“Baltimore’s cultural life frequently gets vivified by startups,” writes Tim Smith in last Friday’s (8/18) Baltimore Sun. “Among those adding to this energy is Symphony Number One, a chamber orchestra that debuted in 2015…. To kick off the ensemble’s third season, audiences can hear a representative sampling [at] an outdoor performance in Mount Vernon Place on Wednesday…. ‘We’ve got a range of diverse voices,’ says Jordan Randall Smith, 34, the orchestra’s co-founder and conductor…. Pop twists include Baltimore rapper Martina Lynch performing her biting ‘Dear Media’ with a septet accompaniment … and Sara Corry’s ‘Short Circuit,’ which Smith describes as [having] ‘everything from Beethoven to Britney Spears in it.’ … The season-opening programs also [include] ‘Cornerstone’ … by the orchestra’s … composer-in-residence, Ben Goldberg [and] the suite from Stravinsky’s ‘L’histoire du soldat’ (‘The Soldier’s Tale’)…. Each season the ensemble issues a ‘call for scores.’ The latest drew more than 200 works by more than 100 composers…. Those selected for performance also have a chance to be recorded; Symphony Number One’s fourth commercial recording, featuring Nicholas Bentz’s nearly hour-long ‘Approaching Eternity,’ is due out in November…. With an annual budget of around $25,000, the orchestra puts most of its money into commissioning music and paying the musicians.”
Posted August 24, 2017
