Interchanging Idioms

Watching a Professional Rehearse: What I Learned

2012-02-01T09:10:00.002-07:00

Last night I was afforded opportunity to watch a rehearsal of Nicola Benedetti and Christoph Koenig with the Pacific Symphony

I've see the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 performed lived a half dozen times. Nicola has performed it at least ten times that amount, recorded in and put in countless hours prior to that learning the piece. What all that time and effort has done is to internalize the music, to the point there is very little thought as to what's the next note. Watching Nicola go through the various passages, starting and stopping, repeating sections and moving on drove home how very familiar she is with the music.

Nicola had a music stand with the music, but this was only as a reference point so when Maestro Koenig asked for the orchestra to start 8 bars before rehearsal letter "A" she could find that point in the music. After a quick glance to determine what phrase she would start with, the rest of that portion of the rehearsal as introspective, Nicola connecting with her instrument and the music. It was obvious from watching her, she didn't need to focus on the printed music, so she was free to put more of herself into the "performance."

I liken Nicola's rehearsal with walking down a dirt path. Unless you two or three years of age, you don't really spend any time thinking about where you're placing your feet. Even if you're walking down a path you've never been before (rehearsing with an orchestra and possibly a conductor you've never played with before), you aren't think, place my foot here, move the next food forward, balance, step there! The process of walking is more internal than that. You are somewhat conscious of the vagaries in the path, so you don't just plod along willy-nilly. But the actual thinking of each and every step isn't something that occupies your brain. Your brain is free to take a look at the surroundings, enjoy the journey.

Nicola has achieved that same internal aspect with her performance of the Bruch. The importance of this kind of internalization is that it allows Nicola to focus on the orchestra --what are they doing, and the music she's playing --where should it go emotionally. This means every performance is slightly different, allowing the "path" of the music to wander where it will (even if you walk down the same path every day, your feet won't land in the same place every time). The technical aspects of the music are still virtuoso, and I don't want to say Nicola has become so complacent with the music, she's just going through the motions. It was obvious last night how very passionate she was even when starting with a phrase half way into it, or going over a section for the third or fourth time. Even in the rehearsal Nicola was putting more of herself into the music that just walking the path. She was truly enjoying the journey.

Maestro Christoph Koenig was in a much different position. I have no way of knowing how many times he has conducted this piece, or even if he's ever conducted with Nicola Benedetti. Still, his role as Maestro is to lead a rather large group down a path following Nicola's lead. He has to path attention to the path and all the little vagaries so to point them out during rehearsal to the various musicians. Second Violins, "that was the right intensity, now ten times softer." And when they went over that section again, the scenery of the music blossomed into a beautiful landscape. Like Nicola, Christoph needs to be familiar with the piece to the point he isn't having to worry about time changes and or tempo markings. He knows they're there; rather he is focused on the trouble spots in the path where he needs to guide the musicians through, adding emotional emphasis to the notes on the page.

These very different approaches to rehearsing the same piece of music helps me understand how important it is for a composer to detail each and every aspect into the music. The more detail we can provide allows the perform more information they can internalize. This way, during the performance they can add their own emotional response to the scenery I've provided allowing for a complete experience.

I am looking forward to Thursday and walking the path of the Bruch Violin Concerto with them!

PACIFIC SYMPHONY
Feb 2-4, 8pm
R&H Segerstrom Concert Hall

CHRISTOPH KOENIG - conductor
NICOLA BENEDETTI - violin

DEBUSSY: Petite Suite
BRUCH: Violin Concerto No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 4

Soprano Angela Meade Receives Seventh Annual Beverly Sills Artist Award

2012-01-31T08:55:00.000-07:00

“In the world of talented young singers, there may be none with greater promise.”— Mike Silverman, Associated Press

American soprano Angela Meade is having a momentous season. In October she caused a sensation in the title role of the Metropolitan Opera’s premiere production of Anna Bolena, delivering what the New Yorker’s Alex Ross called “as pure a display of vocal power as I’ve heard at the Met in the past few years.” A month later she was honored with the prestigious 2011 Richard Tucker Award, and now – still less than four years since her professional debut – the soprano has been named recipient of the seventh annual Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers at the Metropolitan Opera. Muffy Greenough, Beverly Sills’s daughter, presented the award to Meade at a ceremony at the Met this afternoon.

The award, for young singers who have appeared in featured solo roles at the Met, has been given annually since 2006, and with prize money of $50,000 it is the largest of its kind in the States. Previous winners include baritone Nathan Gunn and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato.

“I am so deeply honored to be the recipient of the Beverly Sills Award,” Meade said, continuing:

“I would have loved to have met Ms. Sills. We share much of the same repertoire and her interpretations of Norma, Anna Bolena, Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux, Cleopatra, and Violetta have been an inspiration to me. I am greatly humbled and realize what an immense responsibility it will be to carry on the legacy Ms. Sills achieved. Her artistry has been something that young singers aspire to attain. I offer heartfelt thanks to the Metropolitan Opera and the Agnes Varis Trust, in memory of Agnes Varis and Karl Leichtman.”

The rising young soprano returns to the Met as Elvira in Verdi’s Ernani on February 2, in the role with which she made her unscheduled “star is born” professional debut – at the Met – in 2008, when she substituted for an ailing colleague. Opera lovers worldwide can hear Meade in the role when Ernani is beamed to cinemas around the world on February 25 as part of the Met’s ever-popular Live in HD series. Her co-stars include Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and Ferruccio Furlanetto, with Marco Armiliato leading the Met Opera Orchestra. It was Armiliato who conducted Meade at the Grand Finals Concert of the 2007 Met Opera National Council Auditions, as chronicled in the documentary film The Audition.

Robin Ticciati Conducts the London Symphony Orchestra in Brahms, Strauss and Mahler w Baritone Christopher Maltman

2012-01-31T08:50:00.000-07:00

Robin Ticciati conducts the LSO in Brahms’ 2nd Symphony and Strauss’ Tod und Verklärung on Thursday 15 March in the Barbican Hall. They are joined by baritone Christopher Maltman in a performance of Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder, completing the programme.

Robin Ticciati was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain when he turned to conducting, aged 15, under the guidance of Sir Colin Davis, LSO President, and Sir Simon Rattle. He is Principal Conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Principal Guest Conductor of the Bamberger Symphoniker and from January 2014, Music Director of Glyndebourne.

Ahead of the performance, at 6pm, Guildhall School pianist Ben Schoeman will perform Brahms’ Sonata No 3 in F minor Op 5 and Variations on a theme of Paganini (Book 1), part of the Guildhall Artists at the Barbican series.

Thursday 15 March, 7.30pm, Barbican

STRAUSS Tod und Verklärung
MAHLER Kindertotenlieder
BRAHMS Symphony No 2

Robin Ticciati conductor
Christopher Maltman baritone
London Symphony Orchestra

Tickets: £10-£35

Houston Grand Opera Announces Its 2012-13 Season

2012-01-31T08:45:00.000-07:00

Including Four New Productions: La bohème, The Italian Girl in Algiers, Show Boat, and Tristan und Isolde

Houston Grand Opera, with Music Director Patrick Summers and Managing Director Perryn Leech, announces its 2012-13 season, headlined by four new productions. The first of these is Puccini’s La bohème, which launches the new season with a new staging by award-winning British director John Caird. To honor 2013’s joint bicentennials of Wagner and Verdi, the coming season juxtaposes Tristan und Isolde – starring Ben Heppner and Nina Stemme in a new contemporary staging by Christof Loy – with a revival of Steven Lawless’s unforgettable take on Il trovatore. British conductor Trevor Pinnock leads a strong international cast in Mozart’s ensemble masterpiece Don Giovanni, while Francesca Zambello’s new production of Kern and Hammerstein’s Show Boat brings together stars of Broadway and the opera house in a celebration of America’s own contribution to the art. For a more intimate experience, Daniela Barcellona and Lawrence Brownlee star in Rossini’s dramma giocoso, The Italian Girl in Algiers.

