#university of kentucky symphony orchestra

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Walter Franklin Anderson

The grandson of formerly enslaved people, Walter Franklin Anderson, classical pianist, organist, composer, jazz musician, community activist, and academician, was born on May 12, 1915, in segregated Zanesville, Ohio. Walter was the sixth of nine children of humble beginnings.

Information regarding his parents is not available. Anderson, a child prodigy, began piano studies at age seven, and by 12, he was playing piano and organ professionally while still in elementary school. He was the only Black student to graduate from William D. Lash High School in Zanesville in 1932. Although a talented musician, Anderson was not a member of any of the school’s music ensembles, including the Glee Club or orchestra. Afterward, he enrolled in the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio, 100 miles north of his hometown, and received a Bachelor of Music in piano and organ in 1936. Anderson continued his studies at Berkshire (Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra) and the Cleveland Institute of Music in Cleveland, Ohio.

From 1939 to 1942, Anderson taught Applied Piano, Voice Pedagogy, and music theory at the Kentucky State College for Negroes (now Kentucky State University) in Frankfort. In 1943, Anderson married Dorothy Eleanor Ross (Cheeks) from Atlanta, Georgia. They parented two children, Sandra Elaine Anderson Mastin and David Ross Anderson, before the marriage ended in a divorce in 1945.

In 1946, Anderson was appointed the head of the music department at Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, thus becoming the first African American named to chair a department outside of the nation’s historically black colleges. Two years later, Anderson was a Rosenwald Fellow in composition from 1948 to 1949, where his variations on the Negro Spiritual, “Lord, Lord, Lord,” was performed by the Cleveland Orchestra. Moreover, John Sebastian, the conductor of the Orchestra, commissioned him to write “Concerto for Harmonica and Orchestra” for a performance with the same orchestra. In 1950, Anderson’s composition, “D-Day Prayer Cantata,” for the sixth anniversary of the World War II invasion, was performed on a national CBS telecast. In 1952, Anderson received the equivalent of a doctoral degree as a fellow of the American Guild of Organists. He left his administrative post at Antioch College in 1965.

In 1969, Anderson was named director of music programs at the National Endowment for the Arts, where he created model funding guidelines and pioneered the concept of the challenge grant. In addition, he spearheaded numerous projects and developed ideas at the then-new agency for supporting music creation and performance, specifically for orchestras, operas, jazz, and choral ensembles and conservatories.

Anderson was the recipient of four honorary doctorates in music over his professional career, including one from Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, in 1970. He retired from NEA in 1983. During this period, he became a presidential fellow at the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies and a recipient of the Cleveland Arts Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts. In 1993, the American Symphony Orchestra League recognized Anderson as one of 50 people whose talents and efforts significantly touched the lives of numerous musicians and orchestras. He was also a member of the Advisory Council to the Institute of the Black World at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center.

https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/people-african-american-history/walter-franklin-anderson-1915-2003/

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

CURTIS FULLER, LA REMARQUABLE RÉSILIANCE D’UN TROMBONISTE

"Curtis' playing was absolutely incredible... almost mystical. Curtis always said, 'I'm not trying to win any Trombone Olympics.' We all knew he could, but loved him because it was never his concern to 'out-play' anyone. He played too pretty and hip for that. He was all music." 

- Steve Davis

Né le 15 décembre 1932 à Detroit, au Michigan, Curtis DuBois Fuller était le fils de John Fuller, un travailleur de l’industrie automobile, et d’Antoinette Heath. Immigrant originaire de la Jamaïque, le père de Fuller était décédé de la tuberculose avant sa naissance. La mère de Fuller, qui était originaire d’Atlanta, était morte d’une maladie des reins alors qu’il avait seulement neuf ans. Par la suite, Fuller avait passé dix ans à la Children’s Aid Society, un orphelinat opéré par les Jésuites.

Fuller avait commencé à se passionner pour le jazz après qu’une des religieuses de l’orphelinat l’ait emmené à un concert du saxophoniste Illinois Jacquet au Paradise Theatre de Detroit. Participait également au concert le légendaire tromboniste J. J. Johnson. Fuller n’avait jamais oublié sa première rencontre avec Johnson. Il avait précisé:

"He was coming out the side of the theater. He stopped and squeezed my hand, and he gave me that look — the J.J. Johnson look. And throughout the years, he never forgot me. And as I got older and went to school, and then went to the service and came out, I saw him again with Kai Winding, and he remembered me. When I got to New York, he told Miles [Davis] about me and about my progress. And as fate would have it, when he left to do his writing in Hollywood, I was chosen to do the two-trombone thing with Kai Winding and Giant Bones, and we had three albums."

Fuller avait fait ses études secondaires au Cass Tech High School de Detroit aux côtés de futurs grands noms du jazz comme Paul Chambers, Donald Byrd, Tommy Flanagan, Thad Jones et Milt Jackson. À l’époque, la ville de Detroit était en train de devenir une véritable pépinière du jazz. À ce moment-là, Milt Jackson et Hank Jones avaient déjà quitté Detroit pour New York et seraient bientôt suivis par de futures sommités du jazz comme Donald Byrd, les frères Elvin et Thad Jones, Paul Chambers, Louis Hayes, Kenny Burrell, Barry Harris, Pepper Adams, Yusef Lateef, Ron Carter, Sonny Red, Hugh Lawson, Doug Watkins, Tommy Flanagan et plusieurs autres.

À l’âge de seize ans, lorsqu’on avait demandé à Fuller de quel instrument il voulait jouer, il avait fixé son choix sur le violon et le saxophone, mais aucun de ces instruments n’étant disponible, il s’était rabattu sur le trombone. Décrivant sa découverte du trombone, Fuller avait commenté: “I saw symphony orchestras, but I didn’t see anybody like myself. That’s why when I saw J.J. . . . I said, ‘I think I can do this.’” Fuller avait appris le trombone avec des grands maîtres comme J.J. Johnson et Elmer James. Fuller avait été particulièrement influencé par Johnson, Jimmy Cleveland, Bob Brookmeyer et Urbie Green.

Déjà déterminé à devenir musicien de jazz, Fuller avait ajouté deux ans à son âge afin d’augmenter ses chances d’obtenir du travail.

DÉBUTS DE CARRIÈRE

Après avoir décroché son diplome du High School en 1955, Fuller avait fait un séjour dans l’armée dans le cadre de la guerre de Corée. Stationné à Fort Knox, au Kentucky, Fuller avait joué dans un groupe qui comprenait Chambers, Junior Mance et les frères Cannonball et Nat Adderley. Après sa démobilisation en 1955, Fuller avait commencé à se produire dans des clubs locaux tout en poursuivant parallèlement ses études à Wayne State University. Par la suite, Fullers’était joint au quintet du saxophoniste Yusef Lateef, un autre musicien originaire de Detroit. Il avait aussi joué avec Kenny Burrell.

Après s’être installé à New York en avril 1957, Fuller avait enregistré trois albums avec le groupe de Lateef. Un de ces albums avait été produit par Dizzy Gillespie pour les disques Verve. Après avoir enregistré avec le saxophoniste ténor Paul Quinchette, Fuller avait participé en mai de la même année à ses premières sessions d’enregistrement comme leader avec les disques Prestige. Intitulé Transition, son premier album comme leader avait été publié en 1955.

Parmi les membres du groupe de Fuller, on retrouvait Sonny Red au saxophone alto. Comme ses compatriotes Kenny Burrell et Thad Jones l’avaient fait l’année précédente, Fuller utilisait principalement des musiciens de Detroit dans le cadre de ses enregistrements.

Le producteur Alfred Lion, le co-fondateur des disques Blue Note, avait entendu jouer Fuller pour la première fois avec le sextet de Miles Davis au Cafe Bohemia à la fin des années 1950. Fuller avait éventuellement dirigé quatre sessions comme leader pour Blue Note, même si une de ces sessions (mettant en vedette le tromboniste Slide Hampton) n’avait pas été publiée avant plusieurs années. Lion avait également inclus Fuller dans des sessions dirigées par le pianiste Sonny Clark (albums Dial "S" for Sonny et Sonny's Crib enregistrés respectivement en 1957 et 1958) et John Coltrane (sur l’album Blue Trane en 1957).

Après avoir passé seulement huit mois à New York, Fuller était devenu un participant incontournable des sessions organisées par les disques Blue Note. À ce moment-là, Fuller avait déjà enregistré six albums comme leader et avait fait des apparitions sur une quinzaine d’autres sessions dirigées par d’autres musiciens. Fuller expliquait: "Alfred brought me into dates with Jimmy Smith and Bud Powell. And then we did Blue Train with John Coltrane. And I became the only trombone soloist to record with those three artists." C’est d’ailleurs un peu grâce à Fuller que Coltrane avait rebaptisé une des pièces  de l’album "Moment's Notice." Le titre de la pièce faisait référence à une remarque de Fuller qui s’était plaint que le saxophoniste n’avait donné que trois heures à ses musiciens pour se préparer à l’enregistrement des pièces plutôt complexes l’album. Outre Fuller et Coltrane, l’album avait été enregistré avec une formation composée du trompettiste Lee Morgan, du contrebassiste Paul Chambers, du pianiste Kenny Drew et du batteur Philly Joe Jones. De tous les albums auxquels Fuller avait participé, Blue Train était d’ailleurs son préféré.

Peu après avoir enregistré Blue Train, Fuller avait joué avec Lester Young au club Birdland. Il expliquait: "I remember talking to Billie Holiday about being surprised that Lester wanted me. She said, 'Well, he asked for you. He must've wanted you.'" Après la mort de Young, Fuller se préparait à retourner à Detroit lorsqu’il avait reçu une offre du saxophoniste ténor James Moody. Après avoir fait une tournée avec le big band de Dizzy Gillespie, Fuller avait même failli se joindre au groupe de son idole Louis Armstrong. À l’époque, le tromboniste d’Armstrong, le légendaire Trummy Young, était sur le point de quitter le groupe, car il avait décidé de devenir prêtre. Fuller précisait:

"Trummy told me he got $1,500 a week. I started spending the money in my mind. Those were the early days. If you had $300 or $400 a week, you thought you were rich. Trummy was a mainstay with the group, and he was telling Pops about me — I got a little man, you gotta hear him. He took me to rehearse for him, and I heard Pops talking, and he said, 'Nah, too much bebop. I don't like that stuff.' I started crying. Louis Armstrong, my hero, didn't like me. My whole world crashed down on me."

Fuller avait finalement décidé de prendre le rejet d’Armstrong avec philosophie. Comme il l’avait déclaré avec humour: "He didn't like Dizzy, either, so I don't feel bad."

