The Albany Symphony Orchestra announced a February concert to Celebrate 100 years of Rhapsody in Blue with Kevin Cole. The concert will take place on Feb. 10 at the Proctors Theatre.
The Albany Symphony celebrates its living musical heritage through its adventurous programming, commissioning, and recording of new work, and broad community engagement beyond the concert hall. The Two-time Grammy winning Symphony will host a 100th birthday party concert for Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Kevin Cole, the world’s foremost interpreter of George Gershwin’s piano music. The program will include, An American in Paris, Carlos Simon’s AMEN! and Simon Says, and a world premiere trombone concerto by Jack Frerer.
Cole, who has performed with over 100 orchestras worldwide, has appeared several times with the Albany Symphony. He was the first pianist to perform all four of Gershwin’s works for piano and orchestra with the Symphony.
The concert also coincides with the release of a Naxos recording David Alan Miller created with Cole and the National Orchestra Institute Philharmonic. The concert will also feature a trombone concerto created by Jack Frerer and featuring the principal trombonist of the Albany Symphony, Greg Spirdopoulos.
Founded in 1930 in New York’s Capital Region, the Albany Symphony serves a diverse regional audience covering more than seven counties and parts of three states. In addition to an eight-concert subscription season, an annual multi-day American Music Festival including performances by the orchestra’s genre-bending ensemble Dogs of Desire, and a host of education and community outreach events, the Albany Symphony regularly serves as an ambassador for new music and Upstate innovation beyond the Capital Region.
Recognized as one of America’s most innovative and creative orchestras, Albany Symphony is renowned for virtuosic performances featuring classic orchestral favorites, lesser-heard masterworks, and a diverse array of new music from leading and emerging voices of today.
The concert will take place on Feb. 10 at the Proctors Theatre and Tickets are available here.
The Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes (OSFL) has announced its upcoming Chamber Music Series concert, “Music with Friends” on Jan. 26, set to take place at a new venue 360Aurora, located in Elmira Heights.
The artists performing at the “Music with Friends” concert include Laura Campbell in flute, Lesley McClelland in oboe, Richard MacDowell in clarinet, David Resig in bassoon, and Claire Tuxill McKenney in horn. Also, representing composers from various countries, the concert repertoire will include Petite Suite by Claude Debussy from France, Six Bagatelles by György Ligeti from Hungary, Quintett, Op. 79 by August Klughardt from Germany, and Summer Evening at Ile-Ife by Godwin Sadoh from Nigeria.
The OSFL offers four regular season full orchestra concerts, including a side-by-side Youth Orchestra and professional musician collaboration, a Musicians’ Choice Chamber Music Series, concerts by the Chorus of the Southern Finger Lakes, concerts by the Youth Orchestra, and educational concerts for children.
Under the guidance of distinguished Music Director and Conductor, Toshiyuki Shimada, the OSFL is a strong supporter of highlighting the musical achievements of young musicians with its own youth ensembles and the Hertzog Concerto & Aria Competition for young artists in grades 9 through 12. The OSFL often collaborates with regional cultural partners, artists, and like-minded organizations to advance their mutual artistic growth in the greater Elmira-Corning area.
Following the tradition of the Musicians’ Choice Chamber Music Series, oral program notes will be given by the musicians interspersed throughout the performance. The short format program (60 to 75 minutes) will be presented in an intimate, relaxed setting without intermission.
Doors will open at 6:30 PM and fans are advised to come early and bring friends to enjoy a delightful evening of wine, spirits and “Music with Friends.”
Tickets start at $25 and at $15 for college students with ID. Entry is free for all children under 18. Tickets for “Music with Friends” on Jan. 26 can be purchased online at their website, by calling 607 936 2873, or in person at the OSFL office, 49 Bridge Street, Corning, NY.
The two-time GRAMMY Award-winning Albany Symphony will showcase two of Mozart’s greatest works, Haydn’s Symphony No. 80, and a world premiere by Harriet Steinke, on Saturday, January 13th at 7:30pm and Sunday, January 14 at 3:00pm at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19 and selections from Marriage of Figaro will feature renowned fortepianist Yi-heng Yang and singers from The Juilliard School.
The Albany Symphony celebrates our living musical heritage through its adventurous programming, commissioning and recording of new work, and broad community engagement beyond the concert hall.
Performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19, soloist Yi-heng Yang has been described as an “exquisite collaborator” (Opera News) and is noted for her “remarkable expressivity and technique” (Early Music Magazine). Audience members will have the rare opportunity to experience the work performed on the fortepiano – a precursor of the modern piano — as it was by Mozart himself. “We are so fortunate to have an artist as deeply steeped in Mozart’s style as Yi-heng is, joining us to perform this amazing work very much the way Mozart himself would have performed it,” said Music Director and Conductor, David Alan Miller. Yang is on faculty at The Juilliard School where she teaches piano, fortepiano, chamber music and improvisation. She is a director of The Academy for Fortepiano Performance in Hunter, NY, and the creator of their international Fortepiano Salon Series
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 19premiered in 1784 and was one of six in the genre he composed that year and was written for the composer to perform himself. Described as “athletic,” combining grace with vigor, the work concludes with perhaps the most complex concerto finale that Mozart composed.
