Author Archive for shiragilbert – Page 15

Virginia Arts Festival 2012 ~ a spectacular array of performances from April 16 through June 28

Posted by shiragilbert on
 April 17, 2012
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The Virginia Arts Festival opened its 16th season last night at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk with the glorious Renée Fleming, in her only US recital this season. The Festival, which runs through June 28, presents a spectacular array of events, presenting more than 58 performances in venues throughout southeastern Virginia. Offering an unparalleled breadth of performances, from a rare stage performance by iconic actor Al Pacino and the matchless grace of American Ballet Theatre‘s Giselle to the unforgettable spectacle of the Virginia International Tattoo, the Festival is an enticing cultural destination for visitors from across the United States and around the world.

Also this season is Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand”  with over 500 musicians under the under the baton of Virginia Symphony Music Director JoAnn Falletta; banjo legend Béla Fleck, reunited with the original Flecktones; while Randy Jackson and the Virginia Symphony join forces for a spectacular Music Of Pink Floyd, complete with laser light show. Only at the Virginia Arts Festival will you also find the Flying Proms Symphonic Air Show Spectacular, merging symphonic music with amazing maneuvers by vintage airplanes, and, in a magical day out for the whole family, Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals overtakes the Virginia Zoo, with music as the guide across 53 acres of enchanting zoo exhibits.

For a complete schedule and information about many more featured artists and performances, please see: www.vafest.org

Over the Stone: A Welsh Celebration with Bryn Terfel & Catrin Finch

Posted by shiragilbert on
 April 15, 2012
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Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) will welcome “Queen of Harps” Catrin Finch and Metropolitan Opera star Bryn Terfel for a Welsh Celebration at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday, April 22at 7:00pm. This stirring evening of music will feature Karl Jenkins’ harp concerto Over the Stone, conducted by DCINY Artistic Director Jonathan Griffith.  Over the Stone, commissioned at the request of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and premiered by Finch and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the presence of the Prince, includes quotations from the Welsh folk song Tros y garreg (Over the Stone) as well as the Welsh national anthem.

“The Queen of Harps … Catrin has done more than anyone in harp history to bring her instrument to a wider public”, says Classic FM. At her Carnegie Hall debut The New York Times commented, “With one touch of the strings … she pulverised the stereotype of harpists as pretty, angelic strummers.” Catrin Finch will join Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel, one of the great singers of our time, in a selection of Welsh folk songs. Mr. Terfel appears with DCINY by the kind permission of the Metropolitan Opera.

The program also includes Haydn’s joyous St. Nicholas Mass and Joseph Martin’s The Awakening, conducted by Richard W. Weymuth, and a special appearance by the acclaimed New York choral group KHORIKOS.

Info: www.DCINY.org

Tickets: www.lincolncenter.org

Deutsche Grammophon Salutes Maurizio Pollini On His 70th Birthday

Posted by shiragilbert on
 March 23, 2012
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“…his playing is powerful and precise, driven by a probing intellect and executed with steely, virtually infallible fingers.”

—The New York Times

A pianist of power and precision who brings out the panoramic architecture of old and new music alike, Maurizio Pollini’s illustrious recorded legacy on the Yellow Label, which began in 1971, is celebrated this year on his 70th birthday, with three beautiful limited-edition box sets. For at least two generations, Maurizio Pollini’s fastidious technical standards, unflappable consistency, uncompromising programs of wide-ranging repertoire, and fierce determination to serve the composer first and foremost have represented the modern pianist’s gold standard.

The Art of Maurizio Pollini chronicles the breadth of Pollini’s performance and recording career, chosen personally by the artist. The 3-CD, deluxe hardcover set consists of complete works ranging from Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Chopin’s op. 25 Études to complete concertos by Beethoven and Mozart.  A remarkable bonus is the 1960 performance of Chopin’s First Piano Concerto from the International Chopin Competition in Warsaw – a performance that ensured Pollini’s victory at the age of 18. On that occasion, the great Arthur Rubinstein, who was on the jury, proclaimed, “that boy plays the piano technically better than any of us.” Pollini will perform this very concerto with Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra on May 17th and 19th in Philadelphia, and May 18th at Carnegie Hall.

