In addition to the choral concert this Saturday I mentioned here yesterday, a rival for your attentions may be the Canticum Novum and the Russian Chamber Chorus of New York performing Alfred Schnittke's Concerto for Choir in a joint concert at 8 p.m. at St. Ignatius of Antioch Episcopal Church, 552 West End Ave. at 87th St., New York City. Harold Rosenbaum, director of Canticum Novum, will conduct this performance.
On Sunday at 3 p.m., Nikolai Kachanov, director of the RCCNY, will conduct the same work with the same ensemble at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, 921 Madison Avenue at 73rd St., New York City. The program for both will also include Arvo Part, Nikolai Golovanov, Yuri Yukachev and others.
Tickets are $15 for students and seniors and $20 for the rest of us. Call 212-279-4200 or visit www.rccny.org or www.canticumnovum.org for tickets and more information.
--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Cantori New York in 'Eight Cellos'
Mark Shapiro and Cantori New York present a concert accompanied by an ensemble of eight cellos 8 p.m. Saturday, May 15 at the Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 East 88th St., New York.
Shore-area concert-goers know Dr. Shapiro from his work with the Monmouth Civic Chorus. I have written about and praised the MCC many times but I have yet to make it to a Cantori New York program. It doesn't look like I'll make it to this one either, but the program itself sounds terrific and I wish I could be there.
It's refreshing and tantalizing to see an ensemble of eight cellos touted in a press release that does not include mention of the "Bachianas Brasilieras No. 1" of Villa Lobos. Instead, we have a program entirely of new works by Arvo Pärt, Piotr Moss, Ivan Moody, Erol Gurol and Nicolas Bacri. Vocal soloists will mezzo-soprano Rachel Calloway and soprano Ariadne Greif.
Buy tickets to the concert through the group's website or call 212-439-4758 for more information.
--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Sunday, May 9, 2010
APP on Live Music in New Jersey
An editorial in the Asbury Park Press from May 1 sparked a lively retort from a member of the Monmouth Civic Chorus, printed in the paper the following week as a guest editorial. The writer of the response, Jenni Blumenthal, was ticked that in extolling the virtues of live music in New Jersey the editorial didn't mention any of the local classical groups.
It didn't mention classical music at all in fact, local or otherwise. I suppose as a classical music fan, I should be offended by that. But the fact is, I'm used to it. The Monmouth/Ocean media and general population overlook classical music. It's very difficult to generate an audience for it, even if you're a world-class outfit like the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra or the Opera New Jersey. That's why theaters in Monmouth County aren't even on the radar for groups like Opera New Jersey. That's why the 50-summer run of the Metro Lyric Opera could halt without any public outcry and without attempt to replace it. That's why NJSO now limits its performances here to an educational "Best Of ..." series of one-hour concerts--the NJSO is bending over backward to cultivate an audience because the culture for appreciating classical music just doesn't exist here.
When the media talk about live music, they are generally talking about longtime pop radio celebrities of one stripe or another, names that can fill thousands of seats at a shot. But that's just not who we are musically, nor is it who we want to be. I don't expect everyone to be a classical music and jazz fan. But most of the live music that happens here is in yet another category: hundreds of small local bands that are touring and may exist as a performing unit only for a year or two. But even that rich, vital culture of bands and clubs that host them gets barely a whipser of mention in this APP editorial. Instead the writer mentions only the big theaters and arenas and the acts that can fill them. The most commericial kind of musical experience.
While some current pop stars, like Lady Gaga, make the list, most of the names mentioned by the APP writer are stars in their 60s and 70s who've turned gray playing their hits of 30 years ago. Classical and jazz traditions exist to continually reinvent the past, but pop rock does not. It exists in the moment and then quickly fades into memory. As a group, what these artists have to offer is notalgia for a time when their music was relevant. There's nothing wrong with that. But if we're trumpeting the musical vitality of New Jersey, citing the living dead as an example is hardly the way to go about it.
--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com
It didn't mention classical music at all in fact, local or otherwise. I suppose as a classical music fan, I should be offended by that. But the fact is, I'm used to it. The Monmouth/Ocean media and general population overlook classical music. It's very difficult to generate an audience for it, even if you're a world-class outfit like the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra or the Opera New Jersey. That's why theaters in Monmouth County aren't even on the radar for groups like Opera New Jersey. That's why the 50-summer run of the Metro Lyric Opera could halt without any public outcry and without attempt to replace it. That's why NJSO now limits its performances here to an educational "Best Of ..." series of one-hour concerts--the NJSO is bending over backward to cultivate an audience because the culture for appreciating classical music just doesn't exist here.
