FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 3, 2009
NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
of
THE JOHN
F. KENNEDY
CENTER
FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
WEST VIRGINIA
TO HOST THE
2010 AMERICAN RESIDENCY
April 5 – 13, 2010
American Residencies are Sponsored in Part by The John F. Kennedy Center
Through a Grant from the U.S. Department of Education
Chamber Music and Outreach Events
are made possible in part by the
Abe Fortas Memorial Fund
of the Kennedy
Center
Charleston, WV. The
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has accepted the invitation from the West Virginia
Division of Culture and History to make West Virginia the site of the National
Symphony Orchestra’s 2010 American Residency. Between April 5 and April 13,
2010, the members of the Orchestra will participate in approximately 150
education and performance activities throughout the state.
The announcement took place
today in Charleston,
at the state capitol building. Participants included West Virginia Governor Joe
Manchin III and West Virginia Division of Culture and History Commissioner
Randall Reid-Smith, as well as two representatives from the NSO and the Kennedy Center: NSO Orchestra Manager Cynthia
Steele and Patricia O’Kelly, Managing Director of NSO Media Relations.
“Hosting the National Symphony
for its American Residency program is an honor for West Virginia,” said Governor Manchin. “We
are so proud of our state’s musical heritage and an opportunity like this one
to enhance concert experiences and give our students additional musical
education will reinforce the importance of music and the arts in our state.”
The impetus for the invitation
from West Virginia
came from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History. The Division will
coordinate all Residency activities. The Appalachian Education Initiative, the West Virginia affiliate
of the Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network will coordinate
education and outreach programs. American Residencies are sponsored in part by
the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a
grant from the U.S. Department of Education, as it has been since 1994. Since
2006, the chamber music and outreach performances have been supported by the
Kennedy Center Abe Fortas Memorial Fund for chamber music and by a major gift
to the fund from the late Carolyn E. Agger, widow of Abe Fortas.
There will be a total of seven
orchestral concerts in the state, including one NSO Young People’s Concerts in Charleston. Dozens of
educational and outreach activities and other events are being planned.
The repertoire for West Virginia’s full
orchestral concerts will include Three Dance Episodes from Leonard Bernstein’s On
the Town. Mozart’s Symphony No. 38 (“Prague”)
will follow, and the program will conclude with Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8. These
programs will be led by the NSO’s Principal Conductor Iván Fischer.
The Young People’s Concert in Charleston – called Sounds
Historic – will be led by NSO Associate Conductor Emil de Cou.
“On behalf of the National
Symphony Orchestra, it gives us great pleasure to accept the invitation of the
West Virginia Division of Culture and History, to make the state our home for
the 2010 American Residency,” said Orchestra Manager Cynthia Steele. “The
American Residency is one of the signature projects of the National Symphony
Orchestra and our musicians are incredibly committed and generous with their
time and talents.”
“We are particularly pleased
with the way the National Symphony Orchestra will interact with our teachers,
students and artists while in West
Virginia,” added Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith. “The
Orchestra will invite up to six students to Washington
to participate in their Summer Music Institute next June, and will award a Teacher
Fellowship to one West Virginia
teacher, custom designed to further that teacher’s career goals. Finally, the
NSO will commission a chamber work from a West Virginia composer. This intensive
involvement will only add to West
Virginia’s national reputation as a leader in arts
education programming.”
What Is an American
Residency?
In 1992, the National Symphony
Orchestra of the John
F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing
Arts began a project unique throughout the world: The American Residencies. The
Orchestra accepts one invitation each year, making a state or a region the
focus of a host of activities.
The
goals of the Residency are:
·
to share all
elements of classical instrumental music throughout a given region;
·
to explore the
diversity of musical influences within the state,
·
and to give the
region a musical voice in the nation's center for the performing arts through
training programs, career development opportunities, and commissions.
Because of the generous support
of many organizations—principally the Kennedy Center and the U.S. Department of
Education—all proceeds from any ticket sales resulting from these events remain
within the state to support local arts organizations.
Since its inception in 1992, a
hallmark of the project has been its responsiveness to the artistic and
educational wishes of each state. Each state prepares a list of requests,
ranging from in-school appearances to workshops for teachers to full orchestral
concerts, and prioritizes them for the National Symphony Orchestra, with the
Orchestra then fulfilling as many of those requests as logistics, scheduling
and budgetary limitations allow.
