Anthony McGill News

'Carnival,' the opening concert in Cho-Liang Lin's last season as music director of the La Jolla Music Society's Summerfest, was an unusual jumble of works. Bartok's Contrasts for clarinet, piano and violin was written for jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman. It is based on Hungarian and Romanian folk dance and, though composed 80 years ago, includes bitonality that still imparts an edgy 'modern' flavor. Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras suites for eight cellos and soprano were written to honor Bach with Brazilian-influenced melodies and rhythms. And Saint-Saens wrote Carnival of the Animals, a work for 11 instruments, on a lark. He refused to publish it during his lifetime, thinking it would detract from his reputation as a 'serious' composer.

Five students from the Shanghai Orchestra Academy (SOA) have been selected to participate in the New York Philharmonic Global Academy Fellowship Program, a week-long immersion in the life of an orchestral musician, June 9-16, 2018. The students, who are known as Zarin Mehta Fellows, will take lessons with Philharmonic musicians and train and play alongside the Orchestra, led by James Gaffigan, at the Concerts in the Parks, Presented by Didi and Oscar Schafer. The students are Renchao Yu, violin; Kuan Liu, viola; Fangyu Huang, flute; Yanru Chiu, clarinet; and Sihong Zhao, bassoon. Auditions were held at the Shanghai Orchestra Academy in March 2018 by a panel of New York Philharmonic musicians.

The League of American Orchestras' 73rd National Conference in Chicago, June 13-15, 2018, will offer a particular focus on the voices of musicians-many Chicago-based-both in performance and as session speakers.

This summer, the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, called 'the crown jewel of chamber music festivals on Long Island – arguably anywhere on the East Coast” by Newsday last year, celebrates its 35th anniversary. A pre-festival ramp-up of five free pop-up concerts around the Hamptons sets the stage, Alan Alda returns to launch the season, hosting a musical portrait of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn, and the festival features the world premieres of BCMF-commissioned works by Kenji Bunch and Paul Moravec.

Three national organizations - The Sphinx Organization, New World Symphony, and the League of American Orchestras - have partnered to create the National Alliance for Audition Support (NAAS), a field-wide initiative with the long-term goal of increasing diversity in American orchestras. Supported by a four-year, $1.8 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, along with additional financial and programmatic contributions from America's orchestras, the Alliance will offer a holistic and personalized array of support to Black and Latinx musicians to develop their audition skills, increase their participation in auditions, and ultimately, increase their representation in orchestras.

The University Musical Society (UMS), under the leadership of President Matthew VanBesien, today announces its 140th season in 2018-19 with an initial slate of 40 performances and events. One of the country's most acclaimed performing arts presenters, UMS honors its past by showcasing respected ensembles and performers with whom it has enjoyed rich relationships, and fully embraces the future as initiator, incubator, and accelerator for innovative new works and projects. This potent combination infuses the anniversary season with dynamic and diverse voices and perspectives featuring artists at the top of their game - celebrating the canon, taking risks, moving genres in new directions, disrupting stereotypes, and surprising audiences.

The Colburn School congratulates the Calidore String Quartet, winners of the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant. This award gives professional assistance and recognition in the amount of $25,000 to young musicians for the purpose of career advancement.

On Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 7pm cellist Inbal Segev, known for her 'glowing, burnished tone,' (The Washington Post) will give the world premiere of Timo Andres' new cello concerto, Upstate Obscura, with the Metropolis Ensemble led by Andrew Cyr. This performance entitled, Time Travelers to Versailles, is presented by MetLiveArts in Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 5th Avenue) inspired by the exhibition Visitors to Versailles (1682–1789) on view at The Met Fifth Avenue April 16–July 29, 2018.

The National Philharmonic celebrates the genius of Johannes Brahms at Strathmore with a performance by Grammy and Sphinx Competition award winner, American violinist Melissa White, in "Spirited Brahms." White will perform Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 under the baton of Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski.  Also on the program is Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98, which is stored in its original condition in the U.S. Library of Congress.