Un des premiers albums de Fuller comme leader, intitulé Bone & Bari (1957), mettait en vedette une formation composée de Tate Houston au saxophone baryton, de Sonny Clark au piano, de Paul Chambers à la contrebasse et d’Art Taylor à la batterie.

Dans le cadre de sa collaboration avec Blue Note, Fuller avait participé à des sessions avec Bud Powell, Jimmy Smith, Clifford Jordan, Hank Mobley (albums The Opener en 1957 et A Caddy For Daddy en 1966), Wayne Shorter (sur l’album Schizophrenia en 1969), Lee Morgan (albums City Lights en 1957 et Tom Cat en 1980) et Joe Henderson (Fuller connaissait bien Henderson pour avoir été son camarade de classe à Wayne State University en 1956). Lorsque sa carrière comme leader avait commencé à s’essoufler, Fuller avait collaboré avec James Moody, Dizzy Gillespie et Billie Holiday. C’est d’ailleurs Billie qui avait conseillé à Fuller de commencer à trouver son propre son dans le cadre de ses improvisations. Fuller expliquait: “When I came to New York, I always tried to impress people, play long solos as fast as I could—lightning fast. And all of a sudden Billie Holiday said, ‘When you play, you’re talking to people. So, learn how to edit your thing, you know?’’’ I learned to do that’’, avait conclu Fuller.

En 1959, Fuller avait fait partie des membres fondateurs du Jazztet d’Art Farmer et Benny Golson. Fuller connaissait déjà Golson pour avoir participé à l’album The Other Side Of Benny Golson à la fin de l’année 1958. La complicité du duo était telle que Fuller avait invité Golson à participer à son album Blues-ette en 1959. La même année, Fuller avait retourné l’ascenseur à Golson en collaborant à trois de ses albums pour Prestige avec différentes sections rythmiques. Le duo avait également collaboré dans le cadre de deux albums de Fuller pour les disques Savoy, ce qui avait jeté les bases du futur Jazztet. Le nouveau groupe, un sextet, avait enregistré son premier album en février 1960. C’est également dans le cadre de cet album que le pianiste McCoy Tyner avait fait ses débuts sur disque. Même si le groupe avait connu un grand succès dès le départ, Fuller et Tyner avaient quitté quelques mois plus tard pour se consacrer à leurs propres projets.

À l’été 1961, Fuller s’était joint aux Jazz Messengers d’Art Blakey, transformant ainsi le groupe en sextet pour la première fois de sa longue histoire. Avec Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton, Jymie Meritt (bientôt remplacé par Reggie Workman) et Freddie Hubbard, Fuller avait contribué à faire du groupe une des plus importantes formations de hard bop de l’histoire. Fuller était demeuré avec les Jazz Messengers jusqu’en février 1965. Dans le cadre de sa collaboration avec le groupe, Fuller avait perfectionné ses talents de compositeur en écrivant des classiques comme “A La Mode”, “Three Blind Mice” et “Buhaina’s Delight.”

Au début des années 1960, Fuller avait également enregistré deux albums comme leader pour les disques Impulse. Il avait aussi enregistré pour Savoy Records, United Artists et Epic à la fin de son contrat avec Blue Note. À la fin des années 1960, Fuller avait fait une tournée en Europe avec le big band de Dizzy Gillespie qui comprenait également Foster Elliott au trombone.

Dans les années 1970, Fuller avait expérimenté durant un certain temps avec un groupe de hard bop qui utilisait des instruments électroniques. Il avait aussi dirigé un groupe comprenant le guitariste Bill Washer et le bassiste Stanley Clarke. Cette collaboration avait éventuellement donné lieu à la publication de l’album Crankin‘ en 1973.

Après avoir de nouveau voyagé en tournée avec Count Basie de 1975 à 1977, Fuller avait enregistré avec plusieurs compagnies de disques, dont Mainstream, Timeless et Bee Hive. De 1979 à 1980, il avait également co-dirigé le groupe Giant Bones avec le tromboniste Kai Winding. À la fin des années 1970, Fuller avait aussi joué avec Art Blakey, Cedar Walton et Benny Golson.

DERNIÈRES ANNÉES

Dans les années 1980, Fuller avait fait de nombreuses tournées en Europe avec les Timeless All-Stars. Doté d’une remarquable résiliance, Fuller avait de nouveau collaboré avec le Jazztet de Benny Golson après avoir vaincu un cancer du poumon en 1993.

Fuller avait épousé Catherine Rose Driscoll en 1980. Le couple avait eu trois enfants: Paul, Mary et Anthony. Fuller avait également cinq enfants de son mariage précédent avec Judith Patterson: Ronald, Darryl, Gerald, Dellaney et Wellington. Driscoll est décédée d’un cancer du poumon le 13 janvier 2010. Fuller avait enregistré l’album The Story of Cathy & Me l’année suivante pour lui rendre hommage. Tout en continuant de se produire sur scène et d’enregistrer, Fuller enseignait à la New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Jazz Studies (SJS). Il avait aussi été professeur à la Hartt School de l’Université Hartford.

Fuller donnait également de nombreuses cliniques dans des collèges et des universités comme le Skidmore College, l’Université Harvard, l’Université Stanford, l’Université de Pittsburgh, l’Université Duke, le New England Conservatory of Music et le John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, où il avait servi de mentor à de jeunes artistes de la relève comme la saxophoniste Caroline Davis et le contrebassiste Dezron Douglas.

Curtis Fuller est mort le 8 mai 2021 dans une maison de retraite de Detroit à l’âge de quatre-vingt-huit ans. Le décès de Fuller avait été confirmé par sa fille Mary Fuller ainsi que par son associée Lilly Sullivan. Même si la cause exacte de la mort de Fuller n’avait pas été dévoilée, il semblait souffrir de problèmes de santé depuis plusieurs années. Fuller avait enregistré un dernier album intitulé Down Home en 2012. Ont survécu à Fuller ses enfants Ronald, Darryl, Gerald, Dellaney, Wellington, Paul, Mary et Anthony, neuf petits-enfants et treize arrière-petits-enfants.  

Fuller avait enregistré plus de trente-six albums comme leader de 1957 à 2018. Il avait également collaboré à environ 400 albums avec d’autres grands noms du jazz comme Bud Powell, Lee Morgan, Quincy Jones, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath et Count Basie. Reconnu pour sa tonalité riche et profonde, plus particulièrement dans les pièces au tempo rapide, Fuller était également caractérisé par son sens du rythme et sa technique impeccable. Réputé pour son professionnalisme et son tempérament détendu, Fuller était aussi reconnu pour son redoutable sens de l’humour.

Décrivant le style de Fuller, le tromboniste et compositeur Jacob Garchi avait déclaré: "His sound was massive, striking and immediate, a waveform that was calibrated to overload the senses and saturate the magnetic tape that captured it. In our era of obsession with harmony and mixed meters, Curtis Fuller's legacy reminds us of the importance of sound." Penchant dans le même sens, un autre tromboniste et professeur, Ryan Keberle, avait ajouté: "Curtis Fuller's genius can be heard in the warm and vibrant timbre of his trombone sound and the rhythmic buoyancy, and his deeply swinging sense of time." Quant à Mark Sryker, l’auteur de l’ouvrage Jazz From Detroit publié en 2019, il avait commenté: "Fuller was strongly rooted in the fundamentals of blues, swing and bebop, and his improvisations balanced head and heart in compelling fashion. He married a lickety-split technique with soulful expression, and even in his early twenties, he had a distinctive identity ideally suited for the hard-bop mainstream." Le tromboniste et professeur Steve Davis, qui connaissait Fuller depuis le milieu des années 1980, avait précisé:  "Curtis' playing was absolutely incredible... almost mystical. Curtis always said, 'I'm not trying to win any Trombone Olympics.' We all knew he could, but loved him because it was never his concern to 'out-play' anyone. He played too pretty and hip for that. He was all music." 

Fuller semblait d’ailleurs faire l’unanimité auprès des trombonistes. Ainsi, le tromboniste et compositeur Craig Harris avait déclaré: “Curtis Fuller was Gracious and Giving and always encouraging to young musicians. Being a trombone player myself I always marveled the way he combined Spirit, Sound and Skill to create one of the most unique voices on the instrument.” Un autre tromboniste et compositeur, Dick Griffin, avait précisé: “Curtis Fuller what a dear friend and mentor. I really looked up to him as one of the trombone players I put at the top of my list along with the master J.J. Johnson. I really appreciate the respect he gave me as a trombone player.”

Le Berklee College of Music a accordé un doctorat honorifique en musique à Fuller en 1999. Il a été élu ‘’Jazz Master’’ par la National Endowment for the Arts en 2007. Il s’agit du plus important honneur pouvant être accordé à un musicien de jazz aux États-Unis.

©-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

[lboogie1906]

Julia Amanda Perry (March 25, 1924 – April 29, 1979) was a prolific composer of neoclassical music during her relatively brief life. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, she spent most of her early years in Akron. Her father, Dr. Abe Perry, was a doctor and amateur pianist. Her mother, America Perry, encouraged her children’s musical endeavors. She attended Westminster Choir College, she graduated with a BM and MM. Her master’s thesis, Chicago, inspired by the poetry of Carl Sandberg, was a secular cantata for baritone, narrator, mixed voices, and orchestra. She continued her musical training at the Julliard School of Music and she spent summers at the Berkshire Music Center. Her first major composition, the Stabat Mater, appeared in 1951. Three years later in 1954 her opera, The Cask of Amontillado. She wrote Homage to Vivaldi for performance by symphony orchestras. She received two Guggenheim fellowships to study in Florence and Paris. After spending nearly a decade in Europe studying with several prominent composers, she returned to the US in 1959 to become part of the music faculty at Florida A&M College and took a teaching position at Atlanta University. She returned to Akron in 1960, she wrote Homunuclus C.F. (1960) for piano, harp, and a diverse group of percussion instruments. Her decision to use snare, timpani, and wood blocks, in addition to her frequent and creative changes in rhythm, illustrated her unusual sense of experimentation in her compositions She organized and conducted concerts around the world for the US Information Service. By the late 1960s, her works had received wide acclaim and were performed by the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras. The classical record label, Composers Recordings, released several of her compositions in 1969; she won awards and accolades from the National Association of Negro Musicians, the Boulanger Grand Prix, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, among others. She completed 12 symphonies, two concertos, and three operas, in addition to numerous smaller pieces. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenhistorymonth https://www.instagram.com/p/CqOCklbryAg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[hessbynum]

Sue Massek Project - Blog #1

I probably should’ve written all of this a month or maybe two ago. While I was very good at documenting my musical escapades prior to the pandemic… I’ve failed to resume that activity once the world started turning again. I did write a blog in 2022 about my first experience with Cowan Creek Mountain Music School, but instead of posting it I got COVID. I want to apologize because there’s been plenty to report all along. 

