New Harp Concerto coming

Vivian Fung

Be sure to check out my latest interview with a composer - the awesome Vivian Fung over at S21!

Maria Schneider: Bright Star of Jazz and (now) Classical

Maria Schneider

I first came to know the work of composer/band leader Maria Schneider through her remarkable big band, made all the more remarkable by her at times "symphonic" scoring. No, don't think Ellington, or expect the Maria Schneider Big Band to sound like the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra. It's more akin to the various bands written for by Miles Davis' favorite arranger, Gil Evans. And there's a good explanation for this. Maria Schneider admires the work of Gil Evans. In fact, I'm told she took a job at a New York City copy shop which she knew was frequented by Gil Evans so she might have the opportunity to see up close his scores, to try to analyze how he did what he did. What Gil Evans did was write for a big band more as an orchestra than a traditional ensemble of trumpets, trombones, saxes and rhythm section. For the famous sessions with Miles Davis ("Porgy and Bess" and "Sketches of Spain" especially), Evans called in a quartet of French horns and additional percussion and woodwinds. But more importantly, Evans created exquisite orchestrations and breathtaking instrumental voicings, taking a cue from the orchestral palette of the Impressionist School of Classical Music.

Maria Schneider got her chance to study even more intently the work of Gil Evans when he invited her to work as his assistant. Although this close apprenticeship would only last a year, or so, Maria learned her lessons well, finding that the key to Gil Evans genius was his enthusiasm for trying something new. She brings this same inventive spirit into the scoring and composing she does for her own band, and this is some of what has set her apart, winning for her two Grammys as a jazz composer and big band leader.

Maria Schneider's early musical education was a mixture of serendipity and tradition. Her first piano teacher, an accomplished stride pianist who had retired from Chicago to tiny Windom, Minnesota, Maria's hometown, infected Maria with a love of music. Maria says that it was then, as a young child, she made up her mind to become a musician. There was no turning back. She attended the University of Minnesota, studying the traditional classical music curriculum but always with an eagerness to experiment outside the more or less strict boundaries of "legit" music. Her composition teacher, one who according to Maria taught in the Hindemith tradition, encouraged her to hang out around the university's jazz band. The rest, one might say, is now history.

But wait! Through all her success as a jazz composer and experimenter, she had never written for an orchestra, that is to say an ensemble of strings, woodwinds, brass and percussion. So when she got the opportunity to collaborate with soprano Dawn Upshaw, she took it. It was not without its risks. Maria admits that even when she is in the comfortable environment of writing for her big band, she has moments of insecurity and doubts. These elements were certainly there as she and Upshaw undertook first a song cycle called “Carlos Drummond de Andrade Stories." This was composed to a commission by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. To the delight of Schneider and Upshaw, the collaboration worked. Perhaps even more delighted was Schneider's father, who immediately encouraged another collaboration. This came to life three years later with a commission from the Australian Chamber Orchestra. The resulting cycle, "Winter Morning Walks," was the composition which recently won for Maria Schneider a Grammy for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. The album, published as "Winter Morning Walks" and also containing the "Drummond Stories," won two other Grammys, one for Best Solo Vocal Performance and the other for Best Engineered, Classical.

I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Maria twice in May of 2013, just as "Winter Morning Walks" had released. The second interview, in Austin where she was conducting a program of her jazz compositions with the University of Texas Jazz Orchestra, had the benefit of video. This enables one to not only hear Maria's responses to my questions, but also to witness her animated enthusiasm for music, her music, and her defense of The Artist (and the innovative and independent ArtistShare initiative). The half hour interview splits nicely into three segments, and that is how they are presented here.

Part I: Classical, Jazz, or Does It Matter?

Part II: In Praise of Hindemith (Here Maria reveals her admiration for the music of Hindemith, then names her other two "desert island" composers.)

Part III: In Defense of the Artist

Contributed by James Baker

Adventures

Clare in Springfield, MA

Great few days in Austin and Amherst!

Live Music at TLU

Some cool concerts coming up in September in Seguin!
The Sum of All Delights: Vintage and Modern Love Songs
Featuring Tenor J.R. Fralick & Pianist Carla McElhaney
Tuesday, September 10, 2013 7:00 p.m.
Ayers Recital Hall, Schuech Fine Arts Building
Free Admission - Limited Seating Available

And do not miss -

Josh Roman (credit: Jeremy Sawatzky)

Joshua Roman Cello Recital
Described as: “A captivating look at the many sides of spiritual and secular love, from that first crush to that secret, steamy romance,” the program will include love songs by Rachmaninov, Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, Quilter and more.
Monday, September 30, 2013 7:00 p.m.
Ayers Recital Hall, Schuech Fine Arts Building
Free Admission – Limited Seating Available

“A cellist of extraordinary technical and musical gifts” (San Francisco Chronicle), Joshua Roman has earned national renown as a cellist for performing a wide range of repertoire with an absolute commitment to communicating the essence of the music at its most organic level. He is also recognized as an accomplished curator and programmer, particularly in his work as artistic director of Seattle Town Hall’s TownMusic series. For his ongoing creative initiatives on behalf of classical music, Roman was named a 2011 TED Fellow, joining a select group of next generation innovators who show potential to positively affect the world. Mr. Roman’s program at TLU will include Mason Bates’ "Town Hall Analog," Gabriella Lena Frank’s "Suite Peruana," Roman’s own composition, "Riding Light" and "Suite No. 6 in D Major, BWV 1012" by Johann Sebastian Bach.

On top of Tax free weekend...

Malibu Grand Prix San Antonio will be participating in a School Supply Drive during the month of August. By having the school supplies they need, students are more likely to keep their focus to learn more in the classroom setting. There are many backpacks that will not get filled to their full potential and Malibu Grand Prix is asking for the help of the public to make sure students are prepared for the new school year.
The school supply drive will run through August 31, 2013. If a guest donates 3 unopened individually wrapped school supplies with a total value of $5 each or more they will receive 1 free attraction ticket when they bring in the School Supply Drive printed coupon. Guests can visit www.mountasia.com to print that coupon easily from home. "Come and race with speed while helping someone in need. There is no better way to do just that than to visit Malibu Grand Prix San Antonio in August."

