Pioneering composer Vangelis' released a new album on Decca Records called Nocturne. A soothing collection of solo piano pieces, recorded in his inimitable style, the 11 tracks include; new versions of his iconic hits, including his score for Chariots of Fire and the "Love Theme" from Blade Runner. On this album, Vangelis records on a grand piano for the first time. The album is being featured this week on Syndicated: Hearts of Space in a program called: "THE INFINITE PIANO" PGM 1209 : the evolving sound of the ambient piano F
The human voice is front and center this week on KUSC: Los Angeles as we feature the latest from Voces8 as our Album of the Week. The U.K.'s star a cappella octet has a new album entitled Enchanted Isle. It contains re-imagined pieces originally written for film or television (such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones), new arrangements of Scottish and Irish melodies, and compositions set to texts by great English poets. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0
The human voice is front and center this week on KDFC: San Francisco as we feature the latest from Voces8 as our Album of the Week. The U.K.'s star a cappella octet has a new album entitled Enchanted Isle. It contains re-imagined pieces originally written for film or television (such as Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones), new arrangements of Scottish and Irish melodies, and compositions set to texts by great English poets. Photo by Andy Staples p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2
The all-boy English vocal group Libera has morphed ever since they began in 1995. The approximately 40 members - 35 on this latest album - are between the ages of seven and sixteen, which means between the changes in voices and age, the singers come and go (most have unchanged boy soprano, a.k.a. treble, voices). Yet, thanks to mastermind Robert Prizeman, Libera - as with the San Francisco-based Chanticleer, which has also seen alterations over the years - the glorious sound remarkably remains the same, if not better; indeed, the seven soloists here are impeccable. READ THE FULL ST
Craig Swanson has dreamed about The French Suite Kit ever since he first heard Glenn Gould talk about the possibility of a "New Listener" who would take some measure of control over their participation in the listening process. As Geoffrey Payzant in his book, Glenn Gould: Music and Mind, stated 40 years ago (1978): The technological developments predicted by Gould in the mid-1960s have for the most part materialized as he said they would, but the advertisements in the audio press do not suggest that there is a consumer market for them. Nobody is advertising "kits." Swanson realized tha
KPFK: Global Village interview with John Schneider
The New York Philharmonic's third album on Decca Gold features performances of Stravinsky's Le Sacre du printemps and Debussy's La Mer from concerts in Jaap van Zweden's opening weeks as Music Director in 2018. The New York Times wrote that in the opening performance of Le Sacre du printemps, "Mr. van Zweden drew incisive, blazingly powerful and vehement playing from the Philharmonic." Two weeks later, The Times described the performance of La Mer as "bold, almost cinematic." For March 24, 2019, New York Philharmonic, van Zweden - Music of Stravinsky & Debussy is the WFMT: Chic
For decades, concert commissions for film composers were few and far between. The increasing popularity of John Williams' film music, and his visibility as conductor of the Boston Pops in the 1980s and '90s, led to his writing a number of concert works, but Williams was, for the most part, the exception to the rule. That is changing, some composers say, because orchestra managers are reaching the belated conclusion that film music communicates immediately to audiences, and the current trend of live-to-picture concerts of movie hits (everything from "Star Wars" to "Lord of the Rings") is bri
Banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck has won 16 Grammy Awards, played at least 15 major festivals and recorded countless albums through his involvement in various music projects. Needless to say, with a list of accolades of that magnitude, his opinion on anything music-related should be valued. So what does he think about Big Ears in Knoxville? "I think it's a really neat thing, and I'm amazed and thrilled that it's working so well," he said in an exclusive interview with Knox News. "I was hoping they'd ask me to be a part of it. Now that I'm in, I'll stay as long as I ca
Andrea Bocelli returned to The Metropolitan Opera stage for the first time in seven years on Feb. 10 and 17, inspired by the theme of love. Together with Aida Garifullina, Isabel Leonard, Nadine Sierra, Luca Pisaroni, members of the Met Orchestra, and guest conductor Eugene Kohn, the star performed iconic operatic pieces in a program showcasing "Three Centuries of Love." Bocelli was met with throngs of fans afterward, signing over 2,000 autographs. The Epoch Times caught up with the classical singer after the New York performances to discuss the concert, his recent album "Sì," the ar
This is my first time hearing the music of Isang Yun, the South Korean composer who was once kidnapped from Germany and put on trial for his support of Korean reunification. Korean born, Berlin resident Isang Yun, who died last year at the age of 78 in Germany, achieved a certain notoriety by being imprisoned in his native country in 1967 (Stravinsky, Stockhausen, Boulez and Klemperer were among the individuals who petitioned for his release), and his music aimed to create a territory of its own between East and West. What that means for Sunrise Falling, Pentatone's two-disc collection
The viola is not the most popular instrument, but Matthew Lipman is doing his part to bring it front and center. The young and emerging artist recently released his solo debut album "Ascent." The recording blends a variety of repertoire, all imaginative, improvisational works for viola and piano. Matthew collaborates on the album with pianist Henry Kramer, who just received a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant (Lipman received one in 2015). Of special note is the inclusion of a previously unknown impromptu by Dmitri Shostakovich. The other composers represented are York Bowen, Clarice Assad, Ro
Remember the first time you heard a classical work that became a seminal moment for you? Mine came watching Disney's Fantasia. When I heard the pounding and mysticism and that swirl of orchestrated colors in Stravinsky's Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps), I was hooked. It didn't hurt that I was watching gorgeous animation telling of the beginning of earth through earthquakes and the extinction of dinosaurs. Over the years, anyone who deviated from Leopold Stokowski's rendition - however edited for the 1940 film - got an immediate pooh-pooh from me. Even when I saw a reconstructed versi
