Quarter notes: upcoming

Simple Measures founder Rajan Krishnaswami and Mark Salman are holding a recital at Town Hall to benefit Simple Measures. The cello and piano duo will be playing music by Shostakovich, Debussy, Chopin, and others. The two talked about the music briefly in a video (May 29, 2009).

Another cellist will grace Seattle this weekend as well. Joshua Roman left the Seattle Symphony a year ago, but kept close ties to the area. He is returning to play the premiere of David Stock’s Cello Concerto. Curiously, the concerto was written in 2001 and hasn’t been performed until now. James DePriest is guest conducting and he will also lead the orchestra in Smetana’s Overture to the “Bartered Bride” and Rachmaninov’s final composition, the Symphonic Dances.

Orchestra Seattle ends their 2008/2009 season next Sunday with “Slavic Melodies” a concert with Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto Nr. 2 and Antonin Dvorak’s Czech Suite. Mark Salman takes the bench again, this time for Rachmaninov’s daunting piano concerto (June 7, 2009).

Quarter notes: upcoming

The University of Washington is staging Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” (May 15-17).  The Rainier Symphony takes on Mahler’s Symphony Nr.2 “Resurrection” this weekend (May 16-17).  The American String Project is presenting their annual series of concerts this weekend too (May 14-17).  This year, Barry Lieberman has arranged Prokofiev’s String Quartet Nr. 2 and Robert Schumann’s String Quartet Nr. 3 for string orchestra.

Continue reading Quarter notes: upcoming

Quarter notes: upcoming

May is the start of the home stretch for the classical music season.  There are a number of notable concerts this week to investigate.

The Seattle Philharmonic ends their season tomorrow by performing Ralph Vaughan Williams Sixth Symphony and Sibelius’s Violin Concerto.  As far as I know, this is the only performance of a RVW symphony in Seattle this season.  Andre Previn was supposed to lead the Seattle Symphony in the Fifth, but because he canceled his residency with the SSO, the piece was shelved (May 3, 2009).

Continue reading Quarter notes: upcoming