luft” (Oh what joy, in the open air / Freely to breathe again!). The LA Phil’s spring season will also include Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

Gershon notes that “as somebody who believes so strongly in the power of choral music to bring people together, and model a utopian vision for how the world can function,” he found it deeply troubling that a chorus can be “the very thing that can harm us. That strange dichotomy

“Our idea is to give people a vessel, a space to maybe begin to unpack all that has been lost,” says Orchestra of St. Luke’s President and Executive Director James Roe. FA L L 2 0 21

Sylvia Elzafon

Luisi, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s music director, who will conduct the Requiem in November and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in May. “Everyone is free to do so for himself, but I don’t do it publicly. The people come to the concert to think about different things, to have a break from normal life, and to have their lives elevated by the music that we are playing.” The Dallas Symphony and Chorus will also present a semi-staged production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, one of several operas planned by orchestras for 2021-22, including Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Verdi’s Otello at the Cleveland Orchestra, and Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex at the San Francisco Symphony.

As audiences begin returning to concert halls, uncertainties remain, particularly as new COVID variants lurk and breakthrough infections of vaccinated people remain a threat. But for now, choral works are serving a long-accepted commemorative function, as seen in a concert planned for November at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York. Bernard Labadie will conduct the (fully-vaccinated) Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Musica Sacra chorus, and soloists in Haydn’s Te Deum followed by Mozart’s Requiem.

“We feel that society has yet to really have the space to grapple with what we have lost,” says James Roe, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s president and executive director.

“We’ve been so focused on survival, but how we interact with the outside world is almost completely altered. Since so much of it has gone online and become digital and two-dimensional, our idea is to give people a vessel, a space to maybe begin to unpack all that has been lost.”

BRIAN WISE writes about music for outlets including BBC Music Magazine, Musical America, and Strings. He is also the producer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s national radio series.

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Sylvia Elzafon

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform at Meyerson Symphony Center, led by guest conductor Robert Spano, in fall 2019. Fabio Luisi, who became the DSO’s music director in 2020-21, will lead Mozart’s Requiem this November.

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Fabio Luisi perform Verdi selections at Meyerson Symphony Center, October 2020, with vocal soloists including mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton (standing, top left) and soprano Angela Meade (with back to camera).

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PLAYING OUR PART: THE CAMPAIGN FOR THE LEAGUE OF AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS

Playing our Part is a campaign to support a major $2 million infrastructure investment in our service to America’s orchestras, including a new headquarters, modern website, increased digital learning capacity, and an improved information technology ecosystem. We gratefully acknowledge the generosity of the following donors who have made commitments to support this work: Burton Alter Tiffany & Jim Ammerman † Alberta Arthurs Brian & Emily Wren Baxter Marie-Hélène Bernard • Trish & Rick Bryan ✧ Michelle Miller Burns Janet Cabot Chuck Cagle † Lorenzo Candelaria The CHG Charitable Trust, as recommended by Carole Haas Gravagno ✧ Heather Clarke Melanie Clarke Bruce & Martha Clinton, on behalf of The Clinton Family Fund ✧ Bruce Colquhoun Margarita Contreni † Peter & Julie Cummings ✧ Gloria dePasquale The Doerr Foundation Marisa & Allan Eisemann Baisley Powell Elebash Fund Dr. D.M. Edwards, in honor of the Volunteer Council and Jesse Rosen Daniel & David Els-Piercey Phillip Wm. Fisher Support Foundation David J.L. Fisk Drs. Aaron & Christina Stanescu Flagg Ray Fowler Vanessa Gardner, in honor of Group 5-6 members GE Foundation Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation Marian A. Godfrey Mary Louise Gorno The Hagerman Family Charitable Fund, Douglas & Jane Hagerman Daniel & Barbara Hart • Jim Hasler Patricia G. Howard H.T. and Laura Hyde Charitable Fund at East Texas Communities Foundation † Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles James M. Johnson The Julian Family Foundation, Lori Julian Mark Jung Charitable Gift Fund Cindy & Randy Kidwell Bob & Charlotte Lewis Helen P. Shaffer Connie Steensma & Rick Prins ✧ Geraldine B. Warner Anonymous (1)

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Coda Upbeat

Byron Stripling makes concepts like crossover irrelevant. He attended Eastman School of Music to study classical trumpet—and became an in-demand master of jazz trumpet. He played with legendary jazz bands—and guested with scores of American orchestras. He led jazz bands, played with pops stars, cut albums with Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston—and now he’s the principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He takes the podium as Pittsburgh’s principal pops conductor this season, a year later than planned, due to the pandemic. Here, Stripling talks about his art and career, the country’s reckoning with racial injustice, and what he looks forward to when he—and the music—return live and in-person.

John Abbott

Playing music is a gift but most importantly, it’s a gift that we give to others.

C

Pittsburgh Symphony - Ed DeArmitt

lassical music has always been an integral part of my life. My father was a classical singer, and I grew up going to see the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and when I toured with a band, I’d go to see the Chicago Symphony and other orchestras. I studied at the Eastman School of Music, where my goal was to be a classical trumpet player, but then I got bitten by the jazz bug. Just as I was about to graduate from Eastman, I got calls to play in different bands—Lionel Hampton, Woody Herman, Count Basie—so I left college early to become a

jazz musician.

