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Get to know Sam Brewer, GBH’s newly appointed General Manager of Music

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Music is the foundation for so many amazing aspects of life.

As GBH’s newly appointed Head of Music, Sam Brewer discusses music’s remarkable impact and how he started in the industry.  He also shares where to listen to live concerts around Boston after work for free, insight into GBH’s extraordinary studios, and the revolutionary ways GBH is connecting artists to viewers and listeners.

Sleepless Critic:  Just to clarify, GBH’s Head of Music primarily covers classical and jazz music?

Sam Brewer: Yes, it is the jazz and classical team.  GBH Music is a multi-platform production team housed inside GBH with twelve full time and almost as many part time employees.  Our biggest commitment and what everyone knows us for is CRB Classical 99.5 Boston.  CRB produces over 50 broadcasts a year and we have a live concert every single week from Symphony Hall or Tanglewood.  That includes concerts from the Boston Pops too.

General Manager of GBH Music Sam Brewer Photo by Meredith Nierman/GBH

We also program Jazz on 89.7 FM on the weekends and weekend overnights.  For the past five years, we’ve had a series of about eight GBH Music Presents concerts at the Fraser Performance Studio or Calderwood Studio here at GBH.  In person, streaming, and recorded performances are used on other platforms.  Obviously they stream and may end up as an In Concert production. 

Classical.org is the website for the radio station and a rich source of multimedia content about classical music, social media channels, and two newsletters which is one on jazz and one on classical and so much more.

From the GBH music perspective, we recently launched GBH Jazz Nights which are once a month performances at the GBH Studio at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square.  We’ve teamed up with JazzBoston to present jazz music the second Thursday of every month from 5:30 to 6:30 pm.  It’s a free event and we want to capture people after work to stop by for an hour or two and get a beer and listen to music.  It’s really to raise the profile of everything that we are doing in jazz.  For the past few years we have done these studio jazz shows about four a year and we are looking have four again in the spring.  We’ll have four in the spring to help us build up an audience, the excitement, and the anticipation for that and we feature a great lineup of performers.

Beyond December, we will be looking at a series of jazz performances at Fraser Performance Studio.  Fraser is gorgeous and really the jewel of the production facilities at GBH.  Antonio Oliart is our recording engineer on the GBH Music Team and he had a hand in designing the space and it’s his home along with Téa Mottolese who is our other recording engineer. 

Antonio recorded an album at Fraser with violinist Hilary Hahn which was just named the Gramophone record of the year.  It’s a huge honor and I think he’s won three or four Grammys from records he’s produced in that space.  We host a lot of these GBH jazz and classical music events at Fraser and you’re really sitting with maybe 90 or 100 people in a multi-camera shoot in an acoustically perfect music space. 

Ulysses Quartet perform at an event celebrating the leadership of Tony Rudel, General Manager GBH Music on October 1, 2024 at GBH Headquarters in Brighton, Mass. Photo by Meredith Nierman/GBH

The Boston Symphony Chamber Players came and recorded this beautiful video show in Fraser and then we streamed.  It was in person and it will also become a radio broadcast in a week or two.  Somebody came up to me after the performance and told me they have known this musician their whole life and have never seen this person up close playing like this. 

SC:  Oh, I love those experiences. 

SB: That’s the real benefit of this space.  You get a sort of intimacy with the music that you don’t really get in any other venue in Boston because of the size and how it is structured.  It’s also how we host shows.  Brian McCreath, the host of the BSO broadcasts, hosted this program.  He’s a proxy for the audience and brings the audience into the stories behind the music in such a unique way. 

SC:  We know each other from the Boston Pops.   What piqued your interest from the Boston Pops to make the transition over to GBH?   I know it all starts with classical music. 

SB: That’s a great question.  I was a publicist at the BSO for about 10 years and started at the box office selling tickets.  I was just looking for the next step in my career and there’s such a crossover between the GBH audience and the Boston Symphony audience and in an effort to sort of promote other types of content and other stories, I was drawn to the work in public media and found a happy home for the last six years working quite closely with the newsroom here.  Of course the GBH Music team was my other main client here and pulled it back into the beauty, power and the rich, artistic life of classical music and jazz.  That’s how I found myself working even more closely with the GBH Music Team. 

SC:  You must also find yourself working with some famous musicians.  Which particular person stands out for you that you couldn’t believe you were working with them?

