On KUSC today, you’ll hear me mention an ensemble called Future Band. Future Band is a group of a couple dozen musicians, ages 8-14, from all over London. The ensemble has no set instrumentation, the members write their own music, and it is open to just about anyone. Future Band meets during school vacation periods for several days of intensive rehearsal…and they often perform here at the Barbican Centre. The philosophy is, basically, that creative expression in music should not be bound by the strict rules of one particular style of music.
Last night, Future Band performed at the symposium that the LA Phil and Barbican Centre are hosting called “Future Play: Music Systems in the 21st Century.” Here is a bit from that performance.
This morning, the always-provocative Peter Sellars spoke about activism in music education. I’ll have more thoughts from his talk later here on the blog, but just to whet your appetite, here are a couple quotes from Sellars today:
“Arts organizations are my favorite fascist structures. At a musuem, you see only what the curator wants you to see. An orchestra conductor only lets you hear what he wants you to hear. Nothing else. It’s exclusively top down.”
“Equality is not based in sameness. Equality can only exist in our differences.”
That’s vintage Peter Sellars.
Brian Lauritzen 