Interchanging Idioms

Emanuel Ax Performs Brahms’ First Piano Concerto, June 2-5 Marin Alsop leads regional premiere of BSO co-commission by Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov Piano legend Emanuel Ax returns to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), under the direction of BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, in a performance of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1 on Thursday, June 2, 2011 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore, Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 5 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Maestra Alsop will lead the BSO in a delightful tour of the orchestra in Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and will also feature Sidereus, a BSO co-commission by Argentine-American composer Osvaldo Golijov. Emanuel Ax’s legendary music-making has thrilled audiences for more than 30 years. Among the world’s most sought-after piano virtuosos, the N ew York Times describes his style as, “a shifting balance of poetry, earthiness and analytical clari...

Being compared to Aaron Copland makes this composer feel pretty good! Robert McNeil wrote a review of a recent concert at the Lamont School of Music in his blog OpusColorado . The Lamont Symphony Orchestra featured a variety of new works by composers at the school, including one by yours truly -- Trumpet Concerto 3rd movement . "This is truly a fine composition. This is another work where I would like to examine the score, because it seemed to me that intentionally or unintentionally, Mr. Michael made use of what theory students have learned to tag as “white key diatonicism.” This is the style of composition personified by the American composer Aaron Copland, and as I have said before in very oversimplified terms, white key diatonicism is where key signatures and enharmonic equivalence are taken as points of departure for a study of the diatonic-chromatic relationship. In other words, key relationships do not follow established rules of traditional harmony. But I m...

Four Substantial Works for Solo Violin and Orchestra Feature Fischer with Her Long-Term Colleague, Yakov Kreizberg Violinist Julia Fischer follows her extraordinary Grammy®-nominated recording of the Paganini Caprices with this contrasting album of impressionistic and poetic works for solo violin and orchestra. Comprised of four substantial works by a multinational list of composers, Julia displays not only her technique and gorgeous tone but also her lyrical abilities. Julia is joined by her long-time collaborator Yakov Kreizberg who leads the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra. The album will be released on May 3, 2011. Since being signed to Decca Classics Julia has successfully recorded concerti by Bach (an album which debuted as the highest-selling classical debut in iTunes history) and an album of the Paganini Caprices which was nominated for a Grammy®. After albums of Baroque music and fiendishly difficult solo repertoire, Julia turns her attention to the more lyrical sid...

Includes the Concerto for Electric Violin and Other Original Compositions as well as Arrangements of Vocal Works by Byrd and Gibbons Decca is proud to continue its association with American composer Nico Muhly with the release of their third album together, Seeing is Believing . Having previous concentrated on choral music and a complete ballet score, this album includes four original compositions and three orchestral arrangements of vocal works originally by both William Byrd and Orlando Gibbons. The Aurora Orchestra, the relatively new, young British ensemble, records this album under the direction of contemporary music specialist Nicholas Collon. The album will be released on June 21, 2011 just days before the premiere of Muhly’s opera, Two Boys , in London. The centerpiece of the album is the concerto for electric violin, Seeing is Believing . This unique, six-string instrument makes available a variety of sounds that are both vaguely familiar and wholly new. The leader of ...

Gil Shaham’s recent account of William Walton’s Violin Concerto with the Houston Symphony was “a goose-bump experience – an event to remember” (Houston Chronicle). Now the Israeli-American virtuoso makes Walton’s masterpiece central to his long-term exploration of the “Violin Concertos of the 1930s,” performing it with the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit in Philadelphia (May 12-17) and Washington, DC (May 20); with the New York Philharmonic and Ludovic Morlot in New York (June 16-18) and at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (July 27); and with the Aspen Concert Orchestra directed by Christopher Seaman at the Aspen Music Festival (July 6). At Aspen Shaham also presents three further concertos from the same turbulent decade: Bartók’s Second (July 8), the Stravinsky (July 12), and Hartmann’s Concerto funèbre (July 21). The ongoing “Violin Concertos of the 1930s” project was conceived when, as the Los Angeles Times describes, “one of the era’s star fiddlers, Shaham began...

Concert will include selections from lang’s newest album, Sing It Loud Singer and songwriter k.d. lang and her band the Siss Boom Bang will perform at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for one night only on Thursday, July 14, 2011 at 8 p.m. This announcement comes on the heels of lang’s highly anticipated release of Sing it Loud , her first studio album since 2008’s Watershed . Sing it Loud is lang’s first record made entirely with her own band, Siss Boom Bang, since the pair of albums with the Reclines that launched her groundbreaking career more than 25 years ago. Since lang first hit the music scene over a quarter-century ago, she has amassed numerous awards including four GRAMMY® awards, eight JUNO Awards, a BRIT, an AMA, a VMA, and four awards from GLAAD. In 1996, she received Canada’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. lang’s unique style transcends genre, combining country, alternative, rock and even punk styles and her soulful voice prompted frequent collaborato...

BSO performs Walton’s Symphony No. 1 for the first time Maestro Carlos Kalmar leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and violinist Karen Gomyo in Sibelius’ Violin Concerto on Friday, May 27 at 8 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and Saturday, May 28 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. Maestro Kalmar will also conduct the first-ever BSO performance of Walton’s Symphony No. 1. As part of the BSO’s year long tribute to Mahler’s 100th anniversary, this concert will also feature What the Wild Flowers Tell M e, arranged by Benjamin Britten. Sibelius’ Violin Concerto was conceived for the soloist that Sibelius aspired to become, prompting him to write into the solo part some of the most fiendishly difficult musical phrases in the repertoire. The composer began the work in 1902 at the urging of Willy Burmester, the Concertmaster of the Helsinki Philharmonic. He barely completed the work in time for its initial premiere in 1904. Unaccountably, Sibelius selected Viktor Nov...