SB: There are countless people, but recently opera bass-baritone Davóne Tines.  We had someone scheduled for the Getting into Opera program and it was a wonderful event open to the public.  We are eventually going to turn it into a series for YouTube.  We’ve done two of these before and we have another one coming up.  We unfortunately lost the soprano who was scheduled to host this master class.  The concept here is people get into opera by seeing how great vocal performances are shaped.  So it’s a master class between a master teacher and a student. 

The star soprano who was supposed to lead the performance had to cancel about 36 hours before.  Davóne Tines came in and I had the opportunity to pick him up in a car and drive him over quickly before the performance was about to begin. 

I was blown away how even at the last minute, he wanted to reshape what we were doing to put the artists in the center and focus on them as humans and people before he got to hear them sing or work with them as a coach.  So, there are countless examples of artists I have met and been star struck or really moved by, but this one recently is just one of the benefits everyone on this team has which are these really close encounters with musicians as people and then get to share their stories with broader audiences.  It’s of interest to any type of consumer of any media, but I think music in particular because it can be abstract and one of things we specialize in is sharing an artist’s story behind the music. 

SC:  How do you think your prior experience has prepared you for what you are doing now?

SB: Two of the trends in my career have been music and communications and I think they will be thoroughly employed in this role.  Being so new to it, I can already tell one of the real joys of this role is working with all the people on this team.  I think anyone in a leadership position is responsible for supporting the team’s work. It is really exciting to come to work every day with people who are ready to pitch new and creative ideas and try to find ways for those little seeds of ideas to grow to support the work of a lot of creative professionals.  So, I suppose having a lot of experience as a communicator, in public relations, and then in public media has put me in a good position to help the team bring all this creativity to the forefront and to find things that resonate with audiences.  I’m excited to see how we can keep growing this incredible foundation here. 

SC:  Music is the connection to everything. 

SB: I agree with you.

SC:  Speaking of which, what is your favorite music and kinds of artists you like to listen to for GBH?

SB: I think from a very early age, I’ve always loved orchestral music.  I will just say broadly classical music encompassing classical, romantic, and baroque.  We play on CRB Classical 99.5 over 500 years of this incredible compendium of artistic styles.  It’s just so easy to get deeply lost in it and imagine your own stories. 

It’s funny because I have certainly listened to all sorts of music.  My wife and I went to the Weezer concert in Boston.  It was great fun, but I also had this experience where we were all the way up in the nosebleed section.  I don’t know what the capacity of TD Garden about 20,000 and it was a wonderful performance and I was thinking if I can just get one percent of these people to turn on CRB and find this intentional listening experience in the genres we promote, I think everyone would grow so tremendously.  A lot of what we program on this station is intentional to capture people who find a familiar sound in what we do and discover that they like classical music.  For example, Renaissance pieces that would be four minutes long and to someone who is just tuning in, it could sound like a folk song.  There could be an energy to Telemann perfect for driving down the road.  I’ve always loved orchestral music. The challenges and the fun of this role is to just to find people in this vast swath of people and find out who might want to come and join us and be part of this tribe. 

SC:  Classical is the foundation of so many other genres of music.  The epic Clair de Lune is a famous classical piece you know that you don’t know that you know.

SB: I agree with you and I think there is also a willingness that there wasn’t ten or fifteen years ago to cross between genres and like what they hear without knowing what the label is.  I just find there is a tremendous opportunity to turn more people into classical music and such growth potential there.   I’m glad we’re focused on that central part of it and our goal is just to spread that out and make people fall in love with it.

One of CRB’s next events will be the GBH Music Holiday Spectacular taking place at Calderwood Studio.  Be the first to learn about GBH’s upcoming music events through classical newsletter The Note and GBH’s Jazz newsletter. 

REVIEW: ‘The Mom Show’ a moving recollection of survival and resilience

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Michael Levin’s Polish Jewish mother hated one man shows.  Jenny Graubart didn’t think there was anything interesting about someone standing on stage talking through an entire performance.  However, what is so rewarding about Michael Levin’s The Mom Show is not just his reflections and a collection of family photos.  It has wisdom, tragedy, resilience, love, disaster, music, and a cast of multi-faceted relatives existing during one of the most harrowing parts of history.  Accompanied by a collection of original songs performed and composed by Levin (with the exception of one), The Mom Show is an intimate and engaging portrait of a survivor whose son still wonders how she did it all.

