From WXXI news.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Co-hosting this hour with my colleague Patrick Haskin.

And our connection this hour was made 30 years ago, 1995, the first time that Rochester was the home to the Gateways Music Festival.

As the founders describe it, gateways was created to counteract the isolation and underestimation faced by many black classical artists.

For 27 years, gateways existed exclusively in Rochester.

Then in 2022, gateways went to New York City.

Carnegie Hall on Sunday, April 22nd, 2022, the Gateways Orchestra sold out Carnegie Hall, marking the first time that an all black symphony orchestra played to a sellout crowd in the history of that decorated venue.

In fact, the gateways team says it's the only time that Carnegie has hosted an all black symphony orchestra.

Period and gateways continues to grow, with a spring festival in Rochester and events in other cities as well.

There's a fall festival with a focus on chamber music, a chamber players group, a brass collective and a gateways showcase series on the national level, a new presidential administration is trying to steer the arts away from a focus on diversity.

President Trump appointed himself the chair of the board of the Kennedy Center and promised more programing like kid Rock and less programing focused on artistic diversity.

But meanwhile, gateways is continuing its work celebrating musicians of African descent while asking communities to understand the history that those artists have endured.

And the Rochester Festival is coming up in just a few weeks.

Let's welcome our guests this hour.

On the line with us is the president and artistic director of the Gateways Music Festival, Alex Lang.

Alex, welcome.

Thanks for being with us.

Oh, thanks for having me.

And in studio, Armand Ahmed Hall is the director of programs for the Gateways Music Festival.

Ahmed, thank you for being with us.

Thank you for having me.

And Herb Smith, who is the trumpeter for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, leader of the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra, a trumpeter with the Gateways Brass Collective.

Welcome back to the program.

Thank you.

Nice to be here.

Now, there's a lot to talk about.

And I just want to mention briefly here, if you get to the calendar starting Monday, April 21st.

Tuesday, April 22nd.

Wednesday, April 23rd.

Thursday, April 24th.

It's coming fast.

There are events every day and we'll get more specific this hour.

But are you guys ready for that?

Yes, we're very excited.

Better say yes.

Yes, we are ready.

We're excited about it for sure.

Ready to be back in Rochester again?

How are you feeling, Alex?

Are you pretty ready?

Yeah, I'm really excited.

I've got, amazing team as well, represented by RB there in studio.

And, the artists are, incredible.

It's great music.

It's, it's going to be exciting.

Well, we're going to get there, in in a bit here, I want to just start by asking about some of what our guests are.

You know, what they're feeling as the national scene and the pressure on diversity initiatives has, has shifted a lot in just a few months here.

So, you know, my colleague Patrick Hoskin mentioned in the intro the president of the United States appointed himself chair of the board of the Kennedy Center.

he said he wanted to get away from, in his words, wokeness at Kennedy.

and in his words, diversity initiatives generally.

And so you've seen some artists say, that's it.

I'm not playing Kennedy.

They've announced that they're not doing it.

And then you've seen others say, I'm playing as long as I'm still booked here, because it's important for people to hear me.

And there's a lot of pressure going in, a lot of different directions there.

And I wonder, first of all, Alex, what do you make of some of what you're seeing there?

Yeah.

Well, first and foremost, I think one thing I want to to really clarify is and this is not a new, way of describing ourselves, gateways, though, is is really clear that we're not a diversity initiative.

Right.

And we've been saying that for the last decade.

So that's not a reaction to the current, the current environment.

That's just the way we talk about ourselves.

And as by, by means of understanding that, you know, we often use the metaphor to say, to understand gateways like a historically black college or university, right?

So it's not, diversity initiative.

It's not there to, change other institutions.

it's there as, a home unto itself.

And that's what gateway is, is, it's a, it's a home for black classical artistry.

so I think the most important thing I want to just say off the bat is that, and again, that's that's that's important for us.

going back before the current environment, and seeing as I'm remote, I'm going to try to, make sure I don't just, monologue here because I can't get any human cues as to, what else is going on.

You can go as far as you want, Alex.

Well, I definitely want to bring in my my colleagues about this, and we're certainly, you know, the environment that we're making, music in that we're all living in now is the environment, you know, as it relates to, the Kennedy Center and, the president, you know, I mean, one thing I wanted to put into context is, you know, perspective in terms of, you know, how you see, the, the, the administration, you know, I can cast our mind back to, 2000, eight.

And I can imagine a lot of people celebrating, Barack and Michelle Obama taking an interest in the Kennedy Center.

so, you know, I think that, you know, as it relates to, you know, the, the way it feels to be making art, as a black person.

Right.

the way it feels to be making art that celebrates black culture, to the degree that people, understand dei to be, a surrogate for, race, and, and and black people or black power or black culture or black perspective, black voice.

And, I think that that, is true, right?

