February 19, 2021
Take a journey backstage to see what goes into producing your Charlotte Symphony's virtual
Classical Series Reimagined. From the musicians and conductors to stagehands and video producers the work of many hands comes together to create the concerts that stream directly to your living room.
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As concert-time draws near, Charlotte Symphony musicians and staff enter the Knight Theater through the stage door in staggered 15 minute intervals ensuring that only small groups are entering at any given time.
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A check-in kiosk is located right inside the door with a symptom checker and touchless thermometer, along with ample sanitizing wipes! Musicians are tested for COVID-19 each week the day before rehearsals begin.
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Meanwhile, in the wings of the theater, stagehand Mark Show uses a special UV light wand to sanitize chairs, stands, and sheet music.
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After checking in, musicians make their way backstage to pick up music for their next concert. Music Library staff use disposable gloves to package the music into envelopes. Those envelopes are then quarantined in music trunks for 3 days.
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After collecting their music, musicians make their way past the video production area and through a large set of doors to the stage, where chairs and stands are placed a safe 6 feet apart.
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Backstage, Resident Conductor Christopher James Lees checks in with some of the team behind the recording and production of the CSO's virtual concerts - (from left to right) Director of Operations Sara Gibson, Vice President of Operation & General Manager John Clapp, and CSO Third Horn/video producer Bob Rydel.
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John Clapp watches over the stage as musicians warm-up. Everyone is required to wear a mask at all times - the only exception is for wind/brass players once they are seated and ready to play.
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The production team is making final adjustments as Bob Rydel and John Clapp monitor the various camera angles and prepare to stream the video feed live to YouTube.
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The strings are all warmed up and await their Maestro.
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As the concert begins, Sara Gibson is keeping an eye on the livestream and the score, preparing to call a light cue that shows the conductor when the microphone is ready for his speaking portion.
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When everything comes together, ticketholders are able to safely enjoy the concert, streamed live, from the best seat in their own houses.
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Explore the Classical Series Reimagined!
Posted in Classics. Tagged as Classical, Virtual Concerts.
February 17, 2021
We couldn't be prouder of Kaleb, Shreya, and Micah, who join our Director of Youth Orchestra Programs Aram Kim Bryan in representing the Charlotte Symphony's
Project Harmony at the
2021 El Sistema USA National Symposium and Seminario. This year's theme is "Connect, Adapt, Thrive!" with a focus on racial diversity and cultural understanding, musical excellence during the pandemic, and team and family support pre- and post-pandemic.
Kaleb, Shreya, and Micah performed the premiere of "What We Will Be," a work composed by Danielle Williams of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's OrchKids, as part of the 2021 ESUSA National Seminario Orchestra. Along with her PRESTO (Program for Rising El Sistema Organizations) Cohort members, Aram Kim Bryan will present on the core values of El Sistema, USA.
From left to right: Shreya, Micah, & Kaleb
A powerful after-school intensive program serving families who face challenges and seek to provide greater opportunities for their children, Project Harmony provides free instruments, ensemble music training, and homework help to Charlotte area students. Together with our project partner,
Arts+, the CSO serves more than 200 Charlotte area students.
Project Harmony is inspired by the revolutionary music-for-social-change organization, El Sistema, which began in Venezuela in 1975. There are more than 100 El Sistema USA member organizations and programs throughout the United States. The CSO is one of only five in the state of North Carolina, and Project Harmony is the only affiliated program in the Charlotte region.
Charlotte Symphony
Charlotte Symphony
Posted in Education & Community. Tagged as community, Education, Project Harmony.
February 1, 2021
Photo credit: Jiyang Chen
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A composer, violinist, and educator, Jessie Montgomery's music melds the classical tradition with elements of folk music, spirituals, improvisation, language, and social justice. As a rising star in today's classical music scene Jessie has made a name for herself composing works that have been described as "turbulent, wildly colorful and exploding with life" (The Washington Post).
Jessie was born and raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side in the 1980s during a time when the neighborhood was at a major turning point in its history. Artists gravitated to the hotbed of artistic experimentation and community development. |
Her parents - her father a musician, her mother a theater artist and storyteller - were engaged in the activities of the neighborhood and regularly brought Jessie to rallies, performances, and parties where neighbors, activists, and artists gathered to celebrate and support the movements of the time. It is from this unique experience that Jessie has created a life that merges composing, performance, education, and advocacy.
Through her music, Montgomery often explores the theme of what it means to be an American (especially a Black woman in America), her heritage, and what her parents have experienced in this country.
"My privilege [to be able to compose and make art] comes from my parents having fought through the civil rights movement," Montgomery said in a 2016
interview with New Music USA. "My mom was very active, actually, and she was in many of the protests, and my dad, just being a rogue artist, that's an act of protest in itself - but it's just this idea that I came from that period, the political changes that happened during that time, so that's what it means to me, to be an American."
Montgomery's work,
Starburst, was commissioned by the
Sphinx Organization and premiered by its resident Sphinx Virtuosi in 2012. Montgomery writes:
"This brief one-movement work for string orchestra is a play on imagery of rapidly changing musical colors. Exploding gestures are juxtaposed with gentle fleeting melodies in an attempt to create a multidimensional soundscape. A common definition of a starburst, 'the rapid formation of large numbers of new stars in a galaxy at a rate high enough to alter the structure of the galaxy significantly,' lends itself almost literally to the nature of the performing ensemble that premiered the work, the Sphinx Virtuosi, and I wrote the piece with their dynamic in mind."
Hear Jessie Montgomery's Starburst performed by your Charlotte Symphony - streamed live from the Knight Theater on Saturday, Feb. 6 at 7:30 pm (watch through Feb. 13). >> Details
Posted in Classics. Tagged as Black composers, composer.