Written, composed, and performed by New York Times bestselling author and Tanglewood Festival Chorus tenor Michael Levin, The Mom Show continues live at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts Sundays through July 18 at 7 pm.  It was the first in person theatre production to open in Massachusetts and it follows Covid guidelines.  The show runs 80 minutes without an intermission.  Click here for more information and tickets. 

Unlike Levin’s mother, I think there is something endearing about one man shows if they are delivered with heart, finesse, and has a solid story to tell.  The production explores three generations from 1908 Poland right into the present day exploring Levin’s family’s experiences as they ventured into different parts of the world to escape the Holocaust and ultimately settling in Queens, NY.  Through their ever changing locations, Graubart’s versatility, worldliness, and resourcefulness shine through while overcoming difficult hardships and triumphs that will not be revealed here. We’ll let Levin tell the tale.

Levin is an engaging storyteller, adding humor and spontaneity to this emotional journey.  Musically directed by Nancy Loedy, The Mom Show delves into various musical genres from rockabilly to the blues to a Cuban lullaby.  What We Remember is a particularly stirring piece.   Levin’s sincerity and heartfelt vocals add a lighthearted gleam that keeps in step with each segment of the production.  Levin’s mom was also a big fan of musicals before her death in 2018 and The Mom Show is worthy of her approval. 

The Mom Show continues live at the Regent Theatre, 7 Medford Street in Arlington, Massachusetts Sundays through July 18.  Click here for more information and tickets. 

REVIEW: ‘Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert’ with live orchestration from the Boston Pops a thrilling cinematic achievement

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

No better way to witness a galaxy far, far away.

It has become a beloved Boston Pops tradition to exhibit the finest films in cinema history enhanced by the stellar sounds of the Boston Pops, an immersive film experience performed so eloquently, one may never watch the film quite the same way again.  In the past few years, The Boston Pops has inventively breathed new life into film classics such as ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘West Side Story,’ ‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ ‘Psycho,’ ‘Home Alone,’ ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark,’ and ‘Nosferatu‘ through stunning live orchestration and Star Wars lives up to that sterling reputation.

The re-mastered, extended version of ‘Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert‘ with live orchestration by the Boston Pops was held at Symphony Hall earlier this spring and then recently in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at the Tanglewood in Lenox, MA on August 16.  The ninth film and epic conclusion of the Star Wars series, ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker‘ arrives in theatres in December and what better way to welcome the end than by remembering the beginning.

John Williams at Tanglewood (Hilary Scott)

John Williams conducting Film Night at Tanglewood Photo credit to Hilary Scott

Academy award-winning composer John Williams has been the name on everyone’s lips at Tanglewood for the past couple of weeks with ‘Star Wars: A New Hope in Concert‘ on Friday, August 16 and then the ever-popular ‘Film Night’ on August 24, an annual tribute concert featuring just a few of the acclaimed film scores of John Williams.  Not only did John Williams make an appearance at the end of the August 16th performance, but Patriots owner Robert Kraft was also in the audience.  Click here for more information, tickets, and a look at Tanglewood’s full schedule.

Keith Lockhart Leads the Boston Pops at Tanglewood (Hilary Scott)

Keith Lockhart leads the Boston Pops at Tanglewood Photo courtesy of Hilary Scott

Conducted by acclaimed Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart, The Boston Pops launched an enthusiastic audience into that beloved galaxy with ‘Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,’ the first film in what would become a beloved series of films in 1977.  The rising swell of the perilous, suspenseful, triumphant, and Academy award-winning Star Wars Main Theme from John Williams was just the start of this exciting film that has been thought to be a touchstone to future films in that genre while also possessing some classic Shakespearean roots.

The intense score, each crisp note from the orchestra, the sound that thundered in the Koussevitzky Shed was nothing that can be relived in front of a television screen or in a movie theatre.  It felt like being in the studio with the cast, enhancing their already outstanding performances, and scoring the film for the first time.

Star Wars A New Hope

Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, and Harrison Ford as Han Solo in ‘Star Wars: A New Hope’ Photo credit to Disney/Lucasfilm

The lively audience was clearly composed of some of the most devoted Star Wars fans cheering   not only the opening of the film, but each major character as they were first introduced onscreen.  Familiar faces such as the twinkling eyes and swaggering charisma of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo, Peter Mayhew’s towering presence as Chewbacca, Carrie Fisher’s holographic appearance as Princess Leia as she utters the classic line, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi.  You’re my Only Hope,” Alec Guinness as the wise and mysterious Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mark Hamill’s naïve Luke Skywalker, and James Earl Jones as the timeless voice of Darth Vader were all greeted with rousing applause.

