Brooklyn Rider engages in Central Florida residency
Brooklyn Rider will be performing on Saturday, November 13 at 7:30pm, but before their performance they will be spending time in public schools in Central Florida. Though their time in the schools is not open to the public, we wanted to share with you what they would be doing during their time here.
During their Central Florida residency, Brooklyn Rider will meet with and perform for students at the six schools that host A Gift for Music. A Gift for Music was begun in 1999 to provide string instruments and weekly lessons to students that otherwise wouldn’t have access. A Gift for Music not only provides violin lessons, but serves as a place where students feel safe and can creatively express themselves, and gives them something that is their own.
Brooklyn Rider will also meet with over 250 Orange County Middle and High School students participating in All-County Orchestra on Friday, November 12. The student musicians will hear a brief performance by Brooklyn Rider before working with them in their sectional rehearsals.
These programs are made possible by a generous grant from the Winifred Johnson Clive Foundation.
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Below is a letter that Brooklyn Rider sent in advance to A Gift for Music Schools to prepare them for their time together. They sent a recording of Brooklesca along with it for the students to listen to in advance.
To all the students Azalea Park, Three Points, Ventura, Eccleston, Orlo Vista, and Fern Creek:
Brooklyn Rider is very excited to come to your schools in a few days to share some music and talk about what we do! We recently got back from a tour of Europe- we were in Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. Sometimes we think we have the best job in the world- to play in a string quartet with good friends (we have all known each other for many years and Colin and Eric are brothers) and be able to travel all around the world. One of the great things about traveling is that you get to see so much diversity: people, food, style, architecture, and yes, music!
So, what we want to do is bring music from a lot of places. Our list of possibilities is large- maybe a tango from Finland, a tune written on the crosstown bus in Manhattan inspired by the a great singer from Mali, a cover of song by a Mexican rock band, a crazy and fast dance by a Sicilian composer, folk songs from Armenia, or perhaps music by our own in house composer Colin Jacobsen (one of our violinists)…
We will be really interested to know a few things when we visit. What do you think about the music? What gives it an identifying ‘fingerprint’? What kind of music do you like to listen to? What kind of music do you hear at home and in your communities? Do you have questions for us about playing in a string quartet or making a life in music?
For now, we would like to have you listen to one piece written by Colin. This piece is called Brooklesca. He wrote it after he and Johnny (the other violinist in Brooklyn Rider) started messing around with some riffs. It became this really fun party piece which attempts to describe the place we live- Brooklyn, NY. Brooklyn is a really diverse place and this means that there are a lot of musical influences! What do you hear? Does it sound like anything you know? Did you have fun?
See you in a short few days!
Brooklyn Rider – Nick, Eric, Colin, and Johnny
Symphony for Amelia already receiving great press
Thanks to Orlando Arts Magazine for permission to post.
Young Artist Competition Applications Now Being Accepted
The Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, in partnership with the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, invites high school students to compete in the 18th Annual Young Artist Competition on Saturday, November 20, 2010. Prizes are awarded in both the preliminary and finalist rounds for a total of $5,000, one of the largest combined prize winnings in the state.
This competition, generously sponsored by the Elizabeth Morse Genius Foundation, draws high school students from across Florida to compete in one of four categories: piano, strings, brass/woodwinds, or voice. Competition winners have gone on to study at prestigious schools such as The Juilliard School and Northwestern University, and many now lead successful music careers.
Soprano Janette Zilioli, winner of the First Annual Young Artist Competition, now has a successful performing career and will join the Bach Festival Choir and Orchestra October 23 and 24, 2010, for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and the World Premiere of Jaron Lanier’s Symphony for Amelia. Ms. Zilioli made her debut at Carnegie Hall at the age of 17 and has since performed nationally and internationally. She is the winner of numerous awards, including two notable fellowships in 2004 and 2008 to the Music Academy of the West to study with Marilyn Horne and Warren Jones.
Applications due Wednesday, November 3.
Report Shows Positive Economic Impact of BFS programs
As part of Orange County Arts and Cultural Affairs’ Cultural Tourism Grant program, the Bach Festival Society (BFS) conducted a professionally administered audience research report measuring the economic impact of the Bach Festival Society’s 75th Anniversary Celebration, which took place February–April 2010. The results show that the Bach Festival Society has both a strong artistic and economic impact in our community.
Although this report provides data about only a portion of the BFS’s programming, the results highlight how quality arts organizations positively affect their communities.
Facts
- Economic impact estimate: Total audience spending by both local residents (residents of Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake Counties) and out-of-town visitors was $785,706. Out-of-town visitors spent $655,907 in the Central Florida region, of which $352,324 was incremental revenue to the region—spending by out-of-town visitors who would not have been in Orange County if the Bach Festival programs were not taking place.
- Event satisfaction: 96% of all respondents said they were “very satisfied” with the 75th Anniversary Celebration event they attended. Dozens of positive comments were collected, including “What a wonderful event to offer the community” and “I am so impressed with the sophistication and incredible professionalism of this society!”
- Visitor origin: Local residents made up 58.7% of attendees, with the remaining 41.3% coming from out-of-town. Nearly 13% of visitors were “incremental,” meaning that they were in Orange County specifically to attend a Bach Festival Society event AND they would not have been in Orange County if the event were not taking place.
- New attendees: Over one-quarter (26%) of all respondents were first-time attendees to a Bach Festival Society performance.