John Caird’s brand new production of a perennial favorite, Puccini’s La bohème, opens the season on October 19. An Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Principal Guest Director of Stockholm’s Royal Dramatic Theatre, Caird’s numerous honors include two Tony Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, and three Outer Critics Circle Awards. American soprano Katie Van Kooten stars as Mimì, the role in which she made her Covent Garden debut, impressing the Telegraph as “a major operatic talent” with “a winning stage personality.” Opposite her as Rodolfo is New York native Dimitri Pittas – “a huge talent, with a ringing, easy tenor voice…like a young Plácido Domingo” (Opera News). With designs by Olivier Award-winner David Farley, the new production will be conducted by young American Evan Rogister, former Kapellmeister of the Deutsche Oper Berlin.

As HGO Artistic and Music Director Patrick Summers reveals, “Planning a season is like planning a great six-course meal, and [the company has] a lot of main courses but the one dessert – and it’s a great one, a real soufflé.” This “soufflé” is Rossini’s comic masterpiece The Italian Girl in Algiers, which opens on October 26. Making her HGO debut in the title role is Italian soprano Daniela Barcellona, a bel canto specialist whom Opera News found “perfect” in the title role of Rossini’s Tancredi. She’ll be singing opposite tenor Lawrence Brownlee, winner of both the Marian Anderson and the Richard Tucker Awards, who returns to Houston after wowing audiences in The Barber of Seville. The production comes courtesy of Spanish director-designer team Joan Font and Joan Guillén – who were last seen in Houston with witty stagings of Rossini’s La Cenerentola and The Barber of Seville – and features Italian conductor Carlo Rizzi on the podium. Winner of the first Toscanini Conductors competition, Rizzi made his HGO debut in 2007 with Aida.

James Gaffigan Returns to North America in 2012 to Lead Performances with Nine Major Orchestras

2012-01-27T15:34:00.004-07:00

Mr. Gaffigan to make his debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In addition he returns to lead the Minnesota Orchestra and the Baltimore, Dallas, Milwaukee, National and Toronto symphony orchestras

American conductor James Gaffigan returns to North America in 2012 to lead nine major orchestras in engagements which include debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Praised for his passionate and energetic performances as well as his ability to connect with audiences and musicians, Mr. Gaffigan has attracted international attention and has frequently been acknowledged as “one to watch”.

In the summer of 2011, James Gaffigan assumed positions as Chief Conductor of the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. This season, in addition to his ten weeks with the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and four weeks in the Netherlands with the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr. Gaffigan made his debut with the Czech, London and Dresden philharmonic orchestras and with the Vienna State Opera where he led performances of La bohème. Following his performance of Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Mark Haegman of Classical Net remarked, “…if the Czech Philharmonic must have played this work a zillion times, maestro Gaffigan ensured we weren't aware of this. He secured a full-blooded and electrifying reading of Dvořák's most famous work, capitalizing on the orchestra's idiomatic colors.”

James Gaffigan’s first North American concert of the season will be a return engagement with the National Symphony Orchestra (Jan 19-21), followed by concerts with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Jan 25-28). In February he conducts the Minnesota Orchestra (Feb 9-11) before returning to Baltimore to lead the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra on February 16 & 17 and then will make his debut conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on February 23 & 25. In March 2012, James Gaffigan makes his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra (March 8-10) and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (March 30-April 1). Mr. Gaffigan will then lead performances of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (April 6-7) and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (April 12-15) before returning to Europe to conduct La Cenerentola at the Glyndebourne Festival.

Experience the majestic SAINT-SAËNS "Organ" Symphony with The Colorado Symphony

2012-01-27T15:26:00.005-07:00

Colorado Symphony principal harpist Courtney Hershey Bress shines in rare performance of Oberthür's luminous Concertino for Harp and Orchestra

Artists: Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Mei-Ann Chen, conductor
Courtney Hershey Bress, harp

Program:

ROSSINI: Overture to L’Italiana in Algeri (“The Italian Girl in Algiers”)
OBERTHÜR: Concertino for Harp and Orchestra in G minor
SAINT-SAËNS: Symphony No. 3 in C minor, “Organ”

Performances: Saturday, January 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, January 29 at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets: Remaining tickets currently start at $19.

This weekend, prepare to be dazzled by masterworks celebrated the world over for their sheer beauty, uplifting themes and charming manner as conductor Mei-Ann Chen leads the Colorado Symphony on Saturday, January 28 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, January 29 at 2:30 p.m. at Boettcher Concert Hall. The concerts feature a rarely heard gem of the repertoire, Oberthür’s brilliant Concertino for Harp and Orchestra in G minor, featuring Colorado Symphony principal harpist Courtney Hershey Bress. A showcase for virtuosity, the Concertino is an opportunity for both soloist and orchestra to shine.

The centerpiece of this beautiful concert is Saint-Saëns' masterpiece, Symphony No. 3 in C minor, also known as the "Organ" Symphony. While not a true symphony for organ, the Symphony No. 3 features both piano and organ. It earned its moniker due to the prominent, serene and masterful role of the organ – and instrument at which Saint-Saëns personally excelled. Today, it is regarded as one of the great French symphonies and Saint-Saëns' masterwork in the genre. Conceived as a tribute to Franz Liszt, Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 is contemplative and fanciful, peaceful yet majestic. Tickets are still available for these must-attend concerts and start at $19.

The Colorado Symphony Ball puts the Spotlight on the Orchestra for an evening of music and dance

2012-01-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

For the first time in its history, this year’s Symphony Ball will feature the sounds of The Colorado Symphony for both listening pleasure and dancing. The ball, held this year on Saturday, April 28, 2012, will take place at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel and begins at 6:00 PM.

The orchestra will be front and center performing music to please ball attendees of all ages from warm pre-dinner background music to a high-energy full orchestra performance to top dance hits spanning decades. “Spotlighting our orchestra at this year’s ball couldn’t be more appropriate considering our newly adopted focus to engage and connect more in our community,” says Colorado Symphony board co-chair, Mary Rossick Kern. “It will be fun and exciting for ball patrons to be up close and personal with members of the orchestra throughout the evening.”

Symphony Ball 2012 is chaired by Colorado Symphony Association trustee and CBS4 general manager, Walt DeHaven, and his wife and president of Aiello Public Relations & Marketing, Wendy Aiello. Ed Greene, CBS4 weather and news anchor, will be the evening’s emcee. The night will begin with a silent auction and cocktails followed by dinner, live auction and entertainment by the Colorado Symphony with dancing to follow.

For more information about Symphony Ball 2012 tickets, table and corporate sponsorship, contact Melissa Muscato at (303) 308-2495.

Q2 Music and The Greene Space at WQXR Present A Preview of Merkin Concert Hall’s ECSTATIC MUSIC FESTIVAL on Wednesday, February 1 at 7pm

2012-01-27T14:45:00.000-07:00

An Evening of Performances by Jason Treuting, Angélica Negron, and Jherek Bischoff, and Conversation with Festival Curator Judd Greenstein

Q2 Music, WQXR’s online station devoted to the music of living composers, will, for a second year in a row, serve as the exclusive digital venue for the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Concert Hall. Featuring more than 150 performers and composers from different musical backgrounds who are re-defining music today, the Ecstatic Music Festival has been hailed for putting its finger on the pulse of contemporary “post-classical” music.

