More than 1,200 orchestra colleagues attended the League of American Orchestras’ 74th National Conference on June 3-5 in Nashville. The Conference was an extraordinary gathering of musicians, composers, board members, administrators, and volunteers, filled with provocative content and great music. The Conference explored what it means to be an orchestra in America today, how music has the unique potential to unite people while celebrating difference, and how musical artists are forging new definitions of the art of our time.
Highlights included:
• A powerful opening keynote address by Nashville Symphony Music Director Giancarlo Guerrero, in which he challenged the orchestra field to champion new music and diverse talents, after sharing his own personal journey from Nicaragua to the U.S. via Costa Rica—and the role music played through it all.
• The off-site “Walk of Love” and performance of Hannibal Lokumbe’s Crucifixion Resurrection: Nine Souls a- Traveling, honoring the victims of the 2015 mass shooting at Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, was a new and poignant experience for a League Conference.
• Joan Tower’s dynamic presence was felt throughout Conference, from the Nashville Symphony’s performance of her Sixth Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman to the session in which the composer discussed her career to her acceptance speech upon receiving the League’s Gold Baton award. Her visibility at the Conference highlighted the central role that composers play in orchestral life.
Keep the Conference spirit going by clicking here for Conference speeches, videos, presentations, and resources.
Posted June 17, 2019
