Anne Akiko Meyers Releases 37th Album, Mirror in Mirror, for Pre-Order

Video Preview of Mirror in Mirror

Anne Akiko Meyers will release Mirror in Mirror on Avie on September 7th. Now available for pre-order through Amazon and iTunes, this album features compositions written or arranged for Ms. Meyers by Jakub Ciupiński, John Corigliano, Philip Glass, Morten Lauridsen, and Arvo Pärt, and also includes Ravel’s Tzigane, in the original luthéal version.

“Almost a decade in the making, Mirror in Mirror is in many ways my most personal recording,” Ms. Meyers stated. “With the exception of Ravel, I collaborated with all of the composers or arrangers on this album and have created several new masterpieces to add to the violin repertoire. The music on this release is reflective and spiritual and captures the exquisitely beautiful array of colors of the violin.”

The release includes Arvo Pärt’s iconic Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror), Philip Glass’s hauntingly beautiful Metamorphosis II in a new arrangement for violin and piano, John Corigliano’s Lullaby for Natalie (written for the birth of Anne’s first daughter), the Japanese traditional song, Edo Lullaby, arranged for violin and electronics by Jakub Ciupiński, and Morten Lauridsen’s spellbinding O Magnum Mysterium for violin and orchestra. Other works include the original luthéal version of Maurice Ravel’s Tzigane, Pärt’s mesmerizing Fratres, and Ciupiński’s Wreck of the Umbria for violin and electronics written in 2009 for Ms. Meyers.

Anne Akiko Meyers is one of today’s most popular performing and recording artists.  Her recent recording of Rautavaara’s Fantasia was the only classical instrumental work to be selected on NPR’s 100 best songs of 2017. Meyers’ Vivaldi and American Masters albums topped the Billboard charts, making her the top-selling traditional classical instrumental soloist of 2014.

Highlights of Anne’s upcoming season include four performances celebrating the opening of the new Arvo Pärt Centre in Estonia this October and a Great Performances television broadcast of “Schindler’s List” in a special tribute which honors John Williams. These appearances are by exclusive special invitation of Maestros Pärt and Williams.  In December, she plays the European premiere of Rautavaara’s Fantasia and Mason Bates’ Violin Concerto with the Helsinki Philharmonic in a worldwide live-streamed performance, and in 2019, Anne returns to Japan to premiere Rautavaara’s Fantasia and tours with guitarist, Jason Vieaux throughout the United States.

Please visit www.anneakikomeyers.com for more info.

Pizzicato: Ahead of SISIVC: Remembering Isaac Stern…

Pizzicato
Remy Franck

A few days before leaving for Shanghai to attend the final of the Isaac Stern Violin Competition, impossible for me to not remember the only and highly memorable concert with Isaac Stern in Luxembourg. It took place in the early Seventies at the Grand Theatre with Music Director Louis de Froment conducting the RTL Symphony Orchestra and Isaac Stern playing the Brahms Violin Concerto. I remember an extraordinary spontaneous and dynamic performance with great textures from the solo violin and all the meaning and intensity the music deserved. Stern’s playing not only showed a great depth of understanding of the composer but also a stunning ability to translate the composer’s most personal meaning to the audience.

In 2018, with the second edition of the The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition (SISIVC) one of Stern’s most important abilities – besides his musicality – is continued: the support of young musicians.

It is widely known that he helped Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman and Shlomo Mintz at the beginning of their career. As Peter Pastreich said in a tribute to Stern: « There were many other young music students who arrived in New York without friends or money who came to study with DeLay. Isaac found friends of his they could live with, sent them to his dentist at his expense, got them instruments and bows, and most important, listened to them play. Dorothy once said to me, ‘People know that when there’s any really talented kid, Isaac will want to know. He’ll always find time to listen. I love Isaac.' »

Read more here.

