Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Trenton

Free Outdoor Concert in Trenton This Saturday

What a Capital idea!

The New Jersey Capital Philharmonic Orchestra will present a free outdoor concert this Saturday at 4 pm. In conjunction with Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, members of the orchestra will appear at the nearby Pavilion at Cadwalader Park. Daniel Spalding will conduct a 29-piece wind ensemble in an all-American program, including works by William Schuman, Richard Rodgers, Leroy Anderson, and John Philip Sousa.

Spalding has been the orchestra’s music director since its founding in 2013. He also directs the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Ensemble. His acclaimed recordings of music by American composers – including Trenton’s own George Antheil – have appeared on the Naxos, New World, Navona, and Vienna Modern Masters labels.

Earlier this week, Spalding was honored by the Trenton Symposium with a Joe Teti Prize for his and the orchestra’s contributions to Trenton. In particular, they were praised for being at the forefront of the careful reintroduction of the city’s cultural life during the coronavirus pandemic.

Accepting the award, Spalding outlined innovations that have kept the orchestra’s artistry accessible. “Maestro Minutes,” on the orchestra’s Facebook page, features recorded pieces with Spalding’s commentary. An ensemble of CPNJ strings has continued to perform indoors with masks and social distancing, while a woodwinds, brass, and percussion group has played at open-air events. In addition, a CPNJ string quartet was featured at Trenton’s Annual Art All Day festival.

Over the summer, Spalding and the orchestra were recorded at the historic 1867 Sanctuary Arts and Culture Center in Ewing. WWFM – The Classical Network will broadcast the recordings and an interview with Spalding, on October 2.

Cadwalader Park is located at West State Street and Parkside Avenue. The orchestra emphasizes that this is an outdoor event, and there will be plenty of room for social distancing. Right now, the weather for Saturday looks to be pleasant, with partly cloudy skies and a high of 78 degrees. However, in the event of rain, the concert will be rescheduled for Sunday at 4 pm. Bring a lawn chair or a blanket, and enjoy some local, live music-making.

For more information, visit capitalphilharmonic.org.

September 23, 2020
Price & Still Overcoming Barriers in Trenton

American composers have always had it tough. And in the golden age of American classical music, composers of color had it especially bad.

Two of them will be featured on an ambitious program to be performed by the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey at Trenton’s Patriots Theater at the War Memorial this Sunday at 4 p.m. Daniel Spalding will conduct Florence Price’s Violin Concerto No. 1, with Samuel Thompson the soloist, and William Grant Still’s Symphony No. 4 “Autochthonous.”

Both Price and Still were limited in some respects because of the color barrier. Even so, it’s amazing – and inspiring – to learn just how far they were able to make it in an era well before the Civil Rights Movement strove in earnest to level the playing field.

Find out more about them, including the story of the miraculous recovery of Price’s concerto from her semi-collapsed house, as recently as 2009 – and the definition of “autochthonous” – in my article in this week’s U.S. 1 Newspaper – PrincetonInfo, out yesterday. I got so busy, I forgot to let everyone know!

https://princetoninfo.com/african-american-composers-shine-in-trenton/

BONUS: Tune in to hear Daniel Spalding chat about the concert with David Osenberg this afternoon at 4 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

February 21, 2019
Visa Issues Sideline Soprano at Trenton Concert

Obtaining a performing arts visa is a long and drawn out process. A few days ago, I shared a link to an article I wrote about Eric Houghton’s “Pioneer Songs,” which will be performed by the Westminster Community Orchestra, the Westminster Community Chorus, and the Glassbrook Vocal Ensemble, at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton on November 10. I only received word yesterday that famed coloratura soprano Carla Maffioletti, formerly of André Rieu’s Johann Strauss Orchestra, will not be appearing on the program due to visa issues.

Maffioletti is also scheduled to appear at the War Memorial with the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey on two programs, both also at the War Memorial, on December 28 (a recital with chamber orchestra in the intimate George Washington Ballroom) and December 31 (a New Year’s Eve celebration with full orchestra in Patriots Theater). It is hoped that on those occasions everything will proceed as planned.

The article appeared on November 1 in the Trenton Downtowner. An extended version (which you probably won’t be surprised to hear, given the source, had to be edited for inclusion in the Downtowner due to its extreme length) will run in this upcoming week’s U.S. 1 Newspaper – PrincetonInfo, out on Wednesday. I am sharing the Downtowner piece again, minus the Maffioletti info, below.

https://communitynews.org/2018/10/31/upcoming-musical-pioneer-songs-tells-the-story-of-american-pioneers/

November 3, 2018
Pioneer Songs A Musical Journey West

Once they left, they were really gone for good. There were no smartphones. No Starbuck’s. No 7-Elevens. Unknown perils, punishing weather, and sudden illness were facts of daily life. Provisions may have run short, but through determination, grit, and the efforts of a tight-knit community, they were able to get by.

Their story is told in “Pioneer Songs,” Eric Houghton’s epic meditation on the courage and resilience of those Americans who blazed the western frontier. The historical oratorio will be presented at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton on November 10 at 7:30 p.m. Houghton’s cycle of fifteen symphonic songs, for vocal soloists, choir, and narrator, celebrates the first successful passage of wagon trains to California in the 1840s.

The concert will feature guest soprano Carla Maffioletti, who achieved fame through her association with André Rieu and his wildly popular Johann Strauss Orchestra. Other soloists will include soprano Kathee Zenn and mezzo-soprano Miranda Landers-Smith, both graduates of Westminster Choir College, lyric tenor Jeremy Blossey, and bass-baritone Martin Hargrove. Nancy Froysland-Hoerl will narrate the perils and triumphs of the pioneers.

The Westminster Community Orchestra will be joined by a hundred voice choir, made up of the Westminster Community Chorus, prepared by Sinhaeng Lee, and the Ewing-based Glassbrook Vocal Ensemble, directed by Chaequan Anderson. The joint forces will be conducted by Ruth Ochs.

Houghton, a resident of Ewing, has been on the faculty of Westminster Conservatory of Music for 34 years. Ochs is in her thirteenth year as conductor of the Westminster Community Orchestra.

Learn more about this free concert in my article in this month’s Trenton Downtowner, out today.

https://communitynews.org/2018/10/31/upcoming-musical-pioneer-songs-tells-the-story-of-american-pioneers/

November 1, 2018
George Antheil Trenton’s Bad Boy of Music

Presumably because of the snow yesterday, it’s only been posted today that my article on George Antheil, Trenton’s self-proclaimed “Bad Boy of Music,” is in this week’s issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper – PrincetonInfo. This is the same article that appears in this month’s Trenton Downtowner.

http://princetoninfo.com/index.php/component/us1more/?Itemid=6&key=3-7-18antheil

Antheil’s “Jazz Symphony” will be presented by the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey on a program devoted to classical music of “The Jazz Age,” which will also include works by Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, and Kurt Weill. The concert will take place on Saturday at the Trenton War Memorial’s George Washington Ballroom.

Sylvia Beach spots Antheil as he eschews the stairs en route to his Paris apartment, located above the legendary Shakespeare and Company

March 8, 2018

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