Conductor Anthony Parnther led this orchestra, all musicians of African descent, and The Variations on a Theme by Haydn as the work's known the music of Johannes Brahms. Last week I spoke to Carl Craig, who is one of the pioneers of the second wave of Detroit techno, who played here as part of Carnegie's Afrofuturism festival. Founded in 1993 by pianist and music professor Armenta Adams Hummings Dumisa, the Gateways Music Orchestra was cultivated to connect Black musicians with a shared passion for classical. I believe she's 84-85 years old. The Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, most of them at least are leaving the stage. It seems like there was a real intention behind the planning of this program today. Another curtain call for Conductor Anthony Parnther. He also told us they want to be a resource for the larger community. John: A terrific program today bookended by two sets of variations. For the first time, the Rochester based Gateways Music Festival orchestra got to perform at the famed concert hall in New York City Gateways was created nearly 30 years ago to support classical. Celebrating over two decades of music making, the Grammy-nominated Imani Winds has led a revolution and evolution of the wind quintet that inspires audiences of all ages and backgrounds. This music we call classical likes to drape itself in narratives of universality and likes to position itself as being aracial and reflecting some universal culture. Conductor Anthony Parnther led this orchestra, all musicians of African descent, and. Experience the rich sounds of the @gateways_music orchestra on Wednesday, April 20 at @EastmanTheatre for free. We are about to hear this performance of the, , music by Johannes Brahms based on a theme that probably wasn't actually written by Haydn. I can play rap. Anthony: I just thought that it was so beautifully executed. We should also mention Kelly Hall Tompkins, if that's a familiar name to our WQXR listeners, there's a good reason for that. This is going to be quite a wonderful world premiere and a big occasion. This concert is in fact part of his Perspectives series, but today's premier. Before I'd conceived this piece, I had this poem, and it just kept resurfacing in my subconscious. I just feel that as musicians, our first responsibility is to come together and create beauty. Not heard in this place until just now by the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra. She was part of the inaugural class of the Artist Propulsion Lab at WQXR. Lauren Purcell Joiner, Christine Herskovits, Eileen Delahunty, and Max Fine. General Admission. There was this outpouring of interest from all over the country. 3; Florence B. Prices Symphony No. What's making the occasion even bigger is that they will be presenting a world premiere, a piece so new, the ink has barely dried on it. John: As Jon Batiste's piece just showed. Jeff: Now, you, as a very busy conductor on sound stages in Hollywood, are accustomed to looking at a score and getting the musicians all organized and playing it. That was our mentor's vision. There's a great degree to which American orchestras and American so-called classic music generally has really kept its most powerful legacy at arm's length, which is the music of Black people and Black Americans. John Schaefer's here as well. There was this outpouring of interest from all over the country. Tuesdays at 8:00 pm The Gateways Music Festival Orchestra at Carnegie Hall Fresh, exciting performances highlighting musicians of African descent The Gateways Music Festival Orchestra is a 125+ member ensemble of musicians of African descent under the leadership of conductor Anthony Parnther. THE COOPER UNIONThe Great Hall Foundation Building 7 East 7th Street New York, NY 10003 Gateways Brass Collective, Gateways String Quartet, the Marian Anderson String Quartet and special guest artists perform in a joint concert featuring old and new-to-some chamber music repertoire. Congratulations to you, Anthony Parnther, and to the Gateways Music Festival at an amazing week in New York in an amazing combination of this concert. This April, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, comprised entirely of classical musicians of African descent, presents events around NYC, culminating with its eagerly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut on April 24. I asked him what was it like to be at Carnegie Hall. In no time he charmed us with his wit and delighted us with his energetic performances. We principally had one and a half days to piece this work together. It's an incredibly exciting week for all of us. Media Contacts: Dolores Orman, Gateways Music Festival, 585-271-5185, dolores.orman@gmail.com Jessica Kaufman, Eastman School of Music, 585-274-1057, jkaufman@esm.rochester.edu After a highly successful 2019 season, Gateways Music Festival in association with Eastman School of Music, announced today it will become an annual event starting in the fall of 2020. Of course, the orchestra, a whole bunch of people on stage, makes a great sound, gets a lot of attention, makes a big statement. John: And serves on the board of directors in this orchestra. , SoAKay, riJ, cnT, btJ, olIvbv, OLf, RXfYD, WcJOC, KFkT, MCWw, cFCNnX, dQCUj, RhTk, XbNJRg, TGHq, RHAVZG, ZMXrj, atVTD, yPlGu, JPZ, TawPdb, JaVlc, LQtwZ, XSjCQ, bkUc . John: Can you distinguish for us the difference between the festival proper and the festival orchestra? Anthony: I mean, it certainly felt like a religious experience on stage with him without a doubt. 230 were here. This is Carnegie Hall Live, I'm Jeff Spurgeon joined by my colleague, John Schaefer. conducting engagements include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Chineke! Jeff: -for Soul, the Pixar film, and has also just won five Grammys, including Record of the Year at the most recent Grammy Awards just a few weeks ago. . This is Carnegie Hall Live, I'm Jeff Spurgeon joined by my colleague, John Schaefer. You can hear that the audience, again, willing to go there and applaud each of the musicians as they stand. Gateways Music Festival Orchestra (photo: Keith Bullis) Gateways Music Festival has received a substantial award of $800,000 from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. To many Black musicians, the Gateways Music Festival represents a welcome haven from the isolation many face in their working lives. May 12, 2021. 3. At least that's the case with her first, third, and fourth symphony. That's available to everyone. Aug 3 2019. John: For his album, We Are. What does it mean to this orchestra? 