Congratulations to Richard Danielpour and Christopher Theofanidis on their 2021 Grammy wins. Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua won Classical, Best Choral Performance and Theofanidis’ Concerto for Viola and Chamber Orchestra won for best classical instrumental solo.
The 63rd GRAMMY Awards were broadcast on Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021.
Looking for something new to listen to during the pandemic? The Kansas City Symphony has posted a wonderful recording of Richard Danielpour’s Concerto for Clarinet (from the mountaintop) with soloist Anthony McGill. McGill is currently Principle Clarinet with the New York Philharmonic.
Scroll down to “Voices of Justice” to hear an interview with McGill, followed by the performance.
This work joins several that were written for McGill by Bill Holab Music composers, including Joel Puckett’s Concerto Duo, a double concerto for flute, clarinet and orchestra which was written for McGill to perform with his brother DeMarre, Principal Flute of the Seattle Symphony.
During these difficult times when most performance venues are dark, virtual performances are trying to bridge the gap in our need for culture and connection. Minnesota Opera’s wonderful chorus has done a video performance of the “Sleep Chorus” from Puts’ and Cambell’s Silent Night.
The Metropolitan opera has announced their 2023-4 season, which will feature Jake Heggie’s and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking. Since its premiere in 2000, the opera has had over 70 productions throughout the world, and we are thrilled that the Met will be producing it.
With a cast that includes Joyce DiDonato as Sister Helen, Ivo van Hove directing and Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting, this production will be a must see next season!
Michael Torke’s Sky, performed by violinist Tessa Lark and the Albany Symphony (David Alan Miller, conductor) was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award as Best Classical Instrumental Solo. Sky was also selected as a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Music.
Torke’s ground-breaking work fuses bluegrass with his unique original musical voice to create a new, fresh take on the traditional violin concerto. The work was commissioned by a consortium of 11 orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, and has been received with resounding acclaim.
This month BMI features Peter Boyer’s story about his career as a composer, interviewed here by Deirdre Chadwick.
Boyer’s Ellis Island: The Dream of America continues to find new audiences as its message about the essence of what makes America so profoundly unique and great resonates even more today than when it was written in 2002. It has been performed over 200 times by nearly 100 orchestras, and was recently featured on PBS’ Great Performances, with the Pacific Symphony.
Last April the Virginia Symphony gave the world premiere of Michael Daughtery’s Night Owl, a 20-minute, 3 movement fantasy on the nocturnal photography and recordings of O. Winston Link.
“Night Owl for orchestra is inspired by the masterful, nocturnal photography and sound recordings by O. Winston Link (1914-2001), who chronicled the last days of steam locomotive powered trains from 1955 to 1960 in the United States and the Norfolk and Western line.
In “Shutterspeed,” I reflect on the technical world of O. Winston Link’s photography and my passion for the medium. With an arsenal of flashbulbs, power generators, tripods and Rolleiflex cameras, he drove his 1952 Buick through the rugged backwoods of the Appalachian Mountains in search of perfect locations. Once discovered, O. Winston Link created meticulously composed photos, which often would take him days to prepare and execute. Since the majority of his panoramic black-and-white photographs of trains were taken outdoors in remote areas and at night, Link developed a unique and complex system of timed flash photography. This allowed him to simultaneously trigger hundreds of lightbulbs to dramatically capture the intricate machinery and steam plumes of the locomotive at the just the right moment. Keeping shutter speed, aperture and focus in mind, I have generated dramatic music in the first movement with the same precision as if taking photographs with my Leica camera.
In the second movement, entitled “Solitude, Virginia,” I focus on O. Winston Link’s photographs of the people who lived in the small, sleepy Appalachian railroad towns and whose lives were intertwined with the railroad: the train signalman and conductor; the shop owner; the farm couple; the teenagers at the drive-in movie theater or the swimming pool. I have composed nostalgic music, which, like the photographs of O. Winston Link, remind the listener of an era long gone. The night music begins softly with intimate horn, oboe and clarinet, solos accompanied by bells from the church tower and bluesy strings. Suddenly out of nowhere, boisterous trombones and timpani interrupt the musical proceedings like a massive steam locomotive rolling into town down Main Street. After the train slowly disappears out of sight, the opening night music returns, featuring mellow solos from the tuba, trumpet and bass clarinet as the town goes back to sleep.
