Sub-Total: $0.00
The Following Performances will take place during Doors Open on Sat, Sept 24
Access Contemporary Music will perform at the following sites on Saturday, September 24. Each site will feature performances of pieces specifically written for them. Performances will be played by local musicians from Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Ballet.
Milwaukee Public Library - Central Library
10 am - 1 pm on Sept 24
Performance Title: Short Stories
Composer: Brian Packham
Musicians: Kirk Ferguson - bass trombone; Orlando Pimentel - bass clarinet; Peter Thomas - cello
Short Stories, has three sections. The first was doubly inspired by the large and imposing stone work of the original building and rotunda and by my immediate recollection of many happy childhood hours spent at my local library reading books about dinosaurs. So the first part is like the building itself rising out of the ground, heavy, a bit lumbering, and connected to the earth. - Primeval. The next section is fast and rhythmic. I was thinking about all of the human ideas, thoughts, stories captured in all the books. - The spark of human creation that the library holds in its collections. The final section is stately in character and represents the lofty, noble ideals a library, as a free repository of all human thought available to all, represents.
Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery
12 pm - 2 pm pm Sept 24
Performance Title: Confluences
Composer: Christian Ellenwood
Musicians: Ben Adler - clarinet; Beth Breslin - viola; Lynn Kabat - cello; Heather Yarmel - flute
The part of the complex that is now the “Best Place” is a fantastical 19th century building that very much resembles a German castle with towers, a turret, and crenellations; inside there are truly different worlds of memory—a renovated beer hall that transports you to Germany, a beautiful medieval-style courtyard, Frederick Pabst’s expansive office, a vast second floor space with sunlight filtering through 19th century stained glass, hidden vaults/nooks/crannies, a dark, quiet and eerie stone basement converted into a bar space. The wide and creaky staircases and very large windows in the stairwell give evidence that the building was once the District 2 Jefferson School—I heard the echoes of the steps of school children when I climbed those stairs. Throughout the place, I felt the layering, mingling and joining of past and present; a “confluence” of energies and memories, so I titled the piece accordingly.
Access Contemporary Music (ACM)
Access Contemporary Music (ACM) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to integrating musical creativity into everyday life. ACM partners with Historic Milwaukee to compose music for Doors Open spaces and have musicians perform the music in the spaces on the day of the event. This year's performaces are available virtually and feature Milwaukee's City Hall and the Wisconsin Black Historical Society. Thanks to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation and Access Contemporary Music for making this project possible.
