The New York Times: Marc-André Hamelin
The New York Times lists Marc-André Hamelin’s Carnegie Hall recital on November 15 in its guide to the city’s best classical music and opera happening this weekend and in the week ahead.
The New York Times
David Allen
MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN at Carnegie Hall (Nov. 15, 8 p.m.). There’s a blend of core repertoire and pieces found far from the beaten path in this supreme pianist’s Carnegie recital this season, with Schumann’s Fantasy in C, Bach’s Chaconne in Busoni’s reworking, and two pieces by Chopin nestled alongside Alexis Weissenberg’s “Six Arrangements of Songs Sung by Charles Trénet” and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Cypresses.”
212-247-7800, carnegiehall.org
Read the full article, 8 Classical Music Concerts to See in N.Y.C. This Weekend, here.
OperaWire: The Beijing Music Festival As A Microcosm For The Great Chinese City
The Beijing Music Festival is celebrating its 21st anniversary by bringing a diverse array of repertoire intent on exploring its innovative and boundary-crossing initiatives.
OperaWire
Francisco Salazar
The Beijing Music Festival is celebrating its 21st anniversary by bringing a diverse array of repertoire intent on exploring its innovative and boundary-crossing initiatives.
This year alone, the festival is showcasing a half-dozen diverse works of music drama and theatre.
Read more here.
Classical Post: Olga Kern's Life On And Offstage
Like so many key figures of classical music history (Bach, Mozart, and the Schumanns, to name a few), music is in Olga Kern’s blood. Coming from a family of musicians and a childhood filled with music, Olga could not imagine her life any other way, and sees it remaining the same even ten years from now - with all roads leading back to the piano.
Classical Post
Like so many key figures of classical music history (Bach, Mozart, and the Schumanns, to name a few), music is in Olga Kern’s blood. Coming from a family of musicians and a childhood filled with music, Olga could not imagine her life any other way, and sees it remaining the same even ten years from now - with all roads leading back to the piano. Olga opens up about this and other facets of her life, including fostering music education through her foundation Aspiration, motherhood, and painting nature to further inspire her music making.
Read Olga’s interview with Classical Post here.
Seattle Times: Best bets for classical music in Seattle this fall
Taiwan Philharmonic and Marc-André Hamelin’s Meany Hall performances make Seattle Times’s “Best Bets for Classical Music in Seattle This Fall” list.
Seattle Times
Melinda Bargreen
President’s Piano Series presents Marc-André Hamelin: The multitalented virtuoso pianist was not only a juror at last year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, he also composed a challenging toccata played by all 30 of the competitors.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17, Meany Theater at the University of Washington, Seattle
Taiwan Philharmonic with pianist Stephen Hough: This touring orchestra makes its Seattle debut in the acoustically warm Meany Theater with Brahms’ Symphony No. 2 and the “Dancing Song” (from “Three Aboriginal Songs for Orchestra”) of Taiwanese composer Gordon Chin.
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 3, Meany Theater at the University of Washington, Seattle
Read more here.
Miroirs CA: Mirror in Mirror by Anne Akiko Meyers
Mirror, mirror on the wall, guess who released one of the most intriguing recordings of them all? Anne Akiko Meyers, of course. This boutique style CD features arrangements of works by composers of our time that contain a satisfying amount of spirituality and pathos. While Ravel is a composer for all time, the disc includes Tzigane, one of her go to pieces, and for good reason.
Miroirs CA
Mirror, mirror on the wall, guess who released one of the most intriguing recordings of them all? Anne Akiko Meyers, of course. This boutique style CD features arrangements of works by composers of our time that contain a satisfying amount of spirituality and pathos. While Ravel is a composer for all time, the disc includes Tzigane, one of her go to pieces, and for good reason.
Read more here.
Musical America: Conductor Gerard Schwarz Pays Tribute to Benaroya Hall at 20
On the 20th anniversary of the first concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Maestro Schwarz reflects on the opening night concert among other events the hall’s first few weeks.
Musical America
Gerard Schwarz
On the 20th anniversary of the first concert at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, Maestro Schwarz reflects on the opening night concert among other events during the hall’s first few weeks. Read his reflection here.