That it is a surrogate, at least in part for a lot of people.

you know, that makes the work that we feel, the work that we do, feel even more vital and pression and, it makes, you know, the gathering of gateways and gateways started really as, a gathering of artists and gateways brings people together with black classical artists who.

That's what we do.

if you want to understand us in one sense, and the first group of people that we brought together were was that group of artists to, to counteract that isolation that he mentioned there at the opening.

And so, for that reason, you know, that being sort of a core part of, the magic and, and there's that joy, that celebration that, you know, unique opportunity to make music that you love and have, you know, coded on to your your very nervous system to do that in this environment that is so rare for us as artists that special all the time.

I think definitely it's going to have even more specialness and energy.

this year, you know, big part of gateways is mission list behind the scenes.

So there's the concert making, but there's also the intellectual and artistic and, you know, emotional, spiritual exchange that happens between the artists.

And so that part of the, the work of the festival is going to be even more vibrant this year.

as someone who used to really participate in those, I'm really looking forward to creating that environment for these artists and all the things that are going to come out of this, not just the music we make this week, but the ideas, the connections, the inspiration, the, the filling of the cup.

to keep doing this thing that's going to be, really powerful.

And so, it's, it's charged, and vital and, and we can't wait for it.

Alex, let me just follow up with one point on this, and then I will throw it to your colleagues in the studio for their thoughts on this point.

I absolutely take the point about what gateways is and what it is not, and what its mission is and why it exists and and what it celebrates.

part of where I'm sort of contextualizing all of this is in the way that if you want to look at this administration, for example, there isn't a nuance to look at, at what it means to be have endured all kinds of isolation, separation, racism, to the point where they took Jackie Robinson out of materials.

Picture photographs of Jackie Robinson removed from federal archives.

It's like Jackie Robinson was not a DIY initiative.

Jackie Robinson was a baseball player celebrated for his baseball skill, and also understood to have endured a lot more than the white players of the day.

So, I mean, I guess I'm comparing Jackie Robinson to gateways here.

And gateways and gateways is not a diversity initiative, but gateway celebrates the talent and art our artistry of everyone involved with it, while understanding that that isolation, that some of the racism that some of those artists have endured.

And I don't know that this administration is making a distinction.

I think they are looking at colleges across the country and saying, do you have a Dei officer?

Do you have a Dei initiative?

Oh, you do you have an all black orchestra.

Like, I don't know if we should be funding you.

And those questions are pretty pressing and a lot of campuses, and that's why I kind of make sure I took your temperature on what it is like because your mission, as you say, hasn't changed.

You are not planning anything that scales back.

What gateways does.

And no, not at all.

No.

so yeah, I mean, look, the environment is the environment.

you know, we, came to Rochester in 1995 because, our founder, our mentor, how many students who had started gateways in 1993, in Winston-Salem.

So we we say sometimes that we were born in Winston-Salem but made in Rochester.

and, you know, from the beginning, there has been a relationship with the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester stemming from, the those being the places that brought him into to, Rochester.

And we've and they've been a supporter of ours from the beginning.

We formalized that relationship in 2016, and, entering into, a memo of understanding between ourselves and the University of Rochester and Assistant School of Music.

We are and remain an independent 501 C3 organization.

We are not a program of the University of Rochester.

Of course, we're watching what's happening.

you know, across the country and and specifically, in and around our friends in Rochester and the university, and we're staying in close contact.

you know, again, just to go back to what I said earlier, I mean, I think that, you know, there's no doubt that, you know, the, the focus on what is being, you know, called anti wokeness or anti AEI, I mean, I think it's important to like, lift that up and say what we're against and.

Right, so we're against diversity.

We're against equity.

We're against inclusion.

I think that obviously that's, that's that's you know, concerning and where it leaves us, though, is ever more committed.

Your point about Jackie Robinson, you know, we would, you know, add to that the, temporary removal of the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Absolutely.

From, the Naval Academy side.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

So that's that's, you know.

Yeah.

So that's that's disturbing.

That's, concerning.

And, you know, I'm going to toss to Ahmed and her because when that happened, I called Ahmed that weekend, in real time to talk about how we had to recommit to our, programing around the Harlem Hellfighters, which Herb and the Gateways Brass Collective have been doing a wonderful job of, amplifying and telling this incredible story of barrier breaking, the journey, towards black freedom in America.

and, so, yeah, mean let me, let me, let me let me bring it.

Sure.

Other voices here.

I'm.

Yes.

This, almond almond Hall is the director of programs for gateway, so go ahead.

Yeah.

And so, you know, having that conversation about the, Tuskegee Airmen being removed.

Heartbreaking.

But not surprised.

Being a black man in America.

Like it?

It was always impressed upon me that we it was my responsibility and our responsibility to keep our stories going.

And if we think that somebody like Jackie Robinson can be, just randomly removed, that shows that how important this work is.

And I think you know, when gateways is, is always looking forward and creating music and working with artists, helping them create what they want to do, we're continuing to tell stories so that there are more stories to fight for, while also looking back at the Harlem Hellfighters and other stories that need to be amplified just as a part of who we are and what we do.

