ABJ Talks Akron Symphony’s 60th!
July 22, 2011
The Akron Beacon Journal’s Kerry Clawson talks to Maestro Christopher Wilkins about the ASO’s 60th Anniversary season in 2011-12.
Music director Christopher Wilkins said the season is about collaboration and highlighting musicians of all ages, types and backgrounds.
“We wanted to continue the energy of some of our community collaborations,” such as last season’s groundbreaking opera performance Porgy and Bess, he said.
“What characterizes the 60th anniversary in particular is a desire to showcase talent of all kinds throughout Akron, some of it an acknowledgment of our own legacy.”
Read the full article here.
Ayers Wins “American Prize”
June 2, 2011
Composer Jesse Ayers has won The American Prize in Composition (Orchestral Division) 2011 for The Passion of John Brown, commissioned by the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Wilkins, music director. The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit, national competitions unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the very best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on recorded performances. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts. Complete information on the website: www.theamericanprize.org
Wilkins To Lead BLO In Boston!
May 3, 2011
Akron Symphony Music Director Christopher Wilkins has added one more to his already impressive list of orchestras he currently leads. Apart from his post at the ASO, Maestro Wilkins is also the Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic and was just recently appointed Music Director of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra.
“We are thrilled that Chris said yes. We believe he will further the vision of our founder, Charles Ansbacher, who died last year, to break down the barriers for people to experience the thrill of hearing great orchestral music by providing free concerts at our home at the DCR’s Hatch Shell and in the community.”
- Jeff Makholm, Chair of the BLO
Congratulations, Christopher! Read the full press release issued last week by the BLO here.
CC.com Hails Porgy and Bess as “Highly Polished, Professional Production”
April 27, 2011
ClevelandClassical.com weighs in with their review of the ASO’s Saturday performance of Porgy and Bess.
All vocally vibrant, the four leads invested their somewhat cardboard characters with real personality. As Bess, Marquita Lister was an imposing physical and vocal presence (especially in her red dress). Alvy Lister convincingly dragged a useless leg around for nearly two hours while singing with power and resonance. Crown became the embodiment of evil in the hands of Lester Lynch, but he sang magnificenty in the role of the principal cad. Angela Renee Simpson was in splendid voice, contributing astral high notes of compelling beauty that sailed over the whole ensemble, while creating a sympathetic and pious Serena. And it’s difficult to believe that Akron native Emmanuel LeGrair was making his mainstage debut: in a masterful performance, he made his character, the drug-dealing Sportin’ Life, into a likeable sleazebag, and sounded wonderful in It ain’t necessarily so.
Read the entire review here.
Porgy “A Rare Treat” Says ABJ’s Clawson!
April 18, 2011
The Beacon Journal’s Kerry Clawson posts her review of the ASO’s opening night performance of Porgy and Bess, calling the massive production “history in the making,” “magic,” and “a rare treat.”
Seeing the Akron Symphony Orchestra’s opening night of the folk opera Porgy and Bess was a rare treat that felt like history in the making Friday at E.J. Thomas Hall.
The massive, two-night production, which included 250 singers, musicians and crew members, was a glorious presentation of George Gershwin’s masterpiece, seamlessly melding local and out-of-town talent to create the both beautiful and devastating world of the folks from Catfish Row.
Read the full review here.
CC.com Counts Down To Porgy
April 7, 2011
ClevelandClassical.com has released the first two in a planned seven-part series of interviews with the key artistic figures behind the Akron Symphony’s upcoming production of Porgy and Bess. Interviews with Music Director Christopher Wilkins and Marquita Lister (Bess) were published on Tuesday and Wednesday. Look for an interview with our Porgy, Alvy Powell, to be posted later today and keep checking ClevelandClassical.com as they help count down the days until Porgy and Bess is unleashed on Akron in all its epic glory!
MT: There are so many versions of the opera; are you using one of those, or have you created your own?
CW: That is a very interesting question, because there are many versions, and then there’s the complete opera the way Gershwin wrote it. Then there is the whole question of cuts, including the relatively recent hot question; can we talk about authentic Gershwin cuts?
But before we get into that, it is quite interesting to read about the history of productions, and how one of the problems with Porgy and Bess was thought to be that it didn’t succeed as an opera. So we’re going all the way back to the 1930’s when many said; yes, there is some great music in here, but as an opera it is a failure. There were various attempts to “correct” the failings of Porgy and Bess as opera. One of the people who figures very prominently in that history is from Akron, Cheryl Crawford.
Read the entire interview with Maestro Wilkins here. The interview with Marquita Lister can be found here.
Watch for further articles on ClevelandClassical.com:
Thursday April 7: Alvy Powell – Porgy
Friday April 8: Lester Lynch – Crown
Saturday April 9: Angela Renee Simpson – Serena
Sunday April 10: Frank McClain – Stage Director
Monday April 11: Levi Hammer – Chorus Master
Tuesday April 12: Porgy and Bess: Then and Now
WKSU: Bringing Opera Back To Northeast Ohio
March 24, 2011
WKSU features Akron Symphony’s Porgy and Bess as part of their coverage of the state of grand opera in northeast Ohio. Listen here.
This week the Cleveland Orchestra presents Mozart’s Don Giovanni at Severance Hall, but grand opera, with all the sets, costumes, and spectacle it entails, has been missing in the region since Opera Cleveland went silent for the season. A task force is working to bring it back. Meanwhile opera fans have HD opera in movie theaters and the offerings of music conservatories, orchestras, and smaller opera companies.
Jennifer Jones On Gospel Meets Symphony 2011
February 2, 2011
Mike Telin at ClevelandClassical.com talks with Gospel Meets Symphony chorus master Jennifer Mekel Jones about this Saturday’s 18th annual GMS performance…
Musically I have tried to make sure that we not only include repertoire from the past but also some of the present. I try to keep an eye out for what is currently happening in the gospel music field, and try to be sure that is brought to the discussion table. I think that Maestro Wilkins has a knack for choosing some of the most beautiful classical pieces for chorus that I have heard. He really knows how to couple the classical with the gospel. I do think it is the growing of the community where the evolution is most apparent.
Read the full article here.
ClevelandClassical Reviews eighth blackbird
January 20, 2011
ClevelandClassical.com has posted their review of last Saturday’s eighth blackbird concert.
If there’s not already an award for imaginative orchestral programming, there should be, and — the envelope, please —the award so far this season goes to Christopher Wilkins and the Akron Symphony Orchestra for the program I heard in E.J. Thomas Hall on Saturday evening, January 15.
Read the full review here.
Podcast: January 2011
January 12, 2011
Maestro Christopher Wilkins shares his thoughts on this weekend’s Open Rehearsal and concert with Grammy-winning sextet eighth blackbird.
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