The concert will also feature a world premiere by Harriet Steinke, The Slow Movement. Hailing from Michigan, Steinke captivated Albany Symphony audiences last season with her work Harrietlehre. During the 2023-2024 season she will have new works premiered by the Voyager Reed Quintet, the Civic Orchestra of New Haven and saxophonist Zach Arthur and cellist Kellen Degnan. She completed graduate studies in music composition at Yale School of Music and has received a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. “We are very happy to welcome Harriet back to the Albany Symphony,” said Miller. “She is an exciting new voice in the composition world.”
The January program also includes selections from The Marriage of Figaro, considered one of the great operas. In addition to favorite arias featuring talented Juilliard vocalists, the Albany Symphony will perform the well-known and much beloved overture to the opera.
The evening concludes with Franz Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 80. Though No. 80 lacks a nickname as sometimes grace Haydn’s symphonic works, it is nonetheless full of character, drama, and surprises. Not for nothing is the prolific Haydn called by some the “Father of the Symphony.”
Recognized as one of the American’s most innovative and creative orchestras, the two-time GRAMMY® Award-winning Albany Symphony Orchestra is renowned for virtuosic performances featuring classic orchestral favorites, lesser-heard masterworks, and a diverse array of new music from leading and emerging voices of today. The Symphony has received more ASCAP Awards than any other orchestra in America, as well as several GRAMMY® nominations, including the orchestra’s most recent win in 2021.
Former New York Yankees star Bernie Williams has announced he is making his debut with the New York Philharmonic on April 24 at the Philharmonic’s Spring Gala at the Lincoln Center.
Williams, who won four World Series and the 1996 ALCS MVP as part of the franchise’s dynasty of the late 1990s, is a classically trained guitarist and will perform in the orchestra under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel. He made his debut as a musician during his playing career with the Yankees, releasing his first album The Journey Within in 2003, going on to study guitar and composition at SUNY Purchase, receiving his Bachelor of Music from the Manhattan School of Music in 2016. His 2009 album Moving Forward reached the No. 2 best-selling ranking among U.S. Jazz albums.
Gustavo Dudamel will formally join the New York Philharmonic in 2026 upon finishing a 17-year tenure as the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He will conduct the Philharmonic in the Spring Gala, with the soloists consisting of artist, actor, author, and activist Common (in his NY Phil debut), soprano Hera Hyesang Park, and Bernie Williams. The Philharmonic will perform several works side-by-side with student musicians from communities across New York City who are being chosen through auditions to participate in this weeklong celebration. The repertoire will be announced at a later date.
Gala events will begin with a cocktail reception at 6:00 p.m. on the Leon and Norma Hess Grand Promenade and continue with the concert, at 7:00 p.m., concluding with a post-performance seated dinner, attended by New York Philharmonic musicians, on the Hess Grand Promenade and Hearst Tier 1. Gala dress will be cocktail attire. For more information visit here.
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts occupies a three-block area of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, bordered by Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues to its sides, and 62nd and 65th Streets at its top and bottom. 80 years ago, this area had a different name: San Juan Hill.
Phipps Houses, 235-247 West 63rd Street. Wurts Bros, 1944 – Museum of the City of New York
San Juan Hill was a vibrant, predominantly Black community in Manhattan, inhabited by over 7,000 families and 800 business who were later displaced by “urban renewal” efforts. These efforts, led by the infamous Robert Moses, targeted San Juan Hill as a slum to be cleared, citing loosely hidden racial prejudices angled to improve the city’s appeal to middle-class white Americans.
Up until its destruction, San Juan Hill was a thriving Black neighborhood with great pride. The neighborhood is cited as the birthplace of Bebop music and The Charleston. Notable residents included pianists Thelonius Monk and James P. Johnson, as well as Arctic explorer Barbara Hillary, the first Black woman to reach the North and South Poles.
Robert Moses spearheaded numerous programs similar to slum clearance. He served as the Secretary of State of New York from 1927-1929, and despite never being elected to an office, he is regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of New York City. When FDR’s New Deal freed up millions of dollars for infrastructure projects, Moses planned out systems of parks, swimming pools, expressways, and bridges across New York City, many of which still stand today.
In addition to these efforts to expand New York’s community spaces, Moses began the slum clearance projects, based on the idea of eradicating what he viewed as “blight.” He served as Chairman of the Committee on Slum Clearance in New York City, and used the precedent of eminent domain to seize San Juan Hill and declare it an unlivable slum. The neighborhood was flattened, and the City of New York broke ground on May 14, 1959 to begin the construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
President Eisenhower Breaking Ground at Lincoln Center Bob Serating, 05-14-1959
When Lincoln Center was built, the poignant Opera House that faces Columbus Avenue was built with its back to the Amsterdam Houses, a public housing development on a neighboring block to its west. Musician Etienne Charles, in conversation with NPR, pointed this out. “You can make huge statements with architecture. It’s body language with bricks.”
