June 24-27: Michael Christie and New West Symphony present America the Melting Pot - music by Margaret Bonds, Valerie Coleman, Ellington, and more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contacts: Maggie Stapleton, Jensen Artists (Christie)
646.536.7864 x2 | maggie@jensenartists.com
Ross Goldberg (New West Symphony)
818.597.8453, x1 | ross@kevinross.net

New West Symphony Presents America the Melting Pot
Michael Christie, Artistic & Music Director with Guest Artists
Lara Downes, Ashley Faatoalia, Xavier Foley, and Eunice Kim

Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 3pm PT – Symphony Concert
With Additional Cultural Festival Events June 24 and 26

Season and Concert Passports Available Here:
www.newwestsymphony.org/2020-21-virtual-season/america-the-melting-pot   

“[New West Symphony is] embracing the mission of refreshing the modern concert experience for a new generation” – Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles, CA – New West Symphony (NWS), with Grammy-winning conductor Michael Christie as Artistic and Music Director, continues its 2020-21 groundbreaking and reimagined season of “Global Sounds, Local Cultures” with America the Melting Pot. This virtual festival, running June 24-27, embraces New West Symphony’s belief that the arts have a critical role to play in capturing the most important stories of our times, expressing the lived experiences of all members of our society, and ultimately leading the way toward a more equitable, inclusive, and just world for all. America the Melting Pot culminates with a feature symphony concert program, streaming on Sunday, June 27 at 3pm PT, that promotes unity through music by presenting the works of Eubie Blake, Margaret Bonds, Valerie Coleman, Duke Ellington, Florence Price, Hazel Scott, William Grant Still, as well as featured guest artist, composer and double bass virtuoso, Xavier Foley. Additional guest artists for this performance include pianist and NPR series host Lara Downes, tenor Ashley Faatoalia, and violinist Eunice Kim.

Along with the symphony concert, Season and Concert Passport holders can enjoy access to companion cultural festival programs for further immersion into the music, the artistry, and the culture that inspired the concert, curated by Michael Christie. These events will take place on Thursday, June 24 at 6pm PT – a Pre-Concert Talk from UCLA Senior Lecturer, David Ravetch, who explores the music presented in the America the Melting Pot concert in an informative, audience-friendly format; Saturday, June 26 at 7pm PT – during Meet the Artists, New West Symphony continues to explore Southern California’s heritage with an emphasis on the indelible imprint of those at the forefront of the Harlem and Chicago Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement. This segment includes demonstrations of instruments, and discussions about history, arts and music as well as biography, performance and insight into the artist’s process and talent, with Xavier Foley, Lara Downes, Ashley Faatoalia, and Eunice Kim.

Of this festival’s programming, Michael Christie says, “It has been a remarkable year celebrating the musical heritage of cultures around the world, looking out, as we’ve had to experience this time sheltering in place. We’ve learned about regional differences, how poetry, dance, the sacred and the profane have influenced western classical music and vice versa. Now we continue our journey with aspects of our own American heritage. We do so at a time of necessary but intense social and political reckoning. The compositional and performing ‘voices’ we celebrate are geniuses whose legacies are coming into a fuller bloom, such as Florence Price, Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake or William Grant Still - and voices of today such as Xavier Foley, Valerie Coleman and Lara Downes. I am proud and grateful that New West Symphony has dedicated this year of challenge and change to diverse voices. The cultures we’ve featured often originate in faraway lands but have a profound connection to our Southern California community.”

Christie will be available to answer questions in the live chat during each program. In addition to each initial live-streamed event, all programs (except the pre-concert talk) will be available on-demand to passport holders shortly after the initial broadcast ends. 

Program Information: America the Melting Pot – Symphony Concert and Cultural Festival
Premieres Sunday, June 27, 2021 at 3pm PT 

Michael Christie, Conductor
The Glywn and Ruth Chase Music Director

Valerie Coleman | Umoja

Florence Price | from Piano Concerto in One Movement

Hazel Scott | Peace of Mind

William Grant Still | Mother and Child for Strings

Margaret Bonds | He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (arr. Rabson) | Echoes of Harlem

Eubie Blake (arr. Arroyo) | Love Will Find a Way

Xavier Foley | For Justice and Peace

Foley | Cranberry Juice

Ellington (arr. Rabson) | I’m Just a Lucky So and So

Guest Artists:
Xavier Foley, composer, double bass
Eunice Kim, violin
Lara Downes, piano
Ashley Faatoalia, tenor

Additional Cultural Programs Included with a Concert Passport: 

Pre-Concert Talk with David Ravetch
Presented Thursday, June 24, 2021 at 6pm PT (not available on-demand)

The New West Symphony’s pre-concert talk features UCLA Senior Lecturer, David Ravetch, who explores the music presented in the “America the Melting Pot” concert in an informative, audience-friendly format.

