Author: bfc-admin

The Recording Academy has announced nominees for the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, to be given on January 26, 2020 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Here is a partial list of nominees. In the Best Orchestra Performance category, nominees include the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for its recording of Bruckner Symphony No. 9; Detroit Symphony Orchestra (Copland’s Billy the Kid and Grohg); Los Angeles Philharmonic (Andrew Norman’s Sustain); Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (Mark Clague’s new critical edition of Gershwin’s American in Paris, plus Varèse’s Amériques and Stravinsky’s Symphony in C); and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Kremerata Baltica (Mieczysław Weinberg’s Symphony Nos. 2 and 21). Boston Modern Orchestra Project is among nominees for Best Opera Recording, for Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr. Fox with the Boston Children’s Chorus. Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance nominees include the Wild Up Ensemble for Christopher Cerrone’s The Pieces That Fall to Earth; PUBLIQuartet (Freedom & Faith); Third Coast Percussion (Perpetulum); Hermitage Piano Trio (Rachmaninoff); and Attacca Quartet (Caroline Shaw’s Orange). Among Best Classical Instrumental Solo nominees: harpist Yolanda Kondonassis (Higdon Harp Concerto, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra); violinist Nicola Benedetti (Marsalis Violin Concerto and Fiddle Dance Suite, Philadelphia Orchestra); and violinist Tessa Lark (Torke’s “Sky” Violin Concerto, Albany Symphony). Nominated for Best Classical Compendium were the Cincinnati Pops (American Originals 1918) and the Nashville Symphony (music by Leshnoff). For the complete list of nominees, visit the Grammy website.

Posted November 20, 2019

Christopher Theofanidis’s Drum Circles, given its local premiere on the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s recent Brahms/Haydn Masterworks concert, “starts with a literal and figurative bang,” writes Jessica Rudman in Monday’s (11/18) Hartford Courant (CT). “The piece commands attention from the moment the soloists take their positions at an impressive array of percussion equipment through the work’s gorgeous ending.… The featured soloists are four members of the Percussion Collective: Victor Caccese, Ayano Kataoka, Doug Perry and Svet Stoyanov. They were outstanding…. Music Director Carolyn Kuan and the HSO also were at their best… This was the standout piece on the program and surely will be one of the highlights of the season…. The HSO is part of a consortium of elite orchestras that commissioned ‘Drum Circles.’ … Commissioning is essential to keeping classical music a living tradition, and the HSO’s participation in this consortium shows its commitment to shaping the art form’s future. Additionally, commissioning a local composer—Theofanidis is based in New Haven—ties into the HSO’s current ‘Music Builds Community’ initiative. In commissioning, programming and performing works like ‘Drum Circles,’ Kuan and the HSO show their ability to serve as leaders in the field of orchestral music.”

Posted November 20, 2019

“Lara St. John, the famed violinist who alleged that she was sexually abused by her teacher at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in the 1980s, on Monday joined calls for statute of limitation reform in Pennsylvania, the same day the legislature moved on a compromise still criticized as not going far enough,” writes Ellie Silverman in Monday’s (11/18) Philadelphia Inquirer. “ ‘The most important thing for me, obviously, is justice for people who were children at the time,’ St. John said … standing alongside [leaders of] CHILD USAdvocacy.… On Monday, a state Senate committee moved on bills that would make it easier for victims to seek justice. Pennsylvania law says criminal charges for child sexual abuse must be brought before the victim turns 30, and civil lawsuits before the victim is 50.… The Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday approved measures that raise the age of victims for civil suits to 55, remove the statute of limitations for criminal cases, and call for a two-year window for victims to file civil suits against offenders and institutions if the statute of limitations has expired…. The bills will now go to the Senate floor for a vote expected this week.”

Posted November 20, 2019

Conductor Michael Ibrahim founded the National Arab Orchestra a decade ago with the mission of preserving the classical and contemporary traditions of Arab music, while bridging social and cultural barriers through music education, outreach and performance,” writes Lawrence Elizabeth Knox in Saturday’s (11/16) Houston Chronicle. On November 16, “the Detroit-based ensemble, featuring musicians of both Arab and non-Arab backgrounds, [made] its Houston debut in Stude Concert Hall at Rice University. The program [included] pieces from the traditional, classical canon of Arab music by Mohamed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez and the Rahbani Brothers, as well as newly arranged, original works by Marwan Khoury, Nehme and Ibrahim…. Ibrahim visited [Houston] in early October to work with the newly formed Arabic Youth Choir … at the Arab American Cultural and Community Center. Throughout the rehearsal process, 19 students, ages 15 to 20, have not only learned to sing in Arabic, but they’ve gained an understanding of the meaning behind the music and the culture.” Said Ibrahim, “We want to change the narrative, and you do that by sharing who you are…. The arts can show you what the soul of a people is.”

