Program

Project 305
Premiere and Celebration

In January 2017 Miami residents were invited to share their impressions of and emotions for Miami by submitting audio and video clips to the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), as part of Project 305. Those submissions were used to compose an orchestral work and partner film reflective of the city as seen through the eyes of its people.

The collaborative project—a partnership between the New World Symphony, MIT Media Lab, Miami-Dade County and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—invited all of Miami’s communities and cultures to work alongside composer Ted Hearne and filmmaker Jonathan David Kane through community events, workshops and gatherings from January 31 to May 12, 2017. Mr. Hearne and Mr. Kane worked with NWS artistic director and co-founder Michael Tilson Thomas, who helped guide the overall artistic direction of the work.

The resulting work of music and film, Miami in Movements, is being premiered tonight at the New World Center, with subsequent presentations in communities and neighborhoods planned throughout Miami. Tonight’s performance is simultaneously being viewed outside as a WALLCAST® concert in SoundScape Park, and online by audiences around the world via Facebook Live.

In addition, premiering tonight are immersive 360-degree videos that will transport the viewer to eight distinct Miami neighborhoods, which will contribute to the viewer’s understanding of our various communities and enhance the viewer’s appreciation of Miami in Movements. These videos will be experienced firsthand by audiences attending the premiere, but may also be viewed on the project website at www.Project305.org.

The media release and call for submissions for Project 305 were originally released in three languages—English, Spanish and Haitian Creole—the three most commonly spoken languages in Miami. These notes and other program materials from this evening’s event can be found in all three languages online at www.Project305.org.

-Victoria Rogers, VP/Arts at Knight Foundation

CARNIVAL CORPORATION IS THE PREMIER SPONSOR OF THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY. NWS CONCERTS ARE PRESENTED WITH THE SUPPORT OF THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS AND THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS COUNCIL, THE MIAMI-DADE COUNTY MAYOR AND BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS. NWS NEW MEDIA ARE PRESENTED BY KNIGHT FOUNDATION. NWS WALLCAST™ CONCERTS ARE PRESENTED BY CITI. HITACHI IS A TECHNOLOGY PARTNER OF THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY. YAMAHA IS THE OFFICIAL PIANO OF THE NEW WORLD SYMPHONY. Pianos are generously provided by Piano Music Center. Concerts are recorded for archival and possible broadcast purposes. Your cooperation in maintaining a quiet listening environment is appreciated. Photography and recording are not permitted. All dates, times, programs, prices and artists are subject to change.

Program Notes

GEORGE GERSHWIN

Cuban Overture (1932)

Approximate duration: 6 minutes

George Gershwin was 11 when his family first brought a piano into their apartment. Four years later, after some lessons in classical repertoire including Chopin and Debussy, Gershwin dropped out of high school and found work as a “song plugger” on Tin Pan Alley, New York’s row of music publishing firms. His breakthrough came in 1919, when the influential performer Al Jolson added the song “Swanee” to a revue; Jolson’s recording sold millions of copies and put Gershwin on the map as a top songwriter.

While Broadway (and, eventually, Hollywood) made Gershwin rich and famous, he still aspired to create serious concert music. Gershwin’s earliest efforts could hardly have been more successful—they included Rhapsody in Blue (1924), the Piano Concerto in F (1925) and An American in Paris (1928)—but he decided to seek guidance anyway from a Russian composer and teacher in New York, Joseph Schillinger.

The first score Gershwin prepared under Schillinger’s supervision was a concert overture inspired by a recent vacation to Cuba. The work debuted under the title Rumba on August 16, 1932, in front of a stadium audience of more than 17,000 New Yorkers. Gershwin later changed the title to Cuban Overture, which he thought offered “a more just idea of the character and intent of the music.” He brought home an arsenal of Cuban percussion from his trip, including claves, bongos and maracas, which all figure prominently in the raucous outer sections. The five-note pattern played by what Gershwin called “Cuban sticks” is an authentic clave rhythm, one which he would have heard many times in his nights out in Havana.

— Copyright © 2017 Aaron Grad

Aaron Grad is a composer, guitarist and writer based in Seattle. Besides providing program notes for the New World Symphony, he has been the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra’s program annotator since 2005 and also contributes notes to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Seattle Symphony.

We are one Miami

Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas is Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy, where he continues his role as educator in mentoring the next generation of musicians. He is also Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and maintains an active presence guest conducting with the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.

Mr. Tilson Thomas began his formal studies at the University of Southern California where he studied piano with John Crown and conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl. At age 19 he was named Music Director of the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra. He worked with Stravinsky, Boulez, Stockhausen and Copland on premieres of their compositions at Los Angeles’ Monday Evening Concerts. During this same period he was the pianist and conductor for Gregor Piatigorsky and Jascha Heifetz.

