OSF: Welcome Back, Detroit Symphony Orchestra!

We often dedicate Fridays to music from the "Old School", also known as "Grown Folks' Music". Most of the time, we recognize and secretly dance in our cubicles to pre-1990 songs by the Temptations, Luther Vandross, Marvin Gay, Aretha, etc. Here in Detroit, a city KNOWN for some of the greatest "Old School" music ever produced, we are so very glad to have our own Detroit Symphony Orchestra, also known as the #DSO, back to the stage after a lengthy absence. 

First, when the DSO came back to the Max last week, they were greeted to an uber-exuberant standing ovation just for walking on stage!

Next, for your viewing and listening pleasure, the DSO playing the "1812 Overture"--an "Old School" song with lots of excitement and rhythm--and you can dance to it, too; especially the ending!

Posted via email from The DSpot Redeux Blog

Words on Wednesday: The Detroit Symphony Orchestra--Why you SHOULD care

Personally, I LOVE classical music. I learned it throughout school and I played it on several instruments throughout my public school and college educational experiences. Classical music is not, however, at the top of the musical taste list of many people. The City of Detroit has been graced with a world-class symphony orchestra for decades; but the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has been on strike for almost six months--the Orchestra and management cannot come to an agreement on pay, work schedules, and other issues. Of course times are hard here in Detroit and the management insists that the players take a 33% pay cut; while the players have held fast to only (?) a 28% pay cut. 

Of course, some people in the metro area say either the players should be glad to take a huge pay cut, or that management should ust fire all of the players and hire players who would be willing to work for less money. Unfortunately, many people do not understand what it takes to become a world class orchestra musician. Orchestra players have been studying their craft for years--often decades--and have many, many years of specialized education. Many members have been with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra  for ten or fifteen years or more. Extremely talented and accomplished and experienced musicians such as these are supposed to earn in the high six-figures. They have worked hard to achieve their level of excellence. At the same time, management has to work within the reduced revenues they have now and will probably have in the future. Former Governor Jennifer Granholm and the Democratic members of Congress from Michigan offered a compromise in December 2010, but the orchestra management rejected the compromise.

Additionally, Detroit is supposed to have a world-class orchestra. Symphony orchestras are not "just for the rich and snooty". Highly regarded orchestras such as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra are important cultural foundations for major cities throughout the world, and Detroit's orchestra is one of the most highly accredited orchestras in the world. Detroit and Michigan should be proud and should do everything possible to end this strike and keep the orchestra as a shining example of a world class city.

The Max M.Fisher Music Center/Orchestra Hall is one of only a few acoustically perfect music halls in the world;p it was saved a restored a few years ago. The Detroit School for the Arts is affiliated with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra directly training the classical musicians of the future. Elite level classical musicians take years to develop.

People of Detroit and Michigan, classical music fans or not, SHOULD care about what happens to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. World class metropolitan areas have world class symphony orchestras along with exquisite museums and other cultural institutions. Classical music is beautiful and timeless; so is the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. 

Posted via email from The DSpot Redeux Blog

Detroit Neighborhoods: Urban Living at its Best in Midtown

The Midtown Neighborhood in Detroit, which includes the University Cultural Center, boasts a rich history, and is a shining example of the exciting redevelopment efforts in the past several years. If you are looking for a disverse and walkable community that is both old and new, it would behoove you to think about locating to Midtown Detroit.

Midtown is a large area in, naturally, the middle of Detroit, bordered roughly by the John C Lodge Freeway on the west, the I-75 Freeway curving around on the south and east, and the I-94 Freeway on the north. Within the 2-square-mile radius of Midtown, there are two radio stations, three historic inns, eleven art galleries, thirty-five restaurants and internet cafes, six museums, nine theatres, a hardware store, a dry cleaners, grocery stores, specialty shops, and bookstores, a world-class medical center, a major university, and lofts, townhomes, and apartments.

In the early 20th century, the Midtown Area was centered around the automobile industry, and was filled with auto dealerships; especially on Cass Avenue.

Beginning in the late 1800s, many of the libraries and museums of Detroit were built in the area, ostensibly to be close to what was then the original Detroit Central High School (built in 1858 as the first public high school in Detroit and Michigan) and what became Wayne State University, Michigan's only urban research university.

The Cultural Center is aptly named because of the concentration of many of the city's museums and art galleries. The Main Detroit Public Library is located on Woodward, and is right across the street from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Also in the Cultural Center: the Detroit Historical Museum--which has the very popular "Old Detroit" exhibition, the Children's Museum School, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History, the Center for Creative Studies, the Friends of First Living Museum--featuring a live reactment of the Underground Railroad, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), and the Detroit Science Center. There are also over a dozen theater and performing arts venues and other educational institutions, including the Max M. Fisher Music Center--home of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the IMAX Dome Theatre, and the Detroit School of the Arts.

Today, Midtown is exploding with both commercial and residential properties both for purchase and lease. Lofts rebuilt from historial commercial buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries, new condominum townhomes, updated carriage houses, and refurbished mansions in the Brush Park Historic District are all available.

 

For more information, visit the website of the University Cultural Center Association.

Shameless Plug: read my husband's blog, The "D" Spot.

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This Weekend in Detroit: Concert of Colors

If it's summer in Detroit, it's Festival Time! One of the biggest and best is the Concert of Colors, now celebrating its 15th year. Heralded as "metro Detroit's FREE and annual diversity music festival, the Concert of Colors is the largest festival of its kind in the USA. This year, the festival begins today, July 17, and runs through Sunday July 22.

The Concert of Colors started out in Chene Park with just a few thousand people, but grew to more than 10,000 in 1999, and then to 100,000 as the festival expanded to a 3-day event in 2005 in conjunction with Detroit's 300th birthday celebration.

A wonderful venue change occurred in 2005, when the festival moved to the completely remodeled and still acoustically perfect Orchestra Hall at the Max M. Fisher Music Center in Midtown Detroit, home of world-renowned The Detroit Symphony Orchestra. In addition to the indoor concerts, there is also one outdoor stage. The festival expanded to four days in 2007.



In addition to the musical focus, there are also ethnic foods and crafts vendors, family and children's activities, arts and crafts, and the 3rd Annual Forum on Community, Culture, and Race sponsored by New Detroit; this year the Forum will be on Friday.

The Concert of Colors Festival is made possible with the wonderful assistance of many corporate and media sponsors and non-profit presenters and co-sponsors.

Headliners this year include: Mitch Ryder, Mavis Staples, Don Was, Black Bottom Collective, and many more artists from around the world; a celebration of the diversity in the Detroit Metroplex. Artists will be performing on the Chrysler Main Stage, the Comerica Charitable Foundation Diversity Stage, and the Outdoor Rhythm Stage. Check out the full schedule, and get ready to party with diversity in The "D"!

Shameless Plug for my husband's blog: Read The "D" Spot!