BREAKING NEWS: Classical Music

BBC unveils 2024 Proms lineup: Daniel Barenboim, Daleks and disco

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 23:01:08 +0000

The 81-year-old conductor makes a rare UK visit with his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, while Yo-Yo Ma, Doctor Who, Florence Welch, Sam Smith and Rule, Britannia! all feature

The BBC today announces details of this summer’s Proms festival of 90 concerts over eight weeks. Daniel Barenboim will be making a rare visit, conducting the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra that he and the Palestinian-American academic Edward Said founded 25 years ago. The 81-year-old conductor has almost completely stepped back from performing because of a neurological condition and has not conducted in the UK since 2019.

Sir Simon Rattle, who at last year’s Proms gave his final UK performance as the London Symphony Orchestra’s music director, will be returning to the Albert Hall with his new orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony. Rattle’s orchestral home before the LSO, the Berlin Philharmonic, will give two concerts with its principal conductor Kirill Petrenko, the group’s only appearance in the UK this year. Also set to be a hot ticket is the 28-year-old Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä, who comes with the Orchestra de Paris to perform Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

Cincinnati Symphony Picks A New Music Director

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 21:31:00 +0000

Romanian conductor Christian Macelaru, who holds prestigious posts in Europe, leading both the Orchestre National de France and the WDR Sinfonieorchester in Cologne, Germany, will succeed the veteran conductor Louis Langrée, the ensemble’s leader since 2013. – The New York Times

VC Artist Daniel Lozakovich Signs to Warner Classics

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:36:06 +0000

In this exclusive signing, VC Artist Daniel Lozakovich’s first album for Warner Classics is due for release in August 2024. It will feature pianist Mikhail Pletnev alongside Lozakovich playing Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3 and ‘Solveig’s Song’ from Peer Gynt, Shostakovich’s ‘Romance’ from The Gadfly and a Violin Sonata jointly composed by Alexi Shor and Pletnev himself.

"While very much a young player of today, he is an artist whose poetry and integrity place him in the great tradition of the 20th-century violinists who set the benchmarks for the recorded catalogue," said President of Warner Classics & Erato Alain Lanceron.

"My main goal in joining this legendary label is to have artistic freedom, create a musical world, and record works of immortal beauty with musicians I love," Lozakovich said. "For me, making music is a spiritual key to unlocking the truth of the soul."

Represented by HarrisonParrot artist management agency, Lozakovich had signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon at aged 15. In 2018, he released his debut album of Bach’s two violin concertos in collaboration with Kammerorchester des Symphonieorchesters des Bayerischen Rundfunks together with the solo Partita No.2.

Lozakovich has been awarded many prizes including first prize at the 2016 Vladimir Spivakov International Violin Competition and the Young Artist of the Year 2017 award at the Festival of Nations, the Premio Batuta Award in Mexico, and the Excelentia Prize under the honorary presidency of Queen Sofia of Spain. Lozakovich studied at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe with Professor Josef Rissin from 2012 and graduated with Master’s Degree in 2021.

In 2023/24, he performs his recital debut in Carnegie Hall and Grand Hall of the Concertgebouw, a tour with Oslo Philharmonic and Klaus Mäkelä which leads him to Oslo Konserthuset, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Paris Philharmonie and Vienna Konzerthaus. The season also sees him appear with Budapest Festival Orchestra at Edinburgh Festival under Iván Fischer, Netherlands Philharmonic and Marc Albrecht at the Concertgebouw, as well as Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai with Kazuki Yamada, Orquesta Sinfónica de Galicia and Fabien Gabel, San Diego Symphony and Rafael Payare, Royal Danish Orchestra under Osmo Vänskä.

Lozakovich opened the 2022/23 season with his debut appearance at the BBC Proms, performing Brahms with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Fabien Gabel in the Royal Albert Hall. He was the season’s Artist in Residence with Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, performing concertos and recitals across the season. That season also included a concert with Oslo Philharmonic under Klaus Mäkelä, a subscription series debut with Filarmonica della Scala in Teatro Alla Scala conducted by their Music Director Riccardo Chailly, and further concerts with Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse on tour, under its new Chief Conductor Tarmo Peltokovski.

Daniel plays the 1713 “ex-Sancy” Stradivari violin — generously loaned by the LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton corporation.

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All Hands On Deck: Orchestra Shares Stage With ‘Rheingold’ Singers

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 18:16:53 +0000

CALGARY – For its first go at any of Wagner's Ring dramas, Calgary Opera moved the considerably expanded orchestra from a cramped pit and onto the action space, front and center amid an uneasy flow of gods and giants and Rhinemaidens.

The post All Hands On Deck: Orchestra Shares Stage With ‘Rheingold’ Singers first appeared on Classical Voice North America.

VC Artist Cellist Pablo Ferrández's New Album, "Night Sessions Vol. 2"

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:56:02 +0000

VC Artist and Spanish Cellist Pablo Ferrández has released his newest album, Night Sessions Vol. 2, on Sony Classical. Each track on the album is closely related to a personal memory of Pablo's. Opening with Edward Elgar's Salut d'Amour, the melody connects Pablo to his infancy where he heard Salut d'Amour every evening with his mother. "I recorded this song for her," he shared.

The album also includes Alexander Glazunov's Chant du ménestrel, Op. 71 which Pablo performed in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow during his teenage years. Additional works include Saint-Saëns’ "The Swan," and an arrangement of Schumann’s "Du bist wie eine Blume."

Night Sessions Vol. 2 aims "to bring listeners with me into these pictures of my life," shared Pablo.

All four tracks on the album are in collaboration with French pianist Julien Quentin, who continues to explore new artistic visions and collaborations with artists.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

Listen to Salut d'Amour below

Cellist Pablo Ferrández was a prizewinner at the XV International Tchaikovsky Competition and is currently a Sony Classical exclusive artist. He released his debut album, Reflections in 2021, which won the Opus Klassik Award, followed by Brahms: Double Concerto & C. Schumann: Piano Trio, with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter in 2022.

A graduate of the Queen Sofía College of Music and the Kronberg Academy, where he studied with Natalia Shakhovskaya and Frans Helmerson, Pablo is a former recipient of the coveted 2016 International Classical Music Awards ‘Young Artist of the Year’ accolade.

His recent debuts include solo engagements with the Berlin Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Kremerata Baltica, HR-Sinfonieorchester, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale RAI, St. Petersburg Philharmonic and Queensland Symphony Orchestra — and collaborations with Anne-Sophie Mutter, Zubin Mehta, Christoph Eschenbach, Vladimir Jurowski, Gidon Kremer and Robert Trevino.

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Applications Open for the 2024 International Max Rostal Competition

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:37:07 +0000

The 2024 edition of the International Max Rostal Competition will be held from October 19 to 25 at the Universität der Künste Berlin. The competition caters to violinists and violists who are under the age of 30. Applications are now open and must be received by May 31, 2024.

Applicants must upload an audition video containing two contrasting movements of solo Bach, the first movement of either Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major or Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor, and a violin-piano duo by Schubert or Beethoven from an approved list. You can view more details about the application process, including the list of repertoire, here.

The three players who proceed to the final of each category will appear with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and conductor Pavel Baleff.

For both the violin and viola competitions, the first prize is worth 7,000 euros, the second prize is worth 3,000 euros, and the third prize is worth 1,500 euros. There are also prizes decided by the audience and the youth audience, as well as an award for the best performance of the commissioned work.

In 2024, the competition jury comprises Dr. David Geringas (Chair), Prof. Marianne Piketty, Prof. Kyung Sun Lee, Prof. Christoph Poppen, Prof. Lars Anders Tomter, Prof. Nils Mönkemeyer, and Prof. Carol Rodland.

The competition's artistic directors are Prof. Nora Chastain and Prof. Hartmut Rohde.

You can find out more about the competition here.

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Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv's New Album, “Ukrainian Masters"

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 16:27:29 +0000

Ukrainian-American Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv has released her newest album, Ukrainian Masters. Released on Naxos, the album features violin sonatas in collaboration with Steinway Artist and pianist Steven Beck, spanning repertoire of the 20th century.

