Classical Music Radio Making a Comeback?

Well, probably not in our region. At least not yet. The gist of this article is that while commercial classical FM is dwindling, public stations are picking up the slack.

Monterey Bay listeners have just a few choices. Our two primary listener-supported stations play NPR feed for part of the day, and often play the same feed at the same time. Another local FM station is merely a repeater for BBC news. Yadda yadda. I love the news, but where is classical music, with no commercial interruptions?

Read the full story here =>

Deconstructing J. S. Bach

Soprano Takes Cab From Poland To Royal Opera House

Aleksandra Kurzak is one of many musicians whose ability to travel has been challenged by the volcanic ash cloud. "Last heard, the Dutch Nieuw Ensemble was stuck in Hong Kong, the Asko Ensemble wasn't leaving New York anytime soon, the Ensemble Modern was still in Istanbul and the Dresden Philharmonic was stranded on the Spanish island of Mallorca...."
Bloomberg 04/20/10

Read the article here =>

Beethoven Visits Cleveland

In 1958, the Colossus speaks to an 11-year-old boy

by Harvey Sachs

an article in American Scholar Magazine

Harvey Sachs is a writer, lecturer, music historian, translator, and arts administrator. This essay is adapted from his book The Ninth: Beethoven and the World in 1824, which will be published in June by Random House.

Red the full article here ==>

At Leipzig's Bach Museum, Research Is In The Forefront

Visitors learn about Bach's penmanship, as well as the paper and ink he used. The display even explains how to date a Bach manuscript. But what makes this [newly renovated and expanded] museum unique is the interactive approach it takes to the teaching of its subject matter.
(Wall Street Journal)

Read more ==>

Yow! A Symphonic Weekend!

Last weekend was filled with chamber music and singing voices, and this weekend features treats for lovers of symphony repertoire.

Thanks and many bravos to Max Bragado-Darman and John Larry Granger—and the orchestras they lead—for continuing to bring great orchestral music and first–rate soloists  to our region. This weekend: music by Barber, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Gershwin, Turina, and Ginastera!

The two soloists featured this weekend are particularly dazzling. Visit their fascinating websites (see below for the web addresses).

(You also can read details of both concerts in tomorrow's "Intermezzo" column by Barbara Rose Shuler here.)

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Monterey Symphony Orchestra
Max Bragado-Darman, conductor
Sara Buechner, piano

Sat. March 27 (2 pm)
Dress Rehearsal, Sherwood Hall, Salinas
Sat. March 27 (7 pm)
Concert, Sherwood Hall, Salinas
(Note new Salinas start times)

Sun. March 28 (3 pm)
and Mon. March 29 (8 pm)
Sunset Theater, Carmel

Elgar: Cockaigne Overture, Op.40     (Wiki)
Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F major     (Wiki)
Turina: Rapsodia sinfónica     (about Joachin Turina)
Ginastera: Estancia Suite     (Alberto Ginastera on Wiki)

Symphony website: www.montereysymphony.org/

Sara Buechner website: www.sarabuechner.com

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And across the Bay:

ROMANTIC RHAPSODIES
Santa Cruz County Symphony
John Larry Granger, Conductor
Tessa Lark, violin

Sat. March 27 (8 pm)
Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium

Sun. March 28 (2 pm)
Henry J Mello Center, Watsonville

Barber: Adagio for Strings     (Wiki)
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto     (Wiki)
  with Tessa Lark, Violinist
Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish")     (Mendelssohn on Wiki)

Symphony website: www.santacruzsymphony.com/

Tessa Lark website: www.violinium.com

Two events for lovers of choral singing!

The New Choir and the Santa Cruz Chorale
Music from around the globe, performed by two premiere choral ensembles.

Saturday, March 20, 2010 - 8:00pm
Holy Cross Church
126 High Street, Santa Cruz

Get Directions: Location Map

The New Choir – composed of about twenty five singers from the greater San Francisco Bay Area – is an auditioned chamber choir performing choral works from all genres. The members of the New Choir have been brought together by their common love for the making of beautiful music. The New Choir is dedicated to the study and performance of quality choral literature and sharing the joy and the spiritual enhancement inherent in the making of music.

