Gathering Note
Notes from the concert hall
Month: June 2009
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Harold Gray, now in his 31st year as artistic director of the Portland Piano International, is getting geared up for the 2009 Portland International Piano Festival. Running from July 12th through the 19th at the World Forestry Center, the festival is jam packed with an intriguing slate of artists, teachers, and films. I chatted with…
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I came to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall with great anticipation on Saturday evening (June 27), because Helmuth Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival choir and orchestra were in town to perform Haydn’s “Creation.” I had sung this piece under Rilling at least ten years ago (more about that later), so I willingly took a…
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The Seattle Symphony subscription season ended Thursday and Friday night much as it began, with a large-scale choral symphony. In September, the piece Schwarz and the orchestra put on display for Seattle was Mahler’s 8th Symphony. Thursday and Friday, the SSO took on a brand new piece by the American composer Aaron Jay Kernis. A…
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movie battle: los angeles Haydn and Mendelssohn have been dead for a very long time, but their presence is felt every time their music is played by virtuosic musicians like the ones who took the stage on Tuesday (June 23) at Chamber Music Northwest’s opening concert series. I attended the concert at Catlin Gabel School…
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Music critic David Stabler of The Oregonian has a full report on the financial problems at the Oregon Symphony online here. It’s a tough time for arts organizations everywhere, and the orchestra’s president Elaine Calder says that she will scrutinize every nook and cranny in its budget and operations. Calder was in Chicago a week…
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Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony premiere Aaron Jay Kernis’s 3rd Symphony this week. The composer shares his thoughts about the piece and his relationship with Seattle and the Seattle Symphony. Zach Carstensen: Your Symphony Nr.3, “Symphony of Meditations”, is a number of years in the making. I may be wrong about this, but initially,…
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Midori, the Japanese violinist who goes by only her first name, comes to Seattle on a fairly regular basis, sometime in recital and sometimes with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. She played the first of four concerts Thursday night at Benaroya Hall. The program was a curious one in that the violinist played three works with…
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Chamber Music Northwest opens its 39th summer season next week, offering five weeks (June 22 – July 26) of great music with top tier musicians from all over the nation. This summer’s programming celebrates the 200th anniversaries of Felix Mendelssohn (who was born in 1809) and Joseph Haydn (who died in 1809), and the music…
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For 28 years, Pacific Northwest Ballet has presented its school at the end of the season, from the very youngest to the professional division, at its performance home, first the Opera House and now McCaw Hall. This year was not any different, with performances Saturday afternoon and evening. The format changes somewhat from year to…
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Gerard Schwarz, Seattle Symphony; Mahler: Symphony Nr. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand” (Self Release) legend of the guardians: the owls of ga’hoole full dvd *** Mahler’s Symphony Nr. 8 is an oversized piece of music. This is apparent to anyone who hears a recording of this symphony. Even more so when you see the piece…