Perhaps the most remarkable baroque orchestra in the world will perform at Southam Hall this month. Certainly the most inventive. Yup, the words "inventive" and "baroque" live comfortably together in this orchestra. Tale of Two Cities: The Leipzig-Damascus Coffeehouse is an imaginative multimedia concert by Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and featuring Trio Arabica, with music by J.S. Bach, Handel, and Telemann. It's 1740. In Leipzig, Bach is conducting top-notch musicians in a coffeehouse every Friday night. In Damascus, singers and instrumentalists get together to share classical Arabic
A pair of tickets and a signed CD are up for grabs for one SoGlos reader. A definitive highlight of Cheltenham Jazz Festival 2019, Katie Melua will delight audiences on Monday 6 May 2019 in the Henry Westons Big Top. Teaming up with SoGlos, Cheltenham Festivals is offering one SoGlos reader the chance to bag some of the best seats in the tent for what will be an incredible evening of stunning live music. With platinum selling albums, Katie Melua will bring her signature spellbinding melodies to Cheltenham and crowds can look out for her biggest hits including ‘9 Million Bicycles'
Grammy Award-winning music producer and guitarist Will Ackerman is universally recognized as the pioneer in new age music. He single-handedly fostered the careers of generations of acoustic guitarists and pianists through his groundbreaking work at Windham Hill Records. Ackerman will take the stage at the Bankhead Theater on March 28, 2019 for a "Gathering4Guitars." In this evening of acoustic music, Ackerman will be joined by kalimbatar/guitarist Trevor Gordon Hall, Imrat guitarist Todd Mosby and acoustic guitar maestro Vin Downes. Ackerman began as a musician and the founder of Windha
Ask most any singer today what they were first taught to sing, and they'll produce a beat-up copy of a yellow-covered volume from G. Schirmer called 24 Arie Antiche. These are Italian songs from the 17th and 18th centuries, many of them arias from obscure operas. They are considered good for students because they do not require an extended vocal range. They do require, and they are used to teach, the ability to sing a clean line, to string one note after the other in a seamless way. "Like pearls" was the old adage. Joyce DiDonato's new recording features some of these Arie Antic
Seven-members from the The Grammy-winning Silkroad Ensemble from Boston founded by the famed cellist travels between the music of Europe and the East on March 27 at UNCW's Kenan Auditorium. It is the essence of romantic adventure. Caravans crossing thousands of miles of high desert, sometimes within sight of heaven-stretched mountains, following the headwaters of great rivers, skirting China's Great Wall, arriving at one end in the thriving port of Shanghai, and at the other in ports of the eastern Mediterranean Sea, stopping at the occasional life-sustaining oasis along the way. READ T
Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin who will be featured at Kean University's Kean Stage Series on Friday, April 5 at 7:30 pm. The concert will take place at Kean University's East Campus' Enslow Hall, 215 North Avenue in Hillside, New Jersey. Isbin will be joined by guest artist, Brazilian jazz guitarist and Latin GRAMMY winner Romero Lubambo. Tickets are $40-$60 with discounted student tickets the week of the show and can be purchased at the Kean Stage Box Office in Wilkins Theatre on Kean's Main Campus, 1000 Morris Avenue in Union, by phone at (908) 737
Carolyn Surrick, poet and viola da gamba player in the Ensemble Galilei, has never been to war. But along with her fellow musicians, who played Irish and Celtic tunes for seven years at Walter Reed National Military Medical Hospital in Bethesda, Md., she has witnessed the toll of war, not only on the badly wounded, but also on families and communities. Based on that experience, Ensemble Galilei has joined with veteran NPR war correspondents Neal Conan and Anne Garrels to present "Between War and Here," a program that combines music, poetry and memoir to explore "honor, courage, loss and hop
The spiritual music made by John and Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders in the late ‘60s is surely an inspiration for the UK jazz trio, and, like those iconic figures. TCIC is on the same Impulse! label, pushing the envelope into the 21st century with spiritual jazz that owes as much to the ‘60s sound as it does to futuristic music like that from Bladerunner. This is the Impulse! debut of King Shabaka (Shabaka Hutchings) on saxophone/bass clarinet, Danalogue (Dan Leavers) on keys/synth, and Betamax (Max Hallett) on drums for their album Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery
If you are exploring Jean Sibelius's music for the first time, or want to discover a new recording of a long-cherished work, then we hope that you find this list of recommended recordings useful. Here is the Gramophone beginner's guide to 10 of the most outstanding recordings of Jean Sibelius's music. Included in the list is Lisa Batiashvili wStaatskapelle Berlin / Daniel Barenboim Sibelius Violin Concerto. "Batiashvili homes in here on the ethereal quality of the lyricism. The beautiful opening theme at first seems indivisible from the oscillating icy haze of the orche
Analekta, in collaboration with the International Festival of Films on Art (the FIFA) and ID Vision Films II, is proud to announce the world premiere of Angèle, Virtuoso as the closing film of Montreal's FIFA on Saturday, March 30. Angèle, Virtuoso tells the story of Canada's pre-eminent violin virtuoso, Angèle Dubeau, exploring her expansive international career in classical music of over 40 years. The film explores the 4 seasons as a visual metaphor for life events and inspirational shifts of her unusual and meteoric ascension from rural Québec to Julliard, and
Louisville Orchestra CEO Robert Massey announced that the orchestra's board of directors has extended Music Director Teddy Abram's contract for an additional five years, through the 2024-2025 season. Massey said; "Under his leadership, the orchestra has realized an impressive list of accomplishments - including the release of its first recording in nearly 30 years," Massey said. "Teddy's own award-winning compositions have brought a diverse, new audience to the Louisville Orchestra." Abrams joined the Louisville Orchestra in 2014 as Music Director. He was 27 at the time, making him one
