NYC'S URBAN PLAYGROUND CREATES NEW SPACES FOR CLASSICAL MUSIC IN PARTNERSHIP WITH A DIVERSE, VIBRANT AUDIENCE.
URBAN PLAYGROUND BROADCASTS HISTORICALLY MARGINALIZED VOICES, AND NURTURES EMERGING COMPOSERS.
MUSICIANS FROM URBAN PLAYGROUND CURRENTLY PLAY WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC, BEYONCÉ, THE METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA, BROADWAY, LATE NIGHT TELEVISION PROGRAMS, AND LEAD A VARIETY OF SOLO AND CHAMBER PROJECTS.
MUSICIANS FROM URBAN PLAYGROUND CURRENTLY PLAY WITH THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC, BEYONCÉ, THE METROPOLITAN OPERA ORCHESTRA, BROADWAY, LATE NIGHT TELEVISION PROGRAMS, AND LEAD A VARIETY OF SOLO AND CHAMBER PROJECTS.
OUR STORY
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Urban Playground was formed out of the urge to develop a distinctively 21st century orchestra: Collaboration amongst artists from disparate backgrounds and experiences with respect to genre, and working in non-traditional venues.
That changed when Eric Garner was killed by New York City police on July 17, 2014. The orchestra felt that there had to be a musical response to the broader national conversations regarding police brutality and systems of oppression. Rather than throw a gala featuring a requiem from the European tradition, or perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with its promise of brotherhood, Urban Playground pivoted its repertory to prioritize the works of composers of color. At the same time, it became clear that works by female composers, especially those born prior to World War II were similarly excluded from concert stages. While Urban Playground maintained its collaborative roots, the orchestra shifted to prioritizing the works of composers of color and female composers, in order to expand and enliven the classical canon. After some experimentation with combining canonical masterworks (your Handels, Sibeliuses, and Dvoraks), including works that tracked the 20th century emergence of an “American sound,” it became evident that it made more sense for us and our audience solely to perform works by composers of color and female composers. The thriving cultural institutions of New York City will always offer outstanding performances of music from the predominately white, male European tradition; Urban Playground’s mission is to broadcast that which has not been heard, and to give opportunity to new and dormant voices. |
painting by Visual Artist-in-Residence, Young Sun Song
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Connect with us @upchamberorchestra
JoinUrban Playground brings innovative programming to audiences throughout New York City, creating new intersections between artists and championing the music of neglected and undervalued composers. Our collaboration-first model allows us to show what an orchestra can be, and embrace new audiences, genres and spaces. Your contributions will directly support the multi-disciplinary artists, programming and events of Urban Playground and our work to broaden New York's cultural landscape. We rely on the generous support of our community to create collaborations and performances at an affordable price to the public. If you are able to contribute by donating your time, talents or fiscal resources, Please contact us here. As a 501(c)3 Not-For-Profit organization, all donations are tax deductible to the extent permissible by law. |
Photo Credit: Allison Stock
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of Love and Power
Saturday, December 17 | 7:30 PM Benzaquen Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music 450 W. 37th Street, New York, NY 10018 PROGRAM LADY JESS: Nanon Shelley WASHINGTON: Middleground Julius EASTMAN: Femenine Tickets $15 in advance / $25 at door of Love and Power is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of New York's Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by LMCC.
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Photo credit: @travcimages
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REPRESENTATION: MEET OUR ARTISTS
Lady Jess Artistic Director & Elleo H. Phillips Concertmaster
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Lady Jess, née Jessica McJunkins, performs in NYC and LA. In addition to her work with Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra, LJ leads the Baltimore-based Soulful Symphony, is a soloing member of Beyoncé K Carter’s band, and contracts strings in New York and Los Angeles.
