It was nice to see Christopher Rouse receive the Eissner Artist of the Year Award last night!
Brave New Works performed Rouse's Compline, a charming and evocative hommage to Rome.Saturday, April 05, 2008
CCA Artist of the year
It was nice to see Christopher Rouse receive the Eissner Artist of the Year Award last night!Brave New Works performed Rouse's Compline, a charming and evocative hommage to Rome.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Review
Be sure to checkout my latest NY review over on Sequenza21:
http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/753
BMOP rocked!
http://www.sequenza21.com/index.php/753
BMOP rocked!
Sum-sum-summertime
Music at Gretna has 24 events in 31 days!
August 1, 8:00 p.m. – Jimmy Sturr, polka king
August 2, 8:00 p.m. – The New Black Eagles Jazz Band
August 3, 11:00 a.m. – Jazz Worship Service with Rev. D. Darrell Woomer and The New Black Eagles Jazz Band
August 3, 7:30 p.m. – Wister String Quartet, with Natalie Zhu, piano
August 8, 8:00 p.m. – Maria Bachmann, The Red Violin
August 9, 2:00 p.m. – New Century Saxophone Quartet
August 9, 8:00 p.m. – The Capitol Steps
August 10, 7:30 p.m. – Rodney Mack’s Philadelphia Big Brass
August 14, 8:00 p.m. – A Midsummer Serenade, with Priscilla Porterfield and Tom Brown
August 15, 8:00 p.m. – The Lascivious Biddies
August 20, 8:00 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Carl Ellenberger, flute, and Ting-Yu Chen, dance
August 21, 2:00 & 8:00 p.m. – Molière’s Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite
August 22, 2:00 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Allen Krantz, guitar
August 22, 8:00 p.m. – Leon Redbone
August 23, 2:00 & 8:00 p.m. – Molière’s Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite
August 24, 7:30 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Frank Shaw, viola, and Jeremiah Shaw, cello
August 26, 8:00 p.m. – Simon Tedeschi, piano, with Owen Watkins, saxophone
August 28, 8:00 p.m. – Veasley-Beasley-Loeb Jazz Ensemble
August 29, 7:30 p.m. – Jazz Twin-bill with Cyrus Chestnut and Nnenna Freelon
August 30, 2:00 p.m. – The Four Freshmen
August 30, 8:00 p.m. – Regina Carter
August 31, 7:30 p.m. – Lark Chamber Artists, with Anna Polonsky, piano
Gretna Music Summer Internship Opportunity
Gretna Music wants YOU! Sure, most of you who receive this update have past the stage where you’re looking for summer internships. But we’ll bet you know some bright young folks who haven’t. And who better than you to put them in touch with us?
Our full-time summer Arts Management Internship position runs from late May through early September. Exact start and end dates are flexible. This internship affords the successful candidate the opportunity to work with Gretna Music’s staff and board to gain valuable experience in areas such as customer service, public relations, promotions, corporate and community relations, artist relations, and marketing, as they relate to arts management.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, and should possess good interpersonal, writing, research, and design skills. An ability to learn quickly and apply existing knowledge and experience to new situations is especially valued. Applicants will need to supply their own housing and reliable transportation, and be willing to work weekends. A stipend of $3,000 is included with this position.
A sample of responsibilities could include order processing, writing press releases and other promotional materials, researching and writing program notes, artist hospitality, box office and general support. We will tailor the final job description to fit the successful applicant’s interests and skills. This position is particularly suited for students with interest in arts management, writing, communications, public relations, marketing and of course music.
Many of our past interns learned of this opportunity through friends and family who are Gretna Music enthusiasts. You are the best eyes and ears we have!
For more information about this summer internship opportunity with Gretna Music, please call Carl Kane at 717-361-1508. Thank you.
August 1, 8:00 p.m. – Jimmy Sturr, polka king
August 2, 8:00 p.m. – The New Black Eagles Jazz Band
August 3, 11:00 a.m. – Jazz Worship Service with Rev. D. Darrell Woomer and The New Black Eagles Jazz Band
August 3, 7:30 p.m. – Wister String Quartet, with Natalie Zhu, piano
August 8, 8:00 p.m. – Maria Bachmann, The Red Violin
August 9, 2:00 p.m. – New Century Saxophone Quartet
August 9, 8:00 p.m. – The Capitol Steps
August 10, 7:30 p.m. – Rodney Mack’s Philadelphia Big Brass
August 14, 8:00 p.m. – A Midsummer Serenade, with Priscilla Porterfield and Tom Brown
August 15, 8:00 p.m. – The Lascivious Biddies
August 20, 8:00 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Carl Ellenberger, flute, and Ting-Yu Chen, dance
August 21, 2:00 & 8:00 p.m. – Molière’s Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite
August 22, 2:00 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Allen Krantz, guitar
August 22, 8:00 p.m. – Leon Redbone
August 23, 2:00 & 8:00 p.m. – Molière’s Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite
August 24, 7:30 p.m. – Audubon String Quartet, with Frank Shaw, viola, and Jeremiah Shaw, cello
August 26, 8:00 p.m. – Simon Tedeschi, piano, with Owen Watkins, saxophone
August 28, 8:00 p.m. – Veasley-Beasley-Loeb Jazz Ensemble
August 29, 7:30 p.m. – Jazz Twin-bill with Cyrus Chestnut and Nnenna Freelon
August 30, 2:00 p.m. – The Four Freshmen
August 30, 8:00 p.m. – Regina Carter
August 31, 7:30 p.m. – Lark Chamber Artists, with Anna Polonsky, piano
Gretna Music Summer Internship Opportunity
Gretna Music wants YOU! Sure, most of you who receive this update have past the stage where you’re looking for summer internships. But we’ll bet you know some bright young folks who haven’t. And who better than you to put them in touch with us?
Our full-time summer Arts Management Internship position runs from late May through early September. Exact start and end dates are flexible. This internship affords the successful candidate the opportunity to work with Gretna Music’s staff and board to gain valuable experience in areas such as customer service, public relations, promotions, corporate and community relations, artist relations, and marketing, as they relate to arts management.
Applicants must be at least 18 years of age, and should possess good interpersonal, writing, research, and design skills. An ability to learn quickly and apply existing knowledge and experience to new situations is especially valued. Applicants will need to supply their own housing and reliable transportation, and be willing to work weekends. A stipend of $3,000 is included with this position.
A sample of responsibilities could include order processing, writing press releases and other promotional materials, researching and writing program notes, artist hospitality, box office and general support. We will tailor the final job description to fit the successful applicant’s interests and skills. This position is particularly suited for students with interest in arts management, writing, communications, public relations, marketing and of course music.
Many of our past interns learned of this opportunity through friends and family who are Gretna Music enthusiasts. You are the best eyes and ears we have!
For more information about this summer internship opportunity with Gretna Music, please call Carl Kane at 717-361-1508. Thank you.
Strange bedfellows
MYSPACE, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AND WARNER MUSIC GROUP PARTNER IN LANDMARK JOINT VENTURE: “MYSPACE MUSIC”
“MYSPACE MUSIC” EMPOWERS ARTISTS AND CONSUMERS GLOBALLY WITH UNPRECEDENTED DIGITAL MUSIC SERVICE AND E-COMMERCE PLATFORM
New Company to Leverage 30 Million Unique MySpace Music Traffic to Activate Monetization Around Music Content
MySpace Music to Offer Digital Downloads, Ad-supported Audio and Video Streaming, Mobile Storefront and Sponsorship Solutions
LOS ANGELES—April 3, 2008—MySpace, the world’s biggest and most popular social network, and three of the world’s largest music companies, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), today announced the formation of a landmark joint venture, MySpace Music. The new company marries the most popular music community in the world with the most comprehensive catalogue of music content available online, unveiling a host of new music services and monetization models. The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
The product vision for MySpace Music is to build on the existing traffic, credibility, and popularity of the MySpace Music platform (http://www.music.myspace.com) by creating a fully integrated 360 degree global music solution. MySpace Music will feature the network’s first integrated e-commerce solution and evolve the user’s ability to discover, share, and socialize by adding commerce and music management tools. The new offering will seamlessly transform the MySpace Music experience into a groundbreaking mix of community, commerce, and discovery. The product will roll iteratively in the coming months.
The MySpace Music product will integrate new content and music capabilities across three primary areas: the MySpace Music home page, the site’s more than 5 million artist profile pages, and individual user home pages, providing bands and fans multiple touch points to discover, share, and purchase music and merchandise in one place for the portable device of their choosing. MySpace Music empowers bands and fans with unprecedented digital music service and e-commerce platform within MySpace that will include DRM-free digital downloads, ad-supported audio and video streaming, a mobile storefront (powered by News Corporation’s Jamba mobile company), as well as various sponsorship solutions.
For users, MySpace Music will have the richest music experience on the Web by enabling the site’s global community to discover music and then download, stream and personalize music content. The personalized music management product will allow users to control their entire MySpace Music experience directly from their user page by creating playlists and having access to enhanced purchase opportunities and search functionality.
For the labels’ artists, the formation of MySpace Music will offer them the opportunity to provide their fans with digital downloads as well as mobile ringtones, SMS, and artist wallpapers, all directly from their artist profiles. Additionally, artists will be able to evolve their MySpace experience beyond the promotional by now monetizing their full repository of content with a 360 degree solution including not only the sale of digital content, but also physical goods such as t-shirts and concert tickets.
Already one of the cultural cornerstones of MySpace, the new company is uniquely positioned to quickly launch its new music product with nearly 30 million unique monthly visitors for the Music channel and its more than 5 million artists. As the most popular music community in the world today, MySpace Music has the greatest collection of artist profiles, tour dates, artist blogs, music videos, and artist photos in the world. Additionally, MySpace Music has the participation of millions of major, indie, and unsigned artists via their music profiles and interaction with the MySpace community.
Immediately, the new MySpace Music will be able to tap into the world’s largest library of content to offer unique audio and video content for the MySpace community. MySpace’s rich history with the music community has already included album exclusives from the biggest major and independent acts in the world. The new library will enhance existing MySpace Music franchises including Secret Shows, MySpaceLIVE!, Transmissions, and The List.
