Strings: Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers Looks to the Stars on New Album ‘Shining Night’
It started with verse. Virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ latest album, Shining Night (Avie), is based on a poem by the late American writer James Agee and describes a man going on a walk and thinking back over his life. “That scenario inspired this collection of pieces that metaphorically begins in the morning and explores the vast musical history through Baroque, Romantic, popular, and current genres,” she notes. “The common themes throughout the music reflect on one’s relationship with nature, love, and poetry.”
Strings Magazine
By Greg Cahill
It started with verse. Virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ latest album, Shining Night (Avie), is based on a poem by the late American writer James Agee and describes a man going on a walk and thinking back over his life. “That scenario inspired this collection of pieces that metaphorically begins in the morning and explores the vast musical history through Baroque, Romantic, popular, and current genres,” she notes. “The common themes throughout the music reflect on one’s relationship with nature, love, and poetry.”
In keeping with the stunningly beautiful album’s starry theme, Shining Night was released on May 7—International Astronomy Day. "When I visited Wyoming recently, my family and I went stargazing,” Meyers explains.
Read more here.
The Wall Street Journal: ‘Big Things’ by Icarus Quartet Review: Percussive Powers
With the wisdom of hindsight, it makes perfect sense that elegantly balanced chamber ensembles like the string quartet or the woodwind quintet sprouted in the 19th century, and that the 20th century gave us more chaotically varied mixed-timbre groups and the high-energy assertiveness of percussion ensembles. A new recording by the Baltimore-based Icarus Quartet suggests that the 21st century might see a refinement of the mixed-timbre approach, with instruments that typically inhabit distinct sound worlds creating a common language.
The Wall Street Journal
By Allan Kozinn
In its debut recording, the group showcases new scores highlighting the unusual sound of its two-piano, two-percussionist configuration
With the wisdom of hindsight, it makes perfect sense that elegantly balanced chamber ensembles like the string quartet or the woodwind quintet sprouted in the 19th century, and that the 20th century gave us more chaotically varied mixed-timbre groups and the high-energy assertiveness of percussion ensembles. A new recording by the Baltimore-based Icarus Quartet suggests that the 21st century might see a refinement of the mixed-timbre approach, with instruments that typically inhabit distinct sound worlds creating a common language.
Read more here.
Gramophone: The icarus Quartet perform Big Things by Michael Laurello
Watch a behind-the-scenes studio film from the half piano/half percussion ensemble
Today’s film comes from the icarus Quartet, who invite you inside the studio to see the creation of their title track, released as a single, from their new debut album 'Big Things'.
Gramophone
Watch a behind-the-scenes studio film from the half piano/half percussion ensemble
Today’s film comes from the icarus Quartet, who invite you inside the studio to see the creation of their title track, released as a single, from their new debut album 'Big Things'.
‘The original version of Big Things was one of the first pieces I composed using a process of recording and improvisation, rather than traditional notation,’ writes its composer Michael Laurello.
Read more here.
Associated Press: Pianist, 18, from South Korea wins Van Cliburn competition
An 18-year-old from South Korea has won the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the top showcases for the world’s best pianists.
The competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, ended Saturday night with Yunchan Lim becoming the competition’s youngest winner of the gold medal. His winnings include a cash award of $100,000 and three years of career management.
Associated Press
An 18-year-old from South Korea has won the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the top showcases for the world’s best pianists.
The competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, ended Saturday night with Yunchan Lim becoming the competition’s youngest winner of the gold medal. His winnings include a cash award of $100,000 and three years of career management.
The silver medalist was Anna Geniushene, a 31-year-old from Russia, and the bronze medalist is Dmytro Choni, a 28-year-old from Ukraine.
Lim told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he’ll discuss with his teacher what the next move for his career should be.
“I am still a student and I feel like I have to learn a lot still,” Lim said. “This is a great competition and I feel the burden of receiving this great honor and award so I will just push myself to live up to the honor I received today.”
Read more here.