DiDonato's Debut Delightful

Bravo! Before two encores at Harris Concert Hall 

Joyce DiDonato is a shining star in the operatic world. She has won awards from the Grammys to Richard Tucker, Operalia, Beverly Sills, and an Echo Klassik Award.
She's sung from La Scala to Santa Fe, Covent Garden to Houston Grand, and everywhere in between! So Tuesday, it was a great delight to hear Joyce's debut at the Aspen Music Festival and School in Harris Concert Hall in Colorado.
The program was "something I wanted to share with you," said DiDonato from the stage. "Since this is my first time here, I wanted to show you want I do." What a program it was, including Mozart, Rossini, and gorgeous Spanish songs.
It started with a joke actually. DiDonato and pianist David Zobel were welcomed by enthusiastic audience with cheers and applause. DiDonato quipped after her curtsy, "I'm out of breath already!" (no doubt from the 7900ft elevation of Aspen.) The Obradors songs followed with sumptuousness, something I had heard at her Senior recital at WSU oh so many years ago, but was reminded of when she came back on stage, and asked, "No really, does anyone have any oxygen?!" She then entertained a bit about the program and sang from Drama Queens, Sposa son disprezzata by Giacomelli.
The first half rounded out with a "Beaumarchais trio", two arias from The Marriage of Figaro, and one from the Barber of Seville, perhaps Joyce's calling card, Una voce poco fa.
The second half was stunning, running with an aria from Rossini's Otello, followed by my favorite on the program, Reynaldo Hahn's Venezia.

Clare and DiDonato afterwards

(There was also a costume change, noting only because the gorgeous red gown that DiDonato wore in the first half was replaced by a fetching rainbow dress for the second half.) Joyce spoke about the premiere of the Hahn before she sang them, only to stop before Che peca and give the audience the image that she thinks about when performing it (a heavy set man in a white t-shirt above the canals, smoking a cigar from the balcony/window!)
Two more early 20th century songs rounded out the debut in Aspen.
But the audience was given two more gifts, an encore of Alberto Ginastera's Cancion del arbol del olvido, and what DiDonato is singing currently in Santa Fe, Rossini's La Donna Del Lago.
The sound at Harris was exquisite, no doubt benefitting from Zobel's sensitive interpretations, and DiDonato's incredible range of dynamics. Personality from both, with smiles, acting, anecdotes and supreme musicality made the night magical. This was the recital debut, but hopefully there will be more with Joyce DiDonato on stage and in concert at the Aspen Music Festival!

Make a gift

The San Antonio Symphony Board of Directors is proud to offer a $125,000 Summer Matching Grant.
Help them meet the match by July 31st. The San Antonio Symphony is the epicenter of the city’s performing arts.
From their release: "We are continuously shaping the dynamics of our community through the performance of symphonic, opera, and ballet repertoire. We perform side-by-side concerts with student musicians and conduct master classes and concerts at area schools, civic centers and non-profits.
 Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing and our many talented musicians reach well beyond the Majestic Theater stage to make a difference throughout the community.
 The San Antonio Symphony Mastersingers are regularly featured on Symphony concerts, performing Handel’s Messiah, Verdi’s Requiem and Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 this past season.
Our collaboration with Ballet San Antonio is the city’s only live-music production of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.
The Youth Orchestras of San Antonio boast Symphony musicians among their conducting and coaching staffs, and their students perform in an annual side-by-side concert with the Symphony.
Our musicians have created San Antonio’s greatest chamber ensembles, including Camerata San Antonio, Olmos Ensemble, SOLI Chamber Ensemble and the all-new Q Chamber Series.
The Opera San Antonio’s opening gala concert was beautifully supported by the Symphony under the leadership of Maestro Sebastian Lang-Lessing, and we will partner with TOSA in presenting Dvorák's Rusalka in 2014.
And the 2014 Dvorák Festival will mark the fourth consecutive season we have collaborated with the city’s cultural and performing arts institutions to present a compendium of a composer’s works. Previous partners have included KLRN, the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Musical Bridges Around the World, San Antonio Museum of Art and many more!"

Contact the symphony at (210) 554-1052 or email Emily Brandesky brandeskye@sasymphony.org

Maestro on the Mound

Maestro Andris Nelsons will throw the first pitch at Red Sox vs. Colorado Rockies Game and lead short pre-game fanfare with brass players from the BSO and Boston Pops tomorrow evening.

WHAT: Andris Nelsons, the next Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director, makes first visit to Boston since the May 16 announcement of his appointment as the BSO’s next music director
WHEN AND WHERE:
*11:00 a.m. at Symphony Hall: Contract signing, and Q and A with audience members
*5-5:30 p.m. at Faneuil Hall: Proclamation presentation and brief performance lead by Mr. Nelsons
*6:40 p.m. at Fenway Park: first pitch and brief performance

Eight Days A Week For Eight Seasons

Violinist Odin Rathnam

Right now, young artists are preparing an out of this world concert in Harrisburg, PA for this Sunday, June 23rd, at 3pm. Fire and Ice, 8 Seasons of Vivaldi and Piazzolla will feature violinists Odin Rathnam and Artur Kaganovskiy, with Gregory Woodbridge, conductor.

