It is still only few days since we had hoped to play our Family Concerts at North High and St. Matthew’s.  So tonight, I want to ask us to particularly consider our collaboration partners in the North High faculty, students, and neighborhood. In our time working with North High, we have learned how stretched their…

by Kris KautzmanAs the MSO seeks new ways to support artists of color in classical music, we’ve learned about and gotten connected to Sphinx, an amazing national arts and social justice organization based in Detroit. Now in their 25th year, Sphinx focuses on increasing representation of Black and Latinx artists in classical music and recognizing excellence through…

From Christine Melchert, MSO cellist This week we were fortunate to rehearse “African Suite: IV. Dance Negre” by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a composer many of us were unfamiliar with.  Here are some fun facts about him: – His mother named him after the famous English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge– His first commission came via Edward Elgar– His most famous work…

Harry T. Burleigh: Encounter, Appropriation, Nationalism, and the man who taught Dvorak the Spirituals. Around here, we think a lot about Dvorak’s time in Iowa, and his visit to the Czech Hall on West 7th Street.  But, his time in New York was also crucial to the perspective he gained “From the New World”, as it…