The Strad: Opinion: Relaxed body, focused mind
All art forms are mirrors of our inner selves. From writers to composers, from dancers to musicians, from artists to actors – the moment we are touched by inspiration, time stands still and we focus inward to create a transcendent artistic experience. It is every musician’s goal to communicate from the soul through music.
The Strad
Hsin-Yun Huang
The art of Chinese calligraphy has much to teach us about playing a stringed instrument, writes violist Hsin-Yun Huang
All art forms are mirrors of our inner selves. From writers to composers, from dancers to musicians, from artists to actors – the moment we are touched by inspiration, time stands still and we focus inward to create a transcendent artistic experience. It is every musician’s goal to communicate from the soul through music.
Ancient Chinese ideology taught that a cultured person was expected to study in six areas: etiquette, musicology, archery, chariot driving, literacy, and quantitative methodology and cosmology.
To explain each area further:
1. Etiquette encompasses human and social behavior. It includes law, management and communication sciences
2. Musicology includes music performance, popular culture, ceremonies, rituals and spirituality
3. Archery broadly represents martial skills, sports and gentlemen’s competition
3. Chariot driving stands for martial arts and physical culture
4. Literacy includes reading, writing, literature, history and philosophy
5. Quantitative methodology and cosmology stands for physics, arithmetic and mathematics.
Read more here.
CBS News Denver: Live Music Is Back In Vail!
Bravo! Vail Music Festival will host the first in-person concert in over a year, featured on CBS News Denver.
Bravo! Vail Music Festival will host the first in-person concert in over a year, featured on CBS News Denver.
Read more here.
Billboard: No. 1 Traditional Classical Album — Music From the Promised Land by Duo Mantar
Music From the Promised Land — No. 1 Traditional Classical Album
Billboard
Duo Mantar makes their #1 Billboard Debut on the Traditional Classical Album chart this week with Music From the Promised Land, edging out Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax's latest album, Hope Amid Tears.
Purchase or stream the album through your favorite platform here.
The New Criterion: Ending the Palm Beach season
The Palm Beach Symphony closed out its forty-seventh season on May 22 with a concert of Ravel and Brahms featuring the Georgian piano soloist Alexander Toradze. Steeped in the international Romantic tradition, Toradze approached Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, part of the composer’s foray into multi-movement orchestral works, with a sparkling combination of wit and grace, ending the introductory Allegramente movement with a raised hand and faux-serious inquiry to the audience, “Was it any good?”
The New Criterion
Paul du Quenoy
On a live concert of Ravel & Brahms at the Palm Beach Symphony.
The Palm Beach Symphony closed out its forty-seventh season on May 22 with a concert of Ravel and Brahms featuring the Georgian piano soloist Alexander Toradze. Steeped in the international Romantic tradition, Toradze approached Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major, part of the composer’s foray into multi-movement orchestral works, with a sparkling combination of wit and grace, ending the introductory Allegramente movement with a raised hand and faux-serious inquiry to the audience, “Was it any good?”
Read more here.
The Know: From sentimental to sensational: These 7 classical music happenings that will shape summer 2021
Classical music makes a nimble return to stages across the region this summer after a painful, pandemic-induced year off.
A sentimental note: “Seven O’Clock Shout,” the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bravo! Vail music festival, July 17
Composer Valerie Coleman calls her “Seven O’Clock Shout” musical anthem “a declaration of our survival.” The piece was first performed in a city that knows something about declarations when The Philadelphia Orchestra premiered it last summer. Coleman wrote it as a tribute to front-line health and safety workers and it recalls the nightly cheers that erupted around the country to thank them for their labor during the pandemic.
The Know
Ray Mark Rinaldi
Classical music makes a nimble return to stages across the region this summer after a painful, pandemic-induced year off. In some ways, things will be different, with venue changes and programming sure to serve as reminders of what we’ve all been through over the past 15 months. But in other ways it will be same, with the high level of premieres and performers that have come to define the world-class classical scene we are fortunate to have here. If you are looking for memorable moments, here are a few likely candidates.
“Seven O’Clock Shout,” the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bravo! Vail music festival, July 17.
Composer Valerie Coleman calls her “Seven O’Clock Shout” musical anthem “a declaration of our survival.” The piece was first performed in a city that knows something about declarations when The Philadelphia Orchestra premiered it last summer. Coleman wrote it as a tribute to front-line health and safety workers and it recalls the nightly cheers that erupted around the country to thank them for their labor during the pandemic.
Read more here.
United Hemispheres: Take in Classical Music and Mountain Scenery at These Summer Festivals
While artists and venues have tried to make due with virtual performances over the past year, nothing can replace the shared thrill of an in-person concert. That goes not only for pop stars but for orchestras. With music festivals set to make a comeback this summer, here are three orchestral concert series that send world-class musicians onto stages with spectacular Rocky Mountain backdrops.
United Hemispheres
Thomas May
While artists and venues have tried to make due with virtual performances over the past year, nothing can replace the shared thrill of an in-person concert. That goes not only for pop stars but for orchestras. With music festivals set to make a comeback this summer, here are three orchestral concert series that send world-class musicians onto stages with spectacular Rocky Mountain backdrops.
Sun Valley Music Festival
Famous for attracting Hollywood royalty (Ernest Hemingway, Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger), Sun Valley, Idaho, is also home to the largest admission-free classical music festival in the U.S…
Bravo! Vail Music Festival
Set at the base of Vail’s ski runs, the open-air Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater provides a beautiful setting for the Bravo! Vail Music Festival…
Grand Teton Music Festival
Returning for its 60th season, the Grand Teton Music Festival once again graces Jackson Hole, Wyoming, right next to Grand Teton National Park.
