February 2023

Dear Friends,

As you can see from the many events listed below, music at Emory is in full swing this month. I particularly want to call your attention to the February 18 ECMSA Concert that Will Ransom is using as a fundraiser for Friends of Music. This should be a splendid concert and would be a great opportunity to invite your friends to come with you to hear the wonderful music presented at Emory. The concert is free, and no tickets are required and of course no donation is required either.

One of the advantages of being a music student at Emory is that not only do we have amazingly talented faculty, but the Music Department draws on the incredible artists in the Atlanta metro area to serve as Artist Affiliates in the Music Department, providing a level of instruction that would otherwise not be possible. One of those Artist Affiliates, Maria Clark, is giving a recital on February 24. As I explain in the article below, we have been waiting for this recital for three years. I have been in communication with Maria about this recital, and the more I learn, the more I definitely want to hear it. I hope you will agree! Several of the other performances highlighted below also make use of our Artist Affiliates. All of the members of the Vega Quartet are Artist Affiliates, and they will be playing in the February 18 concert; the collaborative pianist, Matthew Brower, in Fiona Jones’ recital is an Artist Affiliate; and the soloist in the EUSO concert, Elisabeth Remy Johnson, Is an Artist Affiliate.

This month we will start hearing performances by our students. The first student recital, by soprano Fiona Jones, is February 19. Fortunately, this will be livestreamed if you are not able to hear it in person. Two of our large student ensembles will be performing at the end of the month. The EUSO concert on February 24 features a world premiere and the EWE features compositions by two Emory students and a guest conductor (and Emory Alum). You can read much more about these performances below.

The musical environment for our students is enriched in other ways as well, that are detailed below. The composer Jake Heggie was scheduled to lead a symposium of his music, but that symposium has had to be canceled due to illness in his family. It is hoped that the symposium can be rescheduled. Our students also benefit from masterclasses led by outstanding artists. Two of those will occur this month, and you are invited to attend.

Note that all of the musical events below are free and open to the public, with no tickets required. They are in Emerson Hall in the Schwarz Center unless indicated otherwise.

With best wishes,

Gray

Please note that this symposium has had to be cancelled due to an illness in Jake Heggie's family. It is hoped that the symposium can be rescheduled later this semester; if so, those plans will be announced in a subsequent newsletter.

Emory music students were to perform and refine the music of Jake Heggie and others with the Grammy award winning composer himself, followed by a Q & A. This event was free and open to the public, and made possible by the generosity of The Friends of Music.

Will Ransom is the Mary L. Emerson Professor of Piano and the founder and Artistic Director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. He is also a great supporter of the Emory Friends of Music and just as he did last year, he is using the ECMSA Concert of February 18 as a fundraiser for the Friends of Music!

Just like all other ECMSA concerts, this program will be free with no tickets required. There will be an opportunity for audience members to donate, so please bring your friends and neighbors. That shouldn't be a difficult ask, as James Dunham, viola, and Norman Fisher, cello, team up with the Vega Quartet and pianist William Ransom for Sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms, and Dvorak’s thrilling Sextet for Strings.

Note that the two featured artists in this concert will individually be giving masterclasses for Emory music students See more information about these masterclasses below.

Fiona Jones is a senior with a double major in music and English at Emory University. She has participated in vocal ensembles since fifth grade and has studied vocal performance since her freshman year of college where she studies under the tutelage of Dr. Simone McGaw Evans. Fiona currently sings in the Emory Concert Choir and has participated in other Emory music ensembles such as the University Chorus and Stageworks. She has also participated in state ensembles such as All-State Chorus, Honors Chorus, and All-State Sight-Reading Chorus prior to her studies at Emory. Fiona has loved performing since she was very young, from choir concerts to musical theatre productions, and she is very excited for the opportunity to perform in her senior recital.

In this recital, Fiona explores a wide range of emotions, such as love, grief, joy, peace, and desire, and she is performing pieces with styles ranging from Baroque to contemporary musical theatre. The composers represented range from Vivaldi, b. 1678 to Dave Malloy b. 1976.

This recital will be livestreamed and later posted on the PAS Virtual Stage. At this time, the links for the livestreaming and the online program are not yet posted, but both links will be available later in the Arts Calendar listing that you can see by clicking here.

Songs of love and justice dedicated to the memory of Martin Luther King Jr.

with Trey Clegg, piano/organ.

This is a recital that we have, quite literally, been waiting almost three years for! Maria Clark was ready to perform on March 21 of 2020 when everything was shut down just a few days before due to COVID. This program is not the same as previously planned, but will include many of the pieces planned three years ago. This 2023 recital was originally scheduled for Feb. 4 in Emerson Hall but was rescheduled for February 24 in the Performing Arts Studio in order to make possible several videos (see below for details).