You know, as a as a longtime educator and I teach at Eastman now, and our students want to know how to belong in their community.

So even though these words are going away, the reality is that they're still precious to making life happen.

And everybody needs to be included.

Whether you're in a homogeneous sort of white community, there are lots of diversities within that community that need to be addressed.

And so we are trying to make sure that the black musicians who are professionals, that we bring in from all over the country, that come with their own thoughts and ideas, come together to make something that is worthy of of being remembered and to push and create new things with.

well, I want to go way back.

There.

So there's this whole thing about diversity, right?

And like the color and getting rid of things.

But to me, like if you go back to Mozart and classical music, but you would probably say that Mozart would be considered the most non dei non black, type of music.

But little do people know that, you know, Saint George, was actually the composer before Mozart and he was a black man.

And so some people call him the black Mozart, but some people call Mozart the white Saint George.

He was older than Mozart.

Mozart lived actually in the same building as him.

so it is not a far fetched stretch to say that Mozart heard his music first, and Saint George was a conductor composer in Paris all over Europe, and he was a black man.

So you can talk about taking down certain black things, but the white things that you are holding up have been influenced deeply by people of color.

Let's go to kid Rock.

Right.

Let's go to kid Rock.

What does he play?

What type of music does kid Rock play?

What?

What category is that better now?

It's like it's sort of like more of a country country pop thing.

But he started kind of appropriating hip hop in the first part of his career.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So here we're going to loud someone that we want to say that's not diversity.

The whole undercurrent of what he's doing is from a black place, even look at the most the most crazy rock and roll music, right.

Where did it come from?

The first groups that came out in the 1920s, they were black bands.

The whole idea of bass, drums and some type of chordal instrument is something that came out of jazz in the 1900s.

You're going to tell me that jazz has black roots.

But I'm saying.

I'm saying it's all mixed in.

So it's like you can say one thing, you can say you're going to take away this thing, but you're not.

I don't care about race.

No more diversity.

We're just going to do kid Rock, by the way.

That's a history I didn't I wouldn't have known it.

Go.

Go ahead.

Out.

Yeah.

Go ahead.

No, no.

And apologies for for over.

Yeah.

No problem.

no, I just wanted to, you know, to, to draw on some herbs.

You said right about it's all mixed in, you know, and so, you know, gateways, brings people together with black classical artistry.

The first group that we brought together, you know, is that community of artists.

That's the beating heart of what gateways is and does.

but from the beginning, we have we have, you know, fortunate to to gather unto ourselves, to have the vibrancy of this art attract a broad group of people multi-racial, multi-generational.

we love that.

You know, our mission is to bring people together with black classical artistry.

So our work is more vital than ever.

the needs, as Armand said, to tell our stories to to uplift our history, to preserve it is more vital than ever.

and, you know, it's, the come in, I think, personally.

Right.

There's a real, desire, here in the way you're talking of.

And there's a desire for people to come together to say that, to demonstrate with their with their presence, with their attention, with their dollars, what matters to them.

And, so I think that, you know, there's, there's an opportunity for gateways to really answer the call and to bring, to bring to people something that they need more than ever.

Right?

I think we always need art.

We always need music.

I mean, don't get me started on that.

but right now, I think we need it more, in a general sense.

And specifically, I think we need gateways music festival.

In a moment, we're going to talk specifically about what is coming up later this month, so you can put it on your calendars and make plans to attend if you want.

And I'm so glad Patrick is here, copilot in the ship with me, because his musical knowledge is much more encyclopedic than mine, as I just demonstrated with kids.

With kids, right.

You're a big kid Rock fan, I appreciate that.

You know, what I did have is his CD in 1998.

I will say, yeah.

Is that right?

The big the big one is like a platinum.

Yes.

It was really big.

Yeah.

I was like one of the only people who didn't.

But, but, but so many of these genres to Herb's point.

Patrick really I mean, it's easy to convince ourselves.

Well, you know, I, I don't want to see I don't want to talk about race.

I don't wanna talk about diversity.

I just want to listen to music and and and then pretend that something is outside of all of those roots and connections.

But so much kind of flows together, flows from different sources, doesn't it?

It doesn't.

And there's so much that I was thinking about in terms of like, there are a lot of questions, sort of, Rochelle Sennett is performing and, her Back to Black series is kind of her piece that you'll be doing at Hatch Recital Hall on April 21st.

she was talking a lot about what that program is, which is essentially six Bach pieces.

And then she incorporates other, black composers or composers of African descent into sort of blend the two together, sequence them.

I was thinking a lot about, like the questions of you have the questions of performers, right?

Who's actually on the stage?

You have the questions of the composers whose work is actually being performed, and then you have the question of who's actually seeing the performance.

Now, all of those things have to probably.

I mean, they're always in conversation with each other.

