Daniel Pioro in rehearsal with Manchester Camerata
I spoke with the adventurous British violin virtuoso for The Strad about why he couldn’t resist adding his stamp to one of classical music’s most beloved icons.
The Four Seasons hardly lacks for representation on disc or in the concert hall. But Daniel Pioro will make you reconsider your assumptions about Vivaldi’s beloved concertos. To celebrate the release of his extraordinary new recording with Manchester Camerata, the virtuoso violinist joined the ensemble to perform the cycle on Saturday 18 January at King’s Place in London, UK….
Seattle Symphony released a bombshell announcement this afternoon:
The Seattle Symphony and Benaroya Hall today announced that Dr. Krishna Thiagarajan, President & CEO, will resign after six and a half years of dedicated service to the organization. His last day will be April 30, 2025.
“It’s been a deeply fulfilling experience to work with all the talented and dedicated people at the Seattle Symphony, Benaroya Hall and its foundation,” stated Dr. Thiagarajan. “Leading the organization through COVID, the rebuilding of audiences and the historic appointment of Xian Zhang as the first female and woman of color Music Director have been some of the highlights of my time here.”
… The Symphony board of directors is forming a search committee to launch an international search for Dr. Thiagarajan’s successor. While the Seattle Symphony begins its search for its next President & CEO, Maria Yang, Chief Development and Project Officer, will serve as Acting CEO to ensure a smooth transition.
I spoke with the pianist Jan Lisiecki about his upcoming Beethoven concerto marathon with the Toronto Symphony:
Jan Lisiecki’s immersion in the piano concertos of Ludwig van Beethoven began right at the deep end. Rather than offer his interpretation of just one work, his very first recording of music by the German composer (which appeared in 2019) encompassed nothing less than a complete concerto cycle.
PostClassical Ensemble continues its Amazing Grace New Year’s tradition on Monday, 13 January, with a chamber program saluting the music of Native American composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate. The concert takes place at 7:30 pm ET at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater.
“This annual event celebrates the universal expression of the human spirit through music, inviting a living composer to curate a concert designed to uplift and inspire,” says PCE artistic director Angel Gil-Ordóñez.
The program includes Tate’s Chokfi’ for strings and percussion; selections from his rhapsodic Standing Bear: A Ponca Indian Cantata (performed by baritone Javier Arrey); Hymn and Spider Brings Fire from Lowak Shoppala’ (Fire and Light), a work expressing Tate’s Chickasaw heritage through music, to texts by poet Linda Hogan. The concert will also feature the Larghetto from Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 (“Classical”) and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (performed by Mvskoke soprano Kirsten C. Kunkle). tickets here
From left: Debra Nagy, Tekla Cunningham, Danielle Reutter-Harrah, David Morris, Tyler Duncan and Ross Gilliland perform at the Whidbey Island Music Festival, founded and directed by Cunningham. Cunningham is also founder and director of the new… (Dennis Browne)
The brilliant violinist, artistic director, and educator Tekla Cunningham has been extra-busy of late laying the groundwork for a promising new venture that launches this weekend. I had the privilege to speak with Tekla about the inspiration behind the Seattle Bach Festival:
For Tekla Cunningham, music happens in the connections — not only between the notes but between the humans who produce and experience them. … continue
In March, Xian Zhang will conduct Seattle Symphony in Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” — her first program with the orchestra since she was announced as its next music director. (Courtesy Seattle Symphony)
Here’s a brief list of suggestions — far from exhaustive — for Seattle area music lovers for the first months of 2025:
Stepping into a new year means embracing its promises but also facing its challenges. Fortunately, the performing arts offer a reliably inspiring source of motivation. Following are some recommendations — by no means exhaustive — of classical music events to mark on your calendar for the coming months. May you find them inspirational in the new year…. continue
Calidore String Quartet: Ryan Meehan, left, Estelle Choi, Jeffrey Myers, and Jeremy Berry, Photo: Marco Borggreve
I spoke with Calidore Quartet violinist Ryan Meehan about their recording of the complete Beethoven quartets:
To accompany its ongoing release of the complete Beethoven cycle, the Calidore String Quartet has chosen Mark Rothko–like images as cover art: floating fields of color that seem suspended in time. “We’re all huge fans of Rothko’s work,” says violinist Ryan Meehan. “These colors are so bold and sometimes polarizing. Each color creates such a clear feeling on its own, but then as a collective, they also fill the viewer with an intense inner feeling. That’s very similar to Beethoven in that sections can be so contrasting from one to another, but the combination is an experience that you don’t forget.” continue
Like Starbucks rolling out its festively colored holiday cups, performances of “Messiah” make an inevitable appearance each December. For many, it’s as much a part of the season as twinkling lights and the scent of pine….