Learn more and hear samples of Piazzolla's fun work here: http://content.thespco.org/music/compositions/the-four-seasons-of-buenos-aires-astor-piazzolla/

Violinist Artur Kaganovskiy

Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons are quite well known, but you can find some great info here: http://classicalmusic.about.com/od/baroqueperiod/ss/fourseasons.htm and see "beyond the score" here: http://beyondthescore.org/vivaldi-four-seasons/


Also on the program is Jean Sibelius' Romance, played here with the West Branch International Music Festival Orchestra:

The orchestral program is a benefit the Else Borges Foundation for Arts Initiatives, with a portion of the proceeds going to Harrisburg Habitat for Humanity. To learn more about each organization, visit their websites: www.elseborges.org and www.harrisburghabitat.org.

Buy your ticket here, or at the door.

Branagh Brings Magic To Mozart Opera

Out June 11th on DVD

Not since Amadeus has anything so wonderful hit the silver screen for classical music as The Magic Flute. Kenneth Branagh brings this masterpiece to World War I in such a fashion that you are immediately drawn into the story. It simply has everything, from Mozart's brilliant score to stunning costumes, effects, and singing.
The Peter Moores Foundation has a long history of opera in English, and with Stephen Fry's beautiful translation this production is smart, witty, and touching. Sung by a delightful cast, with the musical direction of James Conlon and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, this is truly opera for all - as Mozart intended (technically a Singspiel for all)!

A scene from The Magic Flute

Nods to Harry Potter (pictures come to life), Fred Astaire (gorgeous choreography in black and white), and the Muppets (a rooster who joins in the Pa, Pa, Pa aria) join in the film, which loses the Freemasonry and racist parts of the original. It is sexy, passionate, and glorious (just like the opera).
It's about time this 2006 movie comes to United States theaters, followed by dvd release (and soon on blu-ray)! I believe it should do well at the Academy Awards.
Enjoy this The Magic Flute.


John Clare is a broadcaster, violinist, and new music enthusiast who works at Texas Public Radio, plays in the Mozart Festival Texas, and is a media advisor to NewMusicUSA.

Welcoming Yolanda to Austin

Yolanda Kondonassis

It was nice to catch up with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis in Austin this week, as she performs tonight and tomorrow with the Austin Symphony. She has played around the world and recorded extensively - so a chance to get some insights to her playing, teaching, and recording was a real treat. Here is our conversation unedited for your enjoyment: mp3 file.

We'll have more about Yolanda's latest project, a cd of all American composers later this year, including an hd video!

JFK in FW

Joy Webster, Chair of Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. (DFWII), has announced a public ceremony to begin at 9:00 a.m. CST on Thursday, November 8, 2012, in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, to formally open The JFK Tribute, a permanent open air exhibit built within a 1.5 acre site in Fort Worth, where President John F. Kennedy presented his last speech to the general public on the morning of November 22, 1963.
"The events of that day in 1963 have imbued the Fort Worth visit with extraordinary significance," said Taylor Gandy, JFK Tribute Co-Chair. "President Kennedy’s vision and the impact of his leadership are as relevant today as they were in 1963."
The JFK Tribute is the culmination of over a decade of work by a public-private partnership spearheaded by DFWII and Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy to create a tribute to Kennedy commemorating his historic visit to Fort Worth and his immutable ideals of freedom, courage, discovery and leadership, which he shared in his speeches delivered here.
The Tribute exhibit was designed around an eight foot, heroic scale Lawrence Ludtke bronze sculpture, John F. Kennedy, cast in bronze in 2009 and installed in 2012. General Worth Square improvements by the City of Fort Worth set the stage for the new Tribute. The design team was led by Jacobs and included Museumscapes, the Lighting Practice, and AUI Contractors, LLC.
"Everyone involved in this project is honored to create a lasting tribute to this part of Fort Worth’s history and to present it in such a public location for all to enjoy," concluded Mrs. Gandy.
Tribute website: www.jfktribute.com.
The Thursday, November 8, 2012, event begins 9:00 a.m. in General Worth Square, 916 Main Street. On-street and garage parking are available nearby. Valet parking offered at the Hilton Fort Worth.
Dignitaries will include, among others:
JFK Tribute co-chairs Shirlee J. and Taylor Gandy; honorary co-chairs former Fort Worth Mayor Bob Bolen and former U.S. Speaker of the House Jim Wright; Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price; Fort Worth City Council representatives
The Texas Boys Choir, who also performed on November 22, 1963, for President and Mrs. Kennedy’s visit, will perform. The event is free and open to the public.
For more information, visit DFWI.org or JFKTribute.com.

New Operas

Fort Worth Opera revealed today the names of the composers whose works have been selected for participation in the first season of the company’s exciting, annual new works program, Frontiers, making its debut May 6 – 11, 2013. The showcase will present eight unpublished works by composers from the Americas during the last week of the 2013 Opera Festival in the McDavid Studio across from Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth.
Frontiers’ selected composers will present their works in 20 minute performances sung by artists in the 2013 Opera Festival and accompanied by piano. Steven Osgood will conduct the performances. The performances will be offered in two separate showcases of four works each on Thursday, May 9, 2013 at 6:00 – 7:00 pm, and Friday, May 10, 2013 at 3:00 – 4:00 pm.
In announcing the selected composers, Fort Worth General Director Darren K. Woods, who chairs the Frontiers panel, stated, "We were incredibly excited at the response to Frontiers. Fort Worth Opera received over 80 submissions to the Frontiers showcase and the caliber of works submitted was very high and the result is eight words of top quality that we are excited to present.
The works encompass a wide range of subjects that deal with today's struggles, from terrorism on our native soil to the problems families have getting along. Each one, whether comic or dramatic, takes a global challenge and tells it through a personal story."
Kurt Howard, Producing Director and Frontier’s Curator, commented on the selection process, saying, "We received a wide range of pieces, running from preliminary sketches from novice composers to fully produced works from lauded talents. The Frontiers panelists selected these works from independent listening to samples - without any knowledge of the composers until after the scores were tabulated. These eight selections quickly rose to the top of the list, but there were many talented voices represented in the submitted works.”
Synopses of each opera (in alphabetical order by composers’ last names), and brief biographies of the composers and librettists follows below.