On Wednesday, February 1 at 7pm, Q2 Music will kick off the festival with a live concert in The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR, the innovative multiplatform broadcast studio and live event venue. WQXR host Terrance McKnight will welcome a star-studded lineup of this year’s Ecstatic Music Festival composer-performers, including Jason Treuting, Angélica Negron, and Jherek Bischoff. The evening will also include an introductory conversation with Ecstatic Music Festival curator, composer Judd Greenstein. Tickets are available now at www.thegreenespace.org.

In addition, Q2 Music will serve as the digital destination for the festival, making all of the concerts available for audiences worldwide. Q2 Music will carry all of the New Sounds Live concerts on www.wqxr.org/q2music as live audio webcasts with host John Schaefer , and will also record all Ecstatic Music Festival concerts for on-demand streaming.

Composer's Dilemma: rhythm, bar lines and readability

2012-01-26T09:59:00.001-07:00

I love rhythm, numbers and odd pairings of the two. They don't always make for obvious bar line choices.

A recent piece I've written is for solo violin, The Jig is Up, suggesting this is a jig and yet not.

The music starts with the right concept --a nice little jig in compound time. In the opening example the music could almost be divided into a nice 6/8 pattern, except for the 3rd and 4th measure. Perhaps I could have the G cross the bar line. The tempo is also set to an eighth note equals 252. If I divide that by 3 I could make it a dotted quarter note equals 84 --a much nicer number for most metronomes.

When we get to line 5 the compound time is shot all to hell. Is the first measure in 7 or should it be nice with the final eighth note of the previous line added to the bar? But then that breaks up the almost dividable pattern in line 4. Measure 2 in in 8 and measure 3 is in 9, with measure 4 is in 6. Wait, the piece gets better!

At rehearsal marker 'A', which is line 9 and a return to the original theme, the line can almost be divided evenly into the 6/8 patterns again. We have that nasty pair of quarter notes that "cross" the bar line --or do they? If we leave them together all the other measures have 6 beats. Measure 3 is the odd one out with 7 beats for a total of 31 in the line. Yes folks, 31 is a prime number. I've been found out or "the jig is up." The piece spends the rest of it's time with 31 beats to a line.

Line 13 puts the 7 beat measure at the opening of the line. As the "variation" progresses the bar line continues to shift as to where the 7 beats end up.

My dilemma as a composer was where to put bar lines. Should I keep changing the time signature so I could write the music into nice organized measures? Was is better to do what I ended up doing and just not put bar lines in at all. For me the line of music is a whole --a thread that runs from the opening of a line to the end. There are sections where the final note of a line is definitely a pickup note to the next line.

I'd be curious as to what musicians think of the music. How would you divide the music to make it more readable. If you'd like to see the complete score, drop me an email or write to me on twitter (chipmichael). I'd be happen to send a pdf your way.

Nicola Benedetti & Friends Residency at LSO St Luke's in March

2012-01-26T09:00:00.001-07:00

BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts
1, 8, 15 & 22 March
All to be broadcast on BBC Radio 3

International violinist Nicola Benedetti curates a series of four concerts in which she features as both soloist and chamber musician, performing alongside some of her closest musical colleagues.

Nicola Benedetti is joined by Alexei Grynyuk (piano), Leonard Elschenbroich (cello), Alexander Sitkovetsky (violin) and Maxim Rysanov (viola) across four concerts featuring music by Bach, Ravel, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Shostakovich and Ysaÿe. Each concert will be recorded for later broadcast on BBC Radio 3.

2011/12 is the most ambitious BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert season at LSO St Luke’s to date. During September, October and November, over 12 recitals six world-ranking pianists performed a complete cycle of Beethoven’s 32 Piano Sonatas, which was received to outstanding acclaim. In February 2012, Britain’s leading chamber ensemble, the Nash Ensemble, is in residence for a series focusing on some of the great chamber works of Brahms, and in May 2012, pianist Cédric Tiberghien, cellist Pieter Wispelwey, violinist Isabelle Faust and harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani perform solo recitals of music by JS Bach.

Prior to these Lunchtime Concerts Nicola will appear at:

New York

Monday 30th January, 2012
January 30, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleeker Street, New York, NY, United States, 10012

Nicola Benedetti, violin with REBEL: “Italia” Decca Classics album release concert w/ music of Vivaldi and J.S. Bach

Santa Ana

February 2, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
with Pacific Symphony

Venue: Segerstrom Hall at OCPAC Mesa, CA, United States, 92626.

Repertoire: Max Bruch : Violin Concerto No 1 in G minor Op 26

Munich Germany

February 10, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
with Munich Symphony Orchestra

Venue: Prinzregententheater

Repertoire: Johannes Brahms – Double Concerto in A minor for violin and cello solos and orchestra, op.102

Ayrshire Music Festival

February 15, 2012 @ 7:30 pm
Venue: Ayr Town Hall, New Bridge Street, Ayr, KA7 1JX

Repertoire: James MacMillan : From Ayshire

Richard Strauss : Sonata for Violin and Piano in Eb Major Op.18

Sergey Prokofiev : Violin Concerto No 1 in D Major Op 19

Maurice Ravel : Tzigane

Interview with Avner Dorman

2012-01-26T06:58:00.008-07:00

The composer discusses some of his works, among them a new encore piece for Hilary Hahn

Israeli-born composer Avner Dorman is yet another person that was a late-starter in the classically-trained world where everyone seemingly starts learning what they do at age 3 or 4, but he's now proven to us again, just as quite a few others have in our journeys here, that age is only a number in this game.

If you click on his website, you'll see that he already has a variety of great works and has been premiering even more as we speak, including one of the Hilary Hahn Encores (EDITOR'S NOTE: I couldn't not ask him about that, and believe it or not, he hasn't even heard this piece played yet. Huh?) and a narrated orchestral work titled Uzu and Muzu from Kakamaruzu premiering in March with the Stockton Symphony.
Avner had a few minutes to hang with me via Skype and discuss.

CM: Start from the top, how'd you become a musician/composer?

AD: I started studying cello when I was 9, and then I quit that and started piano at 12--Really late for most musicians, like, if you're going to be a pro, that's late! I think probably the biggest [thing] was that my dad didn't really want me to be a composer!

CM: Oh boy! [both laughing] Don't you love the parents when they try to crush your dreams any time you want to do something artistic?

AD: That was a good enough reason to really want to be a composer! But I was very drawn to music early on, even before I started learning an instrument, and even when I was studying piano or cello, I sort of never played what was on the page, I liked improvising and adding my own things. When I would do scales on the piano, I always played in 2 different keys at a time. I would change Beethoven and Mozart and what not--I think it was kind of ingrained in me that creating is the cool part, not playing someone else's ideas. It's fairly basic in my perception of the world that I like to contribute my own thoughts and not someone else's.

CM: When did your composing actually gel?

AD: I'm still waiting for it! [laughing] Just kidding! I started writing out pieces at probably 15, and then when I was in 12th grade, I was starting to perform my own music--I wrote my Prelude #1, which is on one of my Naxos CDs. I wrote it, and I started performing it, and that was like the first piece that people were like "Oh my God, you're like a composer, you're like the real thing!"--I think every composer has that moment where they're like "Okay, I managed to do it once! I can really do this! I'm not just dreaming!". That piece I played a lot. I was a senior in high school, and I played it at some upper-level, university-level places where there were composition students, and some of them came to me and said to me "I think I'm going to be depressed now for a month that a 17-year-old could write that!", so, that was sort of reassuring!

I remember I had one teacher, a counterpoint teacher I used to take private lessons from--he was a very good pianist, and one day he asked me for some pieces--the copies that he wanted to play, and I think that was also a very defining moment. A professional musician asked me for a copy of my music so he can learn it to play at his recitals.

