Classical Voice North America: ‘X’ At Last Marks Spot For Anthony Davis In World Of Modern Opera
When the New York City Opera officially premiered Anthony Davis’ first opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, in 1986, the composer garnered considerable attention, and his career appeared poised for a big take-off.
But things quickly stalled. X was not revived in the immediate decades that followed. Though he continued to write more operas, including Amistad, which debuted at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1997, Davis’ career did not live up to the initial burst of adulation.
Then, everything suddenly changed, starting in 2020. His latest opera, The Central Park Five, won him a long-overdue Pulitzer Prize for Music, still the ultimate honor for composers. And in November 2023, a revised version of X made it to the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, a production that served as a huge vindication.
Classical Voice North America
By Kyle MacMillan
When the New York City Opera officially premiered Anthony Davis’ first opera, X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, in 1986, the composer garnered considerable attention, and his career appeared poised for a big take-off.
But things quickly stalled. X was not revived in the immediate decades that followed. Though he continued to write more operas, including Amistad, which debuted at Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1997, Davis’ career did not live up to the initial burst of adulation.
Then, everything suddenly changed, starting in 2020. His latest opera, The Central Park Five, won him a long-overdue Pulitzer Prize for Music, still the ultimate honor for composers. And in November 2023, a revised version of X made it to the stage of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, a production that served as a huge vindication.
Read more here.
Photo Credit: Winslow Townson
Classical Voice North America: In A Sunny Vale Where Hemingway Sheltered, Free Concerts Resound
SUN VALLEY, Idaho — A couple of golden eagles wheeling across the sky offered a dramatic welcome during my inaugural visit to the Sun Valley Music Festival. Viewed on the drive into town from nearby Friedman Memorial Airport, these fabled messengers of Zeus complemented the stark majesty of Bald Mountain with their agile flight. The area’s most-prominent Rocky Mountain peak towers 9,150 feet into the heavens and has been beckoning serious ski lovers since the area was first promoted as a winter sport destination — part of a pioneering campaign by Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1930s.
“Baldy” and its less-elevated, ski beginner-friendly sibling Dollar Mountain stand guard over Sun Valley, forming an iconic backdrop to the Pavilion and adjacent lawn where the Sun Valley Music Festival each summer presents nearly a month’s worth of events. The Pavilion is situated alongside another Sun Valley landmark with powerful cultural associations: the storied Sun Valley Lodge, a linchpin in the aforementioned campaign, which has long been an attraction for literary pilgrims.
Classical Voice North America
By Thomas May
SUN VALLEY, Idaho — A couple of golden eagles wheeling across the sky offered a dramatic welcome during my inaugural visit to the Sun Valley Music Festival. Viewed on the drive into town from nearby Friedman Memorial Airport, these fabled messengers of Zeus complemented the stark majesty of Bald Mountain with their agile flight. The area’s most-prominent Rocky Mountain peak towers 9,150 feet into the heavens and has been beckoning serious ski lovers since the area was first promoted as a winter sport destination — part of a pioneering campaign by Union Pacific Railroad in the late 1930s.
“Baldy” and its less-elevated, ski beginner-friendly sibling Dollar Mountain stand guard over Sun Valley, forming an iconic backdrop to the Pavilion and adjacent lawn where the Sun Valley Music Festival each summer presents nearly a month’s worth of events. The Pavilion is situated alongside another Sun Valley landmark with powerful cultural associations: the storied Sun Valley Lodge, a linchpin in the aforementioned campaign, which has long been an attraction for literary pilgrims.
Read more here.
Classical Voice North America: Blazing New Pathways In Washington, Oregon
PERSPECTIVE — A lot of attention has been directed to the out-migration from cities like San Francisco in recent years. This phenomenon is turning out to be more complex than the cliché of “urban exodus” offered by pandemic-related stories. All of that redistributed energy has to flow somewhere — and with it the impetus to improve the cultural institutions of the destination cities.
Like Boise, Vancouver in southwest Washington State presents another striking example of a smaller city that has become a magnet by offering increased affordability along with a less-stressful lifestyle. Vancouver’s leaders want to establish the city’s identity as not just a bedroom community to Portland but a desirable alternative on its own merits.
Vancouver and the surrounding region rank among the fastest-growing areas in the state. This newfound attractiveness is stimulating a fresh sense of promise and ambition for the arts. As the city’s largest performing arts organization, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA has been a presence for decades.
Classical Voice North America
Thomas May
Editor’s Note: This is the second report in a two-part series about regional orchestras in America’s Northwest.
PERSPECTIVE — A lot of attention has been directed to the out-migration from cities like San Francisco in recent years. This phenomenon is turning out to be more complex than the cliché of “urban exodus” offered by pandemic-related stories. All of that redistributed energy has to flow somewhere — and with it the impetus to improve the cultural institutions of the destination cities.
Like Boise, Vancouver in southwest Washington State presents another striking example of a smaller city that has become a magnet by offering increased affordability along with a less-stressful lifestyle. Vancouver’s leaders want to establish the city’s identity as not just a bedroom community to Portland but a desirable alternative on its own merits.
Vancouver and the surrounding region rank among the fastest-growing areas in the state. This newfound attractiveness is stimulating a fresh sense of promise and ambition for the arts. As the city’s largest performing arts organization, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra USA has been a presence for decades.
Read more here.
Classical Voice North America: After Covid, A Renewed Commitment To Music
PERSPECTIVE — The performing arts sector has been in crisis mode for nearly three years. Predictions of doom for classical music’s infrastructure, never in short supply to begin with, spiked to unprecedented levels with the arrival of the pandemic.
There’s even been speculation about how Covid’s long-term disruptions have taken a toll on our personalities, with negative effects hitting the younger generation particularly hard. If these concerns have any validity, how much more difficult will the goal of courting new audiences become?
Yet encouraging signs of revitalization can be found across the spectrum of classical music institutions. The situation with regard to regional orchestras is especially noteworthy, since during the pandemic’s early stages smaller ensembles seemed even more vulnerable than bigger orchestras with sizable endowments.
But the drastic need to rethink priorities has also yielded renewed purpose. “In the midst of these seemingly endless obstacles that come our way, you have a group of musicians who play together with such a sense of community and empathy,” said Eric Garcia about his experience as music director of the Boise Philharmonic.
Classical Voice North America
By Thomas May
Editor’s Note: This is the first installment of a two-part report on the post-pandemic outlook of regional orchestras in America’s Northwest.
PERSPECTIVE — The performing arts sector has been in crisis mode for nearly three years. Predictions of doom for classical music’s infrastructure, never in short supply to begin with, spiked to unprecedented levels with the arrival of the pandemic.
There’s even been speculation about how Covid’s long-term disruptions have taken a toll on our personalities, with negative effects hitting the younger generation particularly hard. If these concerns have any validity, how much more difficult will the goal of courting new audiences become?
Yet encouraging signs of revitalization can be found across the spectrum of classical music institutions. The situation with regard to regional orchestras is especially noteworthy, since during the pandemic’s early stages smaller ensembles seemed even more vulnerable than bigger orchestras with sizable endowments.
But the drastic need to rethink priorities has also yielded renewed purpose. “In the midst of these seemingly endless obstacles that come our way, you have a group of musicians who play together with such a sense of community and empathy,” said Eric Garcia about his experience as music director of the Boise Philharmonic.
Read more here.