Kicking Off Live Broadcast Series From Carnegie Hall's Spring for Music Festival Times are troubling for American orchestras: The Philadelphia Orchestra just declared bankruptcy. The Detroit Symphony is emerging from a bruising six-month strike. The orchestras of Honolulu and Syracuse folded in recent months. Music-lovers read the headlines and are left wondering: “What's the prognosis for my local orchestra?” But while many American ensembles face great challenges, a hopeful note can be found amongst those that are exploring new models of presentation, recording, and community engagement. On Tuesday, May 3 at 7pm, Classical 105.9 FM WQXR, New York City’s classical station, will host a conversation entitled "American Orchestras: An Endangered Species?". Seeking to explore some of the vexing issues faced by American orchestras and to pose possible solutions, the event will be held at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR as part of its “NEXT New York Conve...

On May 5, Curtis 20/21, the contemporary music ensemble of the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music, devotes an evening to the music of Grammy Award-winning American composer Joan Tower. The concert caps Tower’s composer residency at Curtis and takes place in New York at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre as part of the venue’s “Composer Portraits” series. The wide-ranging program features works for a variety of soloists and ensembles, including string quartet, piano trio, percussion ensemble, brass quintet, and solo violin, viola, and piano. At intermission, Curtis 20/21’s artistic director, David Ludwig, will conduct an onstage interview with the composer. A video preview of the concert is available at vimeo.com . Joan Tower (b.1938) is widely regarded as one of the most important American composers living today; the New York Times has judged her works “expertly wrought, full of character, and instantly communicative.” Over a career spanning more than 50 years, she has mad...

The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart celebrate Mardi Gras in May on Tuesday, May 17, and Wednesday, May 18, with the inimitable Dukes of Dixieland, the world’s oldest continuing Dixieland jazz band. In this lively themed concert, audiences will be treated to music from the Mardi Gras extravaganzas in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro. Dvořák’s “Carnival Overture” and other light classical pieces open the concert, and in the first set Harvard senior Charlie Albright, a 22-year-old pianist, will make his Boston Pops debut with Gottschalk’s Grand Tarantelle. The intoxicating bossa-nova and Samba rhythms from Brazil take a prominent role during the second set, with tunes such as "Girl from Ipanema” and “Brazil,” and the Dukes of Dixieland bring the concert to an energetic finale when they fuse their authentic New Orleans sound with the orchestra for performances of “What a Wonderful World,” “Honky Tonk Train Blues,” and, of course, “When the Saints Come Marching In.”

James Newton Howard captures the story in the sound track from Water for Elephants What is a circus? What is it to dream to be part of that magical world? It would be one thing to capture the essence of a circus by writing circus-like music. But whether you're young or old, the circus is more than just brassy circus music; it is the magic and wonder of the world, from the large elephants and the setting up of the tent, to the amazing flying acrobatics, the beautiful women in dazzling costumes and the painted clowns. A circus is a place of dreams and wonderment. Water for Elephants is more than just a circus, it is also a world of memories, hopes and dreams. What James Newton Howard does with the sound track is create a world lost in the haze of time, clouded by the forgotten memories yet colored by the painful ones we wish we could forget. He also captures the beauty of memories the way we remember them, not how events actually took place, but shaded with who ...

Over 100 Years ago Gustav Mahler was lampooned and derided because he was Jewish. Even after he converted to Catholicism (he couldn't conduct the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra without doing so), much of the public (including his own wife) felt he was Jewish. His mother was Jewish so Mahler was Jewish. This hatred of him as a composer and conductor kept him an outsider and was an endless obstacle in his career. Well, 100 years later news reports that Barrack Obama is a Muslim. His father is a Muslim so he must be a Muslim (or at least born one). It's as if some genetic code was somehow passed from father to son (or in the case of Mahler, mother to son), which decides their religious leanings. Science proves this isn't true. Christianity has long stood on the stance profession of faith is all that is required --believe in Me and you shall have everlasting life. So, when do we stop hating the "other" folks just because of who their parents were?...

Colorado Symphony is excited about their 2011 Summer Series featuring Independence Eve at Civic Center Park, three Symphony on the Rocks concerts, three Summer Seasonings concerts at Boettcher Hall presented by PCL, plus two nights at Arvada Center! A Summer filled with a variety of concerts including Sarah McLaughlin, Idina Menzel, Chicago, film music by John Williams and classics from Beethoven and Mozart. There is something for everyone.

Concert features students from several El Sistema-based programs The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s OrchKids will collaborate with students from Virginia Symphony’s “Soundscapes,” Philadelphia Youth Orchestra’s “Tune Up Philly,” and The People’s Music School’s “YOURS” for a day of music making and celebration of the El Sistema movement in the United States on Saturday, May 7 at Lockerman Bundy Elmentary School (LBES). The day-long event culminates in a concert that is open to the public at 5 p.m. at LBES. Tune Up Philly, Y.O.U.R.S., Soundscapes, and OrchKids are four of the nation’s most innovative and successful El Sistema-inspired programs in the United States. This event will be the first of its kind in the nation.

