Olga Kern receives rave reviews in Dallas with Rachmaninoff program

By -

Olga Kern is well known for taking one of two first prizes in the 2001 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Now she is traveling about the US performing Rachmaninoff, receiving rave reviews along the way.

She performed with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra in Dallas Texas in the first weekend of October with a concert full of Rachmaninoff. Steve Cantrell of the Dallas Morning News wrote this, "...her interpretations of both pieces seemed to have been modeled on Rachmaninoff's own recordings." He went on to say, "...she played boldly and brilliantly, sometimes at the price of a hard-edged tone, and both pieces got standing ovations."

Ms Kern is appearing at the Boettcher Concert Hall in Denver for a Rachmaninoff Festival with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra October 16th through the 24th. Described by Maestro Kahane as a “truly a titanic pianist,” Olga Kern performs all four Rachmaninoff piano concerti in two weeks, a feat that few great pianists could undertake. The opening concert features Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 3, as well as the CSO Chorus performing Rachmaninoff’s Three Russian Songs.

For more information about the concerts in Denver visit www.coloradosymphony.org

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more