Brave New Pictures

In October of 2016 we introduced two of our favorite organizations. We’ve had the privilege of collaborating with Chicago Sinfonietta for over 20 years as their video production company. Here Maestro Mei-Ann Chen conducts what is considered the country’s most diverse orchestra for their Día de Mu***os concert. The film being presented is from the vast collection of the venerable Chicago Film Archives, entitled Danse Macabre, from 1922. The music was composed by Camille Saint-Saëns. Sinfonietta was founded by Maestro Paul Freeman to address the disconnect between the lack of diversity in orchestras and the vibrant, nuanced, communities for which they play. He was the first African American conductor on the podium of more than 50 orchestras worldwide and conducted more than 100 orchestras in 28 countries over the course of his career. He once told us a story of how he encountered Dr. Martin Luther King at the Atlanta airport and stated he was there to guest-conduct the orchestra, to which King replied, “The last bastion of racism. Hallelujah!”