Photo of our class in 2022.

In June of 2023, I was at Cowan Creek Mountain Music School again. Sue Massek asked me if I would be interested in being her next apprentice under the Kentucky Folklife program run by the Kentucky Arts Council. I agreed, we applied, and we were approved to proceed. We had our first meeting in July, which was some songwriting swapping, stories with Sue, and plotting. 

Jessie Northridge, Sue Massek, and me on the right.

I figured I should probably write up how I met Sue and since I’ve had some blogs travel farther than I expected, I’m going to start at the very beginning. 

***My Story***

I grew up in the Nashville, Tennessee area. When I was about 8 years old, my school got a Suzuki violin program. I brought the flyer home and asked permission. My parents came home the next day with a small violin. 

While we, of course, learned orchestral music, we were in Nashville. I learned how to fiddle as a child and we also learned about what we called string band music. I almost never heard the terms bluegrass or old time. Being in Nashville, we had professionals with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra visit us along with touring musicians who played in country music bands.

Me with my first violin. It was clearly a little big, but I grew into it.

***Appalachian Music***

It wasn’t until I was an adult I started to unpack the tangle of traditions I had been brought up in, musically speaking. I suppose I thought everyone got handed a mountain dulcimer at some point, and plenty of families had musical traditions that involved forming a band, and how those Appalachian traditions intermingled into *Nashville* itself. I'm not mountain folk. But I now see how interwoven Appalachian traditions are into what I learned as a child and what I do now as an adult.

***Moving to Kentucky***

I wound up in Kentucky when I went to Transylvania University to study Applied Music and Teaching Music. Unfortunately, I only got to teach music in the public schools a short while. The Kentucky legislature changed the rules while I was wrapping up my degree forcing teachers to get a masters degree. After two years my certification expired and the only way to renew it was to enroll in a masters program. The universities weren’t set up to support online learning yet or really working teachers. I had struggled with my true education classes, so getting a masters in education seemed very daunting, which was my only option as a working teacher. I also wasn’t keen on amassing more student debt, so I resigned.

***Finding a Place in Corporate Learning***

I took a part time retail job thinking I would do that while I figured it out and it wasn’t long before I was a corporate trainer. I had found a new niche. I didn’t play music for a while as it was so painful. In many ways I felt like I had failed, but looking back on things I’m outraged over how the state created their own teacher shortage. The state has since undone their requirement, but my thoughts on all of it are a whole separate blog.

I was a traveling trainer for a number of years and started playing music on my own. Once my travel winded down with corporate changes, I joined the Heartland Dulcimer Club which connected me with more Appalachian music circles. 

Photo of me playing with the Heartland Dulcimer Club in Elizabethtown, Kentucky.

In 2013, I started a masters degree in Training and Development with emphasis in eLearning through the University of Saint Francis. I did the degree program entirely online. At points I was working full time, a full time graduate student, and serving on two non-profit boards. (I tend to have fruitful and fallow seasons. I was clearly in a strong fruitful season.)

***Meeting Sue***

In 2014, I signed up for Kentucky Music Week which is a wonderful event every summer in Bardstown, Kentucky run by the amazing Nancy Johnson Barker. (If you are a mountain or hammered dulcimer player, you must go!) KMW offers 5 possible classes a day. I signed up for 5 classes and one of them was a beginning old time banjo class with Sue Massek. My husband had a banjo he didn't play, so I borrowed it and off I went.

For one of my university classes I had to do a research project and write a paper. I had selected Highlander Folk School as I’ve been past its current location in Tennessee and frankly, didn’t know much about it. It was a harder topic as there’s comparatively less published on the subject than say Dale Carnegie. 

***Highlander Folk School***

I was fascinated by what I learned. Highlander Folk School was founded by Myles Horton in 1932. Back in his day mountain folk were called highlanders. His vision was of a place where community members could come together to learn and work together to solve problems. Drawing inspiration from the Danish folk school system, Horton eventually organized workshops around topics so you had the right people in the room to work through problems together. Highlander Folk School was instrumental in the labor union movement and the civil rights movement. 

Sue had indicated on her artist bio that she had frequented Highlander Folk School, so I wanted to talk to her about it. We were already almost to the end of the week on Thursday when I got up the courage to ask. Sue had given us a moment to practice on our own which also allowed her a chance to help anyone one on one. Imagine a room with 15 or so banjo players all playing at once, but not in unison. While she was free, I asked Sue about Highlander Folk School. She asked me if I had been. I said no and explained my research paper. She looked thoughtful and said, “One time Rosa Parks was my roommate.” The room was instantly silent and I’ll never forget someone in the back said, “What?” While we all learn about Rosa Parks in school, what we don’t learn is that she was trained in passive resistance at a workshop at Highlander Folk School. Sue told us about her experience rooming with Rosa Parks. 

A few things happened that day. While I didn’t know much about Sue prior to that week, I started the process to learn more. I also went and bought an open back banjo because I was absolutely hooked on the instrument. 

Over the next ten years, I would take classes with Sue any chance I got. Each time I learn something new and she tells amazing stories about her incredible life.

Me, Sue, and Mr. Barrett after a KMW class in 2018.

***Apprenticeship***

I think everyone else who has apprenticed with Sue over the years was aspiring to be a professional musician, which is not the case with me. I have a day job that I love, but I am active in the musical community. While I’ve been on hiatus from the Heartland Dulcimer Club for a few years now (I missed them!), I’m currently serving on the Louisville Folk School board and will likely seek somewhere to start teaching group classes again once I finish my apprenticeship. I've also been aspiring to record an album, something I've willingly slow walked as more time means more original songs to work with.

For the project, I have a number of songs I want to learn from Sue that we've somehow missed over the years. I'm also digitizing some of Sue's personal recordings from over the years so we can make them available. I expect I'll be blogging about them here as I get them uploaded. Sue is an amazing songwriter, so songwriting is in the mix too.

[hopbrewco]

Jazz Brunch with Addison Grimm

Get your mimosa on and join us for a special series of jazz brunches featuring the original arrangements of local musician Addisson Grimm:

Addisson Grimm comes to us from Evansville, Indiana, where he worked as an avid performer and educator in the tri-state area. Some of Addisson’s recent experience involves serving as Professor of Trumpet and Jazz studies at the University of Evansville (sabbatical replacement), Professor of Brass and Jazz studies at Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, and currently serves as Assistant director of bands at Hopkinsville High School and Professor of Trumpet at Kentucky Wesleyan College. Addisson frequently performs with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, and is a consistent freelancer for weddings, musicals, and many other performance avenues.

[ledenews]

Kentucky's Jeff Worley Set for Today's Lunch with Books at OCPL

Jeff Worley, Kentucky Poet Laureate 2019-2020, is the author of seven book-length collections of poetry, including The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue: Selected Poems, Broadstone Books. Worley has received 3 Al Smith Fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council and a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. His poems have appeared in over 500 literary magazines and journals. Website: jeff-worley.com. The Poetry Series is curated by W.V. Poet Laureate, Marc Harshman. Watch LIVE on YouTube Watch LIVE on Facebook Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 PM: Sounds of Appalachia: Lisa Bella Donna Live! Lisa Bella Donna is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and modular synthesist. She has many years of experience as a session musician and has developed extensive techniques with a variety of genres including musique concreté, micro-tonal music, orchestration, film composition, and more. Produced by Jesse James Johnson. Sponsored by the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, and West Liberty University. Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 @12:30: Wheeling Symphony Orchestra Festival of Ideas: Violins of Hope Panel  As a prelude to the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra's Masterworks 1 concert, featuring the Violins of Hope project. https://www.violins-of-hope.com/, the WSO is offering a “Festival of Ideas” panel that will further inform audiences about the restoration of violins that were confiscated and discarded by the Nazis from Jewish musicians during the Holocaust and later discovered in a variety of locations. The panel will include Maestro John Devlin, Rabbi Lief, Barb Lewine, and Roi Mezare, the WSO's principal clarinetist.  Note: The is a special Friday at 12:30 edition of Lunch With Books. Oct. 17, 2023 Collective Chaos: A Roller Derby Team Memoir by Samantha Tucker and Amy Spears Through stories about playing this full-contact, theatrical, and revolutionary sport, Collective Chaos shows the value of gaining a truly radical self-knowledge through teamwork, love, discipline, and critical consideration of our local and global societies and of our roles and responsibilities within them. Oct. 24, 2023 WWII Hellships The National American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor (ADBC) Museum, Education & Research Center in Brooke County will tell us about the horrors of WWII “Hellships.” Rich Lizza, Intro; POWs as the Museum’s Founders with Mary Kay Wallace; experiences as Pows. e.g. the “Hellships” with James Brockman; Liberation, Coming Home, and the Pows’ Postwar World with Joseph Vater. Oct. 30, 2023 (Mon. @ Noon): Halloween film: A Classic Vampire Horror film. Check the brochure for details! Then on Oct. 30, 2023 at 7 PM: Halloween film: Another Classic Vampire Horror film. Check the brochure for details! Oct. 31, 2023 Halloween Special: Or-Sean Welles as Count Dracula! For this year’s bloody-good Halloween special, we (OCPL staff and you, OCPL patrons!) will perform the radio play of “Dracula,” adapted by Orson Welles from the Bram Stoker classic and further adapted by Sean Duffy for our beloved Wheeling and OCPL Theatre On-the-Air!. First, we will screen the new OCPL Horror feature film: “The Hempfield Vampire!” Read the full article

[ukfinearts]

UK grad managing youth orchestra

Country roads are taking this UK graduate back home as she embarks on a new journey as the manager of the West Virginia Youth Symphony (WVYS). Aryana Misaghi, School of Music alum, graduated in Spring 2018 with a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education with a flute focus and a minor in Biological Sciences. 

Misaghi currently manage the West Virginia Youth Symphony (WVYS) in Charleston, WV. The WVYS was one of the most formative musical experiences Misaghi had while growing up, one that led her to be a part of the UK Symphony Orchestra for all four years of college. She says, “it's been such an honor to work for a group that I love and believe in.” Her work includes organizing rehearsals, booking concerts, fundraising, grant-writing, and promotions--everything except the music-making. “The students impress me at every performance,” she explains, “and their music makes all the hard work worth it.” Being a member of UKSO and on the Board of Directors at WRFL, prepared Misaghi for most of what the job has thrown at her. “I never thought I would end up being in an arts administrative position as a career,” she exclaims, however, her experience in college of participating in activities that she wanted to do like playing in orchestra, being on the radio, and tutoring other students in writing, primed her for her current position!