Artists credits include collaborations with Stevie Wonder, The Roots, Max Richter, Alicia Keys, Pete Townsend, One Direction, Diana Ross, Solange and more. Television appearances include The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Late Night with Seth Myers and Saturday Night Live. Lady Jess enjoys atypical performances that challenge boundaries of genre and tradition. She is a frequent soloist for The Moth Radio Hour on NPR, and has performed in residence with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Camille A. Brown Dance (CABD), and Nantucket Dance Festival, among others. Recent projects include the Emmy-nominated documentary and accompanying live album Homecoming, the On The Run II World Tour with Beyonce and Jay-Z, recording and arranging strings while on tour with the Carters for their joint album Everything is Love, and the recently released soundtrack to Disney’s The Lion King with Hans Zimmer. LJ is invested in the immediate diversification of the stage and screen; as a contractor, she has been instrumental in ensuring the visibility of musicians of color for television, film and live performances. To this end, she has collaborated with Common, Robert Glasper, Kelsey Lu, Questlove Gomez, Solange, Kamasi Washington for performances at the Kennedy Center, Radio City Music Hall, Hollywood Bowl, and more. Instagram | Website |
Thomas Cunningham Executive Director
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Thomas Cunningham is Executive Director of Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra. Founded in 2014, this orchestra for the 21st century prioritizes the music of women and composers of color to further enliven the classical canon. Previously, Cunningham served as Artistic Director of Urban Playground (2014-19), and was on the conducting staff of Voices of Ascension Chorus & Orchestra in New York, NY (2015-18), Helix! New Music Ensemble in New Brunswick, NJ (2015-18), and the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County in Bucks County, PA (2011-18). During the 2018-19 season, Cunningham made debuts at Carnegie Hall (Stern/Perelman), Symphony Space, and Langston Hughes Auditorium.
Formerly a conductor, favorite projects included performances of William Grant Still’s rarely performed oratorio And they lynched him on a tree, and Florence Price’s second Violin Concerto; leading the U.S. premiere of Sibelius’s complete, original Pelléas och Mélisande; orchestrating Addi & Jacq's award-winning songs; and commissioning numerous young composers. Passionate about the American repertory, Cunningham believes deeply in the underperformed compositions of African American composers, especially William Grant Still and George Walker. His completed symphonic suite of William Grant Still’s grand opera Troubled Island is published by William Grant Still Music; his dissertation The Symphonies of William Grant Still and the Emergence of an American Sound, was completed in 2018. Cunningham counts Cristian Măcelaru, Tito Muñoz, Kynan Johns, and Dennis Keene amongst his teachers and mentors. He holds degrees in performance and music education from Westminster Choir College and Rutgers University. |
Urban Playground is
VIBRANT. OFFBEAT. DIVERSE. INCLUSIVE. ADVENTUROUS.
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GET IN TOUCH
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Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra
PO Box 1372 New York, NY 10021 or send us an email at: info@upchamberorchestra.org |
PAST CONCERTS
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 | 7:30 PM
Cary Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 W. 37th Street, New York, NY 10018
PROGRAM
Caroline SHAW: Entr'acte
Frederick C. TILLIS: Spiritual Fantasy No. 12
Lady Jess, violin
Hajnal Pivnik, violin
Jason M. Amos, viola
Maria Jeffers, cello
Shaw & Tillis was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of New York's Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by LMCC.
Cary Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 W. 37th Street, New York, NY 10018
PROGRAM
Caroline SHAW: Entr'acte
Frederick C. TILLIS: Spiritual Fantasy No. 12
Lady Jess, violin
Hajnal Pivnik, violin
Jason M. Amos, viola
Maria Jeffers, cello
Shaw & Tillis was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of New York's Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by LMCC.
In a new educational partnership with Opportunity Music Project, we have embedded a quartet of our musicians as mentors and coaches for OMP students.
The culmination is a shared performance of chamber music by Urban Playground and OMP musicians, featuring all composers of color. This community event is a celebration of the young musicians' growth, and our organizational partnerships to broadcast the voices of now.
Free and open to the public.
The culmination is a shared performance of chamber music by Urban Playground and OMP musicians, featuring all composers of color. This community event is a celebration of the young musicians' growth, and our organizational partnerships to broadcast the voices of now.
Free and open to the public.
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PROGRAM
Jessie Montgomery Strum Trevor Weston Fudo Myoo Carlos Simon Elegy Coleridge Taylor Perkinson String Quartet No. 1 'Calvary' Chevalier de Saint-Georges String Quartet No. 4, movements 1 and 2 |
Urban Playground String Quartet
Lady Jess, leader Ling Ling Huang, violin II Pedro Vizzarro Vallejos, viola Terrence Thornhill, cello with student musicians from Opportunity Music Project |
AUGUST 26th, 2019
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in collaboration with the Harry T. Burleigh Society FROM SONG CAME SYMPHONY SCHOMBURG CENTER FOR RESEARCH IN BLACK CULTURE, NYC |
MAY 8, 2019 FROM SONG CAME SYMPHONY
In collaboration with the Harry T. Burleigh Society, Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra showcases the symphonic influence of Harry T. Burleigh, with performances by violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins.