The new company will be based in Los Angeles and will have a dedicated executive management team to oversee the business. In the coming months, MySpace Music will begin to roll new content and product functionality within the existing music channel. The process will be iterative to take full advantage of the popularity and existing traffic to the Music channel already booming within MySpace.
“MYSPACE MUSIC” EMPOWERS ARTISTS AND CONSUMERS GLOBALLY WITH UNPRECEDENTED DIGITAL MUSIC SERVICE AND E-COMMERCE PLATFORM
New Company to Leverage 30 Million Unique MySpace Music Traffic to Activate Monetization Around Music Content
MySpace Music to Offer Digital Downloads, Ad-supported Audio and Video Streaming, Mobile Storefront and Sponsorship Solutions
LOS ANGELES—April 3, 2008—MySpace, the world’s biggest and most popular social network, and three of the world’s largest music companies, SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group (NYSE: WMG), today announced the formation of a landmark joint venture, MySpace Music. The new company marries the most popular music community in the world with the most comprehensive catalogue of music content available online, unveiling a host of new music services and monetization models. The financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
The product vision for MySpace Music is to build on the existing traffic, credibility, and popularity of the MySpace Music platform (http://www.music.myspace.com) by creating a fully integrated 360 degree global music solution. MySpace Music will feature the network’s first integrated e-commerce solution and evolve the user’s ability to discover, share, and socialize by adding commerce and music management tools. The new offering will seamlessly transform the MySpace Music experience into a groundbreaking mix of community, commerce, and discovery. The product will roll iteratively in the coming months.
The MySpace Music product will integrate new content and music capabilities across three primary areas: the MySpace Music home page, the site’s more than 5 million artist profile pages, and individual user home pages, providing bands and fans multiple touch points to discover, share, and purchase music and merchandise in one place for the portable device of their choosing. MySpace Music empowers bands and fans with unprecedented digital music service and e-commerce platform within MySpace that will include DRM-free digital downloads, ad-supported audio and video streaming, a mobile storefront (powered by News Corporation’s Jamba mobile company), as well as various sponsorship solutions.
For users, MySpace Music will have the richest music experience on the Web by enabling the site’s global community to discover music and then download, stream and personalize music content. The personalized music management product will allow users to control their entire MySpace Music experience directly from their user page by creating playlists and having access to enhanced purchase opportunities and search functionality.
For the labels’ artists, the formation of MySpace Music will offer them the opportunity to provide their fans with digital downloads as well as mobile ringtones, SMS, and artist wallpapers, all directly from their artist profiles. Additionally, artists will be able to evolve their MySpace experience beyond the promotional by now monetizing their full repository of content with a 360 degree solution including not only the sale of digital content, but also physical goods such as t-shirts and concert tickets.
Already one of the cultural cornerstones of MySpace, the new company is uniquely positioned to quickly launch its new music product with nearly 30 million unique monthly visitors for the Music channel and its more than 5 million artists. As the most popular music community in the world today, MySpace Music has the greatest collection of artist profiles, tour dates, artist blogs, music videos, and artist photos in the world. Additionally, MySpace Music has the participation of millions of major, indie, and unsigned artists via their music profiles and interaction with the MySpace community.
Immediately, the new MySpace Music will be able to tap into the world’s largest library of content to offer unique audio and video content for the MySpace community. MySpace’s rich history with the music community has already included album exclusives from the biggest major and independent acts in the world. The new library will enhance existing MySpace Music franchises including Secret Shows, MySpaceLIVE!, Transmissions, and The List.
The new company will be based in Los Angeles and will have a dedicated executive management team to oversee the business. In the coming months, MySpace Music will begin to roll new content and product functionality within the existing music channel. The process will be iterative to take full advantage of the popularity and existing traffic to the Music channel already booming within MySpace.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Talkity talk
From my friend Jeff, taken at a pre-concert talk for Concertante, March 21st, 2008 at HACC.Percussionist Chen Zimbalista was a real delight to interview and discuss the music for the program!
Da finals
Go Wichita Wingnuts!
Vote here for my friend Joe's awesome logo for the minor league team in Wichita, KS:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23898413
Vote here for my friend Joe's awesome logo for the minor league team in Wichita, KS:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23898413
Monday, March 31, 2008
Glorious
It was spectacular to hear Joyce DiDonato Sunday in Philadelphia. She sang with everything in her power, not just the notes with beautiful color and phrasing but with her heart and soul.We go way back, to August 1988 when we were at Wichita State University! Joyce and Katie (her roommate) were in Brennan 2 and I lived in Brennan 3. We also were in Benson Headley's sight singing class 3 (I had skipped 1 and 2 the summers before, along with theory and violin lessons!) - which was interesting to say the least. We later were in Bertil H. Van Boer's Music History classes together, sang in Concert Chorale under Bob Glasmann, and in lots of operas - I in the pit and Joyce either in the chorus or with a role, often directed by George Gibson.
But that was many years ago!
We've stayed in touch, and even run across each other - once in Richmond, VA where she was a soloist for the Messiah, and I at National Public Radio, and another friend, Sara Avery, the principal 2nd violinist. Last time I saw her I had been engaged and just back from New York City to hear a friend's Carnegie Hall debut (this was 1999 - and I never got married, long story, ask me sometime!) and my then fiancee and I stopped to visit Joyce at her home in Kansas City.
Yesterday it was like no time had passed - in fact, Joyce came out on stage smiling, but as she saw me in the 2nd row (I was in her line of sight off to the right) she smiled even bigger - later I got a wink, and when she mentioned singing Copland at WSU, gestered towards me with her left hand. It was sweet. Her husband, Leo, teased me afterwards about being jealous, mentioning the smiles and wink, and even the WSU nod. It was awesome to meet him, and spend a brief few minutes reconnecting. I took five friends from around the area (and even my ex-fiancee!), who all just flipped over Joyce.She has a link up on her blog (for ClassicallyHip) for one of my posts about performing Rossini back in Wichita, oh so many years ago. Take a look, she has wonderful insights and photos on YankeeDiva!
In Philly
Had a delightful Sunday in Philadelphia...here is my friend Jann and I before a concert we caught.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sweet 16
and you know what I mean...vote for the Wingnuts!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23791565
(thanks everyone who voted last round!)
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23791565
(thanks everyone who voted last round!)
Monday, March 24, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Go nuts voting
Er, that should be Vote for the Wingnuts, a baseball team in Wichita, and their awesome logo.
But just as the deadline for registering in PA primary is looming, this deadline is tomorrow - so go vote now!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23706466
But just as the deadline for registering in PA primary is looming, this deadline is tomorrow - so go vote now!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/23706466
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
You’ve never really lived
Derek Hale has started a list, and it's a good one...here's my contribution off the top of my head:
A list of things that would cause me to say, “I had never really lived until I ________________.” Here is what I came up with.
I had never really lived until I:
Saw the Grand Canyon.
Arrived late to a wedding and fell for Andie MacDowell, saw her at another wedding, went to her wedding, went to a friend’s funeral and then left my wedding for her – oh wait, that was not me, but Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral, sorry!
Took a chance for love.
Heard Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (live!).
Saw a tornado pass by.
Stood up for what I thought was right no matter what.
Taught a student to enjoy music.
Gave time to spend with others who needed friendship and company who were alone.
Watched the sunrise with a loved one.
Conducted an orchestra.
Heard the applause of an adoring audience after a musical performance.
Made loved outside under the stars.
Went backstage at Carnegie Hall to congratulate a friend after a performance.
Smoked a Cuban cigar.
Anyone else care to chime in?
A list of things that would cause me to say, “I had never really lived until I ________________.” Here is what I came up with.
I had never really lived until I:
Saw the Grand Canyon.
Arrived late to a wedding and fell for Andie MacDowell, saw her at another wedding, went to her wedding, went to a friend’s funeral and then left my wedding for her – oh wait, that was not me, but Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral, sorry!
Took a chance for love.
Heard Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima (live!).
Saw a tornado pass by.
Stood up for what I thought was right no matter what.
Taught a student to enjoy music.
Gave time to spend with others who needed friendship and company who were alone.
Watched the sunrise with a loved one.
Conducted an orchestra.
Heard the applause of an adoring audience after a musical performance.
Made loved outside under the stars.
Went backstage at Carnegie Hall to congratulate a friend after a performance.
Smoked a Cuban cigar.
Anyone else care to chime in?
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Karma Kameleon
I laughed looking at my most recent facebook notifications, and it is indeed karmatic:
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Brandi P.
You have been given good karma by Jann.
You have been given good karma by Derek.
Cecily called you a beslubberring, bat-fowling skainsmate!
You have been given good karma by Katherine.
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Jennifer.
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Brandi H-B.
You see, I sent some "karma" to friends and also pulled out ye ol' Shakespearian Insult Generator, so I was very amused to see a friend reply within all of my karma...too funny!
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Brandi P.
You have been given good karma by Jann.
You have been given good karma by Derek.
Cecily called you a beslubberring, bat-fowling skainsmate!
You have been given good karma by Katherine.
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Jennifer.
John Nasukaluk Clare -- you have been given good karma by Brandi H-B.
You see, I sent some "karma" to friends and also pulled out ye ol' Shakespearian Insult Generator, so I was very amused to see a friend reply within all of my karma...too funny!
Monday, March 17, 2008
Summertime
In the city and looking for somethin' to do?
Settlement Music School AnnouncesSummer Camps Schedule and Six-Week Summer Instruction Offering
Philadelphia, PA - The largest community arts school in the country is currently enrolling students for a variety of summer camps for children ages 4 -18 along with a six-weeks of individual lessons for continuing student and those who "just want to get their feet wet" and explore music lessons in a more relaxed time of the year. For details, call 215-320-2600 or visit www.smsmusic.org.
Financial support is available for all camps which include:
SUMMER JAM Ages 12-18, June 23 - July 3, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $530. Germantown Branch, 6128 Germantown Avenue, Germantown 215-320-2613 andKardon Northeast Branch, 3745 Clarendon Avenue at Knights Road, Philadelphia 215-320-2623.Audition dates are Saturday, April 26, 2-4pm at either branch. This newest camp is for teen musicians and garage band members looking to hone their skills, record a CD or learn about the business of making music. Summer Jam emphasizes practical playing experience through clinics by professionals in the field. Participants will record their work and perform live at a local club.