From awards-laden lyricists to those whose creativity has reached new heights of expression, these musicians could – and should – be considered poets. A master of what many would deem "poetic lyrics", Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for literature in October 2016, reigniting the long-running debate over whether song lyrics should be considered poetry. For many, the fact that the success of a song lyric tends to hinge upon on its accompanying music, the voices that sing it and the performance itself means that it cannot be considered poetry. Yet before the written word, poetry
Bassist Pablo Aslan creates some rich atmospheres and moods as he teams with the Cuarteto Petrus (Pablo saravi/vi, Harnan Briatico/vi, Adrain Feizia/va, Gloria Pankaeva/vc on a collection of themes dominated by composer Gabriel Senanes and Alexis Cuadrado. The strings vary between gentle pulses as on "Preludio #1" having Aslan finger the theme, while the roles get reversed as the Cuarteto gives some pizzicato'd background for Aslan's rich bow on "Confluencias." The team does a gorgeous and elegiac take of Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" that has the long tones yearn whereas the strings give
Shabaka Hutchings has been one of the fastest rising stars in the world of jazz as of late, and more distinctly, has gained recognition as a pioneer in sonic experimentation. With three bands at his helm, the London saxophonist has been busy fulfilling all his musical dreams and fantasies, which has attracted not only the attention of jazz enthusiasts but the admiration of now-established jazz crossover stars such as Kamasi Washington. And he hasn't done this by the book either. Hutchings has gained this attention while also dividing his seemingly boundless energy between three projects
Chances are, at some point in the last year, you've heard, seen or read something about the new wave of UK jazz. Across the capital and beyond, a new generation of trumpet players, saxophonists and singers have revolutionised what we think of as jazz and how we think about the people who listen to it. No longer the preserve of older, middle-class audiences, London jazz embraces its youth, drawing on grime, dub, reggae, bashment, Afrobeats and more to create a vital new sound. The response has been extraordinary, with acts such as Kamaal Williams landing Top 10 hits and Ezra Collecti
One day, if Rachel Barton Pine gets her wish, more children of color will see themselves on stage with a symphony, playing the music of black composers. In what has become a passion project over the past 15 years for the internationally renowned violinist and Chicago mom, Pine and her Rachel Barton Pine Foundation have collected more than 900 pieces of music by more than 350 black composers from the 18th-21st centuries. She is starting to put that music in the hands of young musicians in a multi-prong approach that also includes the first coloring book of its kind, one featuring 40 importan
For 40 years, Tuck & Patti, this unique, genre-crossing vocal/guitar jazz duo has cast its passionate musical spell worldwide, capturing the hearts of lovers, the respect of jazz buffs and the jaw-dropping awe of guitarists and singers. To understand Tuck & Patti, start with the wellspring of love within them, then their music begins to make perfect sense. Married 37 years, Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart continue to stoke the fires, not only of their own love, but also of their love of life and their passion for making music together. They have a long-standing tradition: Minimalist
While the audio marketplace is continually expanding as a result of increased accessibility and emerging technology, radio remains front and center, reaching more Americans each week than any other media source, at 92% among U.S. adults 18+. That is more than twice the usage of the next audio platform in line, streaming audio on smartphones, at 45%. The just released Q3 Nielsen Total Audience Report has podcasts as the No. 3 most popular audio platform, with 19% of usage; followed by satellite radio, at 16%; and streaming audio on a tablet, 13%. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0p
Kayhan Kalhour knows life will always involve the mundane-bills, dishes, work-which is why the Grammy Award–nominated musician says music and culture are so crucial. "Some of us will be professional musicians and some will be professional listeners, but music is so important in this world that we live in," says Kalhour, who will perform on Friday, March 22, as part of Musical Bridges Around the World's five-concert International Music Festival. "Culture is the only thing that's worthwhile. A world without art and culture would be meaningless." The Iranian-born musician and compose
Guitarist Jesse Cook sees music as a means to transcend borders and embrace humanity. Cook brings his considerable talents to London Music Hall Friday, presented by TD Sunfest. Cook is an 11-time Juno nominee who won a Juno for best instrumental album for Free Fall in 2001, and is three-time winner of the Canadian Smooth Jazz award for guitarist of the year. "There are many borders in our lives," wrote Cook of Beyond Borders. "Some have been built by others, some we create for ourselves, but whenever I ventured beyond the borders of my life, I have been the better for it . . . Beauty,
Composer/Songwriter Jimmy Webb, will play his songs made famous by the late Glen Campbell, right, during a show at Opening Nights Tuesday. Webb has had chart-topping hits in a wide range of genres, from country to pop to disco, with songs including "Worst That Could Happen," "Wichita Lineman," "Up, Up and Away" and "MacArthur Park." But perhaps the most enduring partnership out of all those memorable songs is his musical brotherhood with Glen Campbell. His touring multi-media show, "Jimmy Webb: The Glen Campbell Years," brings fans of his music a unique connection of songs, revealing t
The 5 Browns - Ryan, Melody, Gregory, Deondra and Desirae Brown - are set to perform Saturday with East Texas Symphony Orchestra on Saturday at UT Tyler's Cowan Center. A quintet of piano playing siblings, will take the stage as the featured artists in concert with East Texas Symphony Orchestra on Saturday. The siblings all attended New York's Juilliard School and then started performing together. They have recorded albums that have topped the classical albums charts and have been featured in People magazine and on "Oprah," "60 Minutes," the PBS special "The 5 Browns In Conce
Renowned jazz guitarist and composer Bill Frisell has a history of helping the homeless. He once did a string of shows supporting the progressive, Seattle-based, homeless advocacy newspaper Real Change. Now, Frisell is returning to Louisville for 2019's first Give-a-Jam, a benefit concert series for the Louisville Coalition for the Homeless. He told LEO Weekly when an opportunity comes "to actually help somehow, it feels really great. Sometimes you feel helpless, and you're like, man, I don't know what to do," Frisell said. "So, it's like a selfishly great thing for me to feel I can do a li