CM: So, from that point on, you just knew because people wanted to get a piece of it, pretty much.

AD: Well, I'm thinking about it now, when I was a senior in high school, actually, I wrote this concerto for piano, violin, electric guitar and string orchestra, and the orchestra was a a string orchestra plus a drum set--That's essentially what I had in my high school. I put it together, and I recorded it. The composer-in-residence of the Hiafa Symphony came to our school, and he heard the recording from one of those magnetic tapes, and he commissioned a piece from me right away! I think that's probably the defining moment, a real orchestra commissions a piece after they hear something else, I was like "Okay, this can really happen!".

CM: Was it around the same time you wrote Concerto for Violin and a Rock Band?

AD: That was a few years later.

CM: Was that commissioned, or was that something you kind of wanted to try?

AD: I started writing it as a regular violin concerto, just for myself. And then I was taking composition lessons at the time with Amnon Wolman. He asked me what I was trying to do, and I said that I was trying to get the sound of a rock band here. And he was like "Why don't you just write for a rock band? Why are you trying to make the orchestra sound like a rock band? Why not just write for a rock band?". I was embarrassed and I didn't think about it, so I essentially said "Oh yeah, I'm thinking of doing a version like that!", and he was in charge of one of the new music ensembles in Israel, and he said "You know, if you write it, we'll play it at one of our concerts!".

CM: I've heard it, and it reminds me a bit of symphonic rock.

AD: It's close to some sort of '70's progressive rock, I think. I was a big Genesis fan growing up.

CM: How did the call from Hilary Hahn go down about the piece Memory Games?

AD: She essentially gave me a call one day and said 'Hi, this is Hilary Hahn, I'm a violinist...", and I was like, "Yeah, I know who you are!"!

CM: [laughing] That's so funny, she thinks there's people that have never heard of her in the classical music world!

AD: I'm like "Yeah! I've heard of you!", and she said "I want you to write a piece for me!", and I said "Sure!". That was it! She was like "I'm so happy you want to write a piece for me!", and I was "What did you think?! You're a great violinist, of course I'll write a piece for you!".

CM: Since neither one of us has had a chance to hear Hilary's rendition yet, is there any way you can describe what the piece sounds like?

AD: It's very fast, and it's like this jumpy groove. My copyist said it's like a Balkan samba. It has something Latin in the rhythm, but it's all sevens and elevens and what not. It's actually closer to Balkan music, which I'm very very fond of. What happens is the piano and the violin start together. And then they're going together, and then I think from the audience perspective it just seems like they're sort of drifting apart, but continuing to work with the same material. Technically it's very rigorous--It's kind of a formula that I created, how notes come in and sort of interfere with the patterns, but from an audience point of view, you hear them together, and it's very tight, and then they start veering away from each other, until it gets really crazy and intense. It's a very intense piece, I think!

CM: Wow, I can't wait to actually hear it!

AD: Me too! [Both laughing] One more thing about that piece--It's actually conceived in a way that she can play it not only with piano. The idea is that she can play it with clarinet, violin, whatever! As I was doing those versions, it started getting more complex than I thought, so I never finished them, but I will soon! The idea is that when she plays a concert with an orchestra, and if she has a friend in the orchestra, she can play it, and it's the same pattern repeating. She's moving around, but the "accompaniment" is fairly strict in the pattern. It's easy to learn it if you're a good musician. When she goes and plays with an orchestra, she can play an encore with one of the musicians in the orchestra, or 3 of the musicians in the orchestra, and she doesn't need the piano, so it's sort of a modular piece. I just have to finish that version for her because different instruments have different ranges, it gets a little tricky!

CM: What's great about chamber music for violin and piano is that even though there's so much repertoire where the violin is the only thing that matters in those pieces, people like Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Ives, probably because those people were more pianistic, wrote pieces that were more like duets.

AD: Yeah, particularly it was more piano. Actually, if you look at the early stuff, it's only in the romantic period in the 19th century where the violin became sort of dominant in the violin-piano [repertoire]. I almost feel like when it's violin and piano or like a string quartet, I like to make it like a mass of sound together, like it's not even a duet, they're almost like this one thing, they sort of become like one entity as opposed to one being more important or even like a back and forth or something like that.

CM: Can we talk about Lost Souls, the Piano Concerto? I noticed a lot of references to Bach and other composers.

AD: The whole idea of the piece is that the piano concerto is dead. It's a 19th century format. it's not something of our time. The piece is sort of like a resurrection--The orchestra is doing a seance to resurrect the piano concerto. That's why it's called Lost Souls--Ghosts of piano concertos that come back to haunt the orchestra in this ceremony. And it actually starts without the pianist at the piano. And the lights are half-dim, they play the opening, the lights go down, and when the lights come up, the pianist appears. The pianist actually hides within the violin section, and sort of moves during the darkness, and then at the end the pianist disappears again when the lights go down. There's a whole theater there. All the quotes are from dead composers and are all just part of the dramatic idea of the piece.

CM: But people still write concertos...

AD: Oh yeah, of course! I'm not discounting other people's concertos, but I'm mostly thinking of romantic concertos. I started talking about this with Alon [Goldstein; pianist that Avner wrote it for]. Even though there's a lot of piano concertos written in the last 50 years, none of them are sticking as repertoire pieces, and we were talking about why that is--Some of them are very good. We got to the idea that maybe it's just a 19th century format that needs to come back from the grave.

CM: Boaz, the piece for soprano, harp and 2 pianos--Was that written for or about somebody in particular?

AD: That's about a brother I had that died as a baby before I was born. He died 2 months before I was born. My mom wrote these poems about the whole process of his illness and death. She wrote them chronologically from the day that he was born until the day of his death, and I took 5 of them and set them backwards. It starts over the grave, and ends with a baby being born, and how beautiful he was. It's a very personal piece and a very hard piece for me.

CM: It's a great idea to set the story backwards...

AD: Yeah, it's sort of the idea that the farther that you are removed from the moment of the tragedy, perhaps the more you remember the beginning rather than the end. It's a little bit like the way the mind protects itself. My mom really remembers very strongly how beautiful he was when he was born, so the mind doesn't want to remember how bad it was at the end. You could say it's a little like losing reality, but it's a way to protect oneself, remembering the moment that was good.

CM: Is there anything new of yours other than Hilary's piece that's coming out?

AD: I'm finishing now a huge, huge piece for narrator and orchestra, and 2 percussionists as well, Uzu and Muzu from Kakamaruzu, based on a beautiful Israeli children's story, and the premiere is in March with the Stockton Symphony. I know Gil [Shaham] is currently recording the 3rd Violin Sonata. And then I have a piece called Astrolatry that I wrote last year for the Alabama Symphony that they are premiering at Carnegie Hall in May.

DormanAvner.com Avner's official website

Colorado Symphony Celebrates a special evening of passion, love and lust with Valentine Classics

2012-01-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

Just in time for the most passionate day of the year, the Colorado Symphony presents a Valentine's-inspired evening of romantic classics. Prepare to be swept away by the romance, power and ardor that only a symphony orchestra can deliver.

MASTERWORKS SERIES
Valentine Classics

SAT 2/11 - 7:30 p.m.
Boettcher Concert Hall

Selections include:

TCHAIKOVSKY / Selections from Swan Lake
BIZET / Selections from Carmen
MASSENET / Thaïs: Médiation
DEBUSSY / Clair de Lune

Vladimir Spivakov and Olga Kern US Recital Appearances February 2012

2012-01-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

Internationally Acclaimed Violinist and Pianist Visit Boston, NYC, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco to Perform Repertoire of Brahms, Stravinsky, Pärt, Franck, Schnittke and Shostakovich

In February 2012, violinist Vladimir Spivakov and pianist Olga Kern will embark on a rare joint recital tour in the United States, visiting top concert halls in Boston, New York City, Chicago, Seattle and San Francisco. This is the powerful duo’s first ever joint recital tour outside of Europe, and they have created a dynamic program of works by Brahms, Stravinsky, Pärt, Franck and Schnittke. At the Carnegie Hall concert only, Spivakov and Kern will be joined by celebrated cellist and 2012 Musical America Artist of the Year, David Finkel of the Emerson String Quartet for a special performance of Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2. (complete repertoire list below).