Clark is an Artist Affiliate in the Emory Music Department and in 2019 she joined the faculty of Spelman College as director of vocal studies. With a voice judges described as “dazzling” and “richly expressive,” she performed on the stage of Carnegie Hall as First Prize Winner of the 2008 Barry Alexander International Vocal Competition. “One seldom finds a voice capable of such beauty across a variety of idioms,” said Cosmo Buono, executive director. “A voice this much at home in opera, lieder, and spirituals is very rare. She is truly, both artistically and vocally, a triumph.” Among recent activities, last spring Clark collaborated with composer and pianist Maria Thompson Corley, to release a CD of contemporary African American spirituals, titled Soul Sanctuary.

On a personal note, Maria writes: "I grew up attending concerts at Emory and never would have known that I would be performing on the Emory stage as a vocal professor at Emory myself. It is a surreal experience for me, and I am overjoyed to present new and contemporary works from my very talented colleagues at Spelman and colleagues with whom I've worked with on the operatic stage (DJ Sparr) and on the concert stage with Dr. Maria Thompson Corley." 

Clark's program may be seen by clicking here. (As of this newsletter publication, the online program still has a date of February 4, but is essentially the same as will be presented on the 24th.) The recital is free, with no tickets required.

Maria provides addition information about this program for our readers:

This concert is entitled "Songs of Love and Justice" and aligns with Black History month and is themed for Black History Month as well. It features songs with music set to the speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King composed by Adolphus Hailstork, and African-American spirituals performed by Maria Clark and Dr. Maria Thompson Corley on their recent CD release of African American spirituals entitled Soul Sanctuary. 

This concert also features new song cycles written by D.J. Sparr and Dr. Paula Grissom-Broughton. The D.J. Sparr cycle is written to encourage hope in young African American males. Dr. Paula Grissom-Broughton's song cycle is a digital song cycle and winner of the Carnegie Mellon Award, which highlights the poetry of Dr. Sharan Strange, both Spelman Professors who collaborated on this project. This song cycle explores the evolutionary experience of the African American female, from girlhood to adolescence, to womanhood, with poetry readings interspersed throughout its musical performance. The concert will end with spirituals, which include a final set of spiritual songs, entitled, "Crossing Jordan", by Dr. Maria Thompson Corley, and are written for voice, piano, and cello.  

This is a lecture recital of sorts, with composers attending the concert via video, to speak about their own works, in their own words. The Adolphus Hailstork set will feature video footage of the civil rights movement during the performance, and Dr. Paula Grissom Broughton and Professor Sharan Strange's digital song cycle entitled, "In Her Voice" will also feature video footage created by Spelman students from the Spelman visual arts division.  

Additionally, performers at this concert will be collaborative pianist Trey Clegg and cellist Ismail Akbar. 

This concert features the world premiere of a work for Harp & Orchestra by Laura Schwendinger with Elisabeth Remy Johnson, Atlanta Symphony Principal Harp as soloist. In addition, EUSO will play two works by Elgar: the Introduction and Allegro with the Vega Quartet, and the Enigma Variations.

EUSO celebrates its 100th Anniversary this season and the world premiere of Schwendinger’s composition is part of that celebration. Laura Schwendinger was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin Prize.  She is a professor of music composition at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and her works have been championed by organizations including Juilliard, the American Composers Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Orchestra. Her music has been performed at such venues as Kennedy and Lincoln centers, the Berlin Philharmonic Kammermusiksaal, Wigmore and Carnegie halls, Miller Theater, and Théâtre Châtelet. Schwendinger’s honors are vast and varied including fellowships, awards, and commissions from the likes of Guggenheim, Fromm, Koussevitzky, the Radcliffe Institute, Copland Prize-Copland House, ALEA III First Prize, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, MacDowell Yaddo, Bogliasco, and Bellagio, among others. Her music has been called “captivating, artful . . . moving” and “music of infinite beauty” by the New York Times; and “the genuine article . . . onto the ‘season’s best list’” by the Boston Globe.

Schwendinger describes the piece to be performed as follows: “Second Sight is a dreamlike work that explores ethereal material that floats in and out, returns, and is transformed. The material once heard, is then repeated kaleidoscopically—except for a central dance section—to evoke a feeling of déjà vu, or musical “clairvoyance.” This dreamlike landscape features various colors and textural characteristics of the harp and seeks to feature the beauty of the instrument and more specifically, the great gifts of Elisabeth Remy Johnson as an artist and a soloist.”

The entire program may be seen by clicking here.

Solo Journey

This concert features compositions by two student composers, Lucky Bao and Eli Parrish. In addition, two pieces will be conducted by guest conductor and composer (and Emory Alum) Will Pitts, including one of his own pieces.

