I’ve been trying to finish up production on one of my radio shows today, so I haven’t had time to post about Juneteenth. Not that I feel it’s necessarily my place to do so anyway. Looking over what I posted about it last year, I find my thoughts are pretty much the same. I wish everyone who celebrates the very best, but I don’t want to come across as that silly white man who inadvertently crashes a private party. There are already plenty of other ethnic holidays for white people to behave foolishly. I do, however, feel qualified to offer a few links to music by Black composers, which I do with the best intentions. See the bottom of last year’s post. The quality of the music has not changed. It doesn’t matter what color you are in the creation or acknowledgment of beauty. Beautiful music is a gift to everyone, and gratitude is a beautiful thing. Happy Juneteenth to those who celebrate.
Tag: Juneteenth
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Juneteenth, Classical Music, and Cultural Change
Is Juneteenth poised to become the next Mardi Gras/St. Patrick’s Day/Cinco de Mayo? Well, at least it’s not a drinking holiday yet.
While I venture to guess it’s still all fairly new to most white folks (I was probably ahead of the curve, thanks to Ralph Ellison’s novel, “Juneteenth,” finally published in full, posthumously, in 1999), I can’t say its wider dissemination is altogether a bad thing. For classical music lovers, especially, there has been so much to discover – and yes, to celebrate – as the result of sweeping cultural changes and broader awareness over the past few years, and by no means restricted to June 19.
Some may roll their eyes at all the “over-exposure” of Florence Price, but come on, admit it, isn’t it a little invigorating to hear some American music other than the same old Gershwin and Copland? In the interest of full disclosure, I offer this as someone for whom Copland is probably one of my favorite composers. So much Black classical music, if it was known at all, was almost never heard, unless it was on that one, scrappily-played, often out-of-print and hard-to-find recording. For how many years was I hungry to hear the complete symphonies of William Grant Still? Now they’re getting played – in concert, no less!
For those of you tiring of George Walker’s “Lyric for Strings” (and how could you?), look at it as a corrective. At some point, the pendulum will swing back, and ideally this belated inundation of Black music will lead to the best of it taking its place in the active repertoire. It can’t happen unless people know it’s out there and are exposed to it.
I look forward to the day that we’ll be past the point of anyone grousing about quotas or “woke” or any of that nonsense. People are ridiculous creatures. It’s easy to deride and it’s tempting to mock – believe me, I can be as cynical as anyone, and in all things – but really, there are many sincere concert programmers out there who are just trying to do the best that they can. For anyone who happens merely to be paying lip-service to the zeitgeist, I’m sure there are many more who want to do the right thing.
For those for whom the holiday has always meant something (June 19 is the date in 1865 on which the federal enforcement of the Emancipation Proclamation guaranteed freedom to enslaved peoples in all Confederate states following the Civil War), I can imagine how, after a while, it could all get to be a little much for them, too. The more popular it becomes, the more corporate or Disneyfied it risks becoming. How long before Juneteenth is ruined by the Man?
Anyway, celebrate responsibly, everyone, and remember – keep the Juneteenth in Juneteenth!
Florence Price, “Juba” from the Symphony No. 1
George Walker, “Lyric for Strings”
William Grant Still, “Serenade”
Adolphus Hailstork, “Celebration!” (composed for the U.S. Bicentennial)
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Princeton Festival Highlights & Juneteenth Celebration
Are we having fun yet?
I hope you’ve managed to catch some of the live performances at this year’s The Princeton Festival.
So far, we’ve had opportunities to enjoy chamber and instrumental music, contemporary dance, an Aretha Franklin tribute, musical theater/improv (built around audience suggestions, yielding “Love Under the Washington Crossing Monument” ), and of course opera. This year, it’s Rossini’s lighthearted romp, “The Barber of Seville.”
The Princeton Festival enters its final week with an observance of Juneteenth. Grammy Award-winning Metropolitan Opera baritone Will Liverman will present a recital of songs by Black composers, with Kevin Miller at the piano – among them, works by Damien Sneed, Margaret Bonds, and Florence Price. Also featured will be a selection from Terence Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up in My Bones,” with which Liverman opened the Met’s 2021-22 season. This fall, Liverman will star in the Met production of Anthony Davis’ “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.”
Liverman’s recital will crown a day of Juneteenth-related events, including a flag-raising hosted by the Municipality of Princeton at 1 Monument Hall, at noon.
At 2:00, a talk by Arts Against Racism founder Rhinold Lamar Ponder will open a free exhibition, “Beyond Freedom,” at Morven Museum & Garden’s Stockton Education Center, located behind the Morven mansion at 55 Stockton Street (Route 206).
Of course, Morven is the nucleus of the Princeton Festival, the premier summer arts program of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, with most of the events held under a massive, state-of-the-art performance pavilion erected on the premises. Arrive early to avail yourself of refreshments, the grounds’ ample picnicking opportunities, a garden stroll, or the simple enjoyment of a late-spring/early-summer evening.
Yet to come: the final madcap performance of “The Barber of Seville” (tomorrow), a “Mazel Tov Cocktail Party” with klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer and friends (Wednesday); Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” performed by The Sebastians (Thursday, across the street at Trinity Church, Princeton); Andrew Lippa’s musical theater oratorio “I Am Harvey Milk” (Friday & Saturday); and a vaudeville-inspired family concert including “Peter and the Wolf” with Michael Boudewyns of Really Inventive Stuff (Sunday).
All performances begin at 7:00 p.m., EXCEPT the family concert, which will take place on Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Kid-friendly activities will be offered on the grounds prior to the last event.
On Friday at 4:00 p.m., acclaimed Broadway composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa (“Big Fish,” “The Addams Family”) will speak with young musicians about his process of writing the musical “I Am Harvey Milk” and the tools artists have at their disposal to create social change. The workshop, to be held at Morven’s Stockton Education Center, is free and open to the public.
The Princeton Festival continues through June 25. For complete listings and ticket information, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival.
Will Liverman’s opera, “The Factotum,” given its premiere in February, is now available for streaming at the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s website.
https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2022-23/the-factotum-film/
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