Composing Thoughts Philly edition

Nice chat with Jennifer Higdon yesterday in Philadelphia. We taped now since she'll be away quite a bit over the season, and the episode will actually air in May 2007. It's also very cool that she was teh very first COmposing Thoughts episode a few years ago, and we're revisiting her music!

Her schedule is very busy - which is awesome to hear. Her music is sublime and it's great knowing so many orchestras and groups are playing it. If you see her name on a program, give a listen, you'll be glad you did!

{photo of John & Jennifer by Andrew Gena}

Audio/Video

Do you enjoy modern classical music? Not sure?
Take a look at this new video! (http://www.classicallyhip.com/ct/ctvideo.WMV)

The fine folks at WITF-TV and WITF-FM collaborated on this video for Composing Thoughts, a weekly radio show (Sunday nights at 7 p.m. eastern) where you can learn more about composers and their music.

I hope you'll enjoy this new video sampler and then tune in (on your radio, or on the web!)

Of note

I've started working on an indepth feature about music director searches - in general - and from all sides possible. I'll post some previews here of course.
As I was surfing and reading blogs recently I was quite interested in reading this from Seattle: Schmaltz Uber Alles. I thought you might enjoy it too!
You might also enjoy hearing young conductor Keri Lynn Wilson in an interview segment with me as well!

Stuck

Do you ever listen to a piece of music (any genre) over and over?

Does a melody catch you and you just have to hear it again and again?

That's one of the reasons I started (and rarely update - sorry!) a separate blog called Music in a Moment. (see my prolife.)

Lately I have had two pieces of music that I put on repeat: (composer pictured left) Eric Ewazen's Diamond World, played by the Ahn Trio; and (composer pictured right) Ennio Morricone's Ecstasy of Gold from the Good the Bad and the Ugly played by Yo-Yo Ma.
I'll post them soon, but had to let you in on the hooks that had caught my ear lately. Back to my mp3 player...

A treat!

Enjoy this latest edition of writing and prose from a talented friend in Las Vegas:
Danse Macabre
It's the second in the series, and he's threatening a music issue next. You're reading this blog, why not send him a music entry for the next one? I'm thinking about it myself. It can be fiction, fact or even funny.

Ain't Opera Grand?

(or a VERY scary Halloween posting! Trick? or Treat? You decide!)

It seems I will make my operatic stage debut in Pergolesi's La Serva Padrona next spring with Gretna Music. Details to come, but for now, mark Saturday, February 10th down in your calendars.

Here's a little more about the opera: (from here)
La serva padrona (The Servant as Mistress) played an important part in the operatic quarrels in Paris between supporters of the traditional French opera of Lully and Rameau and those who supported the simpler more modern art of Italy, exemplified in Pergolesi's opera, when it was staged in Paris, not for the first time, in 1752. The disagreement, the so-called Querelle des Bouffons (Quarrel of the Actors) continued for the next two years, with Rousseau a keen supporter of the Italian against the French. Pergolesi's opera is modest in its proportions, both vocally and instrumentally. As an intermezzo its two parts were intended for performance between the acts of a more serious work. It makes use of three of the stock characters of the Italian commedia dell'arte.

Guess which of the three characters I am going to be:
1) Uberto, an elderly gentleman, Bass voice
2) Serpina, his servant, soprano voice
3) Vespone, another servant, silent role

If you guessed #3 Vespone, give yourself a pat on the back and 10 points!

Maybe this will lead to me appearing in a future production of Strauss' Die Fledermaus as the jailer Frosch in Act Three!!!

Boo!

Enjoy a special treat this Halloween - 8 hours of spooky stories from the PRX archive available for a limited time as a continuous stream of mp3s in a pop-up flash player. Grab a bowl of popcorn and turn off the lights; you may want to grab a wooden stake and a couple of silver bullets.
The player will remain up until noon on Wednesday November 1st .

Click here for a fright:

From Friday

Here's Paul Z playing "Blackbird" at Eckel's Drug Store in Mechanicsburg.

