Toledo, OH – Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts is proud to announce they have been approved by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) for a Grants for Arts Projects award of $20,000. This grant will support upcoming performances of The Planets: The Orchestra’s Guide to the Galaxy in partnership with ADJ•ective New Music and KV 265. In total, the NEA will award 958 Grants for Arts Projects awards totaling more than $27.1 million that were announced as part of its first round of fiscal year 2024 grants.
“The NEA is delighted to announce this grant to the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts, which is helping contribute to the strength and well-being of the arts sector and local community,” said National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “We are pleased to be able to support this community and help create an environment where all people have the opportunity to live artful lives.”
The Orchestra’s Guide to the Galaxy will celebrate the total solar eclipse that will pass over Toledo in April 2024 with an unprecedented commission and world premiere of a new work for full orchestra written by nine composers from the ADJ•ective Composers’ Collective. Founded by Jamie Leigh Sampson and Andrew Martin Smith with roots in Northwest Ohio, ADJ•ective New Music has a multi-year history of collaboration with the Toledo Symphony. Nine of the composers of the ADJ•ective Composers' Collective, in partnership with the University of Toledo Department of Physics and Astronomy, have created an homage to the scientific properties of the planetary bodies of the solar system. Faculty at UT worked with the composers to provide feedback on scientific elements of the planets that helped inspire and shape each movement. Titled …of the spheres… the work will include:
1. Mercury: Bringing Dualities into Harmony by Cynthia Van Maanen
2. Uranus: One Lifetime by Hong-Da Chin
3. Mars: Curiosity and Perseverance by Andrea Reinkemeyer
4. Pluto: The Outcast by Andrew Martin Smith
5. Venus: The Reversal by Anne Neikirk
6. Saturn: A Cross Section by Alex Temple
7. Neptune: The Unknown by Daijana Wallace
8. Earth: The Spark by Robert McClure
9. Jupiter: Bringing Chaos into Orbit by Jamie Leigh Sampson
“With the approaching celebrations triggered by this year’s solar eclipse, it’s exhilarating to see the ingenuity that goes into planning so many events — including those planned by the Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA),” said Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur. “With the help of a $20,000 federal award from the National Endowment for the Arts, TAPA will help to stage performances of 9 new compositions dedicated to the planets on March 22nd and 23rd to celebrate the solar eclipse. The arts can allow us to take ourselves far away to distant places and I know these new musical compositions will be, shall we say, out of this world.”
Jamie Leigh Sampson, Co-Owner of ADJ•ective New Music, says, “The ADJ•ective Composers’ Collective is so proud to return to Toledo, where we started as an organization, to work once again with the Toledo Symphony. This partnership is built on the synergy of community, and we couldn’t think of a better team to bring …of the spheres… into orbit.”
The composers consulted with Michael Cushing, Professor and Director and Heidi Westrick, Assistant Director of the Ritter Planetarium and Brooks Observatory at the University of Toledo to gain scientific insight about each planet. "We have really enjoyed working with the composers of ADJ•ective New Music as they have embarked to create nine new musical renderings of our home solar system," says Cushing. "We can’t wait to see how the composers translate the planets' unique characteristics into music."
"Commissioning a composers' collective allows us to engage with multiple composers of color, a majority of whom are women," says Merwin Siu, Artistic Administrator for TAPA and Principal Second Violin of the Toledo Symphony. "This collective approach to the commission allows for a unified feel to the overall composition, and having each composer take primary responsibility for a planet creates a suite of pieces as diverse in size, environment, and composition as the planets themselves."
This world premiere will be paired alongside The Planets, a popular and influential orchestral work composed by Gustav Holst. Holst's Planets are loosely based on astrological depictions described by the composer as "a series of mood pictures." Accompanying Holst's Planets will be stunning visuals including time lapse photography and imagery from NASA and astronomer-photographer José Francisco Salgado, founder of KV 265, a non-profit arts and science education organization whose mission is the communication of science through art to communities worldwide.
