Month: January 2011
-
Buoyed by a Groupon and the Northwest premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s Symphony No. 4 the Seattle Philharmonic sold out their concert last Sunday — the first one that I can remember in my seven years in Seattle. Normally, Seattle Philharmonic concerts are sleepy affairs which attract a devoted audience interested in Adam Stern’s eclectic…
-
By R.M. Campbell The winter season of the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, which celebrates its 30th season this summer, was always a splendid idea. It was the first venture outside the confines of Lakeside School. This wise expansion was followed by the addition of a summer Eastside venue at the Overlake School. Both have proven…
-
By Philippa Kiraly Last year at Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Winter Festival, one of the concerts was devoted to Schumann’s Piano Trios. It was such an enlightening and successful performance that artistic director Toby Saks asked the same three players to do a similar concert at this year’s festival with Brahms’ Piano Trios. The result…
-
Bright Sheng, a name familiar to SSO audiences, sat down with the Gathering Note earlier this month. The composer was in town to hear the orchestra perform two of his short pieces. One of them, Prelude to Black Swan, a world premiere. The other, Shanghai Overture, a Seattle premiere. Sheng came onto the classical music…
-
By Philippa Kiraly By this stage in the winter, many people are starved for more chamber music than they can get from the excellent but not so frequent performances on the UW Chamber Music Series. When Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Winter Festival arrives at Nordstrom Recital Hall, with four recitals and four concerts in four…
-
By Philippa Kiraly Thursday’s Seattle Symphony concert at Benaroya Hall was beautifully designed. First, a world premiere based on Mozart themes, followed by one of the symphonies and one of the horn concertos, and after intermission, the composer’s last work, his Requiem (which was completed after his death and from his notes by Franz Suessmayr).…
-
By Philippa Kiraly The Phiharmonia Quartett Berlin needs no introduction to devotees of chamber music, with more than a quarter century of performances behind it and a reputation as one of the best. Playing at Meany Theater last night on the UW International Chamber Music Series, it gave performances of Shostakovich, Beethoven and Debussy that…
-
By Philippa Kiraly This has to be one of Concert Spirituel’s more intriguing titles for a concert. Jeffrey Cohan, the moving spirit behind Concert Spirituel, found an early edition in the National Library of “Trios pour coucher du Roi,” and other contemporary works of similar type, and put together a charming program from them. Louis…
-
By R.M. Campbell Most likely Seattle Opera has hit on its hands with Rossini’s ineffable comedy, “Il barbiere di Siviglia,” aka “The Barber of Seville,” which opened this weekend at McCaw Hall. Laughter, sometimes guffaws, sometimes giggling, was omnipresent, and the applause at the end was loud and enthusiastic. Seven more performances are scheduled, a…
-
In less than two years Geoffrey Larson and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra (SMCO) have gone from a pick up ensemble of sorts, with an ever changing cast of musicians, to a core ensemble of 29 musicians that made its Benaroya Hall debut on January 15th. SMCO is an exceptionally talented group of musicians, that…