Conceived and performed by Anthony McGill
Catalyst Quartet
Karla Donehew Perez, violin
Abi Fayette, violin
Paul Laraia, viola
Karlos Rodriguez, cello
Anthony McGill is one of classical music’s most recognizable and brilliantly multifaceted figures. First-chair clarinet of the New York Philharmonic—that orchestra’s first African American principal player—he recently won the Avery Fisher Prize for his achievements as an instrumentalist and advocate for social change.
McGill returns to The Met to perform a program inspired by his family’s twentieth-century migration from the Deep South to Chicago as well as by the paintings of Kerry James Marshall and others in The Met’s collection. The evening features a world premiere composition by Richard Danielpour alongside performances of the Coleridge-Taylor Clarinet Quintet and Three Smiles for Tracey by Adolphus Hailstork. McGill is joined by the internationally acclaimed Catalyst Quartet for this uniquely personal performance.
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Notes on the program:
Art is life. Music is life. Music and art live inside of us.
2020 was a year in which I thought a lot about what it means to be a musician. As we begin 2021, I’d like to continue to expand the capacity for art and music to reach more people and change the world for the better. We live in a world of separation and segregation. I desire to live in a world where there is no more separation, segregation, or injustice and where art and music unite us.
Art is a necessity, a value and a gift that everyone should be allowed to experience. I grew up in a household where music and art were a part of everyday life. It was how you went through the world. Creating, appreciating, and learning without hesitation. We were taught that to live a full life you needed to fully experience music and art. My parents were visual artists, and even though our house was cozy, we had a designated art room. We always had music on in the house. My father was painting or drawing, mother was constantly dancing and singing, and they were always creating. I was surrounded by inspiration. This centering of all forms of art and music created a fertile environment of love through learning. This mindset made absolutely anything possible. Live your life as an artwork of your design is what I was taught. This is freedom. This is love. This is life. I’m grateful for this education.
I dedicate this program to all the artists and educators in the world. You are necessary, you are irreplaceable, you are valuable. To be able to make music in this space, The Met, in this time is a dream come true—a song worth singing, and a piece worth playing.
—Anthony McGill
Program:
World Premiere
Richard Danielpour: Four Angels (2020)
Commissioned by the Department of Live Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Adolphus Hailstork: Three Smiles For Tracey, for solo clarinet
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Quintet in F-sharp Minor for Clarinet and Strings, op. 10
This program is made possible by William H. Wright II and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art, and The Howard &
Sarah D. Solomon Foundation.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is on the island known as Mannahatta—now called Manhattan—in Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape people.
