“The Boston Civic Symphony will begin its season with an ambitious livestreamed concert broadcast free on Sunday at … the First Church in Cambridge,” led by conductor Francisco Noya, writes Brian Schuth in Wednesday’s (10/21) Boston Musical Intelligencer. “Q: I’m happy to see a large local ensemble finding a way to do something live. Noya: Oh, we’re not large―we’re very much smaller than usual…. We are normally 85 or 90…. On Sunday there won’t be any audience … and we’re just 25…. Q: It’s an unusually interesting program. There’s a work by William Grant Still [Out of the Silence]; a Sibelius rarity, Rakastava; Elgar’s Chanson de Nuit, Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Ravel’s Ma Mere L’Oye. Is this program reacting in some way to our historical moment? Noya: Absolutely…. We have decided to be proactive, and we will be presenting more music by African-American composers [and] more performances by African-American soloists, and seeking out African-American orchestra members once we can imagine a full orchestra performance again…. I feel like we’ve been in a silence for months … and this [Out of the Silence, led by Assistant Conductor Nathanial Efthimiou] will be the way we emerge out of that silence.”
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