One of the world's biggest classical stars, Lang Lang, returns with his brand new solo album ‘Piano Book' – a collection of pieces which first inspired him to play the piano and led him on his path to international stardom. The recording, his first new studio album in three years, marks his return to Universal Music Group and Deutsche Grammophon – the label he first signed to in 2003. Lang Lang says: "I want to take every music lover on a journey through my favourite piano pieces. I hope to inspire as well as m
The Comet is Coming are back with another spoonful of cosmic jam, this time entitled Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery (out now on Impulse!) and they aren't hiding their influences. Be in no doubt: Space is the place. Bandleader and saxophonist, Shabaka (King Shabaka) Hutchings, is a sometime member of the inter-dimensional, pharaonic Jazz cult that is Sun Ra Arkestra, and makes no bones about the fact that he sees himself as a carrier of the flame for the great man. He's also the leader of Sons of Kemet, who gave us last year's exquisitely titled and inarguably b
Temple-owned radio station plays live classical music. Radio host Debra Lew Harder incorporated live classical music performances on her "Classical Weekdays" on Wednesday program. Harder, who hosts two WRTI shows, used to play only pre-recorded classical music from CDs or records while sitting behind a large switchboard. But she decided to energize the show by adding live performances from both well-known and up-and-coming musicians. "Listeners really get to hear their personality and their personal stories about the music, which I think makes it very interesting, and just the beauty o
For the first time, musicians under 21 years of age (but at least 18 years old) can submit to NPR's annual Tiny Desk Contest. Thus, NPR Music reached out to college newspapers such as the Hustler to promote the contest to newly eligible students.The Vanderbilt Hustler will offer up recording equipment and staff to students looking to submit to NPR's 2019 Tiny Desk Contest. Here's how it'll work: Email Dallas Shatel (dallas.a.shatel@vanderbilt.edu) if you would like to participate. We will set up a time and place to record your song (it must be an original song, and you must perform
A look back at the classic Beatles album Sgt Pepper is delivered by artists ranging from Antonio Sanchez and Mary Halvorson to Sullivan Fortner, with impressive results. No one tries to repeat a mood, but simply to take the songs and puree them through a 21st Century post bop mindset. The closest thing to a similar mood is with bassist Felix Pastorius bringing in some raga-ish keyboards and synthesizers for a mystical "Within You Without You," but besides that, things get pretty original. Fortner's solo stride of "When I'm Sixty Four" is rich and colorful, while Sanchez's franti
The Comet Is Coming, the space rock-tinged jazz trio led by Shabaka Hutchings (who also leads Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors) - and also featuring keyboardist Dan Leavers and drummer Max Hallett - released their great sophomore album Trust In The Lifeforce Of The Deep Mystery this past Friday (3/15) via Impulse! and they're supporting it on tour now. They were in Austin for SXSW when the album was released, and last night (3/18) they played NYC's Mercury Lounge with opener Will Shore. The Comet Is Coming played a mix of songs from both albums with extended jams throughout. It w
Black tie will meet black leather as the San Francisco Symphony joins Metallica on Sept. 6 to break in the new home of the Golden State Warriors in Mission Bay. The classical musicians and classic rockers will be the first acts to perform - yes, together - at Chase Center, the new arena that will serve as home to the NBA team in the fall, Warriors officials announced Monday, March 18, at a news conference hosted just outside of the venue attended by Metallica's Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, Warriors owner Joe Lacob, Warriors Pre
The San Francisco Early Music Society (SFEMS) is pleased to welcome back Montreal-based Ensemble Caprice, celebrating its 30th anniversary this season. Ensemble Caprice will perform a program inspired by love stories from five countries with works by Bach, Purcell, Falconieri, Schmelzer, Vivaldi and more. Concerts of Ensemble Caprice will take place at 8 p.m. Friday, April 12 at First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto; at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 13 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Berkeley; and at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 14 at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco. READ THE
At age 67, the Californian-born maestro has been a fixture in the musical landscape in Europe for decades. Having occupied important positions in Berlin and Munich, Nagano is now the general music director at the Staatsoper opera house in Hamburg. Always maintaining a bicontinental existence, he went from the Los Angeles Opera to the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, where he will have served as music director from 2006 until 2020. DW caught up with the jet-setting maestro during his final European tour with the musicians from Canada from March 11-25. The star conductor explains to
The Czech National Symphony Orchestra (CNSO) announced today that Steven Mercurio will become its new Music Director as of the upcoming 2019/20 season. Maestro Mercurio, an American conductor and composer known for his exceptional versatility and dynamism, has fostered a vibrant, ten-year affiliation with the orchestra, with extensive collaborations taking place across multiple musical genres and in every capacity: symphonically, operatically, and through extensive recording projects. Maestro Mercurio is currently in Prague, conducting the orchestra in music by Martinu and Shostakovich.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma will be holding a day of action and plans to play a concert in the middle of the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge in Laredo next month, in celebration of how culture unites communities across the border, Mr. Ma is currently traveling the world as part of his Bach Project, where he plans to perform all six cello suites by Johann Sebastian Bach in one sitting, in 36 cities. With each concert he is including a "day of action." A representative of the Laredo Philharmonic told Laredo City Council on Monday that Ma would only play in San Antonio if he could hold his d
