Bring On the Queens, and Other Classical Highlights

Music Academy of the West’s Formative and Impressive 'Mariposa' Series Opens with Karen Slack’s 'African Queens' Program at Hahn Hall on the Santa Barbara Campus

By Josef Woodard Fri Sep 27, 2024 | 11:02am

In the past two years, the already rich autumnal classical season in town has been amended by a new kid in town, as the traditionally summer-owning Music Academy of the West (MAW) branched out into the Mariposa series of chamber concerts. Many of the concerts in the series showcased MAW alums, a vast and sometimes storied pool of past Academy “fellows” who once roamed the hallowed halls and have gone on to lofty careers.

This year, the Mariposa Concert Series grows up and outward, with its strongest program yet, a diverse four-concert roster starting on Saturday, October 5, and continuing into the spring. This season, each one of the carefully curated events qualifies as a calendar marker for local “serious music” aficionados, with a notable emphasis on contemporary musical impulses.

The slow-release Mariposa schedule begins at Hahn Hall, with acclaimed soprano Karen Slack’s special art song project African Queens, then continues on December 7 with the premiere contemporary-minded JACK Quartet (which has been in residence in the summer MAW program in the past). The Academy’s ongoing partnership with the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) — MAX (Music Academy Exchange) — folds into the series purview at Hahn Hall on Monday, February 7, of next year, as musicians from LSO perform with alums, and the vibrant youth-geared chamber group yMusic shows up on March 10, with a program including a premiere by the fascinating emerging, category-busting composer Gabriela Smith.

Mariposa commences on a high and distinctive note, with Slack’s African Queens, program honoring the legacies of African queens not given due attention or respect in the western world. The soprano, who will be joined by pianist Kevin Miller, devised a song set with new works by Jessie Montgomery (who has been connected to MAW and had her music performed in town), Jasmine Barnes, Damien Geter, Shawn Okpebholo, Dave Ragland, Carlos Simon, and Joel Thompson. Spoken word and text elements, along with selected traditional songs, are woven into the evening’s conceptual tapestry.

Premiered at the Ravinia Festival in June, African Queens has since been performed at two other respected classical summer destination points, Aspen and Tanglewood, the 92Y in New York City, and elsewhere. It is a particularly personal project for the Philadelphia-born soprano, whose fast-rising profile so far includes a role in Terence Blanchard’s ground-breaking Met-bound opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, a soloist debut with the New York Philharmonic last season, a range of conventional classical repertoire and an earlier special themed project, the title of which tells all: #saytheirnames — Women of the Movement.

Speaking of significant Black musical legends, Slack’s recently released album project, Beyond the Years, celebrates the unpublished songs of noted American composer Florence Price (1887-1953), whose music has been earning overdue exposure in recent years. Take, for instance, a prominent orchestral presence at The Granada Theatre in June, when conductor Anthony Parnther led MAW’s Academy Festival Orchestra through Price’s Symphony No. 3, on a program featuring Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Equal time and overdue inclusiveness continue on their petty but steady pace in the classical world, thankfully also touching down in our town.

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