January 30, 2022 attended Los Angeles Master Chorale concert under direction of Jenny Wong at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angel is nearby and the CITY CALLED HEAVEN titled concert gave me the feeling of Walt Disney Concert Hall as a sacred space. The concert included world premieres by Dale…
January 29, 2022, I attended the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert “Montgomery, Mozart, R Strauss” at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena. Violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery is a former multiple Sphinx Award winner. Before the concert I briefly met LACO Fellows Myles Yeazell (cello) pic 1 and Wilfred Farquharson (viola) pic 2. The LACO Fellowship is…
January 29, 2022, prior to performance of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra concert “Montgomery, Mozart, R Strauss” at Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, I briefly chatted with musician, educator, composer Dr. Dawn Norfleet and Ben Cadwallader, executive director of LACO, about diversity in classical music. See pic from right Ben Cadwallader, Dr. Norfleet, and John Malveaux.…
Sidney Poitier reads POETRY OF THE BLACK MAN
American composer William Levi Dawson was a treasured friend and I consider his Negro Folk Symphony a neglected masterpiece. Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony will be performed with other masterpieces by Bernstein and Beethoven Jan 8 & 9, 2022 by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. See https://www.cincinnatisymphony.org/tickets-and-events/buy-tickets/cso/2122-cso-season/dawson-beethoven-bernstein/ Additionally, the CSO will perform a newly composed score to accompany…
Composer Ulysses Kay was a treasured friend. His daughter Virginia Kay recently shared this with me. Pic from Youtube.
Saturday Dec 11, 2021 heartful reunion with pianist/composer Karen Walwyn following her performance of Florence Price’s CONCERTO IN ONE MOVEMENT performed and video documented for posterity by the San Bernardino Symphony under the exactful baton of Anthony Parnther to conclude the 1st half of the program. The program opened with Richard Strauss’ DON JUAN and…
On Sept 22, 2012 MusicUNTOLD, KUSC Classical Radio and the Colburn Foundation presented a concert celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION at the AT&T Center Theatre downtown Los Angeles. The concert included solo and duet performances by violinist Sanford Allen (who became the 1st African American violinist hired by the New York Philharmonic…
Joyfully attended Los Angeles Phil Orchestra Dec. 2 and Dec. 5, 2021 performances of “PRIMAL MESSAGE” composed by Nokuthula Endo Ngwenyama at Walt Disney Concert Hall. See https://thulamusic.com/about/. The program also included the world premiere of “Woven Loom, Silver Spindle” by Julia Adolphe in the 1st half and concluded with the undisputable. Beethoven Symphony No. 7…
I learned composer William Grant Still conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic July 23, 1936 many years ago. However, I only learned on Dec 5, 2021 from a Facebook post by Joshua Cheek that Margaret Rosezarian Harris was the 1st female African American to conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic. However, I am not surprised that the historical event…