More than any other leading pianist of the second half of the 20th century, Maurizio Pollini has made a point of championing new music. The remarkable 20th Century box set includes, on 6 CDs, Pollini’s debut for the Yellow Label and works from Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Webern, Boulez, Nono, Manzoni, Schoenberg, Bartók and Debussy.

From the outset of Maurizio Pollini’s career, his name and Frédéric Chopin’s have been intimately linked. The 9-CD Chopin box includes complete recordings of Études, Préludes, Polonaises, Sonatas nos. 2 & 3, Nocturnes and much more.

Maurizio Pollini in Recital:

Sunday, April 22 at 3:00pm    Boston, Symphony Hall

Sunday, April 29 at 3:00pm    New York, CarnegieHall

Sunday, May 6 at 3:00pm       New York, Carnegie Hall

Sunday, May 13 at 3:00pm     Chicago, Symphony Center

Maurizio Pollini with Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra

Thursday, May 17 & Saturday, May 19  at 8:00pm      Philadelphia, Kimmel Center

Friday, May 18 at 8:00pm       New York, Carnegie Hall

 

Cuban Virtuoso Jorge Luis Prats Returns to the International Stage Following a 30-Year Absence

Posted by shiragilbert on
 March 15, 2012
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Hailed as a long-lost virtuoso in the grand tradition, Cuban pianist Jorge Luis Prats makes a stunning Decca debut with a live recital in Zaragoza, Spain, due for US release on April 3rd. A prodigiously talented young pianist in the early 1970s, Prats studied in Moscow, Paris and Vienna, winning the Marguerite Long–Jacques Thibaud competition back in 1977 and even making a recital LP for Deutsche Grammophon.  However, visa restrictions meant big opportunities in the West were limited and the young Cuban chose to stay with his family over a career abroad. For more than 30 years, Jorge Luis Prats effectively disappeared from the international piano scene.

Now, in his mid-fifties, Prats has made a triumphant return to the international stage, performing in many of Europe’s major cities including a key recital at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2008. Prats made a 2009 appearance at the Caramoor Festival at which The New York Times praised his “passion and clarity of execution to spare” in Carlos Fariñas’ Alta Gracia, continuing, “Mr. Prats fiercely negotiates the piece’s shifting dynamics — storming the keys one moment, caressing them the next — and, as he does, the twists and turns that have roiled his life seem to bubble freely to the surface.”

Decca’s first opportunity to record Prats was a live recital in the won­derful new hall in Zaragoza in Spain. The program is balanced between the masterpieces and the bonbons of Spanish and Cuban music that are so close to Prats’ heart. The pianist revels in intricacy and luxuriance, while unleashing a storm of brilliance, in five of Enrique Granados’ Goyescas, then shows his passion and aplomb for the vibrancy and intensity of Brazil in Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachiana brasileira no. 4.  Prats delights in a series of encores, with ever-expanding virtuosity in works by three Cuban composers. Says the pianist, “What can I say about Carlos Fariñas, Ignacio Cervantes and Ernesto Lecuona, except that I am
Cuban? This is the music of my home.”

Decca presents Jorge Luis Prats: Live in Zaragoza

 

 

Mercury Living Presence: 50 Classic Albums from the Ground-Breaking America Classical Label

Posted by shiragilbert on
 March 12, 2012
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Sixty years after the landmark label’s first recording, Decca presents Mercury Living Presence: The Collector’s Edition, a gold mine of treasured performances at a remarkable budget price. Long hailed as an audiophile’s label of choice, Mercury Living Presence represents an important milestone in the history of classical recordings: an American company that reproduced some of the most sonically realistic recordings at the dawn of the stereo era.