And I wonder how that plays out in terms of like a programing standpoint, I think for gateways and in terms of just incorporating all of that, because to Evan's point, there's so much different cross-pollination collaboration.

But how do those conversations about, you know, the multilayered approach kind of play out?

I mean, I think we're we're always trying to make sure that we connect with the musicians we know and to find new ones who are who haven't come to gateways and in a sense, ask them what they want to do and how they want to perform as musicians, what's exciting to them.

And then we partner with them to make programs that we know that the Rochester community will, will enjoy if we're here or, for example, when we went to Chicago, we tried to be very specific about picking music that was either somehow, relationally, historically, or concurrently to the to the area.

And then it's about putting on a great piece of art because you talk about the three, the three constituencies at a concert, and that artist needs to feel supported.

So our team is working really hard to make sure that they can make the best music that they have and that their program represents something.

And then how do we get the community in here in in Rochester, we've got a great art loving community, but they're very much siloed into different sort of things.

And so we're trying to make sure that our, you know, our promotion and connection outreach is brings those siloed communities together for this experience so that it's not just the performer.

They could perform any place, but we're bringing them here to Rochester under the banner of gateways.

We want that to be a seminal thing for all parties involved.

Yeah.

Herb, do you want to add to that.

Yeah.

I mean like for me it's important that if we're playing this music that we're playing the music for the people, you know.

And so if we're playing we're black players, we're playing music of African composers of African descent.

We want those people in the seats, you know.

So that's where I think gateways really tries to go, where the people are to try to bring them in.

That's important to me, like to really play music for my people in a sense.

You know, like I wrote a piece, leaning on the Everlasting Arms, you know?

And so basically it's a piece, you know, it's old spirituals, old hymn, and a lot of times we play it for audiences, you know, for white audiences and people like it.

But what really means it for me is when I play it and there's an old black deaconess coming up to me and says, you know her?

That that brought me right back to church, to me.

I caught the essence of it.

I the essence of the piece I'm performing, the piece I'm showcasing the piece.

But I haven't left its roots.

You know, it's it's easy to take a piece and, and kind of just make it a classical piece, but to really connect with its roots.

And that's why you really want people of African descent in the seats as well.

To me, it's that's it's carrying that whole thing, right.

The programing, the people that are watching it and the people that are playing it, that's really great.

can can I ask a clumsy follow up to that?

Sure.

I'm the king of consequences.

Good.

Clumsy is good.

One of the things that gateways touts on your website is an an ability to change the perceptions of audience members, especially those who believe that a lack of racial diversity is evidence of an absence of talent, interest or inclination.

And you heard Alex say earlier this hour, what do we think is what is it actually about?

And I think that this is the dividing line on the AI and related issues right now.

And it is this is my the way I would describe it.

And I think it if it comes right down to what is said in right there in the gateways website, which is that people who feel maybe intensely opposed to.

I believe that unqualified people, often people of color, are going to be given something that might go to somebody else who's, quote, qualified or has merit on some quota system as opposed to what I think the intention of Dei is, which is saying, if you cast a narrow net in your own circles, in circles of power, in circles of advantage, you're probably going to have a pretty homogenous set of people who are even applying for jobs or sitting in the chair at the RPO, etc.

but if you believe that there is talent in a much broader sense, it's going to take some work to make sure people even know that you want them in the room or that there's an opportunity, but you will find qualified people who can fly your plane, who can play in your orchestra, who don't all look the same.

And they are not only on the stage because of an initiative, a quota, but because they're qualified and you had to take a little extra work to find them, or to make sure they knew that this opportunity existed.

And the stereotype that you're right about here, this idea that, well, you know, there's probably not a lot of black musicians because, you know, this is probably not not their genre.

That's not their skill set your smile and her.

But I mean that that stereotype clear clearly is clear.

You want to address.

Yeah.

No, I mean that's what that's what gateways is all about.

You know, I mean, there are qualified black classical players, virtuosic.

And this festival showcases that.

It showcases the excellence in classical music that has always been there in the black community.

You know, the thing that I am really big on is talking about casting a net is having schools that give music music to kids when they're young.

That's the big part that starts to cast the net, right?

City school music programs all across the country.

One of the things they cut first is music.

And so that net is getting shorter and shorter and shorter.

But that doesn't mean that we're not out there.

you know, I mean, if for me, I'm the only black, musician in RPO.

And kudos to RPO for hiring Jerrod Hardiman, who is the new assistant conductor who is African-American man.

So kudos to them for that.

But there are more out there, and I do I mean, you know, I feel like it used to be you.

You know, you had to have you had to have your company represent the city you're in, you know, but it's you know, we're getting away from that now.

Well, I mean, let's be honest, the, the 93% orchestra that that you'll see the, the Gateway Festival orchestra there it is comprised of only professional players.

I mean, we have so many players that we we could fill the orchestra 2 or 3 times without even trying really hard.

