The Second Street Dreams Audio Network

2020 is extremely similar to another tough year that ended 52 years ago with an uplifting and spiritual message from space. The astronauts aboard Apollo 8 delivered their Christmas message while orbiting the moon. A message heard in the historic re-telling of the mission in the documentary First to the Moon: The Journey of Apollo 8 with a soundtrack composed by Alexander Bornstein.

2021 brings with it the trauma from 2020. In the classical music community this transition comes with hope and some joy that classical music composed and performed by Black classical musicians will be recognized more so than ever before. There’s D-Composed, a Chicago Black music ensemble formed by two women who took it upon themselves to focus on Black classical music and and those in other genre’...

It is entirely possible that you won’t be able to spend the holidays with a loved one who’s in a nursing home or otherwise being treated for cognitive decline. Music and Memory, a group dedicated to helping these patients re-engage by using music, says you should create a playlist just for your special person as a gift.

As we move deeper into the difficulties 2020 has brought us, one New York based opera company is doing a deep dive into its programming. Heartbeat Opera has produced a 6 part visual album highlighting the music of Black composers. It’s called Breathing Free.

Composer Rudy Perrault writes a musical conversation between Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr about President Barack Obama. Auditions are coming up for a new opera company in Houston for singers of color. We talk to the founder of I Colori Dell'opera, Errin Hatter.

During these difficult days, creativity abounds. Composer John Dante Prevedini decided to use his own face for a new composition. It’s called, appropriately, SELFIE.

It’s been 8 months of orchestras, chamber groups, opera companies and more, trying to figure out how to hold performances, safely. Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the Brown School of Engineering recently completed a study on how that could happen. One finding? Social Distancing and masks are just ONE part of getting full orchestras or operas on stage with an audience watching.

Necessity is indeed the mother of invention, especially in these times. Singers and musicians silenced by the pandemic may have found a way to sing and play together. One singer, Kelly Glyptis, and an organization, The Broadway Relief Project, have independently come up with what both are calling a Singer’s Mask.

Citing health concerns, at least two classical music organizations have made a difficult decision about their programming. The Met Opera and The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. There is some some good news from the Artist Relief Fund.

There’s mo’ money for struggling creatives, the story of a very busy young Black composer and a Langston Hughes-Beethoven mash up are among the virtual concerts you will want to watch while we try to answer the question: Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?

As we move into the fall season for performing arts, there is uncertainty, still, about how it’s all going to work out. On this August/September 2020 edition of Classical Music In Color, hear some of the push back from some classical music groups to the Black Lives Matter message. Black American classical musicians talk about what they go through on the job. There’s also information about grants f...

For the 75 year old world renowned flutist Eugenia Zukerman, life is a little different these days. Cloudy as she would put it, after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. She’s written a book about her diagnosis and about her life now. Like Falling Through A Cloud.

This Show Is In Honor Of George Floyd. This June 2020 edition of Classical Music In Color is mostly a This June 2020 edition of Classical Music In Color is a concert of music composed by African-Americans in classical music that’s about injustice. Most of the music was composed before George Floyd but which  resonates even more now.  Thanks to the  Sphinx Organization for The Seven Last Words of t...