The album includes a world-premiere recording of Ukrainian composer Viktor Kosenko's Violin Sonata Op. 18 in A minor (1927). In addition to Kosenko's Violin Sonata, Myroslav Skoryk's Violin Sonata No. 2 (1991) and Sergei Bortkiewicz's Violin Sonata Op. 26 in G minor (1922) are included as well, presenting a collection of sonatas that transcend the cultural upheavals.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

"I knew Kosenko's piano music growing up, but it was not popular to play Ukrainian music, as the Soviet government only promoted Russian composers," shared Solomiya. "Therefore his music was not professionally recorded. I discovered the sonata after I moved to the U.S. when I was studying at Curtis and planning my recitals."

Listen to selections from the album below

Violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv's mission is to share the music of her home country, with past albums featuring works from Ukrainian composers such as her 2022 Poems and Rhapsodies with the National Symphony of Ukraine and her 2016 Ukraine — Journey to Freedom. In 2021, she was named Honored (Merited) Artist of Ukraine, her native country’s highest cultural honor.

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Study Addresses Systemic Inequalities in Australia’s Music Scene

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:35:08 +0000

Published in December 2023, Mandy Hughes’ paper “Countering inequality: The role of music opportunities in promoting well-being and belonging for young Australian regional classical music students,” considers how programs made available through local regional conservatoriums can support rural music students in achieving their goals.

Documenting the experiences of non-metropolitan classical music students in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, Hughes’ research centers on a case study of the Regional Youth Orchestra NSW (RYO), where advanced regional and rural classical music students develop their skills and collaborate with young musicians across the state.

According to Hughes, a senior lecturer at Southern Cross University, regional and rural music students face challenges unlike those of their city-based counterparts.

“Inner-city, private school kids are often the most likely to access music education. Kids living in rural areas are the least likely to have music opportunities,” Hughes writes in The Conversatio n. “Music inequality also exists between states. Queensland has had a long tradition of offering accessible instrumental music lessons and ensembles, but most other states fall short.”

As Hughes explains, non-metropolitan students often face the additional time of traveling long distances for lessons or rehearsals, and may not have close access to large-scale professional performances; they also have more to navigate when sourcing instruments, supplies, and services, such as booking rehearsal spaces.

Additionally, participants of the study described feelings of isolation and stressed the need to connect with other like-minded musicians, who play at a similar level to help share ideas and skills with.

In her interviews with music students in the city, Hughes found that from their perspective, non-metropolitan students are even more passionate about the craft — perhaps reflecting their need to be self-driven in an environment where a classical music culture may not be as integrated or valued in their community, as well as the impacts of being in a less competitive space.

A music equity initiative, the RYO was established by the Association of NSW Regional Conservatoriums in 2016. The group helps bridge the gaps between metropolitan and non-metropolitan music experiences by connecting talented young musicians with professionals from top Australian and international orchestras.

The audition-based orchestra has offered projects with ensembles including the Australian World Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Opera Australia, London Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. RYO members also have the opportunity to perform at the Sydney Opera House and City Recital Hall.

Many professional Australian orchestras and music institutions have also included regional tours and education programs as part of their annual schedule of events, such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and the Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras.

Further, NSW has 17 regional music conservatories that are unique within the landscape of Australian music providers — established in the 1970s, they are run independently with some state government funding, unlike any other Australian state or territory.

Located in diverse communities to facilitate high-quality music education, the conservatories are often the principal provider of music education in their respective region, helping provide equity for students in remote areas to have access to the same educational opportunities, as their counterparts in city areas.

To create networks for its students, the conservatories have drawn on their faculty’s social capital to support participation in masterclasses and further mentoring experiences.

“I’m determined to prove that it doesn’t matter where you come from,” an RYO alum told Hughes in the study. “Music is something everyone can do. Being in a regional area shouldn’t make a difference. So, it does motivate me a little bit more, just to show that it doesn’t matter where you come from.”

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Universität Münster Musikhochschule Orchestra Appoints New Artistic Director and Conductor

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 15:28:43 +0000

Conductor Marlon Daniel has been named the new Artistic Director and Conductor of the orchestra at the Universität Münster Musikhochschule (MHS). The appointment comes as part of a revitalization of the MHS orchestra, which is now in its 100th year.

Daniel will lead the ensemble in two concerts in June 2024, which will feature works by Beethoven, Dvořák, Smetana, and Strauss.

Presently, he is the Artistic and Music Director of the Festival International de Musique Saint-Georges, Music Director of Ensemble du Monde (chamber orchestra), Founder and Music Director of ACYO (All-Caribbean Youth Orchestra), and Associate Conductor of Florida Grand Opera.

A laureate of the 2018 Bucharest Symphony Orchestra International Conducting Competition, Marlon Daniel has performed in some of the most prestigious venues in the world, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Prague’s Rudolfinum.

Previously, he has served as Associate Conductor of the Praga Sinfonietta, Principal Guest Conductor of the Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, and the inaugural Music Director for the Colour of Music Festival. In addition, he has been a guest lecturer with Tafelmusik, Opera America, Lunigiana International Music Festival, and at Columbia and Yale Universities.

Daniel studied at the Manhattan School of Music and the Prague Academy. His conducting teachers have included Jiří Bělohlávek, David Gilbert, Tomáš Koutník, Miriam Němcová and Jorma Panula. He has also received guidance from Sir Simon Rattle at the Berliner Philharmonie and Iván Fischer at the Beethovenfest Bonn.

"I am honored and privileged to have the opportunity to be a part of this esteemed German University," Daniel said. "I feel that the Universität Münster has welcomed me with open arms!"

"I plan to bring all my talent and experience to lead the ensemble to greater heights by supporting the students, collaborating with faculty and staff and engaging with the community in a positive way."

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Eastman School of Music Names New Dean

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:54:22 +0000

Executive, administrator, pedagogue, and horn player Kate Sheeran has been named the new Dean of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. She will step into the position on July 15, becoming the eighth dean in the school's 100-year history. She will become its first female dean.

Originally a horn player, Sheeran received her undergraduate degree, certificate in arts leadership, and performer’s certificate from Eastman and followed this with a master’s degree from the Yale School of Music.

Sheeran later became executive director of the Kaufman Music Center, and during her tenure, the Center nearly doubled its endowment. She also established a number of innovative programs that offer music education to 3,000 students and 50,000 audience members of all ages and backgrounds each year.

She has also been provost and dean of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and a member of the leadership team at Mannes School of Music in New York City. She has also been a faculty member at Dickinson College, Susquehanna University, Bucknell University, and Mannes Prep, part of Mannes School of Music.

Sheeran has served on the boards of Kinhaven Music School and Alarm Will Sound and is currently on the board of the JACK Quartet.

As a horn player, she has appeared with Ensemble Signal, The Wordless Music Orchestra, Alarm Will Sound, Ensemble LPR, and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. In addition, she has recorded for the Nonesuch, Cantaloupe, Western Vinyl, New Amsterdam, XL, Tzadik, and Warp labels, and for commercial television and film.

"Kate Sheeran brings to Eastman extensive and impressive leadership experience in music education, including uniquely in both higher education and in community music education," said Sarah Mangelsdorf, University President. "At Kaufman Music Center, she has established and grown a wide range of initiatives to nurture the talents of the next generation of musicians, providing access, encouragement, and programming to aspiring young performers, while also presenting some of today’s most notable artists on stage."

"As an Eastman alumna and very gifted musician, I know she will immediately embrace the school’s world-class intellectual and creative environment and contribute in extraordinary ways to its place in the community and in the world."

"I am deeply honored to take on the role of dean of the Eastman School of Music," Sheeran said. "It is a place I truly love, and that has helped to shape me as a musician, leader, and person. I look forward to working with the Eastman and University communities and with the city of Rochester to lead Eastman into the future."

"We are going to do great things together!"

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Joshua Kosman’s Farewell Essay As San Francisco Chronicle Classical Music Critic

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 14:06:00 +0000

“It’s a basic instinct, … the urge to figure out what you thought of it and why. It’s an impulse I believe I share with just about anyone reading this. … Did you find the music exciting, boring, incomprehensible, familiar? Can you say why? Congratulations — you’re a music critic.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Daniel Barenboim Withdraws from the Berliner Phil’s Europakonzert in Georgia

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:50:10 +0000

Conductor Daniel Barenboim, who in 2022 was diagnosed with a serious neurological condition, has withdrawn from his upcoming appearances with the Berliner Philharmoniker. These include the Europakonzert in Tsinandali, Georgia, as well as the concert at the Tbilisi Paliashvili Opera and Ballet State Theatre on 2 May, and the concerts on April 26 and 27 at the Philharmonie Berlin.