Spring for Music, an annual festival of concerts by North American symphony and chamber orchestras at Carnegie Hall, was created in part to start a conversation about repertoire, about audience expectations, and about orchestral programming in general. To help continue this conversation, the festival is hosting a series of online events allowing participants to interact with members of the Spring for Music team in an open and engaged dialogue. For three sessions leading up the festival, click here . Each session will start with an artist guest host posting a statement. Participants will then be able to talk about the topic with the guest host and fellow chatters. The schedule is as follows: April 28 at 12noon ET : Steven Stucky's August 4, 1964 confronts recent history. He writes, "How does a composer write a work about a failed President (Johnson) and a probable war criminal (McNamarra) without lapsing into propaganda? Does he have to check his personal opinions at the doo...

It was eighth blackbird that commissioned, premiered, and recorded Steve Reich’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet (2007), and the coming week offers the chance to hear the group’s rendition of the work both live at Carnegie Hall, as the centerpiece of the “Music of Steve Reich” festival on Saturday, April 30, and on Q2, Classical 105.9 WQXR’s contemporary music stream.

A star on stages from New York to London, Paris, and beyond, Texas-bred mezzo-soprano Susan Graham returns to the Houston Grand Opera for the “trouser role” of the ardent Composer in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos (April 29 – May 10). Then the Grammy Award-winner resumes her signature repertoire when she joins the Philadelphia Orchestra to sing Marguerite in Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust (May 27-28). Graham’s summer engagements include the title role of Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Maggio Musicale festival in Florence, Italy (June 18-22), as well as orchestral recitals featuring Handel and more at the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, N.C. (July 2-3) and at Tanglewood (July 22

The Metropolitan Opera’s presentation of Verdi’s Il Trovatore will be transmitted live in HD to movie theaters on Saturday, April 30 at 1:00 pm ET as part of The Met’s groundbreaking Live in HD series. We hope you will let your readers know about the opera being shown in your local theaters. Photos, videos and audio clips are available by logging in through the link below. Please let us know if we can help you with further information. Four of today’s leading Verdi stars—Sondra Radvanovsky, Dolora Zajick, Marcelo Álvarez, and Dmitri Hvorostovsky—sing the main roles in this fast-paced production by David McVicar first seen at the Met in 2009. Marco Armiliato conducts the opera, which features some of Verdi’s most famous music, including the “Anvil Chorus.” Renée Fleming, star of this Saturday’s Live in HD transmission of Capriccio, will host the intermission interviews. The cast and production of Il Trovatore have received impressive critical acclaim. The New York Times noted Davi...

This extremely faithful recording could prove to be a new standard for listening to Bach's music for young listeners Playing Bach's music on instruments other than the keyboard is nothing new. It isn't even all that unusual to hear Bach played on the saxophone anymore. However, what makes Bach-centric an unusual find is virtually veridical rendition by Dave Camwell. The accuracy and integrity of the music is of the highest standard. Opening with Cantata 29, Dave plays all the various lines of music, typically played on a keyboard instrument, on the saxophone --various saxophones, with multiple takes. Not only is the virtuosity of the performance of any given lines brilliant, but the skill of playing each of these lines separately, yet so accurate as to create a single unified sound. It is one instrument, one musician, one glorious piece masterfully composed both by Bach and by Camwell. This is followed by the Sonata in A minor. The solo lines are graceful dance...

Thomas Hampson returns to the U.S. this month for two concerts with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, featuring songs from six of the American Songbooks by George Crumb. The performances take place at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. on April 28, and at New York’s Alice Tully Hall on April 29. Soon after, Hampson sings an all-Richard Strauss program with Renée Fleming and the Berlin Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann in Berlin (May 5-7), before returning to the music of Gustav Mahler, on whom he has been focusing intensively this season. The baritone’s six concerts with Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic in the major music capitals of Central Europe (May 12-23) feature an all-Mahler program – Symphony No. 5 and Kindertotenlieder – and mark the second consecutive season that Hampson has toured Europe with Gilbert and the orchestra. Now 81 years old, composer George Crumb remains deeply engrossed in a long-term initiative inspired by the great Amer...

With Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus on May 11 On May 11, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Chorus and soloists will present the New York premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Steven Stucky’s August 4, 1964 at Carnegie Hall. Commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the birth centennial of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 2008, the evening-long concert drama explores two defining issues of the controversial leader’s presidency: the Vietnam War and civil rights. Stucky and librettist Gene Scheer have based August 4, 1964 on the tragic events of that date 46 years ago: the discovery in Mississippi of the bodies of three recently murdered young civil-rights workers and a disputed “attack” on two American warships in the Gulf of Tonkin. August 4, 1964 explores that day’s historic and tragic events from two perspectives: that of the mothers of two of the murdered men, and reactions from within the Oval Office. At the time in which the concert drama is se...

Andrew Grams led the Colorado Symphony tonight through a delightful rendition of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream complete with fairy chorus (Colorado Children's Chorale) and actors to set the scene. The evening was more than just classical music played extremely well; it was also a delightful chance to hear some very familiar music in a very new way. The program started off with the Prelude and "Good Friday Spell" from Wagner's Parcifal . From the opening moment as the audience waited to hear the first note, until the end of the opening musical phrase, Andrew Grams commanded complete attention from everyone in the hall. The music began quietly, and then unfolded much like the dawning of a new day. The orchestral colors shifted and swayed allowing the audience to catch only glimpses until something new caught our attention. The shadings of the music by the Colorado Symphony was simply Immaculate. Wagner's Prelude has several breaks in the mu...