Join Director Eileen Chang and the New Choir to hear Renaissance masters Monteverdi, Des Prez, Guerrero and Sweelinck, Romantic pieces by Delius, Stanford, Grieg, Rhienberger and Brahms, and Hebrew Love Songs by contemporary California composer, Eric Whitacre; Spirituals and folk songs from Haiti, the Phillipines, India and Korea, including the dramatic story of valiant Koreans defending their homeland from invasion in a powerful setting by California Korean composer, Nah-kum Paik.

The New Choir will be joined by the Santa Cruz Chorale under their director, Christian Grube, for a performance of Heinrich Schütz Psalm 100 for double choir.

Celebrate the Spring Equinox with the delightful, fresh sound of the New Choir.

More concert and ticket information, visit the Santa Cruz Chorale website

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Hart to Heart: Variations on Psalm 42

A workshop for choral singers with Dr. Andrew Megill

March 21, 2010 (Sunday) from 1:00 to 4:00 pm
Monterey Peninsula College Choral Room (MAP)

This is an event all singers should know about.

Andrew Megill is recognized as one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, known for his passionate artistry and unusually wide-ranging repertoire, extending from early music to newly-composed works. He is also Associate Conductor of the Carmel Bach Festival and Director of the Festival Chorale.

Dr. Megill will be presenting four works on the Psalm 42 text “Like as the hart”. He will examine how composers from different centuries and different musical styles compose music around a similar text.  In the process Dr. Megill will help participants explore the changes in singing style that each new century brings. Scores will be provided at the workshop.

    Palestrina (1525-1594):  Sicut cervus
    Handel (~1720): Chandos Anthem
    Mendelssohn (1837): Wie der Hirsch schreit
    Howells (1941): Like as the hart

Admission:    
$15 if signed up before March 19
Register and pay online by clicking here (no surcharge) or call 644-8012.
$25 at door (with no prior sign-up).
21 years and under free.
Participants may attend as singers or observers.

For more information visit the I Cantori website.

Chamber Music Delights

For lovers of instrumental chamber music, great concerts are taking place in Monterey and Santa Cruz this weekend.


Imaginary Intersections: Raga And Raj
Saturday, March 20, 7:30pm
Part of the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival
First Congregational Church, Santa Cruz

In the mysterious Kingdom of Oudh near Calcutta, the fashion of the 1780s turned toward the 'Hindostannie Air', leading British musicians to perform amorous melodies and dance tunes of North India on European instruments.

Barry Phillips, a Ravi Shankar trained composer/performer of classical Indian music, has created a new work for early instruments which re-imagines this historical East-West encounter (world premiere).

Read our previous post about this concert here==>

Or visit the updated Santa Cruz Baroque Festival website www.scbaroque.com/

Light-Hearted Winds
Ensemble Monterey
Mozart, Jacob, Hummel and Beethoven
John Anderson, Conductor and Music Director (photo)

Saturday, March 20, 2010, 8 PM
   Golden State Theatre, Monterey
Sunday, March 21, 2010, 7 PM
   First Congregational Church, Santa Cruz

“Light-Hearted Winds” is a concert of classic delights featuring the wind section of the orchestra in compositions designed for pleasure and enjoyment. Come enjoy Mozart’s spirited overture from The Magic Flute, Beethoven’s lovely Rondino, Hummel’s early romantic-era Octet, Jacob’s Divertimento for Winds and one of Mozart’s most joyful compositions Serenade in E Flat Major.

More information on the Ensemble Monterey Website

Camerata Singers Concert Review!

Surprises sometimes happen in the nicest way!

Only after attending yesterday's concert by the Camerata Singers did I receive the message from Lyn Bronson asking me to review the concert for his Peninsula Reviews Website. I was delighted to oblige!

Read my review of the Camerata Singers concert here ==>

For the Masses!

