2019 American Music Festival Special Previews
FROM SENECA FALLS TO STONEWALL
The Albany Symphony’s 2019 American Music Festival, Sing Out! New York frames two anniversaries: the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment that gave women the right to vote, and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, a turning point for LGBTQ rights. Sing Out! New York draws inspiration from these events to tell the stories of the heroic figures, milestone events, and great passions behind New York’s leading role in championing equal rights.
While the main events of the Festival will take place here in the Capital Region, these two special previews will connect Sing Out! New York to the historic sites central to the women’s rights movement and the LGBTQ rights movement and their fight for equality and justice for all people.
We hope to see you at these inspiring and exciting previews!
DEL TREDICI MEET UP AT STONEWALL
SATURDAY, MAY 11 | 2:00PM
The iconic June 28, 1969 Stonewall Uprising was a catalyst for the LGBTQ rights movement, awakening a new era in LGBTQ political activism. In 2016, the Stonewall National Monument, which comprises the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the streets where the events of the Uprising occurred, was designated as the 412th national park and the first to commemorate LGBTQ rights and history.
We will begin the day at the Stonewall National Monument in Christopher Park, enjoy a command performance of David Del Tredici’s Felix Variations for bass trombone featuring David’s nephew, legendary bass trombone virtuoso, Felix Del Tredici, and hear David’s reminiscences about his early life as a gay composer living and working in New York City in the 1960s.
SENECA FALLS DAY TRIP & CONCERt | SATURDAY, MAY 18
It was at Seneca Falls, at the Conference on Women’s Rights, on July 19-20, 1848, that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Frederick Douglass, and others met for the first time in American history to formally affirm the audacious idea that women deserve the same rights as men.
We will relive that glorious moment in New York State’s history: touring the National Historic Site and legendary Wesleyan Chapel with the Park’s rangers; having a talk with a brilliant Harvard professor and human rights scholar, Kathryn Sikkink; exploring the town, including the Women’s Hall of Fame; and enjoying an unforgettable, suffrage-themed performance by the four brilliant young singers of the IAMIAMIAM collective from the Bard College Vocal Arts Program in the Wesleyan Chapel, the very room in which the original Conference of 1848 took place.