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The 2011-2012 Houston Symphony classical season is ending on a high note with conductor Hans Graf leading the orchestra in one the of the most famous cantatas ever composed, Carmina Burana.
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
Written by German Carl Orff, Carmina Burana is based off of the 24 medieval poems in a collection with the same name. The poems range in subject matter from the joy of spring, the fickleness of …more…
Last weekend the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra carried off a busy schedule. This included a double bill with superb renditions of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3 and the Shostakovich Symphony No 15 as well as a well-attended free public concert at Champions Square adjacent to the Mercedez Benz Superdome featuring jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins.
Maestro Carlos Miguel Prieto picks up his baton this Saturday night (©Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra)
Artistic director and maestro …more…
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “balalaika”?
Maybe you see an image of the triangle-shaped instrument. Or maybe you hear a distinctive tremolo melody in your head. Or maybe you just think of something “Russian”, Dr. Zhivago-style.
For the core followers of the American Balalaika Symphony, and for the 50-plus volunteer musicians who travel for miles around the tri-state metropolitan area to play in the group, associations …more…
I can’t imagine how many people skip out on American Youth Symphony concerts because of the name, thinking, “I don’t want to hear a bunch of kids.” Let’s get something straight: when the musicians in this orchestra come together to play, they sound better than most of our country’s professional orchestras. The upper limit on age is 27; the large majority of musicians are studying their instruments full time at …more…
There is no shortage of instrumental music experiences this weekend in Minneapolis.
On Friday or Saturday night, you can make your way to Orchestra Hall to hear the Minnesota Orchestra with a guest conductor performing an intense program of seriously beautiful music by three composers of the 20th century.
Jarvi Conducts Rachmaninoff at Orchestra Hall
Friday, May 4, 8 PM
Saturday, May 5, 8 PM
Kristjan Jarvi conducts the Minnesota Orchestra playing Stravinsky’s Symphony in Three …more…
In the upcoming months, choral groups all over will be converging on special locations throughout the city, sharing their voices and cultures with Cincinnati residents. ...more...
The month of May features the final opera performance of the Michigan Opera Theatres’ spring season: Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci. The production, running from May 12th through the 20th, will feature Antonello Palombi and John Pickle splitting the famous tenor role of Canio, with Jill Gardner (Nedda), Gordon Hawkins (Tonio), Luis Ledesma (Silvio), and Phillippe Pierce (Beppe) rounding out the cast.
I Pagliacci rounds off the spring MOT “fate” season, …more…
In what is now one of the premiere spring events for classical music in the United States, Spring For Music brings together an impressive grouping of orchestras from across the nation and Canada for a series of performances, showcasing some of the greatest music ever created, at the world-renowned Carnegie Hall.
Carnegie Hall in New York City
Our very own Houston Symphony is kicking off the sophomore edition of this series on May …more…
As I look back, April really has been an eventful month, particularly in the last couple of weeks. I’d be remissed if I didn’t take the time to highlight some of the events that makes Boston a vibrant community for classical music as well as everything from sports to pop culture. So, I thought I’d highlight a couple of instances where Classical music met not-so-classical events in a big way. …more…
This month, celebrated conductor Maestro Norman Scribner retired from his post as artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington D.C. after 46 years of leadership. The chorus, which is one of the largest and foremost choral organizations in the United States, was founded by Maestro Scribner himself.
Springtime in Seattle generally brings showers. They are very like the winter showers we’ve had, and the summer showers to come, but they are warmer than the winter version, and accompanied by budding trees and flowers. Spring is a welcome arrival. Sadly, it also means the end of the season for many of our music organizations. Seattle has a wealth of festivals, camps and workshops through the summer, but for …more…
May is promising to be a strong month for new music fans, led by the Bay Area’s regional orchestras.
Last Thursday, the Berkeley Symphony premiered Gabriela Lena Frank’s “Holy Sisters” with the San Francisco Girl’s Chorus and soprano Jessica Rivera.
On May 5 and 6th, the Walnut Creek’s California Symphony will premiere “Optima Vota” by it’s composer in residence, D.J. Sparr, who is completing his residency. Sharing the program is Beethoven’s 9th …more…
I love Minnesota. Really I do. Despite the first couple years of my life having been in sunny Puerto Rico, I somehow ended up developing a tolerance for our bitter cold weather. Granted, I am writing this in the middle of a gorgeous spring afternoon, so it’s easy to talk kindly of our climate at the moment.