Eli Parrish (b. 2001) began his compositional career with a niche for wind instruments and symphonic bands. Eli’s music has been performed at universities, high schools, festivals, and venues across the Southeastern United States. His works for chamber groups, solo instruments, and large ensembles explore the intersections of storytelling, environmentalism, and sound-to-color. Eli’s approach to orchestration, use of dissonance, and texture stems from his background of studying and performing wind ensemble repertoire.  Eli frequently collaborates with other young composers in the Emory composition studio to curate showcases and workshops for new music.

He writes this about his composition: Fanfare for an Introvert explores ethereal and psychedelic textures and harmonies. The piece's inspiration draws from a piece of AI-generated art.

Tianqi (Lucky) Bao (b. 2001) is a senior student studying music composition and quantitative science at Emory University. She is interested in film scoring, music production, live band music, etc. Her music has been influenced by film composers such as Joe Hisaishi, Tan Dun, Hans Zimmer, and pop singers including Liang Bo and Hua Chenyu. As a person who does not speak much in daily life, Lucky turns to illustrate her expression in the music, seeking a spiritual connection between her inner world and the outside world. By taking music as a path, she tries to show her own vision and insight to the audiences.

She writes this about her composition, Solo Journey (2023): This is a piece composed in remembrance of a period of time that the composer had undergone some mental stress. Though the composer went on a real "solo journey" later on, the "journey" for this piece means both the one in reality and the one in one's heart. Besides trying to portray the gorgeous scenery the composer saw during her trip, she also wants to depict the beauty of life experiences, her determination to face the frustration, and the will to keep going forward with a light heart. This piece is inspired by the music of Russian Composer Igor Stravinsky and Japanese film composer Joe Hisaishi.

William Pitts (b. 1986) is a composer, conductor, and arranger from Atlanta. Pitts graduated summa cum laude from Emory University, where he studied saxophone, conducting, and composition. He has completed graduate study in Music at North Georgia University and the University of Michigan. He has written works for and been commissioned by the Boston Pops, the University of North Texas, the Canadian Staff Band of the Salvation Army, Wake Forest University, the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, the Atlanta Trumpet Ensemble, the Vega String Quartet, the Atlanta Saxophone Quartet, the Northwinds Symphonic Band, French hornist J.D. Shaw, tubist Christian Carichner, and numerous other high school and collegiate wind and chamber ensembles.

The entire program including music not mentioned above may be seen by clicking here.

As part of their programming, ECMSA brings in world-class artists to perform in their concerts. A huge benefit for our music students is that ECMSA makes available many of these artists for masterclasses with selected students. Friends of Music members are invited to attend; the masterclasses this month are in Tharp Rehearsal Hall and both feature one of the performers in the February 18 ECMSA concert that is a fundraiser for Friends of Music (see above). You can click on the links below to see more information about each masterclass and read information about the artist. 

ECMSA: Masterclass with James Dunham, Viola, Friday, February 17, 2023, 4pm

ECMSA: Masterclass with Norman Fischer, Cello, Saturday, February 18, 2023, 10am

A big Thank You to those who contributed in the 2021-2022 year, and especially to those of you who have even increased your level of support or are new supporters! There is no way to thank you enough. It was the strong level of giving last year than enabled us to substantially increase our grants to music students and faculty for this year.

Much of our support for students and faculty is through grants to provide scholarships for students to help pay for required music fees, to help fund undergraduate research projects, and to provide enhancements for classes. You can see the grants we have awarded for this school year by clicking here.

A special thanks to those of you who are sustaining members, either through payroll deduction, or a continuing contribution on your credit card. After two years of asking, our donations page is finally updated to make it easy to choose to give a one-time gift or a monthly gift.

You can see the list of our donors by clicking the following link. Those whose names are listed with a @ or ### have made contributions during this academic year, beginning last summer. If you have not yet contributed in this academic year, we would greatly appreciate your support, particularly in the next month or two, as the amount we are able to fund for grants to students and faculty for the next academic year are determined by our fundraising through early spring of this year.

The list of members can be seen by clicking here.

Please Note: It is surprisingly difficult to generate a list of members who are current in their giving. We measure our giving year from the start of our annual campaign, which is usually in July of each year. Some members give through payroll deduction or give more than one gift per year (thank you to both!) and we want to make sure we correctly acknowledge the level of giving. We don't have a set format for how names are listed and depend on member's preference. Sometimes we make mistakes. Please let us know if you find any errors in the list of members above. You can just reply to this newsletter and we will be glad to correct any mistakes. The date that the list was updated is given at the bottom. Among other problems, we are finding that it can take several weeks for us to get news of gifts.

You can make a contribution online by clicking here.

