Season 2023-24 Highlights
Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival
From March 13-16, 2024, Experiential Orchestra (EXO) and Videmus will present the Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival in New York City, celebrating Perry’s brilliance and legacy and illustrating the vibrance and importance of her music historically, today, and tomorrow. The four-day celebration takes place at venues across the city including Le Poisson Rouge, Mannes School of Music at The New School, the DiMenna Center for Classical Music, and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. In addition to EXO and Videmus, presenting partners include The New School to: Mannes School of Music at The New School College of Performing Arts and National Concerts. WQXR is the official media partner. The festival also marks the release of American Counterpoints, a new album from Experiential Orchestra and Curtis Stewart, conducted by EXO Music Director James Blachly, which includes the first-ever recording of Perry's Violin Concerto plus music by Stewart and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson. American Counterpoints will be released by Bright Shiny Things on March 1, 2024.
The Julia Perry Centenary Celebration and Festival will include performances of Julia Perry's chamber, choral, and orchestral music, as well as a series of talks and discussions organized by Dr. Louise Toppin, founder of the African Diaspora Music Project and Artistic Director of Videmus, illustrating the resurgence of scholarly interest in Perry’s work. Festival performers include the Experiential Orchestra led by Music Director James Blachly, bass-baritone Donnie Ray Albert, pianist Samantha Ege, flutist Brandon Patrick George, baritone Will Liverman, soprano Laquita Mitchell, PUBLIQuartet, violinist and composer Curtis Stewart, and soprano Louise Toppin. Students from New York City conservatories and music schools will participate in a side-by-side rehearsal and reading of Perry's music with EXO. A shared performance by Experiential Orchestra and youth ensembles led by EXO Music Director James Blachly and presented by National Concerts on March 16 at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall passes Perry’s musical legacy to the next generation. The concert culminates in four-time-Grammy nominee Curtis Stewart performing Perry's virtuosic Violin Concerto, with young musicians sitting side-by-side the EXO professionals in the orchestra.
Information about the festival is here.
Following on our Grammy®-Winning Smyth recording, Experiential Orchestra is proud to announce the world-premiere recording of Julia Perry’s Concrto for Violin and Orchestra with soloist Curtis Stewart. The album was officially released March 1, 2024 on the Bright Shiny Things label.
Featuring the world-premiere recording of Julia Perry's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, the album asserts the central importance of composers Julia Perry and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson in American classical music, juxtaposing early and late works of both composers and interweaving their compositions with original music by Curtis Stewart. Buy the album here.
Reviewed on NPR and more.
"There aren’t too many albums, however good they might be, that make me stop everything all at once to listen to a second time. This is that album. Founder/conductor Blachly and the Experiential Orchestra could very well find themselves on track for a second Grammy Award for this incredible recording.” -Craig Byrd, Cultural Attaché
Arvo Pärt’s Passio at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Experiential Orchestra joined forces with Artefact Ensemble and soloists Enrico Lagasca, Haitham Haidar to perform Arvo Pärt’s Passio in a concert for peace and healing. Reviews by Steve Smith here and Robert Levine here, and posts by Mary Rice here and Maria Popova here.
Guest Conducting the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic
James will conduct a week-long residency at Carnegie Mellon University March 18-24, conducting the Philharmonic in a program with Smyth, Vaughan Williams, and Dawson. Information and tickets here.
James Guest conducting WDR Funkhausorchester in the Rheingau Musik Festival
James will conduct two open-air concerts with the WDR Funkhausorchestra at the stunning Schloss Johannisberg on the banks of the Rhein River. His residency will also feature a new recording with the ensemble.
Fr. 28.6. | 19:30 Uhr Spot on: Hollywood „Escape to Paradise“ Daniel Hope, Violine WDR Funkhausorchester James Blachly, Leitung Schloss Johannisberg, Cuvéehof, Geisenheim-Johannisberg
Tickets: https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/programm-karten/programmuebersicht/detail/cuveehof-open-air-sommerfest-mit-feuerwerk
Sa. 29.6. | 18:00 Uhr Sommerfest mit Feuerwerk Vladimir Korneev, Gesang WDR Funkhausorchester James Blachly, Moderation & Leitung Beat Box Waterproof Teatro Pavana Schloss Johannisberg, Cuvéehof, Geisenheim-Johannisberg
Tickets: https://www.rheingau-musik-festival.de/programm-karten/programmuebersicht/detail/cuveehof-open-air/spot-on-hollywood-escape-to-paradise
Our Future with the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra
In my 8th Season as Music Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, we celebrate the Orchestra’s 95th Season with music that hearkens to the future, while honoring the city's history and tradition. The season features soloists Curtis Stewart, Peter Dugan, Henry Wong Doe, Chelsea Helm, Meg Bragle, Steven Caldicott Wilson, and Jesse Blumberg. More information here.
Still Celebrating
James Blachly won a 2021 Grammy® Award for conducting Experiential Orchestra’s
World-Premiere Recording of Dame Ethel Smyth’s The Prison, released on Chandos Records