Throughout his career, spanning nearly four decades, violinist Vladimir Spivakov has been praised by critics for his deep insight into composers’ intentions, the richness and beauty of his tone, his fine phrasing and nuance, his emotional impact on his audiences, and his refined artistry and intelligence. Mr. Spivakov made his United States recital debut in 1975 and international engagements quickly followed. He has performed as soloist with the most important orchestras in the world, and collaborated with some of the 20th century’s most eminent conductors, including Svetlanov, Kondrashin, Temirkanov, Rostropovich, Bernstein, Leinsdorf, Ozawa, Maazel, Giulini, Masur, Chailly, Conlon and Abbado. In addition to performing major traditional works, Mr. Spivakov has continually treated his audiences to new and innovative repertoire, both in chamber music and orchestral works. Mr. Spivakov plays a violin by Stradivari. Spivakov is equally renowned as Conductor and Founder of the Moscow Virtuosi and as Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Philharmonic of Russia.

Olga Kern is the striking young Russian Gold Medal winner of the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Her performance of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 made her the first woman to achieve this distinction in over 30 years. Kern made her New York debut at Carnegie's Zankel Hall in May, 2004, and eleven days later returned to New York to play again, this time on the stage of the Isaac Stern Auditorium at the invitation of Carnegie Hall. Ms. Kern is a magnetic performer with one of the most prodigious piano techniques of any young pianist. Last season, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Van Cliburn Foundation honored Ms. Kern’s Cliburn victory 11 years ago with a co-presentation of her talents in March and April of 2011. Also in 2011, Kern performed with the symphonies of Detroit, Anchorage, Nashville, Dallas, Virginia, St. Louis, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Madison, Johnson City, Syracuse and Colorado. Additionally in North America, she has been invited to perform at Longwood Gardens, the Sanibel Music Festival, the Winter Park Bach Festival, the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, and Drake University. Ms. Kern records exclusively with Harmonia Mundi, and her Chopin Sonatas CD was released in 2010.

Vladimir Spivakov and Olga Kern 2012 Recital Tour

February 17 Boston, MA - Sanders Theatre

February 18 New York, NY - Carnegie Hall

February 19 Chicago, IL - Orchestra Hall

February 25 Seattle, WA - Benaroya Hall

February 26 San Francisco, CA - Herbst Theatre

Program:

Johannes Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, op. 108
Igor Stravinsky, ‘Suite Italienne’
Arvo Pärt, Spiegel im Spiegel (dedicated to Vladimir Spivakov)
Cesar Franck, Sonata in A Major

Program – February 18 (Carnegie Hall):

Johannes Brahms, Violin Sonata No. 3 in D Minor, op. 108
Igor Stravinsky, ‘Suite Italienne’
Alfred Schnittke, Prelude in Memoriam Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, Op.67 violin (with David Finkel)

Anne Akiko Meyers: Air - The Bach Album out on eOne Valentine's Day

2012-01-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

Bach Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2 plus Bach Concerto for Two Violins featuring Meyers on both parts

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ newest recording for eOne entitled Air – The Bach Album will be released on Valentine’s Day, 2012. This is Anne Akiko Meyers’s first orchestral album for eOne and features the English Chamber Orchestra with Steven Mercurio conducting. The album includes Bach’s Violin Concertos Nos. 1 & 2, the Double Concerto for Two Violins, and arrangements of Bach’s “Air”, “Largo” from the Harpsichord Concerto in f minor, and the Bach/Gounod “Ave Maria.”

After her recent acquisition of the “ex-Napoleon/Molitor” Stradivarius violin from 1697, Meyers decided to become the first violinist to record both solo parts of the Double Concerto on two different violins. Meyers joked that this was the first time she agreed with all of her “partner’s” musical ideas.

Meyers believes the golden purity of the tone of the ‘ex-Molitor/Napoleon’ Strad, contrasts beautifully with the darker timbre of the 1730 “Royal Spanish” Strad, on which she recorded the second violin part. The distinctive voice of each violin inspired Meyers to record both parts of the Double Concerto, as she feels like she sounds like a different violinist on each instrument.

Michael Tilson Thomas and the SF Symphony release recording of John Adams' 'Harmonielehre'

2012-01-24T08:54:00.000-07:00

ON SFS MEDIA MARCH 13, 2012
Exclusive pre-release download from iTunes available February 15

Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) will release a hybrid SACD recording of works by John Adams in conjunction with its month-long American Mavericks Festival in March 2012. Self-produced on the Orchestra’s SFS Media label, the recording features the SFS commission Harmonielehre and Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a work commissioned by MTT. The recording will be available for pre-release by download exclusively from Apple’s iTunes Music Store beginning February 15, the composer’s birthday. The San Francisco Symphony’s e-store is currently accepting pre-sale orders for the Adams recording at sfsymphony.org/store and on February 15 it will become available at the Symphony Store in Davies Symphony Hall. National and international retail release for the recording will be March 13. On March 15, MTT leads the SFS in world premiere of Absolute Jest, a new work by Adams commissioned for its centennial season, with additional performances in Chicago, Ann Arbor and Carnegie Hall.

The SFS commissioned, premiered and recorded Harmonielehre in March 1985 under Edo De Waart during Adams ’ tenure as SFS composer in residence. Adams recalled, “I was a young composer when I wrote Harmonielehre and I had really only written two other orchestra pieces at that point and one of them was Harmonium, which was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony only a few years before that. Harmonielehre was tough coming out… I was searching for what I wanted to say. I knew that part of what I wanted to write for the orchestra was a music that would kind of strum the strings of its repertoire that would play to its strengths… [with Harmonielehre] I really confronted who I was, who I am, John Adams as a composer - somebody who grew up listening to classical music, classical orchestral music, who played in orchestras when I was younger, who conducted, who loved that repertoire, but at the same time was somebody who also grew up listening to jazz and rock and who was very influenced by minimalism. So it’s this rather strange marriage of the driving pulse of American minimalism and the sensuous and emotional and expressive world of the great European masterpieces.”

Michael Tilson Thomas, who conducted the work during his first season as SFS Music Director in 1995 and multiple times since, said of the work, “When a new piece is premiered, it can make a stunning impression. But the real story of that piece is what emerges over time. When the SFS first performed Harmonielehre in the mid-80s it was a life changing moment for everybody who heard it. I heard it first on the recording and I was drawn into the piece in so many ways, its enormous power, but also its tenderness and depth of expression. And now, decades later, the piece still stands up.”

MTT commissioned Short Ride in a Fast Machine from John Adams in 1986 for a Pittsburgh Symphony performance in Massachusetts. Adams shared, “Michael called me back in 1986 when he was opening a new music festival in Massachusetts with the Pittsburgh Symphony and he asked me to do a fanfare. The sort of traditional fanfare with blaring trumpets didn’t really appeal to me, and how do you write a fanfare when Copland has already done it so well? I thought about it and for some reason the connection with Cape Cod came to mind. Years before that I had been there with a former brother-in-law and he had asked me at about 1 in the morning if I would like to take a ride with him in his Lamborghini. I did and once he started up I wished I hadn’t because he drove very, very fast. The idea of a piece that had that combination of excitement and thrill and was just on the edge of anxiety or terror was the motivating force for [Short Ride in a Fast Machine.] The piece starts with the click of the wood block and that wood block never changes, it just keeps driving and it’s sort of like a gauntlet through which a 100-piece orchestra has to pass.”