SUMMER ARTS CAMP
Ages 4-7, July 7 - Aug 1, 2008 9am to noon, Monday through Friday Cost $620.Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, Queen Village Call 215-320-2603 andGermantown Branch, 6128 Germantown Avenue, Germantown. 215-320-2613. This arts camp provides daily activities in music, dance and visual art. Families are invited to a presentation of the students' work. Healthy snacks are provided. Students must register for full four-week session.
SUMMER STRING CAMP
Ages 7-14, June 16 - July 27, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $590 Jenkintown Branch, 515 Meetinghouse Road (in Alverthorpe Manor.) 215-320-2633June 23 - July 3, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $530. Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, Queen Village. 215-320-2603.This training camp includes music theory and appreciation classes, supervised practice time, sectionals and two full ensemble rehearsals for beginners and chamber music coaching for more advanced string players. Healthy snacks are provided. Children must pack own lunches.
SUMMER MUSIC THEATRE CAMP
Ages 6-12, July 7 - August 1, 2008 9am to noon, Monday through Friday Cost $170.Camden School of Musical Arts Branch, 531-35 Market Street, Call 856-541-6375.The 4-week session will provide singing, dancing and acting activities. Students will be grouped according to age and families will be invited to an informal presentation of the students' work during last week of camp. A healthy snack will be served each day. Principal funding is provided by the Campbell Soup Foundation. Additional funding by the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Settlement Music School, founded in 1908, is the largest community-based school of the arts in the United States according to the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Settlement is dedicated to providing children and adults with the highest quality instruction and activity in music and the related arts. With six locations in South, West and Northeast Philadelphia, Germantown, Jenkintown and Camden, NJ, the School serves about 15,000 students of all abilities regardless of age, race or financial circumstances, and awards close to $2 million a year in financial aid. Settlement is the largest employer of musicians in the region, with more than 325 qualified and dedicated faculty.
Settlement Music School AnnouncesSummer Camps Schedule and Six-Week Summer Instruction Offering
Philadelphia, PA - The largest community arts school in the country is currently enrolling students for a variety of summer camps for children ages 4 -18 along with a six-weeks of individual lessons for continuing student and those who "just want to get their feet wet" and explore music lessons in a more relaxed time of the year. For details, call 215-320-2600 or visit www.smsmusic.org.
Financial support is available for all camps which include:
SUMMER JAM Ages 12-18, June 23 - July 3, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $530. Germantown Branch, 6128 Germantown Avenue, Germantown 215-320-2613 andKardon Northeast Branch, 3745 Clarendon Avenue at Knights Road, Philadelphia 215-320-2623.Audition dates are Saturday, April 26, 2-4pm at either branch. This newest camp is for teen musicians and garage band members looking to hone their skills, record a CD or learn about the business of making music. Summer Jam emphasizes practical playing experience through clinics by professionals in the field. Participants will record their work and perform live at a local club.
SUMMER ARTS CAMP
Ages 4-7, July 7 - Aug 1, 2008 9am to noon, Monday through Friday Cost $620.Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, Queen Village Call 215-320-2603 andGermantown Branch, 6128 Germantown Avenue, Germantown. 215-320-2613. This arts camp provides daily activities in music, dance and visual art. Families are invited to a presentation of the students' work. Healthy snacks are provided. Students must register for full four-week session.
SUMMER STRING CAMP
Ages 7-14, June 16 - July 27, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $590 Jenkintown Branch, 515 Meetinghouse Road (in Alverthorpe Manor.) 215-320-2633June 23 - July 3, 2008 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday Cost $530. Mary Louise Curtis Branch, 416 Queen Street, Queen Village. 215-320-2603.This training camp includes music theory and appreciation classes, supervised practice time, sectionals and two full ensemble rehearsals for beginners and chamber music coaching for more advanced string players. Healthy snacks are provided. Children must pack own lunches.
SUMMER MUSIC THEATRE CAMP
Ages 6-12, July 7 - August 1, 2008 9am to noon, Monday through Friday Cost $170.Camden School of Musical Arts Branch, 531-35 Market Street, Call 856-541-6375.The 4-week session will provide singing, dancing and acting activities. Students will be grouped according to age and families will be invited to an informal presentation of the students' work during last week of camp. A healthy snack will be served each day. Principal funding is provided by the Campbell Soup Foundation. Additional funding by the Camden County Cultural and Heritage Commission through the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Settlement Music School, founded in 1908, is the largest community-based school of the arts in the United States according to the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. Settlement is dedicated to providing children and adults with the highest quality instruction and activity in music and the related arts. With six locations in South, West and Northeast Philadelphia, Germantown, Jenkintown and Camden, NJ, the School serves about 15,000 students of all abilities regardless of age, race or financial circumstances, and awards close to $2 million a year in financial aid. Settlement is the largest employer of musicians in the region, with more than 325 qualified and dedicated faculty.
Sláinte!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
I'll be blarin' the green on WITF from 12 to 3pm today, including the Celtic Symphony and Michael Torke's Green from Color Music.
Friday I caught up with coworkers and past coworkers at LBC before hearing the California Guitar Trio and Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Whitaker Center. It was sweet seeing my friend Bert Lams jam with his group, I have all the the California Guitar Trio cds, but hadn't heard them live. I enjoyed Adrian's group as well (and found great blogs about them, including the drummer and bass player's mom's blog!) but after a long day, needed to get rest.
Saturday found me working on some projects and then at Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, jammin' with my friends Paul, Hank and Zach. Lots of new tunes and no Irish music (the nice sized crowd didn't call for any!) and it felt good.
Sunday was more independent work and rest.
Tonight I'll lift o' pint with friends at a Mexican restaurant I've never been to, Herbies. I'll let you know what I think.
I'll be blarin' the green on WITF from 12 to 3pm today, including the Celtic Symphony and Michael Torke's Green from Color Music.
Friday I caught up with coworkers and past coworkers at LBC before hearing the California Guitar Trio and Adrian Belew Power Trio at the Whitaker Center. It was sweet seeing my friend Bert Lams jam with his group, I have all the the California Guitar Trio cds, but hadn't heard them live. I enjoyed Adrian's group as well (and found great blogs about them, including the drummer and bass player's mom's blog!) but after a long day, needed to get rest.
Saturday found me working on some projects and then at Cornerstone Coffeehouse in Camp Hill, jammin' with my friends Paul, Hank and Zach. Lots of new tunes and no Irish music (the nice sized crowd didn't call for any!) and it felt good.
Sunday was more independent work and rest.
Tonight I'll lift o' pint with friends at a Mexican restaurant I've never been to, Herbies. I'll let you know what I think.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Six Secret Fears
Recently there have been several comments about self criticism creating music, and even Yahoo has had features about "secret fears."
Composers suffering from the above symptoms show consult an ASCAP, AMC, ACF or BMI professional immediately as well as book a taping on Dr. Philharmonic (seen right).
I thought I'd share after the hundreds of interviews I've conducted with composers, the top six fears of composition.
#6. Cleftomania, the fear that you'll steal the attention of the ensemble from having written the wrong notes in tenor clef for upper register cello or wrong notes in viola clef (although only Paul Hindemith would really know if the notes were right or if the violists were just missing them!)
#5. Hollandtosis, the fear that Bernard Holland will review the world premiere or NY premiere of your composition.
#4. Influtenza, the fear that flute choirs will continually commission you for flute choir works - often with bass flute candenzas.
#3. Scorrevolephrenia, the continous flowing or gliding of musical ideas, often found in great American composers born on December 11th, 1908.
#2. inNANESity, the fear that Richard Nanes will write more works, or that your composition will sound like Richard Nanes. (Related to Jenkinsdice or the sounds of Karl Jenkins)
and the #1 secret fear of composers: Chronic Fugue Syndrome, the fear that you will write too fugually OR wind up in one of John's silly blog posts.
Composers suffering from the above symptoms show consult an ASCAP, AMC, ACF or BMI professional immediately as well as book a taping on Dr. Philharmonic (seen right).I'm sure there are more fears and diseases (let's leave Schubertian VDs out of it, too Spitzer-esque) that composers suffer - leave your fears/suggestions in the comments!
Meanwhile in Sin City
Now hear this: "Go hear this!"
LAS VEGAS CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS
FLUTIST KAREN HAID IN CONCERT
Las Vegas, NV, March 12, 2008. The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society announces a special presentation of Las Vegas flutist and Nevada Artist Fellow Karen Haid in a solo recital at Las Vegas Clark County Library's Performing Arts Center, 1401 E. Flamingo Rd. on Sunday, April 6th at 2 p.m. Inspiring her audiences "with style and fire" (American Record Guide) and with interpretations "gorgeously lyrical" (The Scene), she will perform works by Bach, Telemann, Ibert, and Paganini.
Lauded as "a chamber music superstar” (Richmond News Leader), Karen Haid has performed extensively as an orchestral player and has served on the faculties of Florida State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Alaska. Laurels include the Coleman Chamber Music Award, a Certificate of Excellence from the Vienna International Music Competition, and top prizes in competitions sponsored by the National Flute Association. Karen Haid holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Boston University, a Diploma from the Juilliard School, and doctorates in both the flute and piano from Florida State University. Upon the release of her solo compact disc, The Music of Walter Gieseking (NI5696), the BBC
Music Magazine praised her as being "equally gifted on the piano and flute."
The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society was established in 2003 to meet the growing local need for quality chamber music concerts featuring local artists as well as an international array of the world's finest musicians.
In addition, the society is dedicated to establish opportunities for the young people to participate in master classes, perform in concert settings and attend performances. The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society is excited to produce and set new standards of performance for Las Vegas audiences.
The concert is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Las Vegas Chamber Music Society, Nevada Federal Credit Union, and has been funded, in part, by an Artist Fellowship award from the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency.
LAS VEGAS CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY PRESENTS
FLUTIST KAREN HAID IN CONCERT
Las Vegas, NV, March 12, 2008. The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society announces a special presentation of Las Vegas flutist and Nevada Artist Fellow Karen Haid in a solo recital at Las Vegas Clark County Library's Performing Arts Center, 1401 E. Flamingo Rd. on Sunday, April 6th at 2 p.m. Inspiring her audiences "with style and fire" (American Record Guide) and with interpretations "gorgeously lyrical" (The Scene), she will perform works by Bach, Telemann, Ibert, and Paganini.