Set on the planet with two suns, the subtle humor, the scheming, the epic adventure, George Lucas’s marvelous characters, the dazzling technology of its time, the bickering between R2-D2 and C-3PO and between Han Solo and Princess Leia are all recaptured in this unforgettable cinematic experience.

The Lawn at Tanglewood 2016 (Hilary Scott)

The Lawn at Tanglewood 2016 Photo credit to Hilary Scott

Located in the Berkshires at 297 West Street in Lenox, Massachusetts and now year-round, Tanglewood’s outdoor venue is a must see, whether under the tent at Koussevitzky Shed or under the stars for a lawn picnic.  Click here for Tanglewood’s full schedule follow them on Facebook.

REVIEW: Featuring John Williams’s multi-faceted score, ‘Home Alone in Concert’ made a bustling, merry return to Symphony Hall

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Kicking off with the familiar drumbeat of the 20th Century Fox fanfare performed live before the film’s opening credits, The Boston Pops presented Home Alone in Concert with style and a few surprises as this popular 1990 Christmas comedy film returned to Symphony Hall from December 29 and 30. Much like the Boston Pops’ ‘in concert’ predecessors featuring classic films such as West Side Story, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Nosferatu, Singin’ in the Rain, and Psycho, the Boston Pops enhances the unique tone of each film from score to sound effects, making it an unforgettable cinematic experience.  Led by Keith Lockhart, it doesn’t get much better than watching a feature film on the big screen alongside the Boston Pops’ clever orchestration.  Click here for more information on the Boston Pops.

It was a particular treat to be greeted by the Wellesley High School Keynote Singers and Rice Street Singers who performed a few lighthearted a capella holiday hits as the audience filed into the Symphony Hall lobby before the film started.  The anticipation of Home Alone in Concert was palpable, heightened by an uproarious applause as the film started and enthusiasm that continued throughout the performance.

A heartwarming film full of high jinks and relatable family humor, Home Alone features the McAllister family as they prepare to embark on a Christmas trip to Paris and through a series of unforeseeable circumstances, leave their youngest child, Kevin, portrayed by Macaulay Culkin, home alone.  Directed by Christopher Columbus, Home Alone features a hilarious cast that includes the late, great John Candy, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, and John Heard.

From heartwarming to hectic to haunting, Academy award-winning composer John Williams offers a bit of everything in Home Alone’s multi-faceted score.  Songs from the film’s soundtrack such as Run Run Rudolph by Chuck Berry and I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas by the Drifters are left to the original artists, but John Williams’s compelling score featuring the Academy Award-nominated song, Somewhere in My Memory were performed by the orchestra.

Home Alone writer John Hughes was gifted with the ability to capture the voice of a young generation and he does a remarkable job depicting the perspective of mischievous and utterly adorable Kevin McAllister as he attempts to fend for himself.  Though some of the movie is a bit far-fetched, it remains as enjoyable as it was close to 30 years ago before cell phones were a daily part of life.

Home Alone in Concert

Holiday Pops presents ‘Home Alone in Concert’ Photo courtesy of Jeanne Denizard

Not only is Home Alone on the verge of celebrating its 30th anniversary since its release, but Macauley Culkin is all grown up and has reemerged recently in a reenactment of pivotal scenes from the original film to demonstrate the magic of Google Assistant.  With the same twinkle in his eye, Culkin adds a new dimension to those film scenes while keeping the spirit of the original film intact.

Home Alone in Concert was produced by Film Concerts Live!  In August, Keith Lockhart will conduct the Boston Pops to perform Star Wars:  A New Hope in Concert at Tanglewood.  Click here for more information on the Boston Pops and upcoming Boston Symphony Orchestra events.

All performances take place at Boston Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave in Boston, Massachusetts.  Click here for more information and tickets, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office, 301 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, Massachusetts.

REVIEW: Brimming with compelling storytelling, accomplished singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant made stirring Tanglewood debut

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Always an unforgettable storyteller, award-winning singer-songwriter and musician Natalie Merchant made her Tanglewood debut, despite increasingly darkening skies at Koussevitsky Shed in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Her soulful, musical journey included stirring tales of war, deep love and love lost, musings from history, a deadly woman, and a curvaceous Ophelia,  each tale conjuring up a vivid picture in her brilliant, and at times, elegiac lyrics.  Natalie Merchant is a force onstage and her charisma lies in her engaging, soul baring presence.  Click here for Natalie Merchant’s tour dates.