Cellist Johannes Moser releases new CD: Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No.1 & Britten: Cello Symphony

2012-01-23T09:00:00.003-07:00

“One of the finest among the astonishing gallery of young virtuoso cellists” (Gramophone)

On January 31, 2012, Hänssler Classic releases the latest album from the charismatic young virtuoso, Johannes Moser. Following his extraordinary recording of concertos by Martinů, Hindemith and Honegger released in May of 2011, Moser returns with a stunning new release featuring two distinguished cello concertos of the mid-20th century: Dimitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 from 1959 and Benjamin Britten’s Cello Symphony premiered in 1964.

Both works were originally composed for the great Mstislav Rostropovich who was the teacher of Moser’s own teacher David Geringas. “The Shostakovich is very precious to me,” Moser says, “so in a way, I feel like I am continuing the family line. The Shostakovich Concerto has been my most important musical companion since my teenage years. I played it at most of the defining, often competitive moments in my early career.” Those moments included the Jugend Musiziert competition where Moser won first-prize at age 16 and it was the piece he played when auditioning to study with David Geringas. Moser then performed the concerto with orchestra for the first time on his 18th birthday and again in the finals of the Tchaikovsky competition which he won in 2002. Moser has also performed the concerto with Mariss Janssons and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

The Shostakovich concerto is characterized by vitality, humor and is very much an expression of the cellist’s virtuosity, but also has incredibly intimate moments. In the finale, Shostakovich quotes Stalin’s favorite song "Suliko" and turns it into a grimace. Since it had been six years after Stalin’s death, Shostakovich felt that he could be political in a sarcastic way without being deported right away.

As the title suggests, cello and orchestra are equal partners in Britten's "Symphony for Cello and Orchestra" op 68, creating what is at times the clarity of chamber music. This new recording continues Moser's exploration of 20th century cello concertos while building upon his masterful interpretations of cello sonatas by Britten.

“The Britten Cello Symphony is the total opposite of the Shostakovich,” Moser explains. “The cellist’s virtuosity and individual voice are no longer in the foreground and Britten truly turns the cello solo part into an integral element of very symphonic writing. I appreciated the opportunity not to be a counterpart to the orchestra but an integrated part of it.”

Both concerti are very personal statements of the composers, who were both outcasts in their society: Shostakovich being on the edge of deportation because of his controversial writing, and Britten because of his homosexuality. Both composers longed to be part of the society that was rejecting them in such a cruel way.

Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces Its 2012-13 Season

2012-01-22T11:52:00.002-07:00

Lyric’s 58th Season Features Nine Operas: Elektra, Simon Boccanegra, Werther, Don Pasquale, Hansel and Gretel, La bohème, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Rigoletto, and A Streetcar Named Desire, October 6, 2012 Through April 6, 2013

Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, announced yesterday the repertoire, principal singers, conductors, directors, and designers for Lyric’s 2012-13 season. This was Freud’s first news conference since becoming Lyric’s general director on Oct. 1, 2011. Joining Freud for yesterday’s announcement was Sir Andrew Davis, Lyric’s music director, and Renée Fleming, Lyric’s creative consultant (via Skype).

Lyric’s 58th season features 68 performances of nine different operas: Elektra, Simon Boccanegra, Werther, Don Pasquale, Hansel and Gretel, La bohème, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Rigoletto, and A Streetcar Named Desire. The season runs from October 6, 2012 through April 6, 2013 at the Civic Opera House, an art deco landmark in Chicago. Lyric is staging new productions of Elektra, Werther, and Die Meistersinger, as well as a special presentation of Streetcar. Oklahoma!, the American musical-theater classic by Rodgers and Hammerstein, is scheduled for the spring of 2013, following Lyric’s regular season. Subscribers will get first choice of seats and special pricing for this production. The on-sale date and production details of Oklahoma! will be announced later.

Major artists making their Lyric debuts in the 2012-13 season include Christine Goerke (Elektra), Krassimira Stoyanova (Simon Boccanegra), Sophie Koch (Werther), Anna Netrebko and Dimitri Pittas (La bohème), Andrzej Dobber, Željko Lučić, and Albina Shagimuratova (Rigoletto), and Teddy Tahu Rhodes (A Streetcar Named Desire). Two young conductors make their Lyric debuts on the podium: Ward Stare (Hansel and Gretel) and Evan Rogister (Rigoletto, Streetcar); and chorus master Martin Wright is new to the company this season.

Lyric’s website (www.lyricopera.org) is a comprehensive source of information, handsomely designed and easy to navigate. Videos about each opera are available for viewing throughout the season, including highlight reels introduced by Sir Andrew Davis and Renée Fleming, commentaries by Anthony Freud, and interviews with other artists and directors. In early February, Lyric will post Anthony Freud’s 2012-13 season overview video.

98.7WFMT will air locally and stream live (on wfmt.com) the opening-night performance of each opera in Lyric’s 2012-13 season. The WFMT Radio Network will rebroadcast eight of the nine operas nationally and internationally in May and June of 2013.

Michael Tilson Thomas featured in two PBS Great Performances on March 29 & 30

2012-01-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

CONDUCTOR MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS FEATURED IN TWO
PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES BROADCASTS TO AIR NATIONALLY ON MARCH 29 & 30

Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT), Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony and Artistic Director of the New World Symphony, will be featured in two new Great Performances presentations in March to be broadcast nationally on PBS. Both programs are productions of THIRTEEN for WNET , one of America’s most prolific and respected public media providers.

On Thursday, March 29 Great Performances will present The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater at 8:00PM (check local listings). Recorded in April 2011 at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center in Miami Beach , the performance of The Thomashefskys is written and hosted by Michael Tilson Thomas and stars Judy Blazer as Bessie Thomashefsky and Shuler Hensley as Boris Thomashefsky. It also features Ronit Widmann-Levy and Eugene Brancoveanu and the New World Symphony, and is directed for television by Gary Halvorson.

Following the national broadcast on PBS Great Performances on March 29, The Thomashefskys: Music and Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater will be released on DVD by New Video (newvideo.com) on April 24 with extras including additional music performances, an interview with MTT about the Thomashefskys and a feature on the New World Symphony, America's Orchestra Academy. The New World Symphony was founded in 1987 by Michael Tilson Thomas and Ted Arison, and has launched the careers of over 800 musicians. Pre-orders for the DVD are currently being accepted at Amazon.com and at the San Francisco Symphony e-store at sfsymphony.org/store and will be shipped immediately following the April 24 release date. The program will also be available for digital download from iTunes, and for sale on the New World Symphony website at nws.edu/shop.

In September, the San Francisco Symphony and MTT launched the Orchestra’s milestone Centennial Season with a celebratory gala concert dubbed “Fanfare for a New Century” at Davies Symphony Hall. The gala concert will be presented as a two-hour special, San Francisco Symphony at 100, by Great Performances on PBS on Friday, March 30 at 9PM (check local listings). The broadcast is hosted by Bay Area author Amy Tan and directed for television by Gary Halvorson and features MTT conducting the Orchestra and two of the leading artists of our time, violinist Itzhak Perlman performing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor and pianist Lang Lang performing Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major. The concert opens with Aaron Copland’s vivid portrayal of American prairie life, the Billy the Kid Ballet Suite and concludes with Britten’s orchestral showpiece The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra of which the San Francisco Chronicle said: “…as Thomas led his colleagues, section by section and soloist by soloist… the listener could only marvel at the level of individual excellence and communal artistry on display.” Capping off the concert is an encore of Bay Area composer John Adams’ Short Ride in a Fast Machine featuring moving images of San Francisco projected throughout Davies Symphony Hall. (An audio recording of this performance of Short Ride in a Fast Machine, a work commissioned by MTT in 1986, will also be available on an upcoming all-John Adams recording on the Orchestra’s own SFS Media label along with their 2010 performance of Adams’ Harmonielehre, a work SFS commissioned and premiered in 1985. The recording will be available on March 13, with a special pre-release on iTunes and in the San Francisco Symphony store in Davies Symphony Hall beginning on February 15, the composer’s birthday.)

