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Time Capsule Multimedia series
(Last Monday of the month)
Time Capsule multimedia presentations profile the great musicians and momentous developments in 20th century music. Gates Thomas, Director of the Deanery, narrates this vibrant story with fascinating video and audio clips, photos, historical documents, and animation. These Time Capsule presentations are adapted from lectures originally presented at Berklee College of Music in Boston. The Deanery opens at 5PM for a wine and cheese reception before the presentation.
Monday, February 24 — 5:30PM
Pops:
Louis Armstrong, Father of American Music
The spectacular career of Louis Armstrong — trumpeter, singer, composer, bandleader, actor, entertainer, and writer — is the very model of the American musician. This multimedia presentation — including excerpts from rare footage, performances, interviews, photographs, and the artist’s two self-written memoirs — relates Armstrong’s life story, musical journey, and legacy, and offers a deeper look into this most influential of musicians.
Monday, March 31 — 5:30PM
The Wizard:
Leopold Stokowski
and the American Orchestra
American symphony orchestras were the laughing stock of Europe in 1912, when the English-born conductor Leopold Stokowski came to the Philadelphia Orchestra. Within a decade, he had transformed them into “the finest orchestra the world has ever known”. Throughout a 60-year career, Stokowski forged a new, American style of orchestral performance, set in motion a training apparatus to sustain it, discovered and refined orchestral recording techniques, and commissioned thousands of new orchestral works. This presentation draws on rare concert, rehearsal, and interview footage and recordings that delve into the magic of Stokowski performances and his recorded legacy.
Monday, April 28— 5:30 PM
A Wealth of Riches:
The Orchestral Music of
Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn
Mood Indigo, It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Satin Doll, Do Nothin’ ‘Til You Hear From Me, Lush Life, Sophisticated Lady — these are just a few of the hit songs written by Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and Billy Strayhorn (1915-67).
Yet in the composers’ minds, their greatest body of work was their orchestral music — thematic collections of short instrumental pieces packaged as “suites” and scored for a singular orchestra of virtuoso performers. The vastness of this catalog is surpassed only by the richness of its contents. Come prepared to experience an extraordinary story of American music and some classic filmed and recorded performances by one of the greatest orchestras of all time.
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