Outta this world

Charming time in Manhattan...about a year ago I met with my friend Thomas and his wife - it was my first time back to Manhattan in several years (just go back to the archives on the right hand side of this page and look at July and August 2005), and we had gone to the meat packing district: had dinner, drinks and skulked about the village. Sehr spass!
Yesterday I spent the most wonderful time, with drink and appetizers at the Spice Market, a massage, and then the Bodies exhibit. We ended up joking it was all a very tactile day - and all about bodies! ;)
It was with someone special, and the day flew by. The only problem was time - and although it timed out well, I needed to leave at seven for my train. I was very tempted to stay over and get dinner, but there will be many more trips.
Wild what a difference a year makes, I've been blogging almost the the entire time since last July (and amazed I'm over 300 entires) and I can tell you, this was one of the great days in NYC (and oddly enough one of the hottest!) - I can't tell you how excited I am to return. No doubt my exquisite company was a large part of it.
BTW, no snafus this time on the return trip - it was the same pair of conductors for the Keystone and they told me they got back that night about 5:00am - about thirty minutes after the bus dropped us off at the train station, sheesh!

On the banks

Played a great wedding with Paul in Wrightsville. It was right on the Susquehanna River and we had quite a view.
It was very nice, we played just a little before and during the ceremony - with the majority of the gig for the dinner and party afterwards...Songs ranged from Pachelbel's Canon in D to Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues to Iko!Iko! and everything in between. Dinner was a pig roast and it was yummy.
Nice that several folks in between songs talked to us and inquired about us playing for their upcoming event/wedding as well.
We probably would have stayed afterwards a little longer (the bridemaids were dancin' alot!) if I wasn't going to Manhattan later today.

Upcoming

Lots as always happening...I'm playing a wedding tomorrow and I'm in NYC on Sunday. Seeing friends tonight and perhaps a movie. This next week is a killer as I put the final touches on The Seven Deadly Cindys, my new solo violin composition of classical music. It's being premiered in Cleveland on Saturday, July 22nd.
As I asked a coworker this morning, are you ready for the weekend - or is the weekend ready for you? ;)
The picture on the left in this entry is from my Gretna demonstration and preconcert conversation last weekend. I played themes of DSCH, BACH and the four note motif of Mozart's Jupiter Symphony. (the photo is by Michael Murray - thanks!)

Schoenberg Code

Help ban the latest entry of Schoenberg Code!

A beautiful, musical soul

This evening I gave a classical conversation at Gretna Music.

Anna Polonsky was the artist, in a piano recital of mostly Shostakovich and Mozart, with music also by Schumann and Mendlessohn. My talk centered around preludes & fugues - things that Mozart and Shostakovich admired of Bach - complete with musical examples that I played on violin, had the audience sing, and from a cd of examples I compiled.

When I first arrived they were just finishing tuning the piano. Anna was waiting patiently in the audience. I dropped off my violin and briefcase, said hi and made it over to the Jigger Shop for ice cream (it was dinner and energy!)

Anna was praciting when I got back, we did a sound check and we were off. The crowd for the preconcert talk was good, and seemed to enjoy learning a bit about musical form. (They even sang "Row, row, row your boat" as a round for me!)




There were a few questions and a chance to meet some eager WITF listeners - always a great thing to put faces with my audience. Especially nice was to hear positive feedback on Composing Thoughts!

(Everyone agreed I could take their picture for the blog - here's what it looked like from my point of view in front of the stage)

Anna came on stage and took the audience by storm (luckily the storms were musical and not in the form of showers and lightening that had been forecast and which thunder threatened earlier in the evening!)

Her Shostakovich was varied and exciting. Her Mozart was sublime and vivacious. The second half brought more Mozart, with charm and panache, Schumann with intense passion and incredible phrasing, and she ended with maybe my favorite Mendelssohn for the piano, the Rondo capriccioso - setting land speed records for tempo and flair! I'm usually pretty skepitcal of solo piano recitals and of pianists' interpretations - for a "non-keyboard" player myself, I'm very hard on artists - especially to be impressed.