The Operas
Airline Icarus, by composer Brian Current and librettist Anton Piatigorsky, takes a look at the interpersonal dynamics, fears and longings of three passengers and a flight attendant on an intercontinental flight in the context of the Greek myth of Icarus.
Family rivalry, sibling jealousy, and its effects are the focus of composer Stephen Eddins’ and co-librettist Michael O’Brien’s Why I Live at the P.O., a chamber opera in one act based on the story by Eudora Welty about a young postmistress in small town Mississippi in the 1940’s.
Composer Matt Frey and librettist Daniel J. Kushner have written The Fox and the Pomegranate, an allegorical tale of love, seduction and betrayal.
A Chinese Zodiac goddess’s experience of compassion for the human race causes her to lose her place in the heavens and to share her musical powers with mankind, thereby rescuing it from the ravages of a deadly disease in composer/librettist Wang Jie’s work, From The Other Sky.
Brontë fans will want to hear the operatic interpretation of composer Louis Karchin’s and librettist Diane Osen’s Jane Eyre, based on the famous novel by Charlotte Brontë about a young orphan raised by a cruel aunt who falls in love with a man not knowing he is currently married.
The journey and final descent in to madness and suicide of the wife of Shakespeare’s MacBeth, is the focus of The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, by composer Veronika Krausas, with librettist Thomas Pettit.
Composer Patrick Soluri, with librettist Deborah Brevoort, have written Embedded, the tale of an aging major American network anchor being pushed out by a younger rival. Tricked by a terrorist (whose last attack was foiled by her reporting) into traveling to see him for an exclusive interview, the opera takes an unexpected twist and ends with a moment of triumph in face of death.
The compelling story of the life and legacy of Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson, and the importance of his life in desegregating baseball is conveyed in The Summer King, by composer Daniel Sonenberg, with co-librettist Daniel Nester.
Frontiers composers will be in residence at the Festival from May 6 – 11, 2013. Post-performance discussions, and also open rehearsals will be part of the showcase.
The Frontiers Panel comprises, in addition to Mr. Woods, Joe Illick (Music Director), Kurt Howard (Producing Director and Frontiers Curator), and Keith A. Wolfe (Managing Director) will be joined by composer Mark Adamo, stage director and opera incubator organization American Lyric Theater founder Lawrence Edelson, stage director Candace Evans, Fort Worth Opera board member John Forestner, music critic, journalist, and author William V. Madison, conductor Steven Osgood, and Leadership FWOpera member Edward Willey.

Composer and Librettist biographies
Brian Current, composer: Airline Icarus
Brian Current studied music at McGill University and UC Berkeley. His music, lauded and performed internationally, as well as broadcast in over 35 countries, has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Barlow Prize for Orchestral Music (USA), the Italian Premio Fedora for Chamber Opera and a Selected Work (under 30) at the International Rostrum of Composers in Paris. Brian Current’s pieces have been programmed by all major symphony orchestras in Canada and by the Indianapolis Symphony, the New York City Opera, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, the Oakland Symphony, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the American Composers Orchestra (Carnegie Hall), Monday Evening Concerts (Los Angeles) and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. This season includes performances of his music by the Toronto Symphony, the Montreal Symphony, The Gryphon Trio, The Nouvel Ensemble Moderne and the National Symphony of Taiwan. Brian is the director of the New Music Ensemble of The Royal Conservatory in Toronto, where students are encouraged to commission and champion new works throughout their careers.
Anton Piatigorsky, librettist
Anton Piatigorsky’s plays include Breath In Between, Eternal Hydra, The Kabbalistic Psychoanalysis of Adam R. Tzaddik, Mysterium Tremendum and The Offering. He is the recipient of two Dora Mavor Moore awards for best new play, and the 2005 Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Protégé Award for playwriting. Anton’s other work includes the librettos for Airline Icarus (winner of the Primo Fedora Award) and Inventory, chamber operas by composer Brian Current. His first fiction, The Iron Bridge, a collection of short stories about 20th Century dictators as teenagers, was published by Goose Lane Editions in September 2012. He lives in Toronto.

Stephen Eddins, composer: Why I Live at the P.O.
Stephen Eddins was born in Charlottesville, VA, and started composing when he was nine. He received music degrees from Oberlin, the University of Akron, and a doctorate in composition from the University of Michigan. His teachers include Randolph Coleman, Bright Sheng, William Albright, Erik Santos, Evan Chambers, and Michael Daugherty. He has twice been a Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Much of his work involves collaboration with other artists and the interaction between music and text -- vocal and choral music, opera, music for theater and dance, liturgical music, and performance art. His stage works include Paranoia: A Psycho-Opera, and incidental music for Henry V, Macbeth, Yeats' The Only Jealousy of Emer, and Weiss' The Investigation. Three Canadian companies have mounted his opera, The Doll's House, and its Toronto production was nominated for 7 Dora (Toronto Theatre Guild) awards, including Outstanding New Musical and Outstanding Sound Design/Composition. The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre, and Dance performed excerpts from his opera, Why I Live at the P.O., based on the story by Eudora Welty, in celebration of Welty's centennial year in 2009. Organized Rhythm (Clive Driskill-Smith, organ and Joseph Gramley, percussion) recently commissioned him to write Pluto, which was premiered at the American Guild of Organists' 2012 National Convention. As a teacher, he leads group seminars on the development of aural creativity and offers private composition instruction. In addition to working as assistant classical music editor for All Music Guide, he has written for The Opera Quarterly.
Michael O'Brien, librettist
Michael O’Brien is a playwright/dramatist whose works have been produced across Canada as well as in the USA and Great Britain. His works include Mad Boy Chronicle (Alberta Theatre Projects) and Restitution (Factory Theatre). Adapted works for the stage include A Christmas Carol, Oliver Twist and Treasure Island (Young Peoples Theatre), The Barber of Seville (Theatre Columbus), Charles Dickens' Hard Times (Mainstage, National Arts Centre 2000) and H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man (The Shaw Festival 2006).His original dramatic works for CBC Radio include Shores of Wonder, Hearts of the World, Castle Grove and Someone Just For Me, and adapted radio works include Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale and The Blind Assassin. Currently in progress: two original plays, God’s Wounds and The Runcible Lear, as well as a number of television projects with co-writer Christopher Marren. Mr. O'Brien is based in Toronto, Ontario.

