From TOLEDO MUSEUM OF ART
The Toledo Museum of Art and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra present the 4(19) Festival Aug. 9-11, the fifth in the organizations’ ongoing summer music marathon series. This summer’s festival features four concerts highlighting the works of 19 composers with ties to the Toledo area performed by musicians from the region.
“We hope to create a vibrant portrait of Toledo in music and art that captures the rich cultural history of this city while also looking forward to what lies ahead,” said Scott Boberg TMA’s manager of programs and audience engagement.
While past years have explored the works of single composers, this year’s Summer Music Festival will feature 19 composers including Evan Chambers, Jennifer Higdon, Elainie Lillios, Paul Schoenfield and Alain Trudel. Also included in the festival are composers featured include Sandra Clark, Estar Cohen, Pete Ford, Brandy Hudelson, Andrew Massey, Robert McClure, Anne Neikirk, Jason Quick, Luke Rosen, Jamie Leigh Sampson, Marilyn Shrude, Andrew Martin Smith, Evan Williams and Armond Wimberly.
“The idea is to celebrate the originality, diversity, and genius of those composers who have called Northwest Ohio home,” says Merwin Siu, artistic administrator for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra. “From church hymns to Pulitzer-Prize winning composers, there is such a wonderful variety of music for us to select from.”
The music marathon has been organized into four themes or filters—”Glass City,” “Black Swamp,” “Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio” and “Holy Toledo”—to group the 19 composers into the four different concerts.
The 4(19) Festival is comprised of three ticketed and three free concerts. Tickets for the three paid performances can be purchased individually and are $10 for TMA members and TSO subscribers, $12 for nonmembers, and $5 for students and active military each. A festival pass—which grants the holder access to all three ticketed concerts and priority seating at the free Saturday, Aug. 10 evening performance—is $20 for TMA members and TSO subscribers, $24 for nonmembers, and $10 for students and active military. Tickets and passes can be purchased online at toledomuseum.org, by phone at (419) 255-8000 ext. 7448 during Museum hours, or in person at any TMA Information Desk.
The 4(19) Festival is a collaborative program of the Toledo Museum of Art, the Toledo Symphony, and the ADJ•ective New Music.
4(19) Festival Schedule
4(19) Festival: Glass City
Friday, Aug. 9: 6– 8 p.m., GlasSalon
The 4(19) Festival begins with “Glass City,” located in TMA’s GlasSalon, the perfect location for a unique combination of pieces for acoustic and electro-acoustic instruments. This multi-media concert celebrates Toledo’s unique legacy of tradition and innovation through music that explores innovation, transparency, and brightness. Tickets are $10 for TMA members and TSO subscribers, $12 for nonmembers, and $5 for students and active military.
4(19) Festival: Black Swamp
Saturday, Aug. 10: 1–5 p.m., GlasSalon, Museum Grounds, and Wolfe Gallery
Once known as the Black Swamp, Northwest Ohio’s natural wonders have been a source of inspiration for our region’s composers. The breadth of works presented here explore the complicated relationship between music and our natural environment and run the gamut from appreciation to activism. There will be three parts to the “Black Swamp”–themed concert.
4(19) Festival: Black Swamp (Part One)
Saturday, Aug. 10: 1–3 p.m., GlasSalon
Tickets are $10 for TMA members and TSO subscribers, $12 for nonmembers, and $5 for students and active military.
FREE 4(19) Festival: Black Swamp (Part Two)
Saturday, Aug. 10: 3:15–3:45 p.m., Museum Grounds
FREE 4(19) Festival: Black Swamp (Part Three)
Saturday, Aug. 10: 4–5 p.m., Wolfe Gallery
4(19) Festival: Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio
Saturday, Aug. 10: 7:30–9:30 p.m., Great Gallery
Toledo has often been given an identity by outsiders, choosing to brand it as a particularly culturally bereft outpost in flyover country. Nowhere is this more evident than in the famous John Denver song, “Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio.” This iconic line is put under the microscope in a pair of evening concerts. The first examines the concept of identity vs. identification, with composers whose works delve deep into the issues of self and its perception from the outside. Tickets are $10 for TMA members and TSO subscribers, $12 for nonmembers, and $5 for students and active military.
FREE 4(19) Festival: Saturday Night in Toledo, Ohio
Saturday, Aug. 10: 10–11:30 p.m., Bellwether at Toledo Spirits
The second Saturday evening concert is a celebration of the joy and exuberance that characterizes a true Toledo Saturday night and takes place at Toledo Spirits’ new sensory-immersive cocktail bar north of downtown. While this concert is free to attend, 4(19) Festival passholders receive priority seating for this performance.
FREE 4(19) Festival: Holy Toledo
Sunday, Aug. 11: 2–4 p.m., Throughout the Museum
The weekend concludes with an exploration of the rich history of sacred music by Northwest Ohio composers in an event entitled “Holy Toledo,” performed throughout the Museum galleries alongside complementary works of visual art.