Lauded as "a chamber music superstar” (Richmond News Leader), Karen Haid has performed extensively as an orchestral player and has served on the faculties of Florida State University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and the University of Alaska. Laurels include the Coleman Chamber Music Award, a Certificate of Excellence from the Vienna International Music Competition, and top prizes in competitions sponsored by the National Flute Association. Karen Haid holds the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Boston University, a Diploma from the Juilliard School, and doctorates in both the flute and piano from Florida State University. Upon the release of her solo compact disc, The Music of Walter Gieseking (NI5696), the BBC
Music Magazine praised her as being "equally gifted on the piano and flute."
The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society was established in 2003 to meet the growing local need for quality chamber music concerts featuring local artists as well as an international array of the world's finest musicians.
In addition, the society is dedicated to establish opportunities for the young people to participate in master classes, perform in concert settings and attend performances. The Las Vegas Chamber Music Society is excited to produce and set new standards of performance for Las Vegas audiences.
The concert is free and open to the public, and is sponsored by the Las Vegas Chamber Music Society, Nevada Federal Credit Union, and has been funded, in part, by an Artist Fellowship award from the Nevada Arts Council, a state agency.
Latest from Janine
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JANINE JANSEN RECORDS FIRST EVEREXCLUSIVE CLASSICAL ITUNES SESSION
International release date of March 18th coincides with appearances in New York, Los Angeles and Cincinnati
"Janine Jansen is the most exciting violinist of her generation - an artist for the iPod era." Der Spiegel
Violinist Janine Jansen has created an exclusive download session EP for digital music audiences. The all-Bach program called Live Session: Bach (Cat. No. 4780526) will be the first ever classical recording in the iTunes Sessions series. Janine Jansen has tailored the program specifically for digital download by selecting powerful chamber pieces, having already proven that their combination of intimacy and immediacy is particularly appealing to the digital music audience.
Janine Jansen has been dubbed "Queen of the Downloads" (The Independent, UK) following the breakout success of her chamber-sized performance of The Four Seasons in 2005, which broke into the US Top 20 albums on iTunes, becoming that year's top-selling digital classical album, and it remains a digital best-seller three years on. Her latest album Bach Inventions & Partita once again topped the iTunes classical charts around the world. The digital success story of artists such as Janine Jansen illustrates a trail-blazing dynamic for marketing and selling classical music online. Janine's prior recordings have already succeeded in building a digital audience beyond the traditional classical record buyer. The new recording Live Session: Bach presents a sensational new stride towards developing the audience even further.
Janine Jansen's iTunes exclusive Live Session: Bach, recorded in Berlin on 29th February 2008 includes the following repertoire:
- Gamba Sonata BWV 1027 for violin, viola, cello & harpsichord
- Violin Sonata BWV 1017 Siciliano for violin & harpsichord
- Violin Sonata BWV 1019a Cantabile, ma un poco Adagio for violin & harpsichord
The session also features Maxim Rysanov (viola) and Torleif Thedéen (cello), trio colleagues from Janine's recent Bach album Inventions & Partita, and her father Jan Jansen on harpsichord, who played with Janine in her best-selling album The Four Seasons.
Janine Jansen Upcoming North American tour dates:
March 14th-16th 2008 / Cincinnati / Britten Violin Concerto
March 20th-22nd 2008 / Los Angeles / Tchaikovsky Concerto
Doodah
I want to hear from my friends about this one...
"After a while, you kind of get used to it."' That's what Kory McFarren says about having his girlfriend live in his bathroom for so long that her body became stuck to the toilet seat.
McFarren says Pam Babcock had a phobia about leaving the bathroom. After she went in, he says "time went by so quick'' that he can't pinpoint exactly how long she was in there.
He says Babcock wasn't sitting on the toilet the entire time. He says she moved around, bathed and changed clothes. He also brought her food and water and they talked.
But she wouldn't leave, and McFarren says he finally called police for help last month when Babcock began acting groggy and disoriented.
McFarren says he should have gotten help sooner, but Babcock's an adult and made her own decision.
Babcock is reported in fair condition at a Wichita, Kansas, hospital. McFarren says she has an infection in her legs that has damaged the nerves and she could end up needing a wheelchair.
In other news, Wichita is the 2nd best city to find a job in according to ABC News (via Dr. Dick)
"After a while, you kind of get used to it."' That's what Kory McFarren says about having his girlfriend live in his bathroom for so long that her body became stuck to the toilet seat.
McFarren says Pam Babcock had a phobia about leaving the bathroom. After she went in, he says "time went by so quick'' that he can't pinpoint exactly how long she was in there.
He says Babcock wasn't sitting on the toilet the entire time. He says she moved around, bathed and changed clothes. He also brought her food and water and they talked.
But she wouldn't leave, and McFarren says he finally called police for help last month when Babcock began acting groggy and disoriented.
McFarren says he should have gotten help sooner, but Babcock's an adult and made her own decision.
Babcock is reported in fair condition at a Wichita, Kansas, hospital. McFarren says she has an infection in her legs that has damaged the nerves and she could end up needing a wheelchair.
In other news, Wichita is the 2nd best city to find a job in according to ABC News (via Dr. Dick)
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Get out the vote
The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania's primary election next month is Monday, March 24, 2008.
This deadline also applies to those registered voters wishing to change their political affiliation. Currently, voters registered nonpartisan or independent cannot vote for party candidates in the primary election, but can vote on ballot questions.
To be eligible to vote in Pennsylvania, you must be at least 18 on the date of the election, a citizen of the United States for at least one month before the election, and a resident of the election district in Pennsylvania in which you register at least 30 days before the election.
Registering is easy. You can register in person, by mail or even fill out an application online and print it off. Click on or cut-and-paste: http://www.dos.state.pa.us/voting/lib/voting/02_voter_registration_applications/onlinevoterregformblank.pdf.
This deadline also applies to those registered voters wishing to change their political affiliation. Currently, voters registered nonpartisan or independent cannot vote for party candidates in the primary election, but can vote on ballot questions.
To be eligible to vote in Pennsylvania, you must be at least 18 on the date of the election, a citizen of the United States for at least one month before the election, and a resident of the election district in Pennsylvania in which you register at least 30 days before the election.
Registering is easy. You can register in person, by mail or even fill out an application online and print it off. Click on or cut-and-paste: http://www.dos.state.pa.us/voting/lib/voting/02_voter_registration_applications/onlinevoterregformblank.pdf.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Sunday, March 09, 2008
Laugh
A good time was had by all and all were had by the good time yesterday at Composing Thoughts Live! At the right is Jennifer Higdon and myself towards the end of the program.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Caption Contest
Please leave your suggestion for caption(s) or a story in the comments for these four pictures. After enough entries, I'll explain the story behind the pictures. In the meantime, have fun! 
At rehearsal
Last night the Harrisburg Symphony rehearsed the Percussion Concerto by Jennifer Higdon at the Forum in Harrisburg.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Visitors: Old York to New York
Looking at my stats for the last few visitors, its pretty cool to see Europe, Asia, and even folks here in PA.
1
Korea, Republic of Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi
2
Spain Tarragona, Cataluna
3
Belgium Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelij...
4
Belgium Hron, Liege
5
Netherlands Amsterdam, Noord-Holland
6
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts
7
Berkeley, California
8
Charleston, West Virginia
9
Austin, Texas
10
East Brunswick, New Jersey
11
Neptune, New Jersey
12
Hackensack, New Jersey
13
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
14
Tucson, Arizona
15
Cedars, Pennsylvania
16
Reno, Nevada
17
Canada Red Deer, Alberta
18
Reno, Nevada
19
Chicago, Illinois
20
San Antonio, Texas
21
Mexico Mexico, Distrito Federal
22
Germany
23
Reno, Nevada
24
Elizabeth, New Jersey
25
Las Vegas, Nevada
26
United Kingdom Wolverhampton
27
South El Monte, California
28
Lexington, Kentucky
29
Germany Berlin
30
Austin, Texas
31
Reno, Nevada
32
Buffalo, New York
33
Cordova, Alabama
34
United Kingdom York
35
Franklin, North Carolina
36
USA
37
Germany Berlin
38
Hamburg, Michigan
39
New York
40
Sharpsburg, Maryland
41
Maricopa, Arizona
42
Concord, California
43
New York
44
Finland Valkeala, Southern Finland
45
France Courbevoie, Ile-de-France
46
San Francisco, California
47
Reno, Nevada
48
Columbus, Ohio
49
Oakland, California
50
Nevada City, California
1
Korea, Republic of Seoul, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi
2
Spain Tarragona, Cataluna
3
Belgium Brussels, Brussels Hoofdstedelij...
4
Belgium Hron, Liege
5
Netherlands Amsterdam, Noord-Holland
6
Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts
7
Berkeley, California
8
Charleston, West Virginia
9
Austin, Texas
10
East Brunswick, New Jersey
11
Neptune, New Jersey
12
Hackensack, New Jersey
13
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
14
Tucson, Arizona
15
Cedars, Pennsylvania
16
Reno, Nevada
17
Canada Red Deer, Alberta
18
Reno, Nevada
19
Chicago, Illinois
20
San Antonio, Texas
21
Mexico Mexico, Distrito Federal
22
Germany
23
Reno, Nevada
24
Elizabeth, New Jersey
25
Las Vegas, Nevada
26
United Kingdom Wolverhampton
27
South El Monte, California
28
Lexington, Kentucky
29
Germany Berlin
30
Austin, Texas
31
Reno, Nevada
32
Buffalo, New York
33
Cordova, Alabama
34
United Kingdom York
35
Franklin, North Carolina
36
USA
37
Germany Berlin
38
Hamburg, Michigan
39
New York
40
Sharpsburg, Maryland
41
Maricopa, Arizona
42
Concord, California
43
New York
44
Finland Valkeala, Southern Finland
45
France Courbevoie, Ile-de-France
46
San Francisco, California
47
Reno, Nevada
48
Columbus, Ohio
49
Oakland, California
50
Nevada City, California
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Nif
I'm so excited about this weekend. It's the first Composing Thoughts LIVE at WITF's Public Media Center, Saturday afternoon at 3pm.My guest is Jennifer Higdon - who has performances with the Harrisburg Symphony this weekend and in a few weeks with the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra.