Anna Polonsky's performance blew me away last fall when I first heard her, and she certainly held up my expectations of her musicality with tonight's performance. She is definitely one to watch and to hear - she'll be in Seattle soon and plays Carnegie Hall this fall - I'll be there in NYC and recommend that you hear her whenever she's in your area. She is a soul that is amazingly beautiful as she is musical.

Violinist Interview

Talking with a gentleman
I really enjoyed spending a few minutes with Arnold Steinhardt, longtime first violinist with the Guarneri String Quartet.
Here is our conversation at the PA Academy of Music in Lancaster from mid-June 2006 via three audio files. Enjoy!

Part 1
Arnold talks about teaching [mp3 file]
(about 3 minutes long)

Part 2
Arnold discusses Mozart and Shostakovich [mp3 file]
(about 6 minutes long)
Part 3
Arnold lets us in on his upcoming projects including 2 new cds and a new book! [mp3 file]
(about 2 minutes long)

Something out of a tv show?

So for almost a month, there has been a "Verizon" truck in my neighborhood, parked with orange cones around it and odd looking metal canisters.
It looks like something out of Alias. It wouldn't bother me if say, agent Sydney Bristow was around - but so far - just a wierd looking truck...and never any workers when I pass by to and from the station.
Hmmmmm.

Come on down!

July is just plain busy. I'll post some pictures here soon from the Fourth of July, and even a video of some fireworks too! Tonight I'm at Hershey Park with friends and their family - which we also did a year ago, right after I moved here - looking forward!
I hope you'll join me this Sunday for a concert at Gretna Music - and maybe some ice cream too! I first heard pianist Anna Polonsky last fall (I wrote about it here and here) and was really impressed, so when it was time to choose a concert to give the preconcert discussion, I crossed my fingers and wahlah, I'm on for her concert. There are some preview to notes and musical examples here and here.

I'm also finishing up my new solo violin piece, The Seven Deadly Cindys - the world premiere is July 22nd in Cleveland.
So lots more ahead, and I'll post when I can!

Ban the Schoenberg Code!

The end is near! Please, help in banning the Schoenberg Code, perhaps the greatest travesty of musicillogical parody writing thus far! We want to see Dr. Dick in other adventures and in recital!
Ban the Schoenberg Code!

Happy Fourth and Fifth and other intervals!

So I thought I'd list some of my favorite American composers on this Fourth of July. These folks are very independent and brilliant...

Joan Tower (link)

Alvin Singleton (link)

Walter Mays (link)

George Crumb (link)

Edgar Meyer (link)

Take some time and give a listen to them, you'll be glad you did!

Ebb and flow

A lovely weekend in NYC - and the wonderful waves of sound from Bargemusic. The actual motion of the East River is quite odd to experience with classical music. The effects (and really it wasn't from the martinis and wine!) were felt even afterwards at dinner! I had joked all week about pirates, the barge and the need for motion sickness pills - none needed thank goodness.
The weather was gorgeous, if not a little warm, muggy even. I met tons of Wendy's friends, they were all really sweet and talented. Of course, the music world is quite small and so many connections were made. It was sort of fun, between a "How do YOU know Wendy?" - six degrees of separation and "Wendy, this is your life" or Wendy Anonymous, "Hi, I'm John and I know Wendy." Quite humorous were the seating arrangements, that held 8 chairs for "Werner." Also, the restaurant, named Pete's, was so close - maybe a block away, that we ended up there before the concert, after the concert, and also the next afternoon. A fun task was trying to name complicated, simple or any dish really, after "Pete" (as the menu already had several Pete selections.)
It were many wedding parties present on the dock, and quite interesting to see various poses for pictures (often not poses you would expect) - but the backdrop of the city was stunning nonetheless. As the evening grew later, seeing Manhattan "light up just for you" was most excellent.
The trip back was not so wonderful. A five hour delay (no joking!) from Amtrak with a major problem with the tracks outside of Philadelphia led to a bus ride back to Harrisburg, arriving at 4:30 this morning. Yikes! But I have to say, despite that, it was worth it.

Return to Manhattan

So I'm back to NYC this weekend. A close friend is playing at Bargemusic - Brahms nonetheless! So I'm going to hang out with her, and relax a bit since I will be working next week over the Fourth of July.
Tonight I'm heading over to Lancaster to see a Cuban guitar playing friend - it's been a while since we hung out, and after catching up via email, we decided to meet up after a concert. More updates soon!