Nicola Benedetti and I have not been on the best of terms. I've always felt she has wonderful potential as an artist, but hasn't lived up to it... not yet... not until now. I wasn't asked to review her latest CD, Tchaikovsky & Bruch: Violin Concertos , but did run across it the other day and decided it was worth taking a chance. I am so glad I did. I actually heard Nicola perform the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto several years ago with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It was a nice performance, but not stunning, as I'd expected. Wow, has she come a long way. She amazed the critics in 2004 capturing BBC Young Artist of the Year. This new recording is nuanced, rich and flavorful. Her violin sings with such emotion, there are times it is difficult to breathe her command of the music is so masterful. The Tchaikovsky would have been enough to warrant getting the CD, but she adds Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor. The opening allows Nicola...

The young and charismatic Chinese pianist Yundi (also known as Yundi Li) performs two programs this week from his homeland that can be viewed for free at medici.tv. On Friday, April 22 he will give a master class – available via delayed streaming – that will illuminate his approach to interpretation and his unique vision of the art of piano playing. The next day, on April 23, medici.tv will offer a live webcast of Yundi’s highly anticipated concert at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA). The venue’s orchestra, under the direction of conductor Zuohuang Chen, will join Yundi for Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Yundi will also perform solo works by the composer with whom he is most closely associated, Frédéric Chopin – including three nocturnes and the Heroic Polonaise , Op. 53 – as well as Liszt’s Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. The concert, part of the NCPA’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of Liszt’s birth, will also include Zuohuang Chen leading the orchestra ...

New three-year agreement paves the way for a sustainable future and meaningful programming for Colorado Symphony and the communities it serves The Colorado Symphony today announced that it has ratified a new three-year agreement with the Denver Musicians Association – Local 20-623 of the American Federation of Musicians in Denver, Colorado – on behalf of the musicians of the Colorado Symphony. The new agreement paves the way for the Colorado Symphony to finish institutional visioning work and launch an intensive long-range planning process. In addition, new community-focused concerts and educational programming will remain a focus, all the while continuing plans for the renovation of Boettcher Concert Hall and the search for a new music director.

The Boston Pops and Keith Lockhart present a highly anticipated Family Concert Saturday, May 14, at 3 p.m. featuring the multi-talented Byron Stripling on trumpet and vocals, as well as performances by several local youth musicians. Certain to encourage aspiring young musicians in the audience, the Varsity Girls, a Boston-based teenage vocal quartet, lend their pop harmonies to the orchestra; Jackson Mann, a Boston Arts Academy senior, receives the distinct honor of leading the orchestra in its signature work, The Stars and Stripes Forever, and Gergana Haralampieva, winner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition performs a piece with the Pops. Appropriate for children of all ages, the Family Concert will include youth-friendly selections from Harry Potter, Star Wars, and E.T. Families and children will also be introduced to the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, and Mahalia Jackson, when the charismatic Byron Stripling takes to the stage to pay tribute to these t...

Long before the hit television program GLEE! created a national obsession with a cappella singing, the vocals-only, five-member ensemble Rockapella was entertaining audiences around the world with their full-band sound. Rockapella will perform at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall on Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. Editor’s Note: The BSO will not be performing on this program. Rockapella first gained fame on the popular children’s TV show “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” as the voices behind the familiar theme song and the show’s resident comedy troupe and vocal house band. Known for their full-band sound, the five-man band has changed members over its more than 20 year existence, and currently features High Tenor Scott Leonard, Vocal Percussionist Jeff Thatcher, Bass George Baldi III, Tenor John K. Brown and Tenor Steven Dorian.

“The perfect 21st-century diva – an effortless combination of glamour, charisma, intelligence, grace, and talent.” – New York Times Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato – coming off rave reviews for her role debut as Isolier in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Rossini’s rarely-seen Le comte Ory – takes to the Met stage again on May 7-13 to make her house role debut as the Composer in Richard Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos . At a recent Met Q&A, the ever-effervescent singer talked about the Composer – a “trouser role” like Isolier, but from a completely different musical world: “I’ve sung the Composer before and it speaks very strongly to me – he is ardent and naïve and purposeful,” she explained. “Strauss sketched him so perfectly that I only need to sing what’s on the page and he will hopefully spring to life!” About the role’s being “a perfect part” for her, she added: “I think it’s that combination of innocence and dedication to music. ‘Sein wir wieder gut’ [Let’s Be Fri...

Tickets are on sale now for unforgettable concert featuring R&B icons Boyz II Men with the Colorado Symphony The Colorado Symphony today announced that Boyz II Men, the best-selling R&B group of all time, will join the Colorado Symphony for one night only on Sunday, June 5. This concert event, led by resident conductor Scott O'Neil and featuring Boyz II Men members Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris, and Shawn Stockman, promises to be a night of unforgettable melodies, touching ballads and a capella harmonies. Since "End of the Road" hit number-one in 1992, the Grammy® Award-winning ensemble has gone on to sell more than 60 million recordings. Named Billboard Magazine's most successful musical group of the 1990s, Boyz II Men is beloved for hits such as "I'll Make Love to You," "On Bended Knee," "It's So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday," "4 Seasons Of Loneliness," "A Song for Mama" and "One Sweet Day...

