Isaac Stern News

The Berkeley Symphony returns to SFCM on January 11 for a joint concert with SFCM musicians performing the world premiere of Highsmith Award winner Daniel De Togni's (Class of 2018) Tsuioku: On the Internment of Japanese Americans. Additionally, concerto competition winners Nicole Hillis '18 (trombone), Bradley Pupa '19 (guitar), and Boxianzi Ling '20 (violin) will perform works by Tomasi, Ponce, and Mendelssohn. Martin West, music director and principal conductor of San Francisco Ballet, will conduct the concert.

Mnozil Brass will perform at the Capitol Center for the Arts (Concord, NH) on Thursday, February 7, 2019 at 7:30PM. This performance is part of the free 2018-'19 William H. Gile Concert Series.

On Friday, January 11, 2019, multiple Grammy Award-nominated violinist Philippe Quint makes his debut on Warner Classics with the release of his latest album Chaplin's Smile, a collection of Charlie Chaplin songs newly arranged for violin and piano. To commemorate the 130th anniversary of Chaplin's birth in 2019, Chaplin's Smile features Philippe Quint joined on two tracks by Quint's friend and frequent collaborator, violinist Joshua Bell. Over more than three years, Quint, in collaboration with arrangers Charles Coleman and Leon Gurvitch went through dozens of songs and soundtracks written by Chaplin to select the songs best suited for violin and piano.

The ASPECT Foundation for Music & Arts continues its third New York City season of illuminating performances on Wednesday, January 23, 2019 at 7:30pm with Classical Vienna at Bohemian National Hall. The program features the acclaimed Orion String Quartet in Haydn's String Quartet Op. 50 No. 2 and Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K.581 performed with clarinetist Alexander Bedenko.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the appointment of Jonas Wright as its Dean and Chief Academic Officer. Wright, who has served as Interim Dean since earlier this summer, officially assumed the role December 1. At SFCM, he has previously served as Registrar and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs since joining the Conservatory staff in 2012.

Award-winning NYC-based tap dance company Dorrance Dance will perform at the Capitol Center for the Arts (Concord, NH) on Tuesday, January 15, 2019 at 7PM. This performance is part of the free 2018-'19 William H. Gile Concert Series.

Christopher Rountree, director of the intrepid, LA-based ensemble wild Up, will conduct the SFCM Orchestra Saturday, December 8 and Sunday, December 9. The program includes works by Vaughan Williams, Mussorgsky, and Ashley Fure.

On Today, November 8 at 8:00 p.m. Music Director Daniel Barenboim leads the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra-the lauded ensemble of young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other Arab countries that Mr. Barenboim co-founded in 1999 with his late friend, the Palestinian literary scholar Edward W. Said-in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The evening's program will feature Richard Strauss's Don Quixote-with violist Miriam Manasherov and cellist Kian Soltani stepping forward from the orchestra as soloists-as well as Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. This performance-Carnegie Hall's Annual Isaac Stern Memorial Concert-will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM.

Carnegie Hall today announced that the upcoming performance by the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra led by Music Director Daniel Barenboim on Thursday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m. in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, will be webcast live, free of charge, to a worldwide audience on medici.tv and carnegiehall.org/medici.

The Emerson String Quartet's concert on Sunday, October 21, 2018 was a rich and satisfying chamber music feast.

On Thursday, November 8 at 8:00 p.m. Music Director Daniel Barenboim leads the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra-the lauded ensemble of young musicians from Israel, Palestine, and other Arab countries that Mr. Barenboim co-founded in 1999 with his late friend, the Palestinian literary scholar Edward W. Said-in Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage. The evening's program will feature Richard Strauss's Don Quixote-with violist Miriam Manasherov and cellist Kian Soltani stepping forward from the orchestra as soloists-as well as Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. This performance-Carnegie Hall's Annual Isaac Stern Memorial Concert-will be broadcast live on WQXR 105.9 FM.

The two-time Grammy Award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir will appear at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Downtown Concord, NH on Sunday, November 25 at 5PM. This performance is part of the free 2018-'19 William H. Gile Concert Series.

The National Philharmonic 2018-2019 season continues celebrating Leonard Bernstein's Centennial with 'Lenny's Playlist,' a specially curated 'soundtrack' of some of Bernstein's favorite compositions on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 14, at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore's Concert Hall. The concert, performed by the National Philharmonic and conducted by Maestro Piotr Gajewski, features internationally acclaimed Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova, winner of the Avery Fisher Career Grant. 'Lenny's Playlist' will feature Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's timeless Overture to the Magic Flute, Samuel Barber's Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, and Dmitri Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in D minor. Bernstein debuted each of these masterpieces, but it may be Shostakovich's Symphony that is one of his most memorable: Early in 1959, Bernstein conducted Symphony No. 5 in Moscow in the presence of Shostakovich himself, who was reportedly very happy with Bernstein's fiercely energetic finale. This performance led to Bernstein's iconic recording of the symphony with the New York Philharmonic in October 1959. There will be a members-only encore question-and-answer after the concerts on Saturday and Sunday, and a musician meet-and-greet, during which young people and their families can explore orchestral instruments, on Sunday from 2-2:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $34-$84 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, visitwww.nationalphilharmonic.org or call 301.581.5100.

Margalit Fox wrote more than 1,400 obituaries during her career at The New York Times, gaining a legion of fans with her exquisite prose and eye for quirky detail. Now she applies her meticulous research and superb storytelling to a long-forgotten 20th-century murder case-and to Oscar Slater, the Jewish immigrant who was framed for the crime. The sensational case both captivated the public and captured the attention of Arthur Conan Doyle, celebrity author of the wildly popular Sherlock Holmes detective novels. One century later, Ms. Fox shines a bright light on a cold case, revealing the twists and turns of Conan Doyle's real life murder investigation and uncovering question we still grapple with today. "Why isn't the Oscar Slater case better known?" Fox muses, "It's about racism, antisemitism, xenophobia. Not relevant to today? Think again." 

Symphony's OPENING NIGHT GALA, spotlighting violinist Joshua Bell, boded well for the 2018-19 season to come and the orchestra's celebration of Charlotte's 250th anniversary.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) will add a focused professional studies diploma (PSD) program to its curriculum in the 2019-20 academic year for students wishing to specialize in auxiliary wind instruments. Designed for postgraduate students, the Auxiliary Wind Instrument PSD will act as a 'finishing degree' for students proficient with their primary instrument and who want to specialize in an auxiliary instrument.

The National Philharmonic 2018-2019 season continues celebrating Leonard Bernstein's Centennial with 'Lenny's Playlist,' a specially curated 'soundtrack' of some of Bernstein's favorite compositions on Saturday, Oct. 13, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 14, at 3 p.m. at The Music Center at Strathmore's Concert Hall.

The world-renowned Emerson String Quartet celebrates the 80th birthday of American composer and pianist, winner of the National Medal of Arts, Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award, William Bolcom at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall on Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 5 PM.  Joined by the acclaimed pianist Shai Wosner, the Quartet performs Bolcom's Piano Quintet No. 1.

For the eighth season in a row, WQXR and CARNEGIE HALL proudly unite to present "Carnegie Hall Live," a series of live broadcasts from the 2018-19 season.

The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) today announces the appointment of Bonnie Hampton to its chamber music and cello faculty. Hampton previously served as a member of SFCM's cello faculty from 1973 to 2003. She has taught at the Conservatory since the early 1950s, with an original assignment teaching students on Saturdays at SFCM's first location on Sacramento Street.