And we we've had to create initiatives to make sure that, you know, a third of the orchestra is new and this will be their first time at gateways because there's so many people wanting and qualify to fill these spots in the orchestra.

So I think gateways, especially in our public facing performance, we we represent that completely.

These are all professional players.

I know the gateways grew and didn't always have that in its beginnings as it was starting to set routes, but now it's there everywhere.

And what we do is we provide a space for them to come together and do what they do as professionals in a different environment.

Alex, you want to add to that, to.

Yeah, what I would just say, you know, one just to locate, you know, our work relative to this conversation.

Looks like one.

I totally resonate with the, the contextual that contextualizing the concert experience.

Right.

I, you know, I like to say that music isn't just sound, it's sound and words and people, and it's all of those things.

Right?

So, you know, there's the music is the sound, but it's also the words we use to contextualize it.

The stories we tell about why is important, the way composers talk about their work, and then, of course, the people, the people making it the people in the room, you know, you know, there's, in classical music, the sort of, it's strength and it's, it's vulnerability is, it's, the way it sort of is organized around the digital bureaucracy.

Right?

Like lots of specialization.

you know, distinguishing roles composers compose performers.

So a lot of some of that's getting starting to get, blurred a little bit has been blurred in the past.

I think that's a good thing.

But I say all that to say that, like, there's the composer who creates the work, but you know who the work needs to be realized, even if it's realized by the same person who compose.

But the work needs to be realized because that's the role that we play.

We're realizing artists.

So when when a stage full of, black artists, realize, the work of, let's say, diverse Act, which we'll be doing on April 24th at Kodak Hall, which, of course, Symphony, an incredible work of art that's going to open up that whole program.

but the realization, right, the, the and the and the people and the words that are surrounding that, like, what is this mean?

What's what is why are we doing this?

That also impacts, the art itself.

And, and that can't be separated from it.

Right.

And so that's part of what's happening.

You know, we are we are, black people expressing, black culture, when we're realizing, works that aren't by black composers.

Right.

at least at least in part because the realization can't be separated from the work and the context and, the sense of meaning put around it.

I also just want to hold up there like we have the opportunity and, to really remind ourselves that we're we're this is about art.

and so as it relates to, standards, you know, classical music, loves that.

And, you know, we, we organize ourselves around, competitions and we sort of like to style ourselves around sort of a as if there are objective truth.

Oh, this is the best violinist.

This is, you know, we hold these competition.

This is the best young violinist in Rochester, etc..

So these things are objective and it creates a really rich environment for a lot of things.

I, I thrived in it as a, as a young, thriving artist.

And so, I'm not I'm not, dismissing it, but I am saying that that's, that's not an artistic perspective, though.

And of itself.

Right.

And so, we get to say what makes great art and an audience can either agree with us or disagree with us.

we get to say what our art needs.

to Herb's point, about, you know, the, the number of black people inside the Rochester Philharmonic, you know, before I, had the honor of taking over this position, I played 20 some years as principal clarinet of the Scenic Symphony.

I, and so I came to Gateway's first as a performer in 2001.

You know, these orchestras, can can make decisions, and are making decisions about what their art needs, what it requires.

what what what what it requires to be great to tell the stories that it wants to tell.

What?

It's, sort of, theory of the cases, and the theory of the case for us at gateways is, the people in the space matter, the shared life experience matters.

It influences the art.

It has an energy and a perspective, and a vitality that makes our our art unique.

it makes it the art that we, have to make.

And so, you know, I just want to put that it's, you know, so we as artists, we don't have to subscribe to, these, you know, these these, these narratives of objectivism.

You know, art is subjective, and our belief is that this is, the art that we need to make.

This is the art that our ancestors in our history calls us to make, and audiences respond to it.

And so, yeah, I just wanted to, I wanted to, to, to bring that part interview.

Well, after we take our only break, we're going to go through the schedule.

We're going to talk about what's coming up in just a few weeks here with the Gateways Music Festival.

You're hearing Alex Lang on the line with us, the president and artistic director of gateways, Armon Hall, is director of programs for the Gateways Music Festival.

Herb Smith is with us, who is a trumpeter with the Gateways Brass Collective, trumpeter for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, leader of the Eastman Youth Jazz Orchestra.

All with us this hour, and we're going to come back and go over that schedule after this only break on connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

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That org.

This is connections.

I'm Evan Dawson, my co-host of this hour is Patrick Hosking, my colleague here at Iron City Magazine.

And, I don't know anybody in this building who knows more about music.

Well, maybe Mona so solid.

Second, we're sitting right close to classical Steve Johnson.

Yeah, I'm Brenda Tremblay.

this is a great group down there, so.

Okay, outside of them, I think you might be there.

Thank you.

I take that with a it's very, very welcome to do that.

And Patrick, you mentioned earlier that Rochelle Senate is, giving a piano recital that is, starting us off on Monday, April 21st.