As it stands today, Lincoln Center hosts the country’s highest caliber of performing arts, including the New York Ballet, New York Philharmonic, and the Metropolitan Opera. Nevertheless, as it continues to celebrate that excellence, the development stands as a reminder of the thriving neighborhood that once existed on those blocks.
Today, on West 65th Street, a 150-foot mural spans the side of David Geffen Hall, commemorating San Juan Hill, the artistry that was born there, and the people who were ultimately displaced by the construction of Lincoln Center. Created by Nina Chanel Abney, the mural was commissioned by Lincoln Center alongside The Studio Museum in Harlem and Public Art Fund.
Photo Credit: Nicholas Knight
The abstract, colorful work centers words such as “homage,” “honor,” and “culture,” a commemoration of San Juan Hill that reminds passersby of the rich history that stood on the ground now occupied by Lincoln Center. The title of the work – San Juan Heal.
In addition to installations like San Juan Heal, Lincoln Center is taking initiative to create an inclusive and relaxed atmosphere for the community. Henry Timms was appointed as President and CEO of Lincoln Center in 2019. Under his leadership, the organization began summer programs like Summer For The City, and expanded the repertoire and diversity of music and art performed at the Lincoln Center venues.
Timms began the Summer For The City festival in 2022, aiming to help “loosen up” the performing arts center. For much of the summer during the inaugural celebration, its regal campus was covered in turf carpeting, eclectic seating options, and in 2023, a sea of pink plastic flamingos.
After years of exclusivity, it is safe to say that Lincoln Center is beginning to loosen up and turn away from the stuffy elitism that infused the highest-brow of American performing arts.
Photo Credit: Chris Lee
The original Lincoln Center festival was discontinued before Timms arrived on scene, citing quality over quantity of programming. This also came with the scrapping of a diverse selection of performances coming from all around the world, showcased each summer at Lincoln Center.
In the years after, the team decided to focus on the Mostly Mozart Festival, an annual summer selection of performances by orchestras from across the country. In 2023, the festival was led by Jonathon Heyward, the first Black music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the youngest music director of any major orchestra in the United States.
Lincoln Center began in direct opposition to the Black communities it flattened in order to be built. For years, it stood for the elite, the exclusive, and predominantly, the white. To casual passersby, the mural remembering San Juan Hill by the organization that facilitating the neighborhood’s demise gives due pause to the integrity of the installation. However, as the organization begins to reflect on this troubled history and implement changes and programming to address it, reconciliations are slowly making way.
Journeying back to San Juan Hill evokes a rich history somewhat forgotten by the upscale neighborhood of Lincoln Square. Looking back once again, the native Lenape people of the region also have claim to the area. In realizing a community once neglected, another is regrettably pushed to the side, but as Lincoln Center begins to grapple with the colonizing history it stands for, the native people of Manahattastill await.
In collaboration with fivebyfive, the RMSC (Rochester Museum & Science Center) announced they are presenting a one-of-a-kind concert experience with live music and immersive visuals presented on the dome of the RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium on Jan. 20 and 21, 2024.
fivebyfive, the artist-led Rochester-based ensemble, formed in 2015 with a simple mission, to engage audiences by performing music of leading and emerging composers. Composed of a flutist, clarinetist, electric guitarist, bassist, pianist, and audio/video engineer, the group advocates for creators who are underrepresented in the field and chooses to collaborate with artists across disciplines, while staying committed to performing new music. fivebyfive has been inspired to connect people in an engaging public event to build awareness and excitement for the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse on April 8, 2024.
“We’re thrilled to be partnering with fivebyfive for this collaborative concert in January,” said Jim Bader, RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium Director. “Visitors will be able to immerse themselves in newly commissioned works by fivebyfive, while celestial visuals illuminate the Planetarium dome, creating a truly unforgettable atmosphere.”
The mission of the RMSC is to inspire a better future for all through curiosity, exploration, and participation in science, culture, and the natural world. The RMSC includes the RMSC Museum & Science Center, the RMSC Strasenburgh Planetarium, and the RMSC Cumming Nature Center. Offering experiences at the Museum & Science Center with more than 200 interactive exhibits, the Planetarium with a 65-foot dome screen and several hands-on exhibits, and the Nature Center on 900 acres of land and 14 miles of trails, the RMSC stimulates community interest in exploration.
fivebyfive will present its eclipse-inspired program Light & Dark: Eclipse Music in Rochester at the Planetarium and other communities within the path of totality. Performances will include newly commissioned works by composers Jessica Meyer, Marc Mellits, Kamala Sankaram, Glenn McClure, and a new arrangement by Julie Herndon.
“These concerts will truly be the prelude to the Total Solar Eclipse,” exclaimed Laura Lentz, fivebyfive Artistic Director. “We can’t wait to share this multi-level concert of brand new eclipse-inspired music with new beautiful images, making for an incredible all-sensory eclipse experience!”
Tickets are now on sale for this one-of-a-kind concert here. The RMSC is also offering experience gift packages for the holidays including tickets to the Light & Dark concert, admission to the RMSC ROC The Eclipse festival, and RMSC eclipse glasses to use for the upcoming Total Solar Eclipse.
