Join us as we unleash the power and beauty of a new ensemble created especially for Downtown Music. 12 recent conservatory graduates play the beloved Eine Kleine Nachtmusik of Mozart, the Simple Symphony of Benjamin Britten, and lush and lovely creations by celebrated African American composers William Grant Still and Florence Price. Timothy Lewis conducts.
A Downtown Music debut.
This concert is made possible by a gift from Nicole Jackson and Matt Jackson, in honor of their mother, Dorothy Jackson.
Below is an article by John Lehmann-Haupt on the first annual Dorothy Jackson Memorial Concert.
Downtown Music Caps 36th Season with Dorothy Jackson Memorial Concert
Over the past several decades, White Plains has grown from a suburban shopping destination into a full-scale corporate center, with a downtown skyline of glass-and-steel high- rises. Unchanged at its heart, though, is Grace Church, a lovely Victorian Gothic Revival structure at the corner of Church and Main Streets. And since 1988, the church has been home to a gem of Westchester’s cultural life – Downtown Music at Grace, a series of Wednesday noon- hour concerts running from September through May, open to all comers free of charge. From the start, the series has been directed by Tim Lewis (initially the church’s organist), and under his guidance it has flourished and expanded across the musical spectrum to include not only classical fare but jazz, world, and folk music as well.
The season finale this year, on May 29, will be something special – the First Annual Dorothy Jackson Memorial Concert, “The Legacy of the Spiritual: Music of the African Diaspora.” Featuring choral works and commentary along the way by Lewis to offer historical context, the concert embodies not only the broad scope of Downtown Music’s offerings but also its deep connection to the local community.
Nicole Jackson, a Chicago-based attorney focused on affordable housing development, describes how she came to endow an annual concert in honor of her mother, Dorothy, who passed away in 2021. “My brother and I grew up going to Grace Church,” she says, “and then when Downtown Music started up, my mother really took to it and was so happy to have something like that in what was essentially her back yard.” The elder Jackson led a remarkable life, arriving in New York City from her native Jamaica as a young woman, taking a degree in Sociology, and going on to a long career at the United Nations. In the early 1970s, she moved the family to Greenburgh, New York (a town comprising Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, and four other villages), attracted by the community’s proactive approach to integration. She soon joined the Grace Church congregation, and in time moved to White Plains.
“Grace Church and White Plains were integral to her life,” says Jackson. “When she died, we reached out to Tim and talked about how much the music at the church had meant to her and asked him if he could incorporate it into her service. He put together an extraordinary program.
As the planning took shape, my brother and I came up with the idea of an annual concert to honor her love of music, to help bring it to people within the community, and to give young artists an opportunity to perform. It’s also a way for us to keep up our connection with White Plains, and I look forward to working with Tim to plan each concert in the years ahead.”
One key to the vitality of Downtown Music is that the performers, many of whom have high-profile careers (including several members of the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic orchestras), love to be part of it and come back year after year. Pianist Irena Portenko, a native of Ukraine with an international career who hosts her own festival every summer in Switzerland, Music in the Alps, has been on the roster for well over a decade. “This is a wonderful place to perform,” she says, “a beautiful place where you can see people of different backgrounds, different ages. Through Tim’s vision, everyone can find a niche, a place to rest the soul and learn. Just last Wednesday, when I performed there in a piano duo with Svetlana Gorokhovich, I took the microphone and said, ‘We are home, this is our homecoming!’”
Portenko also cites Lewis’s openness to unusual programming. “I had played for the 2014 screening of The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life at the Jacob Burns Film Center in Pleasantville,” she says. The Oscar-winning short documentary tells the story of pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, who survived the Theresienstadt concentration camp performing for prisoners and guards alike and went on to live to the age of 110. “So I wrote to Tim and said, this movie is so powerful, I would like to show it at Downtown Music and then play pieces she would have played. He was completely up for it even though it meant a longer-than-usual program.”
Downtown Music has always attracted a team of top-quality volunteers. Lorella Brocklesby, an NYU professor in the Humanities who also presents seminars for the Smithsonian Institution on British cultural history, discovered the Downtown Music concerts soon after moving to White Plains, about seven years ago, and was quickly moved to participate. “One day I went in and thought, this is such a special place, why don't I volunteer to hand out programs and say good morning to the people?” she says. “There is a musical ambiance there that is so rare; it’s such an enriching experience, away from the tumult of White Plains. And you can actually talk to the musicians afterwards; it’s a learning experience, but in such a friendly environment.”
Dick Thompson, a retired college dean who recently made the transition from volunteer to member of the Board of Trustees, notes the qualities that Lewis brings to his leadership. “He’s a very creative individual, and a very patient individual,” he says. “I think it’s remarkable what he's been able to pull together, a wonderful array of different sorts of artists and music. It takes vision, contacts, and administrative skills, and it’s all done on a shoestring.”
Jazz isn’t just part of Downtown Music; in December, it’s a prime attraction, with the Holiday Cabaret of vocalist Kimberly Hawkey, winner of a Johnny Mercer Award and a veteran of New York City’s Birdland, Zinc Bar, and The Iridium. She’s now performed at Grace Church five times and speaks of her concerts there as a highlight of her tour schedule. “The audience is really responsive, the church has beautiful acoustics, and the piano is wonderful,” she says. “And Tim is a gracious host. I will always try to prioritize coming back for a performance at Grace Church.”
Now well into his fourth decade of Downtown Music leadership, Lewis emanates undiminished enthusiasm and energy, with several initiatives slated for launch in the months ahead. “With school field trips in decline for various logistic reasons, our new partnership with the White Plains Library will allow us to bring music to young people, rather than asking that they come to us,” he explains. “The library already has several outstanding programs for children and teenagers, and we will supplement these with everything from ‘meet the instrument’ offerings for the very young to seminars focusing on career opportunities in music.”
The 2024-2025 season will bring additional partnerships to present major artists and recent competition winners, furthering the Downtown Music goal of featuring a mix of established and emerging talent. Also in the works is a program to send Downtown Music musicians on a regular basis to senior residences and healthcare facilities, and a plan to offer live streaming and website distribution of the Wednesday programs. “It sounds simple,” says Lewis, “but because the digital versions need to be every bit as good as the live concerts, the project requires working with a talented recording engineer, and finding the funding for that work.”
For now, there’s the Dorothy Jackson concert to look forward to. “Dorothy’s interest in music was wide ranging, and aligned with three touchstones of Downtown Music,” says Lewis; “performances of the highest possible quality, music’s power to create community and build
bridges in a multicultural society, and the vital importance of providing encouragement and support for young people in the arts. Downtown Music is in a terrific place right now, and we have the involvement and generosity of the Jackson family, as well as many others, to thank for that.”