The latest album "Secrets of My Heart" (available from March 29, 2019) by the 31-year-old singer, pianist and composer is the follow-up to the successful album "Paris in the Rain". It was recorded in New York with the help of longtime producer Chon Lim. The album begins with "You Only Live Twice", a personal interpretation of James Bond Megahit by John Barry and Leslie Bricusses. In the title song "Secrets of My Heart", McKenzie describes her inner unrest by separating from her family and home. Exhilarating piano sounds are in "I Fell in Love with You", accompanied by Dan Wilson with th
This disc of French cello concertos on Sony Classical from the young Korean-born cellist Hee-Young Lim with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Scott Yoo starts with the well-known Concerto for Cello and Orchestra No. 1 in A minor by Saint-Saens but then Lim's choice of companion pieces become far more interesting with Lalo's rarely performed Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in D minor and Milhaud's Cello Concerto No. 1, Op. 136, along with Offenbach's Les larmes de Jacqueline as a little extra. Hee-Young Lim plunges straight in with the Saint-Saens,her playing fu
"We're going to bring you an evening of wonderment," Sarah Brightman promised at the beginning of her show last Saturday at Seattle's Paramount Theatre, in support of her recent album, Hymn. And did she deliver. The Paramount stage was filled from side to side with a mini orchestra, a choir, and a rock band. There were flashing lights. There were mountainous clouds of dry ice. And in the midst of it all was Brightman as a dazzling centerpiece, dressed in an array of sparkly attire (the sparkle courtesy of Swarovski crystals, which, she says, "reflect light in so many ways"), elaborately cra
"Live From Here" may be drifting away from its Minnesota roots, but the national radio show found all sorts of ways to pay tribute to the state with its last Twin Cities show of the season and its first without host Chris Thile. Guest host Jon Batiste, best known as the bandleader for CBS's "Late Show With Stephen Colbert," talked about how he spent time in college obsessed with Prince's "Dirty Mind" album before steaming up the Fitzgerald Theatre with a sulty, jazz version of "How Come U Don't Call Me Anymore." The real star here was Batiste, who showed that he was just as enth
For the past two years, London saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings has traveled the globe as one of jazz music's top performers, lending his hallmark bluster to like-minded artists Makaya McCraven and Moses Sumney, while crafting the sonic direction for two of his three disparate bands: the Caribbean dance-themed Sons of Kemet, the spiritual jazz-focused Shabaka and the Ancestors, and the cosmic jazz-centered the Comet Is Coming. Through a tireless work ethic, Hutchings has become one of the trendiest musicians in all of jazz, and is the leader of a U.K. jazz scene that boasts such names as Nubya
Clemency Burton-Hill joins us for her ongoing series, "All Things Classical." Pianist Lara Downes discusses her creative practice. Art Shamsky, former right-fielder for the Mets, and Erik Sherman, a sports biographer, talk about their new book, After the Miracle: The Lasting Brotherhood of the '69 Mets. Architecture critic and journalist James Russell discusses the opening of Hudson Yards. Frampton Tolbert, creator of Queens Modern, a project that examines and documents the architecture 20th century Queens architecture, explains his project. Leila Bozorg, deputy commissioner for neighborhoo
Jack Thorne's immensely popular two-part play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, has taken up residence in London, New York, and Melbourne, and will soon be in San Francisco (Nov. 2019) and Hamburg (2020). Recording artist and engineer extraordinaire Imogen Heap was hired to create a soundtrack for the stage production. She used her own "Box of Tricks," an electronic collection of 13 virtual instruments, custom tools FX, 170 presets, and a 30GB library, so you can imagine the wizardry, microcircuitry, and wiring used to create the atmospheric sound behind the players (there's only one song
Historically, happy Beethoven has not amounted to popular Beethoven. Joshua Bell and the Houston Symphony hardly let that stop them this weekend. To say the least, the world's most famous composer is not remembered for his sunny disposition. But in 1806, he had ample reason to smile: That summer he completed a new symphony that his patron, one Prince Lichnowsky, had commissioned well in advance; and his long-gestating violin concerto in honor of his old friend, the Viennese virtuoso Franz Clement, came to fruition just days before its premiere that December. Taken together, the two piec
Bill Frisell, whose career as a pathbreaking guitarist spans more than 40 years, was born on this day (March 18) in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. With more than 35 albums as a leader, Frisell has become one of the leading voices in jazz guitar, with a style that merges modern jazz with elements of folk, early rock and roll, country music, bluegrass, Americana and the avant-garde. Today's Song of the Day comes from Frisell's 2011 release, All We Are Saying, which features the guitarist's unique interpretations of John Lennon's music. Frisell's trademark guitar sound is pure, shimmering and r
With this recording, the American singer Lyn Stanley arrived at the sixth recording, seventeen songs dedicated to the famous colleague Julie London, almost all of which she played in the thirty-one albums recorded during her career. The two exceptions are It's Impossible and I Heard It Through the Grapevine. The band that accompanies it changes from one song to another, all recorded with the utmost care so as to reach audiophiles, in all possible versions, from digital to LP. The pianists are Mike Garson, Christian Jacob, Chuck Berghofer and Michael Valerio on double bass, Paul Kreibich dru
Quartetto di Cremona (Cristiano Gualco, Simone Gramaglia, Paolo Andreoli and Giovanni Scaglione) has won the Franco Buitoni Award 2019, receiving £25,000 and a specially commissioned glass sculpture, entitled Suono, made by Venice-based artist Ritsue Mishima. The presentation will take place on 16th April when the quartet is in Milan for a performance at Società del Quartetto. The Italian ensemble violist; Simone Gramaglia commented: ‘We are so honoured to receive this recognition thanks to Ilaria's enlightened sensitivity and vision.' He continued, &lsquo
Can a music festival have a mid-life crisis? In its 33rd year, over two weeks in Austin, Texas, SXSW made its biggest headlines in the opening interactive phase, hosting a widely reported forum of prospective Democratic candidates for president. The SXSW film festival featured major premieres and director Q&As, like a spring-break Sundance with a Texas drawl. And a new SXSW sideline – gaming – drew huge lines at the Austin Convention Center. The original founding energy of SXSW, the music festival, was spread out over an entire week, but big names were thin on the schedule.
