Wilmington’s Cultural Street Art Program Opens with Art Installation at Peter Spencer Plaza

The content of this post comes from a City of Wilmington press release...

The City of Wilmington, which supports Black lives and the ongoing effort to promote racial justice reforms locally and nationally, today (Monday, August 24, 2020) opened a community designed and executed cultural street art program. Organized by community activist and artist Vanity Constance and managed by City Cultural Affairs Director Tina Betz, the first of a series of cultural street art installations is underway beginning this morning at the King Street entrance to Peter Spencer Plaza.

“This new art program is a community expression that comes from people’s feelings about the current state of racial justice and racial relations,” said Mayor Mike Purzycki. “This effort has the wholehearted endorsement of City government because it is also about supporting better things to come for all of us who live in, work in, and visit Wilmington. Council President Hanifa Shabazz and I, respectively representing the Executive and Legislative Branches of government, embrace the colors, images, themes, and individual artistic efforts of this program and thank Vanity and all of the participating artists for helping us appreciate art while we learn and heal.”

Monday’s opening cultural street art installation was organized by the Local Street Art Group, a non-profit founded by Vanity Constance. The lead designer and artist facilitator on Monday’s project is local artist JaQuanne Leroy who created the image to be painted entitled “Freedom and Justice.” The work, pictured at the beginning of this news release, features African tribal patterns and symbols. It is expected that this initial artwork will be completed by Tuesday.

The section of sidewalk that is being decorated crosses the western entrance to Spencer Plaza, named for Peter Spencer (1782-1843), who founded the Mother AUMP Church (African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church) on the site of the plaza in 1813. The church was the first independent Black denomination in the country. The plaza was also the site of the first Big Quarterly (or August Quarterly), which was started by Spencer in 1814. The plaza statue, "Father and Son," was erected in 1973 and depicts a Black male figure cradling a sleeping child in his arms. Larger-than-life and dressed in a t-shirt and jeans, the man is not a direct representation of the religious leader but rather a symbol of the hope for the future that he inspired. The remains of Peter Spencer, his wife Annes, and ten of his followers are interred in a vault beneath the statue. After Spencer’s death in 1843, there was a split in the church. The African Union Methodist Episcopal Church (AUMP) and the Union American Methodist Episcopal (UAME) both trace their history to the original church at 819 French Street.

Vanity Constance and Tina Betz said the first art installation site that was originally selected — crosswalks at 4th and Market Streets — could not proceed because of a series of technical problems such as needing to prep the asphalt for a few days before paint could be applied. Instead, it was decided that the Spencer Plaza sidewalk artwork would be an appropriate way to start the program.

Betz and Constance said other art installation sites will be announced soon, which will include a new mural in Freedom Plaza, the courtyard and public meeting space in between the Louis L. Redding City/County Government Building and the Elbert C. Carvel State Government Building on French Street. The mural will replace a sky and cloud patterned mural that graces a side wall of the Redding Building and serves as the backdrop for a stage that is used for music performances and other community-related events.

On August 13, a community-led ceremony was held in Spencer Plaza to unveil the permanent home of the Pan African RGB Flag. The date of the flag-raising — August 13 — is significant because it marked the 100th anniversary of the signing in 1920 of the Declaration of the Rights of the Negro People of the World by the United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) chaired by Marcus Garvey. This document is one of the earliest and most comprehensive human rights declarations in U. S. history.

Delaware Chamber Music Festival Closes 32nd Season with More Brahms & Jazz

By Christine Facciolo

The Delaware Chamber Music Festival continued its celebration of the music of Johannes Brahms June 23 through 25 with complementary works by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Mozart and Turina.

The Festival Quartet includes: Barbara Govatos, violin & DCMF Artistic Director; Hirono Oka, violin; Che-Hung Chen, viola and Clancy Newman, cello.  Guest artists this season were: Kristen Johnson, viola; Marcantonio Barone, Julie Nishimura & Natalie Zhu, pianists; Douglas Mapp, bass; Tina Betz, voice and Jonathan Whitney, arranger and director of Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residency. 