The New York Times: At Cliburn Competition, Pianists From South Korea, Russia and Ukraine Triumph
The war in Ukraine loomed over the prestigious contest in Texas, named for the pianist Van Cliburn, who won a victory in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
For 17 days, the young artists competed in what some have called the Olympics of piano-playing: the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas, one of classical music’s most prestigious contests.
On Saturday, the results were in: Pianists from South Korea, Russia and Ukraine prevailed in this year’s contest.
The New York Times
By Javier C. Hernández
The war in Ukraine loomed over the prestigious contest in Texas, named for the pianist Van Cliburn, who won a victory in Moscow at the height of the Cold War.
For 17 days, the young artists competed in what some have called the Olympics of piano-playing: the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas, one of classical music’s most prestigious contests.
On Saturday, the results were in: Pianists from South Korea, Russia and Ukraine prevailed in this year’s contest.
Among the winners are Yunchan Lim, 18, from Siheung, South Korea, who became the youngest gold medalist in the Cliburn’s history, winning a cash award of $100,000; Anna Geniushene, 31, who was born in Moscow, taking the silver medal (and $50,000); and Dmytro Choni, 28, of Kyiv, winning the bronze medal ($25,000).
“I was so tired,” Lim, who played concertos by Beethoven and Rachmaninoff in the final round, said in a telephone interview. “I practiced until 4 a.m. every day.”
“Texas audiences are the most passionate in the world,” he added.
Read more here.
Vail Daily: Bravo! Vail’s artistic director: New program gives voice to living composers
Next week Bravo! Vail kicks off its 35th Festival season, and I am thrilled by what we have in store.
After two seasons of creatively adapting our programming using smaller numbers of musicians on stage, we are thrilled to welcome back our four resident orchestras at full force with Mahler symphonies (New York Philharmonic); a Beethoven Ninth (Dallas Symphony Orchestra); Strauss’s epic tone poem “A Hero’s Life” (The Philadelphia Orchestra); and of course, the family favorite “Warner Bros. Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.” What is more, this summer sees the return of our delightful “Classically Uncorked” series at the Donovan Pavilion.
Vail Daily
By Anne-Marie McDermott
Next week Bravo! Vail kicks off its 35th Festival season, and I am thrilled by what we have in store.
After two seasons of creatively adapting our programming using smaller numbers of musicians on stage, we are thrilled to welcome back our four resident orchestras at full force with Mahler symphonies (New York Philharmonic); a Beethoven Ninth (Dallas Symphony Orchestra); Strauss’s epic tone poem “A Hero’s Life” (The Philadelphia Orchestra); and of course, the family favorite “Warner Bros. Presents Bugs Bunny at the Symphony.” What is more, this summer sees the return of our delightful “Classically Uncorked” series at the Donovan Pavilion.
Perhaps most exciting for me is the inauguration of our New Works Symphonic Commissioning Project. Since 1990, Bravo! Vail has commissioned and premiered dozens of works by living composers, most of it chamber music. This new initiative makes a bold commitment to commissioning three new symphonic works every season for the next five years.
Read more here.
Oberon's Grove: Vengerov/Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, with Marios Papadopoulos, conductor, at Carnegie Hall with a program of Bruch, Navarra, and Brahms. Maxim Vengerov was the soloist for the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1.
This was such a great evening of music-making. The Oxford Philharmonic is a superb ensemble, achieving a rich and deeply satisfying blend; section by section, these are some of the finest musicians I have ever heard. And when solo moments popped up, the individual players played like gods and goddesses. A special favorite with the audience was oboist Clara Dent, who won a burst of cheers when Maestro Papadopoulos has her rise for a bow.
Oberon’s Grove
The Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, with Marios Papadopoulos, conductor, at Carnegie Hall with a program of Bruch, Navarra, and Brahms. Maxim Vengerov was the soloist for the Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1.
This was such a great evening of music-making. The Oxford Philharmonic is a superb ensemble, achieving a rich and deeply satisfying blend; section by section, these are some of the finest musicians I have ever heard. And when solo moments popped up, the individual players played like gods and goddesses. A special favorite with the audience was oboist Clara Dent, who won a burst of cheers when Maestro Papadopoulos has her rise for a bow.
