Tag: Interview
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By Philippa Kiraly It was Speight Jenkins, general director of Seattle Opera who persuaded bass-baritone Greer Grimsley that he should sing Wagner. That was for the 1994 production of “Lohengrin,” and Grimsley has sung in nearly every Wagner production here since. Talking with him as he prepares to sing Kurwenal in “Tristan and Isolde” which…
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By Philippa Kiraly For all of us Gilbert & Sullivan fans, it’s time to get ready to enjoy the annual offering of comic opera by Seattle Gilbert & Sullivan Society. Like the happy arrival of June strawberries each year, this regular dose of absurd plots, witty words, and irresistible music is worth celebrating. This year,…
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Macedonian pianist Simon Trpceski has got to be one of the busiest musicians I have had the pleasure of talking with. He is in Seattle performing a total of five concerts with the SSO. Earlier in the week he joined musicians from the SSO in a chamber music concert honoring the 200th birthday of Robert…
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My series of interviews with the guest conductors taking the SSO podium continues with Vassily Sinaisky. Sinaisky wrapped up a series of four concerts with the SSO this weekend that paired Brahms’ Double Concerto for cello and violin and Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe.” This program is a departure, of sorts, for Sinaisky. In his previous…
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download movie the green hornet hq Here is my second interview with Mikhail Shmidt. In this video Shmidt talks about Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag’s “Kafka Fragments,” a piece he will perform this Saturday as part of Icebreaker V. “Kafka Fragments” is no ordinary piece; it is one of Kurtag’s most important works and one of…
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Starting Friday, the Seattle Chamber Players embark on their fifth Icebreaker festival – “Love and War.” While other Icebreakers have focused on American, Russian, and Baltic contemporary music, the latest festival centers on Western Europe. Mikhail Shmidt, one of SCP’s founding members spoke with me about the festival. You can watch and hear Shmidt’s thoughts…
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In Verdi’s three most popular operas – La Traviata, Rigoletto, and Il Trovatore – the heroine suffers a tragic fate. In Traviata, Violetta loses love, gets sick, and dies just after one final encounter with her beau. Gilda, the heroine in Rigoletto, decides to sacrifice her own life to spare that of the Duke’s –…
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from gatheringnote on Vimeo.
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Gary Thor Wedow sat down with TGN to talk about his run of Messiah performances with the Seattle Symphony this weekend. Wedow is an active early music and opera conductor whose reputation continues to grow. He has conducted both the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera in recent years. This past fall, Wedow led the New York…
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movie i am number four online #1 cheerleader camp on dvd I’ll be doing a video interview with Gary Thor Wedow Monday. Wedow is in town to conduct the Messiah with the Seattle Symphony. Wedow has conducted the Seattle Symphony before and the Seattle Opera, but I suspect most people are unfamiliar with him as…