Philadelphia Music Roundup - March 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 April? Let us know at calendar@acfphiladelphia.org.

March 2021 events

PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA

PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRAThe Philadelphia Orchestra will perform two concerts in March featuring contemporary music. The first is a A Modern-Day Carmen Fantasy with music by Rodion Shchedrin based on Bizet’s Carmen. The performance will also feature Philadelphia-based dance company Brian Sanders’ JUNK.

Then on March 18th the orchestra will feature all wind instruments. The concert includes Valerie Coleman’s Red Clay & Mississippi Delta about her mother’s family and the delta region from which they hail.

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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.

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MORE STREAMING CONCERTS

  • On March 4th the Annenberg Center for Performing Arts presents Thomas Kraines and Kinan Abou-afach performing a program of original compositions and improvisations as well as the world premiere of a new work by composer Gene Coleman.

  • Lyric Fest presents The Nightingale on March 6th with a talk back with the performers and composer March 14th. Soprano Maeve Högland and pianist Laura Ward present a world of Nordic song in a 30-minute music, art, and story film that explores the songs of Sibelius, Szymanowski, Randström and Sjöberg. 

  • Bowerbird is offering two more concerts in its Liminal Series. The first is on March 10 and will feature percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani. The second will be on March 25th and feature harpist Mary Lattimore. 

  • The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society has two programs this month that include contemporary music. The first is on March 19th with violinist Alexi Kenney and pianist Anna Polonsky performing works by Tonia Ko and Mark Dancigers among others. The second will be March 26th and feature guitar and cello duo Jason Vieaux and Clancy Newman. The performance includes works by Raffaele Bellafronte, Radamés Gnattali, and others.

  • On March 20th, Relâche presents When the Spirit Catches You… with composer Cynthia Folio discussing the challenges of epilepsy, her inspiration for the Relâche commission When the Spirit Catches You... and an ensemble performance of the piece with film imagery.

AMERICAN COMPOSERS FORUM

The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Composers Forum presents two more Artist to Artist talks in March. These talks feature composers from Philadelphia and beyond discussing their creative process, reflecting on their artistic influences, and sharing recent work. On March 2 Sarah Hennies and Marja Ahti will be the guest artists. Then on March 16 the featured guests will be Joo Won Park and Sam Pluta.

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ONLINE TALKS AND WORKSHOPS

  • The Philadelphia Clef Club presents a masterclass with saxophonist, composer, and educator Tia Fuller on March 13. As a Professor at Berklee College of Music, she shares her expertise teaching over 70 students per week; directing the Rainbow big band and All Stars, the Esperanza Ensemble, repertoire class, jazz improvisation, two jazz combos and the Christian Mcbride Ensemble.

  • On March 13 Astral continues its series Astral Nova with pianist Ronaldo Rolim presenting Watershed, an evening of music and poetry mapping out the trajectory that American society has been collectively traversing since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

    On March 16 The University of Pennysylvania Music Department presents faculty member Carol Muller as part of its colloquium series in a lecture titled  "Ethnomusicological Becoming: Deep Listening and the Erotics of Fieldwork.”

  • On the last day of March the Mendelssohn Chorus continues its Dialogues with Dominick series with a discussion about The New Music Scene in Philadelphia. The panelists for this discussion will be Andrea Clearfield, Melissa Dunphy, and two Artists-In-Residence Rollo Dilworth and Alysia Lee.

MARCH 2021 at a glance

CHRONOLOGICAL LISTING

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