Tanglewood’s season is in full swing, having kicked off with acclaimed BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leading the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection on Friday, July 7.  Natalie Merchant, James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, and John Mellencamp were among Tanglewood’s Popular Artists series.  After an extraordinary season of live classical and contemporary performances throughout the summer, the Tanglewood season concludes with The Boston Pops featuring Melissa Etheridge on Sunday, September 3.  Click here for tickets and further information.

Wearing a dark blue dress and her signature long, thick flowing hair, Natalie Merchant set a deeply insightful, subdued tone before building to a lively, uplifting vibe, much to the delight of the crowd.  Surrounded by a sophisticated, intimate band composed of a cellist, guitarist, pianist, drummer, and a group of elegantly dressed violinists, Natalie started with a tune from her self-titled, 2014 album, Lulu, paying tribute to the audacious silent film star and dancer, Louise Brooks, a woman who paved her own way.

Natalie Merchant lent a patriotic spin to the song, River, a song originally dedicated to memory of River Phoenix, an actor who died too young.  This version of River is from her stripped down, latest album, Paradise is There:  The New Tigerlily Recordings, hinting at the fallen soldier, her deep, contralto voice exuding a beautiful, haunting quality.  Equally affecting is My Skin, from her album, Ophelia, a gripping song about the emptiness of betrayal and loss.

Often barefoot, Natalie was physically expressive onstage, dancing, swaying, and twirling to the rhythm, flowing like a bird to a pulsing violin.  Many devoted followers were present in the audience as sporadic whoops and hollers echoed from the crowd, often shouting her name.  Natalie Merchant has been thrilling audiences since the early 80s and her onstage presence made it easy to recognize her lasting talent.  Although the weather wasn’t always cooperating during the concert, with such a strong following, the crowd remained.  “I’m sorry you are in the rain,” Natalie acknowledged the outdoor audience as the skies opened, “But after the drought we had last year, I’m not sorry for the rain.”

Sharing her passion for social and environmental issues, Natalie briefly shared the stage with Tyler Van Kirk, National Canvass Coordinator from Food and Water Watch, based in Denver, Colorado.  It is an organization dedicated to protecting the world’s natural resources.  See what they stand for here.  She also dedicated a song to corruption in government with a tune delivered partially a cappella, Poison in the Well, dating back her days with the 10,000 Maniacs.

Her gripping storytelling continued with Nursery Rhyme of Innocence and Experience, Ophelia, and the exotic sounds of The Man in the Wilderness.  She delivered cautionary wisdom in The Worst Thing, portrayed a looming, jazz-infused rendition of a femme fatale with She Devil, and inspiration in Lady Bird.

Natalie Merchant’s music ensemble is impressive, whether during a spontaneous jam session or in the quieter moments, a perfect complement to her often heart rendering lyrics.  The tireless performer offered a more joyous and uplifting second half, sharing some her greatest hits.  From Paradise is There:  The New Tigerlily Recordings, she offered a stripped down version of her hit, Carnival, a vivid, reflective view on life.  Accompanied by just her pianist, cellist, and guitarist, she sang Wonder, which was the inspiration behind a children’s book by R.J. Palacio and an upcoming film starring Julia Roberts in November 2017.

Tender, earnest moments were strewn into the songs, Beloved Wife, Break Your Heart, and Frozen Charlotte, the latter culminated in a gorgeous violin solo.  However, she also has a unique sense of humor, sharing a story of an old cookie jar that “carries the emotional weight” of every song.

The moment of the evening was her epic encore, as the band jammed and Natalie danced furiously, the audience was brought to their feet in a spectacular version of These are Days followed by a heartfelt performance of her hit song, Kind and Generous.  Fans couldn’t have asked for better, rain or shine.

Click here to see where Natalie performs next.  Located in the Berkshires at 297 West Street in Lenox, Massachusetts, Tanglewood’s outdoor venue is a must see during the summer, whether under the tent at Koussevitsky Shed or under the stars for a lawn picnic.  Click here for more information on its Tanglewood’s Music Festival summer series and follow them on Facebook.

Renowned conductor Charles Floyd talks Boston Pops and Gospel Night’s 25th anniversary featuring CeCe Winans

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

For 25 years, the Boston Pops has made Gospel Night a highly-anticipated tradition.  A glorious, enthusiastic audience which includes newcomers and returning fans greet Conductor, pianist, and composer Charles Floyd, the Boston Pops Gospel Choir, and a selection of guest artists.  This year, multiple Grammy award-winning Gospel singer Cece Winans headlines this special 25th anniversary concert for one night only on Saturday, June 17 at Symphony Hall in Boston, Massachusetts.  Click here for more information and for tickets to this monumental concert event.

