Philadelphia Music Roundup - April 2021

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Lots of streaming content again this month - but it feels like SPRING is just around the corner! Did we miss something? Events coming up in May? Let us know at calendar@acfphiladelphia.org.

April 2021 events

PHILADELPHIA CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY

The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society presents two concerts in April featuring contemporary music. The first is on April 8th with pianist Shai Wosner performing, among other works, Frederic Rzewski’s Three Nanosonatas. Then on April 30th the Aizuri Quartet with cellist Marcy Rosen will perform Jamaican-born composer Eleanor Alberga’s String Quartet No. 1.


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PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

The Philadelphia Orchestra features contemporary music on two concerts in April. On April 1st the orchestra presents Pulitzer prize winning composer Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, for string orchestra. The concert will be available from April 1-8. Later in April the orchestra will perform the high-energy Concerto grosso—a Philadelphia Orchestra debut for contemporary composer Michael-Thomas Foumai. 

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MORE STREAMING CONCERTS

  • On April 10th Astral continues its online series Astral Nova with cellist Thomas Mesa and organist Greg Zelek performing from Longwood Gardens.

  • Network for New Music finishes its virtual series Extraordinary Measures on April 17th with the program Peace in Extraordinary Times featuring four works for violin and piano performed by Hirono Oka and Charles Abramovic.

AMERICAN COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA

The American Composers Orchestra presents two panel discussions in April. 

The first on April 7th features conductors Mei-Ann Chen and Alan Gilbert discussing the conductor-composer relationship, programming new works, and other topics relevant to composers.

On April 21st the discussion will feature Chris Campbell, Director of Recordings at Innova Recordings, leading a panel covering the basics of recording law and licensing. The panel will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

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PHILADELPHIA CLEF CLUB MASTERCLASSES

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The Philadelphia Clef Club continues its Online Master Class series with two events in April featuring Philadelphia-based saxophonists, composers, educators, and bandleaders. The first, on April 3rd, will feature Immanuel Wilkins, then on April 10th the featured artist will be Odean Pope.

ONGOING: OPERA PHILADELPHIA

Opera Philadelphia has four on demand operas that are available through May.

Two of the operas currently available to stream are by Tyshawn Sorey: 
Save the Boys was inspired by an 1887 poem of the same name by abolitionist, writer and Black women’s rights activist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper. This work is the first of four digital commissions by Opera Philadelphia. Cycles of My Being is a song cycle that centers on what it means to be a Black man living in America today. 

Theater, opera, and rock collide in David T. Little's Soldier Song, an exploration of the life of the Soldier. Based on interviews with veterans of five wars, the piece boldly examines the impact of trauma, the exploitation of innocence, and the difficulty of expressing war's painful truths.

The most recent addition is Courtney Bryan’s Blessed, a multi-layered exploration of darkness and light, hope and love, weaving together musical recordings and film footage from New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. Created as a response to the milestone events of 2020—the uprising in response to police brutality against Black men and women, the November election—Blessed reflects upon the Christian Bible’s avowal that the meek will one day “inherit the earth.” 

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ONLINE TALKS AND WORKSHOPS

  • The University of Pennsylvania Department of Music will feature pianist and composer Gabrela Lena Frank in their Colloquium Series on April 6th.

  • On April 8th the American Composers Forum, Philadelphia Chapter presents an Artist to Artist Talk with Dan Blacksberg and Kinan Abou-afach. The two artists will discuss their creative process, reflect on their artistic influences, and share recent work.

  • Also on April 8th the American Composers Forum national organization will host a study group on Alex’s Temple‘s 2020 I CARE IF YOU LISTEN article, Where Are the Operas About People Like Me? Imagining a Trans-Inclusive New Music World.

  • On April 25, Singing City concludes its webinar series with Singing for Social Justice with panelists Frederica von Stade, Rollo Dilworth, and Jay Fluellen.

APRIL 2021 at a glance

CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING

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