[ukfineartsresearch]

Arts Administration student wins UKSO concerto competition

By: Michaela Bowman

As part of the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra’s 100th Season Celebration, alumni musicians will join the orchestra and the audience for an exciting concert 7:30 p.m. March 22 that will feature alumni conductors Daniel Chetel (DMA ‘14) and Michelle Di Russo (MM ‘17) and the 2019 Concerto Competition Winner, clarinetist Evelynn Esquivel. 

Evelynn Esquivel is a senior Arts Administration major with minors in mathematics and clarinet performance. Born near Chicago and raised in Lexington, Esquivel has been playing the clarinet for 12 years ever since Brad Kerns, now UK Trombone Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, introduced her to the instrument in fifth grade. Now, she is a student of Professor of Clarinet Scott Wright. She currently performs as principal clarinetist with the University of Kentucky Symphony Orchestra (UKSO), Wind Symphony, and Opera Theatre. Evelynn has performed in masterclasses with Walter Seyfarth of the Berlin Philharmonic and Professor Victor Chavez of the University of Tennessee. As an active administrator, Evelynn holds the position of Orchestra Manager for the UKSO and serves on the administration team for the Lexington Philharmonic. She also has been a participant of the Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Music Festival for two consecutive summers working on the administration crew and performing with the orchestra.

Esquivel says she studies arts administration because she wants to “be an advocate for art and help other artists and musicians.” Specifically, she wants to be an advocate for minorities because as a Hispanic female she wants to help those who may not get the opportunity to freely express themselves through an art form. Within arts administration, she has several areas of focus. 

“I want to be as flexible and versatile as I can,” she explains, “so I can be prepared to work with any arts organization. I have primarily worked with orchestras in management, graphic design, and education. I have managed the UKSO and Prague Summer Nights Festival Orchestra for two years and have loved every minute of it! A lot of work goes into these programs, but the end result makes it all worth it. Last summer, I was the on-site graphic designer for the Prague Summer Nights Festival where I created posters and flyers for local marketing. This was a lot of fun because I taught myself more about the design programs and how to get more creative. I also work closely with the education coordinator at the Lexington Philharmonic so I work with kids often and get to introduce them to music and playing an instrument. Children always find huge amusement in this and I love watching them get excited about music-making!”

Esquivel will take the stage on Friday, March 22 for the UKSO Concert. The concerto competition is held amongst undergraduate and graduate students in the UK School of Music and allows them to compete for a chance to perform their concerto piece for the UKSO. “Dr. Scott Wright encouraged me to compete,” she explained. She was excited to gain from the experience of preparing her concerto and competing with it. When she found out that she won she was “completely speechless...and surreal.” Esquivel will be performing a transcription she did herself of the Stamitz concerto that was performed by Sabine Meyer in 1992 with the Academy of St. Martin In The Fields Orchestra. She said she enjoyed transcribing it and she is grateful to have the opportunity to perform her transcription with the UKSO. 

The UKSO concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 22, in the Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall with a program that will include Marquez’ Danzon No. 2, Evelyn, and the Dvorak Symphony No. 9 from the New World. The concert will be live streamed here.

[blackkudos]

W. C. Handy

William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was a composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. Handy was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musicians who played the distinctively American blues music, Handy did not create the blues genre but was the first to publish music in the blues form, thereby taking the blues from a regional music style (Delta blues) with a limited audience to a new level of popularity.

Handy was an educated musician who used elements of folk music in his compositions. He was scrupulous in documenting the sources of his works, which frequently combined stylistic influences from various performers.

Early life

Handy was born in Florence, Alabama, the son of Elizabeth Brewer and Charles Barnard Handy. His father was the pastor of a small church in Guntersville, a small town in northeast central Alabama. Handy wrote in his 1941 autobiography, Father of the Blues, that he was born in a log cabin built by his grandfather William Wise Handy, who became an African Methodist Episcopal minister after the Emancipation Proclamation. The log cabin of Handy's birth has been preserved near downtown Florence.

Handy's father believed that musical instruments were tools of the devil. Without his parents' permission, Handy bought his first guitar, which he had seen in a local shop window and secretly saved for by picking berries and nuts and making lye soap. Upon seeing the guitar, his father asked him, "What possessed you to bring a sinful thing like that into our Christian home?" and ordered him to "take it back where it came from", but he also arranged for his son to take organ lessons. The organ lessons did not last long, but Handy moved on to learn to play the cornet. He joined a local band as a teenager, but he kept this fact a secret from his parents. He purchased a cornet from a fellow band member and spent every free minute practicing it.

While growing up, he apprenticed in carpentry, shoemaking, and plastering. He was deeply religious. His musical style was influenced by the church music he sang and played in his youth and by the sounds of nature. He cited as inspiration the "whippoorwills, bats and hoot owls and their outlandish noises", Cypress Creek washing on the fringes of the woodland, and "the music of every songbird and all the symphonies of their unpremeditated art".

He worked on a "shovel brigade" at the McNabb furnace and described the music made by the workers as they beat shovels, altering the tone while thrusting and withdrawing the metal part against the iron buggies to pass the time while waiting for the overfilled furnace to digest its ore. He called the sound "better to us than the music of a martial drum corps, and our rhythms were far more complicated." He wrote, "Southern Negroes sang about everything...They accompany themselves on anything from which they can extract a musical sound or rhythmical effect." He would later reflect, "In this way, and from these materials, they set the mood for what we now call blues".

Career

In September 1892, Handy travelled to Birmingham, Alabama, to take a teaching exam. He passed it easily and gained a teaching job at the Teachers Agriculture and Mechanical College (the current-day Alabama A&M University) in Normal, then an independent community near Huntsville. Learning that it paid poorly, he quit the position and found employment at a pipe works plant in nearby Bessemer.

In his time off from his job, he organized a small string orchestra and taught musicians how to read music. He later organized the Lauzetta Quartet. When the group read about the upcoming World's Fair in Chicago, they decided to attend. To pay their way, they performed odd jobs along the way. They arrived in Chicago only to learn that the World's Fair had been postponed for a year. Next they headed to St. Louis, Missouri, but found no work.

After the quartet disbanded, Handy went to Evansville, Indiana. He played the cornet in the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. In Evansville, he joined a successful band that performed throughout neighboring cities and states. His musical endeavors were varied: he sang first tenor in a minstrel show, worked as a band director, choral director, cornetist, and trumpeter. At the age of 23, he became the bandmaster of Mahara's Colored Minstrels.

In a three-year tour they traveled to Chicago, throughout Texas and Oklahoma to Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida, and on to Cuba, Mexico and Canada. Handy was paid a salary of $6 per week. Returning from Cuba the band traveled north through Alabama, where they stopped to perform in Huntsville. Weary of life on the road, he and his wife, Elizabeth, stayed with relatives in his nearby hometown of Florence.

In 1896, while performing at a barbecue in Henderson, Kentucky, Handy met Elizabeth Price. They married on July 19, 1896. She gave birth to Lucille, the first of their six children, on June 29, 1900, after they had settled in Florence.

Around that time, William Hooper Councill, the president of what had become the Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes (the same college Handy had refused to teach at in 1892 due to low pay), hired Handy to teach music. He became a faculty member in September 1900 and taught through much of 1902. He was disheartened to discover that the college emphasized teaching European music considered to be "classical". He felt he was underpaid and could make more money touring with a minstrel group.

In 1902 Handy traveled throughout Mississippi, listening to various styles of popular black music. The state was mostly rural and music was part of the culture, especially in cotton plantations in the Mississippi Delta. Musicians usually played guitar or banjo or, to a much lesser extent, piano. Handy's remarkable memory enabled him to recall and transcribe the music he heard in his travels.

After a dispute with AAMC President Councill, Handy resigned his teaching position to return to the Mahara Minstrels and tour the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. In 1903 he became the director of a black band organized by the Knights of Pythias in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Handy and his family lived there for six years. In 1903, while waiting for a train in Tutwiler, in the Mississippi Delta, Handy had the following experience:

A lean loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept...As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar in a manner popularized by Hawaiian guitarists who used steel bars...The singer repeated the line three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard.

About 1905, while playing a dance in Cleveland, Mississippi, Handy was given a note asking for "our native music". He played an old-time Southern melody but was asked if a local colored band could play a few numbers. Three young men with a battered guitar, mandolin, and a worn-out bass walked onto the stage. Research by Elliott Hurwitt for the Mississippi Blues Trail identified the leader of the band in Cleveland as Prince McCoy.

They struck up one of those over and over strains that seem to have no beginning and certainly no ending at all. The strumming attained a disturbing monotony, but on and on it went, a kind of stuff associated with [sugar] cane rows and levee camps. Thump-thump-thump went their feet on the floor. It was not really annoying or unpleasant. Perhaps "haunting" is the better word.

Handy noted square dancing by Mississippi blacks with "one of their own calling the figures, and crooning all of his calls in the key of G." He remembered this when deciding on the key of "Saint Louis Blues". "It was the memory of that old gent who called figures for the Kentucky breakdown—the one who everlastingly pitched his tones in the key of G and moaned the calls like a presiding elder preaching at a revival meeting. Ah, there was my key—I'd do the song in G. In describing "blind singers and footloose bards" around Clarksdale, Handy wrote, "surrounded by crowds of country folks, they would pour their hearts out in song...They earned their living by selling their own songs — "ballets," as they called them — and I'm ready to say in their behalf that seldom did their creations lack imagination.

In 1909 Handy and his band moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where they played in clubs on Beale Street. "The Memphis Blues" was a campaign song written for Edward Crump, a Democrat Memphis mayoral candidate in the 1909 election and political boss. The other candidates also employed Black musicians for their campaigns. Handy later rewrote the tune and changed its name from "Mr. Crump" to "Memphis Blues." The 1912 publication of the sheet music of "The Memphis Blues" introduced his style of 12-bar blues; it was credited as the inspiration for the foxtrot by Vernon and Irene Castle, a New York dance team. Handy sold the rights to the song for $100. By 1914, when he was 40, he had established his musical style, his popularity had greatly increased, and he was a prolific composer. Handy wrote about using folk songs:

The primitive southern Negro, as he sang, was sure to bear down on the third and seventh tone of the scale, slurring between major and minor. Whether in the cotton field of the Delta or on the Levee up St. Louis way, it was always the same. Till then, however, I had never heard this slur used by a more sophisticated Negro, or by any white man. I tried to convey this effect...by introducing flat thirds and sevenths (now called blue notes) into my song, although its prevailing key was major...and I carried this device into my melody as well...This was a distinct departure, but as it turned out, it touched the spot.