Renowned conductor, pianist, and composer Charles Floyd talks about his longtime role with Gospel Night and its evolution as well as dreams he never imagined coming true.

Charles Floyd leading the Boston Pops (Stu Rosner)

Renowned conductor, pianist, and composer Charles Floyd leading the Boston Pops Photo courtesy of Stu Rosner/Boston Pops

 

Sleepless Critic:  The Boston Pops Gospel is an incredible event each year.  The last time I went, it seemed like the Boston Pops Gospel Choir was a nonstop celebration, joyfully continuing even after the concert was over.

Charles Floyd:  Everybody looks forward to that part of the program because it is probably the most energetic.  The music can be very exciting and uplifting.  We like to feature something that the gospel choir performs without the orchestra.  The orchestra wants to go into overtime and that gets into an issue, but if the building is still open, there’s no reason why the choir can’t stay to do a couple more numbers if they enjoy singing and the audience is going to stick around.  When the formalities are done, it’s a nice moment when people can just let their hair down.

SC:  The concert is so uplifting you don’t want to leave anyway.  You have been with Gospel Night for 23 years, almost since its start.

CF:   I appeared the second year.  I was called because the conductor the first year could not do it the second year.  I had to take a year away back in 2004, so this is my 23rd and it’s their 25th, but I am celebrating 25 years just like they are.

SC:   It must be amazing to see how it has evolved over the years.

Gospel Night at the Boston Pops (Stu Rosner)

Gospel Night at the Boston Pops Photo courtesy of Stu Rosner/Boston Pops

CF:   It’s been an honor to be a part of it.  I was working with Miss Natalie Cole for close to 14 years.  We had done a few concerts with the Boston Pops, and at the time, Maestro Lockhart and I were in the running in some capacity to step in.  Keith got the gig and I was very happy for him.  It was great for the community and I was somewhat new, and so they called and asked if I had done that sort of thing.  I said I have and only had about 6 weeks’ notice to prepare.  It was little bit nerve-wracking to put together an entire program, write orchestration that didn’t exist, and then learn the classics and light classics on top of having to cater to guests artists.  We balanced out the program with Keith conducting the first part of the program and I conducted the 3rd part of the program, Rhapsody in Blue.  Keith had to be at Tanglewood and other places as the date of Gospel Night moved around.  That’s kind of how it happened.  When the door opens you walk through or the door might not open again and here we are.

SC:   Some of the best things happen spontaneously.  This year, CeCe Winans will be the featured artist on Saturday, June 25.  Do you have a hand in who performs each year?

CF:   I am involved in the process.  I don’t always have control over who the artist will be because a certain artist that I may want to work with may not be available, but they are nice enough at the Pops office to ask who they could look into.  They come up with their own ideas too.   We all put our cards on the table and explore the possibilities.  CeCe is big in the Gospel world and was available.   We’re really excited to have her as our guest.

Boston Pops CeCe_Winans

Legendary, Grammy award-winning Gospel singer CeCe Winans Photo courtesy of the Boston Pops

SC:  Will there be any surprises on this 25th anniversary celebration?

CF:  I don’t think I’ll be flying in from the balcony on a cable, but we do have a few things. (Laughs)  The first part of the program is mostly Americana.  We’ll start the program with Fanfare for The Common Man.  It recently would have been JFK’s 100th birthday.  Maybe the first part will feature the music of John Williams edited together and text added from the speeches of the late president JFK called, Let the Word go Forth.  Some of the music by John Williams will accompanying the narration is from the movie, JFK.  We are just going to celebrate a little Americana with CeCe Winans and the choir is going to perform some favorites over the past 25 years.  We may never get out of there. (Laughs)

SC:  It is fitting since the Boston Pops season is dedicated to John Williams this year.

CF:  Absolutely.  Tying the program together with Boston Pops tradition as well as the Gospel music tradition and its history has been a challenge and a lot of fun.  I look forward to it as well as some many other people.

Boston Pops John Williams leads Film Night, 6.6.14 (Stu Rosner)

Acclaimed composer and conductor John Williams leads Film Night Photo courtesy of Stu Rosner/Boston Pops

SC:  I’m glad you have been part of the Gospel Night tradition for 23 years and I know you performed all over the world.  Music has been a part of your life since you were 4.