Take a look at Dr. Dick's excellent post here, and be sure to stop by and meet Jennifer Saturday.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
And so it starts...
Chelsea Clinton is hitting the campaign trail in Pennsylvania today to speak with college students about her mother's presidential candidacy.
The former first daughter is slated to appear at the University of Pennsylvania for an afternoon event called ``Our Voice, Our Future.''
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign says this event is expected to be the first of many Pennsylvania appearances for Chelsea.
The former first daughter is slated to appear at the University of Pennsylvania for an afternoon event called ``Our Voice, Our Future.''
Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign says this event is expected to be the first of many Pennsylvania appearances for Chelsea.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Five Things about Ten for Carter
Network for New Music presented Ten for Carter Sunday afternoon in Philadelphia.1. Composers were commissioned for piano works ni honor of Elliott Carter's upcoming 100th birthday in December 2008. They included Milton Babbitt, Uri Caine, Jeffery Cotton, Alvin Curran, Jennifer Higdon, Jeffrey Mumford, Augusta Read Thomas, Maurice Wright, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jeremy Gill. Babbitt's was not completed and instead pianist Marilyn Nonken included Carter's Retrouvailles from 2000.
2. Most striking was Bells by Augusta Read Thomas, played by pianist Steven Gosling and inside the piano by Marilyn Nonken. The work was colorful and inventive, truly capturing the spirit of Carter.
3. Mumford's a celebration of Elliott was brilliant, with stellar and facile playing from Gosling.
4. Higdon's Mr. Carter's Notes and Zwilich's A Poem for Elliott were entertaining and fitting, with care and panache from Nonken's musical playing.
5. Thomas Kraines was passionate in his reading of Carter's Figment #2, and was joined by other members of Network for Con Leggerezza Pensosa (from 1990 - the oldest work on the program!) and played it not once, but twice, before intermission and at the end of the program.Afterwards, a reception followed with a q&a with the pianists and composers. The concert was also played Friday night in NYC. Hear an interview with Jeremy Gill here about his Eliot Fragments.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Now I saw his face
and I'm a believer!http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7270795.stmFind out how Bach really looked like according to scientists!
Oops
“It has come to our attention that there is a mistake in the printed booklet that accompanies the new release from Leif Ove Andsnes: Mozart Piano Concertos Nos. 17 & 20 with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. The booklet mentions that the cadenza for the last movement of Piano Concerto No. 20 is written by Leif Ove himself. This is incorrect; it is in fact written by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Mozart's pupil. For the first movement of the same concerto, it says that the cadenza was written by Beethoven and arranged by Edwin Fischer; this is also incorrect: it is Beethoven's own cadenza that Leif Ove performs. EMI Classics will make sure that this information is corrected in any further booklet reprints, and kindly asks that reviewers of the album make note of this correction.”
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Next month
Wear a sweater for Fred!
In honor of Fred Rogers on what would have been his 80th birthday, Mr. McFeely announced that March 20 will be sweater day in the Pittsburgh metro area. Wear a favorite sweater to cap off "Won't You Be My Neighbor" Days events and activities, March 15-20, hosted by WQED and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood production company Family Communications, Inc..
In honor of Fred Rogers on what would have been his 80th birthday, Mr. McFeely announced that March 20 will be sweater day in the Pittsburgh metro area. Wear a favorite sweater to cap off "Won't You Be My Neighbor" Days events and activities, March 15-20, hosted by WQED and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood production company Family Communications, Inc..
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Hard act to follow
So what should he play?
The New York Philharmonic received a warm reception as it played today in North Korea. The unprecedented concert could mean warmer ties between the country and the West. Guitarist Eric Clapton is the next Western artist invited to play in Pyongyang.
The New York Philharmonic received a warm reception as it played today in North Korea. The unprecedented concert could mean warmer ties between the country and the West. Guitarist Eric Clapton is the next Western artist invited to play in Pyongyang.
Excellent concerts
I've been under the weather and haven't had the time or energy to properly give kudos to Trio Solisti, Kirsten Agresta or this last Sunday to Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt - a fabulous evening at the State Theater in Ithaca.
More to come.
More to come.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
And you thought
I thought Bernard Holland was the devil incarnate for reviewing...but get this story about Maxim magazine reviewing the Black Crowes - without hearing the album! Really they published a review without listening to it.
Wow.
Wow.
Food Folks and Fun
I
t's been a relaxing stay at The Inn on Columbia in Ithaca. I've had time to think, smile and relax - much needed for me, at least every now and then.The food has been delightful, from Simeon's on the Commons to my favorite ZaZa's Cucina.
And it's been nice to hang out with an old dear friend, Jann.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Birth opera
How cool is this? (via Scott)
All the rage is to check the Met Opera to see what was played on your birthday. Mine:
Metropolitan Opera House
April 11, 1970
Matinee Broadcast
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
Figaro..................Cesare Siepi
Susanna.................Teresa Stratas
Count Almaviva..........Tom Krause
Countess Almaviva.......Teresa Zylis-Gara
Cherubino...............Rosalind Elias
Dr. Bartolo.............Paul Plishka
Marcellina..............Nedda Casei
Don Basilio.............Paul Franke
Antonio.................Lorenzo Alvary
Barbarina...............Gail Robinson
Don Curzio..............Gabor Carelli
Peasant.................Cecelia Entner
Peasant.................Judit Schichtanz
Conductor...............Josef Krips
All the rage is to check the Met Opera to see what was played on your birthday. Mine:
Metropolitan Opera House
April 11, 1970
Matinee Broadcast
LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
Figaro..................Cesare Siepi
Susanna.................Teresa Stratas
Count Almaviva..........Tom Krause
Countess Almaviva.......Teresa Zylis-Gara
Cherubino...............Rosalind Elias
Dr. Bartolo.............Paul Plishka
Marcellina..............Nedda Casei
Don Basilio.............Paul Franke
Antonio.................Lorenzo Alvary
Barbarina...............Gail Robinson
Don Curzio..............Gabor Carelli
Peasant.................Cecelia Entner
Peasant.................Judit Schichtanz
Conductor...............Josef Krips
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
We hope
That Prof. Heebie McJeebie is alright!
Fire at the Hotel Cadillac
Perhaps he is preparing an original instruments version of Charles Ives' The Gong on the Hook & Ladder?
Fire at the Hotel Cadillac
Perhaps he is preparing an original instruments version of Charles Ives' The Gong on the Hook & Ladder?
Monday, February 18, 2008
Viva Lions Vegas
After Sunday brunch, I saw a little bit of Pennsylvania in Las Vegas, with Penn State grad Wynn, and his JOEPA Ford Mustang!
We Are? Penn State!
We Are? Penn State!
Viva
A good time was had by all and all were had by the good time this weekend in Las Vegas!The spread (seen left) included cigars, scotch and mondo snacks...and good friends, both old and new: Sara and Cheryl (below right) hearing a good story after the party moved from the kitchen.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Of Valentines...
I had a lovely Thursday...finishing up the Roses campaign at work, talking with friends on my way to NYC, hearing Trio Solisti (pictured right), eating at Ollie's and seeing my dear friend Satomi.Other friends spent Valentine's Day in other ways: quoting Berg; quoting more Berg/opera; and I got an email from one friend who's computer hi-jinx resulted in blasting him with Elgar. Yikes!
This weekend I'm in Las Vegas to hear a harp recital by Kirsten Agresta and see friends.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
For Valentine's Day
From my poet peasant namesake, John Clare:
Love Lives Beyond The Tomb
Love lives beyond
The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew-
I love the fond,
The faithful, and the true.
Love lies in sleep,
The happiness of healthy dreams,
Eve's dews may weep,
But love delightful seems.
'Tis seen in flowers,
And in the even's pearly dew
On earth's green hours,
And in the heaven's eternal blue.
'Tis heard in spring
When light and sunbeams, warm and kind,
On angels wing
Bring love and music to the wind.
And where is voice
So young, so beautiful, so sweet
As nature's choice,
Where spring and lovers meet?
Love lies beyond
The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew.
I love the fond,
The faithful, young, and true.
Love Lives Beyond The Tomb
Love lives beyond
The tomb, the earth, which fades like dew-
I love the fond,
The faithful, and the true.
Love lies in sleep,
The happiness of healthy dreams,
Eve's dews may weep,
But love delightful seems.
'Tis seen in flowers,
And in the even's pearly dew
On earth's green hours,
And in the heaven's eternal blue.
'Tis heard in spring
When light and sunbeams, warm and kind,
On angels wing
Bring love and music to the wind.
And where is voice
So young, so beautiful, so sweet
As nature's choice,
Where spring and lovers meet?
Love lies beyond
The tomb, the earth, the flowers, and dew.
I love the fond,
The faithful, young, and true.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Turn it around
Leonard Slatkin will hopefully help turn Detroit's image around, as news of this is announced...at least we know the new American music quotient will rise!
R.I.P.
So I guess it's not just classical music dying anymore?!"I think that the time when music could change the world is past," the 62-year-old musician told a news conference on Friday. Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young, in Berlin to promote his concert movie 'CSNY Déjà vu,' says the goal of the film 'was to stimulate debate among people.'
Sunday, February 10, 2008
O'Connor stormin'
Mark O'Connor played the most captivating solo violin recital in the Forum in Harrisburg this afternoon.
Breathtaking playing culminating with his six solo Caprices, written to blend styles while he was a studio player in Nashville, ended the first half of the Wednesday Music Club benefit. Duties as Secretary/Treasurer of NABET/CWA Local 213 forced me to leave at intermission, but I'll see him later this month in NYC with his Hot Swing Trio.
Also stunning this afternoon was the weather, which at times blinded the road with snow squalls, and at other times appeared to have sunshine with snow flurries.
Breathtaking playing culminating with his six solo Caprices, written to blend styles while he was a studio player in Nashville, ended the first half of the Wednesday Music Club benefit. Duties as Secretary/Treasurer of NABET/CWA Local 213 forced me to leave at intermission, but I'll see him later this month in NYC with his Hot Swing Trio.
Also stunning this afternoon was the weather, which at times blinded the road with snow squalls, and at other times appeared to have sunshine with snow flurries.