The Bruch opened the evening. The great violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim championed this work, and while Joachim was a famed interpreter of the concertos of Brahms and Mendelssohn, he called Bruch's "the richest, the most seductive" of them all. Tonight, Maxim Vengerov seconded that opinion with his beautifully detailed playing.
Read more here.
The New York Times: Russian and Ukrainian Pianists Meet in Texas at Cliburn Competition
FORT WORTH, Texas — On a sultry recent morning, 30 young pianists from around the world gathered in an auditorium at Texas Christian University here for the start of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the most prestigious contests in classical music.
The mood was celebratory. But politics also loomed. The Cliburn, defying pressure to ban Russian competitors after the invasion of Ukraine, had invited six Russians to take part, as well as two pianists from Belarus, which has supported the Russian invasion. A Ukrainian also made the cut.
The New York Times
By Javier C. Hernández
The war in Ukraine looms over the prestigious contest named for the pianist Van Cliburn, who was a symbol for art transcending global politics.
FORT WORTH, Texas — On a sultry recent morning, 30 young pianists from around the world gathered in an auditorium at Texas Christian University here for the start of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the most prestigious contests in classical music.
The mood was celebratory. But politics also loomed. The Cliburn, defying pressure to ban Russian competitors after the invasion of Ukraine, had invited six Russians to take part, as well as two pianists from Belarus, which has supported the Russian invasion. A Ukrainian also made the cut.
As they signed posters outside the auditorium and were fitted for cowboy boots, a Cliburn tradition, several competitors from those countries said that they found it difficult to think beyond the war.
Read more here.
Photo: Jake Dockins for The New York Times
Gramophone: Anne Akiko Meyers on her new album, 'Shining Night'
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers's new album, 'Shining Night' takes listeners on a musical journey through the passing of a day - via Villa-Lobos, Bach, Leo Brouwer and even Elvis - and features a number of duets with guitarist Jason Vieaux.
Gramophone
The violinist offers a musical journey through the day, much of it in the company of guitarist Jason Vieaux
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers's new album, 'Shining Night' takes listeners on a musical journey through the passing of a day - via Villa-Lobos, Bach, Leo Brouwer and even Elvis - and features a number of duets with guitarist Jason Vieaux. She talks to Gramophone's Editor Martin Cullingford about how she developed this wonderful programme.
Read more here.
The New York Times: ‘It’s Anthony’s Time’: A Composer Gets His Due
With a new production of Anthony Davis’s pathbreaking Malcolm X opera opening in Detroit, we are on the cusp of a broader reappraisal of his work.
DETROIT — As the orchestra of the Detroit Opera tuned itself for a recent rehearsal, the outline of a vast spacecraft loomed over the pit.
Underneath that ship, you could see a contrasting image: a pastoral painting, of a mountain range, with a river slicing a path between peaks, redolent of the backdrop behind Malcolm X as he spoke at the Audubon Ballroom in New York on Feb. 21, 1965 — moments before his assassination.
The New York Times
By Seth Colter Walls
With a new production of Anthony Davis’s pathbreaking Malcolm X opera opening in Detroit, we are on the cusp of a broader reappraisal of his work.
DETROIT — As the orchestra of the Detroit Opera tuned itself for a recent rehearsal, the outline of a vast spacecraft loomed over the pit.
Underneath that ship, you could see a contrasting image: a pastoral painting, of a mountain range, with a river slicing a path between peaks, redolent of the backdrop behind Malcolm X as he spoke at the Audubon Ballroom in New York on Feb. 21, 1965 — moments before his assassination.
Already, before a single note had been drilled of Anthony Davis’s opera “X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X” — which opens on Saturday at the Detroit Opera House here and will travel to the Metropolitan Opera in 2023 — a conversation was in progress between imaginative and historical modes of thought.
Read more here.