CF:  That’s when I finally got to a piano.  I used to bang on cables and pretend like I was playing.  Everybody thought it was so cute.  By the time I got to a piano, I was 4 and I was already taking out melodies and ordering things by year.  It was another six months before I started taking formal lessons, but yeah, music has been a part of my entire life.

You never know what life is going to hold when you are young.  Just because you start playing the piano no matter how good or bad you are at it, there is no guarantee of what the future will hold.  I took physics and journalism just as a back up in high school, but once I got to college, I dedicated myself completely to music and didn’t try to be a master of all trades.  All through 10 years of conservatory and grad school, it was all piano.  I was not a conducting major and I found myself in a situation where a conductor was needed, I was the only person who could step in at the time, so I got serious about conducting.  I started studying all kinds of things such as opera, had to go through all the symphonies and all the major works of all the major composers.  I learned so much about accompanying singers with the baton from listening and attending operas.  I played for singers my entire life, but to watch a conductor accompany a singer is something I don’t think a lot of people really appreciate at least the way that I did and what I learned from it.  It’s been fun and as long as the work keeps coming in, that’s the greatest thing.  Just to keep going.

SC:  What have been your career highlights?  I understand you also performed Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony at his request.  That must have been tremendous.

Charles Floyd and Melinda Doolittle perform on a Gospel Night Program in 2010 (Stu Rosner)

Charles Floyd and Melinda Doolittle perform on Gospel Night in 2010. Photo courtesy of Stu Rosner/Boston Pops

CF:  I was trying to explain it to my sister and family not long ago.  People talk about having their dreams come true.  My situation is a little backwards.  It’s not a question of my dreams not coming true, but most everything that has transpired in my career were things I never dreamed of in the first place.  If I had said when I was eight years old that in 2017, I would be celebrating 25 years at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops or working with an orchestra at Carnegie Hall with James Taylor and Sting or sitting at an event next to Harry Belafonte or conducting orchestras for Natalie Cole or playing the piano for somebody else.  These are usually once in a lifetime events and I’m grateful that they continue to happen.  New things are coming in all the time and I couldn’t be more grateful and happier.

Click here for Gospel Night tickets, call SymphonyCharge at 1-888-266-1200, or visit the Symphony Hall box office during business hours at 301 Massachusetts Ave in Boston, Massachusetts.  Follow The Boston Pops on Facebook and Twitter for updates.

Sting, John Mellencamp, Natalie Merchant, and ‘Jaws’ part of Tanglewood’s summer season

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

What does an underwater predator and an alien paired with Mozart, Mahler, Sondheim, and some of the biggest names in music have in common?  They are arriving at Tanglewood this summer.

Tanglewood - JohnMellencamp

John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris,and Carlene Carter perform in Tanglewood July 1 Courtesy of BSO Publicity photo

Overlooking stunning views in the Berkshires, the Koussevitzky Music Shed will once again deliver a wide variety of entertainment on Tanglewood’s stage.  Featuring legendary music guests such as Sting, Diana Ross, Emmylou Harris, James Taylor and more, Tanglewood’s season kicks off with renowned BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons leading the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in a performance of Mahler Symphony No. 2, Resurrection on Friday, July 7.  The season concludes with The Boston Pops featuring Melissa Etheridge on Sunday, September 3.  Performances are held at Koussevitzky Music Shed in Lenox, Massachusetts.  Click here for tickets and further information.

As the Boston Pops season celebrates the movie magic of acclaimed composer John Williams, Tanglewood delivers a few gems from this year’s Boston Pops season. That underwater predator is none other than Jaws as Keith Lockhart conducts the Boston Pops in John Williams’ Academy Award-winning score live along with the film screening.  Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws in Concert arrives just before summer on Sunday, June 18.  Celebrating its 25th anniversary, another Spielberg classic getting the screening live with orchestra treatment is E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial in Concert on Friday, August 25.  Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops will perform the Academy award-winning score by John Williams.

 

Just a few of  the celebrity music guests taking the Tanglewood stage are Diana Ross, John Mellencamp, Natalie Merchant, Sting, Melissa Etheridge, Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald, as well as Four Voices which includes The Indigo Girls, Joan Baez, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.  Best-selling author and humorist David Sedaris will share his insights and his new book, Theft by Finding in his Tanglewood debut on Sunday, August 20.

