Social Listening with Anna - Week 1 - The "Others"

Week 1 – Social Listening with Anna!

The "Others"

It has been an honor to conduct amazing live performances that feature the musical imaginations of composers. These compositions offer aural descriptions of beauty, wonder, despair, euphoria, excitement, melancholy, and hope…. The list is as vast as our diverse human emotions.

My music education has been driven by predominantly Western European white men. I have had a terrific education and many standard compositions have impacted my views and have propelled me forward in my musical path. As a young violinist, music of Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn, and Dmitri Shostakovich fed my voracious desire to learn. As a young orchestral musician, the music of Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Faure, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky touched my emotional core and offered a view into musical transcendence. Aaron Copland, Bela Bartok, Ralph Vaughn Williams, Peter Maxwell Davies, and Sergei Prokofiev offered views into personal and community history. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Ludwig von Beethoven, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Richard Wagner brought the idea of genius through both musical simplicity and complexity.

As my career has shifted towards conductor and educator, I crave a broader reaching musical vantage point. My musical lens shifted from what was expected and known towards the voice of the “Other.” This voice spurs me to find music that fills my soul with music that many of us have yet to hear. My quest provides hope that the voice of the “Others” will be heard.

I hope you will join me.

Social Listening with Anna - Week 1

An unexpected benefit from all of this COVID-19 social distancing has been time. It has been years since I have allowed myself the luxury to reminisce, enjoy, and create. One project strongly on my mind is to offer ideas for musical programs with fantastic composers. This week, I began a listening list of composers that lists three compositions to offer a glimpse of their work. I hope you will enjoy. Stay healthy!!

Maria Newman

• Violin Concerto (Lux Aeterna) in A major, op. 38 No. 7 with the fabulous Carrie Rehkopf on solo violin

• Brass Chorales

• Concerto Grosso in C minor, Op. 34, No. 4: 1 Feroce maestoso - Allegro

Leanna Primiani

• 1001 for Orchestra and Prerecorded Electronics (performed by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra and Saratoga Orchestra)

• Malaise Main title for Yakuza Princess

• “Blurred” – ANASIA’s (moniker aka Leanna Primiani)

Angelique Poteat

• Spring Grove (performed by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra 2013)

• Much Difference (performed by Seattle Symphony musicians - World Premiere 2014)

• Listen to the Girls (performed by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra and the Northwest Girlchoir - World Premiere 2015)

For more information on Angelique, please check out her website here:

https://angeliquepoteat.com/

Hanna Benn

• Sankofa (performed by the Seattle Collaborative Orchestra 2018)

• Where Springs Not Fail

• Window

For more information on Hanna, please check out her website here:https://hannabenn.com/

Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677)

• "Che si può fare," – Mariana Flores, soprano

• Sino alla morte – Roberta Invernizzi, soprano

• L’amante modesto – Cappella Mediterranea

Ruth Gipps – 1921 - 1999

• Symphony No. 2 (1945)

• Horn Concerto, op. 58

• Piano Concerto in G Minor, Op. 34