S4M tix

Single tickets go on sale for the 2013 Spring For Music Festival today, August 27, at www.carnegiehall.org. By pricing all single tickets at $25 dollars, selling seats on a first-come/first-serve basis, and accepting orchestras on the basis of adventurous programming, Spring For Music continues to redefine the classical music experience. The festival invites New York and hometown fans alike to come hear North America's most ambitious orchestras prove themselves at one of the world's most famous concert halls. This year's festival features the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Albany Symphony Orchestra (which also participated in the 2011 festival), the Buffalo Philh armonic Orchestra, the Oregon Symphony (also appeared in 2011), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra. The festival runs from May 6, 2013 to May 11, 2013.
Spring For Music firmly believes that great ideas and great concert programs come from open dialogue and creative collaboration. To further this conversation, Spring For Music created two web initiatives in addition to their concert activities: The Fantasy Program and the Arts Blogger Challenge.


Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Monday, May 6, 2013 
        Marin Alsop, music director
                JOHN ADAMS: Shaker Loops
                JENNIFER HIGDON: Concerto 4-3
                        Time for Three, string trio
                SERGEI PROKOFIEV: Symphony No. 4 (1947 version)
Albany Symphony Orchestra
May 7, 2013
        David Alan Miller, music director
                JOHN HARBISON: Suite from The Great Gatsby
                GEORGE GERSHWIN: Second Rhapsody for piano and orchestra
                        Kevin Cole, piano
                MORTON GOULD: Symphony No. 3
Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
May 8, 2013
        JoAnna Falletta, music director
                GIYA KANCHELI: "Morning Prayers" from Life Without Christmas
                REINHOLD GLIÈRE: Symphony No. 3, "Ilya Muromets"
Oregon Symphony
May 9, 2013
        Carlos Kalmar, music director
                NARONG PRANGCHAROEN: Phenomenon
                 KURT WEILL: Seven Deadly Sins
                        Storm Large, vocalist
                ARNOLD SCHOENBERG: Accompaniment to a Film Scene
                FRANZ SCHUBERT: Symphony No. 8, "Unfinished"
                    MAURICE RAVEL: La Valse
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
May 10, 2013
        Leonard Slatkin, music director
                CHARLES IVES: Symphony No. 1
                CHARLES IVES: Symphony No. 2
                CHARLES IVES: Symphony No. 3
                CHARLES IVES: Symphony No. 4
National Symphony Orchestra
May 11, 2013
        Christoph Eschenbach, music director
                ALFRED SCHNITTKE: Symphony No. 6
                SHOSTAKOVICH: Symphony No. 5

The Big Cultural Apple

“New York has long been considered the cultural capital of America. Is it still? If not, where?”

View from the old WNYC bathroom

The simple answer is yes. "The Muppets took"? Manhattan. "How do you get to _______ Hall? joke" - Carnegie (deli too, there is no Disney Deli [of fame anyway!]) is the answer...and The Horowitz Nail wasn't in the Kennedy Center or Sydney Opera House (although I am sure they were accommodating if and when the famed pianist had played there).
New York City happens to have a lot of great musicians, writers, dancers, chefs, performers, etc. Certainly in the past Vienna and Leipzig were musical capitals for a long time, and I might even argue that the Berlin Philharmonic may be the greatest orchestra on earth, but dollar to donuts - bagels if you will - New York is America's cultural capital.
I've written about some of my time in NYC, and certainly interviewed quite a few folks there. I love it, and have to admit I am a bit biased. When Paris, je t'aime came out, I said, you know, that last clip is how I feel about New York! Woody Allen of course did a great job in this clip:

John in "Upstate Manhattan" Inwood

I have lived in NYC for two short stints - in college I took a break and stayed 3 months in midtown Manhattan and split a sublet, and more recently in late 2007/early 2008, renting a room in what I called "Upstate Manhattan" - Inwood is the official title. (See me at a famous corner there on the right side of this column.)
I treasure my time there and look forward to returning again and again, perhaps one of these days to actually reside.

I will play devil's advocate for just a second and say that with the internet, and technology, having a geographical "cultural" capital is a bit old fashioned. Europe has a cool project where the city changes every year, and with equality in funding from the NEA and NEH, there are cities just as worthy as NYC to be called the cultural capital - San Francisco, Chicago, LA are easily part of this fabric!
(This is my first entry for the Spring4Music Blogger Challenge!)