Matt Frey, composer: The Fox and the Pomegranate
Matt Frey is a Brooklyn-based composer of contemporary concert music, both for vocal and instrumental ensembles. In 2012, Frey traveled to Auvillar, France, to work with members of Ensemble L’arsenale and the East Coast Contemporary Ensemble at the Etchings Contemporary Music Festival; just prior to that, he had earned a fellowship to participate in the 2012 John Duffy Composers Institute in Norfolk, Virginia, where scenes from his opera-in-progress The Fox and the Pomegranate were workshopped and performed. In addition to current projects – including original music for New York’s modern dance company Bodyart and a film score for celebrated Los Angeles chef Jordan Kahn – recent projects have included residencies, commissions, and/or premieres with the Jack String Quartet, the West Point Woodwind Quintet, the NYU Symphony Orchestra, and the Manhattan Wind Ensemble. A recent graduate of the Master’s program in Music Composition at New York University, where he studied with Joan La Barbara and Julia Wolfe, Frey is also known as a new music producer, performer, conductor, and advocate through his activities as co-founder of the West 4th New Music Collective, a cooperative of NYC-based composers and performers. Website: www.w4newmusic.com.
Daniel J. Kushner, librettist
Daniel J. Kushner is a professional arts journalist and music critic whose work has been featured in such publications as Opera News, NewMusicBox, The Huffington Post, and Symphony. Selected writings by Mr. Kushner—which often focus on the contemporary classical music scene, as well as non-classical music and visual art—can be found at his website, http://postpostrock.com/. He trained as a tenor during his undergraduate studies, and he completed his M.A. at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. The Fox and the Pomegranate is co-written with composer Matt Frey and marks Mr. Kushner’s debut as opera librettist; the opera was first workshopped at the 2012 John Duffy Composers Institute. Previous work includes the text for the song cycle A Painting of Pollock, set to music by Mr. Frey for vocalist and percussion. Pollock was premiered in September 2011 at Exapno in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Wang Jie, composer/librettist: From the Other Sky
Born in Shanghai, Wang Jie has emerged as one of the most distinctive musical voices of her generation. Elegant and elementally clear, she spins a few notes into large music forms – a rare trait in today’s composers. A scholarship from Manhattan School of Music brought her to the US where she began her composition studies under the tutelage of Nils Vigeland and later at the Curtis Institute of Music with Richard Danielpour. Her tragic opera Nannan was showcased by New York City Opera's annual VOX festival. This led to the production of her chamber opera Flown, a meditation on lovers who must separate, by Music-Theatre Group. Having won the coveted Underwood Commission, her concert opera From the Other Sky was the centerpiece of the American Composers Orchestra's season opening concert at Carnegie Hall. The Minnesota Orchestra, led by Osmo Vanska, performed her Symphony No. 1 as part of its Future Classics series. Multi-language song cycle "A Longing for Spring" was premiered at Merkin Hall for the 45th anniversary celebration of Continuum. Jie holds honors from ASCAP, American Academy of Arts and Letters, BMI, NYU, Opera America, among others. Recent commissions include a symphonic work for Detroit Symphony Orchestra, an Oboe Concerto for Orchestra of the League of Composers, a song for Opera America’s opening of the National Opera Center and Songs for Mahler in the Absence of Words for the New York Piano Quartet. The recordings of the latter two works are released in fall 2012. Website: www.wangjiemusic.com

Louis Karchin, composer: Jane Eyre
Louis Karchin’s music has been performed world-wide, most recently at the Alba Music Festival and La Fenice, in Italy, at Mozart Hall, Seoul, South Korea, and at Tanglewood’s Festival of Contemporary Music. The British music journal, Contemporary Music Review singled out Karchin as one of twenty-five of the most exciting American composers born in the decade of the 1950's, and he was chosen as one of 53 composers selected to represent New York at the turn of the millennium in the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's "Great Day in New York" Festival at Alice Tully Hall. In 2011-12, Mr. Karchin was a recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, and in the spring of 2012, he received the inaugural Andrew Imbrie Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Karchin studied at the Eastman School of Music and Harvard University; his principal teachers have included Samuel Adler, Joseph Schwantner, Fred Lerdahl, Earl Kim, and Leon Kirchner. Additional study included two summers as a Leonard Bernstein Fellow in Composition at the Tanglewood Music Center. He is now Professor of Music in NYU's Faculty of Arts and Science, teaching in an advanced graduate program in composition, which he organized in 1989. Karchin’s first opera, Romulus, received a fully-staged premiere in May of 2007, in a three-way collaboration between Works and Process at the Guggenheim, American Opera Projects, and the Washington Square Ensemble, and is now available on a much-heralded Naxos release. Other prominent vocal-instrumental works include his Masque, Orpheus, based on a poem by Stanley Kunitz (premiered by Earplay), and American Visions, on poetry of Yevgeny Yevtushenko (premiered by the Da Capo Chamber Players). Recognition for Mr. Karchin’s work has come from the Koussevitzky, Fromm and Barlow Foundations, the National Endowment for the Arts (three awards), and two additional awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His music is published by C. F. Peters Corporation and the American Composers Alliance. Five CDs of his work are available on Naxos, New World, and Albany labels.
Diane Osen, librettist
Librettist Diane Osen earned a BA with honors from Vassar College and an MA in English from Rutgers University before embarking on a career as a writer, consultant and teacher. In addition to serving as a communications executive at Polaroid, Columbia Pictures and NBC, she has taught writing at New York University and has consulted for non-profit arts institutions such as the National Book Foundation, the American Museum of the Moving Image and Concert Artists Guild. Among the four books she has published is The Book That Changed My Life, a collection of interviews with prize-winning novelists, historians and poets including E.L. Doctorow, Don DeLillo, Diane Johnson, David McCullough and Philip Levine. Inspired by these writers, she adapted the book that changed her life—Jane Eyre—into a libretto for composer and conductor Louis Karchin. Her interest in opera was sparked early in life by her father David Osen, who began his career as a baritone at the New York City Opera singing in The Student Prince, Der Rosenkavalier and Der Fledermaus. She looks forward to re-introducing to 21st century opera audiences one of the most iconic figures of 19th century literature. Diane lives in Short Hills, New Jersey, with her husband Rick Covkin and their daughter Serena.