When the media talk about live music, they are generally talking about longtime pop radio celebrities of one stripe or another, names that can fill thousands of seats at a shot. But that's just not who we are musically, nor is it who we want to be. I don't expect everyone to be a classical music and jazz fan. But most of the live music that happens here is in yet another category: hundreds of small local bands that are touring and may exist as a performing unit only for a year or two. But even that rich, vital culture of bands and clubs that host them gets barely a whipser of mention in this APP editorial. Instead the writer mentions only the big theaters and arenas and the acts that can fill them. The most commericial kind of musical experience.
While some current pop stars, like Lady Gaga, make the list, most of the names mentioned by the APP writer are stars in their 60s and 70s who've turned gray playing their hits of 30 years ago. Classical and jazz traditions exist to continually reinvent the past, but pop rock does not. It exists in the moment and then quickly fades into memory. As a group, what these artists have to offer is notalgia for a time when their music was relevant. There's nothing wrong with that. But if we're trumpeting the musical vitality of New Jersey, citing the living dead as an example is hardly the way to go about it.
--C.
www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Vicentino, Grandfather of Microtonal Music
- When: Saturday, May 15th at 8 PM
Where: Church of St. Luke in the Fields (located at 487 Hudson Street), New York City
Admission: $12 at the door, $10 for students
Nicolo Vicentino (1511-1576) was a priest, composer, and music theorist who claimed that with proper support and encouragement he might revive the fabled secrets of ancient Greek music. Written for an a cappella vocal quartet, the piece was composed in the enharmonic genus, a secular Latin motet that sets a prose text in honor of Vicentino’s patron, Cardinal Ippolito d’Este (for whom Palestrina worked as well). Also on the program are works by Ge Ganru, Rami Seo, Sasha Bogdanowitsch, and Johhny Reinhard. The concert debuts the Terpstra synthesizer, along with amplified cello scordatura, Korean Gayageums, and a multitude of homemade instruments.
Musica prisca caput tenebris modo sustulit altis,
Dulcibus ut numeris priscis certain factis,
Facta rua, Hyppolite, excelsium super aethera mittat.
(translation)
Ancient music of late has raised her head out of darkness,
So that, with antique and sweet numbers, to compete with ancient deeds,
Your great deeds, Hyppolitus, she might send high above the heavens.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Missing Paragraphs
The second half of my Asbury Park Press column this week touches on the political stand against teachers taken by the state and by voters in certain districts. Three paragraphs of this discussion got edited out of the print version, purely for reasons of space. But the entirety appears on the website (click to the second page of the article, with the subtitle "In Praise of Teachers"). I strongly urge those of you interested to read it there. According my freelance contract, I don't own those articles and am forbidden from reprinting them, so you'll have to go there.
Undoubtedly though, I will restate those views here at some point, as I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut.
--C.
http://www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Undoubtedly though, I will restate those views here at some point, as I just can't seem to keep my mouth shut.
--C.
http://www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Friday, April 30, 2010
Monmouth Civic Chorus
The Monmouth Civic Chorus twice performs a program called American Folk in Middletown. Metropolitan Opera stage director Eric Einhorn will help direct the semi-staged concert, with conductor Mark Shapiro leading the ensemble. The group will blend full-choir arrangements of folk tunes with members' memories of music from important moments in their lives.
The first performance is 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 1 and the second is 4 p.m. Sunday, May 2. Both are at the Middletown Arts Center, 36 Church St., Middletown. Tickets are available at the door, costing $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $5 for students. For more information call 732-933-9333 or visit the group's website.
--C.
http://www.theandofone.blogspot.com
The first performance is 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 1 and the second is 4 p.m. Sunday, May 2. Both are at the Middletown Arts Center, 36 Church St., Middletown. Tickets are available at the door, costing $25 for adults, $22 for seniors and $5 for students. For more information call 732-933-9333 or visit the group's website.
--C.
http://www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Friday, April 23, 2010
Stanley Alexandrowicz at Christ's Church
Guitarist Stanley Alexandrowicz, a friend of mine from way back, is playing a solo recital 4 p.m. this Sunday at Historic Christ's Church, 2 Paterson St., New Brunswick. The recital is part of the church's Evensong presentations.
In addition to being a tremendous player, Stanley is also a great researcher of guitar music, uncovering gems new and old all the time. Sunday's program is a veritable "Who's Who" of whos you never heard of:
-Ouverture de la Grotte de Versailles (de Lully)--Robert de Visee
-Andante in C-Major (WoO)--Napoleon Coste
-La Source du Lyson (Fantasie), op. 47--Napoleon Coste
-Grand Caprice pour la Guitare Op. 34--Luigi Legnani
Of course, the unknown is always more interesting until it becomes known. But in Stanley's case, I think we're guaranteed that the music will be interesting on its merits and not merely as curiosity.
Like all Evensong concerts at Christ's Church, this is free. For more information, phone 732-545-6262 or visit http://www.christchurchnewbrunswick.org.
--C.
http://www.theandofone.blogspot.com
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