Posted November 20, 2019

“Conrad Tao tends to slip into celestial metaphors,” writes Joshua Barone in Friday’s (11/15) New York Times. “During a recent interview, this musician—a veteran at just 25—referred to his ideas about concert programming as ‘constellatory.’… He’s a rising star—both as a concert pianist, with a new album and a Carnegie Hall debut this fall, and as a composer, attracting commissions from the likes of the New York Philharmonic. He is also part of the first generation of artists to have been raised on the internet, which has informed his music and relationships, and offered a playground for his omnivorous taste and curiosity. If the online world can seem at times overwhelming and scattered, so does Mr. Tao’s schedule: oscillating between the establishment and avant-garde; writing new pieces in between gigs; and using what little time he has left over for collaborations with like-minded contemporaries. ‘I try to recognize how lucky I am,’ said Mr. Tao, who has been playing professionally since an age when most children haven’t even begun to learn algebra…. ‘That’s also what gives me a strong sense of responsibility that I pursue a more personal path. And I want to share it.’ ”

Posted November 20, 2019

Photo of Conrad Tao by Gioncarlo Valentine

“Entering his prime, the 55-year-old Italian conductor Gianandrea Noseda is in his third season as music director of Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra,” writes Ronald Blum in Monday’s (11/18) Associated Press. “Noseda is reviving the NSO… ‘There are a lot of good vibes there,’ Noseda said…. Noseda already has led large choral works [including] Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, Giuseppe Verdi’s Requiem and John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary…. Noseda has expanded the NSO’s outreach by conducting the orchestra at Union Station, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and … a waterside theater that usually hosts rock and pop concerts.… The orchestra will tour Japan and China next spring…. ‘People are aware that there’s something exciting happening at the NSO right now,’ said [Executive Director] Gary Ginstling… ‘Our ticket sales are up. Our subscriptions are up.’ … Noseda … has appointed 16 players in the 96-member orchestra.… He also … becomes general music director of the Zurich Opera in the 2021-22 season… That should result in synergy that will lead to singers performing concert versions at the Kennedy Center of staged performances in Switzerland.”

Posted November 20, 2019

In photo: Gianandrea Noseda leads the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Photo by Scott Suchman

The Minnesota Orchestra has announced that Orchestra Hall, its main performance venue, has been awarded LEED O+M v4 Silver Certification, establishing new sustainable standards to enhance audience and musician comfort and optimize energy efficiency. The orchestra says that Orchestra Hall is the first performing arts center in the country to receive the LEED Silver designation. Following a 2014 expansion and reshaping of Orchestra Hall’s lobby spaces, the orchestra completed a comprehensive retro-commissioning, energy consumption, and mechanical engineering study that benchmarked core categories within LEED O+M guidelines to improve energy and resource performance. The study recommended strategies that resulted in a projected 35 percent annual energy reduction. Sustainable outcomes include more effective air filtration for improved indoor air quality, a stormwater retention tank, native landscaping, low-flow plumbing fixtures, optimized mechanical systems, LED lamps, a 58 percent waste diversion rate, 100 percent of durable goods recycled, advanced thermal controls, and green cleaning chemicals. “The LEED certification is a game-changer in terms of optimizing Orchestra Hall’s energy use and its environmental impact,” said Minnesota Orchestra President and CEO Michelle Miller Burns. “The impetus for this project came from a committee of staff, musicians, and board members.”

Posted November 19, 2019

“San Francisco arts supporter Nancy Livingston … died Saturday after a nine-year battle with cancer,” writes Rachel Swan in Monday’s (11/18) San Francisco Chronicle. “She was 72 years old.… Livingston grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio [and] graduated from Boston University in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and later served on the dean’s advisory board. She and [her husband, Fred] Levin lived in Marin County for 35 years and in San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood for the past eight years. Serving as donor stewards of the Shenson Foundation, a trust set up by Levin’s cousins, the couple sat on boards and gave endowments to dozens of major cultural institutions and nonprofits, including the San Francisco Symphony, American Conservatory Theater, the Asian Art Museum and the San Francisco Film Society. Livingston was also vice chairwoman of Cal Performances in Berkeley and a board member at the Congregation Rodef Sholom synagogue … They were low-key benefactors, never wanting to have their names plastered on plaques or pamphlets. But within the scene they were beloved…. San Francisco Symphony Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas said, … ‘Her energy, intelligence and spark lit up the room.’ ”

Posted November 19, 2019

“Taiwan’s Taipei Symphony Orchestra offered up a vibrant and celebratory performance Friday evening at the Music Center at Strathmore … in a program spanning three centuries and three continents,” writes Grace Jean in Saturday’s (11/18) Washington Post. “Under the baton of guest conductor Jahja Ling, the 91-member orchestra [struck] a warm balance between the radiant strings, majestic brass and glowing winds in Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to ‘Candide.’ In commemoration of its 50th-anniversary, the Taipei Symphony programmed a work that it had commissioned in 2002: the Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Orchestra, composed by compatriot Gordon Shi-Wen Chin…. Ling, who premiered the concerto when he was the San Diego Symphony’s music director, guided the orchestra through a colorful and intensely focused performance … featuring Taiwan-born, U.S.-based violinist Paul Huang and Taiwanese American cellist Felix Fan, for whom the concerto was written…. The musicians dove into [the concerto’s fourth movement] ‘Yearning: A Sweet Torture’ with operatic verve. Their runs and riffs propelled the soloists to a peak where violin and cello traded emphatic statements before agreeing on a joyous ending.” Also on the program was Brahms’s Symphony No. 1 and an encore of a traditional Taiwanese folk song.

Posted November 19, 2019