Patrick Soluri, composer: Embedded
Patrick Soluri is a New York City based composer who specializes in dramatic music for orchestra, ballet, opera, film & TV. His love of telling stories through music is evident in a large body of work for the stage, screen and concert hall. This includes five commissioned ballet scores performed and commissioned by Staatsballet Berlin, Dances patrelle and Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet, the most well-known of which are Madame X (featuring American Ballet Theater principal dancer Marcelo Gomes), and Fancy Nancy, based on the popular children’s books. Additionally, numerous operatic works including a showcase by New York City Opera as part of ‘VOX Showcasing American Composers’; the one-act opera, Embedded, commissioned and workshopped by American Lyric Theater; and a series of short comic operas that have premiered annually since 2009 at sold-out shows Carnegie Hall with the Remarkable Theater Brigade. His most performed short opera is the dark comedy Figaro’s Last Hangover. He has also worked on numerous film and TV projects including the Emmy winning Wonderpets, and recently finished working with Sean Lennon on the film score for Alter Egos. His music has been featured on various shows on TLC, LOGO and DISCOVERY in the US and Europe, including America’s Got Talent. Performances of his operas during the 2012/13 season include Fort Worth Opera, Remarkable Theater Brigade at Carnegie Hall, Juventas New Music Ensemble in Boston, plus several additional performances around the country yet to be announced. For the latest news and more info, please visit www.patricksoluri.com
Deborah Brevoort, librettist
Deborah Brevoort is an award winning author of numerous plays and musicals and is best known for The Women of Lockerbie, which is currently being performed around the world after winning the Kennedy Center Fund for New American plays award and the silver medal in the Onassis International playwriting competition. In addition to Embedded, she wrote the librettos for: Steal a Pencil for Me, an opera about the Holocaust with Gerald Cohen; Crossing Over, a hip hop musical set in Amish Country with Stephanie Salzman; two musicals based on Alaskan children’s books, King Island Christmas and Goodbye My Island with David Friedman; and Coyote Goes Salmon Fishing, with Scott Richards. She is a two-time winner of the Frederick Loewe Award. Her plays include: Blue Moon Over Memphis, a Noh drama about Elvis Presley (published in The Best American Short Plays) The Poetry of Pizza, a cross cultural comedy about love, (Purple Rose, Mixed Blood, Virginia Stage and others); The Comfort Team, about military spouses during the surge of Iraq (Virginia Stage); The Velvet Weapon, a backstage farce about democracy; The Blue-Sky Boys about NASA’s Apollo mission (Sloan commission; Barter Theatre); and Into the Fire and Signs of Life (published by Samuel French). Deborah is an alumnus of New Dramatists and was an original company member with Perseverance Theatre in Alaska. She is a co-founder of Theatre Without Borders. She teaches at Goddard College in Vermont, and at Columbia University and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in New York City. Website: www.DeborahBrevoort.com

Daniel Sonenberg, composer: The Summer King
Daniel Sonenberg’s music has been performed by the Da Capo Chamber Players, the Momenta String Quartet, Friends and Enemies of New Music, the Portland Chamber Music Festival, the Manhattan School of Music, and many others. In 2011, he was awarded a residency at Yaddo, where he completed his opera, The Summer King, about the great Negro League baseball player Josh Gibson. Workshop and concert performances of scenes, arias and duets from the opera have taken place in New York City and Portland, Maine since 2003. Many of these have been sponsored by the New York-based company American Opera Projects. In March 2013, the Da Capo Chamber players will premiere a new work by Dr. Sonenberg while in residence at the University of Southern Maine. He has been increasingly active as a performer of his own music in recent years, having played the guitar part for numerous performances of his Seven Jarring Dances for Clarinet(s) and Steel-String Guitar (2011) and the drum part for his Takes One to Know One (2012), for bass clarinet, cello, bass, and percussion (floor tom and kick drum). He has received grants and fellowships from the Maine Arts Commission, Meet The Composer, the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the New York Music Fund, and the American Music Center. Daniel Sonenberg is Associate Professor and Resident Composer at the University of Southern Maine. He lives in Portland with his wife, artist Alex Sax, and four-year-old triplet sons, Satchel, Pablo and Levi.
Daniel Nester, co-librettist
Daniel Nester is the author of How to Be Inappropriate, a collection of humorous nonfiction; God Save My Queen: A Tribute and God Save My Queen II: The Show Must Go On, collections on his obsession with the rock band Queen; and The History of My World Tonight, a collection of poems. His work has appeared in a variety of places, such as Salon, n+1, The Morning News, The Daily Beast, The Rumpus, Time Out New York, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and the Poetry Foundation website, and anthologized in such collections as The Best American Poetry 2003, The Best Creative Nonfiction, and Third Rail: The Poetry of Rock and Roll. He is an associate professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.

