Al Viola News

The daughter of legendary musician, Bill Pursell. Like her father before her, who performed at the White House for John F Kennedy, actress and singer, Laura Pursell continued the family tradition receiving her first national recognition, during a special engagement for Betty and President Gerald Ford. Since then, she has recorded 5 albums and performed with established performers including Earl Palmer, Al Viola, Don Most, Judy Norton, the Les Brown Orchestra and more. She reached international acclaim performing in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dublin Ireland.

The daughter of legendary musician, Bill Pursell. Like her father before her, who performed at the White House for John F Kennedy, actress and singer, Laura Pursell continued the family tradition receiving her first national recognition, during a special engagement for Betty and President Gerald Ford. Since then, she has recorded 5 albums and performed with established performers including Earl Palmer, Al Viola, Don Most, Judy Norton, the Les Brown Orchestra and more. She reached international acclaim performing in St. Petersburg, Russia, Dublin Ireland.

From the moving and powerful Afghanistan: Requiem for a Generation to the family fun of Wall-to-Wall Percussion, November at the TSO explores the gamut of human emotions. Additional musical offerings include the rich music of Vaughan Williams and Mahler, the pure interpretations of Angela Hewitt, and Stravinsky's rousing Firebird suite.

The New York Philharmonic String Quartet will make its New York recital debut at 92nd Street Y performing Beethoven's String Quartet No. 4; Dvo? k's String Quartet in F major, American; and Mendelssohn's String Quartet in F minor on Sunday, November 12, 2017, at 3:00 p.m. The performance will be co-presented by the New York Philharmonic and 92nd Street Y. Formed in January 2017, the New York Philharmonic String Quartet comprises Concertmaster Frank Huang, Principal Associate Concertmaster Sheryl Staples, Principal Viola Cynthia Phelps, and Principal Cello Carter Brey.

Baryshnikov Arts Center's (BAC) Fall 2017 music presentations include BAC Salon: Telemann, Farrin, Wolfe + Prokofiev featuring the New York premiere of a work by Julia Wolfe (October 5 and 6); violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer performing Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 24 Preludes, Op. 100 (October 31 and November 1); and BAC Salon: Pauline Oliveros featuring IONE and International Contemporary Ensemble (November 28).

Members of the NJSO Chamber Players will perform the Aaron Jay Kernis string quartet that the composer later orchestrated as Musica celestis in a special NJSO Accent event with Kernis on Friday, October 13, at 6:45 pm at the Richardson Auditorium in Princeton. The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's 8 pm concert includes the NJSO premiere of Kernis' ethereal work for string orchestra.

The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra and Music Director Xian Zhang perform melodic works by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Kernis, October 12 15 in Newark, Princeton and Red Bank.

The University Musical Society of the University of Michigan (UMS) announces that British actor Jeremy Irons will be the Speaker for the Hill Auditorium performance of Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 ('Kaddish') that closes the 2017 New York Philharmonic residency on Sunday, November 19.

The New York Philharmonic will present Bernstein's Philharmonic: A Centennial Festival, October 25-November 14, 2017,celebrating the former Philharmonic Music Director and Laureate Conductor on the centennial of his birth. The festival - which is part of the worldwide salute to the legacy of the renowned composer, conductor, pianist, and educator - will center on Bernstein's symphonic cycle, conducted by Alan Gilbert and Leonard Slatkin, complemented by other Bernstein works as well as by music by composers he admired and championed. In addition, the Philharmonic will present a Young People's Concert - the series that Bernstein famously brought to national attention through the television broadcasts - titled Inspirations and Tributes: "Celebrating Leonard Bernstein," conducted by Leonard Slatkin and featuring pianist Makoto Ozone on November 11. A number of other events - ranging from a marathon of Bernstein's Mahler recordings to a partnership with Harvard and University of Michigan to explore Bernstein as an educator and conductor - complement the concerts throughout the centennial season. Bernstein served as the Philharmonic's Music Director from 1958 to 1969, when he was named Laureate Conductor, a title he held until his death in 1990.

Baryshnikov Arts Center's (BAC) Fall 2017 music presentations include BAC Salon: Telemann, Farrin, Wolfe + Prokofiev featuring the New York premiere of a work by Julia Wolfe (October 5 and 6); violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer performing Mieczyslaw Weinberg's 24 Preludes, Op. 100 (October 31 and November 1); and BAC Salon: Pauline Oliveros featuring IONE and International Contemporary Ensemble (November 28).

Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival (CCCMF), celebrating its 38th season as Cape Cod's premiere presenter of summer chamber music presents Strauss' Piano Quartet  featuring works by Strauss, Brahms and Enescu on Thursday, August 10, 7:30 pm at First Congregational Church, 650 Main Street, Chatham. 

A second performance of 'Brahms and the Schumanns,' narrated by Alan Alda, has been added to the schedule of the 2017 Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival. This program, which opens the festival, will now be performed on July 30 and 31.

In The Plum Tree, Jan Groenewald takes us on a harrowing journey through a childhood experience of sexual violation to victory and celebration.

Kristian Bezuidenhout - the virtuoso pianist known as 'Mozart reincarnated' - will reunite with the Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) next month on a nationwide tour from 24 June to 9 July.

This year Melbourne Youth Orchestras (MYO) celebrates a milestone fiftieth birthday with its premiere ensemble, Melbourne Youth Orchestra, presenting an exhilarating concert, New Worlds, at Melbourne Recital Centre on Sunday, 2 July 2017.

At first it was unconscious, then by design: the 34th season of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Long Island's longest-running classical music festival, has something of a water theme.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, under the baton of guest conductor David Zinman, brings Brahms' Symphony No. 3 and Strauss' Don Quixote to life in two sensational BNY Mellon Grand Classics performances on Friday, May 19, and Sunday, May 21 at Heinz Hall.

The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents master works from Mussorgsky, Ravel and Paganini during the BNY Mellon Grand Classics weekend, "Pictures at an Exhibition," March 31 and April 2 at Heinz Hall.

On Saturday, April 8, 7:30 pm at the Baruch Performing Arts Center the award-winning Israeli Chamber Project joins forces with renowned violist Paul Neubauer for a program of classics. This concert takes place at Baruch Performing Arts Center's acoustically stunning Engelman Recital Hall at Baruch College, E. 25th Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenues. Ticket information is below.