The National Philharmonic celebrates the genius of Johannes Brahms at Strathmore with a performance by Grammy and Sphinx Competition award winner, American violinist Melissa White, in "Spirited Brahms." White will perform Brahms' Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77 under the baton of Philharmonic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski.  Also on the program is Brahms Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98, which is stored in its original condition in the U.S. Library of Congress. White is a founding member of the highly acclaimed New York-based Harlem Quartet and a first-prize laureate in the Sphinx Competition, which encourages, develops, and recognizes classical music talent in the Black and Latino communities. She performed on the CD Hot House, that won Grammy Awards in 2013 as well as performing for the Obama's in the White House. The concert will take place Saturday, March 17, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 18, at 3 p.m., at Strathmore's Concert Hall. Audiences will enjoy a members-only encore question-and-answer, and a kids "Meet the Instruments" session that will take place in the orchestra lobby on Sunday from 2-2:30 p.m., allowing young concertgoers a chance to interact with Philharmonic musicians and explore orchestral instruments from different families (string, wood, brass, and percussion).Ticket prices are $23-$76 and are free for young people age 7-17. Strathmore is located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.

The Marie-Josee Kravis Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen will conduct a program featuring an emerging composer and soloist, both of whom the Philharmonic has championed: the World Premiere of Kravis Emerging Composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir's Metacosmos, commissioned by the Philharmonic; Beethoven's Symphony No. 3, Eroica; and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, featuring Benjamin Grosvenor, inaugural recipient of the Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize at the New York Philharmonic, in his Philharmonic subscription debut. The performances take place Wednesday, April 4, 2018, at 7:30 p.m.; Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m.; and Friday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m.

Wagner aplenty, Wagner galore. After starting the week off with the Met's PARSIFAL under the exciting Nezet-Seguin, I ended it with another Wagner, DIE WALKURE, in a sweeping account of Act I from the New York Philharmonic under its music director designate, Jaap van Zweden.

In a program anticipating major themes of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra's recently announced 2018-19 season, the NJSO and Music Director Xian Zhang present the world premiere of Richard Danielpour's Carnival of the Ancients for Piano and Orchestra alongside works by Tchaikovsky and Haydn, March 9-11 in Newark, Red Bank and New Brunswick.

Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO), one of the nation's premier music ensembles and a leader in presenting wide-ranging repertoire and adventurous commissions, announces broadened collaborations and inventive new programming for its 2018-19 season.  Opening in September 2018 and continuing into May 2019, the season spotlights LACO's virtuosic artists and builds upon the Orchestra's five decades of intimate and transformative musical programs.  

The 34th season of the New York Philharmonic Ensembles series chamber concerts showcasing Musicians from the Orchestra performing classical masterpieces and modern compositions in the intimate setting of Merkin Concert Hall will continue on Sunday, February 18, 2018. The concert will include Beethoven's String Trio, Op. 9, No. 1; Debussy's Sonata for Flute, Viola, and Harp; and Fibich's Quintet, Op. 42.

The fourth year of BCMF Spring, the spring series of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, presents three concerts featuring favorite BCMF musicians, both veteran and recent, and the acclaimed Pacifica Quartet performing some treasures of the chamber music repertoire. Introduced in 2015 as a two-concert series, BCMF Spring has proved a successful expansion of Long Island's longest-running summer classical music festival, and a welcomed addition to the cultural offerings of the East End.

Flutist Demarre McGill joins music director Michael Repper and the New York Youth Symphony Orchestra in their 55th season McCrindle Concert at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, March 18th, 2018 at 2PM. McGill is Principal Flutist at the Seattle Symphony, and has previously been principal flutist at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Seattle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra.

The University Musical Society of the University of Michigan (UMS) and the New York Philharmonic, in conjunction with the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance (SMTD), announce full details for the New York Philharmonic's 2017 residency in Ann Arbor, taking place November 16-19, 2017.

Celebrity Series of Boston will present Itzhak Perlman, violin; Pinchas Zuckerman, violin/viola; and Rohan De Silva, piano on Sunday, November 19, 2017, at 5pm at Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Ave., Boston, MA.