My pops journey really took off with an offer to perform a tribute to Louis Armstrong with the Boston Pops and John Williams. Since then, I’ve worked with the Boston Pops a lot, and started doing orchestra gigs around the country.

Jeff Tyzik, who is one of the premier pops conductors and arrangers, mentored me through this whole process. Playing with all those orchestras was amazing! Moving into conducting seemed natural to me since I have been conducting big bands forever and I wanted to convey a vision of what could be different, what could elevate music, what could uplift people.

That’s the power of music—we need it now more than ever, and especially after COVID, we need orchestras.

As a musician I know that all genres

Byron Stripling led his first concert as principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra this summer at Hartwood Acres Park.

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of music can be powerful. See, sometimes you don’t need a lecture, you need a song.

In the 1960s and ’70s, I was hearing the Four Tops, the Temptations, and all this heartfelt, inspiring soul music. Then I heard James Brown sing, “Say it loud, I’m Black and I’m proud.” That one song raised my self-esteem, and became the affirmation that melted away all the teasing by the kids who taunted me with, “…your lips are too big, your hair is too nappy, your nose is too flat.” Once again it was the power of music that gave me hope, healing, belonging, and inspiration to persevere.

I wanted to convey a vision of what could be different, what could elevate music, what could uplift people.

COVID-19 and the murder of George Floyd were major reckonings for our country and forced all institutions to deal with complex questions including equity and diversity. I feel that we can use music to ignite the passions of audiences and young musicians, then the next Itzhak Perlman or Anne-Sophie Mutter will certainly arise from the heart of our urban communities. In Pittsburgh, we build from the bottom up, starting with preschool, and I’m very proud of that. That’s why I’m willing to go anywhere I can, as a principal pops conductor, and share the music with students and schools. Playing music is a gift but most importantly, it’s a gift that we give to others.

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Share the magic with generations to come.

EACH OF US HAS AN ORCHESTRA THAT HOLDS A SPECIAL PLACE IN OUR HEART. Planned giving enables individuals like you, who care deeply about the League of American Orchestras’ mission—to support orchestras and champion the contributions they make to create healthy and vibrant communities—to fortify the League’s critical work beyond your lifetime.

To learn more about the League Legacy Society and other giving opportunities, visit americanorchestras.org/plannedgiving or contact Samara Ungar at 646-822-4008 or sungar@americanorchestras.org

520 8th Avenue, Suite 2005, 20th Floor, New York NY 10018-4167

FR E E DAT E C HAN G ES FROM

$

FROM

1,849

$

1,599 *

$

1,949

1,699 *

$

FREE ONBOARD CREDIT

CRIMSON CANYONS & MESAS NATIONAL PARKS TOUR

GRAND ALASKAN CRUISE & TOUR

10 days, departs April - September 2022

12 days, departs May - September 2022

Las Vegas • Grand Canyon • Bryce Canyon • Zion • Capitol Reef • Arches & Canyonlands • Grand Junction • Denver and more — Prepare

Seattle • Vancouver • Ketchikan • Juneau • Skagway • Glacier Bay • Anchorage • Denali National Park • and more — Visit Denali National

to be awed as you experience the stunningly red rocks of these 6 iconic southwestern national parks. Travel through deserts, forests, mountains, and to the very edge of the Grand Canyon on this breathtaking tour.

Park and Glacier Bay National Park on the same incredible trip! Cruise through the Gulf of Alaska and the Inside Passage as you discover the best of the Frontier State by land and by sea.

FROM

$

2,249

$

1,999 *

$

$

FROM

2,549

2,299 *

HISTORIC ROUTE 66

BEST OF HAWAII FOUR-ISLAND TOUR

Chicago • St. Louis • Branson • Oklahoma City • Amarillo • Albuquerque • Flagstaff • Las Vegas • Los Angeles • Santa Monica

Oahu • Hawaii Island • Kauai • Maui — Enjoy a fully guided 4-island

12 days, departs year-round

14 days, departs April - October 2022

— Miles of open road, quirky attractions, and windswept desert vistas—if you love the quintessential Americana of Route 66, this is the tour for you. Get your kicks traveling the length of the Mother Road.

TM

promo code N7017

Hawaiian vacation with centrally located lodging in Waikiki on Oahu, and beachfront lodging on the “Big Island” of Hawaii, Kauai, and Maui. Guided throughout by our friendly Tour Directors—your local experts. Includes 3 inter-island flights.

CALL 1-855-578-2138

* Prices are per person based on double occupancy plus up to $299 in taxes & fees. Single supplement and seasonal surcharges may apply. Add-on airfare available. Free date changes prior to final payment. Deposits and final payments are non-refundable. Onboard Credit requires purchase of Ocean View or Balcony Cabin. Offers apply to new bookings only, made by 12/31/21. Other terms & conditions may apply. Ask your Travel Consultant for details.