The three-line structure I employed in my lyric was suggested by a song I heard Phil Jones sing in Evansville ... While I took the three-line stanza as a model for my lyric, I found its repetition too monotonous...Consequently I adopted the style of making a statement, repeating the statement in the second line, and then telling in the third line why the statement was made.

Regarding the "three-chord basic harmonic structure" of the blues, Handy wrote that the "(tonic, subdominant, dominant seventh) was that already used by Negro roustabouts, honky-tonk piano players, wanderers and others of the underprivileged but undaunted class from Missouri to the Gulf, and had become a common medium through which any such individual might express his personal feeling in a sort of musical soliloquy." He noted, "In the folk blues the singer fills up occasional gaps with words like 'Oh, lawdy' or 'Oh, baby' and the like. This meant that in writing a melody to be sung in the blues manner one would have to provide gaps or waits."

Writing about the first time "Saint Louis Blues" was played, in 1914, Handy said,

The one-step and other dances had been done to the tempo of Memphis Blues. ... When St Louis Blues was written the tango was in vogue. I tricked the dancers by arranging a tango introduction, breaking abruptly into a low-down blues. My eyes swept the floor anxiously, then suddenly I saw lightning strike. The dancers seemed electrified. Something within them came suddenly to life. An instinct that wanted so much to live, to fling its arms to spread joy, took them by the heels.

His published musical works were groundbreaking because of his ethnicity. In 1912, he met Harry Pace at the Solvent Savings Bank in Memphis. Pace was the valedictorian of his graduating class at Atlanta University and a student of W. E. B. Du Bois. By the time of their meeting, Pace had already demonstrated a strong understanding of business. He earned his reputation by saving failing businesses. Handy liked him, and Pace later became the manager of Pace and Handy Sheet Music.

While in New York City, Handy wrote:

I was under the impression that these Negro musicians would jump at the chance to patronize one of their own publishers. They didn't...The Negro musicians simply played the hits of the day...They followed the parade. Many white bands and orchestra leaders, on the other hand, were on the alert for novelties. They were therefore the ones most ready to introduce our numbers. Negro vaudeville artists...wanted songs that would not conflict with white acts on the bill. The result was that these performers became our most effective pluggers.

In 1917, he and his publishing business moved to New York City, where he had offices in the Gaiety Theatre office building in Times Square. By the end of that year, his most successful songs had been published: "Memphis Blues", "Beale Street Blues", and "Saint Louis Blues". That year the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a white New Orleans jazz ensemble, had recorded the first jazz record, introducing the style to a wide segment of the American public. Handy had little fondness for jazz, but bands dove into his repertoire with enthusiasm, making many of them jazz standards.

Handy encouraged performers such as Al Bernard, "a young white man" with a "soft Southern accent" who "could sing all my Blues". He sent Bernard to Thomas Edison to be recorded, which resulted in "an impressive series of successes for the young artist, successes in which we proudly shared." Handy also published "Shake Rattle and Roll" and "Saxophone Blues", both written by Bernard. "Two young white ladies from Selma, Alabama (Madelyn Sheppard and Annelu Burns) contributed the songs "Pickaninny Rose" and "O Saroo", with the music published by Handy's company. These numbers, plus our blues, gave us a reputation as publishers of Negro music."

Expecting to make only "another hundred or so" of "Yellow Dog Blues" (originally entitled "Yellow Dog Rag"), Handy signed a deal with the Victor company. The Joe Smith recording of this song in 1919 became the best-selling recording of Handy's music to date.

Handy tried to interest black women singers in his music but was unsuccessful. In 1920 Perry Bradford persuaded Mamie Smith to record two of his non-blues songs ("That Thing Called Love" and "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down") that were published by Handy and accompanied by a white band. When Bradford's "Crazy Blues" became a hit as recorded by Smith, black blues singers became popular. Handy's business began to decrease because of the competition.

In 1920 Pace amicably dissolved his partnership with Handy, with whom he also collaborated as lyricist. Pace formed Pace Phonograph Company and Black Swan Records and many of the employees went with him. Handy continued to operate the publishing company as a family-owned business. He published works of other black composers as well as his own, which included more than 150 sacred compositions and folk song arrangements and about 60 blues compositions. In the 1920s, he founded the Handy Record Company in New York City; while this label released no records, Handy organized recording sessions with it, and some of those recordings were eventually released on Paramount Records and Black Swan Records. So successful was "Saint Louis Blues" that in 1929 he and director Dudley Murphy collaborated on a RCA motion picture of the same name, which was to be shown before the main attraction. Handy suggested blues singer Bessie Smith for the starring role because the song had made her popular. The movie was filmed in June and was shown in movie houses throughout the United States from 1929 to 1932.

In 1926 Handy wrote Blues: An Anthology—Complete Words and Music of 53 Great Songs. It is an early attempt to record, analyze, and describe the blues as an integral part of the South and the history of the United States. To celebrate the publication of the book and to honor Handy, Small's Paradise in Harlem hosted a party, "Handy Night", on Tuesday October 5, which contained the best of jazz and blues selections provided by Adelaide Hall, Lottie Gee, Maude White, and Chic Collins.

In a 1938 radio episode of Ripley's Believe it or not! Handy was described as "the father of jazz as well as the blues." Fellow blues performer Jelly Roll Morton wrote an open letter to Downbeat magazine fuming that he had actually invented jazz.

After the publication of his autobiography, Handy published a book on African-American musicians, Unsung Americans Sung (1944). He wrote three other books: Blues: An Anthology: Complete Words and Music of 53 Great Songs, Book of Negro Spirituals, and Negro Authors and Composers of the United States. He lived on Strivers' Row in Harlem. He became blind after an accidental fall from a subway platform in 1943. After the death of his first wife, he remarried in 1954 when he was 80. His bride was his secretary, Irma Louise Logan, who he frequently said had become his eyes. In 1955, he suffered a stroke, after which he began to use a wheelchair. More than eight hundred attended his 84th birthday party at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

On March 28, 1958, Handy died of bronchial pneumonia at Sydenham Hospital in New York City Over 25,000 people attended his funeral in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. Over 150,000 people gathered in the streets near the church to pay their respects. He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx.

Compositions

Handy's music does not always follow the classic 12-bar pattern, often having 8- or 16-bar bridges between 12-bar verses.

"Memphis Blues", written 1909, published 1912. Although usually subtitled "Boss Crump", it is a distinct song from Handy's campaign satire, "Boss Crump don't 'low no easy riders around here", which was based on the good-time song "Mamma Don't Allow It."

"Yellow Dog Blues" (1912), "Your easy rider's gone where the Southern cross the Yellow Dog." The reference is to the crossing at Moorhead, Mississippi, of the Southern Railway and the local Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, called the Yellow Dog. By Handy's telling locals assigned the words "Yellow Dog" to the letters Y.D. (for Yazoo Delta) on the freight trains that they saw.

"Saint Louis Blues" (1914), "the jazzman's Hamlet."

"Loveless Love", based in part on the classic "Careless Love". Possibly the first song to complain of modern synthetics, "with milkless milk and silkless silk, we're growing used to soulless soul."

"Aunt Hagar's Blues", the biblical Hagar, handmaiden to Abraham and Sarah, was considered the "mother" of African Americans

"Beale Street Blues" (1916), written as a farewell to Beale Street of Memphis, which was named Beale Avenue until the song's popularity caused it to be changed

"Long Gone John (from Bowling Green)", about a famous bank robber

"Chantez-Les-Bas (Sing 'Em Low)", a tribute to the Creole culture of New Orleans

"Atlanta Blues", which includes the song "Make Me a Pallet on your Floor" as its chorus.

"Ole Miss Rag" (1917), a ragtime composition, recorded by Handy's Orchestra of Memphis

Awards and honors

On May 17, 1969, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp in his honor.

Handy was inducted in the National Academy of Popular Music Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.

He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1983.

He was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985, and was a 1993 Inductee into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, with the Lifework Award for Performing Achievement.

He received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement in 1993.

Citing 2003 as "the centennial anniversary of when W.C. Handy composed the first blues music" the United States Senate in 2002 passed a resolution declaring the year beginning February 1, 2003 as the "Year of the Blues".

Handy was honored with two markers on the Mississippi Blues Trail, the "Enlightenment of W.C. Handy" in Clarksdale, Mississippi and a marker at his birthplace in Florence, Alabama.

Blues Music Award was known as the W. C. Handy Award until the name change in 2006.

W. C. Handy Music Festival is held annually in Florence, Alabama.

In 2017, his autobiography Father of the Blues was inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame in the category of Classics of Blues Literature.

Discography

Handy's Orchestra of Memphis

The Old Town Pump/Sweet Child Introducing Pallet on the Floor (Columbia #2417) (1917)

A Bunch of Blues/Moonlight Blues (Columbia #2418) (1917)

Livery Stable Blues/That Jazz Dance Everyone Is Crazy About (Columbia #2419) (1917)

The Hooking Cow Blues/Ole Miss Rag (Columbia #2420) (1917)

The Snaky Blues/Fuzzy Wuzzy Rag (Columbia #2421) (1917)

Preparedness Blues (Columbia) (unreleased) (recorded 9/21/1917)

The Coburn Blues (Columbia) (unreleased) (recorded 9/24/1917)

Those Draftin' Blues (Columbia) (unreleased) (recorded 9/24/1917)

The Storybook Ball (Columbia) (unreleased) (recorded 9/25/1917)

Sweet Cookie Mine (Columbia) (unreleased) (recorded 9/25/1917)

Handy's Memphis Blues Band

Beale Street Blues/Joe Turner Blues (Lyric #4211) (9/1919) (never released)

Hesitating Blues/Yellow Dog Blues (Lyric #4212) (9/1919) (never released)

Early Every Morn/Loveless Love (Paramount #12011) (1922)

St. Louis Blues/Yellow Dog Blues (Paramount #20098) (1922)

St. Louis Blues/Beale Street Blues (Banner #1036) (1922)

She's No Mean Job/Muscle Shoals Blues (Banner #1053) (1922)

She's A Mean Job/Muscle Shoals Blues (Puritan #11112) (1922)

Muscle Shoals Blues/She's a Mean Job (Regal #9313) (1922)

St. Louis Blues/Yellow Dog Blues (Black Swan #2053) (1922)

Muscle Shoals Blues/She's a Mean Job (Black Swan #2054) (1922)

Handy’s Orchestra

Yellow Dog Blues/St. Louis Blues (Puritan #11098) (1922)

Louisville Blues/Aunt Hagar's Blues (Okeh #8046) (1923)

Panama/Down Hearted Blues (Okeh #8059) (1923)

Mama's Got the Blues/My Pillow and Me (Okeh #8066) (1923)

Gulf Coast Blues/Farewell Blues (Okeh #4880) (1923)

Sundown Blues/Florida Blues (Okeh #4886) (1923)

Darktown Reveille/Ole Miss Blues (Okeh #8110) (1923)

I Walked All the Way From East St. Louis (Library of Congress) (1938)

Your Clothes Look Lonesome Hanging on the Line (Library of Congress) (1938)

Got No More Home Than a Dog (Library of Congress) (1938)

Joe Turner (Library of Congress) (1938)

Careless Love (Library of Congress) (1938)

Getting' Up Holler (Library of Congress) (1938)

Oh De Kate's Up De River, Stackerlee's in de Ben (Library of Congress) (1938)

Roll On, Buddy (Library of Congress) (1938)

Olius Brown (Library of Congress) (1938)

Sounding the Lead on the Ohio River (Library of Congress) (1938)

Handy's Sacred Singers

Aframerican Hymn/Let's Cheer the Weary Traveler (Paramount #12719) (1929)

W. C. Handy's Orchestra

Loveless Love/Way Down South Where the Blues Begin (Varsity #8162) (1939)

St. Louis Blues/Beale Street Blues (Varsity #8163) (1939)

[sumoflam]

55 to 40: The Violinist

55 to 40: The Violinist

Julianne has an assortment of talents, many which I’ll cover in later posts. Perhaps one of her most recognized talents is her finesse at the violin.