When it comes to the opera Tosca, there is only one way to play it, and that's to give it your all. Composed by Giacomo Puccini, with the opera's premiere taking place in Rome in 1900, the production remains one of the most popular in the genre because of its thrilling mix of romance and political intrigue. With such a heady stew, Welsh baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, who will star in Tosca tomorrow night when it is performed at the Emirates Palace Auditorium as part of the Abu Dhabi Festival, says the production remains a popular masterpiece, despite the initial misgivings of critics who found i
Silkroad's mission has always been about creating music that engages difference. How do we celebrate differences among us but not let those differences divide us? How do you co-create, how do you co-collaborate? What does it mean to really hear someone? The idea of radical cultural collaboration...not only are you willing to share, but willing to hear what someone else's deep thoughts about something might be." p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color
In a multi-year project, pianist Robert Prosseda has been recording all of Mendelssohn's piano works for the Decca label. His project continues on the orchestral front with this album of the Piano Concertos No. 1 and 2 and Rondo brillant. He is accompanied by the Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, led by Jan Willem de Vriend, principal conductor of the orchestra. The album also includes a superb reading of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture. Roberto Prosseda Mendelssohn: Piano Concertos is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' for March 16, 2019 p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} On this studio360, Kurt Andersen talks with Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck about his new film, Never Look Away, and why the director interviewed the artist Gerhard Richter extensively to make a film that is only kind of about Richter. Plus, how Yanni, John Tesh, and other musicians discovered an improbable vehicle to '90s stardom: the PBS pledge drive. And finally, Nat King Cole would be 100 this week. To celebrate, an appreciation from biographer Daniel Mark Epstein and actor Dulé Hill, who is
With BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee effectively crafted himself a cultural moment, as the film not only nabbed some serious critical praise but prestigious awards recognition as well. Of course, the director didn't do it alone, though, and one those key assists came from Terence Blanchard, who helmed the 2018 film's Grammy-winning score. Made with Blanchard's current band E-Collective and a 96-piece orchestra, BlacKkKlansman is a sophisticated piece of work. Kicking off with the patriotic-like military drum piece "Gone With the Wind," the soundtrack morphs into an elegant and luxurio
Creating and performing music can seem far removed from efforts to promote social justice, but two prominent speakers urged an audience at Harvard Business School Wednesday to see them as intimately related pursuits. Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma '76 and Deborah Borda, president and CEO of the New York Philharmonic, in a conversation moderated by Harvard Business School Professors Rohit Deshpandé and Henry McGee, discussed the ways in which "citizen musicians" can help build a more just and free society as an extension of their work as artists. "What the New York Philharmonic is doin
In these modern-day times, the spreading of Irish culture is in good hands whenever Celtic Woman (Tara McNeill, Máiréad Carlin, Éabha McMahon and Megan Walsh) takes the stage. It's been that way ever since the all-female musical ensemble was founded by David Kavanagh, Sharon Browne and David Downes back in 2004. With Downes coming off being the former musical director of Riverdance, on-stage spectacle has always been at a premium, but never at the expense of the music. In the time that the quartet (which was originally founded as a quintet) has been regaling audien
The Tedeschi Trucks Band is a 12-piece ensemble fronted by the husband and wife team of Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks. The band's members are A-list, first-call players, and many of them could easily front bands of their own-yet they don't, they're loyal to TTB. Many have been in the band since its founding in 2010, and a few are holdovers from Tedeschi and Trucks' solo projects of the previous decade. That's not the norm, but this team is in for the long haul. The reason for that could be because the band gigs a lot. The nightly workouts are challenging and the band boasts a massive repe
Igor Levit arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 1 ahead of his first concert at Carnegie Hall's main Stern Auditorium. It was the last day of February and his entry didn't go smoothly. "It was actually four hours," he recalled. "There were 900 people standing in the line - approximately 900 people - it was packed to the stairs, to the escalator, and they literally had one window open. Nothing was working, nothing. There were no announcements made. There were kids. There were old people. It was just a disaster." Winner of last year's Gilmore Artist Award, given qua
Last November, some of Joni Mitchell's musical friends and 3,000 fans gathered to celebrate and the special night was recorded by Verve/Decca Records. Her friends and fans gathered to pay tribute to the legendary singer, performing a special concert on Mitchell's birthday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles. The star-studded line-up included James Taylor, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan and Rufus Wainwright and a host others. The release of The Music Center Presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration was 8 March 2019 and also featured performances by Brandi Carlile, Glen Hansard,
Pianist Maurizio Pollini, "the pre-eminent Chopinist of his generation" (Fanfare), continues his revelatory re-exploration of the Polish master's late works. As in previous releases, Pollini performs compositions that are chronologically closely related, highlighting the individual character of each work in its context. These recordings are the pianist's latest thoughts on Opp. 55-58, including the B minor Sonata and Berceuse. All the music was composed between 1843 and 1844 and published soon afterwards. For March 14, 2019, Maurizio Pollini - Music of Chopin is the WFMT: Chicago &
Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato recently spoke with me about her new album "Songplay," where she takes a new and creative approach to vocal music from the Baroque and Classical periods, as well as from the 20th century. It is truly a mix of genres, with classical, jazz and tango all represented. "Songplay, as a title, suggests exactly what this album is," says the pianist Craig Terry, who developed the concept for the album along with Joyce. He adds "We are taking songs that are iconic for people who have studied classical singing and we are trying to reformat them--bu
Jeff Goldblum, best known for his roles in Jurassic Park and Independence Day, is speculated to be performing at Glastonbury Festival 2019 with his orchestra. The acclaimed jazz musician, along with The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, released their debut album, The Capitol Studio Sessions, last year and graced listeners with a sprinkling of intimate shows. It was reported by New Musical Express that the guitarist in Goldblum's orchestra, John Storie, listed Glastonbury Music Festival among all their other world tour dates on his website. This page was since deleted. READ THE FULL Dancing As
Being stuck in the middle of a peculiarly eclectic bill remains some SXSW showcasers' worst nightmare. Sandwiched between the neo-gothic rock of Soft Kill and occult psychedelia from the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Coven, electro-jazz groovers the Comet is Coming simply shrugged off any potential cognitive dissonance and blazed down to business. The colorfully-dressed London trio – keyboardist Dan "Danalogue" Leavers, drummer Max "Betamax" Hallett, and fast ascending saxophonist "King Shabaka" Hutchings – skillfully mingled jazz with dancefloor-ready electronica and rock con
The legendary pianist Alfred Brendel will come to Prague this weekend to take part in a three-day festival organised in his honour. The Czech-born musician, considered to be one of the world's greatest living pianists, will present his books, give a master class and lecture on the art of playing Mozart. The event gets underway at Prague's Rudolfinum concert hall on Sunday. Last year, and for the first time, Decca released; Alfred Brendel's live recordings from Austrian Radio broadcasts (ORF) of the Schumann Piano Concerto in A Minor and Brahms' Variations and Fugue on a The
The Week in Jazz is your roundup of new and noteworthy stories from the jazz world. It's a one-stop destination for the music news you need to know. Let's take it from the top. Three-time Grammy-winning, genre-defying ensemble Snarky Puppy will begin their latest world tour on April 11 in Osaka, Japan. Their world tour is currently slated to run for 75 shows in 19 countries. Snarky Puppy also released today their new album, Immigrance. Watch the eye-popping animation video for "Bad Kids to the Back" & READ THE FULL JAZZIZ ARTICLE
Henry Kramer is one of 5 recipients of the $25,000 Avery Fisher Career Grant. He didn't begin playing the piano until he was 11 years old, a relative late-comer to classical music. Thursday night, the gifted musician from Cape Elizabeth won an Avery Fisher Career Grant, a top prize in his field. Administered by Lincoln Center in New York, the award recognizes musicians poised for exceptional solo careers and comes with a $25,000 award. "It's one of those things that all young musicians dream of and hope to get. And if you actually do, it's great – it's just great. I don't know what el
On Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 7:30pm, Billboard top-selling violinist Anne Akiko Meyers and Grammy-winning classical guitarist Jason Vieaux join forces for a performance in Weill Hall at Sonoma State University, presented by the Green Music Center. Their program features original works and arrangements for violin and guitar, spanning the Baroque era to the 21st Century. Works include Corelli's Sonata in D minor "La Folia" (arr. Andy Poxon) (guitar/violin); Philip Glass' Metamorphosis II (arr. Michael Riesman for Meyers); Astor Piazzolla's Histoire du Tango; John Corigliano'
At 6 pm on Thursday, March 14, watch the announcement of the 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grants live from The Greene Space at WQXR. The ceremony, hosted by WQXR's Elliott Forrest, features performances by this year's honorees who have been selected for their potential to have great careers as instrumentalists. Previous winners have included Yuja Wang, Jeremy Denk, Jonathan Biss, Alisa Weilerstein, Gil Shaham, Hilary Hahn, and the Escher Quartet. In addition to the live webcast, listeners will be able to hear a radio broadcast of the ceremony on WQXR at 9 pm on Thursday, April 25.