Camerata Singers and their music director John Koza would be worthy of high praise simply for their wonderful singing and Mr. Koza's wonderful repertoire programming.

But they get a very special extra star in their crown for their "Camerata Futures" program  which each spring puts a group of auditioned high school students in the choir for Camerata's March concerts.

This weekend don't miss this wonderful ensemble in their latest outing "For the Masses!"

The first half of the program includes Mozart’s exciting Missa brevis in D major along with his exquisite Ave verum corpus. The second half features two short gospel pieces by Grayson W. Brown and Robert Ray’s thrilling Gospel Mass.

Friday 8pm St/ Pauls Epicopal Church, Salinas
Saturday 8pm, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Monterey
Sunday 3pm, First United Methodist Church, Pacific Grove

More information on the Camerata Singers website

Why We Make Music

A few years ago I read a wonderful speech given to parents of incoming students at Boston Conservatory by Dr. Karl Paulnack, Director of the Conservatory's Music Division. Among other things, he says:

I have come to understand that music is not part of "arts and entertainment" as the newspaper section would have us believe. It's not a luxury, a lavish thing that we fund from leftovers of our budgets, not a plaything or an amusement or a pass time.

Music is a basic need of human survival. Music is one of the ways we make sense of our lives, one of the ways in which we express feelings when we have no words, a way for us to understand things with our hearts when we can't with our minds.

These words are even more important for us now than they were six years ago when Dr. Paulnack uttered them.

It takes five minutes to read the entire speech.  Here is the complete text, on the Boston Conservatory website

And here is the career bio of this amazing musician.

Click here to download a formatted three-page printable copy (pdf).

‘Hindostannie Air’ - East Meets West in the Kingdom of Oudh

In its next concert on March 20 -- "Imaginary Intersections: Raga & Raj" -- the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival plans to take its audience on an imaginary journey back to late 18th-century India.

In the mysterious Kingdom of Oudh near Calcutta, the fashion of the 1780s turned toward the ‘Hindostannie Air’, leading British musicians to perform amorous melodies and dance tunes of North India on European instruments.

Barry Phillips, a Ravi Shankar trained composer/performer of classical Indian music, has created a new work for early instruments which re-imagines this historical East-West encounter (world premiere). The fruits of this unique project will be premiered by the Baroque Festival's resident ensemble Lux Musica on early European instruments (flute, violin, viola da gamba, harpsichord), together with Barry Phillips on cello, accompanied by tabla (traditional Hindustani drums), tambourine, and finger cymbals.

The development and presentation of this project has been made possible by a grant from the Creative Work Fund of San Francisco, jointly awarded to the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival and Barry Phillips as collaborating artist.

Barry Phillips has written this Artist Statement: "In the past 13 years of assisting Ravi Shankar compose and notate Indian classical music for western instruments in western and Indian notation, I have been personally trained by Mr. Shankar in Hindustani music, both in composition and performance. This eastern musical experience mixes with other musical experiences including my life-long love of the European Baroque — in particular, harpsichord music.
I see this project as an experiment in overlapping time frames, in particular the modern, the experience of mixing Indian and western music by Ravi Shankar and his teacher, Baba Alauddin Khan in the 1940's-50's, and the well-documented musical encounters of eighteenth century Europeans in India with their harpsichords, flutes and fiddles with Indian musicians. This would make the new work more than an historical recreation of an imaginary mixing of east and west in music in eighteenth century India (though this was surely a reality to some extent). From the current musical point of view, it will also be as if all of the above moments can exist freely together."

WHEN: Saturday, March 20, at 7:30pm
WHERE: First Congregational Church (900 High Street, Santa Cruz)  map
More info at www.scbaroque.org

Photo Credit: Lars Johannesson

FREE CONCERT to benefit Shelter Outreach Plus

“Music of the Ages”
This event is a great example of the way musicians and music lovers can come together to create a better, stronger community.

Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm
First United Methodist Church
Pacific Grove  (Click here for Google Maps)

An afternoon of great music with something for everyone. More than 40 musicians will come together for this free musical event, and 100% of all donations will go to help provide safe housing and compassionate support for homeless people in our community.

The concert of talented musicians features the well-known Kevin Jordan Wild Coast Brass Quintet, and organist Barbara Vella, performing great classical music by Mussorgsky, Monteverdi, Strauss, and contemporary composers.

The diverse program ranges from an upbeat arrangement of “La Bamba” with organ and jazz percussion, to high energy gospel choral arrangements from local composer Peter Williams. The amazing grand finale will be the stirring “Gloria” by Popular British composer John Rutter, accompanied by organ, brass ensemble, choir, handbells, and percussion. This work, comissioned by an American choir and first performed in 1974, has become a beloved choral favorite.

By bringing musicians and community together to help end the cycle of homelessness and domestic violence, the participants and organizers of this concert seek to serve a very real, very immediate need. Shelter Outreach Plus offers emergency shelter, transitional housing and other supportive services for men, women and children.

Help support Shelter Outreach Plus with your tax-deductible gifts, all of which will be put to work in our community. Join us for great music performed by gifted and big-hearted musicians, support your friends and your community, and then enjoy a reception following the concert!

Visit the Shelter Outreach Plus website: www.shelteroutreachplus.org

For concert information, contact:
Kathryn Abbott  KathrynJAbbott@sbcglobal.net
Phone: (831) 917-3528

Location Details
First United Methodist Church   (Click here for Google Maps)
915 Sunset Pacific Grove CA 93950 US
Church website: www.butterflychurch.org

Shakespeare's London - the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival

The 2010 Santa Cruz Baroque Festival continues its Grand Tour of Early Music Worlds with a concert featuring renowned early music soprano Julianne Baird.

Shakespeare's London
Saturday, February 20, 7:30pm
UCSC Music Center Recital Hall

Julianne Baird (soprano), Richard Savino (lutes), Linda Burman-Hall (virginals) and Audrey Stanley (Shakespearean reader)

Julianne Baird has been hailed as "one of the most extraordinary voices in the service of early music that this generation has produced. She possesses a natural musicianship which engenders singing of supreme expressive beauty."

This concert will recreate the London of Shakespeare's times with music by Elizabethan composers such as Thomas Morley and Robert Johnson, who worked with Shakespeare to produce their settings, and music of Baroque composers such as Matthew Locke and Thomas Arne.

Julianne Baird is joined by lutenist Richard Savino, and Linda Burman-Hall on virginals, together with poetic Shakespearean interludes by Audrey Stanley (founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare Santa Cruz).

Accompanying this event is a Locavore Artist Dinner with Julianne Baird and Audrey Stanley the following day on Sunday, February 21, at 5:30pm.

For more details visit the  SCBF website: www.scbaroque.org

Visit Julianne Baird's website here>>>

The Monterey Symphony Uncovers Hidden Russian Treasures

Monterey Symphony Orchestra Concert IV

HIDDEN RUSSIAN TREASURES

Saturday February 20
2:00 pm final rehearsal (Note new start time)
7:00 pm - Concert (Note new start time)
Sherwood Hall, Salinas

Sunday February 21, 3:00 pm
Monday February 22, 8:00 pm
Sunset Theater, Carmel

Dmitry Yablonsky, guest conductor

Returning to conduct the Monterey Symphony eleven years after his debut with us, Dmitry Yablonsky has led prestigious orchestras throughout Europe and Asia including the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. Last year, Dmitry won a Grammy nomination for his recording of the Miklos Rosza Violin Concerto. His discography is extensive and popular. He is also one of the finest cellists of his generation performing the great concertos, chamber music, and recitals.

Glinka: Waltz-Fantasie
Shostakovich: Jazz Suite No.2
Shostakovich: Tahiti Trot
Scriabin: Symphony No.2 in C minor, Op.29

More info on the Monterey Symphony Website

Music For Valentine's Day

There are some lovely concerts of romantic music
on both sides of the Monterey Bay this weekend.

