Gramophone: Video exclusive, Arvo Pärt's Estonian Lullaby played by Anne Akiko Meyers
Pärt's new arrangement of his Estonian Lullaby for violin and piano is performed by Anne Akiko Meyers and Reiko Uchida
Gramophone
Pärt's new arrangement of his Estonian Lullaby for violin and piano is performed by Anne Akiko Meyers and Reiko Uchida
We are pleased to present the world premiere recording of a new version of Arvo Pärt's Estonian Lullaby for violin and piano.
Commissioned and performed by Anne Akiko Meyers (with pianist Reiko Uchida) this premiere recording also boasts an animation produced in collaboration with Shazka Studios:
Meyers's recording of the Estonian Lullaby will be released by Avie Records on May 8 and is available to pre-order here: https://orcd.co/9edvjq4
International Piano: Nicolas Namoradze Review
I’m not often lost for words, but Nicolas Namoradze’s recital almost defeated me. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing: he’s won the Honens Competition in 2018 and this gig was his reward, but winning a comp is no guarantee of greatness. Yet from the opening phrase of Scriabin’s Black Mass Sonata he had me hooked: the notes had a honeyed grace, and the rest of the work unfolded in an opalescent glow, every bar touched with beauty. I’ve never heard this puzzling work make such persuasive sense.
International Piano
Michael Church
I’m not often lost for words, but Nicolas Namoradze’s recital almost defeated me. I wasn’t expecting anything amazing: he’s won the Honens Competition in 2018 and this gig was his reward, but winning a comp is no guarantee of greatness. Yet from the opening phrase of Scriabin’s Black Mass Sonata he had me hooked: the notes had a honeyed grace, and the rest of the work unfolded in an opalescent glow, every bar touched with beauty. I’ve never heard this puzzling work make such persuasive sense.
Read the full review in International Piano’s May/June issue, available here.
BBC Music Magazine: 2020 North America Festival Choice – Grand Teton Music Festival
BBC Music Magazine chooses Grand Teton Music Festival as “Festival Choice” for North America.
BBC Music Magazine
Our Festival Choice
Grand Teton Music Festival
gtmf.org
Not distracted by its spectacular Wyoming setting, Grand Teton sets its customary focus on big names and splashy, large-scale programmes. Donald Runnicles conducts the Festival Orchestra in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony No. 2, Richard Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration and Beethoven’s five piano concertos with Garrick Ohlsson. Other noted soloists include Johannes Moser (Dvořák Cello Concerto), soprano Erin Wall (Strauss’s Four Last Songs) and Midori (Sibelius Violin Concerto). Also look for performances by pianist-composer Clarice Assad, violinists Gil Shaham and Adele Anthony, and singer Bernadette Peters.
Read the full festival guide in the April 2020 issue, available here.
BBC Music Magazine: April 2020 Editor Choice – Nicolas Namoradze
BBC Music Magazine Editor, Oliver Condy, recalls back to February, when Nicolas Namoradze, the winner of the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition, gave his Wigmore Hall prize recital - and a terrific programme it was, too.
BBC Music Magazine
Our Choices: The BBC Music Magazine team’s current favourites
Oliver Condy, Editor
Back in February, Nicolas Namoradze, the winner of the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition, gave his Wigmore Hall prize recital - and a terrific programme it was, too. Alongside a Bach sinfonia and the Partita No. 6, the Georgian pianist pulled some York Bowen out of the hat. Each of the 20th-century English composer’s piano etudes are dazzling, inventive affairs, combining a stout Englishness with rich dashes of Debussian color.
Read all the favourites in the April 2020 issue, available here.
Limelight: Yo-Yo Ma and The Art of Living, Youth Music Culture Guangdong
Angus McPherson speaks with Yo-Yo Ma midway through the 2020 Youth Music Culture Guangdong in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, an event presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and organized jointly by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall, bringing together young musicians from all around the world. Ma is the event’s Artistic Director and a major drawcard for the participants, who have come to the city on the Pearl River in southern China from across the country as well as from the USA, Japan, Italy and Hungary – and even one musician from Australia.
