In case you haven’t heard (and I hope you already have!), our season opens this week with Project Fifteen — an ambitious new initiative that launches my first full season at Symphony Space.
Last year when I joined Symphony Space, I spent the first couple of months attending as many events as I could (55 performances last fall alone!) from music concerts, literary events, and comedy shows to film screenings, science talks, education programs, and more. It was an exhilarating and exhausting experience. For a organization of our size, the breadth of programming and the diverse audiences attracted to our spaces night after night were truly impressive.
In that diversity, I saw opportunity. Why not gather all of these activities and various programming together to tell larger stories? In my opinion, by better integrating our programs, we would be able to more clearly define our cultural identity without sacrificing the glorious multiplicity of our programming. I decided to organize the 2015–16 season around four larger multi-disciplinary projects… beginning with an anniversary.
While working on a theme to open the season, I learned from Kay Cattarulla — Symphony Space’s original producer of Literary programs— that 2015 was an important anniversary for us. One hundred years ago, our building on 95th and Broadway opened as the Astor Market. A theme for the season opening project began to come into focus. 1915 was such a rich and fascinating time. Why not celebrate this important milestone for our building by organizing a series of music and literature events, film screenings, and talks, exploring the cultural world of 1915? And so Project Fifteen was born. Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf, Arthur Miller, Albert Einstein, Claude Debussy, Franz Kafka are among the icons to be honored in two weeks of activities in October in Project Fifteen.
This is not the place to list all of the events in this project, but I can’t resist sharing a couple of highlights with you.
Project Fifteen opens on Saturday, October 17 with Sinatra at 100. There has been a lot of activity around the Sinatra centennial this year, but this project, in my opinion, is something quite magical and particular to Symphony Space. Over an afternoon and into the evening, 100 of Frank Sinatra’s most famous songs will be performed by an expansive lineup of singers and instrumentalists in three separate concerts. And the marathon will be hosted by Jonathan Schwartz of WNYC.
The following week, on October 21, the first Selected Shorts of the season is also part of Project Fifteen. Called 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, the event features Lorrie Moore, Liev Shreiber, Jane Kaczmarek as host in a program that celebrates key moments in the American short story over the last 100 years.
Secret Science Club North returns to Symphony Space with an exploration of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and its influence over the last 100 years and more with astrophysicist Jason Kalirai.
Kurt Anderson of Studio 360 leads a discussion on Frank Kafka’s The Metamorphosis on the following night (October 28).
And there’s so much more. More information on Project Fifteen can be found on our website.
I’m excited to be presenting Project Fifteen. It’s not only a anniversary for our home but it showcases what we do best — a music marathon, Selected Shorts and other literary events, films, talks and so much more.
I hope that see you at one of more of the events in Project Fifteen — an extended party for our beloved building!