It has crossed my mind in the past that our state’s frigidity is the very …more…
While it remains to be seen who the future stars will be, there is no doubt that there are some remarkably talented young musicians in the Classical vein emerging around the world. The competition for the limited slots available on the world stage is fierce, in part because we seem to have gotten better and better at finding, training, and nurturing talented young people.
On one hand, this is sad because …more…
Composer Robert Sirota. Photo by Richard Frank; culled from the composer’s web site.
While the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City may be best recognized for its expansive collections of visual art and historical artifacts, musical instruments are also significant to the museum’s holdings. To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the installation of one such instrument at the museum—the Thomas Appleton pipe organ—the Met’s Department of Musical Instruments …more…
While thousands of visitors to the city may be looking to hear the sounds of traditional and contemporary jazz, rock, blues or gospel in the tents of the annual Jazz Fest, there is a dedicated coterie of opera fans who will be heading this weekend to the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. They will be taking in the mounting of an opera and a special production of a …more…
The Alaska Chamber Singers are performing this Saturday and Sunday, April 21 and 22, and it promises to be among the best classical music offerings in Anchorage this spring. Okay, okay, I admit that I may be *slightly* biased… I am, after all, one of the altos in the Chamber Singers. But, I stand by my superlative. ...more...
As the Boston Marathon wrapped up earlier this week, I was reminded of how truly close we are to summer here in New England. And with that comes a real sense of community, especially when it comes to concert music. And just because the BSO’s season is winding down, doesn’t mean the whole scene is coming to a close. Of course, I’m talking about Tanglewood—one of the Northeast’s premier performing …more…
Being the summer home of the Houston Symphony, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion has become a go-to for those who prefer to enjoy their classical music in the fresh air and under the starry Texas skies.
Although it is not summer quite yet (forget the fact that it already feels like it), The Woodlands Pavilion is taking advantage of the unparalleled talents of our very own Houston Symphony, along with a …more…
The Louisiana Philharmonic Orcherstra (LPO) returns with a true classical program this Thursday in New Orleans and Friday on the Northshore, April 19-20, with an ambitious night featuring the Wolfgang Mozart Requiem in D Minor, K 626, and the Ludwig von Beethoven Symphony No. 2. in D Major, Opus 36.
Soloists for the Mozart Requiem include two principals named Lattimore, who are not related. Grammy nominated soprano Jonita Lattimore will be …more…
One of the cruel realities of performing artists is while they often do not earn much, they have extremely complicated tax returns. This can involve a stack of 1099s, W2s, and filing in multiple states, royalties statements, and even international returns. Performing artists also have greater out-of-pocket expenses than the average worker, and one of the complicating factors in their tax return is how to divide deductions between schedule C …more…
The Anchorage Symphony is playing their season finale this Saturday, and, as of this writing, there are only EIGHT TICKETS LEFT for this sweet concert. If you manage to get a ticket, lucky you. Expect intellectualism, sentimentality, and musical bacchanalia.
So what exactly is on the program? A new piece for our Celestial Soundtrack! The concert will open with Comet, a ten-minute tone poem by George Tsontakis, commissioned for this concert by the Symphony’s “Musica Nova” program. ...more...
The tango is arguably one of the most popular dances worldwide.
According to music historian and ethnomusicologist Chris Goertzen, “Over a century after its gestation in the slums of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the tango has become a global music…it is global in the most literal sense of geographic reach, flourishing in Buenos Aires and Tokyo, in Saigon and Durban, in small towns in Scandinavia and in the U.S.” (1)
Sergio Alessandro …more…
On April 19, 2012, at 8:00 p.m. in Paine Hall on the Harvard University campus, jazz pianist, composer, educator, and author, Lewis Porter’s Concerto for Saxophone will receive its world premiere with jazz icon Dave Liebman as the soloist (event site). Dr. Porter was kind enough to answer some questions about the piece and his collaborations with Liebman:
Your achievements as a scholar and educator are tremendous: You have been a …more…
David Shifrin, Artistic Director of Yale in New York; photo culled from the Yale School of Music web site.
Too often in concert music, the bassoon, string bass, trombone and others on the lower end of the sonic spectrum are neglected as solo instruments. This premise is the driving force behind the “Yale in New York” series’ De Profundis: The Deep End led by Artistic Director David Shifrin on …more…
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