Open House

at the PA Academy of Music, last Tuesday evening. It's a great resource for the midstate! Don't hesitate to contact them if you have a young one that is interested in music!
Kim Kelly demonstrating the Bassoon (above)
violinist Michael Jamanis conducting the string orchestra.

Pictures by John Clare

Coming up

Don't miss alot of tunes and alot of fun tomorrow night in Mechanicsburg, PA. Paul Zavinsky and I are playing at Eckel's Drug Store from 8 to 10pm. Have some coffee or ice cream and maybe even do some dancing!
Eckel's is where some scenes from Girl, Interrupted were filmed back in 1999. No word yet if Angelina or Wynona can make it or not.

As for Saturday, there are a lot of things going on in Central PA. I'll be giving a pre-concert talk at Gretna Music before the Boston Brass play. The talk is at 6:30pm and the concert at 7:30pm. You can also sign up and have dinner beforehand!

In Harrisburg that evening as well is the second concert of the season with Concertante. They'll play Beethoven, Bruckner and Mendelssohn. Should be a great show - tell 'em John sent you!

- - - - - -
In putting the "ewww" in news, have you heard about Rick Soule? Las Vegas readers will no doubt recognize the name, and flautists may as well. So sad.

Cinema Pair-o-dice-o

I saw The Illusionist this weekend - quite awesome - it was in a little arts theater in Philly, very charming and quite comfortable, and not a bad walk from Center City even!
I also recently watched a dvd of Lucky # Slevin and despite the gore, enjoyed the writing and the acting.
So, you think you're a fan of films? Take a look at the poet and obsessive collector Adam's collection online: http://adamsmanymovies.blogspot.com/
He also has a ton of movie posters and soundtracks...

5 Things about the Curtis Symphony Orchestra

And soloist Hilary Hahn, Sunday night at the Kimmel Center:
1. The concert was spectacular with a charming rendition of the Star Spangle Banner - why can't other orchestras bring something this original and thoughtful out, instead of the same old bland version?
2. Overheard at intermission: "Oh I just love this so much more than the Symphony." I knew what they meant (in many ways - but she meant compared to the Philadelphia Orchestra), but I also thought, okay this is a stereotypical program of overture, concerto (with superstar) and symphony - what is so different about that?!
3. *Hilary Hahn was gorgeous in a gold dress and maroon lace.* (Sorry, had to parody the typical classical reviewers and say what she wore!) Seriously, her playing was just like every other performance I've heard her in: perfect. This time, the Curtis Orchestra allowed her lots of freedom and never covered her playing, despite big brass and percussion in the orchestration. From the excitement of her double stops and the brilliance of the high passages, the Britten Concerto made the program well worth the trip to Philly (you could actually get $5 tickets - so I won't say it was well worth the ticket, rather it was a bargain!)
4. Otto Werner Muller kept the pace with the Prokofiev (Symphony #5) and began the second movement almost attaca, maybe a second in between letting the reverberation settle and then onwards! For an eighty-year-old, he kept the students and audience in firm control. I was also reminded how much I adore Prokofiev's writing for the violin, there are passages of this very high harmonies that are similiar to the Romeo & Juliet music in the 3rd movement. The Curtis Orchestra's first violins were excellent.
5. The cynic in me asked what benefits does H.H. signing autographs and selling cds after every performance - in some ways, okay, most ways, it's great...part of me says is this just marketing? I mean does it really impact if people come to a concert? I hope it does - and kudos for her to wait around after performances to do that. Also, how mondo cool for her to play part of an Ysaye sonata (second movement of #2, with a quote of Dies Irae!) as an encore!

Dinner

I so enjoyed eating out, as much as I DO love to cook, this weekend in Philadelphia. I took in everything from philly cheesesteaks to filet mignon. (I know we need some of Copland's Hoedown from Rodeo playing, you know the "Beef, it's what's for dinner!" music playing in the background.)