Veronika Krausas, composer: The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth
Composer Veronika Krausas has had her works performed internationally. She has directed, composed for, and produced multi-media events. Her chamber opera The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth, based on Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was premiered at the New York Opera’s VOX 2008 festival. It was staged and won both the Best Opera and Best Performance for The Mortal Thoughts of Lady Macbeth at Goat Hall Productions Works for Opera (San Francisco - 2009). A full production was mounted in Los Angeles in August 2010. In February 2009 the Penderecki String Quartet gave the US Premiere of midaregami, her work for string quartet and mezzo-soprano at the Redcat Theater at Disney Hall. Language of the Birds, a commission for the 25th Anniversary of the San Francisco Choral Artists and the Alexander String Quartet, was released on CD with Foghorn Classics. Her chamber orchestra work analemma is an official selection of the US for the 2012 World Music Days in Belgium. Of Lithuanian heritage, she was born in Australia, raised in Canada, and lives in Los Angeles. She has music composition degrees from the University of Toronto, McGill University in Montreal, and a doctorate from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Krausas is an Assistant Professor in the Composition Department and the Assistant Director of Undergraduate Theory at the Thornton School of Music, on the advisory council of Jacaranda Music, an associate artist with The Industry, a lecturer at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and an artist with Catalysis Projects.

Librettist: Thomas Pettit
Thomas Pettit is a playwright and television writer from London, England. He moved to the United States and graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Spanish Literature; he now lives in Los Angeles. He has written numerous plays and screenplays and most recently wrote for the CBS television crime drama Cold Case; one of his episodes was the award-nominated “Forever Blue”. He is currently completing his first mystery novel, A Madman’s Notes.

Fort Worth Opera’s upcoming 2013 Festival season runs April 20–May 12, 2013, and offers Puccini’s tragic drama, La Bohème; Donizetti’s spirited switched-at-birth romantic comedy, The Daughter of the Regiment; and the company’s first-ever production of Strauss’ entertaining and comedic opera-within-an-opera, Ariadne auf Naxos, all performed in the company’s artistic home, Bass Hall. The company’s popular alternative venue series, newly-titled Opera Unbound, will feature the regional premiere of American composer Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, to be held in the McDavid Studio across from Bass Hall in downtown Fort Worth. An emotion-packed, landmark work based on the bestselling book by journalist Tom Philpott, Glory Denied tells the tragic, true story of America’s longest-held Vietnam prisoner-of-war, Colonel Jim Thompson. Nine singers will make their company debuts in lead roles this spring. Please note that the company’s 67th season and seventh festival is one month earlier than previous seasons as it moves to its new time.
Tickets for the 2013 Festival can be purchased online, by phone, or in person at the Fort Worth Opera Box Office inside the Fort Worth Community Arts Center at 1300 Gendy St., Fort Worth, Texas, 76107. Season subscriptions start at $35 while single tickets start at $25. For more information, please visit www.fwopera.org or call 817.731.0726 or toll-free at 1.877.396.7372. To purchase tickets online, go to www.fwopera.org.

Interviews

I love to do interviews, and have had enough experience that not only does it come naturally, but sounds that way - most recently I had a chance to talk with a professional consultant/journalist about the orchestra situation in the US. This is what he posted today:

If you’re interested in listening in on a closed door style conversation about the state of the field within the context of current labor disputes, then you’re in luck as Texas Public Radio (TPR) published an uncharacteristically casual and frank conversation I had with host John Clare on 9/5/2012. Although it was most certainly an interview recorded for the purpose of broadcasting, it comes across much more like a casual yet earnest conversation that just so happened to get recorded. The material was recorded on Labor Day, Monday 9/3/2012 so don’t forget that everything in Atlanta and Indianapolis had yet to explode.
My thanks to John Clare and TPR for providing such a luxurious amount of time to really dig into the good, the bad, and the ugly going on right now. There are two segments, one at the top of the page and the remaining interview is available at the end.

Labor Day 2012

Steven Stucky at the Great Wall of China

So what's on tap for your Labor Day? Perhaps you should listen to Einstein on the Beach? Some Amy Beach?
Relax with Michael Torke's Blue Pacific?

Why not head over to Composing Thoughts on facebook and like us, staying informed of contemporary music and creativity!

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

Classical action

These are the top ten WORST songs for a gun control classical concert:

10. Christian Ellis' Fallujah

9. Mancini: Peter Gunn

8. Berlin: Annie Get Your Gun

7. Shostakovich: The man with the gun Overture


6. Arthur Bliss: Things to Come: Attack of the Moon Gun

5. Aaron Copland: Billy the Kid

4. Antheil Ballet machanique

3. Paul Moravec's Double Action 

2. Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture
and the number one WORST piece for gun control is

Weber's Der Freishutz Overture

OFJ a hit

Poster outside the Teatro Degollado

There's lots to enjoy in Guadalajara - the history, food, shopping and the arts. Most recently the Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco named Alondra de la Parra as the Artistic Director, and the results are electric!

I spoke to the Operations Manager about the effect Alondra has had on the orchestra:

A standing ovation for Shostakovich 5

I also asked an audience member at intermission of a concert, what she thought about the orchestra and its new director:










And after the final concert of Season 2 (the third starts this October!) to Alondra de la Parra about music, working in Mexico, and teaching:

ORQUESTA EN ASCENSO

Hay un buen refrán que dice que el todo es mayor que sus partes, lo cual no necesariamente es verdad con muchas orquestas, pero si se agrega un nuevo Director Artístico -Alondra de la Parra - a la Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco, las partes no solo se multiplican exponencialmente, sino que se electrizan de energía!

  Asistí al Programa 6 este viernes 13 de julio en el bello Teatro Degollado.  El programa orquestal abrió con Silvestre Revueltas.  Esa obra puede ser aterrorizante e hipnótica y la orquesta estuvo a la altura de ello. Es muy colorida e inventiva, no comprendo porqué no aparece más frecuentemente en los programas…… felicitaciones a Tomás Rosaleny que estuvo atinado en el solo tuba, y al excelente trabajo de la percusión que estuvo clara y firme.

