Gateways Music Festival

“The show must go on...”

That mantra is the rallying cry of artists finding ways to create, perform, and share their work no matter what is happening around them. But Tuesday June 2nd is different: a group in the music industry is calling on performers, musicians and the industry itself to make a different choice in light of ongoing racism and violence.

Conductor Michael Morgan, music director of the Oakland Symphony in California, will make his San Francisco Symphony debut April 30-May 2, 2020. Morgan will bring a whole new program to the symphony.  The concert will include a performance of Florence Price's 1940 Symphony No. 3, the first local performance of Carlos Simon's 2019 work AMEN! as well as Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson, and Franck's The Cursed Huntsman.

The Gateways Music Festival is in Rochester this week, capped off by a concert Sunday in Kodak Hall at the Eastman Theatre.

The 125 musicians from all over the country rehearsed Friday morning, in advance of a preview concert held that afternoon, and among them was Amadi  Azikiwe, a violin and viola player based in New York City.

Very soon the Gateways Music Festival (August 6-11) in Association with the Eastman School of Music, will be returning to Rochester, for the largest festival in its history. 

The Gateways Music Festival is unique among music festivals, because it attracts and unites professional classical musicians of African descent, and provides them an opportunity to come together, to perform and inspire communities, through the excellence and power of classical music.  In the past 8 years, the festival has grown from a 3-day festival with approximately 50 musicians, to a 6-day festival including over 125 musicians and over 50 performances, along with a young musicians institute and a film-festival this year.

The New York State Council on the Arts recently announced support for music festivals in upstate New York that are building communities, advancing revitalization and celebrating diverse voices.  Of particular note is the support for Rochester's Gateways Music Festival.