Friday, February 08, 2008
Free to good home
A nice email from CCM:
On behalf of all of us at ChicagoClassicalMusic.org, we are excited to announce "Free downloads have arrived!"
Thanks to our partnership with Naxos Records and Music Giants HD, ChicagoClassicalMusic.org is excited to offer free high definition music downloads exclusively for registered members of ChicagoClassicalMusic.org.
The first free track is performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Marin Alsop, Johannes Brahms : Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a, "St. Anthony Variations" Thema, "Chorale St. Antoni": Andante.
Simply log in to ChicagoClassicalMusic.org and follow the link on the main page blog to retrieve your track.
Commencing on the week of Monday, February 11, 2008; ChicagoClassicalMusic.org will regularly offer new music downloads.
Thank you to our loyal members for your involvement on ChicagoClassicalMusic.org's online community for music enthusiasts. We encourage you to check back on the site for new hot deals, new classical concert listings on the calendar and of course free downloads.
On behalf of all of us at ChicagoClassicalMusic.org, we are excited to announce "Free downloads have arrived!"
Thanks to our partnership with Naxos Records and Music Giants HD, ChicagoClassicalMusic.org is excited to offer free high definition music downloads exclusively for registered members of ChicagoClassicalMusic.org.
The first free track is performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra with Marin Alsop, Johannes Brahms : Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a, "St. Anthony Variations" Thema, "Chorale St. Antoni": Andante.
Simply log in to ChicagoClassicalMusic.org and follow the link on the main page blog to retrieve your track.
Commencing on the week of Monday, February 11, 2008; ChicagoClassicalMusic.org will regularly offer new music downloads.
Thank you to our loyal members for your involvement on ChicagoClassicalMusic.org's online community for music enthusiasts. We encourage you to check back on the site for new hot deals, new classical concert listings on the calendar and of course free downloads.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Loving Chamber Music
For an upciming LVCMS concert:
Loving Chamber Music
(Or the Importance of being Ernst!)
by
John Clare, violinist/broadcaster
Past President and Co-founder, Las Vegas Chamber Music Society
Thank you for attending today’s recital. Live classical music is a wondrous thing that audiences share with the performers. If you enjoyed this event, I hope you’ll attend another, and bring a friend or young person with you next time.
You see, the best things in life are sometimes rare. Exotic metals, perfumes, and wild game fetch high market prices and are highly sought after…and chamber music can be viewed that way as well. Think about the idea of having a glass of fine wine with friends and having the chance to open the bottle, aerating it, observing the color, bouquet and then savoring the flavor – discussing it with the few who share it.
Today’s concert is no different. The audience around you is here to enjoy something that is rare for today’s society. Smile and discuss it with your partner, or with the ushers, or the performer. We’re all fans of music or of the performer or we wouldn’t be here.
Another example is sporting events. Recently you may have enjoyed seeing a team from New York (New Jersey actually) play against a team from Boston in the Super Bowl. It was a close game and had many exciting moments. Music events sometimes have that quality as well – think of the string quartet as the visitors in the “home” hall, and perhaps the pianist performing as the home player. There are half times (intermission), concession stands (a pre concert drink or in the lobby) and even winners (the composer whose work is premiered or played; or the student performers who make it through the piece.) It works on lots of levels.
These are all great topics and ideas to invite someone to a concert. Start a discussion, and see where it leads you and your guest. They may get hooked. Chamber music, and classical music in general needs you.
I go to a lot of concerts. I also give talks, and even perform, On and off stage you will often find me talking about the music, musicians and the halls. Recently, I heard all five string quartets by 99-year-old American composer Elliott Carter. I also met him and will be featuring him in an interview. When I told friends and mentors about the concert, most said, WHY?! You see, Carter’s music is very complex, dissonant even. But I respect Carter and his style – most of all his originality. And truth be told, I was wondering if I would enjoy it, but thought it was important to go and hear them.
I had heard four of the works before, but not the most recent, and knew the musical language was tough, to say the least, even for a new music fan like myself.
It was the single most wonderful concert event I have been to in my life so far (and I go to 70 concerts a year, for the last three!). It was exciting, fresh and invigorating.
I’ve been to concerts where one composer is featured, including the 2004 all Bartok cycle that the LVCMS presented with Teller (also an amazing set of concerts!) so I knew that it could be a wonderful experience. Having the chance to hear Pacifica Quartet play all of the Carter Quartets (they’ve recorded #1 & #5 for Naxos) and the chance to see Carter there (and eventually meeting him) was such a moving experience I now wonder why I ever doubted I would enjoy it.
So even if you wonder about a program, give it a chance.
I’ll end explaining the subtitle of this essay, a little joke referencing Oscar Wilde’s play. Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst is a romantic violinist and composer, whose work is played by a few violinists today. His music is hard to learn and is not always the greatest music. But violinists who do learn his music often put everything they can into their performances of it. One of his most famous works is Variations on the Last Rose of Summer, and you will find his solo violin arrangement of Schubert’s Der Erkonig on programs now and then. They are touching works, and as I believe there can be lots of “inside” lingo with chamber music, I thought I should explain.
So if there is something on a program you don’t get, ask someone: the performer, the composer, the management or google it. Again, we’re all here to enjoy the music and are happy to answer or discuss it.
Loving Chamber Music
(Or the Importance of being Ernst!)
by
John Clare, violinist/broadcaster
Past President and Co-founder, Las Vegas Chamber Music Society
Thank you for attending today’s recital. Live classical music is a wondrous thing that audiences share with the performers. If you enjoyed this event, I hope you’ll attend another, and bring a friend or young person with you next time.
You see, the best things in life are sometimes rare. Exotic metals, perfumes, and wild game fetch high market prices and are highly sought after…and chamber music can be viewed that way as well. Think about the idea of having a glass of fine wine with friends and having the chance to open the bottle, aerating it, observing the color, bouquet and then savoring the flavor – discussing it with the few who share it.
Today’s concert is no different. The audience around you is here to enjoy something that is rare for today’s society. Smile and discuss it with your partner, or with the ushers, or the performer. We’re all fans of music or of the performer or we wouldn’t be here.
Another example is sporting events. Recently you may have enjoyed seeing a team from New York (New Jersey actually) play against a team from Boston in the Super Bowl. It was a close game and had many exciting moments. Music events sometimes have that quality as well – think of the string quartet as the visitors in the “home” hall, and perhaps the pianist performing as the home player. There are half times (intermission), concession stands (a pre concert drink or in the lobby) and even winners (the composer whose work is premiered or played; or the student performers who make it through the piece.) It works on lots of levels.
These are all great topics and ideas to invite someone to a concert. Start a discussion, and see where it leads you and your guest. They may get hooked. Chamber music, and classical music in general needs you.
I go to a lot of concerts. I also give talks, and even perform, On and off stage you will often find me talking about the music, musicians and the halls. Recently, I heard all five string quartets by 99-year-old American composer Elliott Carter. I also met him and will be featuring him in an interview. When I told friends and mentors about the concert, most said, WHY?! You see, Carter’s music is very complex, dissonant even. But I respect Carter and his style – most of all his originality. And truth be told, I was wondering if I would enjoy it, but thought it was important to go and hear them.
I had heard four of the works before, but not the most recent, and knew the musical language was tough, to say the least, even for a new music fan like myself.
It was the single most wonderful concert event I have been to in my life so far (and I go to 70 concerts a year, for the last three!). It was exciting, fresh and invigorating.
I’ve been to concerts where one composer is featured, including the 2004 all Bartok cycle that the LVCMS presented with Teller (also an amazing set of concerts!) so I knew that it could be a wonderful experience. Having the chance to hear Pacifica Quartet play all of the Carter Quartets (they’ve recorded #1 & #5 for Naxos) and the chance to see Carter there (and eventually meeting him) was such a moving experience I now wonder why I ever doubted I would enjoy it.
So even if you wonder about a program, give it a chance.
I’ll end explaining the subtitle of this essay, a little joke referencing Oscar Wilde’s play. Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst is a romantic violinist and composer, whose work is played by a few violinists today. His music is hard to learn and is not always the greatest music. But violinists who do learn his music often put everything they can into their performances of it. One of his most famous works is Variations on the Last Rose of Summer, and you will find his solo violin arrangement of Schubert’s Der Erkonig on programs now and then. They are touching works, and as I believe there can be lots of “inside” lingo with chamber music, I thought I should explain.
So if there is something on a program you don’t get, ask someone: the performer, the composer, the management or google it. Again, we’re all here to enjoy the music and are happy to answer or discuss it.
Fiddler Faddler
Be sure to check out Odin Rathnam's new website, and a download available of romantic French repertoire!And stay tuned for exciting recital news from the Harrisburg Symphony concertmaster - he'll be performing at WITF this spring as well, live from the studio.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Happy 70th
Composer John Corigliano turns 70 on February 16th. Enjoy a portion of an interview we did...
Clare: How did you know you were a composer? How did it come about that you decided to write music?
Corigliano: Actually it was because I grew up with my father as a performer and I would go to the NY Philharmonic and hear him rehearse a piece. He was the concert master at the Philharmonic and played solos at least once a year and I would hear him rehearse a piece and I would see how tense he was and then go through rehearsals and the concert. I would actually sit in the green room of Carnegie Hall as a little boy listening on the speakers because I was too nervous to sit in the hall because I knew every note of the concertos and was hunched over until he was done. And then the next morning got the seven news papers and read what they said about him and the idea of standing on stage and performing was impossible for me because I grew up with my father doing it and it seemed over whelming. I loved music and improvised at the piano. My mother was a pianist, very fine pianist who never played in public but she taught, but not me because I had two lessons and we, you know, that didn’t work. So I picked up how to play more or less by myself. I improvised a lot and the way I felt I could go into music was in composing because it, I didn’t have to be on that stage at that moment doing that thing. I could be at home, I could solve the problems. I could write them down and then it would be on stage and someone would play it at that moment. So it really had to do with my childhood and how I grew up more than anything else.
Clare: It’s funny, I sometimes see patterns of musicians where the sons will be doctors and doctors’ sons will be musicians. Were they ever saying it’s hard to be in the classical world?