International Piano: Nicolas Namoradze wins 2018 Honens Competition
Georgian pianist Nicolas Namoradze, 26, has won the top prize of $100,000 (CAD) at the 2018 Honens international piano competition.
International Piano
Lucy Thraves
Georgian pianist Nicolas Namoradze, 26, has won the top prize of $100,000 (CAD) at the 2018 Honens international piano competition.
Following his Honens win, Namoradze will have the opportunity to perform in some of the world’s leading concert houses with major orchestras. He will also have access to professional management and recording opportunities.
Read more here.
Gramophone: Nancy Zhou Wins Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition
The winner of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition – which carries the highest monetary prize of any music competition of its type – has been won by American violinist Nancy Zhou.
Gramophone
Martin Cullingford
The winner of the Shanghai Isaac Stern International Violin Competition – which carries the highest monetary prize of any music competition of its type – has been won by American violinist Nancy Zhou.
Zhou, aged 25, receives US$100,000, as well as performance opportunities with a number of orchestras.
Second prize, and $50,000, went to Olga Šroubková from the Czech Republic, and third (worth $25,000) to Ukrainian Diana Tishchenko. Šroubková also won the prize for best performance of a Chinese work, Qigang Chen’s La joie de la souffrance. The jury included both performers and executives, including violinists Maxim Vengerov and Augustin Dumay, and artist manager Martin Campbell-White.
Read more here.
Nancy Zhou’s Final Round Performance with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Stern
Violinist: Interview with Composer Qigang Chen: 'La Joie de la souffrance' Violin Concerto
"The violin's expressive capabilities have developed over centuries, with the accumulation of many very delicate techniques," Chen said, speaking with a group of reporters at his hotel in Shanghai about his new violin concerto, "La Joie de la souffrance" ("The Joy of Suffering.").
Violinist.com
Laurie Niles
Of all the instruments, the violin has perhaps the widest capacity to express human emotion, said France-based Chinese composer Qigang Chen.
"The violin's expressive capabilities have developed over centuries, with the accumulation of many very delicate techniques," Chen said, speaking with a group of reporters at his hotel in Shanghai about his new violin concerto, "La Joie de la souffrance" ("The Joy of Suffering.").
"No other instrument can compare," he said. "There are so many variations you can achieve with the violin that are difficult or impossible to achieve with the voice, or with brass and wind instruments."
Read more here.
Pizzicato: 35 Years of Shanghai Quartet: Beethoven forever
35 years ago, one of today's foremost chamber ensembles, the Shanghai Quartet, was formed at the Shanghai Conservatory. Since that year they have played around 3000 concerts and recorded 35 albums. Remy Franck met First violinist and founding member Weigang Li in his native Shanghai.
Pizzicato
Remy Franck
35 years ago, one of today's foremost chamber ensembles, the Shanghai Quartet, was formed at the Shanghai Conservatory. Since that year they have played around 3000 concerts and recorded 35 albums. Remy Franck met First violinist and founding member Weigang Li in his native Shanghai.
As many Chinese and, more generally, Asian violinists, you studied in the United States….
Yes, but I made the major part of my studies in China, if you don’t consider the fact that studying does never stop. I was born into a family of well-known musicians in Shanghai. Both of my parents were professional violinists and my maternal grand-father was also a violinist. He was born in 1908 and was one of the earliest professional classical violinists in China. I began studying the violin with my parents when I was five and went on to attend the Shanghai Conservatory at 14. Three years later, in 1981, when I was seventeen, I was chosen to go to study for one year at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through a cultural exchange program between the sister cities of Shanghai and San Francisco. In 1985, I graduated from the Shanghai Conservatory and went on studying again – for my finishing touch – in the United States. But by then, we had already created the Quartet.
Your quartet played in the Stern competition, you having been replaced by a candidate. Was this important for your ensemble?
It is very important for the competition to have this chamber music round. For us it was enriching too. We had interesting ideas which were brought in by the contestants. For me, obviously, it was strange to sit in the Jury and not be part of the ensemble. It was even more astonishing, how flexible my colleagues were when one of the young candidates asked for something very unusual for us. I told myself: ‘Oh, they can do that’. And I am not sure, my colleagues would have agreed if I proposed such a point (laughs).
Read more here.