New York’s first disability-affirmative opera company OperaPraktikos.org (OPrak) presents There Will Be Cake – a matinee mono-opera concert series on Thursday-Saturday, 12-14 December 2024, at 1:30 p.m., at downtown Manhattan’s Asylum NYC.
Opera Praktikos (OPrak), established in 2021, proudly stands as New York City’s pioneering disability-affirmative opera company. Its mission is to make opera an inclusive and accessible art form for audiences and artists alike by crafting exceptional opera productions that transcend conventional barriers related to class, economic status, and physical challenges.
Through deliberate reinterpretations of classical operas and the commissioning of new works, it aims to ensure that artists and audience members can readily identify with the stories and lived experiences of People with Disabilities being portrayed on the stage. OPrak is dedicated to breaking down stereotypes about disability and fostering an inclusive and accessible opera community in the heart of New York City.
With performances by abled and disabled artists, this site-specific musical drama centers around food and its visceral memories and emotions. Bon Appetit! shares Julia Child’s words of wisdom in a light-hearted, charming masterclass in comedic character singing followed by the world premiere of Fluffernutter, an opera inspired by the delicious Fluffernutter sandwich.
“Two slices of Americana to perk up any jaded New Yorker’s palette: that ineffable cook Julia Child makes a French chocolate cake; and a tasty New England staple reminds us that aging is hard,” explains Greg Moomjy, musicologist and co-founder/artistic director of OPrak. A man who has Cerebral Palsy and is a wheelchair user, Moomjy invites New Yorkers with and without disabilities to unite over their shared interest in live music and dessert. When assembling this program, we wanted to give audiences small samplings of comic opera performed by top-notch singers at an accessible venue. And, yes, we will also serve cake!”
The program begins with Lee Hoiby’s Bon Appetit! (1989), adapted from two episodes of Julia Child’s well-loved cooking show, The French Chef. With approval and input from Child herself, a friend of the composer, the libretto narrates Child’s cooking of a chocolate cake with clever lines such as “Choc’late is much more complicated than any of us suspect.” Reflecting the television show’s format, the opera is written for a single singer, performed here by Hailey McAvoy, a “gorgeous-voiced (Broadway World)” mezzo-soprano with Cerebral Palsy. Another “sweet” mono-opera is the world premiere of Fluffernutter (2024) inspired by the New England tasty treat. Composer Spicer Carr is a queer, autistic writer who was commissioned by OPrak to write Fluffernutter with libretto by OPrak’s co-founder Marianna Mott Newirth. Fluffernutter evokes the trials of adulting and the power of nostalgia all thanks to the classic peanut butter-marshmallow crème sandwich.
Program + Ticketing Information: Thursday-Saturday, December 12-14, 2024, at 1:30 p.m. Asylum NYC, 123 East 24th Street, New York City, Subway: 4/6 to 23rd Street. Tickets: $10-$35 (ages 16+ only). Livestream (Saturday only) $10-$35. To reserve, visit AsylumTix.com or call 212.203.5435.
Cast + Crew: Hailey McAvoy – mezzo-soprano Shanley Horvitz – zwischenfach Calvin Hitchcock – piano + music director Gwynn MacDonald – stage director
Program: Bon Appetit! composed by Lee Hoiby (1926-2011) with text by Julia Child adapted by Mark Shulgasser Fluffernutter (2024) **world premiere** composed by Spicer Carr with libretto by Marianna Mott Newirth and piano arr. by Patrick Tice-Carroll
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 