Limelight Magazine
Angus McPherson
We’re speaking midway through the 2020 Youth Music Culture Guangdong in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, an event presented by the Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism and organized jointly by the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and Xinghai Concert Hall, bringing together young musicians from all around the world. Ma is the event’s Artistic Director and a major drawcard for the participants, who have come to the city on the Pearl River in southern China from across the country as well as from the USA, Japan, Italy and Hungary – and even one musician from Australia.
Read the full article here.
Gramophone: Marc-André Hamelin's Latest Album Selected as Editor's Choice for April
Marc-André Hamelin’s Feinberg Piano Sonatas Nos 1-6 album chosen as one of the best new classical albums, Editor's Choice for April 2020.
Gramophone
David Fanning
The best new classical albums: Editor's Choice, April 2020
Feinberg Piano Sonatas Nos 1-6
Marc-André Hamelin pf (Hyperion)
Samuil Feinberg was a great Russian pianist perhaps best known for his Bach, but his compositions are less familiar. Marc-André Hamelin’s overwhelming advocacy of these sonatas comes highly recommended.
Read the Gramophone review here… “Hamelin does far more than tame these pianistic leviathans. He gives them momentum, character and individuality.”
Blogcritics Exclusive Interview: Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft on New Album Incantation
With his sophomore album Incantation just out, French violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft was set to bring his “beautiful, front-loaded, and siren-like tone” and “impressive virtuosity” to Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on April 28. The concert will be rescheduled because of the COVID-19 crisis, but in the meantime, here is our enlightening interview with this exciting musician.
Blogcritics
Jon Sobel
With his sophomore album Incantation just out, French violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft was set to bring his “beautiful, front-loaded, and siren-like tone” and “impressive virtuosity” to Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on April 28. The concert will be rescheduled because of the COVID-19 crisis, but in the meantime, here is our enlightening interview with this exciting musician.
Boutellis-Taft recorded the album with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. The program for the concerts includes The Soloists of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and includes most of the music from the album: Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei”; Vitali’s Chaconne in G Minor; Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” (in a new arrangement by Paul Bateman); Tchaikovsky’s “Sérénade Mélancolique”; Bloch’s “Nigun” (from Baal Shem); Chausson’s Poème for Violin and Piano; and Piazzola’s “Oblivion.”
We had a chance to speak with Boutellis-Taft as he was gearing up for a season that was planned to feature concerts at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Salle Gaveau, the Musée d’Orsay, and Cadogan Hall in London as well as Carnegie in New York.
Read the interview here.
TimeOut New York: Time In Virtual Storytime: "Sleepover at the Museum"
TimeOut loves afternoons at the Museum of Natural History, but there's something so alluring about after-hours expeditions, don't you think? See what's it's like to spend a night in the coolest place in NYC! On Thursday, Mar 26 at 7:30pm, head over to the Time Out New York Kids' Instagram account (@timeoutnykids) and check out our stories: Author Karen LeFrak will be reading her picture book Sleepover at the Museum, which follows young Mason and his pals, who are venturing throughout the museum during his sleepover birthday party. What better way to tuck in at night? We'll see you there! All ages.
TimeOut New York
We love afternoons at the Museum of Natural History, but there's something so alluring about after-hours expeditions, don't you think? See what's it's like to spend a night in the coolest place in NYC! On Thursday, Mar 26 at 7:30pm, head over to the Time Out New York Kids' Instagram account (@timeoutnykids) and check out our stories: Author Karen LeFrak will be reading her picture book Sleepover at the Museum, which follows young Mason and his pals, who are venturing throughout the museum during his sleepover birthday party. What better way to tuck in at night? We'll see you there! All ages.
Read more here.
The Azrieli Foundation Announces Calls for Proposals for New Performance Fund
UPDATE: The deadline for proposals has been extended to May 1, 2020.
The Azrieli Foundation is delighted to announce a new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program. The annual Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) supports professional music ensembles in preparing and presenting public performances of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works. The Foundation is currently accepting proposals from professional orchestras world-wide that plan to perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
UPDATE: The deadline for proposals has been extended to May 1, 2020.
The Azrieli Foundation is delighted to announce a new funding stream within its Azrieli Music Prizes (AMP) program. The annual Azrieli Music Prizes Performance Fund (AMP-PF) supports professional music ensembles in preparing and presenting public performances of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works. The Foundation is currently accepting proposals from professional orchestras world-wide that plan to perform the AMP winning works in their 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons.