READ MORE: FROM SONG CAME SYMPHONY REVIEWED BY NEW YORK CLASSICAL REVIEW
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The Harry T. Burleigh Society and Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra’s second collaboration showcased the symphonic influence of Harry T. Burleigh. Increasingly credited as influencing some of the spiritual-inspired thematic material for the “New World Symphony” and “American String Quartet” of Dvorak, Burleigh’s work also influenced other composers of the 20th century. The program included William Grant Still's "And They Lynched Him on a Tree,” spirituals by William Levi Dawson and Burleigh, as well as the New York City premiere of Florence Price’s Violin Concerto 2. This program was generously supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and Women's Philharmonic Advocacy.
PROGRAM
HARRY T BURLEIGH/ANTONIN DVORAK Deep River/Symphony No. 9, Largo FLORENCE PRICE Violin Concerto No. 2, New York Premiere Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin WILLIAM GRANT STILL And They Lynched Him On A Tree Lucia Bradford, contralto Lawrence Craig, narrator Brooklyn Ecumenical Choir Courtney Carey, chorus master With talks by musicologists A. Kori Hill, Marti Slaten and historian Lynne Foote |
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ALICE,
ALMA,
CLARA
Read about our recent concert
with featured artists
Dr. Ashley Jackson, harp &
Justine Aronson, soprano.
with featured artists
Dr. Ashley Jackson, harp &
Justine Aronson, soprano.
OCTOBER 12, 2018 ALICE, ALMA, CLARA
Soloists Dr. Ashley Jackson (harp) and Justine Aronson (soprano) join Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra for an evening of alternating meditation and intimate expression.
READ MORE: ALMA, ALICE, CLARA FEATURED ON OPERA WIRE
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Coltrane, Mahler & Schumann are common names to find on concert programs, but did you know these were not single-composer homes? Alice, Alma and Clara were, too, world-class composers. However, in the case of Alma and Clara they struggled against societal expectations of what a woman's compositions should be. With the exception of Clara's piano concerto, both composers were confined to art song, solo piano works and some chamber music. In order to amplify their songs, Urban Playground artistic director Thomas Cunningham has arranged the works for string orchestra, hoping to share a glimpse of what might have been had such restrictions on their writing not existed.
Alice, who later went by Turiyasangtananda (or Turiya), was a harp firebrand, bringing the instrument to the forefront of jazz as a bandleader and composer. After the passing of John, Turiya joined an Ashram in California. The works you'll hear were originally devised solely for members of her Ashram, but later released internationally. As part of our BLACK WOMEN FIRST initiative, the program began with Alice Coltrane's works. PROGRAM
ALICE Prema ALMA Five Songs CLARA Die gute Nacht Lorelei Op. 23, #4 & 5 Op. 13, Ich Stand in Dunklen Träumen ALICE Radhe-Shyam |
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EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS
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We're proud to partner with local organizations like Opportunity Music Project, the Harmony Program and Opus 118 Harlem School of Music to provide free tickets to students and families for concerts and invited dress rehearsals.
Recent residencies include Rowan University Community Music School, Opportunity Music Project, and Chamber Music Columbus
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VISUAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
Painting by Visual Artist-in-Residence 2018-19, Young Sun Song
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by Visual Artist-in-Residence 2016-18, Olivia M. Suffern
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by Visual Artist-in-Residence 2016-18, Olivia M. Suffern
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by Visual Artist-in-Residence 2015-16, Grace Needleman
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PRESS
RECENT PRESS
"A wide-ranging night of African-American music served up
with fire and feeling by the Harry T. Burleigh Society"
NEW YORK CLASSICAL REVIEW (Reviewer: David Wright)
"Marginalized Composers Take Center Stage at the Schomburg Center"
SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE (Reviewer: Brin Solomon)
OPERAWIRE
BROADWAY WORLD
OPERAWIRE
"A wide-ranging night of African-American music served up
with fire and feeling by the Harry T. Burleigh Society"
NEW YORK CLASSICAL REVIEW (Reviewer: David Wright)
"Marginalized Composers Take Center Stage at the Schomburg Center"
SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE (Reviewer: Brin Solomon)
OPERAWIRE
BROADWAY WORLD
OPERAWIRE