In addition to his iconic photographs, O. Winston Link also made audio recordings of steam powered trains, which were issued on six vinyl records during his lifetime. Link believed that “the train is as close to a human being as you can get. It talks, it moves, it grunts and groans.” In final movement, “Thunder on Blue Ridge,” I translate the sights and sounds of O. Winston Link’s steam-powered trains into a stomping barn yard romp. A pulsating snare drum groove, like the clicking sounds of a locomotive thundering down the tracks, is punctuated by a train bell, harmonica and strings playing ‘behind the bridge.’ A catchy Appalachian-like tune, first played by the woodwinds, is developed and transformed through an array of kaleidoscopic orchestrations and polymetric counterpoints. After a series of virtuosic instrumental interludes, my musical train rumbles to its final destination.”
–Michael Daugherty
This month brought the world premiere of Frankenstein by composer Mark Grey, with a libretto by Julia Canosa i Serra. Available online for streaming now.
The Ellis Island Honors Society (EIHS) has announced that Peter Boyer will be among the recipients of the 2019 Ellis Island Medal of Honor, a highly prestigious annual award which is officially recognized by the United States Congress.
As described on the website of the EIHS: “The Ellis Island Medals of Honor are presented annually to a select group of individuals whose accomplishments in their field and inspired service to our nation are cause for celebration. The Medal has been officially recognized by both Houses of Congress as one of our nation’s most prestigious awards, and is annually memorialized in the Congressional Record.”
Since the Ellis Island Medal of Honor was founded in 1986, it has been awarded to distinguished and diverse Americans, including Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, as well as five additional Presidents of the United States. Past Medalists have included Vice President Joseph Biden, Senators John Glenn and John McCain, Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and William Rehnquist, Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf, and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.
Other notable Medalists have included Buzz Aldrin, Muhammad Ali, Hon. Hillary Clinton, Walter Cronkite, Joe DiMaggio, Kirk Douglas, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Eisner, Gloria Estefan, Renée Fleming, Lee Iaccoca, Quincy Jones, Rita Moreno, Arnold Palmer, Rosa Parks, Gregory Peck, Itzhak Perlman, Chita Rivera, Martin Scorcese, Paul Simon, Frank Sinatra, Eli Wallach, and Barbara Walters, among many others.
The group of 2019 Medalists will include Paula Abdul, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, former Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, The Coca-Cola Company CEO Muhtar Kent, and former Morgan Stanley Chairman and CEO John J. Mack, among others.
The letter from the EIHS notifiying Boyer of his selection for the Medal of Honor specifically cited his work Ellis Island: The Dream of America, and its PBS Great Performances production with the Pacific Symphony.
The gala event will take place on May 11, 2019 at Ellis Island. More than 300 service members participate in an opening ceremony that includes a joint-service color guard representing all five branches of the military. The medals are presented during a black-tie dinner in the historic Great Hall.
Boyer stated: “I am truly overwhelmed to learn that I will be receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. I’ve long been aware of the many distinguished Americans who have received this special recognition, and it’s touching to learn that I will join this group. I’m most grateful to Chairman Nasser Kazeminy and all the members of the Board of the Ellis Island Honors Society for their support of my work, which is deeply meaningful to me.”
For more information, please click here.
Congratulations to Jake Heggie, Laura Kaminsky, Robert Paterson and Kevin Puts for their Grammy Nominations. The recording of Heggie’s Great Scott (libretto Terrence McNally) was nominated for two awards: Best Contemporary Classical Composition and Producer of the Year (Blanton Alspaugh). Paterson’s Three Way (libretto David Cote) was also nominated for Producer of the Year (Blanton Alspaugh). And the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society’s Love Comes in at the Eye, (several Puts works) was nominated for Producer of the Year (Judith Sherman). Laura Kaminsky’s Undercurrents was also nominated for Producer of the Year (Judith Sherman).
You can see the full list of nominations here.