This Eastertide program begins with Wagner's Prelude and "Good Friday Spell" from Parsifal, about the famous knight in search of the Holy Grail. These spiritual works are a perfect way to celebrate the season. The program's centerpiece is Mendelssohn's sparkling A Midsummer Night's Dream , complete with actors reading from Shakespeare's comedy. Andrew Grams, conductor (more) Colorado Children's Chorale / Deborah DeSantis, director (more) Katherine Whyte, soprano (more) Michelle Areyzaga , soprano (more) Leigh Miller, actor Shelly Gaza, actor WAGNER / Prelude to Parsifal WAGNER / "Good Friday Spell" from Parsifal MENDELSSOHN / A Midsummer Night's Dream

The London Symphony Orchestra performs Leonard Bernstein’s Candide in concert on 5 June conducted by Kristjan Järvi. The stellar cast includes Andrew Staples as Candide, Kiera Duffy as Cunegonde, Jeremy Williams as Pangloss, Marcus Deloach as Maximillian and Kim Criswell as Old Lady, alongside David Robinson, Sarah Jane McMahon, Jeffrey Tucker, Ross Benoliel, Jason Switzer, Michael Scarcelle and Peter Tantsits. The LSO has a significant history with Bernstein’s operetta, having performed and recorded the work in 1989, memorably conducted by Leonard Bernstein in his final concert appearances in London. Sunday 5 June 2011, 7pm Barbican Hall BERNSTEIN Candide (concert performance) Kristjan Järvi conductor London Symphony Orchestra London Symphony Chorus Cast: Andrew Staples Candide Kiera Duffy Cunegonde Kim Criswell Old Lady Jeremy Huw Williams Pangloss, Martin David Robinson Governer, Vanderdendur, Ragotski Marcus Deloach Maximilan, Captain Kristy Swift Paquette Jeffr...

Rossini's Cinderella ( La Cenerentola ) lights up the stage of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House for four performances, April 30 through May 8, 2011. Cinderella is Rossini's take on the traditional fairytale about a young girl who yearns for true love. In this version, Cinderella is known as Angelina. She toils away while under the thumb of her stepfather, Don Magnifico, and her vain stepsisters. When Angelina offers kindness to a stranger, her fate is forever altered as she is whisked away to the ball and becomes the woman who captures the prince's heart. In this version of the story, Angelina's transformation is brought about not by supernatural powers, but through the magic of music. The sets and costumes for this performance were created by late opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988), one of the giants of international opera culture. Ponnelle created this production for San Francisco Opera and it has been a perennial favorite with that company for generatio...

The Boston Pops Orchestra and Keith Lockhart celebrate the opening of the 2011 season in style when Broadway darling Linda Eder takes the stage for a tribute to the music of Judy Garland, singing such favorites as “Me and My Shadow,” “Zing! Went the Strings of My Heart,” and “Over the Rainbow.” This Boston Pops opening night program on Wednesday, May 11, at 8 p.m.—heralding the start of the 126th Boston Pops season—opens with Peter Boyer’s “Silver Fanfare,” followed by a medley of Gershwin hits including “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “The Man I Love,” and a Sound of Music Sing-Along, featuring “My Favorite Things,” “Edelweiss,” and “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.” In the spirit of the festive opening of the Boston Pops spring season, Keith Lockhart invites audience members to attend the concert dressed as their favorite Sound of Music character. The first 20 patrons who enter the doors dressed in character will be invited to sing from the stage of Symphony Hall, accompanied by Keith Lockhar...

German tenor Jonas Kaufmann has recently returned to the US after an absence of almost a year and is poised to once again grab the attention of opera fans. On Friday, April 22, Kaufmann will make his role debut as Siegmund in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Wagner’s Die Walküre . In addition, Kaufmann was presented with an Opera News Award this past Sunday and yesterday Decca released his all-new album, Verismo , as well as a new DVD of Tosca . Die Walküre , the next installment in the Metropolitan Opera’s new Ring cycle which is directed by Robert Lepage, receives its premiere performance on Friday, April 22. For this highly anticipated event Jonas Kaufmann will sing the role of Siegmund in a cast that also includes fellow Universal recording artist Bryn Terfel and sopranos Deborah Voigt and Eva-Maria Westbroek. The opera will be broadcast as part of the Met’s Live in HD series on May 14 which will be the first time Kaufmann has appeared in one of these transmissions.

Colorado Symphony bucking national trend of arts organizations; credits reorganization, new programming for success The Colorado Symphony today announced new box office figures revealing that the organization is experiencing a renaissance across all programs and is experiencing record-breaking earned revenues during the 2010/11 season. Symphony officials credit this hard-won economic momentum, documented through ticket sales and audience growth, to the organization's overhaul of both administrative and concert programs during the past 18 months. From its online presence to ticket pricing and seating strategies, as well as the addition of the new Inside the Score series and a bold approach to Pops programming, the Symphony has left no stone unturned when it comes to enhancing product delivery and improving offerings for the community. "We can credit changes made in administration, marketing and programming with a true renaissance for the Colorado Symphony in terms of record-...

Pianist Yefim Bronfman and LSO Principal Trumpet Philip Cobb are soloists in two performances of Shostakovich’s Concerto for Trumpet, Piano and Strings, with the London Symphony Orchestra and Valery Gergiev on 12 & 15 May in the Barbican. The programme is completed by Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 3 (‘Polish’) and Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No.2. Grammy Award-winning pianist Yefim (“Fima”) Bronfman has wowed critics and audiences worldwide with his solo recitals, prestigious orchestral engagements, and expanding catalogue of recordings, being especially admired for his performances of modern Russian repertory. Thursday 12 & Sunday 15 May, 7.30pm, Barbican Hall SHOSTAKOVICH Concerto for Trumpet, Piano and Strings SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Concerto No 2 TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No 3 ('Polish') Valery Gergiev conductor Yefim Bronfman piano Philip Cobb trumpet London Symphony Orchestra Tickets: £8 - £32 Secure online booking at lso.co.uk (booking fee) Box office: 020 76...