So when you think about gateways coming up here, if you want to mark your calendars and see some of these performances, we're going to take you Monday through Thursday and help you see what's coming up Monday, April 21st, 7:30 p.m. at Hatch Recital Hall, Rochelle.

Senate piano recital there.

Patrick mentioned some of the details, but anything else you want the audience to know about that evening?

I think it's going to be a wide ranging, performance of pieces that are modern, some just written a few years ago all the way back to back.

And this is foreshadowing some of the CDs that she has put out already and some that are coming out.

I think it'll be a great performance to kick off the festival, which we have started to do with the pianist, because our founder, our mentor Hemings, Dr. Mason, he was a pianist here at Eastman.

And so we honor that tradition by having a piano recital.

All right.

And so that's Monday evening.

Now on Tuesday, before we even get to the evening performance, you mentioned, I think, during a brief break.

Amen.

That there is, some school outreach and different things happening in the community Tuesday.

Is that.

Yes.

Yeah.

So on Tuesday, the Gateway's Brass Collective were finalizing plans for them to go over to East High School and do a performance for the students over there, because the youth initiatives and what that means in Rochester and wherever we go is a large part of what we do under the banner of the Young Musicians Institute.

So that'll be the first offering that they're doing that, that day.

And for our young musicians Institute before we get to the evening concert.

Okay.

And so I was going to say, herb, so you said the word virtuosic and not that a few minutes ago.

Right?

I was looking at the evening program.

Right.

So we're talking about Curtis Stuart, right.

Eastman alum.

Right.

His seasons of change, which is Tuesday, April 22nd at Hatch Recital Hall.

it sort of reimagines Vivaldi's Four Seasons, but I loved I was really gripped by the, the sort of accompanying description.

Okay, so in the future, after this is the description in the future, after climate change has ravaged the planet, only a few people remain and they have forgotten their history to know where they have come from.

They rely on an AI that retells the past differently, adapting it to each person in order to help them survive this harsh new world.

History becomes fluid, ever changing like a dreamscape.

So I was very gripped by that.

You didn't talk about that.

I'm terrified.

Patrick is gripped.

I'm terrified.

These are things that we talk about a lot in this building, by the way.

So that's why I'm like, oh, yeah, I talk about that.

But, you know, we're gripped by it as well.

And that's the wonderful thing with working with these amazing, amazing artists, because gateways becomes another place that they can push their art.

And to have this, you know, reflection of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, but done in an Afro futuristic, vision where there's with accompanying poetry, there are voices.

So there's electroacoustic treatments to the piece, the voices of the unhoused from Phoenix.

And he actually to make a Rochester focused of this, Curtis Stuart is interviewed some of the climate scientists at the University of Rochester and some of the, the people working in their nonprofit climate organizations here in Rochester to have them answer questions.

And he's going to include them as a part of the performance as well.

So their voices might be woven right through that piece as well.

Yeah.

Well, that's called Seasons of Change.

And that is Tuesday, April 22nd.

Starts at 7:30 p.m. at Hatch Recital Hall with Curtis Stewart.

What an amazing evening, Alex, do you want to talk about that too?

I mean, I'm just I'm really excited for that.

I want to echo what you know, Armistead and, you know, some of the questions about, like, how do we position ourselves right in this moment, you know, in, in some regards, I have the the simplest job, right.

I need to make sure that this space stays open, so that artists like Curtis and, Rochelle and the Brass Collective and Anthony Panther, Damien Sneed and Jeanette Bridges and the Gateway Festival Orchestra can make their art, and they will speak for what they want to say.

and, audiences will engage and respond to that.

So I'm, you know, Curtis is a great example of that.

I love the Rochester connection.

And then Patrick, like you, it's fascinating.

And the part that I'm really interested in addition to the climate change and the dialog with Vivaldi and Seasons, which is this iconic piece.

Right.

And Curtis is a virtuoso.

So it's like, what do you do with your talent and your ability and your 10,000 hours?

but also the part of, this, that tells us the history from the from the sort of customizing it.

Right.

And it sort of evokes a little bit of, the, the news and information silos we find ourselves in these days of getting this year.

what what on the one hand, you, you you feel like you need to hear, right?

Because you want to be confirmed in the world.

and you want to you know, the other people agree with you.

but but, I'm interested to see how Curtis, takes us on that journey.

Like, where does that go?

Right.

What happens to me?

What happens to history now?

History can be customized.

you know, you turn the dials the way we do on news or information right now.

So that's a really, really exciting program.

Of course.

there's all these four seasons.

It's like one of the literally one of the first, albums I ever bought.

and so I really feel attached to that piece.

I think it's very and it's very apropos because right now it seems like that's what's happening.

History is being changed before our eyes real fast.

You know, it's really been a change.

So like, something like this program really hits deep and really hits deep market calendars.

Tuesday, April 22nd.

By the way, Patrick asking, I like to think about what the most powerful people in the world right now think about issues like climate change and AI.