I remember with fondness hearing her play “Meditation “ by Thais every time we would visit her home in Mesa.  It was her Dad’s favorite and has become one of mine as well.  Indeed, in my mind, it is Julianne’s Theme Song.

Julianne grew up in a…

[growhunter407]

Alcina Handel

French soprano Patricia Petibon sings one of the biggest handelian arias. Her voice in this recording is just amazing, and she adds a lot of dramatism. Handel’s Alcina Handel’s Alcina ● by Chris Lynch This February, Indiana University Opera will present Handel’s fantasy opera Alcina in a new production designed by Robert Perdziola, directed by Chas Rader-Shieber, and conducted by Arthur Fagen. On musical grounds, this is a more-than-competent reading of Handel's classic opera, with some fine singing throughout. Naglestad is a lovely Alcina, and other principles are strong (notable standout is Mahnke's Oberto). Conductor Hacker coaxes a good reading out of the Stuttgart forces. Handel: Alcina / Curtis, DiDonato, Rensburg, Beaumont Release Date: Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg) Catalog #: 4777374 Spars Code: n/a Composer: George Frideric Handel Performer: Kobie van Rensburg, Vito Priante, Joyce DiDonato, Sonia Prina.

Mio Bel Tesoro Handel Pdf

Quite possibly Handel's most magnificent opera, Alcina is filled with extraordinary musical riches & a lot of magnificent magic. Two exceptional women lie at the heart of the story: Alcina is a potent sorceress, which Bradamante counters with her self-confidence and determination on her quest to rescue her lover Ruggiero from Alcina's spells. If she succeeds, they will escape and no doubt live happily ever after. However, if not, Ruggiero will be transformed into the newest trophy in Alcina's enormous gallery of former lovers. Which will it be? Can he resist her magic?

Now in his fourth season as music director of Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers, Clinton Smith also maintains a position on the music staff of Santa Fe Opera, where he most recently served as cover conductor for Leonard Slatkin on a production of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa. During the 2017–2018 season, he will make three company debuts, conducting Il barbieri de Siviglia at Dayton Opera, Le nozze di Figaro at Tacoma Opera and Alcina at Fargo-Moorhead Opera. He will also return to Pacific Northwest Opera to conduct Turandot, and to Atlanta Opera to prepare The Seven Deadly Sins. Clinton’s recent conducting credits include The Mikado for Kentucky Opera, Hansel und Gretel and Norma for Pacfic Northwest Opera, Il barbieri di Sivigliafor the University of Michigan Opera Theater, and La finta giardiniera for Baldwin Wallace University.

He has served on the music staff of Santa Fe Opera, Juilliard Opera, Minnesota Opera, Atltanta Opera, Portland Opera, Kentucky Opera and Ash Lawn Opera. Other recent posts include four seasons as artistic director and principal conductor of the St. Cloud Symphony, assistant conductor and chorus master for San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program, assistant conductor for Glimmerglass Opera’s productions of Tolomeo and The Tender Land, music director of Western Ontario University’s Canadian Operatic Arts Academy, and guest coach at the National University of Taiwan.

For four seasons, Minnesota Opera engaged Clinton as cover conductor and chorus master, where he led mainstage performances of La traviata and Madama Butterfly and covered the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Opera Orchestra in over 20 productions. During 2011, Clinton conducted a workshop and prepared the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ opera Silent Night, which subsequently won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize in Music. For Minnesota Opera’s New Works Initiative, and as an avid fan of new music, Clinton prepared workshops of Douglas J. Cuomo’s Doubt, Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Garden of the Finzi-Continis and the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove’s The Adventures of Pinocchio, as well as Dominick Argento’s Casanova’s Homecoming and Bernard Herrmann’s Wuthering Heights.

Patrick Hansen continues his unique career throughout North American as an operatic stage director, conductor, and vocal coach. His stagings have garnered praise in both Canada and the United States. Opera Canada wrote, ' Patrick Hansen captured the opera's bohemian vitality - the city of Paris itself was the characterful backdrop to the action. When he ran out of space in Act II, the crowd simply spilled down into the auditorium . . the comic business was well handled . . . The acting, indeed, was a strong point throughout.'

Mr. Hansen has been on the musical staffs of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Pittsburgh Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Memphis, Des Moines Metro Opera, Ash Lawn Opera, The Juilliard Opera Center, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera as well as being the Director of Artistic Administration for Florida Grand Opera during the opening of the Miami Arts Centre.

At ease in opera and musical theatre, his stage directing credits encompass the entire spectrum of repertoire now being presented in opera companies; Alcina, Orfeo ed Eudridice, Cosi fan tutte, Die Zauberflute, L'elisier d'amore, La traviata, Dialogue des Carmelites, Albert Herring, Hansel and Gretel, La Boheme as well as the musicals Camelot and Trouble in Tahiti.

Alcina Handel Opera

Currently the director of Opera McGill in Montreal at McGill University, Mr. Hansen is the former director of the Young American Artist Program at Glimmerglass Opera, and has presented masterclasses and coachings with the Young Artists of Virginia Opera and for many years served as the stage director at the Kennedy Center with the Washington Chorus' Essential Verdi. Mr. Hansen returns to Fargo-Moorhead after successful stagings of Fille du Regiment, Suor Angelica/Gianni Schicchi, and The Magic Flute in previous seasons.

Miriam Khalil is an acclaimed Lebanese-Canadian soprano specializing in opera and concert performance. She has been lauded as a 'skilled, versatile artist' with a “signature warm lyrical voice” by Musical Toronto and described as 'dark, dangerous and alluring” by Opera Going Toronto. Miriam is a graduate of the prestigious Canadian Opera Company Ensemble Studio, the Steans Institute for Young Artists (Ravinia) and the Britten-Bears Young Artist Programme in England. While in her last year of the COC Ensemble Studio, she advanced to the semi-finals of the Metropolitan Opera Council auditions and represented the Great Lakes Region on the Met stage, during which she was featured in the documentary film The Audition.

Miriam has appeared on numerous opera stages across Canada and Europe, including a stint at the renowned Glyndebourne Festival Opera in the United Kingdom. Notable roles include Mimi in La bohème (Minnesota Opera, Opera Hamilton & Against the Grain Theatre); Musetta in La bohème (Edmonton Opera); Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni (Opera Tampa & Against the Grain Theatre/The Banff Centre/Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival); Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande (Against the Grain Theatre); the Governess in The Turn of the Screw (Against the Grain Theatre); Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, U.K.); Almirena in Rinaldo (Glyndebourne Festival Opera, U.K.); and Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro (Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Lyra Ottawa & Against the Grain Theatre).

Holly Flack is a coloratura soprano praised for “wielding an impressive range, effortlessly reaching higher than high notes” with her unique vocal extension beyond an octave above high C.

Ms. Flack has performed with the Bel Canto Opera Festival, Astoria Opera Festival, and Operafestival di Roma. She made her debut at the Trentino Music Festival in Mezzano, Italy singing the role of the Vixen in Leos Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen. She was most recently seen on the FM Opera stage last season as the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute.

Additional roles include Serpetta (La Finta Giardiniera), Frasquita (Carmen), Despina (Cosi fan Tutte), and Peep-Bo in The Mikado. In 2015, Holly was part of the Gate City Bank Young Artist program where she covered the role of Marie in Daughter of the Regiment with FM Opera.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Ms. Flack holds a Bachelors degree in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College, and a Masters degree in Vocal Performance from The University of Kentucky, where she studied with soprano Cynthia Lawrence.

Lyric mezzo-soprano Holly Janz is a versatile singing actress with a voice that is evenly blended with clarity, richness and warmth. She has performed with opera companies across the country including Skylark Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, and Union Avenue Opera Theatre (St. Louis). Past credits comprise a variety of characters from the trouser roles of Cherubino, Hansel and Prince Orlofsky, to the ingénue roles of Nancy (Albert Herring) and Valencienne (The Merry Widow), to the more dramatic roles of Carmen and The Secretary (The Consul).

In addition to her operatic stage credits, Ms. Janz is a compelling concert artist in both oratorio and recital. Orchestral credits include the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Philharmonic Orchestra, the Greater Grand Forks Symphony, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony as well as the Central Wisconsin Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Janz, a native of Marshfield, WI, is an alumna of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point (BM). She has also received degrees from the University of Colorado (MM) and the University of Kansas (DMA, with honors), and is an associate professor of voice at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.

Called “winningly wily and dauntless” by Boston Classical Review, American Mezzo-soprano, Kate Jackman, is multifaceted musician and actress who excels in a variety of musical expression. As a2017 Gate City Bank Young Artist, Kate was seen as the Waitress in “Speed Dating Tonight!” as well as the Sergeant of Police in FM Opera’s recent production of “The Pirates of Penzance”. She also sang the role of Giovanna this summer in Ash Lawn Opera’s production of “Rigoletto”. Other roles that Kate has performed include the lead role in Oliver Knussen’s “Higglety Pigglety Pop” at the Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music, Hansel in “Hansel and Gretel”, the title role in “Carmen”, Dorabella in “Cosi fan tutte”, Bloody Mary in “South Pacific”, and Dinah in Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti”.

