In advance of next weekend’s Medieval Women’s Choir concert — A Voice of Her Own — at St. James Cathedral, Margriet Tindeman’s agreed to participate in The Five. A Voice of Her Own brings together music from the pen of a number of women composers. The program will feature pieces by local talents Karen Thomas (Seattle Pro Musica), Sheila Bristow, and Margriet Tindemans as well as works by Hildegard of Bingen.
For nearly 20 years the Nordic Heritage Museum in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood has been presenting chamber recitals of “mostly Nordic” music. In addition to focusing on standard classical music, the series has sought to infuse programs with Nordic folk and art music tradition. This past Sunday, the museum kicked off their 2011 series in much the same way with a program of short pieces for violin, piano, and voice by Norwegian composers.
Last Sunday’s recital was a success in large part because of Knut Erik Jensen, a young pianist originally from Selbu, Norway who now calls California home. He performed in every work, except for three short traditional pieces Svend Ronnig played on the Hardanger fiddle. Jensen deepened each work on the program – whether it was Grieg’s seldom played Second Violin Sonata or an art song by Christian Sinding. Often it was Jensen providing the heart, atmosphere, and subtle decorations that made each piece on the program memorable. In the Grieg sonata, Jensen demonstrated so much control over the music he moved effortlessly between Grieg’s contrasting, polar moods. Jensen’s playing brooded and smiled – sometimes a few bars apart.
One often does not know how a particular symphony program comes into being. Take what the Seattle Symphony Orchestra is calling “Viola Spectacular with Pinchas Zukerman.” The first of three concerts was Thursday at Benaroya Hall. Does the idea belong to SSO music director Gerard Schwarz, the soloist or was it a collaboration of the two men? The end result was Zukerman as viola soloist in two works and conductor in one.
Zukerman, as violinist and violist and conductor, in that order, has been plying these waters for several decades. He is now in his early 60s. He has always been a musician of effortless grace, full-bodied technique, a virtuoso in any sense of the word. He was among the first of major instrumentalists to seek the podium. He still plays dozens of concerts every year in a good share of the world. leads his own chamber ensemble, is principal guest conductor of the Royal Philharmonic and guest conducts a fair number of others. Continue reading SSO “Viola Spectacular” opened Thursday at Benaroya
Michael Feinstein’s compact disc “The Sinatra Project” has around a few years and won plenty of fans, now including Seattle where Feinstein appeared Monday night at Benaroya Hall, courtesy of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra. Not many would take on Frank Sinatra: He is too famous, his musicality and timbre too individual and, need one say it again, too iconic. Continue reading Michael Feinstein celebrates Valentine’s Day at Benaroya Hall
With no show to fill up the vast stage of the 5th Avenue Theatre — “Next to Normal” opens Feb. 22 — the company decided to slip in a sweet tribute to Valentine’s Day over the weekend.
Card shops go crazy on Valentine’s Day, flower emporiums do record business and restaurants are packed. Even libraries occasionally get into the act: Special Collections at the Suzallo Library on the University of Washington campus has a small, charming exhibition of vintage Valentine’s cards. Charming? Sweet? Novel? That and more.
Symphonies sometimes do something, although I am not sure Michael Feinstein’s “Sinatra Project” Monday night at Benaroya Hall qualifies. The 5th Avenue Theatre’s musical review, “My Funny Valentine,” does. This is an excursion into the American Songbook about love in its many facets, mostly ballads but not all. Most of the cast of nine singers and orchestra did familiar tunes, and I doubt that many in the audience objected. I didn’t. Continue reading Fifth Avenue Theatre celebrates Valentine’s Day with song
The Northwest Sinfonietta’s February program “Mozartiana” featured a world premiere—the Clarinet Concerto “Freedom,” by Alissa Firsova, written for Seattle Symphony clarinetist Laura DeLuca. The concert was heard Friday night, February 11 at Benaroya Recital Hall, with performances on Saturday and Sunday at Tacoma’s Rialto Theater and in Puyallup.
Firsova was born in Moscow in 1986. Her parents are the noted Russian composers Elena Firsova and Dmitri Smirnov. The family emigrated to England in 1991, where Alissa completed her musical education. She is both a composer and an accomplished pianist. A sampling of her music can be found on YouTube. Continue reading Alissa Firsova Clarinet Concerto, “Freedom”
The Seattle Symphony program had plenty of merit — Ravel, Messiaen, Mozart and Brahms — and so did the playing and conducting Thursday night at Benaroya Hall. Douglas Boyd was the conductor and pianist Peter Serkin the soloist. The Scottish conductor is new to Seattle, Serkin is not.
The young conductor has a career that is ever widening, beginning in United Kingdom and expanding to the continent and North America. He is music director of the Manchester Camerata, principal conductor of the Musikkollegium Winterthur and principal guest conductor of the Colorado Symphony and City of London Sinfonia. Little wonder. He demonstrated Thursday in Ravel’s “Le Tombeau de Couperin” how he can create vibrant textures, clarity and balance and readily evoke the 18th century along with the 20th. The Ravel had remarkable restraint and balance in which everything had its place. The reading sustained admirable evenness. Ben Hausmann’s oboe solo was notable. Continue reading Peter Serkin returns to Seattle for Messiaen and Mozart
The Seattle Symphony will perform Olivier Messiaen’s “Oiseaux exotiques” (Exotic Birds) on this coming weekend’s concerts. That brings to mind a pivotal musical event in my life, when I first encountered the great French composer’s music, and the man himself. That encounter restored my faith in the possibilities of contemporary music.
It was early in 1975. I was a student in Boston. Like many an Overly Earnest Undergraduate, I had major philosophical and intellectual battles playing out in my mind. One that preoccupied me was the almost total dominance, in contemporary music, of the twelve-tone system (also called serial music or Serialism), developed by Schoenberg, Berg, Webern and their successors.
Lesley Rausch as Cinderella and principal dancer Jeffrey Stanton as the Prince. Photo Angela Sterling
By R.M. Campbell
The story of Cinderella is one that seems to have universal attraction in opera and particularly ballet. This season, for instance, there are four different productions in the United Kingdom: from Matthew Bourne’s, who set his during World War II, to the classic one of 1948 by Frederick Ashton. Pacific Northwest Ballet has its own version, choreographed by Kent Stowell. It was premiered in 1994, followed by a short tour, then revived and subsequently shelved. With its huge cast of adults and children, the production returned to the stage this weekend at McCaw Hall and will run through Feb. 13. Ticket sales, happily for PNB, are already above projections. Continue reading Kent Stowell’s “Cinderella” returns to PNB
Year after year, program after program, the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer and winter festivals tend to stay with listeners long after they have wrapped up. Inevitably some performances are better than others. The good ones are gripping, insightful, or intelligent. Because of this the six-week long summer festival and much shorter weekend long winter festival are so popular they attract subscribers who focus all of their attention at the festivals. This year’s winter festival, marked by a concert that featured all of the piano trios Johannes Brahms penned and a series of recitals where pianist Adam Neiman played all 12 Transcendental Etudes of Franz Liszt, was no different.
But it wasn’t just these two events that made the festival another worthy addition to Seattle’s chamber music scene. Sunday’s final program was a winner with the sold out crowd. The program featured Gabriel Faure’s First Piano Quartet, Dvorak’s Op. 87 Piano Quartet, and in the lead off position on the program, Mendelssohn’s lesser-known First Piano Trio. Continue reading Faure’s First Piano Quartet a winner at SCMS winter festival
Gathering Note 