Category: Quarter Notes

Since his arrival in Seattle two years ago, Kent Devereaux’s impact on Cornish’s music department has been tangible and welcome. The credit doesn’t go to Devereaux entirely of course. Cornish is lucky to have faculty who appreciate the new and aren’t afraid of exploring the unknown. Equally as important in my mind, Cornish isn’t afraid to share their Capitol Hill stage with other talented musicians in the community. The Seattle Modern Orchestra has taken up a residency of sorts at Cornish presenting a full season of modern orchestral music.

In the same spirit, the Odeonquartet presents an entire program of Osvaldo Golijov’s music. Golijov’s polyglot musical style — which mixes Jewish, Western classical music, South American, and folk influences — is understandable given Golijov’s own upbringing. Golijov was born in Argentina; his parents were Russian Jews via Romania; he studied music in the United States with George Crumb and before this studied in Israel.

Tonight’s performance includes Golijov’s Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind with Laurie DeLuca on clarinet. Below is a but a taste of this magically somber piece. If you want to hear it live, the Odeon Quartet plays tonight Poncho Recital Hall starting at 8 pm. Do catch this show if you can.

Also in the news, Julia Tai, founder of the Seattle Modern Orchestra, has been named the new director of Philharmonia Northwest. Philharmonia Northwest will no doubt challenge and complement this young but talented conductor. She now heads two local orchestras: the Modern Orchestra which surveys the outer limits of contemporary orchestral music and now the Philharmonia with a repertory that tends to stick closer to Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and the rest of the Austro-Germans.

Lot’s of interesting stuff happening this week in Seattle.  Dutch minimalist started a short residency at Cornish on Monday.  Andriessen’s Seattle stop concludes Wednesday with a recital where six pieces by the composer will receive their Seattle debut.  This weekend Jan Harty continues her Music Northwest series.  Her programs are always some of the most interesting around.  Saturday’s performance is no different.  The French horn takes center stage with a program anchored by Brahms but surrounded by pieces by Francaix, Feldman, and Amram.  A more traditional program accompanies the Onyx Chamber Players on Sunday; it’s all Beethoven for James Garlick, Meg Brennard, and David White.

The American Handel Festival starts this week too.  It starts with  Seattle Symphony concert of Handel arias led by Nicholas McGeegan.  The festival ends 16 days later with a performance by Ingrid Matthews and her Seattle Baroque Orchestra.  In between is a Handel smorgasbord.  A new one man opera — the Man in the Mirror — gets its premiere during the festival.  Composer Ben Bernstein holds a master class today at Seattle University (1:30 pm in the Vashon Room).  Evening Prayer, a piece Handel wrote for the Catholic Church, will fill the air at Our Lady of Fatima church.  Melvin Butler and Alan DuPey will warm the pipes of St. James’ organ with Handel organ concerti. Pro Musica does the Dixit Dominus, Early Music Guild puts on Bach’s St. John Passion, and Pacific Musicworks stages Esther.

Edit:
I forgot a concert. Seattle Chamber Player concerts always look good to me and their upcoming performance is no exceptions. The group is bringing back Polish soprano Agata Zubel for a performance Thursday evening at the Good Shepherd Center.  You might remember Zubel from her performance of Gyorgy Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments during last year’s Ice Breaker festival. Among the pieces on the program this year, Zubel will sing Kaija Saariaho’s Changing Light for soprano and flute and Laura Deluca and Mikhail Shmidt will play Estonian composer Helena Tulve’s work Island for clarinet and violin.

The Boston Symphony sent out this press release today. Does this mean Ricardo Chailly is packing his bags?

BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe announced today that as of September 1, 2011, James Levine will step down from his current role as Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 2004. Discussions between the BSO and Maestro Levine are underway to define an ongoing new role for Mr. Levine. Mr. Volpe has also announced that the BSO will immediately form a search committee to begin the process of appointing the next Boston Symphony Music Director.

“The BSO has been incredibly fortunate to have had one of the greatest conductors of our time at its helm since 2004,” said BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe. “That being said, given Maestro Levine’s health issues, this has been a challenging time for all of us in the Boston Symphony Orchestra family, especially our beloved orchestra and devoted audiences.”

Continue reading Quarter notes: James Levine steps down as director

Lots going on this weekend.  The Seattle Modern Orchestra — Julia Tai’s creation — gears up for a concert tomorrow night at Cornish.  Then on Sunday there is a free George Shangrow memorial concert at Benaroya Hall.  The concert program itself is a mix of various pieces organizers knew Shangrow adored.  This is the second memorial concert for Shangrow.  The first one happened this summer, after Shangrow’s untimely death.  Memorial concerts are nice testaments and this one will be no different. I do wonder if all of this memorializing is obscuring Shangrow’s legacy as a renegade force in the music community who had no problem thumbing his nose at authority and accepted conventions.  Every time the establishment came down on Shangrow he found a new way to survive and thrive. Adam Stern leads the Philharmonia Northwest this weekend in another concert that highlights Vaughan Williams.  Its his last (for the time being) with the orchestra.  other guest conductors will take the podium for the remaining programs this season.

Two classical music legends passed away this week: Rudolph Barshai and Henryk Groecki.  Gorecki will be remembered for his 3rd Symphony and Barshai for his orchestrations of Shostakovich’s string quartets.

Update: I forgot a performance.  The Thalia Symphony kicks off their new season after considerable uncertainty.  Stephen Radcliffe has taken over as music director.   Musicians are in high spirits.  The orchestra even has a new home at Town Hall.

After years of turnover in the top spot at the Seattle Symphony, the orchestra finally found someone who (hopefully) will stick around. The Seattle Times and New York Times reported Simon Woods — currently with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra — will become the next Executive Director of the SSO. Woods will begin his responsibilities almost immediately, but taking full control next season. Woods joins an organization on the rebound having settled contract negotiations earlier in the year and hiring a sharp new music director in Ludovic Morlot. Good will is abundant. This will surely benefit woods.

In other news, the San Francisco Symphony is releasing its entire set of Mahler recordings in a special vinyl addition.  A package worth having or at the very least worth admiring.

The past two weeks have been a classical music pile up. Orchestras, ensembles, and soloists crashing into one another. This weekend is poised to be busy too. Jane Harty kicks off a season of Music Northwest in West Seattle with a tribute to Chopin. Onyx Chamber Players are doing Schumann on Saturday. Geoffrey Larson and the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra are back for a new season. Their season opener is at the PACCAR Pavilion. Stravinsky’s Octet and Beethoven’s Second Symphony are on the program.  Opus 7 performs choral works of Barber, Schuman, and Schumann on Saturday. Music of Remembrance does Bloch, Schulhoff and Schonefield’s Sparks of Glory for their first free concert of the season. The early music Gallery Concerts series kicks off this weekend too.  FINALLY, the Tudor Choir does a themed concert ‘Songs of War and Heaven’ at the Moore Theater.

Stephen Wadsworth is getting praise for his last minute contribution to the new Met Opera production of Boris Godunov.  The Met chose Mussorgsky’s revised version for this production.  In Detroit, the strike continues with the DSO canceling more concerts.  Drew McManus has a nice round up of the strike/social media/Sarah Chang situation.  In case you haven’t been following, Sarah Chang had planned on doing a solo recital in Detroit, but after pressure from musicians and their union she canceled.

I’ve been remiss to mention the passing of Joan Sutherland, but Seattle Opera has a nice tribute, and they even posted a video of Sutherland performing Lucia’s famous ‘mad’ scene.