He will be replaced by British conductor Daniel Harding, who has had close ties with the Berliner Philharmoniker since his debut in 1996. Harding performs with the orchestra each season on subscription in Berlin, and this will be the second Europakonzert he has conducted, following an appearance at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris in 2019.

Harding will conduct the advertised program, which includes works by Schubert, Brahms, and Beethoven, and features Lisa Batiashvili as violin soloist.

Barenboim has had to step away from a few of his performances in the last few years — including standing down from his position as the general music director of the Berlin State Opera, and canceling a North American tour with the Staatskapelle Berlin.

"I deeply regret that for health reasons I have to withdraw from the Europakonzert in Tsinandali, the concert in Tbilisi and the concerts planned in Berlin with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Lisa Batiashvili," Barenboim said in a statement. "I hope my colleagues have fantastic concerts and that I will be able to meet the wonderful Georgian audience for the first time on another occasion."

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Underwhelming Verdi Requiem from Vasily Petrenko and the RPO at the Royal Albert Hall

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 13:16:36 +0000

Verdi, Requiem: Miah Persson (soprano), Jennifer Johnston (mezzo-soprano), David Junghoon Kim (tenor), Alexander Vinogradov (bass), Philharmonia Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra / Vasily Petrenko (conductor). Royal Albert Hall, London, 23.4.2024. (JR) Every time I enter the Royal Albert Hall, it strikes me that this is such a vast space to fill with sound. Sadly, Vasily Petrenko’s ... Read more

Compelling performance of Britten’s Violin Concerto from Augustin Hadelich and Gemma New

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:52:47 +0000

Firsova, Britten, Holst: Augustin Hadelich (violin), Elektra Women’s Choir, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra / Gemma New (conductor). Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, 12.4..2024. (GN) Alissa Firsova – Die Windsbraut, Op.38 Britten – Violin Concerto, Op.15 Holst – The Planets, Op.32 Violinist Augustin Hadelich’s appearances with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra over the past decade have been a delight, including ... Read more

L’Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier Occitanie Appoints New Music Director

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:32:45 +0000

As of September 2024, France’s Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier Occitanie will welcome Roderick Cox to its post of music director. He will succeed Michael Schønwandt, who held the principal conductor role from 2015 to 2023.

Cox has conducted the opera orchestra on multiple occasions in both orchestral and opera performances; he will return in May 2024 to lead the opera company’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème.

Collaborating with internationally renowned ensembles, Cox’s upcoming engagements include returns to the Philadelphia Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Halle Orchestra, Lahti Sinfonia, WDR Symphony, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Bamberger Symphoniker, Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra. He will also go on tour with the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, plus return to the Aspen Music Festival Chamber Orchestra this summer.

Since making his debut with the English National Opera in 2024 with Rossini’s Barber of Seville, he has conducted the Houston Grand Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Washington National Opera.

Other highlights have included performing with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Staatskapelle Dresden, Philharmonia Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Last season, Cox made his Canadian debuts with Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal and the National Arts Centre.

Winner of the 2018 Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award by the U.S Solti Foundation, Cox attended the Schwob School of Music and Northwestern University. In 2013, he won the Conducting Prize from the Aspen Music Festival and has held fellowships with the Chicago Sinfonietta. In 2016, he was appointed associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, under Osmo Vänskä.

“I am absolutely thrilled to announce my appointment as Music Director of Opéra Orchestre National Montpellier beginning in September 2024,” Cox posted on Facebook. “From the very beginning I felt a special connection with the players and the institution — we were able to establish very quickly a level of trust, which allowed us to freely make music and produce fantastic performances for our audience. I very much look forward to the bright and exciting future of projects with my new musical family!”

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The Israeli Chamber Project and Karim Sulayman delight in an impassioned collaboration

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:25:49 +0000

Various: Israeli Chamber Project (Carmit Zori, Kobi Malkin Andreoli [violins], Guy Ben-Ziony [viola], Michael Korman [cello], Tibi Cziger [clarinet], Sivan Magen [harp], Assaff Weisman [piano]), Karim Sulayman (tenor). Merkin Hall, New York, 12.4.2024. (DS) R. Schumann – Fantasiestücke, Op.73 Gity Razaz – Flowing Down the Widening Rings of Being (world premiere) Zohar Sharon – The ... Read more

Manhattan School of Music Opens External Investigation For Faculty Member

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:08:31 +0000

The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) has released a statement responding to investigative reporter Sammy Sussman's article in Vulture, a part of New York Magazine, outlining allegations of misconduct by Liang Wang and Matthew Muckey against former NY Philharmonic horn player, Cara Kizer, in 2010.

Liang joined the MSM Precollege faculty in 2011 but is now on leave from the school, according to his faculty page on MSM’s website.

“Recent reporting in New York magazine's Vulture cites an alleged sexual assault committed by members of the New York Philharmonic, one of whom is a member of Manhattan School of Music (MSM)’s Precollege faculty,” reads the school’s statement on Facebook. “MSM has opened an external investigation into the reports. As is appropriate under the circumstances, the faculty member has been placed on leave pending resolution of the investigation.

“Although none of the alleged conduct reported in the article took place under the auspices of MSM, the School is taking the report with the utmost seriousness,” it continues. “Ensuring the safety and well-being of the School Community is central to our Mission and essential to preserving our nurturing and supportive learning environment. Protection of students, faculty, staff, and all who enter our doors has been fundamental to the School since its founding by Janet Daniels Schenck 106 years ago.

“Lauren Mack of Sage Intelligence Group will be conducting MSM's external investigation into this matter,” the statement concludes.

Recently, Liang has been similarly withdrawn from the faculty of the Taipei Music Academy and Festival.

In 2018, following an independent investigation by a former federal judge, the NY Phil fired Wang and Muckey that year, but was forced to reinstate them in 2020 with back pay when an arbitrator and their union decided they were “terminated without cause.”

Still listed on NY Phil’s roster as principal oboe and associate principal trumpet, a spokesperson for the orchestra recently told The Violin Channel that “for the time being, Matthew Muckey and Liang Wang will not be at rehearsals or performances.”

Recently, NY Phil’s president and CEO Gary Ginstling also released a statement to the NY Phil community regarding the misconduct allegations, noting that “nothing is more important than the culture of our orchestra and the safety of our musicians and staff.”

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Spectacular visuals at the world premiere of pop oratorio #Himmelreich in Hamburg

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:00:56 +0000

Sigi Hänger and Christoph Oellig, #Himmelreich: Soloists, Chorus, Orchestra / Gerrit Junge (conductor). Barclays Arena, Hamburg, 20.4.2024. (DMD) In Germany, the New Apostolic Church has around 300,000 members across three local sections. One of these, covering Northern and Eastern Germany, was behind the organisation and logistics of a massive pop oratorio (#Himmelreich / #Realm of ... Read more

Spotlight. Fresh and Interesting

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Geoff Pearce listens to chamber music by British composer Kenneth V Jones. '... a valuable discovery.'

Summer at Snape, Britten Pears Arts' series of events at Snape returns for 2024

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 11:23:54 +0000

Summer at Snape, Britten Pears Arts' series of events at Snape returns for 2024 with 50 events from 26 July to 31 August.

Visiting orchestras include John Wilson and the Sinfonia of London in Britten and Walton, Simon Over and Southbank Sinfonia in Brahms and Rachmaninoff, Peter Whelan and Irish Baroque Orchestra in a programme of Baroque classics, Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra in Elgar and Sibelius, and BBC Concert Orchestra presenting Friday Night is Music Night.

Visiting artists include violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien in Beethoven, Janáček, Enescu, and Barry, pianist Alim Beisembayev - Winner of the Leeds International Piano Competition, soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha and pianist Simon Lepper in Mahler, Wagner, and South African songs, guitarist Milos and pianist Stephen Hough.