Interview Preview

Here's a sample of my interview with Keri-Lynn Wilson. We spoke at the Cafe d'Artistes in Manhattan last Sunday. Future interviews with Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta - stay tuned! And more of this interview to come.
Keri-Lynn speaking about guest conducting [mp3 file]

Mo' Zart examples

Thanks to everyone who came out last night to the Simpson Library in Mechanicsburg to hear "More Zart - a celebration of Mozart & Shostakovich." It was fun and glad you enjoyed finding out about some incredible music. As promised I said I'd post the audio examples online.
Here goes:

Bach: Prelude in C major, Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 [mp3 file]
Bach: Fugue in C minor, Well Tempered Clavier Book 1 [mp3 file]

Bach: Prelude #7 [mp3 file]
Mozart: Prelude #7 [mp3 file]
Bach: Fugue #7 [mp3 file]
Mozart: Fugue #7 [mp3 file]

Liszt: Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H (part 1) [mp3 file]
(part 2) [mp3 file]
(part 3) [mp3 file]

Shostakovich: Prelude #13 [mp3 file]
Shostakovich: Fugue #13 [mp3 file]

Shostakovich: String Quartet #8, first movement [mp3 file]
Shostakovich: String Quartet #8, second movement [mp3 file]
Shostakovich: String Quartet #8, third movement [mp3 file]
Shostakovich: String Quartet #8, fourth movement [mp3 file]
Shostakovich: String Quartet #8, fifth movement [mp3 file]
(You can hear the String Orchestra version of the 8th Quartet, Friday June 30th on WITF's Classical Air in the afternoon.)

Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s).

Mo' Zart (a classical discussion)

Take a look at my handout for a classical talk this evening in Mechanicsburg: Mo' Zart
It will be a blast, looking at Bach, Mozart and Shostakovich, and a little Liszt for good measure!
Keep an eye out for audio examples quite soon!

Weekend

Friday night Paul and I were joined by another guitarist at St. Thomas Roasters - it was more of a rehearsal than performance - no crowd, but good coffee! And a nice "warm up" for a fundraiser we'll play at the end of July.

Saturday found me drenched by happy in NYC. I started down in the village having an excellent brunch at Shopsins. (I also passed by a place I'll investigate in the near future recommended by my hip hop harpist, Hudson Bar and Books.) Then my friend Stu met up with me and we did some shopping, eating and touring. Quite sobering was the WTC site, and we also popped down to the Statute of Library (I hadn't been that far south in Manhattan for forever!) We headed back to the village and had some drinks with the oh so fun staff at Mr. Denneheys. Tribecca is in our future though - let me know if you have any recommendations for dinner/bars et al.

Sunday we enjoyed bagels on the square in Milford and headed back to the city. While I was waiting for another friend and brunch (again at Shopsins - yum!), I enjoyed an excellent cigar - really the first time all weekend to sit and think. After brunch I interviewed a young conductor, Keri-Lynn Wilson at the Cafe d'Artiste. I then made my way to Lincoln Center for another cigar and a bit of relaxation. I caught the subway down to Penn Station and I was on my way back to Harrisburg.

Monday was back to work and a meeting with folks, which turned out lovely. I'm not sure if it will work out, but I've been asked to be on the board of a local music organization. We'll see, but fun people nonetheless. Also sweet to run into Stu's girlfriend, Julia while at Cafe Fresco - sort of bookending my weekend having just seen him! Sadly, Julia is going to WAMC in NY - all the best kiddo!

Ban the code

Act now!

A violinist's violinist

Thursday morning I was very pleased to meet and interview Arnold Steinhardt, longtime first violinist with the Guarneri String Quartet. He's in Central PA playing at the Music Naturally Festival hosted by the PA Academy of Music in Lancaster, PA.
Look for the audio file here shortly. He performed an all Shostakovich program last night in Harrisburg, and appears in an all Mozart concert this evening. Find out more about Music Naturally online: http://www.pamusacad.org/musicnaturally/index.htm.
I heard them rehearse part of the Shostakovich that morning and meet the Newstead Trio - you hear them often on Classical Air. Arnold also knew one of my teachers, Andrzej Grabiec, longtime concertmaster of the Eastern Music Festival - small world, even smaller music world!
Glad to hear there is a new Naxos cd coming out of American Music as well as a new disc on Newport Classics of all the Schubert music for violin and piano (with Seymour Lipkin) this fall. He also mentioned a new book out this fall, about violin (all aspects, from fiddles to musicians and music) - can't wait!

