June 8: GRAMMY®-Winning Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony Led by Music Director David Alan Miller
Photo by Lauren Desberg available in hi-resolution here.
GRAMMY®-Winning Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony
World Premiere of Flute Concerto by Michael Gilbertson Features
Brandon Patrick George, Albany Symphony,
& Albany High School Chamber Choir
Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
EMPAC at RPI | 44 8th Street | Troy, NY
“a knockout musician with a gorgeous sound”
– The Philadelphia Inquirer
Albany, NY – GRAMMY®-winning flutist Brandon Patrick George – who has been praised as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer – brings the inaugural installment of his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony, conducted by Music Director David Alan Miller, as part of the Symphony’s American Music Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm at EMPAC at RPI (44 8th Street, Troy, NY). Through this ongoing initiative, which is supported by the Ford Foundation, Brandon is partnering with orchestras across the country to commission new flute concertos that involve orchestras' local communities by including students in the process and in the performance. For this partnership, the commissioned composer is Michael Gilbertson, who has written a flute concerto to be performed by Brandon with the Albany Symphony and students from the Albany High School Chamber Choir. The all-American concert program also features Joan Tower’s 1920/2019; the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s Flow, Suite for Piano and Orchestra with Assad as the piano soloist; and Christopher Theofanidis’ On the Bridge of the Eternal.
In November 2023, Brandon Patrick George visited the Albany High School Chamber Choir together with composer Michael Gilbertson, getting to know the students and hearing them perform. Brandon and Michael will also work with the students when they are in Albany during the week leading up to the performance, further solidifying the valuable aspect of mentorship which is a significant part of Brandon’s initiative.
Beginning in May 2020, Brandon Patrick George received frequent invitations to serve on panels about diversity in classical music, being repeatedly asked what institutions can do to support and reflect the communities they serve. These conversations, and desire to use his platform for change, inspired him to create BPG: The Community Concerto Project. Facilitating the creation of a new piece which tells the story of a community, while also representing the community on stage, illustrates Brandon’s vision of working with orchestras to deepen their connections with their audiences, inspire young musicians, and expand the repertoire with programming that reflects the community they serve.
Brandon says, “Community building through musical storytelling is at the core of my initiative. This new set of concertos, beginning with Michael Gilbertson’s, seeks to celebrate community, while supporting arts education, local music programs, and the creation of new music for flute and orchestra. With the flute as soloist, I am creating a new, hopeful story of the Pied Piper. In my version, the piper uses music as a force for change, inspires young people, and uplifts communities through new compositions that reflect their city.”
Michael Gilbertson’s new piece will reflect the sentiments he encountered when visiting students at Albany High School. “After visiting the Albany High School Chamber Choir with Brandon [Patrick George], I decided to adapt Rudyard Kipling's poem If, which is reminiscent of the thoughts expressed by the members of the choir,” he says. “A choral song based on Kipling's text begins the third movement and was the starting point for this work.”
About Brandon Patrick George: Brandon Patrick George is a leading flute soloist and GRAMMY-winning chamber musician whose repertoire extends from the Baroque era to today. He is the flutist of Imani Winds and has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta, Baltimore, and Albany symphonies, American Composers Orchestra, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, among others. He has been praised as “elegant” by The New York Times, as a “virtuoso” by The Washington Post.
Brandon has performed at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kennedy Center, the Dresden Music Festival, and the Prague Spring Festival. In addition to his work with Imani Winds, Brandon’s solo performances include appearances at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 92nd Street Y, Tippet Rise, and Maverick Concerts. Additional recent and upcoming performance highlights include concerts presented by the Dayton Philharmonic, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Hancher Auditorium, Bard Music Festival, and Shriver Hall.
In 2021, Brandon was part of the inaugural class of WQXR’s Artist Propulsion Lab, a program designed to advance the careers of early and mid-career artists and support the future of classical music. During his yearlong residency at WQXR, Brandon guest hosted Evening Music, interviewed Ford Foundation president Darren Walker about diversity and equity in the performing arts, and recorded with pianist Aaron Diehl and harpist June Han.
Brandon's latest album Twofold was released on In a Circle Records in 2024. Twofold explores musical dialogues that transcend space, time, and identity by pairing canonical works for solo flute with new compositions and features music by C.P.E. Bach, Claude Debussy, Reena Esmail, Saad Haddad, Shawn E. Okpebholo, Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Toru Takemitsu. His debut solo album was released in 2020 on Haenssler Classics, and he was featured in The New York Times around the album’s release in an article titled “A Flutist Steps into the Solo Spotlight,” which described the album as “a program that showcases the flute in all its wit, warmth and brilliance."
Raised by a single mother in Dayton, OH, Brandon is the proud product of public arts education. He draws on his personal experiences in his commitment to educating the next generation, performing countless outreach concerts for school children every year, and mentoring young conservatory musicians of color embarking on performance careers. Brandon trained at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the Conservatoire de Paris, and the Manhattan School of Music. He serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. www.brandonpatrickgeorge.com
About Michael Gilbertson: The works of Michael Gilbertson have been described as “elegant” and “particularly beautiful” by The New York Times, “vivid, tightly woven” and “delectably subtle” by the Baltimore Sun, “genuinely moving” by The Washington Post, and “a compelling fusion of new and ancient” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. Michael served as BMI Composer in Residence with the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and joined the faculty of SFCM in 2017. He was one of three finalists for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize in Music for his Quartet.
Michael Gilbertson’s works have been programmed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Washington National Opera, Albany Symphony, New World Symphony, Cabrillo Festival Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Grand Rapids Symphony, and Santa Barbara Symphony, wind ensembles including The United States Marine Band, and professional choirs including Musica Sacra, The Crossing, Volti, Conspirare, The Swedish Radio Choir, and Yale Choral Artists. A graduate of Juilliard and Yale, he has been the recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Lieberson Fellowship, a Copland House Residency Award, five Morton Gould Awards from ASCAP, and a BMI Student Composer Award.
Michael Gilbertson’s one-act opera Breaking, a collaboration with playwright Caroline McGraw, was commissioned by the Washington National Opera and premiered at The Kennedy Center. He has twice composed and conducted original ballets for the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute. His fifth ballet, a collaboration with choreographer Norbert De La Cruz, was premiered by the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. From 2009-2021, Gilbertson served as director of ChamberFest Dubuque, an annual music festival that raised money for community music education in his hometown of Dubuque, Iowa. www.michaelgilbertson.net
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Flutist Brandon Patrick George Brings his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony
What: World Premiere of Composer Michael Gilbertson’s Flute Concerto Plus Music by Joan Tower, Clarice Assad, and Christopher Theofanidis
When: Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 7:30pm
Where: EMPAC at RPI, 44 8th Street, Troy, NY, 12180
Tickets and information: www.albanysymphony.com/upcomingconcerts/2024/6/1/amf
Description: GRAMMY®-winning flutist Brandon Patrick George, praised as a “knockout musician with a gorgeous sound” by The Philadelphia Inquirer, brings the inaugural installment of his BPG: Community Concerto Project to the Albany Symphony as part of the Symphony’s American Music Festival, in the world premiere of a flute concerto by composer Michael Gilbertson, written for Brandon, the Albany Symphony, and the Albany High School Chamber Choir conducted by the Symphony’s Music Director David Alan Miller. The all-American concert program also features Joan Tower’s 1920/2019; the world premiere of Clarice Assad’s Flow, Suite for Piano and Orchestra with Assad as the piano soloist; and Christopher Theofanidis’ On the Bridge of the Eternal.