Great Performances - Joan Baez 75th Birthday Celebration

Four Voices: Joan Baez, Indigo Girls and Mary Chapin Carpenter perform on Saturday, June 17 Photo courtesy of the BSO

A number of audience favorites will also return such as five time Grammy award-winner James Taylor, John Williams’ Film Night, Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Tanglewood on Parade, and Tanglewood Family Concert where attendees under age 18 are free.

Tanglewood - Diana Ross (photo by Al Watson)

The Legendary Diana Ross performs on Wednesday, August 30 Photo courtesy of Al Watson/BSO

Throughout the season, Tanglewood offers a wide array of classical works from Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Schubert, Mozart, Beethoven, and much more.   Located at 297 West Street in Lenox, Massachusetts, the Tanglewood season also includes special music presentations with Underscore Fridays.  Ticket packages are available and attendees under age 40 can get tickets for just 20 dollars.  Click here for further details. Click here for the entire Tanglewood schedule and tickets or call SymphonyCharge at 1-888-266-1200.  Like Tanglewood Music Festival on Facebook for all the latest updates.

 

 

 

REVIEW: Magnificent and visually-stunning, Holiday Pops offers flawless holiday cheer

Posted on by The Sleepless Critic

Woven into a wide spectrum of Christmas carols, spiritual hymns, and holiday music capped off with a rousing sing-along, is the stuff that makes the Holiday Pops so appealing each year.  Whether it’s through the excitement of the all volunteer Tanglewood Festival Chorus or maestro Keith Lockhart sharing his own Christmas memories, The Boston Pops adds their own unique, personal flair to each heartfelt performance, making it easy to alleviate the stress of the season and happily embrace what truly matters each year.  In its 21st season, The Holiday Pops at Boston Symphony Hall continues through December 31.   The Boston Pops also offers special presentations of the film, “Back to the Future” with live orchestra and New Year’s Eve led by acclaimed bandleader, Bo Winiker.  Click here for more information and for tickets.

Elegantly adorning the intrinsically-detailed gold balconies are white, twinkling lights and multi-colored bulbs on thick, festive wreaths, just a sampling of the stunning, festive surroundings inside Symphony Hall.  The hall also offers its share of playful, humorous decor including orchestra harps topped off with Santa hats.  During the show, the stage spontaneously came to life with a variety of scenery reflected above the stage, from flickering candles to sweeping, dancing snowflakes.  Holiday Pops also featured a stirring presentation of winter scenes created by visual artist and astronomer Jose Francisco Salgado, PhD.  With a lit sky swirling violet with chiming bells, the presentation’s depiction the Northern lights to the song, The Adoration of the Magi from Three Botticelli Pictures lent a mystical, peaceful tone.

This powerful performance of Holiday Pops offered equal doses of reflective material and lightheartedness, the first half insightful and striking.  A Christmas prelude that included Hark the Harold Angels Sing, kicked off a reflective, wondrous first half woven in with maestro Keith Lockhart’s personal reflections of the holiday season such as a wonderful story about his father.  A lullaby sounding Christmas oratorio, Break Forth O Beauteous Heavenly Light followed by the Hanukkah song, Light One Candle depicted sacrifice, unity, and hope.  Holiday Pops also offered a jubilant calypso of Mary’s Little Boy Child, as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, dressed splendidly in black and white, playfully swayed to the beat.

Brimming with beloved classic Christmas carols and guest appearances by Santa and more, the second half of Holiday Pops was a vibrant, yuletide spectacle of Christmas cheer.  While old fashioned Christmas bulbs glowed to the beat, The jolly Tanglewood Festival Chorus delivered a string of Christmas waltzes, singalongs, and more including the annual reading of Clement Charke Moore’s Twas The Night Before Christmas by special guest, NBC Boston’s Melody Mendez.  Boston’s delightful, signature versions of Sleigh Ride and the incredible and amusing 12 Days of Christmas were welcome additions to the mix as Santa Claus expertly conducted the rousing Chorus.  Holiday Pops gave a final encore of Let There Be Peace on Earth, as Earth shone overhead, brilliantly conveyed the quiet hope for the upcoming New Year.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has a tremendous lineup in the New Year!  All performances take place at Boston Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave in Boston, Massachusetts. Click here for tickets to any of BSO’s upcoming performances, through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office, 301 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, Massachusetts.  Listen to the Holiday Pops at home with “A Boston Pops Christmas: Live from Symphony Hall” album available through ITunes, Amazon, and Amazon MP3.