There really is no stopping Alix Perez's 1985 Music. They're known as a home for precision-tooled, minimal drum'n'bass – check their latest Edition 2 compilation for evidence. But the Broken Home EP – a new collaboration between producers Dogger and Mindstate and vocalist Liam Bailey – explores d'n'b of a somewhat different flavour, chaining crisp, liquid rhythms to a rich soul that plucks at the heartstrings. The full EP is out April 5 – For now, here's the video for the title track, exclusive to Red Bull UK. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px
It was a very fine musical fusion from Silkroad Ensemble at the Auckland Town Hall as part of the Auckland Arts Festival 2019 last Thursday night. Conceived by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma almost twenty years ago to be a musical expression of working together in the face of globalisation, the Ensemble literally embodies diversity. In addition to performing, the group also mentor and train musicians and teachers in musical collaboration. The Town Hall was packed to the rafters, and there was a real buzz in the crowd as if the audience knew they were in for a good night. Their reputation must hav
For their debut album together, violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Rafał Blechacz present music from France and Poland. Fauré's Sonata looks forward to the Impressionism of Debussy and his own Sonata, a late work. "It contains so many emotions and a whole range of characters," says Blechacz of Szymanowski's Sonata. The album concludes with a Nocturne by Chopin, a Polish composer who settled in France, bringing together the two cultures. For March 12, 2019, Rafał Blechacz, Bomsori Kim - Violin Sonatas is the WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' p.p1 {ma
For Joyce DiDonato, the divide between the heralded sounds of the Baroque and the popularity of the Great American songbook is really a false one. Her new release "Songplay," which includes arias from Vivaldi and Giordani alongside popular jazz standards from the likes of Rogers & Hart, is a testament to this. "I've always talked about how essentially it's like jazz," she says, discussing Baroque continuo arias that weren't orchestrated and required a lot of interpretation. "The whole idea is that we're all improvising along the way." Indeed many of the gr
Having long been immersed in folk and world music and acoustically-oriented singer-songwriters, it's a surprise to be given a CD by someone who's never crossed your radar, especially when the artist concerned turns out to have sold some 14 million albums, though mostly in Europe and North America. It's probably the case that Loreena McKennitt's considerable following owes to word-of-mouth, for the music-loving friend who gifted me her 1994 album The Mask and The Mirror had been put on to her by a friend in Europe. Instantly hooked, I explored further, giving her live 2006 CD/DVD set Nights
Welcome to Major Themes, a monthly feature in which classical music experts recommend a must-hear recording based on what's happening at classical stations and programs around the country. This month, we checked in with friends in Michigan, Tennessee, Vermont and California, and the national program Pipedreams. Here are their picks, with an emphasis on Women's History Month, piano, birthdays and vocal music. Women's History Month is upon us, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than with the new album by Sacramento-based pianist Lara Downes. "Holes i
Decca, which racked up chart-topping LPs by Rod Stewart and Andrea Bocelli last year, has a wealth of activity planned around the anniversary, including a Luciano Pavarotti feature film documentary, 90 different reissues, a book, a V&A exhibition and two Radio 2 documentaries. "It's got a really lovely family atmosphere," said Michael Ball, who has released two No.1 albums – 2016's Together and 2017's Together Again – on the label with Alfie Boe. "I didn't even know they'd invented records 90 years ago! It's wonderful, and it's a testament to them keeping the faith i
The Eastman School of Music is hosting what it calls a groundbreaking collaboration later this month. PUSH Physical Theatre, an award-winning motion theater group, and the Ying Quartet, a world-class string quartet, will perform together March 29-30. Creative Collision will hit the stage at 7:30 p.m. both nights at Kilbourn Hall. Darren Stevenson, PUSH co-founder and co-director, joined us this morning, along with cellist David Ying, to explain how the collaboration works and what audiences can expect. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d
The Library of Congress bestowed its annual Gershwin Prize for Popular Song last night at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington D.C., and it was a historic night on two fronts. Gloria and Emilio Estefan became the first husband-and-wife pair to receive the prestigious honor together, as well as the first Hispanic-Americans to receive the award. "As Cuban Americans, I wish our parents were here to see this," Gloria Estefan told WTOP. "For my mom, it was incredibly important to maintain our culture. … I think that it enriches your life when you know who you are - and that's what we try t
The legendary writer of ‘Galveston,' ‘Wichita Lineman' and other hits opens up about his late friend. Jimmy Webb will perform at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater on March 28. Thanks to his partnership with Campbell, for whom he wrote Wichita Lineman and Galveston, Webb helped define the lush sound of mid-'60s and -'70s pop and country. Now he's taking some of the more than 100 songs they did together during his decades-long collaboration with Campbell, who died in 2017 following a public battle with Alzheimer's disease. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;
American violist Matthew Lipman, recipient of a 2015 Avery Fischer Career Grant, makes his Cedille label debut with Ascent, an album featuring, in the artist's words, "music enraptured by flights of fantasy," including world-premiere recordings of Dmitri Shostakovich's recently discovered Impromptu for Viola and Piano, Op. 33, and Clarice Assad's Metamorfose, which Lipman commissioned. In conjunction with the new release, ML has made himself avail for a series of classical radio interviews TODAY!! Thursday February 28, with networks and local stations from around the US.
The Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance has seen its fair share of classical luminaries pass through its doors, and this week one of the dream talents at the top of artistic director Burt Wathen's wish list becomes a reality when Latvian-born violinist Gidon Kremer becomes the latest artist to dazzle audiences and enlighten students. Kremer makes a rare appearance in Nova Scotia for two concerts at the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance on March 16 and March 23. READ THE FULL ChronicleHerald.ca ARTICLE
This star-studded release from pianist Lara Downes is a collection of music written and performed by a constellation of today's leading female artists, celebrating the contributions of phenomenal women to the past, present, and future of American music. Downes collaborates with an extraordinary multi-generational group of artists, including singer-songwriter Judy Collins, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, singer and instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, pianist Simone Dinnerstein, cellist Ifetayo Ali-Landing, and the urban youth vocal ensemble Musicality. For March 8, 2019, Lara Downes: Ho
Violist Matthew Lipman's debut, solo album "Ascent" explores music filled with imagination and fantasy. It's an album that has everything from York Bowen and Robert Schumann's now-standard works, a previously unknown impromptu by Dmitri Shosakovich, Franz Waxman's explosive Carmen Fantasie recorded for the first time with viola, and new music from Garth Knox and Clarice Assad. Lipman said: I definitely think that this album is a portrait of me as an artist because of its varying styles, but also definitely of the amazing and wide range of expressions that you can find in the viola. The
Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato says the balance for the heaviness of the past two years, when she's been touring an emotional ‘War and Peace' program, is her new project, called Songplay. She and her accompanist, Craig Terry are joined by a small ensemble of jazz players as they revisit a blend of Italian art songs and the American songbook. "I think it was really the perfect time," she says, "to break out of the darkness a little bit and come into the joy of just singing a great song." Some of the repertoire might be especially familiar to voice students, since Joyce DiDonato says
Shall We Dance? THIS summer, the King of Waltz, André Rieu, returns to Maastricht to play his annual hometown concert – and once again it will be shown by Vue. In what has become a yearly tradition, the world-famous violinist and conductor will play to music fans from across the globe, as Maastricht's medieval town square is transformed into a spectacular backdrop for these unforgettable concerts filled with humour, fun and emotion for all ages. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #4d4d4d} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px
Matthew Lipman is considered one of today's leading young violists, and he recently released his debut solo album, Ascent, with Cedille Records in collaboration with pianist Henry Kramer. What a privilege it was when I received an invitation to chat with Matthew about how this album came to be. The process of commissioning a new piece of music fascinates me. I asked Matthew to delve a little deeper into how he went about choosing a composer for the new work on his album. Ascent contains another world premiere recording – the Impromptu for Viola and Piano, Op. 33 by Dmitr
In order to appease the somewhat provincial tastes of King Louis XV, composer Jean-Philippe Rameau and his librettist Voltaire altered the original version of Le Temple de la Gloire, and for centuries it was lost. The manuscript was discovered-at the University of California, Berkeley's Jean Hargrove Music Library and was brought to the attention of conductor Nicholas McGegan. For decades, maestro McGegan dreamed of reviving the original work-a dream realized in April 2017 through a partnership between Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Cal Performances at UC Berkeley
Joshua Bell's recent Sony Classical release showcases two masterpieces from romantic composer Max Bruch. The album features Bell's first recording of the virtuosic Scottish Fantasy as well as a new recording of the Violin Concerto No. 1 in G minor, which he first recorded over thirty years ago with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Sir Neville Marriner. Now, as Music Director of the Academy, Bell both performs and directs the orchestra, and offers a fresh take on the Bruch Concerto in addition to a thrilling performance of the Scottish Fantasy. NetNebrask
Internationally recognized violist; Kim Kashkashian has just released a new recording of Bach's six cello suites for ECM. The suites were once described by Pablo Casals as "the very essence of Bach…a whole radiance of space and poetry pours forth from them, and here played on the viola by one of the instrument's greatest exponents, these qualities are in abundance. The album was recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York in November and December 2016, and February 2017. In conjunction with this new release, NetNebraska's Lora Black spoke with KK
With her Warner Classics album; Songplay, Joyce DiDonato takes a new and creative angle on vocal music from the Baroque and Classical periods, as well as from the 20th century. The 14 tracks on Songplay succeed in being simultaneously familiar and unexpected. The album serves up music by Vivaldi in both its customary Baroque purity and swinging to the heady rhythm of a samba. It brings a tango sizzle to an aria by Vivaldi's contemporary Marcello, and it plays with the voice of Bach in George Shearing's ‘Lullaby of Birdland'. "Songplay, as a title, suggests exactly what thi
One of our favorite violinists, Rachel Barton Pine, is back with an album of blues-influenced classical works for solo violin and for violin and piano by 20th and 21st century composers of African descent. World-premiere recordings include Noel Da Costa's A Set of Dance Tunes for Solo Violin, based on American fiddle tunes, and Errollyn Wallen's Woogie Boogie, an inventive reimaging of the boogie woogie blues dance. Another premiere is Wendall Logan's arrangement of Duke Ellington's In a Sentimental Mood. The album's title track, Dolores White's imp
In 2017 the New-York-based Piano Duo, Anna and Dmitri Shelest released their second recording on the Sorel Classics label featuring music of their native Ukraine from the 19th 20th centuries. With both piano solo and piano four hands, including world premiere recordings, the Shelest Duo, having established themselves as solo artists, while garnering numerous prizes and awards along the way, are "effective collaborators" (The New York Times). Anna Shelest has been a soloist with some of the world's most renown orchestras such as Montreal Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philha
