Blog Posts - Classical Music Today

Violinist releasing weekly videos

2/10/2021

(Photo: Corey Hayes)

A docu-recital series will be released from February 11 to March 11 by Yevgeny Kutik, a Russian-American violinist. Entitled Finding Home: Music from the Suitcase in Concert, the docu-recital was filmed in Rockport’s Shalin Liu Performance Center.

Kutik, originally from Minsk, Belarus, at age five immigrated to the United States. Kutik studied with his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, a violin teacher, as well as studying at Boston University, from which he has a bachelor’s degree as well as studying at the New England Conservatory, from which he has a master’s degree. Kutik previously released the album Music from the Suitcase: A Collection of Russian Miniatures in 2014 through Marquis Classics. However, this docu-series will feature musical performances as well as discussion from Kutik.

The five episodes, each 30 to 40 minutes in length, are entitled as follows:
1: The Fifth Line
2: In Between
3: Begin Again
4: Listen
5: Coda

The episodes will be released weekly on Youtube and Facebook at 7pm ET.

For more information, click here.

Georgia Coles

Rochester Philharmonic has new Conductor

2/10/2021

Andreas Delfs has been selected to be the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra’s thirteenth music director, following previous music director Ward Stare. Originally from Flensburg, Germany, Andreas Delfs studied at The Julliard School and Hamburg Conservatory and has previously been music director for organizations such as the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Suisse de Jeunes, and Bern Opera. In fact, Delfs was the Hamburg University Orchestra’s youngest music director at age 20.

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, now 98 years old, has worked with Delfs multiple times previously; his debut at RPO was in 1994 with a rendition of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, guest conducting with RPO.

For more information, click here.

Georgia Coles

Guest Composers for Mizzou Festival

2/10/2021

Four composers have recently been selected by the Mizzou New Music Initiative for this year’s Mizzou International Composer’s Festival, which is in its twelfth year and will take place this July from the 26th through the 31st. The composers include:

Ana Paola Santillán Alcocer
Daniel Fitzpatrick
Paul Mortilla
Nina Shekhar

They will premiere new works in addition to the eight composers from last year’s MICF, which did not have an in-person premiere due to the pandemic.
The eight composers from 2020’s MICF are:

Yu Kuwabara
Pascal Le Boeuf
Shuying Li
Celka Ojakangas
DM R (Diana M. Rodriguez)
Niko Schroeder
Andrew Thol
Felipe Tovar-Henao

Depending on conditions, resident composers can rehearse with resident ensemble Alarm Will Sound. Additionally, MICF’s 2021 distinguished guest composers are David T. Little and Chen Yi.

Although two concerts are planned, in case of the pandemic affecting the events of MICF, multiple plans are being considered, such as the festival being in-person to a limited extent, fully online, or instead both to a degree.

For more information, click here.

Georgia Coles

106 year old pianist releases sixth album

2/8/2021

Collette Maze is a French pianist who spent most of her career teaching. In her 80s, she began releasing albums, and now at age 106 is releasing her sixth album.

Details and video can be found here.

More Beethoven Celebration--with the Borromeo Quartet

12/16/2020

It's the Beethoven Experience Marathon with the Borromeo Quartet--and it's going on now! The marathon video presentation will be going on until at least 9 p.m. central, featuring a performance and discussion of all of the great composer's string quartets.

The marathon is a presentation of the Heifetz International Music Institute.

You can see it all here.

It's Beethoven's Birthday! Celebrate today with pianist Yael Weiss

12/16/2020

Want to celebrate Beethoven's birthday today? Pianist Yael Weiss is a Beethoven marathon today. This all day marathon features conversations with guests from around the world along with performances of Beethoven's piano sonatas alongside newly composed works for her project "32 Bright Clouds: Beethoven Conversations Around the World".

The event is underway now, and will continue until 9 p.m. eastern tonight. No ticket is required.

You can view the marathon here.

What pandemic? Dallas Symphony takes music to the people

11/30/2020

When most people think of concert venues, a functional box truck including piano and lights likely doesn’t come to mind. However, this mobility is precisely what makes the Concert Truck uniquely adaptable to traveling to and performing at many types of locations, and since 2016 the truck has performed in locations across multiple states, including Maryland and Minnesota, and it has performed at a number of virtual concerts.

The Concert Truck is by Susan Zhang and Nick Luby, both pianists, and the truck was recently in Columbia, South Carolina for Piano X as a guest artist. Currently, The Concert Truck is in Dallas from November 19 until December 17 in which it is working with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a residency.

These free concerts will be about 45 minutes to an hour in length and feature Zhang and Luby musicians from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and other musicians as well.

You can see their entire schedule of appearances here.

Georgia Coles

Conductor injured in fall, recovering

11/25/2020

Conductor Benjamin Zander recently suffered a fall at home, resulting in a double quad rupture in both legs. Evidently he fell from the back steps of his house.

He is currently in rehab in Boston and says he is recovering nicely, expecting to be home soon.

Zander is approaching 80 years of age, and remains active as a conductor and speaker.

The photo here is one that he posted on his Facebook page.

Composer's papers may be lost forever

11/23/2020

A collection of the papers of the English composer Sir Malcolm Arnold currently has a fate in flux, as calls for the papers’ preservation for historians contrast with the possibility of the papers being destroyed.

Sir Malcolm Arnold, born in Northamptonshire in 1921, played the trumpet beginning at 12 and later attended the Royal College of Music. He joined the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1941, became principal trumpet in 1943, was principal trumpet at BBC Symphony Orchestra for a season, and returned to LPO until 1948. However, Sir Arnold is likely best known for his work as a composer.

Sir Malcolm Arnold composed well over one hundred film scores, including Hobson’s Choice and The Sound Barrier, and he won an Oscar for his score of The Bridge on the River Kwai. Additionally, he composed five ballets for the Royal Ballet, two operas, nine symphonies, and a musical. Mahler and Berlioz were among his influences. Until his death in 2006, Sir Arnold was Rochdale Youth Orchestra’s president.

However, current issues with regards to his correspondence are that his papers from 1979 to 1986, when he was in the Court of Protection’s care, might be lost. There are not current plans for destroying the papers. However, a petition for instead the placement of the papers into The National Archives has almost 1700 signatures.

--Georgia Coles

Pianist uses special gloves to play again

11/13/2020

.Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins has had his share of challenges over the years: he suffered nerve damage from a soccer injury; he was attacked by a robber and hit over the head with a bat resulting in significant trauma; he lost the use of his left had to focal dystonia. He thought he'd never play again.

Now he can. A Brazilian designer has invented a pair of gloves that enable him to play once again.

You can read more about Martins and the special gloves he is now using here and here