Interchanging Idioms

5 performances: November 6-16 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House Use the Special Offer Code PARIS when you order your tickets online or when you call 800.982.ARTS. This offer expires Thursday, September 30 so do not delay! Order online now for best selection. This offer cannot be applied to previously purchased tickets. This offer is not valid with any other offer or discount. All tickets are subject to Ticketmaster convenience fees. All sales are final; no exchanges or refunds.

www.czechpointdenver.com Join Opera Colorado's city-wide cultural festival centered on its production of Dvorak's Rusalka, Opera Colorado's first production of a Czech opera and the regional premiere of the work opening at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in February 2011. Czech Point Denver is a far-ranging celebration of Czech arts and culture scheduled for January and February 2011, leading up to the performances of the opera. The festival is a cooperative project between several Denver non-profit arts and cultural organizations and will include classical music, theatre, visual arts, film, and multi-media experiences for the general public.

On Tuesday, September 28, 2010, the New York Foundation for the Arts and innova recordings celebrate 25 Years of New York New Music with the release of The NYFA Collection. The recording features works by 52 NYFA fellows and includes Lisa Bielawa’s quartet, The Trojan Women , recorded by the Miami String Quartet. Lisa Bielawa’s The Trojan Women is written in three movements, each based on the particular sufferings of women who lost husbands and sons in the notorious brutality of the Trojan War – “Hecuba,” “Cassandra,” and “Andromache.” This version for string quartet was composed in 2000 based on musical materials from Ms. Bielawa’s 1999 score for Euripides’ tragedy, The Trojan Women , and was premiered by the Miami String Quartet at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Ms. Bielawa says that the piece was inspired by “the nature of public and private grieving.” About Lisa Bielawa: Born in San Francisco into a musical family, Lisa Bielawa played the violin and piano,...

Prodigy Markus Groh performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Shostakovich’s First Symphony on Thursday, October 14, 2010 at 8 p.m. and Friday, October 15, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Continuing this season’s focus on youth, 17-year-old BSO-Peabody Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Ilyich Rivas makes his subscription concert debut with Shostakovich’s First Symphony, written when the composer was only 18. Joining Rivas is young German pianist Markus Groh, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The program also includes Brahms’ collegiately inspired Academic Festival Overture and Mahler’s Blumine in celebration of this season’s other theme: the life and music of Gustav Mahler. BSO-Peabody Bruno Walter Assistant Conductor Ilyich Rivas makes his subscription concert debut conducting this ambitious prog...

San Francisco Opera's Madama Butterfly , Don Giovanni , Samson and Delilah and La Rondine to Air On KQED Public Television, August 26 - September 23, 2010 San Francisco Opera today announced plans to return to KQED Public Television 9, Northern California’s preeminent public broadcast station, with four grand operas recorded live in high definition at the historic War Memorial Opera House. The four opera series for television will be distinguished by program host Rita Moreno, a celebrated artist and recipient of the four most coveted awards in the entertainment industry: the Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy. Each airing will be enhanced with backstage interviews with singers, conductors, directors and other members of the artistic and creative team in order to offer greater perspective on the music and production of each opera to the audience. Madama Butterfly , Don Giovanni , La Rondine and Samson and Delilah will presented in their original languages and will feature English...

7-8:30 p.m. Housing Works Bookstore Café 126 Crosby Street NYC 10012 Free and open to the public On Monday, September 20th, violinist Hilary Hahn and composer Jennifer Higdon will discuss the upcoming Deutsche Grammophon Higdon & Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos CD at the Housing Works Bookstore Café in New York City. The event will take place from 7-8:30 p.m. Hahn and Higdon will chat about the two works on Hahn's upcoming album: the concerto Higdon wrote for her (recently awarded the Pulitzer Prize for music) and the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. The evening will feature a conversation between these two artists about how the commissioned concerto came to be and how the pieces relate to one another, as well as a few detailed examinations of specific musical passages. There will be time for questions and mingling at the Housing Works Bookstore Café after the event, and advance copies of the disc, which will be released the following day, will be available for sale. Please note t...