Friday, June 23’s concert opened with a performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet in F major, Op.18, no. 1. The instrumental Brahms owes much to Beethoven, who brought many innovations to his musical genres, not the least of which was the systematic use of interlocking thematic devices to achieve intra- and inter-movement unity in long compositions.

The six quartets that make up the Op. 18 set were Beethoven’s way of announcing to the world that he was to be taken seriously as a composer. It was evident that the musicians viewed the work not as the apogee of 18th Century Viennese Classicism, but rather as a transitional work that looked forward to the composer’s middle period.

That approach was made plain in the slow movement, which was presented as a deeply felt lament. Here Beethoven goes far beyond Haydn, writing in an emotional intensity — the movement is his musical depiction of the tomb scene of “Romeo and Juliet” — that must have shocked his contemporaries. The finale was energetic and incisive, elegant and charming.

Guest artists Hirono Oka (violin) and Marcantonio Barone (piano) collaborated in a tour de force rendering of Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, a 1930s work arranged from the ballet Pulcinella. Stravinsky based Pulcinella on music that had been attributed (probably erroneously) to the 18th Century Italian composer Giovanni Pergolesi. The result is not an antiquarian piece but a seamless fusion of the old and the new. Stravinsky maintained the courtly character of the Baroque melodies but spiced up the music with pungent harmonies and updated rhythms.

Oka and Barone respected the 18th Century influences in a refined performance full of spongy Baroque rhythms. But they also played with ample color and expression, making the music sound decidedly contemporary. Oka’s tone was both sweet and luminous and decisive.

The lighthearted character of the Suite Italienne gave way to the symphonic grandeur of Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34. Brahms published the work when he was 32 years old, but by then it had gone through several transformations: it began as a string quintet in 1862 and was rescored as a work for two pianos until Brahms gave it its final form.

This is a work of surging passion, tempered only momentarily by the softer-edged Andante. Govatos, Oka, Chen, Newman and Barone conveyed the full-bodied Romanticism of the two outer movements and the driven Scherzo and a plaintive, soulful rendering of the slow movement. Yet as heated as the music got, the ensemble kept the texture remarkably transparent. Viola and cello lines were never buried yet the group produced a solid, powerful sound.

On Saturday, June 24, concertgoers headed to the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew in downtown Wilmington for a free concert, marking the first collaboration between the DCMF and the residents of the Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residency. Six residents were given a week to compose a work that incorporated a classical string quartet — a first for these talented young artists.

Each composition was noteworthy but Sasquatch by vibraphonist Grady Tesch brought down the house. Tesch also excelled as a featured player in Mike Talento’s Half and Half and as lyricist and vocalist in Ike Spivak’s Plot Twist, which recounted the musical journeys of jazz luminaries.

Jazz vocalist Isabel Crespo gave a plaintive rendering of her composition Hide and Seek, while trombonist Kristin Monroe ably combined elements of jazz and classical in Coasting Equilibrium, her contribution in the tradition of Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango. Libby Larsen kept the musicians moving — especially pianist Julie Nishimura — with the kinetic energy of Four on the Floor.

Tina Betz, also executive director of the Light Up the Queen Foundation, applied her dramatic contralto to a powerful rendering of Strange Fruit, a song about lynching made famous by the late Billie Holiday. Douglas Mapp, associate principal bass with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, joined the string quartet to accompany. The song was arranged for this performance by Boysie Lowery director, Jonathan Whitney.

Sunday, June 25’s program opened with Mozart’s Divertimento in D major, K. 136, the first of a group of works known collectively as the “Salzburg” symphonies. The work was performed at the request of DCMF Board President Carolyn Luttrell. Govatos, Oka, Chen and Newman played with a nimbleness and precision that underscored the decorous elegance of a work that can only be described as a masterpiece on the smallest possible scale.

Pianist Natalie Zhu joined Govatos, Chen and Newman in a seductive and sensitive performance of Joaquin Turina’s Piano Quarter in A minor, Op. 67. Composed in 1931, this gently melancholic work resonates with the vivid harmonies and impetuous rhythms of Spanish folk music yet at the same time bears the imprint of impressionists’ influence in its spacious, colorful textures.