Other visitors include the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain, Black Dyke Band, United Strings of Europe, Apollo5 and The Gesualdo Six in a programme exploring music of Gesualdo.

Events include Women’s Stories from the Ancient World is a newly devised sequence of words and music curated by soprano Nardus Williams and renowned classicist Mary Beard with lutenist Elizabeth Kenny, I, Clara, presented by pianist Lucy Parham and actor Harriet Walter, an exploration of the remarkable life of Clara Schumann.

Young artists in the series include Suffolk Youth Orchestra in Britten and Rimsky-Korsakov, Aldeburgh Young Musicians, an artist development programme for musicians aged 10-18, Apollo5 leading Explore Your Voice, a workshop offering singers the chance to enhance their vocal capabilities and engage in group singing, VOICEBOX and soprano Juliet Fraser's Unbound project [see my interview with Juliet], Britten Pears Young Artists present their End of Course Recital and Bandstand at The Maltings, hosted on the Henry Moore Lawn, spotlights local talent from across Suffolk programmed by Britten Pears Arts and young creatives.

Full details from Britten Pears Arts website.

Schoenberg: Exploring New Worlds - Lewes Chamber Music Festival 2024

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 08:20:02 +0000

The 13th Lewes Chamber Music Festival takes place from 6 to 8 June 2024 with artistic director Beatrice Philips bringing together 18 of today's most exciting chamber-musicians and soloists to explore the musical ties between Europe and America through celebrating the 150th birthdays of Arnold Schoenberg and Charles Ives, including Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1 and Ode to Napoleon with actor Samuel West, and rare chamber versions of larger scale works by Richard Strauss and Mahler.

The weekend opens with early piano quartets by Mahler and Richard Strauss along with music by Elliott Carter and Anton Webern's quintet arrangement of Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No.1, and there is more Schoenberg with a late-night performance of Verklärte Nacht. And the festival will include more Schoenberg along with performances of music by Berg, Zemlinsky, Schulhoff, Korngold, Hindemith, Brahms, Ives, Amy Beach and Gershwin.

A wonderfully ambitious gala concert features Guido Martin-Brandis' arrangement of the magical closing scenes from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier with singers Hilary Cronin and Elinor Rolfe Johnson and Erwin Stein's chamber arrangement of Mahler's Symphony No. 4 for 12 musicians with Hilary Cronin returning for the soprano solo in the finale.

The final concert features another rare performance, this time of Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon with actor Samuel West, plus Beethoven's Septet and Charles Ives' Largo for clarinet, piano and violin.

Full details from the festival website.

Enriching, uplifting, entertaining & inclusive: Paradox Orchestra to perform at Sheffield Cathedral in support of the Archer Project

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 07:46:27 +0000

The Paradox Orchestra (Photo: Elizabeth Brown)

The Yorkshire-based Paradox Orchestra, whose founder Michael Sluman I chatted to recently [see my interview 'No boundaries or rules'], is presenting a series of concerts for charitable causes across Yorkshire, including two upcoming concerts in aid of the homeless in Sheffield in the magnificent setting of Sheffield Cathedral.

The orchestra will perform its 50 Years of Pink Floyd programme at the cathedral on 16 May and their Fleetwood Mac programme on 12 July. The concerts will raise funds and awareness for the Cathedral's Archer Project, which supports the homeless in Sheffield, are part of the cathedral’s commitment to being a ‘place for all’, bringing communities together with shared cultural events.

Michael Sluman, commented: "Classical music is proven to have a profound effect on our wellbeing. We want to ensure the artform is accessible to all, and to remind audiences that we have a shared humanity. We promise a soulful, enriching, uplifting, entertaining and inclusive experience."

There are further performances of the Pink Floyd programme at Selby Abbey on 11 May and Huddersfield Town Hall on 17 May.

Full details of all the orchestra's concerts from EventBrite.

Leroy Anderson: Scottish Suite (1954)

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 05:00:00 +0000

I do not know if American light music composer Leroy Anderson ever visited Scotland. I understand that there is no specific record of travel to that country. That said, he seems to have absorbed the mood and ethos of that country’s scenery and lore. Few composers have created such an evocative medley of traditional songs and tunes.

Anderson’s Scottish Suite (1954) was a touch problematic for him. It began as a work in six movements, however only four were completed. These were Bonnie Dundee, Turn Ye to Me, The Bluebells of Scotland and The Campbells Are Coming. Plans to include Scotland the Brave and Charlie is My Darling were abandoned. After some performances and a single recording, he withdrew all the movements save The Bluebells of Scotland.

Further complications for this work’s revival arose due to Turn Ye to Me being published only as a piano piece, with the full score and parts being lost. For Leonard Slatkin’s Naxos recording (8.559391, 2008) David Ross recreated the orchestral score from Anderson’s 1954 recording used in the Decca A Leroy Anderson Pops Concert.

The Suite opens with the dashing Bonnie Dundee which evokes the eponymous hero on horseback, hunting or being chased across the moors. It is full of rhythm and Scotch snaps. The heart of the work is the haunting Turn ye to Me, that originally had words by the Scottish poet John Wilson (1785-1854), who wrote under the pseudonym Christopher North. The beautiful words tell of his courting of ‘Mhairi Dhu’ (Dark Mary) and her eventual death in the “angry waves.” Anderson has written a charming waltz, which evokes the melancholic mood. The Bluebells of Scotland is given a dancing, baroque turn, which reflects the singer’s sentiment “O where and O where does your highland laddie dwell/He dwells in merry Scotland where the bluebells sweetly smell.” Note the composer’s word painting with bells and chimes suggesting the flowers. The finale presents a swaggering version of the war song The Campbells are Coming. With hostile intentions the Great Argyll marches forth. Anderson’s take does not take this militarism too seriously.

Leroy Anderson’s Scottish Suite is a charming composition that reflects his ability for creating music with a keen sense of place and character. The suite’s enduring appeal lies in its ability to evoke the Scotland as clearly as any native composer.

A recording of Leroy Anderson’s Scottish Suite can be heard as the composer’s webpage, here.

A Komitas moment

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 02:29:42 +0000

In commemoration of Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Ruzan Mantashyan and Kirill Gerstein perform Komitas's "Antuni." Gerstein is launching a formidable new project entitled Music in Time of War, combining late works of Debussy with Armenian songs and dances of Komitas Vardapet. Accompanying the recording, which also features Mantashyan, Katia Skanavi, and Thomas Adès, is a 170-page book that addresses the historical frame: the First World War and the contemporaneous murder of more than a million Armenians.

VC LIVE | Z+ International Chamber Music Festival Presents: Tribute to Gabriel Fauré

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 02:02:21 +0000

We're coming to you from Shanghai, China, for a special concert from the inaugural 2024 Z+ International Chamber Music Festival, paying tribute to French composer Gabriel Fauré.

The festival was founded by Chinese-American pianist Zee Zee (Zhang Zuo), who also serves as its artistic director. Involved in the festival’s strategy, vision, and programming, Zee Zee collaborates with leading international artists while contributing to the local community. This concert will feature violinist Clara Jumi Kang, cellist Julian Steckel, violist Lise Berthaud, pianist Sunwook Kim, and the Diotima Quartet, which comprises violinists Yun-Peng Zhao and Léo Marillier, violist Franck Chevalier, and cellist Alexis Descharmes.

You can find out more about the festival here.

The post VC LIVE | Z+ International Chamber Music Festival Presents: Tribute to Gabriel Fauré appeared first on World's Leading Classical Music Platform.

VC LIVE | The Royal Conservatory Presents: VC Artist Dover Quartet with Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes

Wed, 24 Apr 2024 01:24:56 +0000

We're coming to you LIVE from Toronto, Canada, for a special concert presented by The Royal Conservatory with VC Artist Dover Quartet with Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Rice University Shepherd School of Music, the Dover Quartet is a former top prize winner at the Fischoff, Wigmore Hall and Banff International String Quartet Competitions — and a recipient of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the Lincoln Center Hunt Family Prize and an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Comprising violinists Joel Link and Bryan Lee, violist Julianne Lee, and cellist Camden Shaw, the quartet was dubbed by the New Yorker as “the young American string quartet of the moment.”