In 1969 Mr. Tilson Thomas won the Koussevitzky Prize and was appointed Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony. He went on to become the BSO’s Associate Conductor, then Principal Guest Conductor where he remained until 1974.

Mr. Tilson Thomas’ extensive television work includes a series with the London Symphony Orchestra for BBC Television, the television broadcasts of the New York Philharmonic Young People’s Concerts from 1971 to 1977 and numerous productions on PBS Great Performances. In 2004 Mr. Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony embarked on a multi-tiered media project—Keeping Score—which includes television, web sites, radio programs and programs in the schools, all designed to make classical music more accessible to a new audience.

Among his many honors and awards, Mr. Tilson Thomas is a Chevalier dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, was Musical America’s Musician of the Year and Conductor of the Year, Gramophone Magazine’s Artist of the Year and has been profiled on CBS’s 60 Minutes and ABC’s Nightline. He has won 11 Grammy Awards for his recordings. In 2008 he received the Peabody Award for his radio series for SFS Media, The MTT Files. In 2010 he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in a ceremony in the White House.

Picadillo

Picadillo is a Latin alternative music group that fuses vintage Cuban music, guaracha and son with rock, blues and elements of New Orleans jazz. The band was formed in Madrid by Cuban musicians Héctor Agüero Lauten, Rey Rodríguez, José González and Sol Ruiz. Its first album, Las Cosas de la Vida, led the band to sign with Warner Chappell Publishing and to performing internationally in Cuba, the U.S., Canada and Europe.

The band’s two lead singers, Ms. Ruiz and Mr. Rodriguez, mention Dr. John, Benny Moré and Billie Holiday as their influences. Mr. Rodriguez was born in Cuba, while Ms. Ruiz—born in Miami to Cuban parents—lived in New Orleans for several years.

The band’s name (pronounced peeka-deeyo) was inspired by a Latin-American dish that mixes many flavorful ingredients, reflecting the way in which the band blends different styles of music.

Picadillo’s sophomore album, released in 2016, is entitled El Manicomio and features rare traditional instruments such as the tres, the marimbula and the órgano oriental.

Barry Bucaneiros

The Barry Bucaneiros are an explosive, carioca-style, student-based bloco modeled after those found in Rio de Janeiro. Founded at Barry University in 2013, the group uses the traditional instrumentation of an escola de samba, but in a more compact format. Blocos, like the Bucaneiros, can vary in size from five to 50 drummers, but unlike their larger escola de samba counterparts (which may have upwards of 350 drummers per group) a bloco is not obligated to stick to the escola’s thematic anthem, or enredo, and as such is a fertile setting for musical experimentation.

The group’s director, Brian Potts, is both a Miami resident and an active member of the Rio de Janeiro musical community. The inspiration for the Bucaneiros is a result of his close collaboration with Gabriel Policarpo, with whom he founded PRD Mais, a supergroup of up-and-coming percussionists living in Rio de Janeiro. Their new album Rittenhouse will soon be released on Snarky Puppy’s label, GroundUP Music. In addition to this work, Mr. Policarpo also runs a student-based bloco called Batuquebato, in which he uses the traditional samba school instrumentation to play not only samba, but a wide variety of grooves from both the Afro-Brazilian lexicon and various styles from around the world.

Like Batuquebato, the Bucaneiros’ performances are unscripted and guided by the director’s musical taste and command of a vocabulary of drum calls and hand signals developed and refined in rehearsals. There is no sheet music—all of the music you hear was developed and arranged by the group. The students reflect Barry University’s diverse population and bring with them influences and styles that become fodder for the group’s act, so while the ensemble’s roots are based in samba, they also play forró, maracatu, calypso, hip-hop, North Mississippi drum and fife—and whatever else makes people dance!

Gospel Choir

Tonight’s choir consists of members of Miami Temple Seventh-day Adventist Church, Church of the Open Door and students from Florida Memorial University, whose vocal program specializes in the oral musical traditions of the African Diaspora. Leading the choir is Dr. Nelson Hall, a Cuban native and University of Miami graduate, who serves as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of the Church Music Program at Florida Memorial University, and Music Minister of Church of the Open Door.

Dr. Hall’s continuing commitment to the music of the African Diaspora is a distinguishing point in his career. He has established a deep connection with African-American and Latin composers, and counts among his profound musical inspirations musicians such as conductor and composer Maestro Alfredo Munar and internationally acclaimed choral conductors Dr. Lee Kjelson and Dr. André Thomas.

Ted Hearne

Ted Hearne is a composer, singer and bandleader noted for his “pan-stylistic freedom” (Pitchfork), “wildness of spirit” and “fresh and muscular” music (The New York Times), who “writes with such technical assurance and imaginative scope” (San Francisco Chronicle).

