It’s May, and…it’s National Chamber Music Month! Sponsored by Chamber Music America (CMA), the month-long celebration raises public awareness of the vibrant chamber music field; and features the many styles of small ensemble music performed and presented to today’s audiences and enthusiasts. Kevin Kwan Loucks- CMA CEO- notes: “May is National Chamber Music Month. During […]
“The Nebraskan premiere of James Lee III’s Courageous Lights brings everything much closer to home as we reside on the ancestral lands of many Native American tribes.” English horn-soloist Darci Gamerl offers some insight into her upcoming concert of Lee’s concerto, when she performs the piece again on May 5 – this time with the […]
“Why are we doing Paul Moravec’s Sanctuary Road?” And so, Ryan Brandau – Artistic Director of the Princeton Pro Musica (PPM) (pictured right) – invites us to find out more about the ensemble’s May 5 concert at Princeton University’s Richardson Hall. Sanctuary Road is scored for five soloists, chorus, and orchestra; and Moravec, a Pulitzer […]
“Roberto Sierra’s [music] is full of life.” Eric Valliere – the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s (BSO) Artistic Administrator – offers a glimpse of what’s to come in Boston on March 28, 2024, when the orchestra presents the US premiere of Sierra’s Sinfonía No. 6: Reflexión urbana. Domingo Hindoyan conducts (pictured below). The 22-minute work premiered in […]
On March 22, 2024, the Pittsburgh Symphony presents the regional premiere of James Lee III’s Sukkot Through Orion’s Nebula, conducted by Juanjo Mena (pictured below). The ten-minute orchestral work was commissioned by the Sphinx Organization and premiered in October 2011 at the New World Symphony, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. Lee describes the piece as […]
“Dan Locklair is a remarkably prolific composer.” And so, as the Central City Chorus prepares for its March 16 New York premiere of the composer’s Requiem, music director Bryan Zaros shares some insight into the ensemble’s choral composer portrait concert, at St. Malachy’s Church. Locklair’s nine-movement, 45-minute Requiem is set in English and uses elements […]
“James Lee III’s voice is truly unique and unmistakably his.” And so, Eric Jacobsen – the Orlando Philharmonic’s Music Director – offers some insight into the ensemble’s upcoming February 24, 2024 Florida premiere of Lee’s piano concerto Shades of Unbroken Dreams. The performance showcases soloist Alexandra Dariescu, and Mei-Ann Chen guest-conducts. Shades of Unbroken Dreams […]
On February 16, 2024, the Fort Worth Opera presents composer Susan Kander and librettist’s Roberta Gumbel’s chamber opera dwb (*driving while black*), directed by Ayvaunn Penn. The production features soprano Marsha Thompson in the role of The Mother, joined by cellist Cremaine Booker and percussionist David Verin. Dwb is a 45-minute, one-woman monodrama that originally […]
“Shout from every rooftop. Loud as can be: free.’” – Mark Campbell, librettist, Sanctuary Road On January 26 and 28, 2024, the Virginia Opera presents a staged version of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and fellow Pulitzer-winner librettist Mark Campell’s acclaimed oratorio Sanctuary Road. Kimille Howard directs, and Everett McCorvey conducts both performances at the […]
“This is a concerto based on three outstanding women activists.” – James Lee III On January 6, 2024, English horn soloist Darci Gamerl begins her concert programming for the New Year when she joins the Augusta Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of James Lee III’s new concerto Courageous Lights. Dirk Meyer conducts the premiere at […]