Five Things about Jennifer Koh's recital

On the first Fresh Ink 2006-2007 concert at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia:
1. There were 5 pieces on the modern program, 2 of them having 5 movements!
2. Delightful talkback or "artist chat" afterwards with the performers and composer Jennifer Higdon. Sweet question from a youngster about how long does Jenny Koh practice (depends but roughly 3 hours a day.)
3. This concert was recorded by WRTI and will hopefully be available for streaming - I'll keep an eye out - if you see something about it, let me know - it deserves another hearing...go see Jennifer in concert and keep an eye out next year for a cd of it!
4. I think Jennifer Higdon's String Poetic is just awesome and was played with great aplomb. I might have had the piano on the short stick for the entire concert, and I might be tempted to rearrange the piece, switching the third and fourth movements so that the contrasts are heard between the lyrical and quick movements. Nonetheless, Higdon writes beautifully for the violin and piano, letting each shine. There is also a great amount of joy, depth and passion to String Poetic - I expect every violinist worth their salt (rosin, hahaha) will be adding it to their repertoire.
5. Koh spoke briefly on stage between pieces and was entirely off the cuff, at least it didn't seem part of a schtick - she made honest music and certainly let her playing speak for itself: top notch!

Sunday update

Quick post from the ING Cafe in Philadelphia...awesome concert last night at the Kimmel Center in their "Fresh Ink" series with violinist Jennifer Koh. The world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's String Poetic was just one of the highlights. Koh is a wonderful artist, and if she plays in your neck of the woods, go hear her. She plays her Strad with grace and taste, and more often than not, it's a modern work. :)
Audiences in Philly still amaze me with their bad manners; needless to say, I have my "SHHHHHHH! Please be quiet" sign in my suitcoat pocket for this evening's concert of the Curtis (or "Girdle" - ask me about it) Orchestra with Hilary Hahn.

Great brunch this morning at Rouge, include dark chocolate ship pancakes, coffee and sage sausage. I was tempted by the open faced scrapple sandwich - maybe another time.

Welcome

Check out a new and informative blog from the musicians of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra: http://orpheusnyc.blogspot.com/
They're one of my favorite groups and if you get a chance to hear them live, check it out, you won't regret it!

Habits

So after I moved in the end of August, I ordered a DVR from comcast. It's easy to use and I soon set up 'series' recordings for Gilmore Girls and Law & Order Criminal Intent. Now I can have the shows saved and easily breeze through the commercials.
In fact, in that first month, I was amused to be able to set up series recordings and laugh at Match Game, and soon got bored, changing now to Sabrina reruns with the ever so charming Melissa Joan Hart.
The other show I adore and watch live is 30 minute meals with Rachael Ray. It's a nice way to spend an hour. This morning though, while catching up reading, I saw in the New Yorker that Nigella Lawson has a new Food Network show - yeay! I've missed the first episode, and will be in Philadelphia this weekend, but with the convenience of the DVR, I'll now not miss another!
So you can now see Nigella again on Food Network, Sundays at 1pm (eastern) on her new show, Nigella Feasts!

Annual Campaign

Tim Lambert, myself and Damon "Beau" Boughamer at the Premier Circle Dinner for WITF - we were the greeters.
How can you become a Premier Circle member? Join us at WITF.

Currently listening

Now playing in my ipod, and in the cd players at work and home:
The new Hilary Hahn concerti disc of Paganini and Spohr

Sting's new Dowland disc

John Adams' latest from Nonesuch

Check them out, they are all amazing!

Congrats!

Congratulations to this year's Deems Taylor Award winners in radio...
The ASCAP Deems Taylor Radio Broadcast Award honors two programs this year. They are The Bob Edwards Show (Bob Edwards, host; Ed McNulty, producer; and Tish Valva, executive producer), which is produced at XM Satellite Radio; and World Cafe (David Dye, host and producer; Kimberly Junod, producer and Bruce Warren, executive producer), which originates from WXPN in Philadelphia and is nationally syndicated.
Read more about it on the ASCAP site: http://www.ascap.com/press/2006/101606_deems_taylor.html