Following the death of Sir Charles Mackerras, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra will dedicate the Opening Concerts of its 2010/11 Season – concert performances of Mozart’s Don Giovanni – to the memory of the Orchestra’s beloved and venerable Conductor Laureate. The performances – at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall on Thursday 7 October and Glasgow’s City Halls on Friday 8 October – will be conducted by the Orchestra’s Principal Conductor Robin Ticciati, and feature a world-class line-up of soloists including Florian Boesch, Maximilian Schmitt and Kate Royal. Sir Charles and the SCO were internationally renowned for their performances and recordings of Mozart’s music, including CD releases of seven Mozart operas and the recent multi-award winning disc of the composer’s last four symphonies. Don Giovanni was of particular significance to Sir Charles: in 1991 he conducted a new production of the opera at the re-opening of the Estates Theatre in Prague, scene of the work’s premiere, to mark the bi-...

Marin Alsop leads BSO in Doctor Atomic and “New World” symphonies The young and accomplished violinist Stefan Jackiw returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore and Saturday, October 2, 2010 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, October 3, 2010 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Jackiw last appeared with the BSO in 2008 when he performed Brahms’ Violin Concerto to rave reviews. Music Director Marin Alsop will also lead the BSO in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic Symphony and Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.” Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto has been called the first truly Romantic violin concerto. Though generally considered conservative, Mendelssohn broke classical barriers by writing a score that alternates emphasis between soloist and orchestra. One of Stefan Jackiw’s past performances of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto was hailed by string music magazine The Strad...

Music Director Marin Alsop leads BSO in Mahler’s Seventh Symphony Music Director Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra kick off the 2010-2011 season with a performance of Mahler’s Seventh Symphony at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on September 24, 2010 at 8 p.m. and at the Music Center at Strathmore on September 25, 2010 at 8 p.m. Throughout the 2010-2011 season, the BSO explores the genius of Mahler through his compositions and arrangements of works by other legendary composers. The program begins with the BSO premiere of Mahler’s arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Suite, which includes the well-known “Air on a G-String.” The program concludes with Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, which was selected by the BSO musicians as a “Musicians’ Pick.” This season’s repertoire contains works chosen by BSO musicians, titled “Musicians’ Picks.” Ranging from famous works to those more obscure to rarely performed masterpieces to personal favorites, the BSO musicians hope these selections enter...

This Is Largest Education Grant Ever Awarded to Guild The Metropolitan Opera Guild has received a $1 million grant, which will be awarded over the next four years, from the United States Department of Education (DOE) for the Guild’s Comprehensive Opera-Based Arts Learning and Teaching (COBALT) project. Of 200 applications reviewed by the Department of Education, the Guild’s ranked ninth among the 33 projects that received funding. “This award is a sign of recognition of the high quality, depth, and rigor of the Guild’s innovative arts-education programs. Thanks to the Department of Education, we will be able to bring the Guild’s partnership model of opera-based arts learning to under-resourced public schools that will really benefit from it.” - Richard J. Miller, Jr., President of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Building on the Guild’s arts learning initiatives at Brooklyn’s PS 10, which have played a major role in the school’s transformation into a high-performing neighborh...

Led by conductor and founding artistic director Patrick Dupré Quigley, Seraphic Fire has returned the sound of Claudio Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine (1610) to the composer's own age – the late Renaissance rather than the high Baroque of Bach or Handel most often heard on record. On its new recording of the Vespers – released August 10 via the Miami-based choir's own Seraphic Fire Media – the smaller forces and intimate atmosphere yield a version of Monteverdi's magnum opus that is finally in tune with the inscription on the score's title plate: "suited for the chapels and chambers of princes."

Limited edition collection includes previously unavailable recordings and videos conducted by Levine to be released September 21, 2010 The Metropolitan Opera celebrates the 40th anniversary of James Levine’s company debut with James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met, two special boxed sets of 21 DVDs and 32 CDs featuring highlights from the longtime Music Director’s record-breaking career with the company. The two sets contain 22 complete performances, 19 of which have never been previously available in any format. All titles have been digitally remastered in state-of-the-art sound. The 21-DVD set features 11 complete operas including such star-studded performances as Smetana’s The Bartered Bride from 1978 with Teresa Stratas, Nicolai Gedda, Jon Vickers, and Martti Talvela, and Der Rosenkavalier from 1982 with Kiri Te Kanawa, Tatiana Troyanos, Judith Blegen, Luciano Pavarotti, and Kurt Moll. The DVDs also include highlights from historic concerts in 1982 and 1983 featuring f...