As a part of TAPA's ongoing partnership with Imagination Station, Dr. Salgado and composers from ADJ•ective New Music will appear as part of the Total Eclipse Lecture Series at Imagination Station's KeyBank Discovery Theater in the weeks leading up to the Toledo Symphony's performances on March 22 and 23. These Community Conversations are free and open to the public. Space is limited so reservations are required.
WHAT: A Community Conversation with Solar System Ambassador Jim Ottaviani and ADJ•ective New Music Composers Jamie Leigh Sampson and Andrew Martin Smith.
WHEN: Thursday, March 14. Doors open at 5:30. Event begins at 6pm.
WHERE: Imagination Station KeyBank Discovery Theater
RESERVE: online at imaginationstationtoledo.org
WHAT: A Community Conversation with Astronomer-Photographer Dr. José Francisco Salgado
WHEN: Thursday, March 21. Doors open at 5:30. Event begins at 6pm.
WHERE: Imagination Station KeyBank Discovery Theater
RESERVE: online at imaginationstationtoledo.org
WHAT: The Planets: The Orchestra's Guide to the Galaxy performed by the Toledo Symphony
WHEN: March 22 & 23, 2024 at 8pm
WHERE: Toledo Museum of Art Peristyle
TICKETS: www.artstoledo.com/events or call 419.246.8000
About TAPA
The Toledo Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) strives to establish meaningful partnerships with individuals and organizations that fundamentally impact the cultural life of our region. A performing arts collective consisting of the Toledo Symphony, Toledo Ballet, Toledo Symphony School of Music, and Toledo Symphony Youth Orchestras. TAPA is a vibrant and growing organization that empowers all in our region to experience the performing arts through concerts, recitals, education programs, private lessons, community outreach, fully staged productions, and more. For more information, visit www.artstoledo.com.
About ADJ•ective New Music
ADJ•ective New Music is an award-winning publisher and distribution company that started in 2010 in Toledo, OH. ADJ•ective has published a range of resources on extended techniques and the musical works of four composers: Jamie Leigh Sampson, Andrew Martin Smith, Brandy Hudelson, and Donald Bohlen. In 2016, the ADJ•ective Composers' Collective started as a way for self-published composers to promote contemporary music and the creative endeavors of their colleagues. The collective currently includes: Christopher Chandler • Hong-Da Chin • Andrew Cote • Joseph Dangerfield • Rob Deemer • Frank Duarte • Jennifer Jolley • Robert McClure • Anne Neikirk • Andrea Reinkemeyer • Jamie Leigh Sampson • Garrett Schumann • Andrew Martin Smith • Jonathan Sokol • Emily Joy Sullivan • Alex Temple • Cynthia Van Maanen • Daijana Wallace • Evan Williams
About KV265 and Dr. José Francisco Salgado
José Francisco Salgado is an Emmy-nominated astronomer (BS in Physics, Univ. of Puerto Rico; PhD in Astronomy, Univ. of Michigan), experimental photographer, visual artist, and public speaker who creates multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. As the Executive Director and co-founder of KV 265, a non-profit science and arts education organization, Dr. Salgado collaborates with orchestras, composers, and musicians to present films that provoke curiosity and a sense of wonder about the Earth and the Universe.
His Science & Symphony films have been presented in more than 254 concerts and 205 talks and have reached a combined audience of more than 474,000 people in concert halls, museums, and lecture halls spanning more than 100 cities in 21 countries. Some of the orchestras that have presented these works include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, the San Francisco Symphony, New World Symphony, and the Orchestra Teatro Regio Torino. His first two films were named by the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO as Special Projects for the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009). In 2012 his film Gustav Holst's The Planets was chosen for Ravinia Festival’s One Score, One Chicago initiative. This film will accompany the Toledo Symphony's performance of The Planets on Friday, March 22 and Saturday March 23 at 8pm at the Peristyle Theater.