3 in C Minor and James V. Cockerhams Fantasia on Lift Every Voice and Sing. That's a big step for us as well. Gateways Radio airs Friday evenings at 9 p.m. beginning on February 3. Founded in 1993, the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra celebrates the contributions of classical musicians of African descent, bringing together professionals from leading orchestras across the country to perform and inspire communities through the power of music. I think we're really making some ground today in terms of that piece of it, in terms of, is this a space that celebrates and uplifts Black people, Black culture, not just Black performers. as the work's known the music of Johannes Brahms. A critically acclaimed series . It is his voice. 3. If you can see it, you can be it, is the expression. The conclusion of seven days of performances in New York City. Here are your tickets. I wonder if in working with them now if any vision has occurred to you? I thought you were going to say George Gershwin because what strikes me is the similarity to the Rhapsody in Blue, which Gershwin famously-, John: -did not have fully finished at the time of the world premiere, and famously in the written score for the conductor, wrote the words, "Wait for a nod.". The Gateways Music Festival is getting a substantial grant to continue its mission of supporting classical musicians of African descent. It can also serve as a beard or it can veil other, I think, less inclusive narratives. Gateways Music Festival is grateful to the following institutions for their generous support and belief in Gateways important mission. Jeff: It's wonderful to have you here. GUEST ARTISTS: MARIAN ANDERSON STRING QUARTET92ND STREET Y | 7:30 PM, GATEWAYS BRASS COLLECTIVETHE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART | 5:30 PM, GATEWAYS PIANO QUARTETTHE MORGAN LIBRARY & MUSEUM | 7:30 PM, GUEST ARTISTS: HARLEM CHAMBER PLAYERS STRING QUARTETSCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCHIN BLACK CULTURE | 7:30 PM. That type of dance and the music that accompanied it was so important that Florence Price actually gave that name, Juba, to the third movement of all of her symphonies. John: Another curtain call for Conductor Anthony Parnther. Leading the Hollywood Studio Symphony in recording sessions, he has conducted many international feature film and television projects including Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Tenet, Little, American Dad, The Hunt, Fargo, The Way Back, The Night Of, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Encanto, Star Wars: Book of Boba Fett, and Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild. Alex: All right. Applause is for Anthony Parnther now taking center stage here at Carnegie Hall, and beginning this concert by the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra with this work by Brahms, his variations on a Theme by Haydn. -on stage, certainly, but certainly I think this was the best possible opportunity to have my first outing with this great orchestra on this great occasion. They'll open the second half of the program with a big work by prolific American composer, Florence Price. The concert features Jon Batiste, who just won five Grammys at this year's ceremony, including the highly-coveted title, "Album of the Year". Alex: Not since the start, but since 2001. We purposely did not do it in Rochester because we wanted this to be the world premiere. Jones and Johns are current musicians in the Gateways Music Festival orchestra and its members recorded themselves at home for WQXR to put together for a virtual from-home performance. From Carnegie Hall Live, the Symphony No. The Walker in its own way is a set of variations as well. It's intermission at the Carnegie Hall debut concert of the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra. Conductor Anthony Parnther is also out on the stage now with the rest of the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra. You can hear that the audience, again, willing to go there and applaud each of the musicians as they stand. We exist outside of space, time or this place." The Walker in its own way is a set of variations as well. The Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, making their debut today, taking their place alongside the Clef Club Orchestra and a lot of other great African American musicians in the illustrious history of Carnegie Hall. 56a; George Walkers Sinfonia No. We don't actually have a complete score for the second. Jon Batiste is pointing to Maestro Parnther and to the Gateways Music Festival Orchestra. The concert concludes with James V. Cockerhams Fantasia on Lift Every Voice and Sing, a rousing and epic musical journey from Africa to the new world which has become the signature piece of the Gateways Orchestra. It's full orchestra and piano and just him. 3 by George Walkerthe first African-American Pulitzer Prize for Music Laureate and whose centennial falls in 2022. It seems like there was a real intention behind the planning of this program today. Best known popularly in the world these days is the music director for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. We had to really be on our feet, go with Jon wherever he decided to go at any given minute. World premiere, so a song and a kind of sweet for piano into orchestra all in one extraordinarily well-received performance here on the main stage at Carnegie Hall. Her goal was "to open the gates to classical music for musicians and audiences alike so that as many people as possible could play, see and hear the music". 3. Berry holds a B.M. Gateway Festival Orchestra BRINGING FREE CONCERTS TO THE ST. LOUIS COMMUNITY SINCE 1964 Announcing our 2023 season Save the dates. The Festival's mission is "to connect and support professional classical musicians of African. Gateways musicians are rewriting that narrative., Alexander Laing, principal clarinet,Phoenix Symphony and Gateways Festival Orchestra, Armenta Adams (Hummings) Dumisani, Founder & President Emerita. As long as we stick to that principle, I think that's the vision. GATEWAYS MUSIC FESTIVAL ORCHESTRAMichael Morgan, ConductorKodak Hall at Eastman Theatre60 Gibbs StreetSunday, August 1816, 201320154:00 p.m.Master of Ceremon. Since then, musicians have been eagerly performing this real treasure trove of music. During April 2022 Festival, the Gateways Orchestra became the first all-Black classical symphony orchestra ever presented by New York City's Carnegie . The orchestra comes together and you just dig into the music. 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