Nominated for 11 Grammy awards and winner of 6 Gramophone Awards, Norwegian pianist and chamber musician Leif Ove Andsnes was an inductee in the Gramophone Hall of Fame and recipient of Norway’s distinguished honor, Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav. The New York Times describes him as “a pianist of magisterial elegance, power, and insight."

The post VC LIVE | The Royal Conservatory Presents: VC Artist Dover Quartet with Pianist Leif Ove Andsnes appeared first on World's Leading Classical Music Platform.

Brevard Music Center Appoints New Senior Director of Artistic Planning and Programs

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 16:58:48 +0000

North Carolina's Brevard Music Center (BMC), which has been running its renowned summer music program since 1936, recently announced that cellist Nicholas Tzavaras will be its new Senior Director of Artistic Planning and Programs. He will begin in the role on June 1, 2024.

Tzavaras becomes a key member of BMC's leadership team, and his responsibilities include the planning and execution of all educational programs and concert performances — as well as student recruitment and enrollment.

Hailing originally from New York, Tzavaras has established himself as a chamber musician, soloist, and educator of note. He is best known for his work in the Shanghai Quartet, a group he joined in 2000. During his time with the quartet, he appeared at many major international festivals, and recorded more than 26 albums.

As a pedagogue, Tzavaras has served on the faculties of the University of Richmond, Montclair State University, and the Longy School of Music. He is presently the Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Chair of Strings, and Resident Faculty in Cello and Chamber Music at The Tianjin Juilliard School.

"On behalf of the BMC Board of Trustees and Artistic Director Keith Lockhart, I am delighted to welcome Nick to the Brevard Music Center family," said Jason Posnock, President & CEO of Brevard Music Center.

"His dedication to artistic excellence, coupled with his distinguished international career as a concert musician and a respected educator, form the perfect combination of administrative and artistic expertise required to excel in this leadership position. We have enjoyed his presence here as a guest artist with the Shanghai Quartet many times, and I can’t wait to reintroduce Nick to our faculty, students, and the Brevard community in this new role."

"As an individual who has dedicated my career to music performance and arts education, I am so proud to join the Brevard Music Center," Tzavaras said. "My appearances here working alongside the stellar BMC artist faculty have been among my favorite in my career. Everyone at Brevard is fully engaged with the mission, reflecting the organization’s deep commitment to excellence and to transformative student experiences."

"And, of course, the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina provides an inspiring backdrop to an institute and festival that continues to grow and distinguish itself in its stature and reputation," he added. "I am thrilled to be part of the Music Center’s future vision and world-class legacy."

The post Brevard Music Center Appoints New Senior Director of Artistic Planning and Programs appeared first on World's Leading Classical Music Platform.

James Conlon conducts a ravishing La traviata in Los Angeles

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 15:06:26 +0000

Verdi, La traviata: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of LA Opera / James Conlon (conductor). Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles, 21.4.2024. (JRo) Production: Director – Shawna Lucey Production – Robert Innes Hopkins Lighting – Michael Clark Choreography – John Heginbotham Chorus director – Jeremy Frank Cast: Violetta Valéry – Rachel Willis-Sørensen Alfredo Germont – Lipartit Avetisyan Giorgio ... Read more

‘I’m not humble. I expect miracles’: why violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja wants to blow you out of your seat

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 15:01:17 +0000

She plays barefoot in jeans with a thrilling unpredictability that makes every show electric. Ahead of a performance that promises to transform the concert stage into a living room, we meet the whirlwind violinist

‘Something should happen in a concert,” says Patricia Kopatchinskaja. “I don’t know what. But every time, I’m expecting a miracle. I’m not very humble about this!” If audiences have learned to expect inspiring and surprising things from this restless and unpredictable violinist, that’s nothing compared to the standards she sets for herself. On stage, Kopatchinskaja is an impish presence, a coiled spring that could unwind in any direction. In conversation, she talks seriously and softly, yet every so often an idea forms that especially pleases her and her eyes get a mischievous glint – a look that, in performance, means she and her fellow musicians are indeed about to make something happen.

The musician is happiest at the centre of eclectic ensemble programmes that encourage us to listen actively and to be delighted, provoked or even scared: programmes that blur the lines between music and theatre. The latest example, with which she continues her residency at London’s Southbank Centre on 24 April, is Everyday Non-sense, which she has devised to play with Aurora, the UK orchestra known for mixing up the standard concert format and often playing whole works from memory. It’s billed as “a concert-theatre experience that transforms the stage into a living room”: one publicity photo shows Kopatchinskaja crouched next to a washing machine – she might be about to put a load on, or pick it up and hurl it across the room.

An imposing Prokofiev sonata highlights Yefim Bronfman’s rousing San Francisco recital

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:54:59 +0000

Various: Yefim Bronfman (piano). San Francisco Symphony Great Performers, Davies Symphony Hall, San Francisco, 21.4.2024. (HS) Schubert – Piano Sonata in A minor, D.784 R. Schumann – Faschingschwank aus Wien Esa-Pekka Salonen – ‘Sisar’ Chopin – Nocturne No.2 in D-flat major, Op.27 Prokofiev – Piano Sonata No.7 in B-flat major, Op.83 Pianist Yefim Bronfman brings ... Read more

Beaming smiles from members of the BBC SO as Jader Bignamini debuts with Pépin, Poulenc and Berlioz

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 14:47:50 +0000

Pépin, Poulenc, Berlioz: Elizabeth Watts (soprano), BBC Symphony Chorus (director: Neil Ferris) and Orchestra / Jader Bignamini (conductor). Barbican Hall, London, 19.4.2024. (KMcD) Camille Pépin – Les eaux célestes (UK premiere) Poulenc – Gloria Berlioz – Symphonie fantastique The prospect of an all-French programme conducted by one of the hottest properties on the conducting circuit, ... Read more

San Antonio’s Tobin Center Names A Resident Orchestra — And It’s Not The New San Antonio Philharmonic

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 13:36:00 +0000

The SA Phil is the fledgling orchestra founded by members of the San Antonio Symphony (which had been a Tobin resident) after that group’s board shut it down. The other group is called The Orchestra San Antonio (TOSA), and only 10 of its 60 members live locally. – San Antonio Report

Spotlight. Vibrantly Recommended

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Gerald Fenech listens to music by Enescu. '... these performances are as dynamically dazzling as they are irrepressibly exciting and incandescent.'

Disruptors: BBC Young Musician Keyboard Category Final winner Ethan Loch joins Manchester Camerata for music by Beethoven and local composer Carmel Smickersgill

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 10:36:14 +0000

Ethan Loch at the BBC Young Musician 2022 Final (Photo: BBC)

For their next performance in Manchester, the Manchester Camerata is changing their base of operations and giving a concert in the Albert Hall on Thursday 2 May 2024. Performing in the round, the orchestra will be conducted by young Irish conductor, Karen Ní Bhroin in Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 8, plus a new work by Manchester-based composer Carmel Smickersgill.

Smickersgill studied composition with Gary Carpenter at the RNCM in Manchester, and is now an associate member of the college, and she has written works for Liverpool Philharmonic's ensemble 10/10, Laura Bowler, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Das Neue Ensemble, Galvanize Ensemble, and the Equilibrium Quartet.

The soloist in the piano concerto will be Ethan Loch, the 20-year-old pianist who won the BBC Young Musician Keyboard Category Final in 2022. Diagnosed blind since birth, Ethan Loch has had a unique learning curve to master his instrument.

The evening will also include a performance from schools taking part in the orchestra's Create with Camerata programme, where Camerata musicians and a composer teamed up with over 400 pupils from 15 schools across Stafford, Stoke and Telford to write their own music inspired by Roald Dahl’s classic book, Matilda with the results being performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cannock.

Full details from the Manchester Camerata's website.

5 Questions to Apply Triangle

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0000

Apply Triangle is an electroacoustic trio based in New York comprised of flutist Yoshi Weinberg, clarinetist Tyler Neidermayer, and pianist..

