Month: May 2009
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The Seattle Symphony announced the formation of a search committee to find Gerard Schwarz’s replacement when his contract runs out at the end of the 2011. Former Washington State First Lady Nancy Evans will chair the committee and is joined by three SSO musicians: David Sabee (cello); Elisa Barston (2nd violin); and Seth Krimsky (bassoon). …
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For nearly ten years, the American String Project has given Seattle audiences consistently satisfying, well played string orchestra concerts. In addition to playing the standard repertoire for string orchestra, for example Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings, the ad hoc group of musicians from around the world, has built its reputation playing Project founder Barry Lieberman’s arrangements…
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high quality scooby-doo! curse of the lake monster movie Joshua Bell, one of the hottest names in classical music, maxed out the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and drew a standing room only crowd at the Oregon Symphony’s concert on Saturday evening (May 16), but it was the orchestra’s playing of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7…
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It has got to be a little nerve-wracking to play the music of living composers when they are in the audience, but the stakes are even higher when a two-time Grammy winning composer is sitting in the front row, alert as a robin in spring time. Yet members of the Third Angle New Music Ensemble…
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For decades the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Pops Series was one of its most reliable standbys. Costs were reasonable and box office very, very good. Then, those attending the concerts got older, then older still and inevitably ticket sales began to fall. The symphony experimented with new programs, new soloists, new conductors in an effort to…
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The University of Washington is staging Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” (May 15-17). The Rainier Symphony takes on Mahler’s Symphony Nr.2 “Resurrection” this weekend (May 16-17). The American String Project is presenting their annual series of concerts this weekend too (May 14-17). This year, Barry Lieberman has arranged Prokofiev’s String Quartet Nr. 2 and Robert Schumann’s String…
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The Third Angle New Music Ensemble will play several works by Jennifer Higdon in its upcoming concert this Friday at 7:30 pm at the Old Church in downtown Portland. Higdon’s music has been much in demand by vocal and instrumental ensembles, and she has garnered a couple of Grammys as well. I talked with Higdon…
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Music of Remembrance’s concerts are always thought provoking, but Monday night’s stellar performance seered heart and mind. From the first work, which felt as though it should be the final one on the program, to the the last which could not have gone anywhere else, this was a painful program of bearing witness. It was…
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Displaying his technical prowess and interpretive skills to the utmost, Arnaldo Cohen delivered a superb piano recital on Monday evening (May 11) at the Newmark Theatre. In a program that consisted of demanding works by Beethoven, Schumann, and Liszt, Cohen’s depth and understanding allowed the musical emotion of each piece to come alive. This concert…
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The Oregon Symphony under the direction of Carlos Kalmar continues to make some amazing music. On Saturday evening (May 9) the ensemble created a seamless transition from the placid atmosphere of Eric Satie’s “Gymnopédies” through the idyllic soundscape of Samuel Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” and ending in the jumbletron of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.…