Images from the video game series to be projected above the stage As part of its summer concert series, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will present a new program, FINAL FANTASY, and will be joined by the Handel Choir of Baltimore on Saturday, July 30, 2011 at 7:30 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Stunning graphics from FINAL FANTASY I through XIV will be projected on a screen above the stage as the BSO performs this video game’s most popular music written by Japanese composer, Nobuo Uematsu, such as FFVI: Opera Maria & Draco, FFVIII: “Liberi Fatali,” and FFVII: “Opening Bombing Mission”. “Distant Worlds: music from FINAL FANTASY” concerts also feature select music by FINAL FANTASY XIII composer Masashi Hamauzu and new scores by Nobuo Uematsu from the latest release, FINAL FANTASY XIV. Special $150 tickets will include premium seating and a post-concert meet and greet with Arnie Roth and Nobuo Uematsu.

In the final public program of its 75th anniversary season, the Metropolitan Opera Guild pays tribute to one of the most celebrated singers of the 20th century: Dame Joan Sutherland, who died last October at the age of 83. “Stupenda! A Loving Tribute to Dame Joan Sutherland” will take place at New York City’s Town Hall on Tuesday, May 17, at 7:30pm. Marilyn Horne, a legend in her own right and one of Dame Joan’s most cherished colleagues and friends, will host the all-star celebration. Joining her to speak will be five other great Met stars: Martina Arroyo, Sherrill Milnes, James Morris, Samuel Ramey, and Regina Resnik. Richard Bonynge, renowned conductor and widower of Dame Joan, will be the evening’s special guest, offering his own reminiscences of his extraordinary wife. The evening will include the screening of a new video biography of Dame Joan, as well as a generous sampling of video clips from her greatest performances, many of them rare selections from the personal archiv...

On this Sunday, April 17, René Pape makes his role debut as Wotan in Wagner’s Die Walküre at the Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim. Of the compelling, very human qualities Wotan possesses, Pape says: “There is something about Wotan’s plight, wanting control and love, that I think most of us recognize; we see how hard it is, perhaps impossible, to have both.” Welcoming the German bass’s combination of sensitivity and authority in the role, after his debut in Das Rheingold at La Scala last May, Germany’s Die Welt anticipated that his portrayal of Wotan would “change the perception of this Wagner character for decades to come.” Pape’s important Walküre debut comes just two days after the European release of his most recent Deutsche Grammophon recording, Wagner. Also featuring Barenboim and the Berlin Staatskapelle, the new disc is a dream release for fans of both Pape and the music of Richard Wagner; it includes excerpts from such signature roles as Gurnemanz and the Rhein...

Music/Words , an interdisciplinary series founded and curated by NYC-based pianist Inna Faliks , continues its third season on Friday, April 29, at 6pm with a performance at New York’s Cornelia Street Café featuring Faliks at the piano along with violinist Sharan Leventhal and readings by Susan Miller and LB Thompson, poets. The varied program will include Schubert’s Sonata in a minor opus 143, Concert Piece (1959) by Seymour Shifrin (1926-1979), and Ravel’s Sonata for violin and piano. The Cornelia Street Café (www.corneliastreetcafe.com) is located at 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village, NYC. Tickets are $20 and are available by calling 212-989-9319

Program to include Mahler’s arrangements of Schumann’s First Symphony and Manfred Overture Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) Music Director Marin Alsop will lead the BSO in an all-Schumann concert to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth on Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 15 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The works to be performed include Mahler’s arrangements of Schumann’s Symphony No. 1, “Spring” and Manfred Overture. Also on the program will be Schumann’s Symphony No. 2. Schumann composed his first symphony in 1841, following his recent blissful and long-awaited marriage to the talented piano virtuoso Clara Wieck. His bride reported that it was the poetry of Schumann’s friend Adolph Böttger, about a lover longing for spring, which inspired the work’s opening fanfare, earning it the nickname “Spring.” The BSO will perform Gustav Mahler’s arrangement of Schumann’s First Symphony. A genius at composing lieder, Schumann’s ability as an or...

Barenboim is Recorded as a Pianist in Two Albums Devoted to the Works of Chopin Daniel Barenboim, known around the world for his work as both pianist and conductor, has entered a far reaching affiliation with Deutsche Grammophon and Decca and will record and release a number of albums over time. The first two releases, both on Deutsche Grammophon and both showcasing Barenboim as pianist, focus on Chopin and will be released in the US on May 3, 2011. Barenboim as a conductor will be featured on the upcoming Decca release of Tchaikovsky and Schoenberg, available June 7, 2011. This past Friday, Barenboim captivated London with a surprise concert and talk at the Tate Modern. “The standing ovation began before Daniel Barenboim had played a note,” reported The Guardian. A crowd of 1,100 who had only learned of the impromptu event three days earlier gathered to hear the great artist and humanitarian as he celebrated 60 years of performing with an all-Chopin recital in Tate Modern’s ca...

The Met: Live in HD presents Strauss’s Capriccio starring Renée Fleming, in movie theaters on Saturday, April 23, 2011 at 1:00 pm ET. Renée Fleming sang the final scene of Strauss’s wise and worldly meditation on art and life as part of the Met’s 2008 opening night gala, but this run of Capriccio marks her first time singing the complete role of the Countess at the Met. Ms. Fleming has been praised for how well suited the role is to her voice and The New York Times wrote that she sang “splendidly.” The Associated Press remarked that “her performance has a grace and charisma that are quite winning… Fleming is at her best [in the final scene], bringing to life the poignant dilemma of a woman who must choose between two suitors and in doing so pronounce a verdict on their art.” For fans for Renée Fleming, this is an opera not to be missed. The Countess in Capriccio is Ms. Fleming’s twenty-first role at the Met and her third Strauss heroine. Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, and Sarah ...