  La Bella Durmiente de Tchaikovsky fue la siguiente pieza del programa que estuvo totalmente vendido (efectivamente, tres días antes del concierto ya no se podían encontrar boletos!).  Puede que no haya nada más bello que Alondra de la Parra en el podio – es poético que esta joven directora la brinde a la orquesta justo lo que necesita en términos de ritmo y, al mismo tiempo, le de al público un espectáculo fabuloso.  Para esa suite de cinco movimientos, gozamos de toda una gama de sonidos, desde valses con pegajosos ritmos a escenas introspectivas, ejemplificadas en el popular Vals del Acto 1.

 

Alondra de la Parra in Shostakovich


Después de un breve intermedio, el programa terminó con la Quinta Sinfonía de Dmitri Shostakovich, una de las obras más dramáticas y bien estructuradas del repertorio orquestal, la cual juega con dos notas “ba-bum” y su inverso a través de los cuatro movimientos.  Quizá siendo viernes 13 afectó a algunos de la orquesta, como el corno principal fuera de tono (que tampoco estaba bien en los ensayos de esa mañana, que pena) y el batón de Alondra de la Parra que salió volando hacia las violas (he visto que eso le pase a muchos otros directores, pero nunca había visto que tuvieran uno de repuesto – ella sí y siguió dirigiendo como sin nada!).  Fuera de eso, Shostakovich hubiera estado fascinado con los tempos rápidos, líneas fogosas y genuina excitación en esa ejecución.  Muy atinados fueron los solos del primer violín, Bryan Lee, la arpista Guadalupe Pérez y el tecladista que tocó el piano y la celesta (no nombrado en el programa pero estuvo excelente!).  También tuvimos una fabulosa ejecución del xilófono (tantas notas lúcidas que se repetían en consonancia con los violines y las flautas), así como un soberbio final con el tímpano y el tambor bajo en perfecta sincronía con de la Parra (en los ensayos fue igualmente excitante ver cómo se perfeccionó eso!).

  El público se puso de pié al final del programa y, después de la reverencia por de la Parra y su aceptación de flores, los miembros de la orquesta no se levantaron con la solicitud de Alondra para en lugar aplaudirle a su Director Artístico en conjunto con el público.

  No puedo expresar suficientemente lo encantador que estuvo este concierto y la maravillosa música que emanó del mismo. Sala de primera: palomita. Director de orquesta fuera de este mundo: palomita. Orquesta deseosa de colaborar: palomita.  Público energizado: palomita.  Esa es la receta para un gran entretenimiento y el éxito de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Jalisco y de Guadalajara. Bravissimo!

  Este programa se repite este domingo en la tarde a las 12:30 y parece que está totalmente vendido, pero vale la pena checar en taquilla por hay algunas cancelaciones – y asegurarse de comprar boletos para los siguientes conciertos en www.ofj.com.mx

Traducción por Luis Catán

Orchestra on the rise

There's a great saying about the sum being more than its parts - which isn't necessarily true for all orchestras, but add the new Artist Director Alondra de la Parra to the Orquesta Filarmonica de Jalisco and not only do things multiply exponentially, they electrify!
I heard the Programa 6 on Friday, July 13 in the beautiful Teatro Degollado. Silvestre Revueltas' Sensemaya opened the all orchestra program. This work can be terrifying and hypontic, and the OFJ was up to the task. It's colorful and inventive, I don't know why it doesn't appear on more programs than it does...kudos to Tomas Rosaleny who nailed the tuba solo and the excellent work of the percussion section which was crisp.
Tchaikovsky's Sleeping Beauty was next on the sold out program (yes, three days before the show, you could not find tickets!) There may not be anything more beautiful than de la Parra on the podium - it is quite poetic that this young leader gives her orchestra just what they need in terms of rhythm, and at the very same time, gives the audience a breathtaking show. For Tchaikovsky's five movement suite, it ran the gamut of toe tapping waltzes to introspective scenes, best heard in the popular Valse of Act I.

Alondra de la Parra in Shostakovich

After a short intermission, the program finished with Dmitri Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony - one of the all time dramatic and wellcrafted orchestra works, playing with two notes, "bah bum" and the reverse "bum bah" through all four movements. Perhaps Friday the 13th struck some in this performance, with a complete left field solo from the principal horn that was clearly off (which had not improved from the open rehearsal in the morning, sad.) and a flying baton from de la Parra that landed in the violas (I've seen that happen lots to conductors, but never have I seen them have a backup baton - she did, and continued without a blink!) Other than that, Shostakovich would have rejoiced in brisk tempos, fiery lines and geniune excitement of this performance. Especially touching were solos from concertmaster Bryan Lee, harpist Guadalupe Perez, and the keyboardist playing piano and celesta (not named in the program, but she was spot on!) There was also delightful, bone chilling percussion work from the xylophone (so many great repeated notes right along with the violins and flutes) as well as the stunning finale with timpani and bass drum in perfect sync with de la Parra (in rehearsal it was equally exciting to see this be put together!)

The audience was on its feet and after solo bows, de la Parra was presented flowers and as orchestras can do, refused to stand when Alondra motioned, allowing their Artistic Director warm applause from the audience and them.

I cannot express enough how delightful this concert was, and what music making was shared. World class hall, check. Out of this world conductor, check. Orchestra willing to work, check. Excited audience, check. This is the recipe for great entertainment and success for the OFJ and Guadalajara.

Bravissimo!
This program repeats Sunday afternoon at 12:30, and was reported sold out, but I would check at the box office for any cancellations, and be sure to get season tickets for the next concerts at http://www.ofj.com.mx/

Lea esta revisión en español: http://classicallyhip.blogspot.com/2012/07/orquesta-en-ascenso.html