Music Makes a City
Music Makes a City
In 1948, a small, struggling, semi-professional orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky began a novel project to commission new works from contemporary composers around the world. The Commissioning Project grew far beyond anyone's expectations. In 1953, the orchestra received an unprecedented $400,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation to commission 52 compositions a year for three years. The new works were to be performed in weekly concerts and recorded for sale by subscription. The architect of this ambitious artistic venture was Louisville Mayor Charles Farnsley who had a deep love of cultural expressions of all kinds as well as boundless enthusiasm and an inexhaustible bank of new ideas. Farnsley professed to be guided by the philosophical principles of the Chinese sage Confucius. Farnsley found a willing partner for his plans in Robert Whitney, the young conductor who had arrived in Louisville in 1937 to lead the fledgling orchestra. Over the years, nearly every living composer of note would be commissioned and recorded by the Louisville Orchestra.
“Lyrical and striking” - NY Times
“Illuminating... Evocative... captures a region and music engaged in harmonious, dynamic interplay” - Village Voice
“A singular harmonic convergence is recounted in Music Makes a City, Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler’s enlightening documentary about how Louisville, Ky., became a locus for contemporary music in the mid-20th century. In striking synchronicity, a mayor, a conductor and a robust postwar generation of composers intersected to make the city a hub for visionary composition.”
– New York Times, September 2010 [Andy Webster]
“The film brings fascinating insights into the cultural life of an American city, and perhaps the most important lesson to take away from it is that through sheer conviction Whitney was able to carry his audience with him.”
– The Rest is Noise, September 2010 [Alex Ross]
“Illuminating... Evocative... captures a region and music engaged in harmonious, dynamic interplay”
– Village Voice, September 2010 [Nick Schrager]
“As the film reminds us, this Kentucky city included a world-class philharmonic, one that became the first to actively recruit new works from contemporary composers.”
– Time Out New York, September 2010 [Andrew Schenker]
“Watching the film in 2010, the biggest reason for fans of culture to run out and see it might be the core suggestion it makes: that when times get tough, the talented get bold.”
– New Music Box, September 2010 [Molly Sheridan]
“And rare is the movie which interviews so many composers. Elliott Carter speaks of the challenges where brass overwhelmed strings, in his Variations. Harold Shapero speaks of the joy in writing here and Chou-wen Chung is influenced by his Chinese childhood to write And the Petals Fall…A tale suitably tall, and implausibly engaging.”
– ConcertoNet.com, September 2010 [Harry Rolnick]
“The Louisville Orchestra’s story should serve as an inspirational case study for everyone trying to make a go of it in performing arts management. Thanks to the leadership of conductor Robert Whitney and the behind-the-scenes encouragement of Farnsley, the Louisville Orchestra carved out an under-served but prestigious niche, making musical history in the process…Intelligently representing both the woefully underappreciated classical music of the contemporary era and the unexpectedly cosmopolitan city of Louisville (at least for most New Yorkers), City is highly recom
mended for adventurous music lovers.”
– The Epoch Times, September 2010 [Joe Bendel]
“The introductory sequence of Jerome Hiler and Owsley Brown III's Music Makes A City - a fascinating new film documenting the evolution of the Louisville Orchestra and, by extension, the city of Louisville iteself - feels right on time, leading with a visual array of our most pressing contemporary challenges, in thoughtfully edited footage of a community struggling to manage the incursion of chaos into its urban streets, businesses, and homes."
– LISTEN, Fall 2010 [Lucia Rahilly]
“Anyone interested in classical music should see this uplifting story of American ingenuity at its best.”
– MusicalAmerica.com, May 2010 [Sedgwick Clark]
“Music Makes A City, the work of San Francisco filmmakers Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler, is a tale of artistic vision and civic commitment told through local voices, vintage photos, and interviews with key figures including current Music Director Jorge Mester and composers Elliott Carter, Lukas Foss, Gunther Schuller.”
– Symphony, May 2010
“Lyrical and striking” - NY Times
“Illuminating... Evocative... captures a region and music engaged in harmonious, dynamic interplay” - Village Voice
“A singular harmonic convergence is recounted in Music Makes a City, Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler’s enlightening documentary about how Louisville, Ky., became a locus for contemporary music in the mid-20th century. In striking synchronicity, a mayor, a conductor and a robust postwar generation of composers intersected to make the city a hub for visionary composition.”
– New York Times, September 2010 [Andy Webster]
“The film brings fascinating insights into the cultural life of an American city, and perhaps the most important lesson to take away from it is that through sheer conviction Whitney was able to carry his audience with him.”
– The Rest is Noise, September 2010 [Alex Ross]
“Illuminating... Evocative... captures a region and music engaged in harmonious, dynamic interplay”
– Village Voice, September 2010 [Nick Schrager]
“As the film reminds us, this Kentucky city included a world-class philharmonic, one that became the first to actively recruit new works from contemporary composers.”
– Time Out New York, September 2010 [Andrew Schenker]
“Watching the film in 2010, the biggest reason for fans of culture to run out and see it might be the core suggestion it makes: that when times get tough, the talented get bold.”
– New Music Box, September 2010 [Molly Sheridan]
“And rare is the movie which interviews so many composers. Elliott Carter speaks of the challenges where brass overwhelmed strings, in his Variations. Harold Shapero speaks of the joy in writing here and Chou-wen Chung is influenced by his Chinese childhood to write And the Petals Fall…A tale suitably tall, and implausibly engaging.”
– ConcertoNet.com, September 2010 [Harry Rolnick]
“The Louisville Orchestra’s story should serve as an inspirational case study for everyone trying to make a go of it in performing arts management. Thanks to the leadership of conductor Robert Whitney and the behind-the-scenes encouragement of Farnsley, the Louisville Orchestra carved out an under-served but prestigious niche, making musical history in the process…Intelligently representing both the woefully underappreciated classical music of the contemporary era and the unexpectedly cosmopolitan city of Louisville (at least for most New Yorkers), City is highly recom
mended for adventurous music lovers.”
– The Epoch Times, September 2010 [Joe Bendel]
“The introductory sequence of Jerome Hiler and Owsley Brown III's Music Makes A City - a fascinating new film documenting the evolution of the Louisville Orchestra and, by extension, the city of Louisville iteself - feels right on time, leading with a visual array of our most pressing contemporary challenges, in thoughtfully edited footage of a community struggling to manage the incursion of chaos into its urban streets, businesses, and homes."
– LISTEN, Fall 2010 [Lucia Rahilly]
“Anyone interested in classical music should see this uplifting story of American ingenuity at its best.”
– MusicalAmerica.com, May 2010 [Sedgwick Clark]
“Music Makes A City, the work of San Francisco filmmakers Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler, is a tale of artistic vision and civic commitment told through local voices, vintage photos, and interviews with key figures including current Music Director Jorge Mester and composers Elliott Carter, Lukas Foss, Gunther Schuller.”
– Symphony, May 2010
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