The Utah Symphony Masterworks series' first performances of 2020 kick off on January 3-4 with Utah Symphony Associate Conductor Conner Gray Covington returning to the podium following his acclaimed early debut in November and the first of many celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. On January 9-11 one of the greatest living mezzo-sopranos, Isabel Leonard along with conductor Bernard Labadie will join Utah Symphony for an evening of highlights from Mozart's operatic and concert catalogue. Highlights for the performances include Beethoven's 'Leonore' Overture No. 3 and Debussy's 'La mer' on January 3-4, and three pieces from Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' on January 9-11. Tickets are priced from $10-$92 and can be purchased at utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 533-6683.
Known collectively as Hawktail, fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, guitarist Jordan Tice, and mandolinist Dominick Leslie have combined their monstrous compositional and instrumental forces once again for a much-anticipated sophomore album, Formations. Set for release on January 10th, 2020 via Padiddle Records, Formations took only two months to write and four days to record, a far cry from the 3-year process of their debut album, Unless. “We had studio dates to record a quick EP of covers, arrangements we'd been playing live,” explains Kowert, “But we had these strong starts that felt so good that we were like 'let's finish THESE instead,'” Adds Haas, “We found a new joy in creating, tapping into the experience we gained from writing and recording Unless.”
Known collectively as Hawktail, fiddler Brittany Haas, bassist Paul Kowert, guitarist Jordan Tice, and mandolinist Dominick Leslie have combined their monstrous compositional and instrumental forces once again for a much-anticipated sophomore album, Formations. Set for release on January 10th, 2020 via Padiddle Records, Formations took only two months to write and four days to record, a far cry from the 3-year process of their debut album, Unless. “We had studio dates to record a quick EP of covers, arrangements we'd been playing live,” explains Kowert, “But we had these strong starts that felt so good that we were like 'let's finish THESE instead,'” Adds Haas, “We found a new joy in creating, tapping into the experience we gained from writing and recording Unless.”
CMS continues its 50th anniversary celebration with its annual holiday Baroque festival throughout the month of December. Bach's a?oeGoldberga?? Variations, composed near the end of his life, will be performed on December 3rd by Jeffrey Kahane, one of a handful of masters of this work. Kahane will begin the performance with remarks on this monumental piece, which is an immersive experience during which the listener journeys through time and space. The next day, Kahane will give a free master class on solo piano works by Bach and other composers (December 4th).
Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain and Edgar Meyer celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their Grammy Award-nominated album The Melody of Rhythm - Triple Concerto & Music for Trio.
The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO), led by Music Director Barbara Yahr, opens its 2019-2020 season on Sunday, October 6, 2019 at 3:00pm at All Saints Church by taking part in the worldwide Pastoral Project, joining artists from around the world in performances of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, a?oePastorala??, to demonstrate commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. The program also features world-renowned German cellist Wolfgang Schmidt as soloist in Dvorak's beloved cello concerto.
The Greenwich Village Orchestra (GVO), led by Music Director Barbara Yahr, opens its 2019-2020 season on Sunday, April 7, 2019 at 3:00pm at All Saints Church by taking part in the worldwide Pastoral Project, joining artists from around the world in performances of Beethoven's 6th Symphony, a?oePastorala??, to demonstrate commitment to environmental protection and sustainability. The program also features world-renowned German cellist Wolfgang Schmidt as soloist in Dvorak's beloved cello concerto.
WFUV, New York (90.7 FM/wfuv.org), welcomes American Public Media's 'Live From Here,' with host Chris Thile, to its Sunday evening lineup beginning September 8, from 6-8 p.m., EDT, on 90.7FM, also streaming at WFUV.org.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center opens the fall season of its 50th anniversary year in Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday October 15, 2019. The program will highlight Dvorák's “American” quintet—a work inspired by the plains of Spillville, Iowa, and the music of Native and African-Americans—along with works by African-American composer Harry Burleigh, and iconic American composers Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein.