I Care If You Listen: 5 Questions to Yuga Cohler

I Care If You Listen
Jacob Kopcienski

Yuga Cohler has garnered attention as a conductor for brilliant performances and an organizer of highly inquisitive, and at times bold, performance projects. His membership in the Asia/America New Music Institute (AANMI) an organization dedicated “to promoting new music relationship between Asia and the Americas,” is yet another instantiation of these qualities. 

Featuring the AANMI Los Angeles ensemble under Cohler’s direction, AANMI’s recent debut album, Transcendent, showcases works by member composers across Asia and North America performed by violinist Ryu Goto, bass-baritone Davóne Tines. We asked five questions to Cohler to discover more about this project as well as its place within the transcultural mission of the AANMI.

To read the interview, click here.

Classical Post: Mahler in the Mountains

Classical Post
Andrew Palmer Todd

I grew up in rural Ohio, surrounded by thousands upon thousands of acres of corn and soybeans. Fields vast enough that you could legitimately get lost as a young person, and sometimes I actually did. But from a very early age, boxed in by this bucolic Midwestern setting though I was, I dreamt of mountains. I happily remember drawing pictures of mountains for hours on end. My favorite TV show was that short-lived 1970s show set in the mountains, Grizzly Adams. I mean, I really thought everyone should grow up and have a pet grizzly bear named “Ben”!

There were no musicians in my family. The only thing remotely musical about my family was my grandfather’s 1914 silver Conn trombone. That said, music spoke to me from very early on. I remember being 6 or 7 years old and rushing up to the choir loft to watch the church organist play the postlude each Sunday. The sounds of the pipe organ. Those four manuals. The pedal board. All of those organ stops and buttons. It was mesmerizing.

Eventually, my parents did two things for their young son, captivated as I was by mountains and music. We embarked on the compulsory family vacation to Yellowstone, complete in a faux wood-paneled station Chrysler LeBaron station wagon towing a stylish Jayco camper to bask in the majesty of the mountains. And more importantly, they supported my dream to learn the piano.

Read more here.

The Strad: $100,000 Shanghai Isaac Stern Competition Enters Semi-finals

The Strad

Twelve young violinists remain in contention for the biggest prize pot available in any competition, whittled down from the 36 invited to the live rounds.

Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition 2018 semi-finalists and jury

The Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition has announced the 12 semi-finalists of its 2018 edition.

They are:

• Diana Tishchenko, Ukraine
• Alex Zhou, United States
• Arsenis Selalmazidis, Greece
• Chang Yuan Ting, Canada
• Nancy Zhou, United States
• Olga Šroubková, Czech Republic
• Quanshuai Li, China
• Jia Yi Chen, China
• Sophia Su, United States
• Yige Chen, China
• Yurina Arai, Japan
• Yun Tang, China

In total 36 candidates were invited to the live rounds, which started on 10 August, chosen by the pre-selection jury from 174 applicants.

The biennial competition, in its second edition, is offering a $100,000 top prize, $50,000 second prize and $25,000 third prize. A further $10,000 prize is offered for the best performance of a Chinese work – this year Qigang Chen’s La joie de la souffrance.

The first edition of the competition was won by Japanese violinist Mayu Kishima in 2016.

The semi-final round begins on Saturday 18 August with the string quartet session.

Watch: Mayu Kishima gives Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition winning performance

2018 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition Launches

The success of the 2016 Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition raised worldwide coverage, and, for the first time, demonstrated that a Chinese music competition is just as sophisticated as any other at the global level. The Organisation Committee held a press conference on August 8, 2018 to announce that the second edition of the competition will take place from then until September 1 in Shanghai. In addition, there was also a draw for the order of the quarter finalists.

Stellar Judging Panel

The Jury Committee has been expanded from thirteen to fifteen members, and features a star-studded lineup of pedagogues, violinists, and industry leaders to fairly evaluate the contestants in a variety of ways including technique, interpretation, and performing experiences.