The post 5 Questions to Apply Triangle appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

Attention must be paid: the Engegård Quartet at Conway Hall in Mozart, Bartok, Maja Ratkje, and Fanny Mendelssohn

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 07:26:31 +0000

Fanny Hensel (Mendelssohn) in 1842

Mozart, Bartok, Maja Ratkje, Fanny Mendelssohn; Engegård Quartet; Conway Hall
Reviewed 21 April 2024

Playing of extraordinary vividness and presence by the Norwegian ensemble in a programme moving from Mozart and Fanny Mendelssohn to Bartok and contemporary Norwegian compose Maja Ratkje

The Engegård Quartet (Arvid Engegård, Laura Custodio Sabas, Juliet Jopling, Jan Clemens Carlsen) was at Conway Hall on Sunday 21 April 2024 as part of a UK tour which sees the quartet giving the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert on 26 April from LSO St Luke's.

At Conway Hall, the Norwegian ensemble played a programme that began with Mozart's Quartet No.22 in B♭ "Prussian" K.589 followed by Bartok's Quartet No.3 Sz.85, then A Tale of Lead and Light by contemporary Norwegian composer Maja Ratkje and finally Fanny Mendelssohn's Quartet in E flat. Before the concert, I gave a talk Three Contrasting Composers, exploring Fanny Mendelssohn, Bartok and Maja Ratkje and the background to their works.

Mozart's Quartet K.589 is one of a trio that he dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. The King was a talented cellist and all three quartets have a prominent cello part. The Engegård Quartet has recorded all of Mozart's quartets [on Lawo Classics, see my 2020 interview with them talking about the recording] and what was noticeable from the outset in their performance was the way this was four equal lines, with a strong sense of equal interaction between them and a performance that was very present. There was a civilised elegance to the opening Allegro with a compelling sense of style, plus moments of drama. The Larghetto was notable for cellist Jan Clemens Carlsen's lovely singing line, answered by the fine elegance of Arvid Engegård's violin. The minuet had a crisp, no-nonsense feel to it, with disturbing moments in the trio, whilst the final Allegro assai was rather catchy, with a delightful character to the playing, carefree at first but then getting darker and more complex.

Bartok's Quartet No. 3 dates from 1927 and the work was his most advance and most tightly constructed quartet to date, the composer having heard Berg's Lyric Suite the year before being a big influence, along with the continuing underpinning of Hungarian folk-music. The opening section was intense and concentrated, four independent lines in vibrant and sometimes painful counterpoint, at times uncompromising yet with moments of tenderness. The second section was vivid, with folk-inspired motifs played with remarkable strength. The quartet created a sense of a closely worked argument with four independent people, attention must be paid. The third section is a varied recapitulation of the first, here the material moved from violence to bleak calm, whilst the final section, a compress variant of material from the second, was notable for its furious energy.

After the interval we heard Norwegian composer Maja Ratkje's A Tale of Lead and Light, commissioned by the quartet in 2011 the work was affected by the terror attacks in Oslo during that Summer. Ratkje also has a career as an improvising vocalist, whilst as a composer she works with electronics and it was fascinating to hear how these elements seemed to shade into her writing for four string instruments. The work began with a feeling of phrases suspended in space, small gestures gradually accumulating until generating an underlying nervous energy, but still with a use of space. As the work progressed, the violence and intensity of the writing seemed to relate also to the music of Bartok that we heard in the first half. The work seemed to be unwinding to nothing, but then a collective violent intensity reappeared, only to die down again, a sense that the composer could not quite shake of the effect of the violent events around her, yet finally it ended with an astonishingly transparent, mobile texture that seemed to come out of nowhere, offering light and hope.

Fanny Mendelssohn wrote her Quartet in E flat in 1834 (when she was 29 and already married). It is her only mature essay in the genre and after the first, private performance, her brother Felix disapproved strongly of it, especially of what he perceived as an undisciplined approach to form! The four short movements are quite free and rhapsodic (the opening movement is certainly not the sonata form that would have been expected) and listening to the piece I was struck by its closeness to Robert Schumann's collections of characteristic pieces, and wondered whether, in an ideal world, the composer might have used a slightly different form for the work. It was only published in 1988 and deserves to be far better known.

The opening Adagio ma non troppo was achingly yearning and richly textured, short yet remarkably free. The following Allegretto was steady yet full of character with a vivid central section that seemed to have lots of moving parts. The Romanze was lyrical, again with a rich orchestral texture with an urgent middle section, whilst the fast finale was full of joyful scurrying that reached a terrific climax.

Engegård Quartet - Jan Clemens Carlsen, Juliet Jopling, Arvid Engegård, Laura Custodio Sabas (Photo: Lars Bryngelsson)

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Elsewhere on this blog

Opera as it ought to be: Mozart's Don Giovanni from Hurn Court Opera reviewed by James McConnachie - opera review
Leeds Lieder 2024

A Leeds Songbook and a showcase performance: Leeds Lieder Young Artists 2024 - concert review
A day of French song with a focus on Fauré, with Graham Johnson making us love the composer's late period, and James Gilchrist in fine form - concert review
Engaging the audience: James Newby and Joseph Middleton in a folk-inspired programme at a cool Leeds café/bar - concert review

The sound of an image: recent chamber music by New York City-based, Puerto Rican-born composer Gabriel Vicéns - record review
A City Full of Stories: Anna Phillips on her work with Academy of St Martin in the Fields' SoundWalk - guest posting
Energy, discipline, & sheer love of music-making: National Youth Orchestra & National Youth Brass Band in Gavin Higgins - concert review
No boundaries or rules: Yorkshire-based Paradox Orchestra is reinventing the orchestral concert - interview

Full of good things: Sean Shibe and the Dunedin Consort in John Dowland, a new Cassandra Miller concerto and much else besides - concert review
A little bit of magic: Victoria's Tenebrae Responsories sung one to a part at the original pitch by I Fagiolini and Robert Hollingworth - record review
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Nadia Boulanger Opera, Despite Cuts, Displays Teacher’s Own Mastery

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 04:23:28 +0000

NEW YORK – La ville morte should have been the sensation of 1914 Paris but for the hand of fate. More than a century later, the only opera composed by the influential teacher was given its New York premiere by Catapult Opera Company.

The post Nadia Boulanger Opera, Despite Cuts, Displays Teacher’s Own Mastery first appeared on Classical Voice North America.

Things We Learned From The World’s Largest Music Company’s Annual Report

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 22:01:00 +0000

Much of the publication obviously focuses on UMG’s extraordinarily successful 2023: A year in which it posted USD $12 billion in total revenues, with annual adjusted EBITDA just north of USD $2.5 billion. But there’s a bundle of other interesting facts and figures revealed within the report. – Music Business Worldwide

Primrose International Viola Competition Announces 2024 Live Round Competitors

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:21:23 +0000

The 17th Primrose International Viola Competition, presented by The Colburn School and the American Viola Society, will take place on June 17-22, 2024 at Colburn School’s Zipper Hall. Featuring the world's best and most promising young violists, all live rounds will be streamed on The Violin Channel.

The 24 live round competitors come from around the world, representing 12 countries. They are:

Leslie Ashworth (Canada, 27, The Juilliard School)
Keoni Bolding (United States, 26, Curtis Institute of Music)
Hsiang-Hsin Ching (Taiwan, 23, Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University)
Toby Cook (United Kingdom, 26, Zurich University of the Arts)
Riko Eto (Japan, 23, Tokyo University of the Art)
Andjela Josifoski (Serbia, 17, International Menuhin Music Academy)
Yong Ha Jung (South Korea, 24, The Juilliard School)
Yunji Jang (South Korea, 22, Seoul National University)
Annariina Jokela (Finland, 30, Haute Ecole de Musique)
Mao Konishi (Japan, 28, University of the Arts Berlin)
Katie Liu (United States, 25, Yale School of Music)
Laura Liu (United States, 23, The Juilliard School)
Wilhelm Magner (Canada, 24, Yale School of Music)
David Montreuil (Canada, 28, McGill University)
Andy Park (United States, 22, Yale University)
Haneul Park (South Korea, 23, Curtis Institute of Music)
Karolina Errera Pavon (Russia, 30, Kronberg Academy)
JungAhn Shin (South Korea, 24, Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin)
Otoha Tabata (Japan, 24, The Royal College of Music)
Guohan Tang (China, 23, Universität der Künste Berlin)
Duleen Van Gunsteren (Netherlands, 28, Conservatory of Amsterdam)
Kinga Wojdalska (Poland, 25, Zurcher Hochschule der Kunste)
Xunyu Zhou (China, 16, Shanghai Conservatory of Music Affiliated Middle School)
Emad Zolfaghari (Canada, 19, Curtis Institute of Music)

These young violists will compete in the Quarter-Final Round on June 17 & 18, 2024, and eight competitors will advance to the Semi-Final Round on June 19, 2024.