The program — and season — concluded with a performance of Brahms’ breathtaking Quintet in G major, Op. 111. Orchestra in conception, this piece creates the effect of far more than five players. This was a passionate performance. Cellist Newman was more than equal to the full opening of the first movement. The Adagio was rapt intensity; the Allegretto wistful and the finale, robust.

See www.dcmf.org. 

Exploring & Exalting Spirituals in Concert at SsAM

By Guest Blogger, Chuck Holdeman
Chuck is a regional composer of lyrical, contemporary classical music, including opera, orchestral music, songs, chamber music, music for film, and music for educational purposes. www.chuckholdeman.com

The fourth annual spirituals concert at Wilmington's  Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew was heard by a large and appreciative audience on Sunday evening, January 26. Led by the church's music director David Christopher, the varied program featured choral music, two vocal soloists, The Chamber Choir of the Wilmington Children's Chorus, as well as Christopher performing organ solos. His relaxed presentation of each piece kept the whole audience in his hand, providing fascinating background about the music's African-American roots, including the Go Down Moses organ fantasia by the late Nigerian-American composer Fela Sowande, who left no device untried, from Bach to Max Reger, from tragic to triumphant.  

Included was a nod to the choral tradition of Fisk University — Rockin' Jerusalem by John Wesley Work III. The program also included masters of the genre Harry T. Burleigh (the sung version of Go Down Moses) and William Grant Still (Here's One). While most of the selections were part of the older spiritual tradition, one selection was, in Christopher's word, "gospelized," Mark Hayes' dancing version of This Little Light of Mine. The evening's two soloists were the church choir's irrepressible Tina Betz and the young professional mezzo and UD graduate, Melody Wilson. Wilson possesses a rich colorful voice, especially in the middle register. This spring, Wilson will participate in the recording of Terence Blanchard's jazz opera Champion. Wilson will sing in the chorus, also serving as understudy to Denise Graves.  

The Wilmington Children's Chorus, under the direction of Kimberly Doucette, sang André Thomas' Keep Your Lamps, accompanied by the solo djembe drum of associate director Phillip Doucette. The young group of about 40 sang with wonderful precision and tone — even the young bass singers sounded convincing and full. The djembe part seemed to be intended to give life and variety to the many verses in slow tempo, but nevertheless came off as an add-on, somewhat out of the style of the song.  

The church choir was augmented by members of Christopher's Delaware Valley Chorale. It was a pleasure to see seasoned artists like Dana Robertson there to add luster to the music. Audience participation was also part of the mix, and Clayton White's arrangement of Ain-a that Good News from Horace Boyer's African-American Hymnal (LEVAS II) was a stand out. Christopher told me afterward that he was impressed and delighted by the big sound of the audience's voices!

Fast Film Finale with Fringe Festival Festival Fanfare

The crowd already gathered in Theatre N was hip, happy and sporty – is this Philadelphia? Tina Betz and Rich Neumann, coordinators of Wilmington’s First Fringe Festival, were witty, arty, and articulate as they hosted the awards ceremony and screening of the top ten Fringe Fest films on Sunday, October 4. The winners were:

Brad Padoski’s eponymic opus was a comic infomercial about his personal music systems, or PMS. His klutzy choices of music are hilarious. Finally, Brad finds a girl who has PMS, that is, a personal music system of her own.

The Dead Art, a film with mimes Scott Michaels, Nate Davis and Brahmin Jackson, veered to the bizarre when a mime murders passers by and finally hangs himself.

Ric Edevane’s film, The Rockford Case, was a take-off on Mission Impossible. His use of a heartless command control operative gave a great comic touch.

Devoted by Sharon Baker portrayed a lonely woman toasting in birthdays and other holidays at a table set for two to an excellent violin score.

My personal favorite was Playing Games, a film made by the family of photographer Amy Theorin. Two boys roughhouse in the Wilmington and Brandywine Cemetery until one disappears. The remaining brother must challenge a devilish sprite to a chess game to get his brother back. Kudos to Theorin’s fifteen-year-old neighbor who improvised the score on piano.

The filmmakers and the organizers and volunteers of the Fringe Festival should be proud of the great work they inspired with the contest – all ten of the top films are still in my head.