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Avlana Eisenberg joins William Grant Still's granddaughter Celeste Headlee for 89.5KMFA: Austin interview
Posted: 08/08/2022
On Friday, May 27, 2022, the world premiere recording, William Grant Still: Music for Violin and Orchestra, featuring acclaimed violinist Zina Schiff and conductor Avlana Eisenberg leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, released via Naxos American Classics (Naxos 8.559867). The album includes world premiere orchestral versions of Summerland, Violin Suite, Pastorela, American Suite, Threnody, Serenade, Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron, Can’t You Line ‘Em and Quit Dat Fool’nish.Still (1895-1978), known as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers,” composed nearly 200 works including sym
 
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  Interview with KMFA

Mainly Piano features Calvin Jones powerful new single: 'After the Conquest'
Posted: 08/07/2022
Mainly Piano's Kathy Parsons writes….American composer/pianist Calvin Jones has released a powerful new single and music video, "After the Conquest," and has dedicated it to the many unsung heroes of the war in Ukraine. Bringing the story even closer to home, Calvin and his wife were awakened in their apartment in Kiev in February of this year by the sounds of loud sirens and bombs exploding all around them. They were able to escape Kiev and have been assisting other escapees as well as supporting many of the people left behind. Calvin and his wife have been working with individuals and organi
 
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New RSNO - Schiff, Eisenberg advances the cause of William Grant Still, as a living composer / MusicWeb International
Posted: 08/05/2022
MusicWeb International's Rob Barnett writes…..Naxos have already done much to make the music of William Grant Still a living thing for listeners. For a start, they have recorded his five symphonies (Symphony 1, Symphonies 2 and 3, Symphonies 4 and 5). The nine operas remain to be tackled but each of these would be a big and therefore expensive proposition. The present CD advances the cause by bringing various shorter works, many of them with a prominent part for Schiff’s eloquent solo violin, out of the Stygian depths. It fills in around Still’s music on other discs without duplication.William
 
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Peter Boyer delivers bright, brash, breezy attributes in spadefuls, on new Naxos recording / GRAMOPHONE
Posted: 08/05/2022
On July 8, 2022, Naxos released American composer/conductor Peter Boyer’s newest recording, with the London Symphony Orchestra under his direction. The album includes eight of Boyer’s works, with six world premiere recordings. The centerpiece of the album is Balance of Power, a three-movement, 19-minute work commissioned by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in honor of the 95th birthday of Henry Kissinger, former U.S. Secretary of State. The National Symphony Orchestra premiered Balance of Power at the Kennedy Center in September 2021. The recording also features Fanfare for T
 
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Barre Phillips - Gyorgy Kurtag release: 'Face a Face' on ECM
Posted: 08/05/2022
Barre Phillips’s End to End album, released in 2018, brought the documentation of his music for solo bass to a profound conclusion. Now Face à Face returns the emphasis to collaborative work, to dialogue and shared creation, in improvisations with György Kürtág Jr.The Hungarian composer and improviser, last heard on ECM on the album Kurtágonals in 2009, describes his musical relationship with Barre as “one of the most important of my life” and on Face à Face it is immediately that the two musicians share an advanced understanding. It is an understanding patiently built up over the years. They
 
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Classically trained, bluegrass-infused, Time for Three has a whole new sound / Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted: 08/04/2022
Philadelphia Inquirer's David Patrick Stearns writes……Long familiar to Philadelphians for buoyant, high-velocity music with the rhythm of stand-up comedy, the string trio Time for Three ( Ranaan Meyer, Charles Yang and Nicolas Kendall ) is in a new phase that was often envisioned but out of reach.Letters for the Future is the title of the trio’s new album on the venerable Deutsche Grammophon label, which doesn’t usually cater to a self-described “classically trained garage band,” but it’s one that has attracted two Pulitzer Prize-winning composers willing to join them in their synthesis of blu
 
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Keith Jarrett's eternal balancing act / NPR - WBGO
Posted: 08/04/2022
'During a concert, certain things are not nonexistent,' Jarrett shares"I remember there was a river next to the hotel, or across the street. And I walked along that," Keith Jarrett says of the tour stop captured on Bordeaux Concert. "That's what I remember." Daniela Yohannes/ECM RecordsNPR - WBGO's Nat Chinen writes……Almost two years ago, pianist Keith Jarrett shared publicly that he had suffered two strokes in 2018 and would likely never perform again. That revelation, which I reported in a piece for the New York Times, shook Jarrett's worldwide audience, eliciting sympathy and concern along
 
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Get heartland and indigenous takes on the lore of the moon with new Apollo Chamber Players recording / Midwest Record
Posted: 08/03/2022
On Friday, September 2, 2022, Apollo Chamber Players, under the direction of founder and violinist Matthew J. Detrick, will release its sixth album, MoonStrike, on Azica Records. MoonStrike is a universal celebration of storytelling, space, and folk song, realized through new works by Jennifer Higdon, Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, and Pierre Jalbert. Tate’s title work, MoonStrike, is narrated by Chickasaw astronaut John Herrington, the first American Indian citizen to fly in space. All three works were commissioned by Apollo Chamber Players as part of its 20x2020 project, launched in 2014 with
 