Corigliano: Oh, absolutely, in fact they were very discouraging, both of them, about my going into concert music or any music. My father wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor or something and of course, when you’re a kid that’s all the more the incentive to do it. So I didn’t take it as a discouraging thing, I took it as a kind of daring for me. But also that was the world I loved and I was fascinated by. When I was a kid in high school, the LP record had just been invented and the LP record really was a break through much more than stereo was to the LP, the LP to the seventy eight was a huge breakthrough in terms of sonic, the wideness...a kind of way to capture sound. When I was a little boy I had at time you know in high school a fifteen inch Klipsch speaker with a horn and a corner cabinet and my set and I started listening to Capitol full dimensional sound recordings. I specifically remember a demonstration disc in which the gun fight scene Billy the Kid was performed and of course I put it on at first because it had a bass drum that plays very prominently in it. And there was my fifteen inch woofer, you know shaking the walls and I was in my house and I thought that was thrilling. But then I kept listening to the way that Aaron Copland got these incredibly interesting and originally sounds by playing simple sound chords with new spacings. And so I started going over the piano and trying those spacings out and seeing how you could get a simple c-major cord to sound fresh just by spacing it differently. And then I went out and got the music to it. And then I started Stravinsky and Copland and all these composers and being fascinated very much through recordings and, my father’s live performances of course. But the recordings were very instrumental in my being fascinated with the contemporary composer because in those days you know it wasn’t like now; I mean you couldn’t go into a record store and get some twenty-five year-old composer’s recordings because only the big labels recorded. It was a tremendous amount of equipment necessary to record. And so you had Stravinsky, and you had Copland and you had Bernstein, Piston, and Hanson and Bill Schuman. But you didn’t have the kind of variety we have now. But it did give me a chance to hear a lot of music that I had never heard before, and about that time Columbia MasterWorks started issuing its’ American Music Series - which was extraordinary! Goddard Lieberson put this together, an extraordinary series of pieces like John Cage...things I would have never had an opportunity to hear before. And in hearing those I became so fascinated with one can do, today compared to the past, that I just wanted to compose and that’s very much why I became a composer.
Clare: Do you think the musicians at the caliber that they were, the Bernsteins that your dad was not just a section violinist or violist or accordion player, he was a concert master of the New York Philharmonic, do you think that had an effect also in your musical up bringing?
Corigliano: Well I think so, I remember meeting a lot of these people. I remember meeting Fritz Kreisler and Pierre Monteux as a little kid, so I certainly did meet them and get to know them. I remember we used to have lunch with Dmitri Mitropolis at La Scala Restaurant my father and I. He would bring bring fava beans and he would ask for tartar steak and he would mix in with this bottle of fava beans he had and eat it and he would talk. So one of the things it did was humanize the great musicians of our time because my father knew them personally. But I think the real thing that gave me was the idea of, especially in the concerto, was the idea of the soloist and the ensemble and the drama of the concerto - because there was my father with an eighteen inch piece of wood, there was a ninety-five to a hundred and four piece orchestra playing and he had to rise above that - and in some way because the composer wrote it so that he could do so; he had to surmount you know fifty other string players plus another forty brass wind and percussion players and I think the drama of that was something I grew up with. So writing concertos in particular I feel a kind of naturalness about engaging in that dialogue because I grew up with it. And the idea that he played, that he could dominate that by his musicianship, the sound and the passion of his playing was something that I took as a natural thing.
Corigliano: Actually it was because I grew up with my father as a performer and I would go to the NY Philharmonic and hear him rehearse a piece. He was the concert master at the Philharmonic and played solos at least once a year and I would hear him rehearse a piece and I would see how tense he was and then go through rehearsals and the concert. I would actually sit in the green room of Carnegie Hall as a little boy listening on the speakers because I was too nervous to sit in the hall because I knew every note of the concertos and was hunched over until he was done. And then the next morning got the seven news papers and read what they said about him and the idea of standing on stage and performing was impossible for me because I grew up with my father doing it and it seemed over whelming. I loved music and improvised at the piano. My mother was a pianist, very fine pianist who never played in public but she taught, but not me because I had two lessons and we, you know, that didn’t work. So I picked up how to play more or less by myself. I improvised a lot and the way I felt I could go into music was in composing because it, I didn’t have to be on that stage at that moment doing that thing. I could be at home, I could solve the problems. I could write them down and then it would be on stage and someone would play it at that moment. So it really had to do with my childhood and how I grew up more than anything else.
Clare: It’s funny, I sometimes see patterns of musicians where the sons will be doctors and doctors’ sons will be musicians. Were they ever saying it’s hard to be in the classical world?
Corigliano: Oh, absolutely, in fact they were very discouraging, both of them, about my going into concert music or any music. My father wanted me to be a lawyer or a doctor or something and of course, when you’re a kid that’s all the more the incentive to do it. So I didn’t take it as a discouraging thing, I took it as a kind of daring for me. But also that was the world I loved and I was fascinated by. When I was a kid in high school, the LP record had just been invented and the LP record really was a break through much more than stereo was to the LP, the LP to the seventy eight was a huge breakthrough in terms of sonic, the wideness...a kind of way to capture sound. When I was a little boy I had at time you know in high school a fifteen inch Klipsch speaker with a horn and a corner cabinet and my set and I started listening to Capitol full dimensional sound recordings. I specifically remember a demonstration disc in which the gun fight scene Billy the Kid was performed and of course I put it on at first because it had a bass drum that plays very prominently in it. And there was my fifteen inch woofer, you know shaking the walls and I was in my house and I thought that was thrilling. But then I kept listening to the way that Aaron Copland got these incredibly interesting and originally sounds by playing simple sound chords with new spacings. And so I started going over the piano and trying those spacings out and seeing how you could get a simple c-major cord to sound fresh just by spacing it differently. And then I went out and got the music to it. And then I started Stravinsky and Copland and all these composers and being fascinated very much through recordings and, my father’s live performances of course. But the recordings were very instrumental in my being fascinated with the contemporary composer because in those days you know it wasn’t like now; I mean you couldn’t go into a record store and get some twenty-five year-old composer’s recordings because only the big labels recorded. It was a tremendous amount of equipment necessary to record. And so you had Stravinsky, and you had Copland and you had Bernstein, Piston, and Hanson and Bill Schuman. But you didn’t have the kind of variety we have now. But it did give me a chance to hear a lot of music that I had never heard before, and about that time Columbia MasterWorks started issuing its’ American Music Series - which was extraordinary! Goddard Lieberson put this together, an extraordinary series of pieces like John Cage...things I would have never had an opportunity to hear before. And in hearing those I became so fascinated with one can do, today compared to the past, that I just wanted to compose and that’s very much why I became a composer.
Clare: Do you think the musicians at the caliber that they were, the Bernsteins that your dad was not just a section violinist or violist or accordion player, he was a concert master of the New York Philharmonic, do you think that had an effect also in your musical up bringing?
Corigliano: Well I think so, I remember meeting a lot of these people. I remember meeting Fritz Kreisler and Pierre Monteux as a little kid, so I certainly did meet them and get to know them. I remember we used to have lunch with Dmitri Mitropolis at La Scala Restaurant my father and I. He would bring bring fava beans and he would ask for tartar steak and he would mix in with this bottle of fava beans he had and eat it and he would talk. So one of the things it did was humanize the great musicians of our time because my father knew them personally. But I think the real thing that gave me was the idea of, especially in the concerto, was the idea of the soloist and the ensemble and the drama of the concerto - because there was my father with an eighteen inch piece of wood, there was a ninety-five to a hundred and four piece orchestra playing and he had to rise above that - and in some way because the composer wrote it so that he could do so; he had to surmount you know fifty other string players plus another forty brass wind and percussion players and I think the drama of that was something I grew up with. So writing concertos in particular I feel a kind of naturalness about engaging in that dialogue because I grew up with it. And the idea that he played, that he could dominate that by his musicianship, the sound and the passion of his playing was something that I took as a natural thing.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Congrats
From Vienna: 
Anna Netrebko is pregnant and she's getting married. The 36-year-old star soprano and her fiance, Uruguayan baritone Erwin Schrott, are expecting a child this fall, according to Netrebko's management company.
"We are both very, very happy that soon there will be three of us," Netrebko said in a statement.
It will be her first child. She and Schrott, 35, became engaged late last year in New York.
The Russian-born singer, who holds Austrian citizenship, has been making a film version of Puccini's "La Boheme" in Vienna for German television.
She and Schrott have shared the stage several times over the past few years, singing Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and other works, and they performed together in December in Puerto Rico.
Her manager, Jeffrey Vanderveen, said Netrebko "will keep her engagements as long as her doctors permit it."
She is scheduled to perform in Massenet's "Manon," which opens April 4 at the Vienna State Opera.
Austrian media said Netrebko was still scheduled to join Rolando Villazon and Placido Domingo in a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic on the grounds of Vienna's Schoenbrunn Palace on June 27, two days before the capital hosts the final of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.
She was to appear with Villazon in Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Salzburg Festival in August, but pulled out because of the pregnancy, festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler said Monday.
"We are surprised, but we understand. The most beautiful reason for a cancellation is a child," Rabl-Stadler was quoted as telling the Austria Press Agency.
"We'll send her the most beautiful bouquet in the world" when the baby is born, Rabl-Stadler said.
Netrebko has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" that begins Oct. 3, but performances in January 2009 are still on, Vanderveen said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Her engagement at the Met for "Manon," scheduled Dec. 15 through Jan. 10, 2009, is under discussion, Vanderveen said.
"Bottom line is: She will sing as long as her doctors say it is fine," he said. "When she comes back is a life decision (and a vocal decision) that she is considering now."
"We are both very, very happy that soon there will be three of us," Netrebko said in a statement.
It will be her first child. She and Schrott, 35, became engaged late last year in New York.
The Russian-born singer, who holds Austrian citizenship, has been making a film version of Puccini's "La Boheme" in Vienna for German television.
She and Schrott have shared the stage several times over the past few years, singing Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and other works, and they performed together in December in Puerto Rico.
Her manager, Jeffrey Vanderveen, said Netrebko "will keep her engagements as long as her doctors permit it."
She is scheduled to perform in Massenet's "Manon," which opens April 4 at the Vienna State Opera.
