Four musicians from California’s Pacific Symphony have been awarded “Musician Innovation Grants” totaling $20,000 to fund new artistic projects from June through the 2015-16 season. Each of the four is curating a free or low-cost chamber performance featuring orchestra musicians and outside artistic collaborators. The inaugural event supported by the grant was Principal Second Violin Bridget Dolkas’s “Obsession” program at the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in Santa Ana on June 6. That concert featured music by Dowland, Ravel, Debussy, Ysaӱe, Bizet, and Steve Reich, as well as interludes by DJ VFresh, video by the museum’s executive director, Stephen Anderson, and art in connection with the art center’s “Moist” exhibit. On June 17, First Violin Dana Freeman programmed classical and Broadway tunes for the senior residential community of Laguna Woods, with the aim of invoking memories. In July, Second Violin MarlaJoy Weisshaar will present a family-friendly “Synesthesia” program meant to illustrate the concept of experiencing multiple senses at once. In 2016, Flute/Piccolo Cynthia Ellis will program works by Jewish composers and other composers whose music was suppressed during World War II in “The Inextinguishable Project.”
Posted July 1, 2015