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Brandee Younger. Rethinking harp music / Pitchfork
Posted: 08/02/2022
You probably never thought you’d hear the harp soundtracking a queer porno, but here we are.Pitchfork's April Clare Welsh writes…..The harp may be one of the oldest instruments in the world, dating back to ancient Mesopotamia, but modern artists have been working to break the instrument free from its stuffy connotations for years. Over the past few decades, the majestic relic’s plinks have turned up in everything from R&B chart-toppers to UK garage classics to Four Tet tunes.These days, a new raft of classically trained harpists are taking the sound even further. Celebrated U.S. harpist Ma
 
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Yo-Yo Ma performs in the woods, accompanied by birdsong chorus / aeon
Posted: 07/31/2022
aeon writes…..The Birdsong Project is an endeavour organised by the Audubon Society as a ‘celebration of the joy and mysteries of birdsong’ via visual art, music and poetry. In this music video from the album For the Birds: The Birdsong Project, Vol II (2022), the celebrated cellist Yo-Yo Ma is seen and heard performing ‘In the Gale’, which he created in collaboration with the composer Anna Clyne. Perhaps the only piece of music written ‘for cello and birdsong’, the performance sees Ma alone with his instrument in a wooded landscape, performing the poignant work alongside a chorus of some of n
 
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Extended pianist Oscar Rossignoli: Marrying improvisation with rhythm / Modern Jazz Today
Posted: 07/30/2022
Modern Jazz Today - Susan Frances writes….A solo artist, a support musician, and a member of the jazz trio Extended, pianist and composer Oscar Rossignoli has earned a place in jazz music’s annals. His advancements in expanding jazz music’s perimeters challenge listeners to interpret his creations, inciting present and future generations to take note. He describes, “In jazz, I found a way to marry improvisation with rhythm, and it provided a platform in which I could play with other people as well, even without much or any rehearsals.” He declares, “My first impression of jazz, or technically
 
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Violinist Zina Schiff joins her daughter, conductor Avlana Eisenberg for William Grant Still / Violinist.com - For the Record
Posted: 07/29/2022
On Friday, May 27, 2022, the world premiere recording, William Grant Still: Music for Violin and Orchestra, featuring acclaimed violinist Zina Schiff and conductor Avlana Eisenberg leading the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, released via Naxos American Classics (Naxos 8.559867). The album includes world premiere orchestral versions of Summerland, Violin Suite, Pastorela, American Suite, Threnody, Serenade, Fanfare for the 99th Fighter Squadron, Can’t You Line ‘Em and Quit Dat Fool’nish.Still (1895-1978), known as the “Dean of Afro-American Composers,” composed nearly 200 works including sym
 
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Congrats to 2022 DownBeat Critics Poll Winners
Posted: 07/29/2022
DownBeat writes…..The 70th Annual DownBeat International Critics Poll has made history with pianist Jon Batiste being the first artist to ever be named Jazz Artist and Beyond Artist of the Year. We Are, Batiste’s award-winning album, was also named Beyond Album of the Year.“I moved to New York as a teenager to play jazz, like the late, great Christopher ‘Biggie Smalls’ Wallace said: ‘It was all a dream, I used to read DownBeat magazine,’” Batiste said on social media. “So now, to be named as both Jazz Artist and Beyond Artist of the Year by DownBeat is one of the most incredible honors I’ve ev
 
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Set for Ravinia, Rachel Willis-Srensen on singing Rosalinde, Desdemona, and Donna Anna / WFMT
Posted: 07/29/2022
Sony Classical International announces the exclusive signing of American soprano, Rachel Willis-Sørensen with her self-titled debut album of opera arias and scenes, coming out April 8, 2022. “Rachel” - available from today to pre-order - showcases the depth and variety of her incredible voice which leading French daily Le Monde cites as “without a doubt one of the most impressive voices in the opera world.” The album includes key works from Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Dvorak and Lehár that reflect her stellar career performing on the world’s most prestigious opera stages. Ms. Willis-Sørensen is jo
 
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Accompanied by Ammiel Bushakevitz, Timothy Fallon presents a wide-ranging collection of Respighi songs / INFODAD
Posted: 07/28/2022
     Although Respighi was determined to show ways in which Italian music could be purely instrumental without being beholden to the Germanic tradition – breaking listeners’ identification of Italian composers almost solely with opera – he nevertheless created a considerable number of vocal works (including nine operas of his own). Among his music for voice, his songs are highly personal and most are not at all well-known. Timothy Fallon has assembled an interesting and wide-ranging collection of Respighi songs for a new BIS recording in which he is very ably accompanied by
 
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Chilly Gonzales promises 'a Jazz in Marciac show that will go in all directions' / Khabar Nonstop
Posted: 07/28/2022
Khabar Nonstop's Neha Rajeshvari writes……Chilly Gonzales opens the Jazz in Marciac evening this Tuesday, July 26, opening for Marcus Miller. The pianist is planning an unprecedented concert full of surprises. Dressed in a bathrobe and wearing slippers, pianist and singer Chilly Gonzales fills concert halls around the world. Renowned for his compositions and his talents as showman, he is on the stage of the marquee of Jazz in Marciac this Tuesday, in the first part of Marcus Miller. Maintenance.Playing at Marciac, of course, is something very important. It is one of the most legendary jazz fest