The jury – co-chaired by conductor David Stern, son of Isaac Stern, and Professor Vera Tsu Weiling who has sat on the judging panels of many leading international violin competitions – is comprised of internationally-acclaimed violinists Maxim Vengerov and Augustin Dumay; leading figures of China’s violin industry Lina Yu and Siqing Lu; the founding member and first violinist of Shanghai Quartet, Weigang Li; the founding member of Emerson Quartet, Philip Setzer; the former concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, Glenn Dicterow; and concertmaster of Munich Philharmonic Sreten Krstic. The jury also includes world-renowned pedagogues Zakhar Bron, Dora Schwarzberg, and Daniel Heifetz; and two industry veterans, the founding member of the classical artists management company Askonas Holt, Martin Campbell-White, and the current programming director of Philharmonie de Paris, Emmanuel Hondré.

Renowned Collaborative Musicians to Help Improve Musical Quality

David Stern at the SISIVC 2018 Opening Press Conference

The repertoire of this edition provides a greater focus on interpreting and understanding the musical spirit rather than merely technique, aiming to evolve the candidates from ‘soloists’ to ‘musicians.’

Additionally, the works include more diversified music styles and forms of performances. Each contestant will perform four sets of works during the Quarter-Finals. Then, for comprehensive assessment, the Semi-Finals will include even more diversified repertoire and consist of three sections – the string quartet in which contestants will perform with Yi-Wen Jiang, Honggang Li, and Nicholas Tzavaras from the Shanghai Quartet; sonatas and Kreisler’s works in which contestants will collaborate with invited young pianists Zhen Chen, Yingjia Xue, and Qiuning Huang; and a Mozart Concerto with an originally-composed cadenza. In addition to including a concerto of choice, which is conventional in competitions, the Final Round will include the violin concerto, La Joie de la Souffrance, by the renowned Chinese composer Qigang Chen, which was commissioned by SISIVC, among others. The piece will be conducted by David Stern, Music Director of Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and son of Isaac Stern.

Quarter-Finalist Order is Set, Contestants Getting Ready

Starting from the announcement of this edition’s competition on September 9, 2017 until the application deadline on January 31, 2018, the number of applicants increased by a large margin compared to the first edition. Over 90% of the applicants have won prizes from top-level competitions and more than half are students or graduates from international top-class music schools. Twenty-seven contestants from eleven countries and regions will participate in the Quarter-Finals.

The 27 SISIVC 2018 Quarter-Finalists drew traditional fans to determine performance order

It is widely agreed that the first edition of the Competition has established extensive awareness and influence on the classical music world for its professional competition system, prominent judges, fair selection, innovative schedule, outstanding contestants, and distinctive features, which lays the foundation for this edition.

The 2018 competition will once again seek nominations for the Isaac Stern Award – Human Spirit Award, which provides recognition to any individual from around the world who has made an outstanding contribution to humanity through the medium of music.

From Competition to a Professional Career on Bigger Stages

Besides the USD $100,000 prize presented to the champion, the largest music monetary prize of any music competition in the world, the Competition puts great effort on helping soloists become musicians over the long term on their road to professional musicianship. The Competition also introduces the winners to world-class agencies, recording opportunities, and facilitates collaborations with  top-level national and international orchestras such as the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, China Philharmonic, Guangzhou Symphony, Melbourne Symphony, and Sydney Symphony, in order to open the door to a professional career and to provide them a bigger stage.

New Commission for the Final Round to Promote Chinese Music

This year’s competition will continue the tradition of spreading Chinese music, working together with China Pacific Insurance, the principal sponsor of the Stern Competition. La Joie de la Souffrance violin concerto by renowned Chinese composer Qigang Chen is a required work for the final round. It was specially planned by Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and is co-commissioned by Beijing Music Festival, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, and New Jersey Symphony Orchestra.

According to Chen, this work embraces both eastern and western cultures, dives in-depth into the meaning of life, and poses a great challenge to the performer’s ability to analyze and understand the music. By tapping into the global influence of the Competition, Chinese works such as this one have a chance to reach a wider audience - faster. Including a commission by a Chinese composer also embodies the concept of Chinese music as a more effective approach to communicating the Chinese culture with the rest of the world – the idea proposed by Long Yu, President of the Organization Committee, during the initial stages of the establishment of the competition.