Sony Classical is proud to announce its debut release “LIVE IN VIENNA” from one of the most thrilling and inspiring musicians of our time, the world-renowned pianist LANG LANG. Recorded and filmed live in Vienna’s legendary Musikverein concert hall, the Sony Classical debut will be available on August 24 in multiple formats. This release represents Lang Lang’s second live recorded recital to date after the best-selling “Live at Carnegie Hall” in 2004, which marked his international breakthrough as a recording artist. He has performed the new album’s program at the world’s major concert venues and will continue to tour with it throughout 2011. As Lang Lang puts it: “For me, there are few halls around the globe that have the same prestige as Carnegie Hall and the Musikverein. Of course there are other great halls, but I always feel these two have a unique place in people’s hearts. So I felt that after Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein would be the place where I should do another live re...

Pianist’s Hotly-Anticipated New Album – Jeremy Denk Plays Ives – Now Available on iTunes; CD Will Be Widely Released on October 12 “With a supreme command of the piano allowing endlessly varied color, touch, and chord voicing, all possibilities are seemingly open to him. And all possibilities are imaginable, thanks to a fine intellect. – David Patrick Stearns, Philadelphia Inquirer Jeremy Denk’s summer festival tour continues this week with appearances at three of the season’s most prestigious U.S. festivals: Bard (Aug 13-15), Mostly Mozart (Aug 17-19), and Tanglewood (Aug 21). In repertoire ranging from solo and chamber to orchestral, and from composers of the First Viennese School to those of the Second, the versatile pianist collaborates with leading artists including Joshua Bell and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The first of these appearances is at Annandale-on-Hudson’s Bard Music Festival, which has won international acclaim for its unrivaled, in-depth exploration of th...

Nominated for a 2010 Gramophone “Artist of the Year” Award After a wildly successful season that included a critically acclaimed company debut with the Los Angeles Opera in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia , after which the Los Angeles Times exclaimed that she “stole a show that was hard to steal”, and her role debut as Elena in La donna del lago with the Paris Opera, which the Financial Times hailed as “simply the best singing…heard in years,” mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato ends her 2009-10 season on a high note: nominated for a 2010 Gramophone “Artist of the Year” Award and winning a 2010 ECHO Klassik Award in the category of female “Singer of the Year” (tenor Jonas Kaufmann won the male equivalent). The prestigious award and nomination confirm DiDonato’s status as today’s “most user-friendly diva” ( Opera News ). This year’s ten Gramophone Award “Artist of the Year” nominees are a wide-ranging and colorful group of personalities, united in their zealous commitment to their art...

Including works by Beethoven, Debussy, Fauré and Wagner alongside world premiere recordings of arrangements by Tyzik, Pritsker and De Rosa On September 28, 2010, the innovative and versatile violinist Anne Akiko Meyers releases Seasons…dreams , her newest recording on E1 Music. One of the world’s premiere concert violinists, Anne Akiko Meyers has been celebrated throughout her nearly three-decade career for her exceptional musicianship, charismatic presence and creative diversity. On this new release, Meyers is joined by long-time collaborator Reiko Uchida on piano and the young harpist of the Paris Opera, Emmanuel Ceysson. Seasons…dreams is anchored by Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, “Spring.” This sets the stage for a series of lyrical pieces inspired by songs and poems which take us on a journey through the seasons and into reverie. Meyers presents familiar songs in unique arrangements and unexpected melodies mixed with traditional classical works. “I love t...

“As a composer, he recognizes no boundaries – musical, commercial, geographical, or cultural. His is a way of thinking and composing that is perfectly in tune with the spirit of the times.” – Classic FM Magazine Karl Jenkins’s newest composition, Gloria , was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall on July 11 by The Really Big Chorus, with the English Festival Orchestra and student vocal soloists conducted by Brian Kay. Abbey Road Live recorded the concert, which also featured Fauré’s Requiem , and the resulting CD was sold on the night to the performers and audience – the first time a world premiere has been recorded live and made available for sale immediately after the performance. The following day, EMI Classics released a studio recording of Gloria , paired with Jenkins’s Te Deum, featuring the composer conducting the National Youth Chorus of Great Britain and the London Symphony Orchestra with soloist Hayley Westenra. Gloria is the first commission by The Really Big Choru...