San Francisco Opera Announces 2012-13 Season

2012-01-22T11:43:00.002-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO OPERA ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR THREE WORLD PREMIERES IN 2013:
NOLAN GASSER/CAREY HARRISON’S THE SECRET GARDEN (MARCH 2013)
MARK ADAMO’S THE GOSPEL OF MARY MAGDALENE (JUNE–JULY 2013)
TOBIAS PICKER/J.D. McCLATCHY’S DOLORES CLAIBORNE (SEPTEMBER 2013)

San Francisco Opera General Director David Gockley today announced the Company’s 2012–13 repertory season, guest artists and performance schedule, in addition to three world premiere commissions slated for 2013 by Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison (The Secret Garden), Mark Adamo (The Gospel of Mary Magdalene), and Tobias Picker and J.D. McClatchy (Dolores Claiborne). Gockley also announced the extension of his contract to lead San Francisco Opera through the 2015–16 Season along with the extension of contracts for the artistic leadership team of Music Director Nicola Luisotti, Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Summers and Resident Conductor Giuseppe Finzi.

The Company’s 90th season opens Friday, September 7, 2012 with a gala performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto. Maestro Luisotti leads an international cast of singers, including acclaimed Serbian baritone and Verdi specialist Željko Lučić in the title role, and the Company debuts of Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak as Gilda and Italian tenor Francesco Demuro as the Duke of Mantua. Opera Ball, the Company’s celebrated signature benefit event, co-produced with the San Francisco Opera Guild in support of the San Francisco Opera and Opera Guild education programs, will precede the opening night performance at the historic War Memorial Opera House.

In addition to Rigoletto, which features two international casts of singers, San Francisco Opera’s 2012–13 Season offers Vincenzo Bellini’s bel canto gem I Capuleti e i Montecchi (The Capulets and the Montagues); the Bay Area premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, commissioned and produced by San Francisco Opera, The Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Calgary Opera and the State Opera of South Australia; Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin; Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca, interpreted by two casts of widely acclaimed singers; Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann); Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte; the world premiere of Mark Adamo’s The Gospel of Mary Magdalene; and the world premiere of Nolan Gasser and Carey Harrison’s The Secret Garden, a co-production with Cal Performances.

Delve into Mozart's fascinating world as Inside the Score returns to the Colorado Symphony

2012-01-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

Join resident conductor Scott O'Neil and the Colorado Symphony for an intimate look at Mozart's life, relationships and music. If you think you know Mozart, think again!

Think you know Mozart? Think again. The Colorado Symphony and resident conductor Scott O'Neil will unveil a different, lesser-known side of Mozart at this weekend's Inside the Score concert, simply titled Letters From Mozart. The concert at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, January 20 won't simply showcase a "greatest hits" of Mozart. Rather, it aims to explore his early life before his days in Vienna, through both music and letters: Letters both to, and from, his closest friends and relatives, including his father, wife and sister. According to O'Neil, there is a surprising amount of humor and spice that comes through in the letters, which prove that Mozart's father was indeed the master of guilt trips.

Letters From Mozart presents a poignant selection of music from Mozart's oeuvre and features soprano Christie Hageman, pianist Katie Mann and members of the Colorado Symphony Chorus. Highlights of the concert promise to be the Second Movement of Sinfonia Concertante, one of the few works in the repertoire for both violin and viola soloists, as well as the Third Movement of Serenade No. 10 ("Gran Partita") that calls for basset horns, an instrument seldom heard in symphony halls because many orchestras substitute modern instruments. But this weekend, Denver concertgoers can anticipate this beautiful "operatic aria for woodwinds" – just as Mozart intended.

Letters From Mozart offers newcomers and seasoned concertgoers a new approach to the works of Mozart. Beginning with the First Movement of Symphony No. 1 and concluding with the Fourth Movement of Symphony No. 41, the last symphony he composed, the concert delves into Mozart's world and explores an aspect of his life overlooked in the film Amadeus. Through the narration of Mozart's own letters, concertgoers will gain a deeper understanding of his world. Since much of Mozart's life was spent on the road, there is a wealth of letters – the only form of communication available during his era – to explore.

Many of Mozart's most beloved works are featured in the concert, and audiences will delight in how Mozart's letters directly relate to the compositions in both a personal and historical context. Audiences will learn how the First Movement of the String Quartet in C earned the nickname of "Dissonance," why the Piano Concerto No. 20 is one of O'Neil's personal favorites, and how Mozart's relationship with his older sister Nannerl influenced his career. There is so much more to Mozart than you may have imagined! Join the Colorado Symphony at Letters from Mozart to discover aspects of Mozart's world that will shine new light on music that millions around the world cherish and love. Tickets are on sale now and start at $15.

Artists: Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Scott O’Neil, resident conductor
Christie Hageman, soprano
Katie Mahan, piano

Members of the Colorado Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, chorus director

Program:

MOZART
Symphony No. 1, First Movement
Exultate jubilate
Symphony No. 31, First Movement
Sinfonia Concertante, Second Movement
Serenade No. 10 ("Gran Partita"), Third Movement
Overture to the Abduction from the Seraglio
Piano Concerto No. 20, First Movement
String Quartet in C ("Dissonance"), First Movement
The Marriage of Figaro, Aria: "Dove sono"
Requiem, Lacrimosa
Symphony No. 41 ("Jupiter"), Fourth Movement
Performance: Friday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets: Remaining tickets currently start at $15.

Tickets are on sale now at www.coloradosymphony.org, the Colorado Symphony Box Office: (303) 623-7876 or (877) 292-7979 or in-person in the lobby of Boettcher Concert Hall in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Hours are Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

There is a Reason I don't Use Apple Products

2012-01-20T12:20:00.003-07:00

Apple's new iBookstore is a nightmare waiting to happen to the music industry

Holly Lisle recently blogged about the new Apple iBooks on her blog "Holly Lisle: Official Author Homepage." She removed her books from iBookstore because of a little clause: "if they reject your work you cannot sell it in the format the software created anywhere else."

Whoa! WTF? If you use their software to create your "book" then you have to sell it on their bookstore - and if they don't like it you can't sell it anywhere??? Ah, NO!

There are a lot of great things Apple has done for the computing industry. Put an iPhone next to an Android phone and the functionality, speed and operation is faster, slicker and all around smoother experience. Put a Mac next to a PC and generally what you attempt to do will be more intuitive (although, I find Mac OS frustrating as I'm used to the bass-akwards way Windows works). Music applications (my life's blood) interface better with the hardware than PC's do. So, you'd think, being a composer/musician I'd be all over getting a Mac into my house and syncing it with my iPad and iPhone (I own none of these).

But, Apple has for a very long time been proprietary. If their hardware breaks you have to take it to an authorized Apple dealer or you void your warranty. That Apple dealer will charge you an arm and three toes just to look at it. My friend had an iPhone and the screen stopped working. Apple wanted to charge $80 to investigate and if it was the "known" issue, repair would be another $100. A local tech fixed the same phone for $30 and he came to her. Now, her phone is out of warranty, so if anything else goes wrong she's screwed.