Exotic Chamber Music

Saturday night and Sunday afternoon in Aptos the Santa Cruz Chamber Players present "Tales of Love and Exotic Places."

Lars Johannesson, artistic director, flute and piccolo
Kathleen Kasdorf, soprano
Amy Brodo, cello
Susan Bruckner, piano

Saturday, February 13, 8:00PM
Sunday, February 14, 3:00PM
Christ Lutheran Church, Aptos     (Click here for Google Maps)

Flute, Cello, Piano, and Soprano weave an atmosphere of romance; tropical, historical and fairytale… Exotic scenes of faraway places.

This program centers around the sensual and evocative Songs of Madagascar by Ravel and the lyrical, late-romantic style love songs by America’s Amy Beach.

Scenes of hummingbirds, an evocation to Brahma, and Sephardic melodies are united with other exotic instrumental elements to delight the senses.

From the real to the imaginative, the concert culminates with Elizabeth Raum’s beautiful setting and narrative of Cinderella’s fairytale love story.

More info at www.scchamberplayers.org

Romantic Piano

 
On Sunday afternoon in Carmel's Sunset Center the amazing pianist Gustavo Romero plays an all-Chopin program.

Romero is a spectacular performer and Chopin is one of his specialties. Just look at this great program!

Prelude in C sharp minor, Op.45
Nocturne in B major, Op.62 (No.1)
Barcarolle in F sharp major, Op.60
Polonaise in F sharp minor, Op.44
Scherzo in B flat minor, Op.31
Intermission:
Ballade in A flat major, Op.47
Ballade in F major, Op.38
Ballade in F minor, Op.52
Ballade in G minor, Op.23

Sunday, February 14, at 3:0opm
Sunset Center, Carmel

Special ticket prices are available for students.

More info at www.carmelmusic.org

Visit the Gustavo Romero Website

"The Next Great Baritone": A Chat With Plácido Domingo

Now in his fifth decade at the Met, Plácido Domingo refuses to consider retirement.

His repertoire of 128 opera roles ( along with the fact that he once received 101 curtain-calls after an "Otello" performance in Vienna) has earned him a place in The Guinness Book of Records.

This month, the tenor adds two more firsts to his Met career, conducting Verdi’s Stiffelio and singing the (baritone) title role of Simon Boccanegra.

Read a recent interview here...

From PlaybillArts.com

The Met Opera will broadcast a performance of Simon Boccanegra in HDTV on Saturday morning, Feb 6, and a repeat broadcast on Wednesday evening Feb 24. This is a unique opportunity for music lovers in our region to hear this amazing singer as a baritone. For more information visit the ClassicalMusicMatters.com Online Calendar.

Brahms and Beethoven in Santa Cruz

BOLD & BEAUTIFUL

BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 4

BRAHMS
Piano Concerto
Jon Nakamatsu, Pianist (read his bio here)

Santa Cruz County Symphony
John Larry Granger, Conductor

No two composers reflect the heart and soul of symphonic music more than Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. With his own stamp of dramatic human energy, Beethoven from the first movement moves us with carefree abandon from the restraints of the Classical era to the delights of newly found Romanticism. Brahms expands Beethoven’s harmonic and rhythmic language in his profound First Piano Concerto, performed for us by Van Cliburn winner, Jon Nakamatsu.

Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, January 30, 8pm
Mello Center, Watsonville, January 31, 2pm

Santa Cruz County Symphony Website: www.santacruzsymphony.com/

MORE CALENDAR DETAILS: www.classicalmusicmatters.com

A Grand Tour of Early Music Worlds

The 2010 Santa Cruz Baroque Festival begins on February 6!

The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival's 2010 season of "Musical Voyages" makes its first stop in 19th-century Wales, where Concert I, Holiday in Wales commemorates a fascinating event in English history.

In 1889, while a guest at the Palé Mansion in North Wales, Queen Victoria found herself transported by the music of famous Welsh gypsy and harpist John Roberts and his 9 sons, playing Welsh triple harps and English pedal harps.