An avid performer of new works, Kate has premiered roles in “Piecing It Apart” by Paul Matthews and “Lux et Tenebrae” by Douglas Buchanan for The Figaro Project’s Contemporary Opera Trio. She also premiered the role of Megan 2 in Robert Patterson’s “The Whole Truth” with Urban Arias, and Patricia Hutton in Joshua Bornfield’s“Camelot Requiem”, in which she “expressed emotional intensity with the weight of her soothing mezzo-soprano voice” (Maureen L. Mitchell, Opera Today)

Ms. Jackman holds a Master of Music Degree from the Peabody Institute and a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of North Texas.

Alcina Opera

Tenor Jianghai Ho has appeared most recently as tenor soloist in the DePaul Symphonic Choir’s presentation of Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Nerone in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea, Orfeo in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, Abraham Kaplan in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, and Dr. Blind in Johann Strauss Jr’s Die Fledermaus with DePaul Opera Theater. He has also performed with the Duke Vespers Ensemble in Dietrich Buxtehude’s rarely-performed Membra Jesu Nostri at the Boston Early Music Festival, as well as the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Born in Johor Bahru, Malaysia, Jianghai first discovered his passion for opera under the tutelage of Professor Susan Dunn at Duke University, where he graduated with a B.S. in music and biology. He graduated in vocal performance from DePaul University, where he studied with David Alt and Michael Sylvester.

Mark Billy is a lyric baritone and Native American (Choctaw tribe) from Finley, Oklahoma. Mark’s undergraduate studies in voice at the University of Oklahoma were under the mentorship of baritone Richard Anderson. Mark has also had additional study with the legendary mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne.

Mark made his operatic debut as IlCommendatore in 2012 with OU Opera Theatre's production of Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”. The following season he appeared as Thoas in Gluck's “Iphigénieen Tauride”. In 2014 Mark appeared as Simon in OU’s choreographed production of Haydn’s oratorio “Die Jahreszeiten” and in 2016 Mark was featured as Moralès in “Carmen” with Indiana University.His graduate studies at Indiana were with soprano Carol Vaness.

Handel Operas Youtube

Mark most recently concluded a traveling production at OU opera theatre of John Davies mash-up children’s opera: “The Billy Goats Gruff” where he played the role of Osmin, the bully billy goat; this brought opera to Norman, OK area schools and carried the important message against bullying. In the Spring of 2017 Mark placed first in the Oklahoma NATS competition graduate level division. This past summer Mark sang Melisso in Handel’s “Alcina” as well as covering the role of Marcello in “La bohème” for the Red River Lyric Opera Festival. As a 2018 Gate City Bank Young Artist with the Fargo Moorhead Opera Mark will be reprising the role of Melisso in Handel’s “Alcina”as well as the role of the bartender in Michael Ching’s comic one act opera “Speed Dating Tonight!”

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Julia Amanda Perry (March 25, 1924 – April 29, 1979) was a prolific composer of neoclassical music during her relatively brief life. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, she spent most of her early years in Akron. Her father, Dr. Abe Perry, was a doctor and amateur pianist. Her mother, America Perry, encouraged her children’s musical endeavors.

She attended Westminster Choir College, she graduated with a BM and MM. Her master’s thesis, Chicago, inspired by the poetry of Carl Sandberg, was a secular cantata for baritone, narrator, mixed voices, and orchestra. She continued her musical training at the Julliard School of Music and she spent summers at the Berkshire Music Center. Her first major composition, the Stabat Mater, appeared in 1951. Three years later in 1954 her opera, The Cask of Amontillado. She wrote Homage to Vivaldi for performance by symphony orchestras.

She received two Guggenheim fellowships to study in Florence and Paris. After spending nearly a decade in Europe studying with several prominent composers, she returned to the US in 1959 to become part of the music faculty at Florida A&M College and took a teaching position at Atlanta University. She returned to Akron in 1960, where she wrote Homunuclus C.F. (1960) for piano, harp, and a diverse group of percussion instruments. Her decision to use snare, timpani, and wood blocks, in addition to her frequent and creative changes in rhythm, illustrated her unusual sense of experimentation in her compositions She organized and conducted concerts around the world for the US Information Service.

By the late 1960s, her works had received wide acclaim and were performed by the New York Philharmonic and other major orchestras. The classical record label, Composers Recordings, released several of her compositions in 1969; she won awards and accolades from the National Association of Negro Musicians, the Boulanger Grand Prix, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters, among others.

She completed 12 symphonies, two concertos, and three operas, in addition to numerous smaller pieces. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #womenhistorymonth

[iowamusicshowcase]

IHEARIC VIDEOS - Acoustic Guitar, Keyboards, and Steel Drums - http://bit.ly/2FFhgHv Katie Wedmore As per usual, we have a rather eclectic mix of videos from IHearIC. We had acoustic guitar player, Katie Wedmore, keyboardist Matt Smart, and Tyler Swick, Aaron Ziegler, and Blake Shaw playing electric bass and steel drums. Katie Wedmore is a singer and acoustic guitar player with a YouTube channel who obviously has no interest or desire to promote herself! Katie Wedmore on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjtLbaaydmH9H4sG_-af0lQ "Matt Smart (Music Coordinator) Matt has played and conducted all over the world including Brazil, Hong Kong, and Shanghai and has worked with Michael Feinstein, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Bonnie Raitt, among others. A California native, he has degrees in music from Pomona College and Butler University (and was at The University of Iowa for a while). Matt calls the Bay Area home where he is very active music directing, teaching, composing, and performing." - from his Transcendence Theater Company profile "Tyler Swick is a freelance musician and music educator in Las Vegas, Nevada. Elementary music education was a late passion for Swick, discovering it at the end of his music education degree at the University of Kentucky. After the bell rings in the Clark County School District, he heads over to the College of Southern Nevada to work with the Coyote Calypso Steel Band as an arranger and participant. The Coyote Calypso Steel Band is where Swick received his first exposure to steel drums when they played at the Las Vegas Day of Percussion in 2004. Now Swick teaches private steel pan lessons at the college after rehearsal but when he's not playing pan at CSN, Swick lectures the History of Rock and Roll to undergraduates. ​Late nights and weekends are spent enjoying the vibrant music scene around Las Vegas, whether it's listening or performing." Iowa performance history: University of Iowa Steel Bands - PASIC 2013 UI Jazz Band ​Ottumwa Symphony Orchestra Reggae Against the Machine 5 O'Clock Somewhere Band Tin Can Duo - from Tyler Swick's home page http://bit.ly/2QTohWR

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Jazz Brunch with Addison Grimm

Get your mimosa on and join us for a special series of jazz brunches featuring the original arrangements of local musician Addisson Grimm:

Addisson Grimm comes to us from Evansville, Indiana, where he worked as an avid performer and educator in the tri-state area. Some of Addisson’s recent experience involves serving as Professor of Trumpet and Jazz studies at the University of Evansville (sabbatical replacement), Professor of Brass and Jazz studies at Vincennes University in Vincennes, Indiana, and currently serves as Assistant director of bands at Hopkinsville High School and Professor of Trumpet at Kentucky Wesleyan College. Addisson frequently performs with the Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra, Owensboro Symphony Orchestra, and is a consistent freelancer for weddings, musicals, and many other performance avenues.

[ledenews]

October Events Scheduled at Ohio County Public Library

Up Next: Oct. 10, 2023, The Wheeling Poetry Series Welcomes Jeff Worley Jeff Worley, Kentucky Poet Laureate 2019-2020, is the author of seven book-length collections of poetry, including The Poet Laureate of Aurora Avenue: Selected Poems, Broadstone Books. Worley has received 3 Al Smith Fellowships from the Kentucky Arts Council and a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship. His poems have appeared in over 500 literary magazines and journals. Website: jeff-worley.com. The Poetry Series is curated by W.V. Poet Laureate, Marc Harshman. Watch LIVE on YouTube Watch LIVE on Facebook Thursday, Oct. 12 at 6 PM: Sounds of Appalachia: Lisa Bella Donna Live! Lisa Bella Donna is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and modular synthesist. She has many years of experience as a session musician and has developed extensive techniques with a variety of genres including musique concreté, micro-tonal music, orchestration, film composition, and more. Produced by Jesse James Johnson. Sponsored by the Wheeling Arts and Cultural Commission, and West Liberty University. Friday, Oct. 13, 2023 @12:30: Wheeling Symphony Orchestra Festival of Ideas: Violins of Hope Panel  As a prelude to the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra's Masterworks 1 concert, featuring the Violins of Hope project. https://www.violins-of-hope.com/, the WSO is offering a “Festival of Ideas” panel that will further inform audiences about the restoration of violins that were confiscated and discarded by the Nazis from Jewish musicians during the Holocaust and later discovered in a variety of locations. The panel will include Maestro John Devlin, Rabbi Lief, Barb Lewine, and Roi Mezare, the WSO's principal clarinetist.  Note: The is a special Friday at 12:30 edition of Lunch With Books. Oct. 17, 2023 Collective Chaos: A Roller Derby Team Memoir by Samantha Tucker and Amy Spears Through stories about playing this full-contact, theatrical, and revolutionary sport, Collective Chaos shows the value of gaining a truly radical self-knowledge through teamwork, love, discipline, and critical consideration of our local and global societies and of our roles and responsibilities within them. Oct. 24, 2023 WWII Hellships The National American Defenders of Bataan & Corregidor (ADBC) Museum, Education & Research Center in Brooke County will tell us about the horrors of WWII “Hellships.” Rich Lizza, Intro; POWs as the Museum’s Founders with Mary Kay Wallace; experiences as Pows. e.g. the “Hellships” with James Brockman; Liberation, Coming Home, and the Pows’ Postwar World with Joseph Vater. Oct. 31, 2023 Halloween Special: Or-Sean Welles as Count Dracula! For this year’s bloody-good Halloween special, we (OCPL staff and you, OCPL patrons!) will perform the radio play of “Dracula,” adapted by Orson Welles from the Bram Stoker classic and further adapted by Sean Duffy for our beloved Wheeling and OCPL Theatre On-the-Air!. First, we will screen the new OCPL Horror feature film: “The Hempfield Vampire!” Read the full article

[ukfinearts]

UK Symphony Orchestra: A Family Business

By: Michaela Bowman

Pictured Above: (From Left to Right) Chandler, Isabelle, and Miranda Martin

Photo Credit: Cindy Martin

Siblings can be a built in best friend, but how about a built in ensemble member? In this Q&A, the Martin Sisters discuss how they grew up playing music together and continued their education at the University of Kentucky where they had the opportunity to play in the UK Symphony Orchestra. Isabelle, Chandler, and Miranda reminisce about their college experience and what it was like to perform together at the Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Music Festival!