In-state
activities typical of past Residencies include:
·
full orchestral
concerts,
·
chamber music
performances,
·
in-school
ensembles,
·
lectures,
·
workshops for
teachers,
·
workshops for
students with disabilities,
·
pre-concert
discussions,
·
concerts for
students,
·
coaching
sessions,
·
master classes,
·
music
appreciation classes,
·
Suzuki Method and
Alexander Technique workshops, and
·
artistic
exchanges. (Past artistic exchanges have included meetings between an NSO violinist
and an Athabascan fiddler and a school program shared by a string quartet and
two Eagle River High School Salish-Kootenai drummers and dancers.)
In addition, organizations are
welcome to submit new ideas for activities. For example: composition teachers
in Maine and Kansas requested an NSO ensemble to perform
their students' compositions, critiquing them from the point of view of professional
instrumentalists, explaining what worked and didn't work in terms of
instrumental writing.
The American Residencies
Alaska, 1992
Louisiana, 1994
Maine, 1995
Wyoming, 1996
Montana, 1996
Arizona, 1997
Alabama, 1998
Mississippi, 1999
Vermont, 2000
Oklahoma, 2001
South Dakota, 2002
North Dakota, 2003
Tennessee, 2004
North Carolina, 2005
Nevada, 2005
Nebraska, 2006
Kansas, 2007
South Carolina, 2008
Arkansas, 2009
West Virginia, 2010
To date, more than 2,000
educational, performance, and outreach events have taken place in more than a
dozen states as part of the American Residencies. Approximately 385,000 people
across the nation have attended American Residency events.
Residency Follow-Up Activities
As noted above, the 2010
American Residency does not end when the National Symphony Orchestra leaves West Virginia on April
13.
Summer Music Institute. Since 1992, the Kennedy Center/NSO National
Trustees’ Summer Music Institute – a training program for young orchestral
musicians (ages 14-21) from across the country – has welcomed students annually
for four weeks of study, rehearsal and coaching sessions. As part of the
American Residency, up to six students from West Virginia will be chosen to receive
scholarships to the 2010 Summer Music Institute. Students are selected by taped
audition. Applications are available from the Appalachian Education Initiative
at www.aeiarts.org.
Teacher Fellowship. A West
Virginia music teacher will be selected for an
individually designed program to further the teacher’s professional
development. The program will take place in Washington,
D.C., under the auspices of the National
Symphony Orchestra and the Kennedy
Center.
Chamber Music Commission.
A West
Virginia composer will be selected to create a chamber music work
to be premiered at the Kennedy
Center.
The West Virginia Commission on
the Arts will assist with coordination of all three activities.
The Schedule
Representatives from the
National Symphony Orchestra are currently working with the West Virginia
Division of Culture and History and the Appalachian Education Initiative to
determine the complete Residency schedule, including outreach and educational
events. The following schedule is confirmed.
WEST VIRGINIA RESIDENCY
Preliminary Schedule of Full Orchestra Concerts
April 5 – 13, 2010
All time periods not involving the full orchestra will
be devoted to include education, outreach, and chamber music activities
requested by organizations within West
Virginia.
Full details of those activities will be announced
when the schedule is complete.
Monday, April 5: Travel from Washington,
DC, to Morgantown
Tuesday, April 6: Concert at Capitol Theatre, Wheeling
Wednesday, April 7: Concert at Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Morgantown
Thursday, April 8: Education, outreach, and chamber
activities.
Friday, April 9: Concert at Glenville State
College Fine Arts Auditorium, Glenville
Saturday, April 10: Concert at Keith Albee Theatre, Huntington
Sunday, April 11: Concert at Chuck
Mathena Center,
Princeton
Monday, April 12: One NSO Young People’s Concert and one
evening Concert, at Clay Center, Charleston
Tuesday, April 13: Travel to Washington, DC.
PRESS CONTACTS:
For the National Symphony
Orchestra:
Patricia
O’Kelly (202) 416-8443
pjokelly@kennedy-center.org
Emily
Krahn (202) 416-8447
erkrahn@kennedy-center.org
For the West Virginia Division of Culture and
History:
Jacqueline
Proctor (304) 558-0220
Jacqueline.A.Proctor@wv.gov
For the Appalachian
Education Initiative:
Lou
Karas (304) 225-0101
lkaras@aeiarts.org