Acclaimed harpist Cheryl Ann Fulton will recreate this magical atmosphere in an evening of Welsh airs and dances. In her own words: "Strike the Harp and Let's Be Merry!"

Fulton is recognized as an imaginative and engaging performer, and is a leading pioneer in the study and performance of historical harps.

This performance takes place at the UCSC Music Center Recital Hall on February 6, and begins at 7:30 pm. (Campus directions here)

Download a press release with more fascinating details of this concert, plus information and photos for each concert of the 2010 series.

For tickets visit the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival website or phone 831-457-9693.

Concert and venue details can also be found in our February Online Calendar

Some Enchanted Evening

An Elegant Evening
with Marcus Nance

Tuesday, January 26

Golden Bough Theater
Carmel-by-the-Sea

Marcus Nance is an extraordinary artist with a fabulous bass-baritone voice and amazing broadway credits.

Hear him Tuesday January 26, and enjoy a pre–concert wine reception at 7:00pm, the show at 7:30pm, and a dessert reception and a mini LIVE auction afterward.

This event benefits Pac Rep, Monterey Bay Symphony, and Monterey Bay Links, Inc.

For more information, click here

Our region is alive with singing

Music lovers in the Monterey Bay region are lucky to be able to hear so many wonderful singing ensembles.

To kick off the 2010 choral season Cantus Monterey, a 13 voice ensemble under the direction of Robert Ramon,

presents  

An Evening at Colton Hall

Thursday, January 28, 2010

7:30 pm

Cantus Monterey was founded in 2007 by Robert Ramon and Thomas Barber and is devoted to performing, promoting and advancing the art of choral singing in our Monterey/Salinas community.

More Info: www.cantusmonterey.org

Colton Hall, Monterey  (Mapquest)
570 Pacific Street
Monterey CA 93940 US

Argument to Beethoven's 5th - TV Classic

Happy Birthday Beethoven (baptised on this day, 1770)

Here is a wierd and unexpected tribute: No cue cards, no teleprompters, and no second takes — legendary funnyman Sid Caesar pioneered live television sketch comedy with his 1950s TV show "Your Show of Shows."  

In this classic sketch, "Argument to Beethoven's 5th," Sid Caesar and Nanette Fabray play a couple in an argument with pantomimed action and dialogue. Enjoy! 

Want to see more Sid Caesar? Visit YouTube.

Kickoff the Year with Classical Music!

This is the first weekend of the 2010 Classical music Season, and there is lots of great music to enjoy. For complete details and contact information, visit the CMM online Calendar.

Friday January 15

Night of the Emerging Composers
  Presented by New Music Works
  UC Santa Cruz Recital Hall, Santa Cruz, 7:30pm

Peter Toth, pianist
  All Saints Church, Carmel, 8:00pm

Saturday January 16

Carmel - Met Opera Live Broadcast
  Del Monte Center, Monterey, 10:ooam

Borromeo Quartet with Richard Stoltzman
  Sunset Center, Carmel, 8:00pm

Santa Cruz Chamber Players
  Christ Lutheran Church, Aptos, 8:00pm

Sunday January 17

Schubert’s “Die Winterreise”
  Jos Milton, Tenor; Melinda Coffey, piano
  Church in the Forest, Pebble Beach, 3:00pm

Santa Cruz Chamber Players
  Christ Lutheran Church, Aptos, 3:00pm

Why we all need to sing, no matter our age

The Songs We Don’t Sing

"Singing is one of the first things that parents do with babies when they are born, and parents are constantly singing to toddlers: wordless ditties, choruses and refrains, made-up rhyming songs, anything to comfort them or engage with them. Parents sing, sing, sing in the early years of children’s lives—and then it stops."

Read more in Utne Reader Online...

Arts Education Promotes Emotional Intelligence

As arts education is pushed further to the margins by the emphasis on standardized testing, a tool for nurturing children's social and emotional development is being lost.

From www.miller-mccune.com

Read More....