Elon Musk said yesterday he increasingly thinks that humanity is just a biological bootloader for digital superintelligence.

All right.

So, well, when you when you don't when you're not surrounded by like, meaningful conversations at any point in your life, I can imagine how you get to that point.

Right?

That's that's an interesting observation.

Or you just watch The Matrix a lot.

Yeah.

Go to the.

All right.

So, we go through the Gateways Music Festival again.

It's all coming up here.

And.

Amen.

Can you tell people online where they can see the full schedule?

And full schedule is available at our website.

That is dot gateways within s music festival.org.

And right in the in the heading banner is a spring 2025 festival, and they'll be able to click right on it.

All right so we talked about Monday, April 21st Tuesday, April 22nd Wednesday, April 23rd.

Lot going on.

You're live from Hochstein herb.

That's right.

Live from Hawk.

What's going on?

That's brass collective.

We have a really good program.

We have, different music.

Everything from pet solar to Chick Corea to to Dizzy Gillespie.

I mean, the brass, the brass instruments.

and classical music is when you go way back to, like, Bach and Mozart, it was pretty much just like, you know, you play three different notes, like, you know, I'll play a Mozart symphony that's like 30, 40 minutes, and then that whole 40 minutes I'll play four different notes.

Is that that is true.

That is true.

One five, 1A3.

There's a three in there too.

And then maybe a top one, you know.

So yeah.

So it's three notes.

So a lot of times when classical classical composers, especially later composers like, like, Shostakovich, Aaron Copland, Stravinsky, Ravel, they were influenced by jazz to write the, to write for a trumpet and their classical music.

So this is another example of how it's all mixed in.

You know, you want to just kind of separate something that's like trying to separate the cream out of your coffee.

Once you put it in, you know, it's like it's too late, you know, so like, you know, so so we do a lot of classical music and jazz and Gateways Brass Collective.

It is going to be a very good program.

and one of the pieces that we'll be doing is one of my arrangements of Dizzy Gillespie's Manteca up now that's live from Hochstein on Wednesday.

That evening there is not at 730 at seven the sun.

Yes, at Hach there's a lecture and panel.

What's going on?

And so we have a series called the Paul Jaber, Lecture and Community Conversation, named after a longtime board member and one of the best and one of the diversity of Rochester administrators.

Yes, yes.

And so this is about bringing the community into the sort of academic humanities conversation around music.

Our featured composer for this festival is William Levi Dawson.

And in his music and how he used the spiritual that he was, that he knew to be a source material for new music and how he was an entrepreneur early and what he did at Tuskegee.

So that evening we have, doctor, Louise Thompson from the University of Michigan coming.

She's a professor there, but she also has created websites and repositories and is a scholar on music by black composers.

And so she's going to come in sort of contextualize for the audience who Dawson was and what he did with his music.

Then after she gets done with that, we're going to have a short mini recital by Amber Rogers, who was the, 2024 National Association of Negro Musician scholarship winner.

She's going to do a short, recital of Dawson's music.

And it just so happens that she is the, her teacher is Doctor Louise Thompson from the year.

So we have that connection there.

And then as soon as that is over, we're going to put together a panel of Doctor Thompson, and we have our two colleagues from the Tuskegee University, where Dawson was taught for a long time, and they have their own Dawson Institute.

That just happened, last weekend.

They're coming up and to have a conversation with, University of Rochester's own, Corey Hunter, doctor Corey Hunter about who Dawson was, how the spiritual has become real source material not only in American classical music, but, spanning outside of that and to involve the audience in what will be a sort of an audience is coming with their own known information about how how they use spirituals and how they've heard them.

And then we have these academics sort of putting that together for a community conversation.

So it'll be a really nice set up for the concert the next day in Kodak Hall.

And there we go.

And that takes you right into Thursday, April 24th, 7:30 p.m. at the Kodak Hall, Eastman Theater, the Festival Orchestra.

Yes, the Gateways Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Anthony Pather, who has been with gateways before but also come to work with the RPO and the Eastman School of Music.

he's an amazing conductor.

We also have Jeanette Bridges, the mezzo soprano who is coming to do a world premiere of a, piece called Reflections of Resilience.

five spirituals done by Damien Sneed for voice and orchestra.

an orchestral setting of the five spirituals that everyone will see.

The world premiere of that evening followed up with the, Negro Folk Symphony of William Levi Dawson, our feature composer.

And this is the 91st year since it since it was composed.

And it is his 125th anniversary.

And we're leading that to play that concert again at Carnegie Hall on Sunday.

The piece was written in 1934, premiered by, Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the week they premiered it in Philadelphia.

They also took it to Carnegie Hall.

And it is, to our knowledge, it has not been performed in Carnegie Hall since that premiere in 1934.

So not only will we be returning, it will be returning with an all black orchestra to realize that in a in a modern and a modern way, but it's fantastic.

All right.