Available on CD September 14th and from iTunes on August 31st The San Francisco Symphony’s Grammy®-winning Mahler recording cycle, launched in 2001 on its own SFS Media™ label, comes to a close this season with the release of Mahler’s Songs with Orchestra on CD September 14 and by download from the iTunes Store on August 31. Songs with Orchestra features Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas leading the Orchestra and Susan Graham performing Mahler’s Rückert-Lieder. Thomas Hampson and the Orchestra contribute performances of Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) and selections from Des Knaben Wunderhorn . Rückert-Lieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen were both recorded live at Davies Symphony Hall during the SFS’s three-week Mahler Festival in September 2009. The selected songs from Des Knaben Wunderhorn with MTT, Hampson and the Orchestra were recorded at Davies Symphony Hall in May 2007. The release coincides with worldwide celebration of the music of Mahler...

This fall, Decca Classics will release two new albums featuring the music of eminent American composer Nico Muhly. It is only natural that Decca Classics would wish to add this engaging musical figure to its impressive list of artists. The first Nico Muhly album Decca will release is A Good Understanding , a recording of six choral pieces performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale, conducted by the chorale’s acclaimed musical director Grant Gershon. Muhly has said, “Writing choral music is one of my greatest pleasures in life,” and his joy in and connection to this genre are apparent in these works. A Good Understanding, which employs both adult and child voices, explores and expands upon traditional uses of music and text in religious and secular settings. This album will be released digitally as an iTunes exclusive on September 7 and physically on September 21. "We are thrilled to be working with the Los Angeles Master Chorale,” said Paul Moseley, general manager of Decca. “...

"Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of the great pianists of modern times, with a legacy of landmark solo and concerto recordings to challenge anybody's" – The Daily Telegraph Vladimir Ashkenazy has been an exclusive recording artist with Decca since 1963, and in all his 200 albums as pianist or conductor he has never recorded Bach's monumental 6 Partitas (BWV 825-830). The "undisputed legend" (Time Out) brings a lifetime of musical discernment to these immense pieces, available from Decca on August 10, 2010. Published under the general title of Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice), the 6 Partitas were immediately popular and quickly became core repertoire for all keyboard players. Each partita, or suite of dance movements, is unique in form and originality, and combines the engaging qualities of grace, playfulness and nobility. These were the last set of suites for solo keyboard that Bach composed (though the first to be published) and are the most technical...

February 2010 Rusty Musicians' event at Strathmore prompts Baltimore foray The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra announces the much-anticipated “Rusty Musicians with the BSO” on Tuesday, September 21 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Amateur musicians are invited to join members of the BSO on stage to rehearse and perform Brahms’ Academic Festival Overture and the finale from the 1919 version of Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite led by BSO Music Director Marin Alsop. To accommodate a large amount of participants, the evening will be split into four separate sessions, beginning at 6 p.m., 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. “Rusty Musicians with the BSO” is in keeping with the BSO’s vision to increase the community’s involvement in music and serve as a cultural resource for the Baltimore-Washington region. Registration for “Rusty Musicians” is now open at BSOmusic.org/rusty. General admission tickets are available for $10. For the first “Rusty Musicians with the BSO” he...

St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 KWMU is pleased to announce Christian Cudnik has been named the host of St. Louis Public Radio’s live broadcasts of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra’s Wells Fargo Advisors Orchestral Series concerts which begin September 18. Cudnik has served as the Saturday morning host of St. Louis Public Radio since 2003, and recently was named the broadcast voice of Classical 90.7 KWMU-3. A 17-year broadcast veteran, Cudnik attained the number one-ranked radio program in Philadelphia and was nominated for two Philadelphia AIR Awards including “Best Field Reporting,” for coverage of ‘Woodstock 99’ in Rome, New York, and “Best Evening Program Host,” at the heritage rock station WMMR. He has served as the host of several live radio broadcasts including concert coverage of The Rolling Stones, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, R.E.M. and the Tibetan Freedom Concert from Washington DC. “I am thrilled to be chosen as the host of this exciting new collaboration betwee...