Read more here.
BBC Music Magazine: Bartók • Beethoven • Dvorák: String Quartets (Juilliard String Quartet)
Bartók • Beethoven • Dvořák (5-star rating)
The Juilliard String Quartet celebrates its 75th anniversary this year– and here is the first recording with its most recent recruit, first violin Areta Zhulla. While its membership has changed over the decades, the quartet is still associated with the institution it is named after (all its members teach there), and its trademark tonal beauty, sensitively attuned ensemble and technical splendour is amply on show in this recording.
BBC Music Magazine
Jessica Duchen
Bartók • Beethoven • Dvořák (5-star rating)
Bartók: String Quartet No. 3; Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8, Op. 59 No. 2 ‘Rasumovsky’; Dvořák: String Quartet No. 12 ‘American’
The Juilliard String Quartet celebrates its 75th anniversary this year– and here is the first recording with its most recent recruit, first violin Areta Zhulla. While its membership has changed over the decades, the quartet is still associated with the institution it is named after (all its members teach there), and its trademark tonal beauty, sensitively attuned ensemble and technical splendour is amply on show in this recording.
Read more here.
The New Criterion: Symphony by the sea
The coalescence of art, capital, and wise public health policies that is rapidly transforming South Florida into an international cultural hub has received a great boost this spring from the Palm Beach Symphony. The orchestra’s dynamic maestro, Gerard Schwarz, has led it to new heights and placed it among the ranks of the very best American regional ensembles (an ascendancy that was sorely needed following the closing of the Florida Philharmonic in 2003). The longtime director of the Seattle Symphony and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Schwarz moved to Florida in 2019 to become Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and the director of the Frost Symphony, before assuming his post as the Palm Beach Symphony’s musical and artistic director last season.
The New Criterion
Paul du Quenoy
On a live concert by the Palm Beach Symphony.
The coalescence of art, capital, and wise public health policies that is rapidly transforming South Florida into an international cultural hub has received a great boost this spring from the Palm Beach Symphony. The orchestra’s dynamic maestro, Gerard Schwarz, has led it to new heights and placed it among the ranks of the very best American regional ensembles (an ascendancy that was sorely needed following the closing of the Florida Philharmonic in 2003). The longtime director of the Seattle Symphony and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival, Schwarz moved to Florida in 2019 to become Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and the director of the Frost Symphony, before assuming his post as the Palm Beach Symphony’s musical and artistic director last season. His son Julian, an accomplished cellist who joined his father as the soloist in this judiciously programmed concert, quite rightly described him to me as “the busiest conductor of the covid-19 pandemic era.”
Read more here.
Violin Channel: Dr. Sharon Azrieli on the Azrieli Music Prizes Competition
The Violin Channel recently sat down with Dr Azrieli, the visionary behind the Azrieli Music Prizes, the Azrieli Foundation Board Director, and the Board Liaison on the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council.
Can you tell us about the Azrieli Foundation? When was it founded and what is its core mission?
Founded over 30 years ago by my father, David Azrieli, the Azrieli Foundation takes a thoughtful and creative approach to philanthropy.
The Violin Channel
The Violin Channel recently sat down with Dr Azrieli, the visionary behind the Azrieli Music Prizes, the Azrieli Foundation Board Director, and the Board Liaison on the Azrieli Music Prizes Advisory Council.
Can you tell us about the Azrieli Foundation? When was it founded and what is its core mission?
Founded over 30 years ago by my father, David Azrieli, the Azrieli Foundation takes a thoughtful and creative approach to philanthropy.
We believe that courageous forward-thinking, strategic collaborations and community leadership are the keys to creating positive outcomes for present and future generations.
We aim to make a significant difference in several areas of importance, including music, arts and culture; scientific and medical research; educational empowerment; architecture and design; Holocaust commemoration and education; and quality of life initiatives for people with developmental disabilities. It’s a broad and bold approach to philanthropy that makes a measurable positive impact year after year.
Read more here.
Ludwig van: Nicolas Namoradze: ‘Life Is Full Of Surprises’
“Life is full of surprises,” Nicolas Namoradze a.k.a. “Nico” says of his impressive win of the top prize at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition. The triennial Calgary-based competition has helped launch international performance and recording careers for a galaxy of classical music stars.
After taking the bold move of stepping out of the limelight for four years before entering the competition, the then 26-year-old pianist dazzled with virtuosic technique, matched by unconventional repertoire. His program included a lengthier choice of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B♭ major, Op. 83 for the finals, and his own Etudes he described as “fearsomely challenging”.
Ludwig van
Holly Harris
Spend an hour chatting with the brilliant musician Nicolas Namoradze, and it’s abundantly clear this is not your typical pianist.
“Life is full of surprises,” Nicolas Namoradze a.k.a. “Nico” says of his impressive win of the top prize at the 2018 Honens International Piano Competition. The triennial Calgary-based competition has helped launch international performance and recording careers for a galaxy of classical music stars.
After taking the bold move of stepping out of the limelight for four years before entering the competition, the then 26-year-old pianist dazzled with virtuosic technique, matched by unconventional repertoire. His program included a lengthier choice of Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 2 in B♭ major, Op. 83 for the finals, and his own Etudes he described as “fearsomely challenging”.
“You can get into trouble with things like that,” Namoradze states calmly of his program choices. “I made decisions that went against the grain because I knew that this wasn’t the kind of competition where I should be thinking about competition strategy. Brahms 2 was simply my favourite concerto, and I love playing it.”
Read more here.