GATEWAYS ORCHESTRA

KODAK HALL AT EASTMAN THEATRE
26 Gibbs Street
Rochester, New York

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20, 2022 | 7:30 PM

 

The 120-member Gateways Music Festival Orchestra, whose distinguished players hail from the nation’s foremost orchestras and conservatory faculties, is renowned for its bold sound, exciting interpretations and uncompromising pursuit of artistic excellence.  Regularly performing old and new classics, the Gateways Orchestra takes special pride in showcasing the works of composers of African descent, both past and present.   

This concert features Johannes Brahms’ Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Florence Price’s Symphony No. 3 in C Minor and Sinfonia No. 3 by George Walker–the first African-American Pulitzer Prize for Music Laureate and whose centennial falls in 2022. The concert concludes with James V. Cockerham’s Fantasia on “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a rousing and epic musical journey from Africa to the new world which has become the signature piece of the Gateways Orchestra.

 

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

ANTHONY PARNTHER, CONDUCTOR

American conductor, Anthony Parnther, is the Music Director and Conductor of the San Bernardino Symphony Orchestra and the Southeast Symphony & Chorus in Los Angeles.

Anthony has conducted artists spanning every musical genre including Joshua Bell, Jessye Norman, Yundi Li, Lynn Harrell, Frederica von Stade, Roderick Williams, Canadian Brass, Jennifer Holliday, Kanye West, Imagine Dragons, Omar Apollo, and Alan Walker. Recent guest

conducting engagements include the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Chineke! Orchestra, Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya, Jacaranda - Music at the Edge, Hear Now Music Festival, Pittsburgh Microtonal Festival, Hollywood Chamber Orchestra, BrightworkNewMusic, and the World Opera Forum in Madrid, Spain.

Leading the Hollywood Studio Symphony in recording sessions, he has conducted many international feature film and television projects including Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Tenet, Little, American Dad, The Hunt, Fargo, The Way Back, The Night Of, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Encanto, Star Wars: Book of Boba Fett, and Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild.

His live orchestral concert appearances for e-sports titan League of Legends in Barcelona, Beijing, Seoul, and Los Angeles are among the most widely viewed symphonic concerts in the world, with live audiences of 50,000-75,000 spectators and a viewership that outpaces the World Series with approximately 100 million live streaming each League of Legends Finals Opening Ceremony concert.

Anthony has restored and performed orchestral works by Florence Price, Zenobia Powell Perry, Margaret Bonds, William Grant Still, Duke Ellington, and Samuel Coleridge Taylor. He has premiered and recorded works by Anthony Davis, George Walker, Errollyn Wallen, John Wineglass, Gary Powell Nash, Marian Harrison, Renee Baker, James Wilson, Phillip Herbert, Daniel Kidane, Chanda Dancy, and James Newton. In 2015, Anthony was profiled by Los Angeles' KCET/TV as a "Local Hero" for his extensive community outreach and advocacy for the performance of works by Black, Latinx, and Women artists.

Anthony studied music performance at Northwestern University and continued his musical studies at Yale University where he studied orchestral conducting with Lawrence Leighton Smith and Otto Werner Mueller. He resides in Los Angeles and Palm Springs.

THE GATEWAYS ORCHESTRA

Anthony Parnther, conductor
Antoine T. Clark, assistant conductor

VIOLIN I
Kelly Hall-Tompkins, concertmaster
Cleveland A. Chandler
Daniel Constant
Caitlin Edwards
Mellasenah Edwards
Brendon Elliott
Alex Gonzalez
Mariana Green-Hill
Marianne Henry
Ashley Horne
Amyr Joyner
Kyle Lombard
Jessica R. McJunkins
Chelsea Sharpe
Lionel Thomas
Anyango Yarbo-Davenport

VIOLIN II
Derek Reeves, principal
Lucinda Ali-Landing
Charlene Bishop
Jeffrey Boga
Dale Breidenthal
David Burnett
Nicole Cherry
Frédérique Gnaman
Bennie Harris
Joshua Henderson
Sarah E. Martin
Phillip Payton
Meredith Riley
Booker Rowe

VIOLA
Jennifer Arnold, principal
Leslie DeShazor
Andrew Francois
Ashleigh Gordon
Linda Green
Christopher Jenkins
Caroline Jones
Javen Lara
Deidra Lawrence
Aundrey Mitchell
Yvonne Smith
George Taylor

CELLO
Troy Stuart, principal
Ifetayo Ali-Landing
Cremaine Booker
Eric Cooper
Gordon Grubbs
Joseph Hébert
Timothy Holley
Thapelo Masita
Prudence McDaniel
Derek Menchan
James Ryan Murphy
Wayne Smith

DOUBLE BASS
Rick Robinson, principal
William Johnson
Kevin Mauldin
Anthony Morris
Jacqueline Pickett
Patricia Silva Weitzel

FLUTE
Judith Dines, principal
Dennis Carter
Jacqueline Cordova-Arrington
Patricia Reeves

OBOE
Titus Underwood, principal
Hassan Anderson
Sarrah Bushara
Geoffrey Johnson

CLARINET
Alexander Laing, principal
Pamela Coats
Robert Davis
LeTriel White

BASSOON
Joshua Elmore, principal
Alexander Davis
Kai Rocke
Maya Stone

FRENCH HORN
Larry Williams, principal
David Dickerson
Adedeji Ogunfolu
Priscilla Rheinhart
Jeffrey Scott

TRUMPET
Herbert Smith, principal
Javian Brabham
Leonard Foy
Courtney Jones

TROMBONE
Burt Mason, principal
Isrea Butler
Timothy Robinson
Martin McCain (Bass)

TUBA
James Jenkins, principal

TIMPANI
Douglas Cardwell, principal

PERCUSSION
Ralph Barrett, principal
Jauvon Gilliam
Cleo Goldberg
Don Johns
Terry McKinney

HARP
Adán Vásquez, principal

CELESTE
David Berry, principal

 

Gateways Music Festival is grateful to the following institutions, foundations and governmental agencies for their generous support of the 2022 Gateways Music Festival.