Sometimes the elements in the cosmos just come together This week I gave a presentation on the commercial music influence on classical music --commercial music being all types of music that don't fall into the category of classical music, or music written for commercial gain. Before we get too far afield with arguing over that definition, for a moment accept the definition to understand the events of the week. Ok, I gave this presentation which basically said, folk, jazz and other 'popular' forms of music have long be a traditional influence on classical music. So, why should we separate them into categories, or refuse one because it has 'pop' references or styling as opposed to another??? Again, let's not lose track of the events of the week by arguing this point.... Another conversation I had this week was talking about the performance practice of musicians and it struck me that jazz musicians don't spend so much time worried about being ...

In-Depth Survey of Music by Finnish Symphonist Jean Sibelius and His Contemporaries (Aug 12–14; Aug 19–21) Is Centerpiece of Seven-Week 2011 Bard SummerScape Festival Described by the Los Angeles Times as “uniquely stimulating,” the world-renowned Bard Music Festival returns for its 22nd annual season, filling the last two weekends of Bard SummerScape 2011 with a compelling and enlightening exploration of “Sibelius and His World.” Twelve concert programs over the two mid-August weekends, complemented by pre-concert lectures, panel discussions, expert commentary, a symposium, and a special film screening, make up Bard’s examination of Jean Sibelius, the composer once condescendingly dismissed as “easy listening” yet now embraced by audiences and critics alike as one of Beethoven’s great heirs. The twelve concerts present masterpieces from Sibelius’s orchestral and choral oeuvre, as well as many of his chamber, keyboard, and vocal works, alongside a wealth of music from almost 40 of ...

Conductor Andrews Grams leads Colorado Symphony in Eastertide program featuring soprano Katherine Whyte and soprano Michelle Areyzaga Escape into the wondrous fantasy world of Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Colorado Symphony on Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23 as young American conductor Andrew Grams leads the orchestra in a special Eastertide program. The evening begins with Wagner's Prelude and Good Friday Spell from Parsifal, an opera about the famous knight in search of the Holy Grail. Parsifal, which Wagner called a "stage-consecration-festival play," is rich in philosophical allusion, mystical symbolism and historical reference. The concert's centerpiece is Mendelssohn's magical A Midsummer Night's Dream, featuring soprano Katherine Whyte, soprano Michelle Areyzaga and the Colorado Children's Chorale. Actors Shelly Gaza and Leigh Miller will read passages from Shakespeare's comedy to bring the melodrama to li...

To Be Released on DVD, May 24 “A singular harmonic convergence is recounted in Music Makes A City , Owsley Brown III and Jerome Hiler’s enlightening documentary about how Louisville, KY., became a locus for contemporary music in the mid-20th century. In striking synchronicity, a mayor, a conductor, and a robust postwar generation of composers intersected to make the city a hub for visionary composition” – New York Times On May 24, Music Makes a City , a “tale of artistic vision” (Symphony), will be released on DVD. The feature-length documentary film tells a tale of civic aspiration, cultural ingenuity, and how Louisville, Kentucky became the world's unlikely capital of new music in the 1950s. According to Sedgwick Clark, of MusicalAmerica.com, “anyone interested in classical music should see this uplifting story of American ingenuity at its best.” In 1948, a small, struggling, semi-professional orchestra in Louisville, Kentucky began a novel project to commission new works ...

To close out its 2010-11 season, Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS presents two great collaborations in its annual Michael Palm Series of house concerts in New York City. On April 6, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, fresh from portraying Fricka in Das Rheingold at the Metropolitan Opera, will present a recital with pianist Warren Jones. The series closes on May 4, when Gramophone’s “Artist of the Year” mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato joins forces for a duo recital with pianist Jeremy Denk, whose recent solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall’s Isaac Stern Auditorium won high praise. Both concerts will be held at the magnificent Tribeca loft apartment of longtime Classical Action supporters Simon Yates and Kevin Roon. Tickets for all concerts in the series can be purchased online at www.classicalaction.org or by calling (212) 997-7717. Stephanie Blythe, recently called “vocally sumptuous” by the New York Times , is performing her first concert for Classical Action. Although ...

Rossini's Cinderella ( La Cenerentola ) lights up the stage of the Ellie Caulkins Opera House for four performances, April 30 through May 8, 2011. Cinderella is Rossini's take on the traditional fairytale about a young girl who yearns for true love. In this version, Cinderella is known as Angelina. She toils away while under the thumb of her stepfather, Don Magnifico, and her vain stepsisters. When Angelina offers kindness to a stranger, her fate is forever altered as she is whisked away to the ball and becomes the woman who captures the prince's heart. In this version of the story, Angelina's transformation is brought about not by supernatural powers, but through the magic of music. The sets and costumes for this performance were created by late opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932-1988), one of the giants of international opera culture. Ponnelle created this production for San Francisco Opera and it has been a perennial favorite with that company for generatio...