Speaking of the Kennedy Center to Janie Bridges, saying the national anthem there just went a few months ago, I think.

Right.

So there's a nice little, little cemetery coming full circle that my little cemetery.

Alice, anything you want to add to the Thursday evening performance?

April 24th.

Now, just to amplify how excited we are, to play this piece, you know, the concert opens with, Dvorak's Eighth Symphony.

there's a connection there in that.

you know, Jack is known for, being with sometimes referred to as a folk centeredness and that the, you know, mind, the music of his, native Bohemia, and, and, mixed that folk music into his, compositions.

Of course, the famous story about him is he comes to the New World and, through Harry barley is introduced to the spiritual and, you know, points, towards the spiritual.

Is this important, wellspring for what could be a unique American classical music, though his, direction in that regard was was largely ignored.

We're not doing the symphony that he wrote in, America.

We're doing the symphony wrote before that.

So the Eighth Symphony, which is really suffused with the with the music of his, with us, his land.

So on either end of the program, we have these two folk symphonies, divorce rock, mining the, the folk music of Bohemia and, William Levi Dawson, showing, what, divorce.

Zach understood was possible, from what Harry Burleigh introduced to him the the incredible, power of the spiritual, to inform, an American classical music.

And that's what William Levi Dawson created.

So to be to be amplifying, Dawson, to be collaborating with Tuskegee, to be bringing all these, folks and, and then to have to have a premiere of our own to go along with that really adds to this, you know, symmetry, what Dawson said.

and 1934 and when asked about the pieces that I've not tried to imitate Beethoven or Brahms rock or Ravel, but to be just myself, a Negro.

And then he went on to say to me the finest compliment that could be paid by Symphony when it has its premiere, is that it unmistakably is not the work of a white man.

I want the audience to say, only a Negro could have written that.

But for us, you know, it's it's such a clear indication of this tradition of black classical artistry that classical music has been, a platform and, a palette for, black artists to tell their story and to be seen in the world.

so to be, to be, to be answering that tradition, to be taking the Dawson back to a hall where it, was first heard in its premiere week, the very, the fourth time that piece was realized in the world was in Carnegie Hall.

And it's not been realized in that hall, in the, in the intervening nine years.

so we really, are so honored and thrilled to bring a premiere to Rochester, to to add to that tradition and to share the emergence of that piece, with our Rochester, friends and audience.

And then to go on to Carnegie, it feels a little bit like, you know, completing a circle, to realize, William Levi essence, Negro Folk Symphony in Carnegie Hall.

I also want to shout out and that will be, live side cast by, our friends on WQXR in New York City.

And also, shout out and thanks to our friends at WXXI, they're also going to carry that live simulcast of the performance from, Carnegie Hall.

however, don't let that dissuade you from coming up on.

To be in the room.

You want to see the premiere?

The music is amazing.

Absolutely.

And to be in the room for the premiere, that's a once in a lifetime moment.

It will only happen on Thursday evening.

April 24th in Rochester, in Kodak Hall.

You got me excited.

You're not going to happen.

You're not going, right?

Yeah.

You got to be have that down to our last minute or so.

I'm going to ask my colleague.

What?

What do we miss this area.

Anything I mean, I am personally I still thinking about the AI and, four seasons.

So that's kind of where my brain has been for the past ten minutes.

And probably afterwards we'll we'll we'll look kick out together.

and again, if you want to see the full schedule online.

Amen.

It's Gateway's music festival.com.org.org.

That's why you never trust the host gateways music festival.org.

We'll have that on our show notes for you.

when you access this program on the multiple platforms and, gentlemen, I wish you well, Thank you.

It's a very, very busy time, I know, for you.

And I hope it is a pure celebration to come.

I hope to Herb's point.

You've got a lot of new faces in your audiences and a lot of people who appreciate everything that you do.

So thank you for making time for us.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And let me thank the guest by name here, Alex Lang.

Thank you, by the way, Alex, for making time and hopping on the call with us president artistic director of gateway.

See you soon.

Alex.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

Almond Hall, director of programs for the Gateways Music Festival.

Thank you very much for having me, Herb Smith.

I mean, like, this resume is so long.

I'm just going to say trumpeter with the Gateways Brass Collective for this month.

Thank you.

It's always good to talk to you.

Oh, thank you very much, Patrick Hosking.

This was fun.

Yeah.

Thanks.

So we should do this some, a little bit more once in a while.

Let's do it.

Yeah.

You got nothing to do.

I'm not busy either.

And I'm saying this on the air, so.

No, it's true.

everybody is busy.

But it is wonderful to have, Patrick Gaskin co-hosting the program.

My colleague at KCI.

And there's such a wonderful team that helps put this program together.

I don't have every single name or time to tell you everybody, but one day I'm going to do that because it is an absolutely outstanding group and I'm just the one who's on this lead microphone.

So I want to say thank you from all of us at connections.

Thanks for listening.

Thanks for watching on the WXXI news YouTube.

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