Dean Williamson. Photo credit Bill Mohn Photography.
By Philippa Kiraly
Seattle Opera’s presentation of Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” which begins Saturday,
is like old home week for many of the participants. Conductor Dean Williamson, until its untimely suspension last month (temporarily we hope) the Artistic Director of Opera Cleveland, was principal coach and pianist for Seattle Opera for twelve years from the middle 1990s and a major player in Seattle Opera Young Artists Program. He still lives in Bellevue. Continue reading Dean Williamson shares his thoughts on the Barber of Seville
Bach, to my mind, is the only Baroque composer whose music always survives with triumph, whether it’s played on period instruments, modern instruments, steel band, sung by the Swingle Singers, or given a rock beat.
Simone Dinnerstein‘s instrument of choice is the modern grand piano, and her program Wednesday night on the UW President’s Piano Series incorporated one of the composer’s English Suites, No. 3, and three transcriptions of different well-known Chorale Preludes by Bach from well-known pianists of their day: Italy’s Ferrucio Busoni, Germany’s Wilhelm Kempff and England’s Dame Myra Hess. Continue reading Simone Dinnerstein impresses at Meany Theater
Pianist Simone Dinnerstein performs this week at the University of Washington.
Zach Carstensen: Bach figures prominently into your repertoire. You recorded the Goldberg Variations with Telarc and have a new recording of Bach keyboard concertos coming out on Sony. Why do you find yourself drawn to Bach?
Simone Dinnerstein: Bach has been my favorite composer since I was a teenager. For me, his music is the perfect synthesis of the cerebral and the spiritual.
ZC: How does your playing of pieces like the Goldberg Variations change from performance to performance?
SD: Over the years, my interpretation has grown freer. I take more time both within the Variations and between the Variations.
ZC: Is there a right way to play Bach?
SD: Definitely not! I think that is the beautiful thing about music – there are no absolutes.
ZC: Even though Bach’s music is a significant part of your repertoire, you’ve also played Webern, Copland and for your upcoming recital in Seattle you are playing Schubert and Schumann in addition to Bach. Do you every worry about being cast narrowly as just a Bach specialist?
SD: Not really, you’re right that I play music by a wide variety of composers. But if I was going to be associated with one composer – I don’t think Bach is a bad choice!
ZC: Your dad is a visual artist. I am wondering if your playing and how you approach music has a visual component? Are there images particular pieces conjure for you? Do you hope the audience “sees” something too?
SD: When I was growing up, my dad (the painter Simon Dinnerstein) used to talk to me a lot about line in drawing, and sometimes when he would listen to me play he would say, “I don’t hear the line.” It made me think about phrasing in a particular way. I often think about light and dark, and texture in my playing. I don’t think of particular images, but I think of techniques used by artists.
ZC: Are there any pianists active today that you admire?
SD: Yes, of course. Some of today’s pianists that I admire include Awadagin Pratt, Natasha Paremski, Orion Weiss, and Gloria Cheng.
Simone Dinnerstein performs as part of the University of Washington’s Presidents’ Piano Series January 12, 2011 at 8 PM.
January 6th this year was Christmas day in the Julian Calendar, and this is the calendar followed by the Eastern Orthodox churches. So it was perfectly appropriate and not at all tardy for Cappella Romana to give a concert of Russian and Ukrainian Christmas music at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Montlake last Saturday night.
The church was nearly full of people, many from Seattle’s Russian community, and many in the intermission spent time looking at the fine mosaics and iconic paintings which adorn it.
The performance was conducted not by Cappella Romana’s music director, Alexander Lingas, but by an equally renowned scholar in Slavic music, this time of the 17th and 18th centuries. Mark Bailey was guest directing for the third time with this group. Continue reading Christmas on the Julian Calendar
This season with the SSO, nearly every week is an adventure in brand new music written especially for this, Gerard Schwarz’s last season as music director. The Gund/Simony commissions are in addition to the new pieces and premieres already scheduled for the season.
This was again the case this past weekend. Two new pieces, one brand new, the other receiving a Seattle debut, were on the program. Bright Sheng’s Shanghai Overture is the second piece in two weeks by the composer performed by the SSO. Sheng’s Prelude to Black Swan — a Gund/Simonyi commission — introduced the annual performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
There was much celebration on First Hill New Year’s Eve, but no tin horns, merry pranks or silly hats. It was a concert at St. James Cathedral one of many notable traditions of the church. It was filled, as always, to the brim well before curtain time at 11 with people anxious to bring in the nbew year with something more powerful than the usual partying.
Programs vary from to year, always utilizing the impressive musical forces of the cathedral. I am not quite sure how they manage a concert of this complexity, with multiple masses on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, also to full houses. Although those services are religious celebrations, they are filled with music, both instrumental and vocal. The church itself is an inspiration of harmonious beauty, especially at Christmas with its dozens of scarlet poinsettias outlining the central altar, along with white roses and paperwhites, handsome tall and erect, and, of course, greenery, as well as the organ loft at the back of the church. The handsome gold-like sculpture hanging from the dome, scattering light in wonderfully random ways, and slim red banners on various columns are curiously reassuring and interesting. Continue reading St. James brings in 2011
Gathering Note 