INTERVIEW: 92NY to celebrate 150 years with highlight-packed music season
Photo: Audra McDonald will perform two concerts in October at 92nd Street Y as part of their 150th anniversary. Photo courtesy of Autumn de Wilde / Provided by Michelle Tabnick PR with permission.
The 92nd Street Y is one of the preeminent cultural venues in New York City, if not the world. Their unique spaces play host to captivating, often mesmerizing works, both musical and conversational, and often they find themselves with events that are sold out months in advance and packed with audience members. Their conversation series this fall, for example, will welcome Dr. Jane Goodall one afternoon, followed a couple weeks later with an event featuring Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi. The 2023-24 Tisch Music Season is just as packed, featuring everyone from Cécile McLorin Salvant to Anne Sofie von Otter to clarinetist Anthony McGill, among many others.
The festivities, which kick off in a few short weeks, are extra special this year. 92NY is celebrating its 150th anniversary, and that has kept Amy Lam busy with programming. She is the vice president of music for 92NY, and she and her team have amassed a schedule that includes 42 events, with 25 92NY debuts, 15 premieres and four commissions, according to press notes.
Lam recently took some time from her busy planning to exchange emails with Hollywood Soapbox about the 150th year. She has a front seat to developing and executing so many important musical events. This year alone will see performances by cellist Jay Campbell and pianist Conor Hanick, pianist Conrad Tao in an evening of Rachmaninoff, and pianist Emanuel Ax with the New York Philharmonic String Quartet. And that’s just a small portion of the classical schedule. There are also jazz performances — Christian McBride Big Band, McLorin Salvant, Dianne Reeves, among others — and American songbook celebrations — Audra McDonald, Stephanie J. Block and a tribute to Sheldon Harnick.
Here’s what she had to say about the big birthday celebration. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
When did planning for this 150th anniversary season begin?
The organization started discussing and planning for the 150th anniversary season well before I joined 92NY in late 2021. For Tisch Music, our season planning began in earnest soon after I arrived, so approximately 18 months ago.
Did that unprecedented history inform the musical selections for this upcoming year?
Absolutely! Culture is never static — our past informs our future, and our future is always inspired by our past. The 92nd Street Y has had a rich history of music programming since its very early days — with jazz dating back to the 1920s when we were one of the first New York institutions to introduce jazz in a concert hall setting. In classical, we have had a long history presenting luminaries from all around world while nurturing young talents before they became household names around the globe.
Our acclaimed Lyrics and Lyricists series started more than 50 years ago with the first season featuring the young Stephen Sondheim and a few years later the up-and-coming singer-songwriter James Taylor.
So building upon that strong foundation, for instance, we continue to expand our jazz offerings and pride ourselves as the premier destination of concert jazz, inviting audience to concerts in an intimate concert hall setting where one can participate in what I would call “active listening” to this always evolving art form. In fact, one of our 150th signature events is a brand-new commission with the amazing jazz artist Cécile McLorin Salvant, who will create a new piece that is inspired by Baroque music. In many ways, this is incredibly fitting for 92NY’s 150th — we present such a wide range of music programming and Cécile is the perfect artist to create something special for us that spans across musical genres, with a new work that helps push boundaries and the art form forward.
In classical, we have acclaimed clarinetist Anthony McGill appearing with Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, performing in a special program featuring Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto, which was written for Benny Goodman in 1948, blending Americana and jazz in an orchestral setting. Fittingly of course, both legends — Aaron Copland and Benny Goodman — were on our 92NY stages in the 1950s through the ’80s.
In Lyrics and Lyricists, we will be paying tribute to Sheldon Harnick — a dear friend with a long history with 92NY who just passed away last month. The Tony Award winner and lyricist of Fiddler on the Roof was part of our first season of L&L in 1971 and had appeared in more than 20 productions since. Under the direction of Ted Sperling, our production in June will not only celebrate Sheldon’s creative genius of this legendary figure, but also point to the future of how his works continue to influence and inspire a new generation of theater creators and goers as well.
What are some highlights you’re most looking forward to?
In addition to the above stellar events I mentioned, I would also point out our other 150th Special Event featuring Audra McDonald. She will be creating a brand-new show for our 150th celebration — again looking back but also forward — filled with conversations and songs reflecting on her extraordinary career since her Broadway debut 30 years ago.
Another highlight I look forward to is being able to present artists and concerts at the newly renovated Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center. This amazing new space is acoustically wonderful and will allow us to present young artists and innovative programs in an intimate concert hall, plus a dedicated space and an unique opportunity for our artists and audience to mingle after each concert in a casual, relaxed environment to reflect on the performance, exchange ideas and feedback, or simply get to know one another within our 92NY community.
Have the types of musical offerings over the past 150 years changed a lot? Do you think more outside the box in 2023?
I would answer the above two questions with one answer. Yes, the types of musical offerings undoubtedly have changed a lot over the past century and a half. As I mentioned before, culture and the arts is always evolving — along with our history, our society and our values. Artists’ creations are often informed and inspired by their surroundings, by their upbringing and influences, or simply by current events of the time. In fact, most compositions and musical works [are] a reflection of the culture and history of a particular time and space. Music provides us a lens for us to look at and study all of that. In fact, that’s how and why artists create and perform — artists tell their stories and communicate through music, whether that be their personal stories, viewpoints, aesthetics, reflections, sentiments and emotions.
For instance, in 2023, we are seeing a lot of works and projects that grew out of the time during the pandemic — from Sandbox Percussions performing Chris Cerrone’s Don’t Look Down, Gil Shaham playing Scott Wheeler’s Isolation Rag, to Joshua Redman creating his newest project where are we. Then we have the Takacs Quartet presenting a program surrounding the theme of climate. If you look closely, there is a story that is being told through every single concert. It’s timely, compelling and relevant.
92NY has always been there to provide a platform for artists to communicate and to make that connection with our audience. The materials presented over time change and evolve over time, but our dedication to the arts and artists remain central to what we do.
When did you first fall in love with music?
I’m not sure if I can pinpoint a moment. Music has always been part of my life. I remember being fascinated by the piano at a very young age when I watched someone play the instrument in a commercial on TV. I was blown away by the range of sound that this instrument and one person can make, and the beauty of it all. I grew up playing the piano — that has always been my go to place for relaxation and, well, just pure joy, since a very young age.
What sets 92NY apart from other cultural institutions?
“There is no other place like it” — as we often say about 92NY. We are a world-class cultural center offering music, dance, poetry and talks, but we also run a nursery school, a summer camp, a gym. And we offer classes from music and dance to parenting and Jewish studies, plus valuable services for school groups and seniors. At the heart of all of this is that we are here to serve. We never stopped serving our constituents even throughout the pandemic, and we’re one of the first cultural institutions to open our doors as soon as the health and safety guidelines allowed us. We serve New York City in every way possible and, now with our expansive online offerings, the world.
Being able to present a wide range of music offerings within the context and environment of this complex organization is unique and thrilling. It allows us to not only go broad in our range of presentations, but also go deep in helping to illuminate the essence and content behind the music to our audience.
And most important, when you come to a concert at the 92NY, you are being welcomed into a vibrant and diverse community that has been a home to culture, connection and enrichment for generations of New Yorkers for the past 150 years! We are proud of our history as we look to continue to transform for the future!
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