All three of you are string players, how did you get involved with the instrument? What was it like growing up as musicians? Did you ever want to play a different instrument?

Pictured Above: Isabelle Martin

Photo Credit: Olivia Obineme

Isabelle: We got involved with music because our mom has always been a supporter of the arts, so we grew up doing lots of arts extracurriculars (we were all dancers for awhile too, and I took a lot of after-school art classes). I started out as a violinist and switched to the cello when I was in middle school. Growing up, I never wanted to focus long enough to practice! When we were really young, our mom would beg us just to practice for fifteen minutes straight, and for a little kid, that was like a lifetime.

Chandler: As Isabelle said, our mom has always had a passion for music. It was actually after she watched the movie Music of the Heart when she was inspired for us to start learning to play the violin. I’m pretty sure I didn’t even know what a violin was when I started my first lesson at 5 years old! Nonetheless, we all stuck with it and our home was full of music from that moment forward. I think we all wish our mom would have introduced us to piano as well, but we were busy enough with our other activities like ballet and swimming. Being involved in music from a very young age truly impacted who I am today. I am a huge supporter of arts education because I experienced firsthand how music can build confidence, patience, and commitment.

Miranda: I would definitely agree that our early childhood involvement with music has shaped who we are today. I was eight years old when I started playing; Chandler was five, and Isabelle was three. Even if we hadn’t landed in these artistic paths now, though different from each other, it was really starting together at such early ages as a musical family that made it so important to us. Even though we were all involved in a variety of sports and other activities growing up, eventually I made the choice for myself that continuing music was the most important; it was the one that I couldn’t imagine my life without, and Chandler and Isabelle felt the same way. My sisters and I have now been playing for 18 years of our lives. As far as wanting to play other instruments, it’s funny to think about how I was influenced by those around me. In elementary school, there were a lot of flute players, and in middle school I wasn’t feeling challenged in my orchestral group at first, so I thought of playing other instruments in the orchestra. Now, I can’t imagine not being a violinist, it is who I am.

What was it like playing in the UKSO together and spending so much time with your sisters in college? Do you have any favorite memories from your time together?

Isabelle: Like Miranda mentioned, having sister dinners after rehearsal is definitely a favorite memory for me. Chandler is such a good cook that those dinners weren’t just for the three of us. A lot of our friends joined in, and that was really special for me. It often felt like because my friends knew my sisters and hung out with them, they were part of my family, too.

Chandler: The three of us have always been very close, so I was beyond excited when I found out Miranda would be transferring to UK my freshman year. Also, I knew I had at least one built-in friend when leaving for college and that was a huge relief. Miranda and I had so much fun together my freshman year. She still owes me for giving her 50% of my meal swipes! It was exciting when Isabelle decided to attend UK a year later. It felt like our presence as a family at UK was finally complete.We grew up attending performing arts schools and playing in youth orchestras together, so we were pretty used to performing together by the time we entered college. The best part about playing in the UKSO together was all of the amazing memories we got to share. The UKSO truly became our second family, and I still think about how much I loved playing in that orchestra.

Miranda: It was a great experience having all my sisters with me at UK. Because of our age difference, Isabelle and I wouldn’t have ordinarily crossed paths technically, but it made the experience so much better. Isabelle and I even lived together her sophomore year, before I graduated. And in orchestra, Chandler and I were even able to be stand partners on occasion. Chandler is also the chef of the family, and could always be relied on to take care of Isabelle and me for dinner after orchestra rehearsals. My sisters are the most important people in my life, along with our parents, and I can’t imagine not having spent our time together in UKSO.

Did you ever go abroad? If so, please explain your experience.

Pictured Above: Miranda Martin

Photo Credit: Connor Shafran, University of Kentucky Graduate

Isabelle: The summer after my freshman year at UK, we traveled abroad with Maestro Nardolillo to play in the orchestra for Prague Summer Nights. It was the first year of the festival. Participating in PSN with my sisters, playing all of that spectacular music, was so special. It was the first time traveling to Europe for all of us, and it was really wonderful to get to be exposed to some Czech culture together. We learned a lot, I think. And one of my favorite memories happened on the last day of the festival. We were running around trying to get our mom a souvenir before our last performance of Don Giovanni, and she collects houses, so we ran to Old Town Square and got her this beautiful little ceramic house that sits on our dining table at home. Whenever we’re home in Louisville and having dinner, seeing that little house reminds me of that summer and how unforgettable it was.

Chandler: My first time out of the country was as an orchestra member of the Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Music Festival. I couldn’t have been happier that my first international experience was in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Throughout the festival, we had the amazing opportunity to perform works by Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Dvořák in renowned music halls. My favorite part of the entire festival was getting to perform in the pit for Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre, the only standing theater where Mozart conducted. It was a spectacular experience full of delicious food, beautiful music and stunning sights.

Miranda: Traveling with my sisters for Prague Summer Nights was an experience I will forever cherish; it’s incredible to think that because we were all involved in music, this wonderful opportunity presented itself. Not only were we immersed in the local culture, we also had the opportunity to travel to Vienna on a day off, we visited Beethoven’s memorial, walked the streets where some of our favorite composers both lived and died, and where they created some of the amazing works of music we treasure today. Had it not been for our involvement in UKSO, this trip would never have occurred, and we wouldn’t have been able to make all of those memories.

Why did you all choose UK?

Pictured Above: Chandler Martin

Photo Credit: Haakan Magnuson

Isabelle: I started out as an architecture major, so it was important for me to be at a school where I could study architecture, but also double-major in music and play in the orchestra. A lot of the universities I applied to wouldn’t allow a student to do both of those majors, because they’re both very demanding, but UK did. And then, of course, I was also excited to go to the same university as my sisters.

Chandler: I knew from my first tour of UK that it was the perfect school for me. Everyone I interacted with was so passionate and welcoming that I felt like I had already become a member of the UK family. I got the chance to sit in on a UKSO rehearsal during one of my visits and I had an absolute blast. The sheer number of musicians on stage was mesmerizing. Like Isabelle, UK was one of the only schools I applied for that allowed me to pursue my pre-med track while studying music. I knew that through this flexibility the school was dedicated to my personal growth and would allow me to follow my passions.

Miranda: As a performance major transfer, UK, to me, was the only place where I could continue those studies while adding an arts administration degree with the degree of flexibility it offers to its students. I would also say knowing that my sister would be attending in the fall had a major impact on my decision. There were vast opportunities to take advantage of at the School of Fine Arts, and I was prepared and excited to experience as much as possible.

Chandler and Miranda, you majored in Arts Administration, while Isabelle, you majored in Art History. Why did you pursue these majors and how were you able to stay connected to your passion for music while you pursue your respective areas of study? How do you think playing a musical instrument will help you in your chosen careers?

Isabelle: I’ve always felt drawn to works of visual art, and I’ve also always really enjoyed writing. Studying art history gives me the opportunity to marry those two interests, as well as equipping me with the skills to understand and interpret art in interdisciplinary ways. Because I remained a music minor, I still played in UKSO and took private lessons, so I still felt very much a part of that world, and that was really important to me because I loved being a member of the orchestra. I really value thinking about the ways the arts intersect and converse with one another, and I think that it’s incredibly enriching to study as many fields of the arts as one can. It makes you a more sensitive person. In Chicago right now I have the opportunity to intern with a nonprofit organization that honors artists of numerous fields--architecture and design, craft, dance, media, music, theatre and performance, traditional arts, visual art, and writing. It’s amazing to be involved with an organization that doesn’t value one arts field over another, but rather acknowledges the unique importance of each of them to our society.

Chandler: I guess you can say I followed in Miranda’s footsteps on this one. I started my freshman year with a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a pre-med track, but started to realize this wasn’t my passion. I heard about the Arts Administration program from Miranda and a few of my friends in the Fine Arts LLP and quickly realized it was the right path for me. I wanted to pursue my passion for the arts without necessarily becoming a professional musician and arts administration was the perfect fit. I chose to pursue a violin performance degree in addition to arts administration at UK to ensure that I could keep making music for as long as possible. I still hold my music background dear to my heart. I use my music background in all of my arts admin endeavors.

Miranda: When I joined Chandler at UK, I had my first advisor meeting with Jane Johnson. I kept talking about my elective options, and was essentially told that I was outlining the arts administration curriculum. Though I wasn’t ready to give up my performance degree, I realized that I was well-suited for a job that wasn’t onstage. I can’t imagine being torn away from the performing arts world and now in my current job, I work towards expanding opportunities for the next generation of orchestral musicians. My background is the reason I am where I am; I find myself constantly referring to myself as an orchestral musician, a participant of youth orchestras, a violinist--these are the reasons why I am in my current career.

What are you doing now?

Isabelle: I’m currently getting my master’s in Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and interning with United States Artists.

Chandler: I am finishing my second year of the dual Arts Administration and MBA program at the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music, the same program Miranda graduated from. After serving as the Donor Relations Assistant at the Aspen Music Festival and School over the summer, I started a new position as the Development Intern for the CCM Preparatory and Community Engagement department. I will be graduating in the spring and beginning my career in the arts administration field.

Miranda: I am the General Manager at the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras.

Do you still play music together?

Isabelle: We actually haven’t played together in a few years, unfortunately.  

Chandler: I wish we could play music together more. Now that we are all living in different cities, it is challenging to even find time to visit each other! I do hope we can continue to share our passion for music for the rest of our lives, even if we are getting a little rusty at this point.

Miranda: We don’t perform together anymore, but now that I am more settled in my career, I hope to join a community orchestra soon. Working for a performing arts organization makes me miss the days when I could play in an ensemble, especially those with my sisters, like our time at UK.

Do you have any advice for other siblings in the same field?

Pictured Above: (From Left to Right) Miranda, Chandler, and Isabelle Martin

Photo Credit: Isabelle Martin

Isabelle: My advice would be to talk to each other about your work and interests. Even though I spend a lot of time researching and writing, almost all of my internship experience has veered into my sisters’ territory with arts admin, so I’ve frequently gone to them for advice and help. Not only do they try to help and guide me as much as possible, but every time I talk to them, I’m reminded of how brilliant and hardworking they are, which is the coolest thing.

Chandler: Support each other in all of your endeavors. There is no greater support system than your family and they can help through every step of your journey, especially through the difficult decisions and setbacks.

Miranda: Cherish your time spent together. As we are each gaining a foothold in our respective careers, it has taken us physically away from each other, but it is because of our family support that we are confident to pursue our roles within the arts world, no matter where they take us.