Jeremy Denk Leads Family Concert at New York’s 92nd Street Y and Collaborates with Steven Isserlis

By -
“Denk has the chops, the brains, and the heart” – New Yorker

Celebrated American pianist Jeremy Denk continues his stellar season, performing recitals with star English cellist Steven Isserlis at the Eastman School of Music (Dec 7) and New York’s 92nd Street Y (Dec 9), before collaborating with Isserlis on two family concerts at the same venue: a Stravinsky-themed event led by the pianist himself (Dec 12) and an introduction to the life and music of Brahms (Jan 2, 2011). Denk just completed a six-state U.S. tour as featured soloist with the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, performing Prokofiev and Grieg concertos under conductor Pavel Kogan. This fall also saw the release of Jeremy Denk Plays Ives, a landmark recording that underscores the pianist’s special way with the music of America’s pioneering musical maverick, Charles Ives; the Washington Post describes Denk’s authoritative Ives interpretations as combining “explosive power and sublime poetry.”

On December 7, Denk and Isserlis perform a recital at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. The program, presented in Kilbourn Hall as part of “The New Eastman Evolution” festival week, comprises Saint-Saëns’s Cello Sonata No. 1 in C minor; Fauré’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in G minor; and Isserlis’s arrangement of Ravel’s Deux mèlodies hébraïques, plus the second U.S. performance of Thomas Adès’s Lieux Retrouvés. Denk will also perform two Liszt solo works: Sonetto 123 del Petrarca (from Années de pèlerinage) and the Grand galop chromatique. On December 9, the duo will repeat this program for their recital at the 92nd Street Y.

Back at the 92nd Street Y on December 12, Denk will serve as guest artistic director for a concert in the Family Music (Ages 6+) Series, to which he is a regular contributor. He will be joined by special guest performers in a program titled “The Hardboiled Genius: The Life and Music of Igor Stravinsky.” On January 2, Denk reunites with Isserlis, now artistic director, for another 92Y Family Music concert, titled “Beauty and the Beard: The Life and Music of Johannes Brahms.”

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