Posted in Portland, OR on March 31, 2008 | No Comments »
The Tudor Choir gave an outstanding concert of sacred music from Tudor England and the Sistine Chapel on Saturday evening at St. Mary’s Cathedral. For this concert, the Tudor Choir, under the direction of Doug Fullington, consisted of eleven singers although some of the pieces required fewer. The Seattle-based ensemble, presented by Portland’s Cappella Romana, [...]
Posted in Portland, OR on March 30, 2008 | No Comments »
The Columbia Symphony Orchestra welcomed two former Portlanders, Amber Gudaitis and Jennifer Choi, back home in a concert on Friday evening at First United Methodist Church. The program featured the world premier of new music by Gudaitis, who is currently studying composition at Arizona State University. Choi, who has been making a name for herself [...]
Posted in Seattle, WA on March 29, 2008 | No Comments »
Alex Ross previews his upcoming New Yorker piece Tristan and Two Isoldes. Janice Baird who had to unexpectedly fill in for a falling ill Deborah Voigt will be singing the part of Brunnhilde next summer, right here in Seattle.
(At left: Janice Baird as Salome. Is that Ben Heppner’s head? Nope, just John the Baptist’s) [...]
Posted in Seattle, WA on March 29, 2008 | No Comments »
Bach Suites Marathon: Phinney Ridge Lutheran is playing host to four hour Bach marathon. Over twenty different cellists will be tackling the six cello suites of JS Bach. March 30,2008
Seattle Symphony: Tonight, the Seattle Symphony, lead by guest conductor Jun Markl will perform Saint-Saens Third Symphony and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. The result on Thursday [...]
Posted in Seattle, WA on March 28, 2008 | No Comments »
Franz Liszt, the “Paganini of the piano’s,” influence ran through last night’s Seattle Symphony concert. From the opening moments, when the SSO’s low strings grumbled at the start of Liszt’s symphonic poem Prometheus to the final moments, when Saint-Saens third, and most often performed symphony, climbed to a satisfying climax, Liszt’s inspiration was everywhere.
Posted in Seattle, WA on March 27, 2008 | No Comments »
Like orchestras all over the country, the Florida Orchestra appears to be fighting a two front war to advance the new music cause while also fighting to save its subscription base with a steady flow of Brahms, Beethoven and Tchaikovsky. Such a war shouldn’t be a lose-lose situation, but conservative subscribers in Florida seem [...]
Posted in Seattle, WA, Special to the Gathering Note on March 26, 2008 | No Comments »
By: Philippa Kiraly
On his 2006 visit to Benaroya Hall, Barry Douglas was the featured soloist with the Seattle Symphony in Rachmaninov’s Third Piano Concerto, one of the big romantic concertos which have been a strength of his and where he shines. Monday night he was at Benaroya again, this time as conductor/soloist with his [...]
Posted in Chicago, IL on March 25, 2008 | No Comments »
The Lyric Opera of Chicago concluded its 2007/08 season with Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s operatic masterpiece Eugene Onegin, an opera that is not so much about any particular action, but more about feelings and motivations. Because of that, the opera is rather static. As Tchaikovksy said in a letter to his pen pal Mme von Meck:
“Those [...]
Posted in Seattle, WA on March 24, 2008 | No Comments »
Last week, my co-contributor, friend and I, attended two outwardly different musical experiences. On Wednesday we heard Michael Jinsoo Lim perform a collection of modern works for violin and piano. Some of the pieces written in only the last few years. Thursday, we turned toward our attention to the unrivaled genius of [...]
Posted in Chicago, IL, Seattle, WA on March 23, 2008 | 2 Comments »
A little vacation to Seattle afforded me the opportunity to 1) visit my dear friend; 2) check out the Seattle landscape and its associated environs; and 3) hear the always-in-the-news Gerard Schwarz do his thing. To be honest, I was excited to do those things in that order. After having read so many things [...]
