Rosalyn Aninyei is doing her best to create and maintain a world class orchestra in her home country of Nigeria. Florence Price is getting the festival treatment at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Blake-Anthony Johnson talks about his path to become the first African American to be the CEO of a world-renowned orchestra, the Chicago Sinfonietta. There’s a new album of music by Florence Price and William Dawson via the Philadelphia Orchestra. Here’s a link to the Margaret Bonds Symposium at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Even the Artistic Director and Founder of Conspirare, Craig Hella Johnson, finds it hard to believe that the choral ensemble is 30 years old. He’s developed a fall season that’s kind of eclectic with a nod to the past and an eye on the future. One choral group is being invited back for the holiday program. It’s Isaac Cates & Ordained who will, says Johnson, bridge the past with the future.

In this month of September, your ears will be filled with the sound of STILLPOINT. It’s Awadagin Pratt’s latest album. He’s performing music he commissioned from several composers of color. You can hear the life and times of Aaron P. Dworkin’s in his debut spoken word album The Poetjournalist. Malakai Bayoh didn’t win Britian’s Got Talent 2023. The 14-year-old DID win a record deal and his debut album Golden is out and about.

Opportunities abound all over the BIPOC spectrum.

Austin Opera has a program for Latinx creatives.
There’s a leadership opportunity at the Delaware Symphony Orchestra.
South Africa’s National Arts Festival is calling for creatives of all types for their 2024 event.
Composers might want to write what could become the Best Symphonia of the Year.

The Long Center is celebrating its 15th anniversary with something they’ve never done before. They’re throwing open the doors of the performing arts facility for the First Annual Teresa Lozano Long Community Day. Dr. Long broke racial barriers at the University of Texas back in the 1950’s. She and her husband Joe have funded many scholarships, educational institutions and The Long Center. Long Center CEO Cory Baker says the place will be rocking inside and out with performers from all over the Austin area.

There’s good news about the progress of the once dilapidated National Opera House in Pittsburgh. They are still in need of financial help and volunteer personnel. We honor the life and career of Pianist Andre Watts with good friend and colleague Norman Kreiger. There’s a new debut album from Sphinx Virtuosi called Songs for Our Times. Bass player Joseph Conyers is making history again with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Conductor Jonathon Heyward has picked up another job. The Hastings International Piano Competition in England is looking for applicants. So is the Sphinx Competition. There’s also a competition for UK only groups called the Music and Drama Education awards.

With summer almost over and school starting soon, there’s one more fun item that your children might appreciate. Teachers can take advantage of it too. It’s Carnegie Hall Kids. This voluminous website offers games, quizzes, musical maps and more for children to play with.

This next book on the summer reading list comes with its own soundtrack amid a story based on a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. It’s The Nightingale, a book with music and other 21st century upgrades from the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra or ROCO in Houston.

This is another addition to your summer reading list: There are hundreds of books about Mozart but the author of Mozart In Motion has a different take. Author Patrick Mackie takes us time traveling through the swirl that was Mozart’s short life.