There is literally nothing like attending live music performances! Many of us are so grateful that we can once again hear so many outstanding performances at Emory and around Atlanta. One of the unanticipated consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic is that when it was not safe to gather in concert halls to hear music, music organizations spent much time and resources to make music performances available online. Those resources are continuing to be used in many cases to make livestream and recorded performances available to those who are not able to attend the performances in person.

Who are those who can benefit from livestream/recorded performances? I would say most, if not all of us can benefit. There are certainly instances in which we have wanted to attend a concert but were unable to because of various conflicts. As we age, it can become more difficult to attend concerts at night, or drive long distances. The livestream/recorded option also gives us the option of hearing music performed in distant venues.

This last point is particularly important in the Emory context. Our Emory music students come not only from all over the United States, but from many other countries as well. Their parents, friends, and relatives would certainly love to be able to hear these students perform in person, but for most of them, it is not possible to be able to come to Atlanta to hear these performances. For them, the livestream/recorded option is the only way to hear the students' performances.

It is important to understand that even with enhanced recording equipment in place, there is a significant cost in providing livestream/recordings of performances due to the resources of staff, etc., involved. Because of the excellence of the Emory performances and the benefit to the friends and supporters of Emory music, the Friends of Music is doing all we can to encourage livestream/recorded options for Emory events.



How best to view Livestream/Recorded Music

One note about these performances: One generally accesses the programs via a computer. It is likely that many of us have been watching more movies at home during the pandemic, and it is generally preferable to watch those movies on our TVs rather than on some type of mobile device. Similarly, it is much preferable to watch music programs on a large screen with good sound. The most reliable way to connect your device to a TV is via an HDMI cable (perhaps with an adapter) if both your device and the TV supports such a connection. Another method is to mirror your device screen onto your TV. There are many ways to do that. Clicking on this link will take you to an article that describes various ways to do that screen mirroring.

The Schwartz Center is the hub of most musical performances at Emory. Emerson Hall in particular has greatly enhanced capabilities for livestreaming and recording. However, the decision on what performances will be livestreamed or recorded is made individually for each performance.

Schwartz Center Virtual Stage

The Schwartz Center Virtual Stage is then entry point for livestream/recorded performances at the Schwartz Center. The WATCH AGAIN link on the page leads to a listing of recorded events that were not ticketed. At this point, it is not clear how many events during the coming year will be on this page.

Another link on the Virtual Stage link leads to a login for paid ticketed events. This includes the concerts for the Atlanta Master Chorale (see below); it is not clear what others will be included in this option.

Many student performances take place in the Performing Arts Studio and last year there was a masterful job in making many of those performances available via livestream/recording. We hope that it will be possible to do the same this year. The PAS Virtual Stage is the place where these recordings are posted and some from last year are still available (and worth viewing again!).

PAS Virtual Stage

One useful hint is that program booklets for both Schwartz and PAS performances are available at the same site.  Click here to access the program booklets.

The following organizations all have strong Emory affiliations. Their programs will generally not be listed in this newsletter, but most of them, with the exception of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, are listed in the Music at EmoryCalendar.

I assume that all of our readers are familiar with ECMSA, whose Artistic Director is Professor William Ransom. ECMSA is celebrating its 30th season this year and all of their concerts are free. I am listing them separately because ECMSA has a variety of music series, only some of which are at the Schwartz Center. The full array of their concerts can be seen on the ECMSA website.

Notes about two of the series:

Most of the Bach's Lunch Series are part of the Concerts@First series held in the sanctuary of First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. These concerts are livestreamed and are usually available for listening later.

The Masterclass Series, is back this year and is an incredible gift for our students. These masterclasses feature outstanding musicians who will teach Emory students in these classes. Moreover, our members are invited to attend these masterclasses. There are twelve masterclasses planned for this year, with an impressive array of artists involved.

The Artistic Director of the Atlanta Master Chorale is Professor of Music Eric Nelson, and the chorale is one of the finest in the country. All of their local performances are in the Schwartz Center, and there is a livestream option for concert tickets.  All purchased tickets include a link to the livestream recording for one week after the concert.  I usually view the recording at least once after attending the concert, surely a form of having one's cake and eating it too! 

Not only is the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra a great orchestra, but our students benefit greatly from the ASO, as many of the Music Department Artist Affiliates are ASO musicians.

The ASO responded to the pandemic in a very creative way, beginning a series of "Behind the Curtain" performances featuring musicians playing without an audience. The "Behind the Curtain" series has continued, featuring a selection of recorded performances from previous weeks.  

The entire ASO concert series is detailed on the ASO website. There is a lot of excitement this year as the ASO welcomes its new Music Director Nathalie Stutzmann.  Information about virtual memberships for the "Behind the Curtain" series will also soon be on the website.