During the Quarter-Final Round, competitors will perform works which demonstrate the musical and virtuosic strengths of the competitor, including the performance of one piece for solo viola or for viola and piano by a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) composer. During the Semi-Final Round, competitors will perform any two contrasting movements of a solo work by Johann Sebastian Bach, a complete major work for viola and piano, and a commissioned work for viola and piano. Nokuthula Ngwenyama— viola soloist, composer, and 1993 Primrose Competition Winner — will serve as the inaugural Honorary Competition Chair and will write a commissioned work to be performed at the semi-final round.

The live round competition jury includes Tim Frederiksen (Jury Chairman, Denmark), Atar Arad, Cathy Basrak, Ensik Choi, Steven Dann, Ayane Kozasa, and Geraldine Walther.

The first prize winner will receive $15,000; the second prize winner will receive $10,000; the third prize winner will receive $5,000; the Transcriptions Prize winner will receive $1,000; and the Illumination Prize winner, for best performance of a work by an underrepresented composer demographic, will receive $1,000. The first prize winner will perform at the 2026 American Viola Society Festival and receive an invitation to the semi-finals of the Concert Artists Guild Competition.

The 2024 competition is dedicated to the memory of Dr. David Dalton, who was one of the world’s greatest champions of the viola, and a former student and friend of William Primrose.

"The Primrose Competition is not just a showcase of exceptional talent, but a celebration of the viola's unique voice, highlighting its depth, richness, and versatility in the world of classical music,” said Colburn School President and CEO Sel Kardan. “We are excited to host the live round competitors at Colburn in collaboration with the American Viola Society, along with hundreds of violists from around the world attending the 2024 American Viola Society Festival. This will be a week filled with inspiring music and celebrations that recognize the next generation of rising stars in classical music.”

In conjunction with the Primrose International Viola Competition, the American Viola Society will host its 2024 Festival taking place at the Colburn School on June 19-22, 2024.

The post Primrose International Viola Competition Announces 2024 Live Round Competitors appeared first on World's Leading Classical Music Platform.

Winners Announced at 2024 Malko Competition

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:03:58 +0000

Held by the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra to commemorate its founding conductor, Nicolai Malko, the 2024 Malko Competition recently came to a close.

As the first prize winner, Samuel Lee won 20,000 Euro, conducting contracts with 24 leading international symphony orchestras, and three years with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor Fabio Luisi as a personal mentor.

In the competition final, he chose to perform Haydn's symphony La passione in a special baroque version, which included harpsichord accompaniment.

"It was a risky choice for me to set out in that way, but I believed in it, and I am glad that the jury and the orchestra understood the idea," said Lee. "Although I have conducted many good orchestras, it has been very special to work with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra for a whole week. All in all, it's a fantastic experience to stand on the podium and shape the music with my hands while I communicate with the musicians"

Danish National Symphony Orchestra's chief conductor and Malko Competition jury chairman, Fabio Luisi, said, "Samuel has a fantastic way of phrasing the music, and he worked with the orchestra's sound in a very special way throughout the competition. That is why he wins the Malko Competition 2024."

Educated in Berlin and Hamburg as a violist and conductor, Lee is a former winner of the BMI Conducting Competition in Bucharest, Taipei International Conducting Competition, and prizewinner in the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition. As a Viola Professor at the Leipzig Music Academy, he also serves as the Associate Conductor for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

Lee has conducted the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.

This year, the 28-year-old Colombian Ana Maria Patiño-Osorio won 2nd prize in addition to the audience prize of 1500 Euro and the special youth jury prize, which was presented on stage in the Concert Hall by students from Viborg Cathedral School.

The post Winners Announced at 2024 Malko Competition appeared first on World's Leading Classical Music Platform.

Jesus’ Death: A Drama Drawn Lean For Harp, Mark Morris Dancers

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:37:16 +0000

BERKELEY – Set to Nico Muhly's cycle The Street, inspired by 14 poems by Alice Goodman and here renamed Via Dolorosa, Morris' dance had its quietly beautiful world premiere on a program with the dance of another death: that of Socrates.

The post Jesus’ Death: A Drama Drawn Lean For Harp, Mark Morris Dancers first appeared on Classical Voice North America.

How Studying Music Makes Better Employees

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 19:31:00 +0000

It is well known many musicians work simultaneously in arts and non-arts roles, often to create some income security. Less understood is just how well the extensive skillset developed in music transfers to a non-arts, professional workplace. – The Conversation

Opera Is Elitist? Er… Not So Much

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 17:14:00 +0000

We have entered a culturally risk-adverse period. Our present age of anxiety — which includes post-pandemic economic challenges to the arts, diminished attention spans and audiences seeking escape from all but virtual reality — has ushered in an atmosphere of caution in just about everything presented to the public. – Los Angeles Times

An uplifting evening at Basildon’s Towngate Theatre from the Thames Opera Company Chorus and guests

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 15:34:19 +0000

Thames Opera Company’s Opera for All: Thames Opera Company Chorus, Anita Watson (soprano), Nancy Holt (mezzo-soprano), Luis Gomes (tenor), Blaize O’Callaghan (soprano), Roderick Williams (baritone), Ashley Beauchamp (piano) / Jeremy Haneman (conductor). Thomas Guthrie (director), Ian Skelly (host). Towngate Theatre, Basildon, Essex, 20.4.2024. (JPr) Choruses, arias, duets, trios and ensembles from Verdi’s, Nabucco, Il trovatore, ... Read more

Beautiful choral works by Péter Tóth in Kodály’s Kecskemét

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:40:14 +0000

Choral works by Péter Tóth: József Katona Central Library, Kecskemét, Hungary, 12.4.2024. (AK) Although his compositions are performed throughout the world and he won several important prizes throughout the decades, Hungarian composer Péter Tóth’s name is not yet well known by the public outside Hungary. Furthermore, it is likely that, apart from professional and amateur ... Read more

Classical music news. Obituary

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 12:00:00 +0000

Andrew Davis (1944-2024)

Holst 150, complete Shostakovich quartets, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Sorcerer: Lichfield Festival 2024

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 10:09:20 +0000

The Hub at St Mary's - Brodsky Quartet at Lichfield Festival, July 2023 (Photo: Tyler Whiting)

The Lichfield Festival returns for ten days of classical, folk, world, jazz, cabaret and popular music, theatre, dance and the written word from 4 to 14 July 2024. The 2024 festival opens with Rachel Podger (violin) and her ensemble Brecon Baroque in Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.

A 150th anniversary celebration of Gustav Holst includes Egdon Heath from the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Ryan Bancroft (along with Brahms and Elgar's Cello Concerto) and the Carice Singers’ Stargazers programme includes Holst's The Evening Watch. And there will be Holst arrangements from BBC Folk Musician of the Year Will Pound and percussionist Delia Stevens.

Pianist Danny Driver plays two recitals, closing the Festival with candle-lit Bach in the Cathedral. Other chamber music highlights are the complete Shostakovich quartets from Brodsky Quartet spread over a single weekend, Oz Clarke and Armonico Consort’s light-hearted look at music and wine A Second Sip, and a late night concert by 2024 RPS Instrumental award-winning sitar player Jasdeep Singh Degun.

Recorder quartet Palisander’s historical concert experience follows the wives of Henry VIII in Divorced, Beheaded, Died, and still in an historical bent, Lesley Smith presents the story of Mary Queen of Scots in full Elizabethan costume, and and The Lord Chamberlain’s Men perform Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the open air, in period costume, with an all-male cast, just as it would have been in Elizabeth I’s day.

The popular Midlands Choir of the Year returns with the final taking place in the Cathedral. For younger audiences, Waterperry Opera returns with Peter and The Wolf, and music, art and drama projects on the theme of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons take place with local schools for this year’s Aspire! community and participation programme.

