Staying Tuned
The Delaware Symphony Orchestra’s debut recording is up for a Latin Grammy this month. Can Maestro David Amado and his merry band bring home the gold?
Music director David Amado could take the stage this month at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas to accept a Latin Grammy Award.
If he does, Amado will no doubt thank The Latin Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for its support of “Interchange,” the CD that boasts an extraordinary collaboration between the Delaware Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.
If he doesn’t, it won’t matter. Why? There were 6,000 entries in the Latin competition this year. It was an honor to be nominated.
But it sure would be nice to see the DSO take home the gilded gramophone statuette. The symphony and quartet are up for the Best Classical Contemporary Composition award for its recording of “Interchange for Guitar Quartet and Orchestra” by Sergio Assad.
Assad has written for the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Nadja Solerno Sonnenberg. He’s already earned a Grammy, as has the quartet. DSO and the quartet face serious competition from composers such as Miguel Del Aguila, Lalo Schifrin, Orlando Jacinto Garcia and Tania Leon.
Recorded in May 2009 at The Grand Opera House in Wilmington, “Interchange” marks the DSO’s debut recording.
“David and the DSO worked hard to secure the funding for the recording, and found rare ethnic percussion instruments to get just the right folkloric sounds called for in the score,” says LAGQ member Bill Kanengiser.
A win would confirm what DSO executive director Lucinda Williams says she has always known. “To bring home the (Latin) Grammy would really mean to me—outside validation from the most respected source in the music world, the Grammys—that the DSO is truly world-class.”
Watch the Latin Grammy Awards on Univision on November 11 at 8 p.m. —Maria Hess
Page 2: Follow the Leader | Frank McIntosh aims to help leaders improve themselves and their businesses. The message gets a boost from some of the top business minds in the country.
Follow the Leader
Frank McIntosh aims to help leaders improve themselves and their businesses. The message gets a boost from some of the top business minds in the country.
Frank McIntosh picked the brains of some of the country’s top business leaders while researching his book, “The Relational Leader: A Revolutionary Framework to Engage Your Team.”
Their stories and advice meshed with McIntosh’s own experiences as a longtime executive with Junior Achievement to create a model for business leaders based on the value of people.
“Russ Owen (a president of IT giant Computer Sciences Corporation) said 90 percent of our intellectual property leaves by elevator every day. If we don’t pay attention to them, we won’t be successful,” McIntosh says. “That’s an interesting way to say people are important. The companies that are most successful are the ones that pay attention to their workforce.”
McIntosh, of Newark, retired in June 2008 after more than 36 years with JA—more than 25 of them as president and CEO in Delaware. “When I was younger, I was looking for people who are examples of what good business is all about,” he says. “In retirement I reflected on things that made my career successful. I looked at people who were influential on me and what made them successful.”
The book shares the stories of many area business legends, including Nathan Hill, second president of Discover Bank in Delaware; Bob Brightfelt, formerly of Dade Behring; and Mark Suwyn, the youngest VP in the history of the DuPont Co.
McIntosh believes that if the business world followed his model, scandals and reports of corruption would end. “I’m not sure that I’m in a position to change the world here,” he says, “but if the world were to change, I’d be very happy.” For more, visit fjmcintosh.com. —Drew Ostroski
Page 3: Media Watch
Media Watch
“Joe Biden: A Life of Trial and Redemption,” a biography by Jules Witcover, hits shelves this month. Witcover is a veteran Washington correspondent and former political columnist for the Baltimore Sun. The book is billed as “the definitive biography of one of America’s boldest vice presidents.” Be sure to scan the end notes, in which Witcover lists his sources and interviews for the book—plenty of Delawareana there.
Page 4 : An Art-warming Project | Thanks to a unique idea and the generosity of others, Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County may own the coolest collection of paintings this side of the Delaware Art Museum. And that’s good news for Habitat homeowners.
An Art-warming Project
Thanks to a unique idea and the generosity of others, Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County may own the coolest collection of paintings this side of the Delaware Art Museum. And that’s good news for Habitat homeowners.
While volunteering in New Orleans with her church group, Annabelle Kressman noticed how many of the homes built in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina had bare walls.
“I thought of my own walls and how rich they are with paintings,” she says. “I thought, it seems like there’s something we can do.”
As a former chair of the Delaware State Arts Council and a longtime volunteer with Habitat for Humanity of New Castle County, Kressman hatched a plan so Habitat’s new homeowners, who otherwise couldn’t afford to buy and frame artwork, could enjoy art of their own.
Kressman emailed “everyone she knew” and asked them to donate one framed painting each. The result was an eclectic collection of more than 300 works—including some signed and numbered, limited-edition pieces.
“One of the neatest pieces came from one of the first people I met with,” Kressman says. “It was a huge, beautiful oil painting of a vase and flowers. I was amazed that someone would donate that. It was the first piece selected (by Habitat homeowners).”
Kressman has picked up and delivered carloads of donated paintings to the warehouse, where about 70 pieces hang in a break room. “We set it up salon-style and hung paintings from ceiling to floor,” says Donna Fierro, development manager with Habitat in New Castle County. “We call it our Barnes Gallery. People come through and ask, ‘How much for that painting?’”
About 40 paintings have been given to Habitat homeowners, while others have been sold to help fund Habitat’s homebuilding efforts. Habitat has built 161 houses in New Castle County over 24 years. Fierro is proud to point out that 93 cents of every dollar goes to home-building efforts. A Habitat home costs about $125,000 to build.
“It’s a very, very feel-good project,” Fierro says. “All of the homeowners are 30 percent to 60 percent under the median income.”
Fierro admits that, at first, she didn’t think the project would work. “We’re talking about hard-working, low-income people. Their focus is on things more important than art,” she says. “I was wrong. The project did exactly what Annabelle wanted it to do. It adds a little bit of color and light to a lot of people’s lives.” —Drew Ostroski
