Interchanging Idioms

Music Director Franz Welser-Möst and The Cleveland Orchestra announce the appointment of Principal Cello Mark Kosower. He will join the Orchestra in July at the beginning of the 2010 Blossom Festival, in the Louis D. Beaumont Endowed Chair. Mark Kosower has appeared internationally as soloist with many orchestras, including the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, the China National Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, the Kansai Philharmonic in Japan, the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic Orchestra in South Africa, and the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra. In North America, he has appeared as a soloist with the symphony orchestras of Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minnesota , North Carolina, Oregon, Phoenix, and Seattle, amongst others, and with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Ravinia Festival Orchestra. Mr. Kosower’s solo recitals include appearances at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, Berlin’s Komische Oper, Be...

Music Director Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra today unveiled plans for their eighth season together, highlights of which include a Mid-Winter Mozart Festival spotlighting an array of the composer’s symphonies, concertos, choral works and chamber music, culminating in a semi-staged production of the beloved opera The Magic Flute ; performance cycles of the Brahms and Rachmaninoff symphonies; visits by acclaimed soloists including Grammy Award-winning cellist Truls Mørk, pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet and violinists Viktoria Mullova and Lisa Batiashvili, as well as Minnesota pianists Lydia Artymiw and Andrew Staupe ; the continuation of a Beethoven piano concertos recording project with soloist Yevgeny Sudbin; and a new initiative to record Sibelius’ Second and Fifth Symphonies. The season will also feature solo turns by five Orchestra musicians; appearances by nine accomplished guest conductors, including Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Music Director Marin Alsop and the Orchestra’s...

Post a comment on Interchanging Idioms for your chance to win Gravity Radio - to tell us WHY you think this CD is a glimpse at the future of music. Composer, filmmaker, director and solo performer Mikel Rouse released his new album, Gravity Radio (Exit Music 1012) on Tuesday, November 3 on iTunes and at all major retailers. A live performance of Gravity Radio will tour to New Orleans, New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Toronto, Ireland, and Spain in 2010. However, you can get your copy FREE here at Interchanging Idioms by writing a comment. Gravity Radio features music for string quartet, singers, guitarist, bass, drums and keyboard soaring above and intertwining with ethereal shortwave radio static. Through this texture, a voice (that of Veanne Cox) cuts intermittently with scattershot reports from the AP newswire - stories from the Iraq war, statistics for cell phone usage, plastic surgery, professional football and the economy. The music is immediately familiar and comfortin...

Nominations on Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Highlight Immense Range of Both Music and Musicians It has been Interchanging Idiom's pleasure to work with Universal Music and Deautsche Grammophone in reviewing releases of their various artists. Their continual demand for the best in every aspect of production is reflected in their repeat nominations. Universal Music Classical, which includes the Decca and Deutsche Grammophon labels, has earned 10 GRAMMY® nominations across a variety of categories. From music of the 15th century to contemporary compositions, these 10 releases demonstrate Universal’s continued commitment to recording great music with great artists. The artists represented in the nominations equally display a wide-range of talent from long-established luminaries such as Pierre Boulez, Maria João Pires, The Emerson Sring Quartet and Anne Sofie von Otter to world-class artists at the height of their careers such as Renée Fleming, Juan Diego Flórez and Esa-Pekka Sal...

Steamed at www.Q2live.org Q2, WQXR’s vibrant new 24/7 music stream dedicated to contemporary classical music, kicks off its first full festival, MAXIMUM REICH: A Celebration of Steve Reich, from December 10 - 16. This weeklong immersion into the work of one of the most landscape-changing composers of the last 50 years will include a comprehensive presentation of his recorded works; explorations of the influences both on and of Reich, including tributes from musicians and composers he has inspired, such as Nico Muhly, Sonic Youth, and David Lang; recent videos and exclusive downloads; and interviews and music recordings from the venerable archives of WNYC, the new owner of WQXR. MAXIMUM REICH: A Celebration of Steve Reich will stream on Q2 from Thursday, December 10 to Wednesday, December 16. Q2 is available at www.Q2live.org, and can also be accessed through WQXR’s web site, www.wqxr.org . In addition, NPR Music will run the full stream and it will feature highlights from the festi...

Principal CSO Horn player Michael Thornton performed Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 4 With a guest conductor on the podium and a soloist performing a concerto it's difficult to determine which was being showcased. Julian Kuerti (pictured) is the assistant conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine and comes to Colorado with a huge list of recent accolades and accomplishment. Michael Thornton has been the principal horn player for Colorado Symphony Orchestra since 1997 with an equally impressive career. Both gave excellent performances! The concert started with Richard Strauss Don Juan opus 20, a tone poem. Wasting no time with pleasantries, a quick bow to the audience, up to the podium and Bang! the piece took off. Kuerti's enthusiastic start included attention to each element of the orchestra as the piece unfolds. Using a variety of gestures, he swept over each section communicating the subtleties he wanted from the music, building the orchestra t...

DENVER, CO (December 3, 2009) – The Colorado Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and Colorado Public Radio (CPR) announced today that an unprecedented three-day on-air fundraising radio-thon, conducted by CPR on behalf of the CSO, raised $625,758 for the CSO. CSO board members, musicians, chorus members, donors and staff pledged $290,000 in dollar-for-dollar challenge funds prior to the three-day event. A total of 1,933 CPR listeners donated $335,758, resulting in a total matched contribution of $625,758. The drive culminated with CPR's live broadcast of the CSO's sold-out performance with musical icon Yo-Yo Ma last night at Boettcher Concert Hall. “We cannot thank our listeners enough. Their generosity demonstrates the importance of the CSO as one of the most significant cultural arts organizations in Colorado,” - CPR President Max Wycisk. CSO President and CEO James W. Palermo said, “The collaborative spirit of CPR and its generous listeners builds on the wonderful work the CSO musi...