My understanding about the new Apple "free" software is that it is Amazing. Authors are going to LOVE it! However, it sets a dangerous precedent. According to an article in the Telegraph, Apple doesn't want to "own" your book -- no, they just want to control it. Will Apple then say, "If you created your music on our hardware you MUST give iTunes the right to sell it. And if we don't like it you can't sell it elsewhere..."???

With all the talk about SOPA and PIPA and the infringement of rights, piracy and free use, Apple is making yet another play at controlling the industry. I don't buy that, so I don't buy or use their products.

Los Angeles Master Chorale Presents First Major Bruckner Choral Work Ever Performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall

2012-01-19T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday, February 12, 2012, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall
Music Director Grant Gershon Conducts Brucker’s Mass in E minor
and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms

Los Angeles Master Chorale continues the season with Bruckner’s full-scale choral masterpiece Mass in E minor on Sunday, February 12, 2012, 7 pm, at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The concert marks the first time any of Bruckner’s major choral works have been performed in Disney Hall. To complement the expressive and poignant masterwork, Music Director Grant Gershon also conducts Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, a contrasting but equally compelling piece filled with both ritual and fireworks, and Brucker’s motet Os Justi.

Bruckner, born to Austrian peasants and a musical protégé from an early age, completed the Mass in E minor for eight-part chorus and wind orchestra in 1866. It is a work that illustrates more than any of his others the composer’s unique style – a mix of romantic fully Brucknerian harmony with blending and contrasting vocal and instrumental textures, and the restrained and austere power of Renaissance polyphony.

“It is one of my favorite Bruckner pieces and is such an important part of the choral literature,” Gershon says. “I’m very pleased to be the first person to conduct this seminal work in Disney Hall.”

Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms was commissioned by the Boston Symphony on the occasion of its 50th Anniversary in 1930. The composer eschewed the traditional 19th Century symphonic structure common at the time, using as the root of the piece a pair of interlocked thirds that forms the base of an opening chord so unusual and striking that it is recognizable from the first sound. The work, whose mighty choruses and stunning softness create a cathedral of sound, “celebrates that most ancient form of communal music making -- one with a healing, even redemptive overtone” (Los Angeles Times). Esa-Pekka Salonen tapped the Los Angeles Master Chorale to perform Symphony of Psalms with the LA Philharmonic for his emotional farewell program in April 2009 to conclude his 17-year tenure with the orchestra, the longest of any music director in the organization’s history.

Tickets range from $19 - $134. Group rates are available. For tickets and information, please call (213) 972-7282, or visit www.lamc.org. (Tickets cannot be purchased at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office except on concert days starting 2 hours prior to the performance.) The Walt Disney Concert Hall is located at 111 South Grand Avenue at First Street in downtown Los Angeles.

LA Chamber Orchestra's Baroque Conversations featuring Violinist Allan Vogel

2012-01-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra’s (LACO) enlightening five-concert “Baroque Conversations” series showcasing exceptional Baroque music launches its sixth year with a program of Bach and Biber on Thursday, January 26, 7 pm, at Zipper Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles. Special guest Elissa Johnston, soprano, joins LACO Principal Oboe Allan Vogel, who leads the program in celebration of his 40th anniversary with LACO, Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, Principal Cello Andrew Shulman, Principal Flute David Shostac, Flute and Soprano Janice Tipton and Principal Keyboard Patricia Mabee. The concert opens with Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber’s Courente from Mystery Sonata No. 12, “The Ascension,” and also features pieces by Bach, ranging from Toccata in D minor, BWV 913, and Trio Sonata in G major, BWV 1038, to such arias as “Schafe können sicher weiden” (“Sheep may safely graze”) from Cantata No. 208 and “Bist du bei mir” (“If you are with me”), BWV 508, a work lost in the Second World War and rediscovered in the Kiev Conservatory in 2000. In signature LACO style, the artists share their insights into the music from the stage and invite questions from the audience. LACO's “Baroque Conversations” explores the genesis of orchestral repertoire from early Baroque schools through the pre-classical period. A pre-concert reception, beginning at 6 pm, is free to all ticket holders.

Tickets ($50) are on sale now and may be purchased online at laco.org, by calling LACO at 213 622 7001, or at the venue box office on the night of the concert, if tickets remain. Student rush tickets ($10), based on availability, may be purchased at the box office the day of the concert.

LOS ANGELES CHAMBER ORCHESTRA’S
BAROQUE CONVERSATIONS SERIES
LAUNCHES WITH EVENING OF BACH AND BIBER
FEATURING SPECIAL GUEST SOPRANO ELISSA JOHNSTON

LACO Principal Oboe Allan Vogel Leads the Program,
Which Features Concertmaster Margaret Batjer, Principal Cello Andrew Shulman,
Principal Flute David Shostac, Flute and Soprano Janice Tipton
and Principal Keyboard Patricia Mabee

Thursday, January 26, 7 pm, at Zipper Concert Hall, Downtown Los Angeles

Following Two Years of Exponential Growth, Mark O'Connor's Third Instructions Book of "The O'Connor Method" out Feb 14

2012-01-19T14:59:00.001-07:00

Mark O'Connor will unveil the third book in The O'Connor Method, his original and rapidly growing new approach to string instrument instruction, in February. Method Book III will teach students the traditional songs and O'Connor compositions found on the accompanying CD, 'American Classics,' a collection of new recordings arranged for violin and piano and performed by O'Connor and pianist Rieko Aizawa. 'American Classics' will also be released February 14 as a stand-alone album on O'Connor's own label OMAC Records. This is O'Connor's first collection comprised solely of traditional American tunes and songs he has released since 'Soppin’ the Gravy,' from his teenage years.

The O'Connor Method, which The New Yorker calls, "an American grown rival to the Suzuki method," includes great folk songs, fiddle tunes and classic themes culled from 400 years of traditional American violin playing. It pulls from all regions of North America and from diverse musical styles including classical, folk, Latin, jazz, rock and ragtime.

Since launching in 2009, the growth of The O'Connor Method has been astonishing. Some of the most prestigious music schools around the country have adopted it including the Third Street Music School in New York City, and the Berklee College of Music, which will host an O'Connor Method Camp in summer 2012. Over the past two years, 300+ violin teachers have been certified to teach the O'Connor Method, and teacher training continues to take place at a growing rate across the country.

Following O'Connor's hit holiday album, 'An Appalachian Christmas,' on which great musicians from varying genres came together around the centerpiece of the American violin, this new installment of The O'Connor Method reinforces the concept of American music as inclusive of diverse styles.

Writing for an Audience: composing music on request

2012-01-19T10:50:00.000-07:00

Part 2 (?) of "Commercial Music"

I wasn't really planning on writing a series for this topic, but I've been working on a project for my daughter --a theme song for her "late night" television show project she's doing at work. The idea of the show is to create a 'talk show' like episode to illuminate what their department does. They needed an opening theme so I wrote one.

Living This Life by Chip Michael

However, my daughter and her boss wanted it to be more up-beat, less "minor mode." Interesting request since I wrote the piece in Dorian mode, not really major or minor. But, I gathered what she meant, so I made some minor edits.

Did I sell out? While I like the first version better, the music wasn't written for me. It was written for a specific audience. They wanted to hear something which the first version didn't quite capture. They like the second version much better. In terms of music complexity, the first version has more of what I'd consider "crunchy" chords, finding that place between sweet and tangy.

There's a point to all this. As a composer, I need to be aware of my audience. I need to know who they are. Yes, I do write music just for me - but that doesn't pay the bills. As working composers, we need to make room for both types of music composition and for a place where they meld. Is the 2nd piece worthless because it was written to spec? Not at all.

I'm curious as to what you think.
Which piece do you like better?
How should composers handle commercial demands versus artistic desires?