Longest post of the year?

Well, it IS summer solstice. Since things have been so busy I thought I'd finally get a post up since everything has been quite busy since last Saturday...so busy that I even spaced out and didn't watch game 6 or 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, nor did I tape them! Ironically, I did see the last two minutes of last night's NBA final as the bar cheered for the Miami Heat. Oh well, here goes...
Saturday night I was the emcee for the Next Generation Festival at Dickinson College in Carlisle. It was complete with a little John Clare humor where I came out and greeted everyone in German, acting as if it was on my note...I corrected myself, and flipped over the card, and said I was Awadagin Pratt...then got out the real note for the evening - some got it, and the Cypress Quartet noted my "radio voice," which put us on a good start. The concert was entertaining and I was happy to meet lots of folks - even holding the outside door as folks left and hearing lots of pleased audience members. Of note besides meeting the Cypress Quartet, I met Awadagin's mom.
[picture coming soon]
Tom Kraines and Awadagin Pratt

[picture coming soon]
Sunday was a concert at LVC in Annville and a patron reception afterwards. The hall is a converted church that is a performing space and art gallery. I had a chance to interview Abijihit Septgupta - who turns out to be friends and roommate of an old professor of mine from Wichita State at another summer festival - but there were technical problems with the recorder and so it isn't available, doh!
[picture coming soon]
The dinner afterwards was very nice and it was swell meeting donors and patrons of the festival along with all the musicians. The Trio Lunaire, the apprentices, played Mendelssohn's C minor trio quite well.
[picture coming soon]

Monday was another concert, this time at HACC in Harrisburg. I also ended up emcee-ing, and my schtick this time was merely mouthing the words and acting like the microphone was on, then figuring out that the mic wasn't on - well you get the idea - and far more laughs this time...also after intermission some laughs at my "Stay for the talkback, it's kinda like Car Talk and Click and Clack - you know, Stump the Chumps!" The hall was nice and again, it was one of the venues that it was my first time visiting there. A great dinner out followed the concert downtown...where it turns out I have something major in common with the Cypress Quartet - they like Panufnik! Yeay! I made sure they left town with some more Panufnik to consider in their rep...they already play Jennifer Higdon and I'm anxious to introduce them to Walter Mays' music.
Unfortunately, the dinner was late and there was mondo confusion on the bill - we all waited a LONG time to get things sorted out.
[picture coming soon]

Tuesday (last night) was the final concert of this year's festival. I spoke with Awadagin for WITF (you can hear it here at Dr. Dick's blog) and then was able to catch the rest of the concert at Pullo Performing Arts Center. The musicians loved the hall and facilities.
[pictures coming soon]
Afterwards there were many goodbyes and dinner at Cobblestones in downtown York.
[pictures coming soon]

Wednesday I interviewed composer Tina Davidson in her studio (a wonderfully converted church in Marietta, PA) and caught up with her about recent projects. It'll be featured in an upcoming episode of Composing Thoughts this fall.
[picture coming soon]

Weekend update

Well, sort of...perhaps Weekend preview is a better title...anyway, the Next Generation Festival continues this evening at LVC in Annville. New artists and new repertoire, should be fun, come on out! (more on the festival here.)
Congrats to the Hershey Bears for their Calder Cup victory! Go Bears! They won game 6 in Milwaukee 5 to 1. I'll have to wear my Bears cap with pride this summer!
Tune in on Saturday for an interview I did with Don Campbell, the author of The Mozart Effect. He's just released a new cd for "Dads and dads-to-be" of Mozart's music. It will air during Weekend America on WITF between 1 and 3pm and repeats between 3 and 5pm.

Finally, have you seen this Dodge commercial for their Caliber? Its rather cute and the fairy quite appealing - doesn't she remind you of Lauren Graham (Lorelai Gilmore) a little bit?