DVOŘÁK AND BLACK MUSIC, 1893 TO THE PRESENT
On Sunday, February 26th, DAHA presented a panel discussion for Black History Month in which distinguished scholars and musicians explored the social and aesthetic history and outcomes of Dvořák’s significant connections with the late 19th century African-American community as he composed the “New World” Symphony. Organized by Professor Michael Beckerman of NYU, the New York Philharmonic 2016-17 Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence, the illuminating and lively discussion featured Conductor Maurice Peress, Professor at the Aaron Copland School of Music, Professor Ellie Hisama of Columbia University, and Marcus Pyle, a PhD student at New York University. Presented as part of the New York Philharmonic’s “New World Initiative” in honor of their 175th year. Enjoy a replay of this event on our YouTube Channel.
The 2016-2017 Concert Season marks the 175th anniversaries of Antonín Dvořák (born September 8, 1841) and the New York Philharmonic (founded April 2, 1842; first performance, December 7, 1842).
Supported by Bohemian Benevolent & Literary Association
Ellie Hisama is Professor of Music at Columbia University where she teaches courses on twentieth-century music, American music, and popular music. She has recently published articles on the composers Julius Eastman and Ruth Crawford and on freestyle in hip-hop. She has served as Editor of three peer-reviewed journals: Women and Music: A Journal of Gender and Culture; Journal of the Society for American Music; and American Music. Her current work is on Crawford's Chants for Women's Chorus, Isaac Julien's film installations, and the Bay Area collective Asian Improv aRts. She was the 2016 speaker in residence in the Judy Tsou ’75 Music Scholars Series at Skidmore College.
Marcus R. Pyle is currently a PhD student and MacCracken Fellow in Historical Musicology at New York University. His research centers on issues of fin-de-siècle opera, depictions of femmes fatales, intersections of gender, sexuality, French critical theory (Derrida, Deleuze, and Lacan), and African-American lives and music. Pyle studied Viola Performance at the Juilliard School (M.A.) and at the Royal Academy of Music in London (B.A.), and Music Psychology at Columbia University. Current research areas and papers: Ontology and Embodiment, European Modernism, “Beyond the Notes: An Occult Subtext in Schönberg’s ‘Nacht’ from Pierrot Lunaire,” “Butch Fatale: Becoming-Lesbian in Richard Strauss’s Salome.” Pyle is also Founder and CEO of ChamberWorks (est. 2010), a summer music institute for beginning to intermediate string players in Dallas.
Michael Beckerman is Carroll and Milton Petrie Chair and Collegiate Professor of Music at New York University and The Leonard Bernstein Scholar-in-Residence at the New York Philharmonic for the 2016-17 season. He is author of New Worlds of Dvořák (W.W. Norton, 2003), Dvořák and His World (Princeton University Press, 1993), Janáček and His World (Princeton, 2004), Janáček as Theorist(Pendragon Press, 1994), and Martinů’s Mysterious Accident He is a recipient of Dvořák and Janáček Medals from the Czech Ministry of Culture, and is also a Laureate of the Czech Music Council; he has twice received the Deems Taylor Award. He received an honorary doctorate from Palacký University in the Czech Republic in 2015.
Maurice Peress is Professor of Music and Director of the College Orchestra at the Aaron Copland School of Music. He was assistant conductor with the New York Philharmonic l961 under Leonard Bernstein who later chose him to conduct the world premiere of hisMass for the opening of the Kennedy Center. Peress was Music Director of three American orchestras; Corpus Christi (1962-74), Austin (1970-72) and the Kansas City Philharmonic (1974-80). He worked personally with Duke Ellington (1969-74) on a symphonic orchestration of a Suite from Black Brown and Beige––premiered under his baton by the Chicago Symphony––and Queenie Pie a musical opera-comique (Philadelphia Music Theater and the Kennedy Center. Maestro Peress reconstructed and conducted a series of historic concerts for Carnegie Hall including James Reese Europe's 1912 Clef Club concert, Antheil's Ballet Mecanique concert of 1927 and Ellington's Carnegie Hall debut Concert of 1943; at which Black Brown and Beige was introduced. His book Dvorak to Duke Ellington, published by Oxford University Press in 2004 is now in paperback and has been translated into Mandarin 2008Among his many recordings for Music Masters are; “Antheil's Ballet Mecanique concert of 1927,” "The Birth of the Rhapsody in Blue." a complete reconstruction of Paul Whitemans's 1924 Aeolian Hall Concert; "Symphonic Ellington," with the American Composers Orchestra:Harlem, the Black Brown and Beige Suite, the Piano Concerto: New World A'Comin and Three Kings (all also edited by Peress for G. Schirmer), and Ellington's original Jazz band Black Brown and Beige with the Louis Bellson Orchestra, Clark Terry and Joe Williams.