Wednesday 22 September | 7.30pm Mahler & Zemlinsky Principal conductor Vladimir Jurowski opens the new season with the first of our Mahler Anniversary concerts. Mahler's magisterial Symphony No. 3 is a passionate portrayal of nature that balances the darkly primeval with utopian visions of the pastoral. Featuring the London Philharmonic Choir and the Trinity Boys Choir, this is sure to open the new season in style! This remarkable work is preceded by the haunting and deeply moving Six Maeterlinck Songs by Mahler's colleague and rival, Alexander Zemlinsky, sung by mezzo soprano Petra Lang. Saturday 25 September | 7.30pm Haydn, D'Amico, Dufay & Bartók The Orchestra is joined by celebrated vocal quartet The Hilliard Ensemble for a vibrant programme that spans centuries and travels between the East and West. The Hilliard Ensemble will explore the Byzantine as they perform works by 15th century composer Dufay including his exquisite lament on the fall of Constan...

Tickets on sale Monday, August 16 at 10 am,br> Special pre-sale event scheduled for Saturday, August 14 Opera Colorado announced today that tickets for the 2010-2011 season will officially go on sale to the general public on Monday, August 16 at 10:00 am. Tickets will be available to Opera Colorado performances of Puccini's popular masterwork La Bohème. Performance dates are Saturday November 6, Tuesday November 9, and Friday November 12 at 7:30 pm and Sunday November 14 at 2:00 pm. The company announced that to accommodate public demand, a fifth performance of the opera would be added on Tuesday November 16 at 7:30 pm. All performances take place at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House at the Denver Performing Arts Complex at 14th and Curtis in downtown Denver. Ticket prices start at $30 and range to $165. Tickets will also go on sale for the company's 2011 performances of Dvořák's Rusalka, the company's first Czech opera playing February 12, 15, 18 and 20, 2011. ...

Benefit tickets for Gala Celebration still available Heralding the start of Baltimore’s social season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will hold its annual Gala Celebration and Concert on Saturday, September 11, 2010 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Gala Concert features Music Director Marin Alsop leading the BSO and world-renowned violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires . Continuing the tradition of showcasing local artists at the Gala Concert, soprano Jennifer Edwards will sing Villa-Lobos’ “Aria” from Bachiana brasileira No. 5, and guitarists Petrit Ceku, Marco San Nicolas, Jeremy Lyons and Gonzalo Arias Contreras will play Rodrigo’s Allegretto from Concierto Andaluz. Washington, D.C.-based flamenco dancers Anna Menendez and Edwin Aparicio will perform to excerpts from Bizet’s Carmen . The program concludes with Salerno-Sonnenberg, the flamenco dancers and the guitarists joining forces in de Falla’s Spanish Dance No. 1 from La ...

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, London Philharmonic Orchestra's Principal Guest Conductor, has been shortlisted for the 2010 Gramophone Awards Artist of the Year. Yannick is in fine company on a shortlist that includes such illustrious musicians as Plácido Domingo, Paul Lewis and Antonio Pappano. You can support Yannick by voting for him at www.gramophone.co.uk You will need to register to vote but this only takes a few moments. Voting is open until Tuesday 31 August.

Digital downloads of the Paganini 24 Caprices available exclusively from iTunes August 31 and both releases available in stores September 7 Violinist Julia Fischer’s recording of Paganini’s 24 Caprices will be released by Decca in the U.S. digitally on August 31 exclusively at the iTunes store with the recording available in stores September 7. On the same day, Decca will also release a DVD of Ms. Fischer’s 2008 professional piano debut performing the Grieg Piano Concerto at a concert at which she also performed the Saint-Saëns Violin Concerto No. 3. Ms. Fischer signed an exclusive recording contract with Decca in 2008 and her first album of Bach Concertos recorded with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields was released in January 2009. Ms. Fischer hopes that her new recording will help to dispel the reputation of Paganini’s 24 Caprices as merely virtuosic showpieces: “The Caprices represent 24 moods – little musical ideas, each one different, each one appealing.” Ms. Fischer,...