Meet the Artists
Premieres Saturday, June 26, 2021 at 7pm PT

The America the Melting Pot edition of New West Symphony’s “Global Sounds, Local Cultures” season includes Meet the Artists, as NWS continues to explore Southern California’s heritage with an emphasis on the indelible imprint of those at the forefront of the Harlem and Chicago Renaissance and Civil Rights Movement. This segment includes demonstrations of instruments, and discussions about history, arts and music as well as biography, performance and insight into the artist’s process and talent. Featured soloists include composer and double bass virtuoso, Xavier Foley, as well as pianist and NPR series host, Lara Downes, tenor Ashley Faatoalia, and violinist Eunice Kim. 

New West Symphony Upcoming Festivals
Program details will be released four weeks prior to the streaming dates. 

A Tour of South Korea
Summer 2021 – dates TBD

Community partners and advisors who have collaborated with New West Symphony on the development on the 2020-21 season include Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; Hirokazu Kosaka, Japanese American Cultural Community Center; Composer Reena Esmail; and Mark Kligman and Supeena Adler from UCLA’s Department of Ethnomusicology. Season sponsors are Home Helpers Home Care, Karen and Dr. Paul Finkel, Susan Burgos, and Fern & Dr. Arnold Heyman. New West Symphony has received grants to support this season from the Colburn Foundation, California Arts Council, Edison Foundation, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, Neiman Marcus Foundation, TOArts, City of Thousand Oaks, Westlake Women’s Club, Meadowlark Service League, City of Agoura Hills, Bank of America Foundation, and others.

About New West Symphony: Now in its 26th season, the New West Symphony draws its players from the rich talent pool of accomplished Los Angeles-area musicians. Its mission is to inspire passion for symphonic music through live performances and education initiatives that engage and enrich its diverse audiences. For more information, visit www.newwestsymphony.org or connect on Facebook and Instagram. 

About Michael Christie: Grammy award-winning conductor Michael Christie is a thoughtfully innovative conductor, equally at home in the symphonic and opera worlds, who is focused on making the audience experience at his performances entertaining, enlightening, and enriching. The New York Times reports, “Michael Christie is a director open to adventure and challenge,” and the Cincinnati Enquirer declares, “If Michael Christie represents the future of music in this country, the future looks promising indeed.”

Christie won a 2019 Grammy Award (Best Opera Recording) for the world premiere recording of Mason Bates’ The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with The Santa Fe Opera (PENTATONE). In 2017, he led the world premiere performances at The Santa Fe Opera, “with suave assurance” (San Francisco Chronicle), with “precision and pizzazz” (Santa Fe New Mexican), and “preside[d] over an expertly executed performance” (The Financial Times). He was featured in Opera News in August 2012 as one of 25 people believed to “break out and become major forces in the field in the coming decade.” At Minnesota Opera, Christie led 24 productions over eight years, six seasons as its first-ever Music Director (2012-2018). Other recent highlights include leading performances with Washington National Opera, Opéra de Montréal, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Michigan Opera Theatre. Deeply committed to bringing new works to life, Michael Christie has championed commissions by leading and emerging composers alike, including Mark Adamo, Mason Bates, Unsuk Chin, Michael Daugherty, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Grey, Daron Hagen, Jennifer Higdon, Matthew Hindson, Huang Ruo, Marjan Mozetich, Stephen Paulus, Kevin Puts, and more.

Michael Christie has been a strong proponent of multicultural programming throughout his career. He created a World Music Festival at the Phoenix Symphony and a World Music Series at the Colorado Music Festival. As Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra in Australia, he toured Japan and recorded his debut album with didgeridoo player William Barton. With the Phoenix Symphony, he premiered and recorded Mark Grey’s Enemy Slayer: A Navajo Oratorio, libretto by Navajo poet Laura Tohe. While Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic, he led performances of Tan Dun’s The Gate and created the orchestra’s Nuevo Latino Festival.

Christie’s conducting career, spanning more than 20 years, has included serving as Music Director of the Phoenix Symphony (2005-2013) and Brooklyn Philharmonic (2005-2010), and as Chief Conductor of the Queensland Orchestra (2001-2004) in Australia, as well as guest appearances leading the Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhode Island Philharmonic, and the Symphonies of Dallas, St. Louis, Atlanta, Houston, Minnesota, Oregon, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and Santa Rosa. Christie’s many European engagements have included leading the Rotterdam Philharmonic, DSO Berlin, Orchestre National de Lille, Swedish and Netherlands Radio Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, NDR Hannover Orchestra and the Czech Philharmonic. In addition, Christie enjoys a strong profile in Australia, where he has conducted the Sydney Symphony, Tasmanian Symphony, Opera Queensland, and the Western Australian Symphony in Perth.

Michael Christie first came to international attention in 1995 when he was awarded a special prize for “Outstanding Potential” at the First International Sibelius Conductors’ Competition in Helsinki. Following the competition, he was invited to become an apprentice conductor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra where he subsequently worked with Daniel Barenboim as well as at the Berlin State Opera during the 1996-1997 season. For more information, visit www.michaelchristieonline.com.