Patsy Cline's trailblazing spirit is remembered in a?oeMy Patsy Cline Songbook,a?? the first-ever, full-length jazz tribute album arriving August 23, 2019. Drawing on her country roots, vocalist Staci Griesbach's debut album explores looking at the Nashville Songbook as another treasure trove to consider reinterpreting for jazz, much like the traditional Great American Songbook.
Soka Performing Arts Center presents Béla Fleck (banjo), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Edgar Meyer (double bass) with Rakesh Chauraisa (bansuri a?" Indian flute) on Sunday, October 20, 2019 at 3pm.
Last night, at their performance in the David Rubenstein Atrium for Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival, the award-winning violinist Tessa Lark and virtuoso composer and bassist Michael Thurber announced the release of Invention, their debut recording as a duo. Invention is anchored by J.S. Bach's Two-Part Inventions and fuses the pair's classical and American music influences into a wholly original sound.
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts recently launched its 2019-2020 Kauffman Center Presents series. This year's diverse lineup includes internationally acclaimed musicians, speakers and artists performing in both Muriel Kauffman Theatre and Helzberg Hall. Members of the media now have access to the Kauffman Center's 2019-2020 artist photo album. The album includes media photos of artists and performers for the 2019-2020 season and will be updated as new performers are confirmed throughout the season.
Totem Pole Playhouse, America's summer theatre, located in Caledonia State Park between Gettysburg and Chambersburg, PA has announced the third offering in the Playhouse's new Friday Fun Nights series, Barbi McCulloch's cabaret-style show, Always Find a Song. The Playhouse is offering reserved seating at $20.00 in advance and $25.00 at the door.
The first prize of the 34th Annual Irving M. Klein International String Competition, carrying a purse of $13,000, has been awarded to CELLIST JAMES BAIK, 17. The Competition Finals were held Sunday, June 2nd at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and featured four competitors advancing from an original group of nine Semifinal programs the previous day,. Baik's winning program for the final round included movements from Beethoven's Cello Sonata No. 5, op. 102, no. 2; from the Cello Concerto in A minor, op. 129 by Schumann; and from the Bach Cello Suite No. 5 in C minor; as well as the commissioned work Between Worlds by Carlos Simon.
Compagnia de' Colombari, an international collective of performing artists founded and directed by Karin Coonrod, presents More Or Less I Am: a music-theater piece drawn entirely from Walt Whitman's revolutionary free verse long poem, 'Song of Myself,'one of the original twelve pieces that comprise his 1855 collection Leaves of Grass. The next performance in this series, spanning multiple venues throughout the five boroughs, will take place on Sunday, May 26, 2019, 7:30 pm at Fort Greene Park, Brooklyn.
As the classical community begins to celebrate Beethoven's 250th anniversary in the 2019-2020 season, the world-renowned Emerson String Quartet kicks off the opening of The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival on Saturday, June 15, 2019 with an unforgettable journey of the complete Beethoven Cycle. Presenting Six concerts in one week, the Cycle 'provides a musical biography of Beethoven's life, highlighting milestones in his musical development,' notes the Emerson's violinist, Eugene Drucker. The nine-time GRAMMY Award-winning Quartet has firmly established its authority in interpreting Beethoven's string quartets since its first Beethoven Cycle performed in 1980 through its complete recording of his quartets on Deutsche Grammophon which won a 1998 GRAMMY Award. Praised by NPR, their 7-CD boxset of Beethoven: The String Quartets 'highlights their brilliance and sheer ability,' and The Gramophone opines, 'They continually offer new insights into some endlessly enthralling music. Do hear them.'
Hailed as a dream team of performers, longtime musical collaborators and friends, violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis and pianist Jeremy Denk, will unite this spring 2019 for their first-ever trio tour stoping at The Soraya on May 8. The three artists will perform hallmarks of the trio repertoire in acclaimed venues across the East and West coasts. Though Bell, Isserlis and Denk have previously released the landmark 2016 recording For the Love of Brahms together on Sony Classical, these performances mark the first occasions in which they will tour live as an ensemble. The Brahms album has been praised as Absolutely essential listening for the classical fan well-crafted, flawless killer stuff.
