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13 MAY 2026 · Many orchestras and chamber groups are celebrating the 250th anniversary of America’s founding this year. While most of the music is a positive portrayal of the United States there is at least one musical work telling the tale of the horrific treatment of Native Americans and their lands. The piece is Requiem For America by Mohican/Munsee-Lenape composer Brent Michael Davids. He describes it as a searing work confronting hard truths about America’s founding. It’ll be performed by the BBC Orchestra in London this month, before its American premiere in November.
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5 MAY 2026 · Even though operas from long ago are still being performed, there’s a movement afoot to freshen them up or to do new 21st century operas. In the case of the 1958 opera Vanessa, a production by Heartbeat Opera is doing a stripped-down version of the Pulitzer Prize winning work. It’s directed by RB Schlather. At The Met, they are about to premiere a true 21st century opera by first-time opera composer and Grammy winner, Gabriela Lena Frank with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Then there’s the big dispute between the Boston Symphony Orchestra and its patrons over the firing of Music Director Andris Nelsons.
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28 APR 2026 · Sometimes when someone makes a suggestion to you, it kind of sticks with you. That’s what happened to jazz artist Darrel Grant. He decided to act on this suggestion from a friend by composing Step by Step, the Ruby Bridges Suite. It is a piece about the 6-year-old girl who was the first African American student to integrate the New Orleans public schools in 1960. It was not without protests, or strong resistance and a teacher who ignored the noise and taught the little girl in a classroom void of any other students.
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20 APR 2026 · In honor of April, Earth Month, more than a few composers have released albums about their love of our home planet, and their anxiety about climate change. This week’s episode features three of those albums.
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1 APR 2026 · There have been several studies on the effect of music on mental health. This is especially true with the elderly. A long running study out of Monash University in Melbourne, Australia is finding that dementia may be delayed in the over 70 set if music is in their lives.
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22 MAR 2026 · Welcome to my latest podcast. It’s called Feeding Thespis. I’m picking it up again after more than a few years and some tears. This one is called NEW TIMES. It takes place in 1967 on the campus of a prestigious women’s college when a Black woman is hired to run one of the dormitories for the first time in the school’s history. Her various conflicts come from students, management and another Black woman who isn’t sure about this new lady.
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16 MAR 2026 · Composer Chinary Ung has been composing music for 60 plus years. His compositions are heavily affected by his childhood in Cambodia and the deadly events that happened there back in the mid 1970’s. But he says he’s blessed that he was able to come to America in the 1960’s to study the western style of music. Many of his compositions will be performed at the Miller Theatre at Columbia University School of the Arts in its Composer Portraits series on March 26th.
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9 MAR 2026 · It took pianist Rebeca Omordia 8 years to create the African Concert Series in London. She was even told that African classical music wasn’t really classical at all, nor would anyone want to listen to it. The series is very popular now. So much so that Wigmore Hall in London has gifted Omordia a residency at the world class venue.
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2 MAR 2026 · Conductor and Music Director JoAnn Falletta of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has fulfilled a dream. She’s released A Hero’s Life. The album has two pieces, one from Richard Strauss and another that’s a world premiere recording of Behzad Ranjbaran’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra. Falletta is also releasing another edition of her book of poetry, Love Letters to Music. This is in addition to the upcoming full length documentary about her nearly 30-year career at the Buffalo Philharmonic.
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24 FEB 2026 · When you think of countertenors what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? Randall Scotting, a countertenor sees himself as a preserver of this male voice classification. He’s releasing the album Divine Impresario to celebrate one of the most popular castrato opera singers of the 17th and 18th centuries. His name is Nicolini. Cancellations at the Kennedy Center continue even as the building is set to close for renovations. The San Antonio (Texas) Philharmonic shuts down with hopes of returning someday.
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| Author | Judlyne Lilly-Gibson |
| Organization | Judlyne Lilly-Gibson |
| Categories | Music |
| Website | secondstreetdreams.com |
| contact@secondstreetdreams.com |
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