To watch the #SISIVC2018 livestream, visit: http://shcompetition.amadeus.tv/ or https://www.facebook.com/shcompetition/ 

To learn more about the Shanghai Isaac Stern Violin Competition, visit: http://shcompetition.com/en/index.html 

Violin Channel: Grand Teton Music Festival Insta Takeover

Violin Channel

The Violin Channel recently caught up with the Grand Teton Music Festival for a behind-the-scenes Instagram takeover – direct from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, United States, with conductor Donald Runnicles, composer Sean Shepherd and cellist Johannes Moser.

GRAND TETON MUSIC FESTIVAL TAKEOVER | Since 1962, GTMF has presented spectacular #classicalmusic performances for 7 weeks each year. This is Walk Festival Hall in #TetonVillage where we hold most of our concerts – including the Festival Orchestra concert tonight! #GTMF2018 @grandtetonmusic

A post shared by The Violin Channel (@theviolinchannel) on Jul 28, 2018 at 7:30am PDT

See more highlight posts here.

International Piano: Call for submissions – New Music • New Video

International Piano
Lucy Thraves

The Anderson & Roe Piano Duo has announced the New Music • New Video composition competition.

The duo is seeking new works for piano duo – either for two pianos or for one piano, four-hands – of up to five minutes, to feature in a fully produced Anderson & Roe music video.

The deadline for submission is 1 September.

Further details can be found at https://www.andersonroe.com/newmusic

Violinist: Interview with Cellist Johannes Moser: Shostakovich at the Grand Teton Festival

Violinist.com
Laurie Niles

"This may be a very controversial thing to say to a violinist: I started with the violin at age five, and my exit strategy from the violin was the cello."

German-Canadian cellist Johannes Moser, now a soloist who has played with top orchestras all over the world, was telling me how he found his way to the cello. Moser, who studied with the renowned cello teacher David Geringas, was a top prize winner at the 2002 Tchaikovsky Competition and has been involved in commissioning numerous new works for cello, will play this week at the Grand Teton Music Festival, in both a chamber concert Thursday and this weekend as soloist for Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1.

Read more here.

Minnesota Public Radio: New Classical Tracks: Anderson and Roe Piano Duo honors mothers with musical tribute

Minnesota Public Radio (MPR)
Julie Amacher

"Motherhood might be perhaps the ultimate form of creation, but as artists we are giving birth to new pieces, to performances, to new ideas all the time. And so, it felt like a fitting sort of theme and tribute to the wonderful maternal figures in our lives," says Elizabeth Joy Roe, pianist and one half of the Anderson and Roe Piano Duo. Mother, a musical tribute, is the latest recording from Roe and duo partner Greg Anderson.

The idea for the project came to the duo while they were performing at the Gilmore Festival.

"Initially, this kind of got under way when we performed on Mother's Day at the Gilmore Festival a couple of years ago, and we wanted to pay tribute to our mothers who were attending that concert. We saw just the huge variety of ways mothers have been portrayed in music over the years, and that really got us excited and got us thinking about what it means to represent motherhood through music," explains Anderson.

An important part of the project was representing the diverse aspects of mother figures.

"And also, we like to tap into the diverse aspects of women or of people that serve as mothers you know. Mothers aren't merely beautiful beings who emit tenderness but they can also be saucy women or saucy figures like Mrs. Robinson, and so we took that classic Simon and Garfunkel tune and lovingly added it to the mix because sometimes mothers are only seen in one way," says Roe.

"When I think about my mother, there are times like in Bohemian Rhapsody when the singer just sings, 'Mama!' That closeness one might get with their mother. And I mean I certainly have many instances in my life where it's just like I want that. All of these emotions, certainly as we were putting the album together you know, just kept coming up in us and we kept remembering our own histories and pasts with our mothers," adds Anderson.

Read or listen to the full interview here.