All that, plus 10 young artist concerts and Charles Court Opera’s latest G&S production The Sorcerer, not to mention the Festival Fireworks which are FREE to all at Beacon Park on Friday 12 July, in collaboration with Fuse/Lichfield Arts.

Full details from the festival website.

The Celestial Stranger: new song cycle inspired by Thomas Traherne's recently discovered manuscript

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 10:04:35 +0000

Joana Carneiro & Gavan Ring

Thomas Traherne was a Herefordshire clergyman who died in 1674 aged 38. Known now as a poet to equal his great contemporary religious writers John Donne, George Herbert and Henry Vaughan, his works had been substantially lost and are only recently being rediscovered. His Centuries of Meditation was only rediscovered in 1898, other volumes turned up but the biggest cache of his work was found only as recently as 1997 at Lambeth Palace Library where they were catalogued as anonymous. Amongst these works is a 42-chapter treatise entitled The Kingdom of God which includes The Celestial Stranger, where Traherne imagines a visitor from a distant universe visiting earth and being held in wonder by its riches and beauty.

Musically, Traherne is perhaps best known as the poet for Gerald Finzi's Dies Natalis which draws on three Traherne poems plus text from Centuries of Meditation.

Traherne's The Celestial Stranger is now the inspiration for a song-cycle by composer Stephen McNeff written for tenor Gavan Ring. McNeff describes the cycle as developing "beyond the utopian world as our stranger realises the existence of tyranny and warfare - forcing them to take their leave. An obvious metaphor for what we are doing to the planet, perhaps, but no less relevant of that…". The work is a joint BBC Radio 3 and National Symphony Orchestra (Ireland) commission and the Dublin premiere will be next year.

Stephen McNeff's The Celestial Stranger will be premiered by Gavan Ring and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor Joana Carneiro at Hodinott Hall, Cardiff on 16 May 2024 as part of a concert including Gabriel Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande (music from the Maurice Maeterlinck that would inspire Debussy's opera), and Arnold Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht. Full details from the BBC website.

At the Sun Ra/El Saturn Archive, the Iconic Bandleader’s Legacy is Living Inspiration

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 10:00:00 +0000

In 2000, writer, curator, and collector James Corbett found himself on his hands and knees digging through stacks of ephemera..

The post At the Sun Ra/El Saturn Archive, the Iconic Bandleader’s Legacy is Living Inspiration appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN.

Opera as it ought to be: Mozart's Don Giovanni from Hurn Court Opera

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:37:14 +0000

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Hurn Court Opera (Photo: Patrick Frost, BlackStar Pictures)

Mozart: Don Giovanni: Sam Young, Samuel Lom, Lizzie Rydeer, Daniel Gray Bell, Hanna O'Brien, Harrison Chéné-Gration, Tilly Goodwin, William Stevens, dir: Joy Robinson, cond: Lynton Atkinson; Hurn Court Opera at Theatre Royal, Winchester
Reviewed by James McConnachie, 11 April 2024

A dedicated group of vastly talented singers – young singers – riding on the delight of an audience that was evidently as full of newbies as buffs

Even lifelong opera-lovers can sometimes feel dispirited. Opera survives on the support and generosity and love of a generation born within 20 years of the war – but anyone looking around them in the stalls, or the grand tier, or the balcony or, frankly, even the amphitheatre of the Royal Opera House might be forgiven for wondering where the next generation is going to come from. Is it economics that is keeping out the young and even the middle-aged? Is it the repertoire? The ambience? Or, worse, is it that younger people just don’t like the music?

I hope not, though it is fashionable to denigrate, or just ignore, supposedly ‘elite’ forms of art. And sometimes opera really does not help itself, with its persistent black-tie conventions and champagne-swilling intervals. Country house opera, in particular, can make you feel as if you’re not really part of it unless you’ve dropped a quarter of a million in patronage and packed the right sort of picnic.

All of which partly explains why Hurn Court Opera’s performance of Don Giovanni was the most uplifting, inspiring and enjoyable night at the opera I’ve had in years. Hurn Court Opera presented Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Theatre Royal, Winchester on 11 April 2024 with Sam Young as Don Giovanni, Samuel Lom as Leporello, Lizzie Ryder as Donna Anna, Daniel Gray Bell as Don Ottavio, Hannah O’Brien as Donna Elvira, Harrison Chéné-Gration as Masetto, Tilly Goodwin as Zerlina, and William Stevens as the Commendatore, conducted by Lynton Atkinson and directed by Joy Robinson.

This was opera as it ought to be: a dedicated group of vastly talented singers – young singers – riding on the delight of an audience that was evidently as full of newbies as buffs, and was conspicuously short on the Bollinger-and-banking crowd.

Mozart: Don Giovanni - Hurn Court Opera (Photo: Patrick Frost, BlackStar Pictures)

I say it partly explains it. Chiefly what made it such a wonderful evening was the commitment, skill and palpable joy of the company. And the quality of the singing. Sam Young’s priapic, leather-and-eyeliner rock-star roué of a Don Giovanni dominated just as it should have done. Vocally assured, he handled the transitions from good-timer to apocalyptic-end-of-timer superbly, as well as the tricky way in which the role asks the performer to be both rapacious villain and, at moments, romantic lead. In the aria ‘Deh, vieni alla finestra’ you could almost feel that his feelings of love were real – or at least that Giovanni believed they were, at least for the duration of his own cleverly self-absorbed aria. The comic partnership with Samuel Lom’s delightfully sympathetic Leporello was particularly strong, too, reminding us that this is really an opera with two protagonists, even if only one is headlining.

These were two strong and confident vocal and comedic performances, and they anchored the whole. Lizzie Ryder’s Donna Anna and Daniel Gray Bell’s Don Ottavio brought the emotional depth. You felt that the grown-ups had arrived on stage every time they come on. Bell has a rare ease, right through the register, and such a graceful sense of line. Ryder sometimes reminded me of a postwar coloratura soprano, with an almost mezzo tint to her voice at times that made perfect sense of the casting; she brought the darkness. Her ‘Or sai chi l’onore’ was as electrifying as it should be, and Ottavio’s soaringly heartfelt ‘Dalla sua pace’ an exquisite response.

Hannah O’Brien’s Donna Elvira was powerful, nuanced and persuasive – the performance of a seasoned pro; I was astonished to discover that she is a recent alumna of the RNCM. The audience favourites, though, are both young singers indeed: Harrison Chéné-Gration (Masetto) and Tilly Goodwin (Zerlina) are allegedly third-year students at the Royal Academy of Music. These are character parts, and they made the most of them – Chéné-Gration’s flush-faced, confused young-bullock of a Masetto the perfect foil for Goodwin’s eyelash-batting, fausse-ingénue of a Zerlina. They showed how for the next generation of performers, the acting is as important as the singing; they also proved that the next generation has the right idea.

William Stevens’ Commendatore was poised, measured and just the right amount of menacing, and the chorus provided an astonishingly rich sound, especially given their numbers, and the acoustic. The orchestra, too, led by the artistic director Lynton Atkinson, felt like a much bigger band. They got a warmly appreciative, and richly deserved, clap.

This was a small and youthful production, and very occasionally I registered a flicker of inexperience in the shaping of an Italian consonant, or the handling of a prop, or the support for a coloratura passage. But I’ve seen international casts less assured than this, and definitely less committed.

The set and costume design (inevitably for a production where a seat in the stalls costs £28 and they pay the cast properly) was fairly minimal, but it felt coherent. And the concluding twist, as the chorus appears bearing placards painted with blood-red uplifted hands (or are they hands from hell?) and the words ‘Me Too’ / ‘Anche Io’ was both funny – the audience laughed – and sharply pointed. This is very much a ‘problem play’, or ‘problem opera’, and it only feels much more problematic these days. This was a clever way around the problem, and a thoughtful one too.

Hurn Court Opera’s strapline is ‘Supporting tomorrow’s vocal stars’. I think they’re doing more than that – they’re supporting tomorrow’s opera. Because this is how you do it: you collect a superb cast and you create a show that sends an entire theatre audience home fizzing and buzzing. And it doesn’t require champagne.

Reviewed by
James McConnachie, 12 April 2024

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