TO PARTICIPATE UPLOAD A VIDEO OF A PERFORMANCE OF “OVER THE RAINBOW” TO YOUTUBE AND EMAIL A LINK OF THE YOUTUBE VIDEO WITH CONTACT INFO TO OVERTHERAINBOW@BSO.ORG The Boston Pops is inviting singers and music fans from around the country to submit video renditions of “Over the Rainbow” for possible inclusion in a video collage to be shown at Boston Pops performances throughout the 2011 Boston Pops season, May 11-June 26. Participants of all ages can submit video of themselves singing all or part of “Over the Rainbow,” by uploading a video to YouTube and emailing a link, contact info, and geographical location to overtherainbow@bso.org. Videos chosen to be part of the “Over the Rainbow” season-long video collage will also be featured on the Boston Pops YouTube channel and on the Boston Pops website www.bostonpops.org . All video submissions are due by Tuesday, April 26, 2011. “Whether an amateur, professional, or just a shower singer, we hope singers of every age and level of ability...

Original Score by Grammy-winning Composer James Newton Howard Sony Classical is excited to announce the release of the original motion picture soundtrack of Water for Elephants , featuring an original score by acclaimed composer James Newton Howard, available April 19, 2011. Directed by Francis Lawrence, Water for Elephants stars Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson, Christoph Waltz and Hal Holbrook. One of the most highly anticipated films of 2011, Water for Elephants opens nationwide April 22. With his rich variety of experience, James Newton Howard was the ideal choice of composer for a score to match the color, excitement and emotional intensity of Water for Elephants. A powerful, epic tale of forbidden love, based on the acclaimed #1 best seller, the film is about an idealistic young man who finds his destiny in a magical place filled with adventure, wonder and great danger. To complement the sounds of a 1930s circus, Howard has supplemented his magical score with four son...

A Passionate Tribute to the Music of his Native South America The South American bass-baritone Erwin Schrott, who gained international notoriety with his convincing interpretations of Mozart roles (as Don Giovanni, Leporello and Figaro), is now considered one of the leading opera stars of his generation. Erwin Schrott releases Rojotango, his Sony Classical debut album devoted to the music of Latin America on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. Rojotango is a highly personal album for Erwin Schrott and presents a new facet of his vocal artistry. The recording features tangos by Astor Piazzolla and Pablo Ziegler, as well as folk songs from Argentina and Brazil. Schrott reveals a passion for the music that he has known since his early childhood - music that for him symbolizes home and has helped shape him as a man and a musician. The dark, velvety and sensuous timbre of his voice seems destined to explore the passion, melancholy and erotic power of tango. Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Erwin...

Pianist and Schumann scholar Dr. Richard Kogan joins Alsop to discuss Schumann’s genius and mental illness Music Director Marin Alsop leads the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in an Off the Cuff series presentation, Schumann’s Beautiful Mind , on Friday, May 13 at 8:15 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore and Saturday, May 14 at 7 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Renowned Schumann scholar Dr. Richard Kogan will join Maestra Alsop to explore Schumann’s beautiful mind—one tormented by his bi-polar disorder, and yet still able to continue his work. Dr. Kogan will perform and discuss selections from Schumann’s beloved piano work Carnaval . Also on the program are selections from Schumann’s Second Symphony. The BSO’s Off the Cuff series offers a fresh take on classical music by exploring the lives of the composers, making the performances entertaining and engaging for music enthusiasts of any level. Robert Schumann—among the Romantic era’s most ingenious and prolific composer...

Scenes from favorite musicals like Oklahoma! and The King and I will be shown on a screen above the Orchestra Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Principal Pops conductor Jack Everly leads the BSO in a performance of the music scores from Rodgers & Hammerstein’s most popular movie musicals in Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies on Thursday, May 19, 2011 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore, Friday, May 20, 2011 at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 21, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 22, 2011 at 3 p.m. at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Music from Oklahoma! , The King and I , South Pacific , The Sound of Music and Carousel will be played while spectacular re-mastered clips are shown on a screen above the orchestra.

The complete list of presenters at the sixth annual Opera News Awards, which will take place on April 17 at The Plaza in New York City, has been announced: beloved singer Barbara Cook will present the award to tenor Jonas Kaufmann; iconic film director Francis Ford Coppola will present to conductor Riccardo Muti; legendary soprano Renata Scotto will present to soprano Patricia Racette; conductor Andrew Davis will present to soprano Kiri Te Kanawa; and award-winning playwright John Guare will present to bass-baritone Bryn Terfel. Acclaimed mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and Broadway favorite Patti LuPone will co-host the gala event. Always a night of extraordinary star-power and glamour, the Opera News Awards gala evening will once again bring together a bevy of New York’s cultural and social luminaries. The Opera News Awards gala will feature the celebrity presenters speaking about the awardees, as well as introducing video clips for each. Tributes to the five awardees, all of the...

Composer Gabriel Prokofiev, best known for his nonclassical club-nights, genre-busting remixes and edgy string quartets, curates a programme using instruments and objects not normally associated with classical music at LSO St Luke’s on 17 May, part of the UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica series. Echoes of Stravinsky, Berio and Reich, combined with driving syncopations and sparse beats, will be heard on electric guitars, turntables, oil drums, soda bottles and a set of eight loud speakers. The programme of Gabriel Prokofiev compositions includes Concerto for Turntables and Orchestra (special three turntable version), import/export – Suite for Global Junk , and a world premiere for cello and eight loud speakers. Performers include Powerplant (Joby Burgess, percussion; Kathy Hinde, visuals; Matthew Fairclough, sound engineer); Sam Cave, Alastair Putt, Tom Ellis, Matthew Robinson on electric guitars; cellist Peter Gregson and DJ Switch on turntables. From 9.30pm downstairs in the LSO St ...