With a firm belief in the extraordinary quality of Azrieli Music Prize-winning works, the AMP-PF has been established to provide new opportunities for professional music ensembles to share these powerful works with their audiences. Until May 1, orchestras may submit a proposal requesting support ranging from $5,000 CAD to $25,000 CAD to help cover the costs of: score and parts rental; soloist fees; additional rehearsal time to prepare the AMP-winning works; augmented concert promotions; and attendance of AMP Laureates at the rehearsals and the concert of their winning work.
AMP-PF currently calls for performance proposals that feature winning works from the 2016 and 2018 editions, detailed below. Submissions are limited to one proposal per music ensemble per year. The 2020 AMP-winning works will be made available for Performance Fund support with the 2021 call for proposals.
The Seven Heavenly Halls for tenor solo, mixed choir and orchestra by Brian Current (2016 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
Klezmer Clarinet Concerto for solo clarinet and orchestra by Wlad Marhulets (2016 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
En el escuro es todo uno (In the Darkness, All is One) for solo cello, solo harp and orchestra by Kelly-Marie Murphy (2018 Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music)
Nigunim (Violin Concerto No. 2) for solo violin and orchestra by Avner Dorman (2018 Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music)
Established in 2014, the biennial Azrieli Music Prizes express the Azrieli Foundation’s belief in music as a vital endeavour that enables people to express their creativity; to expand their worldview; and to foster positive cultural exchanges. Open to the international music community, scores and proposals for future AMP works are encouraged from individuals and institutions of all nationalities, faiths, backgrounds and affiliations. Two prizes recognize excellence in new Jewish music – the Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music and the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music – and a third new prize commissions music from Canadian composers. Past prize winners include Avner Dorman (2018), Kelly-Marie Murphy (2018), Brian Current (2016), and Wlad Marhulets (2016). Announced in November 2019, the three winners of the 2020 Azrieli Music Prizes are Yitzhak Yedid (Azrieli Prize for Jewish Music), Yotam Haber (Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music), and Keiko Devaux (Azrieli Commission for Canadian Music).
AMP-PF Funds will be allocated on an annual basis to professional music ensembles though a competitive selection process overseen by the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council. Those proposals that exhibit the highest levels of artistic merit, thematic fit with the Azrieli Music Prizes’ objectives and the capacity to execute the proposed concert will succeed in the competition.
Proposals must be received by Friday, May 1, 2020 (previous deadline was Friday, April 10, 2020) and are accepted via email at music@azrielifoundation.org. Applicants should review eligibility criteria and proposal requirements at https://azrielifoundation.org/our-priorities/music-arts/amp/performance-fund. The AMP Advisory Council anticipates making decisions concerning which ensembles/proposals will receive AMP-PF support by approximately mid-June 2020. Successful applicants will be notified by the Foundation’s Manager, Music Initiatives.
About The Azrieli Foundation
One of the largest philanthropic foundations in Canada and in Israel, the Azrieli Foundation fulfills the philanthropic legacy of David J. Azrieli and has been funding institutions as well as operating programs since 1989. Driven by a strong belief in the powerful role and responsibility of philanthropy, the foundation empowers and supports a broad range of organizations in its eight priority funding areas: Music & the Arts, Education, Fellowships, Community, Holocaust Education & Legacy, Science, Research & Healthcare, Neurodevelopment, and Architecture, Design & Engineering. Its activities reach a diversity of people, places and needs.
Through the Azrieli Music Initiatives (AMI), the Foundation is committed to discovering, elevating and amplifying artistic voices, granting broad access to meaningful musical experiences that both exhibit artistic excellence and advance a shared pursuit of learning and wellness. AMI creates meaningful and practical realizations of the Foundation’s mission to improve the lives of present and future generations.
The Violin Channel: Violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft’s New CD, "Incantation"
The Violin Channel
Aparté Records has announced the release of French violinist Virgil Boutellis-Taft’s new album: Incantation.
Recorded with conductor Jac van Steen and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the disc features Bruch’s ‘Kol Nidrei’ , Vitali’s Chaconne, Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre, Tchaikovsky’s Sérénade Mélancolique, Bloch’s Nigun, Chausson’s Poème, and Umebayashi’s Yumeji’s Theme.
“These works have long inspired me and what’s interesting is to bring them together and make them speak to each other…” Virgil told The Violin Channel.
To read more about Incantation, click here.