Austrian media said Netrebko was still scheduled to join Rolando Villazon and Placido Domingo in a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic on the grounds of Vienna's Schoenbrunn Palace on June 27, two days before the capital hosts the final of the Euro 2008 soccer tournament.
She was to appear with Villazon in Charles Gounod's "Romeo and Juliet" at the Salzburg Festival in August, but pulled out because of the pregnancy, festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler said Monday.
"We are surprised, but we understand. The most beautiful reason for a cancellation is a child," Rabl-Stadler was quoted as telling the Austria Press Agency.
"We'll send her the most beautiful bouquet in the world" when the baby is born, Rabl-Stadler said.
Netrebko has withdrawn from the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" that begins Oct. 3, but performances in January 2009 are still on, Vanderveen said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Her engagement at the Met for "Manon," scheduled Dec. 15 through Jan. 10, 2009, is under discussion, Vanderveen said.
"Bottom line is: She will sing as long as her doctors say it is fine," he said. "When she comes back is a life decision (and a vocal decision) that she is considering now."
Adios amiga!
Friday night I stopped by Gilligan's to say adieu to a coworker at WITF, Courtney Howell (seen below with her beau, Paul). She's going on to teach art, and I'm sure will do so inspiring a whole new generation in the artworld!
Have fun, kiddo, knock 'em dead.
Have fun, kiddo, knock 'em dead.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Two Bs
I caught the second of Adele Anthony's Bach Sonatas and Partitas last night at Gretna Music in Elizabethtown. It was delightful with the G minor Sonata, B minor Partita and the C major Sonata. Anthony was much more in control than her November performance, and showed talent and musicality beyond her years. Especially dazzling were her tempos in the 1st Partita.Also, major highlights for me were the fugues in both sonatas, both well thought out and melodic lines clearly and cleanly presented.
I had fun giving the preconcert talk, and laid out the scores for the audience to see across 12 stands at the back of the room - it was nice to see people take a look before, at intermission and after the performance.Today, I heard the Orchestra of St. Luke's in music by Thomas Ades and Beethoven, with soloist Helene Grimaud and conductor Xian Zhang. It was also a breathtaking concert - with a perfect rendition of Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. Grimaud performs with depth and conviction (and despite a cellphone ring in one of the most sensitive portions of the first movement) with incredible dynamics. I melted with the precision of the last movement, which was not only clean but touching. My friend and coworker Cary who came along said he could barely sit still hearing such awesome playing.
The Ades was disappointing, a tribute to Couperin that was unmoving and quite static. Beethoven's 4th Symphony was put through its paces and showed lots of flair and excitement. Again, a very precise and uptempo take on a true classic.
Another highlight was meeting up with friend and composer Steve Stucky for lunch at a good Thai restaurant beforehand. aLater, Cary and I caught a quick cup of coffee and tiramisu after the concert and had an easy trip home, hearing part of Superbowl XLII on am radio.
A super Sunday indeed.
Friday, February 01, 2008
Three Bs: Brass, Bach and Beethoven?
Last night, I introduced the Boston Brass at the Luhrs Center in Shippensburg. A grand time was had by all and all were had by the grand time! It was nice to reconnect with my youth symphony and college friend JD Shaw, who is the horn player and arranger for the Boston Brass.
Tomorrow, I deliever the 2nd talk for Adele Anthony's Bach Sonatas and Partitas at Etown college. It'll be fun and I have some great visuals planned for it!
Sunday, coworker and friend Cary Burkett is joining me at Carnegie Hall to hear Helene Grimaud play the Emperor Concerto with Orchestra of St. Luke's. What a Super Sunday!
Tomorrow, I deliever the 2nd talk for Adele Anthony's Bach Sonatas and Partitas at Etown college. It'll be fun and I have some great visuals planned for it!
Sunday, coworker and friend Cary Burkett is joining me at Carnegie Hall to hear Helene Grimaud play the Emperor Concerto with Orchestra of St. Luke's. What a Super Sunday!
Five Things about Elliott Carter String Quartets
I heard Carter's Five String Quartets Wednesday night in New York City.
1. I was very excited to hear all five quartets on one program, although I wondered how it would be to focus on one genre by one composer...I have twice heard all the Bartoks on a program - once with the Pro Arte Quartet that included a dinner and talk in between two concerts, and once with the Colorado Quartet back to back on a Saturday night/Sunday afternoon; so I was certainly open to hearing a composer's work on a single program. (Funny, the Carter Quartets remind me of how much the music can evolve from Bartok's time, and yet keep a hold in tradition.) Turns out, I was delighted by the program, with two well placed intermissions, that allowed discussion, and a chance to get water, bathroom, or an autograph (as you can see below.)
2. The Pacifica Quartet has several delightful recordings, which I knew, including their just released Carter Quartets #1 and #5, but this was my first chance to hear them live. It was magnificent. They are a group who bring new breath and humanity to Carter's masterpieces. While it is a cliche that they make it look easy, they were truly at ease with each other, the audience and the music.
3. Our seats (Dick Strawser my friend and coworker joined me) were on the mezzanine, center, which turns out was about five rows from where Elliott Carter was sitting. He came in while we were talking in the lobby with another friend, Dan Guss (pictured right with Dick in the lobby), who we had met for dinner at Ollie's just before the concert. As we had guessed Maestro Carter who be wisked in from backstage into the hall perhaps moments before the concert, it turns out, he arrived about 30 minutes before the show would start and was waiting as their tickets were delievered and he sat just feet from where we were conversing. A few folks noticed and talked to him before they went in, but we thought we'd honor his privacy and let him be.
4. During the first intermission, several wellwishers, friends and fans met Elliott, although we had heard beforehand from someone with the hall management that Carter would not be available to sign autographs afterwards, but that the quartet would after the concert (and they did!) The 2nd and 3rd quartets seemed to fly by and the 2nd intermission was upon us. I decided I would go down and introduce myself - I have been corresponding with Mr. Carter's assistant for over a year now, trying to get an interview for Composing Thoughts.
So, I may have been the first down, and asked for an autograph, and said I hoped he would consider being on my radio show, and mentioned my name and show. Virgil was pleased to meet me and I believe (after the the completion of his new Flute Concerto) we'll be able to find a good time to sit down and talk. It was sweet to meet Elliott, who seemed concerned the audience was not going to stay for the 4th and 5th quartets. They did stay - it was just another break and a chance to stretch legs...
5. The concert was well received, with 3 or 4 curtain calls with a standing ovation for the quartet, the music and the composer. It was one of the events of my lifetime, and will be able to say I heard the quartets with the composer that night in January 2008. Not something easily forgotten and I believe a historic event, like being able to say you were at the Rite of Spring premiere or Ballet Mechanique.
Read Dr. Dick's account of the evening here.
1. I was very excited to hear all five quartets on one program, although I wondered how it would be to focus on one genre by one composer...I have twice heard all the Bartoks on a program - once with the Pro Arte Quartet that included a dinner and talk in between two concerts, and once with the Colorado Quartet back to back on a Saturday night/Sunday afternoon; so I was certainly open to hearing a composer's work on a single program. (Funny, the Carter Quartets remind me of how much the music can evolve from Bartok's time, and yet keep a hold in tradition.) Turns out, I was delighted by the program, with two well placed intermissions, that allowed discussion, and a chance to get water, bathroom, or an autograph (as you can see below.)2. The Pacifica Quartet has several delightful recordings, which I knew, including their just released Carter Quartets #1 and #5, but this was my first chance to hear them live. It was magnificent. They are a group who bring new breath and humanity to Carter's masterpieces. While it is a cliche that they make it look easy, they were truly at ease with each other, the audience and the music.
3. Our seats (Dick Strawser my friend and coworker joined me) were on the mezzanine, center, which turns out was about five rows from where Elliott Carter was sitting. He came in while we were talking in the lobby with another friend, Dan Guss (pictured right with Dick in the lobby), who we had met for dinner at Ollie's just before the concert. As we had guessed Maestro Carter who be wisked in from backstage into the hall perhaps moments before the concert, it turns out, he arrived about 30 minutes before the show would start and was waiting as their tickets were delievered and he sat just feet from where we were conversing. A few folks noticed and talked to him before they went in, but we thought we'd honor his privacy and let him be.4. During the first intermission, several wellwishers, friends and fans met Elliott, although we had heard beforehand from someone with the hall management that Carter would not be available to sign autographs afterwards, but that the quartet would after the concert (and they did!) The 2nd and 3rd quartets seemed to fly by and the 2nd intermission was upon us. I decided I would go down and introduce myself - I have been corresponding with Mr. Carter's assistant for over a year now, trying to get an interview for Composing Thoughts.
So, I may have been the first down, and asked for an autograph, and said I hoped he would consider being on my radio show, and mentioned my name and show. Virgil was pleased to meet me and I believe (after the the completion of his new Flute Concerto) we'll be able to find a good time to sit down and talk. It was sweet to meet Elliott, who seemed concerned the audience was not going to stay for the 4th and 5th quartets. They did stay - it was just another break and a chance to stretch legs...5. The concert was well received, with 3 or 4 curtain calls with a standing ovation for the quartet, the music and the composer. It was one of the events of my lifetime, and will be able to say I heard the quartets with the composer that night in January 2008. Not something easily forgotten and I believe a historic event, like being able to say you were at the Rite of Spring premiere or Ballet Mechanique.
Read Dr. Dick's account of the evening here.
While waiting Sunday
Enjoying a cigar before the 2nd Viennese School concert with the Met Chamber Ensemble, I saw the Fort Worth Symphony loading up their equipment from their concert.
My Sunday night was wonderful, with out of this world playing by all involved. I still think eighth blackbird owns Pierrot Lunaire, but this reading was wonderful in its own ways as well, just not the staged virtuosity and complexity that 8bb gives.
The pairing of chamber works by Berg, Webern and Schoenberg was brilliant with Levine, either directing or playing - he was sublime and completely in his element.
My Sunday night was wonderful, with out of this world playing by all involved. I still think eighth blackbird owns Pierrot Lunaire, but this reading was wonderful in its own ways as well, just not the staged virtuosity and complexity that 8bb gives.The pairing of chamber works by Berg, Webern and Schoenberg was brilliant with Levine, either directing or playing - he was sublime and completely in his element.
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