Precious few stereo LPs were pressed when these recordings were issued, and they became some of the rarest, most collectible classical discs of all time. Mercury Living Presence continues to enjoy a unique reputation as one of the most enterprising, prestigious and sonically-spectacular labels in history.  As The New York Times described of an early release, “one feels oneself in the living presence of the orchestra.”

The elegantly-packaged box set presents 50 original albums, along with their original artwork, drawn from the best in an outstanding catalog. Preceded by only European Classical Labels, Mercury Living Presence was the first to capture many of the great American orchestras and ensembles such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Eastman Wind Ensemble, and Detroit Symphony. As the first American team allowed inside the Soviet Union, the label boasts great recordings from the Osipov State Russian Folk Orchestra and the Moscow Philharmonic. The collection also features such treasures as Janos Starker performing the Bach Cello Suites, and Antal Dorati, conducting the 1812 Overture with an authentic Napoleon-era canon from the US Military Academy. In reviewing the new set for London’s Mail On Sunday, David Mellor praises Dorati’s “tremendous rhythmic elan and penetrating musical intelligence. Every one of his performances of music from Tchaikovsky to Bartok to Stravinsky is a joy.”

Mercury Living Presence The Box Set – YouTube

 

Shining Light: An Illuminating Festival of Concerts Celebrating Composer Morten Lauridsen

Posted by shiragilbert on
 February 27, 2012
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Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents Shining Light, an extraordinary weekend of illuminating events. Encompassing a premiere film screening alongside major concerts at Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, DCINY celebrates the life and music of National Medal of Arts recipient Morten Lauridsen, America’s most frequently performed choral composer.  DCINY will host the New York premiere of the documentary film Shining Night (March 30) and present major works by Lauridsen, who will be in residence throughout the weekend, in concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, conducted by Artistic Director Jonathan Griffith (March 31), and at Carnegie Hall, also featuring music by composer and conductor Eric Whitacre (April 1). This will be a truly a “shining” weekend in tribute to a treasured composer called an “American Choral Master” by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Exploring the relationship of art, nature, and spirituality, Shining Night, a new film by Michael Stillwater, conveys the richness and breadth of composer Morten Lauridsen’s life, with a soundtrack featuring his masterworks. Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout praises Lauridsen’s “radiantly beautiful music,” calling the film “a heartening rarity, a thoroughly intelligent classical-music program that strikes an appropriate balance between words and music.” The screening on Friday, March 30 at 5:30pm will be followed by a Q&A with the composer, filmmaker Michael Stillwater and Eric Whitacre.

On Saturday, March 31, 2:00pm at Avery Fisher Hall, DCINY Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Jonathan Griffith conducts one of
Morten Lauridsen’s seminal works, Lux Aeterna, 15 years after the much-performed work was created. Composed after Lauridsen received news that his mother was dying, Lux Aeterna is a meditation about illumination, searching for peace and reconciliation in the face of death.

Sunday, April 1 at 8:30pm will be a splendid evening of music at Carnegie Hall, conducted by frequent DCINY collaborator and recent Grammy winner Eric Whitacre, one of the most popular and performed composers of our time, and featuring the Distinguished Concert Singers International. Whitacre will conduct works by Morten Lauridsen, with Mr. Lauridsen himself on the piano, as well as a series of his own works.

www.DCINY.org/shininglight

Debut Recording From “Astonishing” 21 Year-Old Exclusive Decca Artist Behzod Abduraimov

Posted by shiragilbert on
 February 24, 2012
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“Electrifying, ” “astonishing” and “magnificent” are just a few of the superlatives that have greeted performances by pianist and exclusive Decca artist Behzod Abduraimov, whose debut recital recording will be released in the U.S. on April 24th, 2012. The extraordinary 21-year-old pianist from Tashkent, Uzbekistan possesses a combination of youthful passion and astounding technique that gives his performances an irresistible, life-enhancing energy. Since his sensational victory in the 2009 London International Piano Competition, at the age  of 18, Abduraimov has received a multitude of invitations to perform with major orchestras around the world.