The New York Times included Mr. Hearne’s oratorio The Source on its list of the best classical vocal performances of 2014 and (along with The New Yorker and The Nation) the best albums of 2015. Alex Ross wrote in The New Yorker that “Hearne’s piece holds up as a complex mirror image of an information-saturated, mass-surveillance

world and remains staggering in its impact.” Pitchfork called The Source “some of the most expressive socially engaged music in recent memory—from any genre.” Law of Mosaics, Mr. Hearne’s 30-minute piece for string orchestra, was recently performed by the Chicago Symphony and San Francisco Symphony, and the recording of it was named by The New Yorker’s Alex Ross as one of the most notable albums of 2014. His newest album, Sound from the Bench, featuring Philadelphia’s acclaimed choir The Crossing and released this year on Cantaloupe Music, was praised in The New Yorker: “Hearne has forged a fierce and timely grace.”

Mr. Hearne performs with Philip White as the vocal-electronics duo R WE WHO R WE and belongs to the composer collective Sleeping Giant. His recent collaborations have paired him with legendary musician Erykah Badu. He is an active recording artist and his albums Katrina Ballads, The Source and Outlanders are available on New Amsterdam Records.

Mr. Hearne is the recipient of the Gaudeamus Prize and the New Voices Residency from Boosey & Hawkes. He recently joined the composition faculty at the University of Southern California. Recent and upcoming works include commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, eighth blackbird, A Far Cry, Ensemble Dal Niente, Roomful of Teeth and an evening-length work written in collaboration with poet/performer Saul Williams for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. For more information, visit www.tedhearne.com.

We are one Miami

New World Symphony

The New World Symphony, America’s Orchestral Academy (NWS), prepares graduates of distinguished music programs for leadership roles in professional orchestras and ensembles. In the 30 years since its cofounding by Artistic Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and Lin and Ted Arison, NWS has helped launch the careers of more than 1,150 alumni worldwide.

A laboratory for the way music is taught, presented, and experienced, the New World Symphony consists of 87 young musicians who are granted fellowships lasting up to three years. The fellowship program offers in-depth exposure to traditional and modern repertoire, professional development training, and personalized experiences working with leading guest conductors, soloists, and visiting faculty. Relationships with these artists are extended through NWS’s extensive distance learning via the internet.

NWS Fellows take advantage of the innovative performance facilities and state-of-the art practice and rehearsal rooms of the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center, the campus of the New World Symphony.

In the hope of joining NWS, more than 1,500 recent music school and conservatory graduates compete for about 35 available fellowships each year. The Fellows are selected for this highly competitive, prestigious opportunity based on their ability and their passion for the future of classical music.

Knight Foundation

Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. It invests in journalism, in the arts and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Its goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which they believe are essential for a healthy democracy.

Through previous partnerships with the New World Symphony, Knight Foundation has been instrumental in the development of innovative programming such as WALLCAST® concerts, Pulse: Late Night at the New World Symphony, the annual Network Performing Arts Production Workshops and video commissions and presentations at the New World Center.

MIT Media Lab and Tod Machover

Actively promoting a unique, interdisciplinary culture, the MIT Media Lab goes beyond known boundaries and disciplines, encouraging the most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas. It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges, pioneering such areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces and affective computing. Today, faculty members, research staff and students at the Lab work in 25 research groups on more

than 350 projects that aim to radically improve the way people live, learn, express themselves, work and play. In this spirit, future-obsessed roboticists, nanotechnologists, biologists, neuroscientists, data-visualization experts, industry researchers, pioneers of computer interfaces and artist-designer activists work side by side to tirelessly invent—and reinvent—how humans experience, and can be aided by, technology, and to make sure that developments are deployed throughout the world for maximum benefit to individuals and societies.

Tod Machover is Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media and director of the Media Lab’s Opera of the Future group. Called a “musical visionary” by The New York Times and “America’s most wired composer” by The Los Angeles Times, Mr. Machover is an influential composer and inventor, praised for creating music that breaks traditional artistic and cultural boundaries and for developing technologies that expand music’s potential for everyone, from celebrated virtuosi to musicians of all abilities. Mr. Machover studied with Elliott Carter and Roger Sessions at The Juilliard School and was the first Director of Musical Research at Pierre Boulez’s IRCAM in Paris. Since 2006 he has been Visiting Professor of Composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Mr. Machover is widely recognized for designing new technologies for music performance and creation, such as Hyperinstruments, “smart” performance systems that extend expression for virtuosi, from Yo-Yo Ma to Prince, as well as for the general public. The popular videogames Guitar Hero and Rock Band grew out of Mr. Machover’s group at the Media Lab. His Hyperscore software—which allows anyone to compose original music using lines and colors—has enabled children around the world to have their music performed by major orchestras, chamber music ensembles and rock bands. Mr. Machover is also deeply involved in developing musical technologies and concepts for medical and wellbeing contexts, helping to diagnose conditions, such as Alzheimer’s disease, or allowing people with cerebral palsy to communicate through music.