In April of 2022, the Gateways Festival Orchestra made its Carnegie Hall debut in a sold-out performance. This was the first time in the history of this legendary venue that an all-Black orchestra performed there. Last week, the Gateways Music Festival, along with the orchestra, came to Chicago for the first time, with performances offered throughout the metropolitan area last week.
Armenta Hummings Dumisani, a classical concert pianist and educator, founded the Gateways Music Festival in 1993. For many years the festival was held every other year; more recently it became an annual event. The stunning conclusion of this year’s festival was last Friday night, when conductor Anthony Parnther conducted the Gateways Festival Orchestra in a concert at Symphony Center.
The concert opened with “Worship:” A Concert Overture by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932–2004), an American composer named after Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912), a London-born composer with a father from Sierra Leone and a mother from England. Perkinson was deeply influenced by jazz (performing in the Max Roach Quartet and working with Lou Rawls, Marvin Gaye, Harry Belafonte and others) and this gives “Worship” a particular and unique piquance. This beautiful orchestral work is based on the “Doxology,” a much-loved hymn, but it is enigmatically quoted in only small clutches of notes at any one time.
Parnther drew out the drama of the slow and ominous opening, letting the music unfold deliberately. Bongo drums lead to a more animated section and then the brass ratcheted up the tension before the triumphant conclusion was delivered with zing.
This was followed by Elgar’s Variations on an Original Theme, more commonly known as the “Enigma Variations.” There are 14 variations, each a musical sketch of someone known to the composer. The original theme was entitled “Enigma” but that appellation was never elucidated — “The enigma I will not explain,” wrote Elgar — so that “Enigma” even today remains an enigma.
This work was no puzzle for Parnther and the Gateways Orchestra, as they gave life to Elgar’s sketches. Each variation had its own distinct flavor and personality. The brass had some joyful blustery playing, the wind choir sang with warm tone, and the strings were both lush and authoritative. The very popular Nimrod movement was a bit slow for my taste, but I believe Parnther was going for a spacious and open approach. The Finale had drive and vivacity.
After the intermission, the orchestra took on “Montgomery Variations” by Chicago’s own Margaret Bonds. The piece is dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was completed in 1964 and was motivated by the Civil Rights Movement, including specific events including the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombings.
The work is a set of variations on the spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me.” Bonds wrote of her use of this theme, saying that her treatment of it “suggests the manner in which Bach constructed his partitas — a bold statement of the theme, followed by variations.”
The music was gripping, beginning with a potent roll from the timpani before the anthem-like music of the first movement develops. “Prayer Meeting” opened quietly and the orchestra expertly built to the fervor of the religious celebrants. The spiritual music is particularly lovely here.
“The March” was infused with crackling intensity while “Dawn in Dixie” was hypnotic. Throughout this powerful music, Parnther and the orchestra paid close attention to the details, giving the music the space to expand as well as compressing the tight, punchy moments for full effect. This was a performance with lavish sound that did not blunt the disturbing events that motivated the composer. It was a memorable and moving performance.
The last segment of the concert was completely different, featuring the male vocal sextet Take 6. The group was formed in 1980 and they sing gospel, jazz, R&B, pop and other contemporary styles. Quincy Jones once called them the “baddest vocal cats on the planet.”
They offered a set of cheerful and buoyant music. Lennon and McCartney’s “Got to Get You Into My Life” had the same bounce and optimism as the Beatles’ own recording, but was given fresh flavor by their jazz-inspired harmonies. Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile,” coming on to being 100 years old, was given a 21st century remake that was stylish and attractive.
For those in the audience not accustomed to singers using amplification (and they used a lot), the sound was at times quite muddy. But for their encore they put down the mics and offered their own take on a classical music work: an arrangement by Take 6’s own Mark Kibble of Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia.” It had tight harmonies and was performed with both passion and pizazz.
The good-sized audience loved the evening, offering wild applause after every number. It was a fitting way to cap off the weeklong festival.
The night before the orchestra’s concert, there was a Gateways performance at the South Shore Cultural Center. Chamber musicians Caitlin Edwards and Alexandria Hill (violin), Wilfred Farquharson and Solomon Leonard (viola) and Malik Johnson and Derek Menchan (cello) entertained a healthy-sized crowd with music primarily written by Black composers.
Jesse Montgomery’s “Voodoo Dolls” is a frisky work for string quartet that was delivered with contrasting thumping energy and lightness of touch. Solomon Leonard amazed his listeners with a scorching performance of “Three Showpieces for Viola” by Frederick C. Tillis. The music was gnarly and complex, but Leonard dashed off difficult passages with flair and ease.
“Prospective Dwellers” by Tomeka Reid had effervescence while the Fugue in G Minor for String Trio by Irene Britton Smith was mesmerizing. The Adagio and Allegro by Robert Schumann had soulful moments but it was also marred by some intonation problems. The musicians for Dorothy Rudd Moore’s “Modes for String Quartet” were persuasive advocates for score, keeping the audience under their spell.
It was a pleasure to be introduced to the joys of the Gateways Music Festival. To learn more about this organization and their future plans, visit GatewaysMusicFestival.org.