Showcasing his passionate performance style, Abduraimov’s Decca Classics debut recital is centered around Prokofiev’s Sonata no. 6 with Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre (Liszt/Horowitz arrangement). Following his recital debut at London’s Wigmore Hall in May 2010, The Daily Telegraph called the performance of Prokofiev’s 6th Sonata “heart-stopping – in ways that somehow managed, even in relentless passages of brutal mechanistic bombast, to be musical as well.” And, regarding his Saint-Saëns Danse Macabre with Vladimir Horowitz’s pyrotechnical embellishments, The Independent declared, “the way Abduraimov hurled these fistfuls of notes around, he might have been taking a stroll in the park. And a thought arose: could this fresh-faced child be a new Horowitz?”

Abduraimov’s debuts during the 2011/12 season include Tokyo and Kansas City Symphonies, Canada’s National Arts Center Orchestra, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, and a major tour of Australia. His next US performance will be the Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and conductor Michael Christie on April 26, 27 and 28, 2012.

WATCH: Introducing Behzod Abraimov

Special Guest Clay Aiken joins DCINY’s “Reflections of Life” on February 20 at Carnegie Hall

Posted by shiragilbert on
 February 1, 2012
  · No Comments

Clay AikenDistinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents an evening of choral music celebrating the continuous cycle of life and renewal, including world premieres by James Eakin and Greg Gilpin, on February 20th at Carnegie Hall.  Special guest Clay Aiken will bring his unique presence and vibrancy to host the second half of the concert, narrating several works by award-winning choral composer and arranger Gilpin, who will also conduct. The concert, says Gilpin, is a “vessel in which all generations may join in music, tying together each person’s journey in life.” Since coming to national attention on the second season of American Idol in 2003, Aiken has sold more than six million albums, written a New York Times bestselling memoir, produced and hosted television programs, and starred on Broadway. He joins the cast of this year’s Celebrity Apprentice, premiering on February 19th on NBC.

Info at www.DCINY.org; tickets at www.carnegiehall.org

 

A Weekend of Music in Honour of the Life and Legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. – January 15 & 16

Posted by shiragilbert on
 December 23, 2011
  · No Comments

Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) presents two sublime concerts of choral music on Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, inspired by Dr. King and peacemakers the world over. The concert on Sunday, January 15 at 2pm at Avery Fisher Hall welcomes 2012 with Psalms & Songs for the New Year, featuring John Rutter’s magnificent and emotionally-charged Mass of the Children, Leonard Bernstein’s colourful Chichester Psalms, and Gloria by Randol Bass, with Guest Conductor James M. Meaders. The following evening, Monday, January 16 at 7pm at Carnegie Hall, DCINY presents the WORLD PREMIERE of The Peacemakers by Karl Jenkins, the most performed living classical composer in the world. Over 300 musicians will come together under the baton of Mr. Jenkins to perform this new major work for adult choir, two children’s choirs and orchestra with solo instrumentalists, offering inspiration and solace for a time in need of both. The works weaves together texts from several of the greatest peacemakers throughout history, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Ghandi, The Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Mother Theresa, as well as words from the Bible and the Qu’ran. (The Peacemakers premiere recording will be released by EMI on January 9th.)

www.DCINY.org

Evan Shinners’ @bach LA release party + exclusive video

Posted by shiragilbert on
 December 14, 2011
  · 1 Comment

Pianist Evan Shinners is confouding critics with his debut release @bach, a compilation of two live, unedited, all-Bach concerts.  “This is one hell of a debut,” raves critic George Grella, in his blog The Big City, “not only for the qual­ity, but the ambi­tion and attitude.”  And, Laurence Vittes in The Huffington Post calls @bach “essential” as well as “one of the brattiest Bach recordings to come along since Glenn Gould himself.” @bach has been featured on American Public Media’s Performance Today and, in November, Evan earned raves for his performance in WQXR’s Beethoven Marathon.

Click here for Evan’s exclusive “French Overture” video on KPFK, in advance of the @bach CD release party at The Mint on December 20 at 8pm:

Evan Shinners – French Overture

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