Jackson Hole News and Guide: GTMF goes deep for 61st season
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
Jackson Hole News and Guide
By Richard Anderson
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
That’s eight weeks of symphonic music performed by the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra in the storied Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, with longtime Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles at the podium for five of them and guest conductors for the others; seven Wednesday night chamber music programs featuring orchestra members and guests; four “Gateway” concerts highlighting jazz, folk and popular music; three new Sunday matinee piano recitals; and loads of free outreach programs for kids and families (and anyone else who just can’t get enough) at Teton County Library, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Astoria Hot Springs and other fun and unexpected spots.
Read more here.
The Strad: Hsin-Yun Huang: Life Lessons
When I was growing up in Taiwan, people either played piano or violin. I learnt piano, and when the time came to learn a second instrument, at ten years old I thought I may as well be useful and play something other than the violin! So I went to the orchestra office and asked what they needed, which was the viola. At first I didn’t take it very seriously, but it was with the guidance of conductor Felix Chen that I progressed to the level of being able to join the Menuhin School when I was 14. Every Saturday my friends and I would spend five hours at Felix’s house having lunch, drawing, singing, joking, playing sonatas and duos – just having fun.
The Strad
The Taiwanese violist on what she learnt from her early years, and her move to the UK’s Yehudi Menuhin School
When I was growing up in Taiwan, people either played piano or violin. I learnt piano, and when the time came to learn a second instrument, at ten years old I thought I may as well be useful and play something other than the violin! So I went to the orchestra office and asked what they needed, which was the viola. At first I didn’t take it very seriously, but it was with the guidance of conductor Felix Chen that I progressed to the level of being able to join the Menuhin School when I was 14. Every Saturday my friends and I would spend five hours at Felix’s house having lunch, drawing, singing, joking, playing sonatas and duos – just having fun. This sense of the joy of music was also emphasised by my father, who taught us to sing. He had such a fresh mind and was so open to the world.
I was part of one of the first generations in the Taiwan music scene to get the chance to go abroad. People often say, ‘You poor thing, it must have been so hard,’ but at the time that wasn’t the mentality I had. I felt so lucky to have the freedom to explore and learn. Only in retrospect do I realise I developed coping strategies for what was often a very difficult time. Chamber music became my medicine and my daily walks around the school taught me the importance of taking time for myself.
Read more here.
Boston Globe: Marc-André Hamelin and the riches of ragtime
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Boston Globe
By David Weininger
The pianist, who appears at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival on Saturday, recently released a two-CD set of American composer William Bolcom’s complete piano rags
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Hamelin started learning some of the rags from a popular Dover collection of Joplin’s piano works. A few years later, he came across “Heliotrope Bouquet,” an LP featuring the American composer William Bolcom at the piano. It featured a few Joplin rags, as well as pieces by Joseph Lamb and James Scott, who together made up the “big three” of ragtime.
Read more here.
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.