{ In History }
125 years ago, in 1892, Antonin Dvořák became director of New York’ s National Conservatory of Music. The Conservatory, founded by philanthropist Jeannette Thurber, a champion of women’ s and civil rights, was open to women and people of color, as well as those with disabilities— radically inclusive for the time. Thurber’ s goal was to promote uniquely American orchestral music.
{ In House }
BSO announces new president and CEO
Peter T. Kjome joins the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra as its President and CEO on February 1, 2017. See Executive Board Chair Barbara Bozzuto’ s welcome, page 2.
{ In Education }
Weekday concerts celebrate National Parks 100th
The BSO and the National Parks both turned 100 last year, and the BSO education department decided to mark the confluence with a special midday concert entitled“ This Land is Your Land.”
“ It was a great way to bring these two important institutions together,” says Nicholas Cohen, Director of Community Engagement and Education Programs.
Last October, the orchestra performed six concerts— three for local high school students and three for middle schoolers— with music evocative of nature and the great outdoors. The program, conducted by Nicholas Hersh, included selections from Beethoven’ s Sixth Symphony,‘ Pastoral’; Kevin Puts’ Two Mountain
Peter T. Kjome
Scenes and“ Hoedown” from Aaron Copland’ s score for the ballet Rodeo. Vince Vaise, National Parks Service ranger familiar to many from Baltimore’ s Fort McHenry, narrated.
The music, says Cohen,“ painted a picture of nature: Beethoven’ s“ Pastoral” is grand and expansive; Copland’ s‘ Hoedown’ feels like the wild west.” Puts’ piece honors the Rocky Mountains. Ellen Troyer, BSO violin, was soloist in an arrangement of“ Orange Blossom Special,” the iconic fiddle tune honoring the passenger train that ran from New York to Miami.
These Concerts brought 8,000 students and teachers from classrooms across Maryland to the Meyerhoff.
The Midweek Education Concert Series is supported in part through the generosity of the Zanvyl and Isabel Krieger Endowed Fund for Education, the Patricia and Mark K. Joseph Music Education Fund for City Schools students, and the Maryland State Department of Education. Additional funding comes from a Fine Arts Learning Journey grant from Baltimore City Public Schools, and from Supporting Sponsors PNC, Transamerica, and Legg Mason, Supporting STEM sponsor BGE, An Exelon Company, and the BSO’ s official Education partner The Sylvan Laureate Foundation.
Johnny Quirin
{ In Lear ning }
A New Way to Master the Music
Last spring, the BSO conducted surveys and discovered that concertgoers were hungry for opportunities to learn about the programs they attend. To respond to this need, the BSO is now offering recorded podcasts.
Fans of the BSO can now explore insights about music and composers on their own time. Each program in the classical subscription series will have a dedicated digital podcast, released about a month before the particular concert. Podcasts will be hosted by David Ginder and Marilyn Cooley, on-air hosts at WETA 90.9 and Jonathan Palevsky, program director at WBJC 91.5.
Most of the compositions on the BSO 2016 – 2017 calendar will have separate podcasts. The digital presentations feature musical illustrations along with commentary. The podcasts are available on the BSO website and will be archived at BSOmusic. org / Podcasts for future listening.
Jonathan Palevsky
January – February 2017 | Overture 5