Breckenridge Comes Alive with Concert of Holst, Mozart and Bartók Estonian-born, American raised Kristjan Jarvi conducted a blistering performance with the talented musicians of the National Repertory Orchestra at the Breckenridge Riverwalk Center last night. Conducting both Holst's "Jupiter" from The Planets and Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra from memory, while highlighting soloists from the orchestra in Mozart's Sinfonia Concertanta in E-flat Major, Jarvi displayed mastery of the music and graceful expression drawing out a stunning performance from a talented, but young orchestra. Maestro Jarvi kept the energy from start to finish at a fevered pitch practically vaulting the audience out of their seats to applaud. "Jupiter" is a popular crowd pleaser and started the concert on a high note. Jarvi took the entrance of the second theme faster than most creating a buzz of excitement leading up to the main chorale. He slowed the pace slightly for ...

SCO Principal Conductor, 27 year-old Robin Ticciati, makes his Edinburgh International Festival debut with a programme including the world premiere of a new work composed by Kevin Volans, while Sir Roger Norrington* steps up to the podium to replace the late Sir Charles Mackerras for a concert performance of Mozart’s heroic Idomeneo with the acclaimed SCO Chorus and a stellar cast including Joyce DiDonato, Rosemary Joshua, Emma Bell and Kurt Streit. MOZART’S IDOMENEO 20 AUGUST 7.30pm Mozart Idomeneo A mythological story of love and jealousy, sacrifice and exile, natural disaster and divine intervention set in the aftermath of the Trojan Wars. Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Roger Norrington Joyce DiDonato Idamante Rosemary Joshua Ilia Emma Bell Elettra Kurt Streit Idomeneo The concert will be dedicated to the memory of Sir Charles Mackerras (Broadcast by BBC Radio 3 on Saturday 18 September at 6.00pm) TICCIATI FESTIVAL DEBUT WITH WORLD PREMIERE WORK 27 AUGUST 7....

First of Two Festival Weekends Presents Six Concerts Addressing “Berg and Vienna”, with Orchestral, Chamber, Instrumental, and Vocal Music by Berg, plus Contemporaries’ Compositions The 21st annual Bard Music Festival opens here on Friday, August 13 for Weekend One: Berg and His World – Berg and Vienna . Leon Botstein, co-artistic director of the Bard Music Festival, delivers a pre-concert talk entitled “Alban Berg: The Path of Expressive Intensity,” which is followed by a chamber program tracing Berg’s stylistic development from early works like the Seven Early Songs (1905-08) to the maturity of his Lyric Suite (1925-26). While usually hailed as a pioneer of the modernist movement along with Schoenberg and Webern, at the Bard Music Festival Berg is considered in a richer and more nuanced context as a child of Johann Strauss II’s Vienna, and a contemporary of composers including Mahler, Zemlinsky, Pfitzner, Reger, Busoni, Karl Weigl, and Korngold. Each of the six concerts is augm...

Viktoria Mullova, one of today’s great violinists, is the London Symphony Orchestra’s UBS Soundscapes: Artist Portrait in 2010. She will perform three violin concertos with the Orchestra: Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No 2, conducted by Andris Nelsons on 30 September; Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto conducted by Kristjan Järvi on 28 October and on 21 December, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Mullova will give a recital with fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, performing Beethoven and Schubert, on 22 October at LSO St Luke’s, and on 26 October her new musical project with the Matthew Barley Ensemble, The Peasant Girl will be presented as part of the UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica series. Joined in LSO St Luke’s by pianist Julian Joseph, they will explore the gypsy-rooted Hungarian folk music of Bartók and Kodály, as well as special arrangements by Matthew Barley of music by influential American jazz band Weather Report. ‘I’m very excited that I was chosen ...

The first round of composers to be eliminated from Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's Project 440 will be announced live on New York Public Radio this morning. The project, which began with 60 composer candidates and will conclude with the selection of four Orpheus commission recipients later this year, offers the public a rare glimpse into the ways new commissions come to be. Today's announcement narrows the field from 60 nominees down to 30; a subsequent round of elimination on September 9 will see 12 candidates advance to the final round, and the four winners will be announced in mid-October. Orpheus designed Project 440 in keeping with the passion for new music and for transparency of the creative process that has been a hallmark of the orchestra since its inception in 1972. The project is documented online on the WQXR website , where fans and members of the public have engaged in lively debate about each of the candidates and Project 440 as a whole. Each composer nominee has...