Author: bfc-admin

“Cristian Macelaru is having quite a year. Last week, the Orchestre National de France made the surprise announcement that he would succeed Emmanuel Krivine as its chief conductor in the fall of 2021,” writes Susan Elliott in Monday’s (11/18) Musical America (subscription required) “Currently in his first season as music director of the WDR Sinfonieorchester and music director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, Macelaru today adds yet another position to his CV, as artistic director and principal conductor of the World Youth Symphony Orchestra (WYSO) at Interlochen Center for the Arts. The newly created position goes into effect immediately. The Romanian conductor, 39, first came to Interlochen in 1997 as a violin student and stayed for two years, also becoming concertmaster of the WYSO at the Arts Camp in the summer of 1998. He has since returned often, most recently as a guest conductor … Macelaru said … ‘The desire to help inspire other young musicians to define their dreams, and help them fulfill their potential, has remained with me since my graduation 20 years ago.’ ” Trey Devey, Interlochen’s CEO, described Macelaru as “the ideal leader and artist to take our summer orchestral program to new heights.”

Posted November 19, 2019

“In her new role as the Director of Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA), A-lan Holt helps train undergraduates in how to use art as a tool for organizing and for bringing about social change,” writes Molly Sprayregen in Wednesday’s (11/13) Forbes.com. “IDA is … focused exclusively on training diverse students in the arts and art leadership. [IDA’s] roots date back to 1969, when a group of students formed the Committee on Black Performing Arts…. It is Holt’s mission to ensure that the next generation of arts leaders is made up of a diverse group of voices.… IDA works with about 300 students per week, in addition to working with visiting artists and other community members… They do all of this with a staff of three…. Holt says she has noticed significant growth in Stanford’s artist community since she … was a student there from 2007-2011…. Holt hopes [to] encourage more young people to participate in the arts. ‘Especially low-income, first generation students,’ she says…. She plans to continue growing ways for IDA to support emerging artists, as well as ways it can support students after they graduate.”

Posted November 19, 2019

Photo of A-lan Holt by Harrison Truong

“What distinguishes one top-rank orchestra from another? For the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, it’s long been the brass,” writes Michael Cooper in Monday’s (11/18) New York Times. “For decades, the ‘Chicago brass’ has been prized for its majesty, virtuosity and sheer power. From its modern-day origins under Rafael Kubelik and Fritz Reiner to the brawny blasts of the Georg Solti era to the subtler approaches taken by Daniel Barenboim and now Riccardo Muti, brass has long been central to the ensemble’s sound…. The orchestra came to Carnegie Hall this weekend with young blood in two key positions—Esteban Batallán, 35, is its new principal trumpet and David Cooper, also 35, its new principal French horn…. They are joining colleagues steeped in the orchestra’s traditions: Jay Friedman, 80, has been principal trombone since 1965, and Gene Pokorny, 66, principal tuba since 1989.” For the article, “several brass players gathered backstage at Carnegie to listen to some classic recordings” featuring the orchestra’s brass section, including Smetana’s Ma Vlast (conducted by Rafael Kubelik, 1952), Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica (Fritz Reiner, 1956), Mahler’s Seventh Symphony (Georg Solti, 1971), Shostakovich’s Seventh Symphony (Leonard Bernstein, 1988), and Verdi’s Requiem (Riccardo Muti, 2010). The article includes audio clips.

Posted November 19, 2019

In photo: Backstage with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s principal brass players: Esteban Batallán, trumpet; Gene Pokorny, tuba; Jay Friedman, trombone; David Cooper, French horn. Credit Lyndon French / New York Times

The GJSO Chamber Players, a newly formed group of principal players and core musicians in the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, will perform their first concert on November 19 at the First United Methodist Church in Grand Junction, Colorado. The program will include Jiri Jaroch’s Detska Suita (Children’s Suite), Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde, Francis Poulenc’s Trio for Piano, Oboe, and Bassoon, and Richard Strauss’s Serenade for Winds. Charles Latshaw is music director of the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, and Kelly Anderson is executive director.

Posted November 18, 2019

“Classical music streaming service IDAGIO has released an ad-supported free tier as part of its efforts to make the hard-to-pigeonhole genre more accessible. IDAGIO Free launches today in 190 countries, featuring 2 million recordings,” writes Marc Schneider in Tuesday’s (11/12) Billboard.com. “The Berlin-based startup says the free tier will prominently feature its ‘Mood Player,’ which generates a playlist based on a person’s selected mood, as well as playlists curated by staff or well-known artists, including Lang Lang. There are also radio stations specific to composers and artists. The free version is available on the web, as well as iOS and Android devices…. IDAGIO is geared specifically to audiophile classical listeners, offering lossless audio (on its premium tiers only) and search function and filters tailor-made for the genre, allowing users to compare multiple recordings. The service, which recently released a simplified version of its app for the Apple Watch, says its approach to compensating rights holders is geared specifically to the genre. ‘We believe in fair compensation,’ the company says … ‘Classical music compositions may strongly vary in length, therefore we pay per second of playback, instead of per play.’ ” Idagio classical music streaming service launched in 2015.

Posted November 18, 2019

“London’s Academy of St Martin in the Fields has launched its 60th anniversary season with the announcement that violinist Joshua Bell has renewed his contract as the ensemble’s music director until 2023,” reads an unsigned Wednesday (11/13) article in The Strad (U.K.). “Bell is only the second holder of the music director role at the Academy, succeeding the Academy’s founder Sir Neville Marriner, who held the post from the orchestra’s formation in 1958 until 2011, when he was named Life President. The violinist first collaborated with the orchestra in 1998, when he was 21 years old, in a recording of Bruch and Mendelsson concertos, with Marriner conducting.… In January Bell will lead the orchestra in a program of Bach, Schubert and Piazzolla at Usher Hall in Edinburgh and Cadogan Hall in London. Later in the season the Academy and Bell will embark on a tour of the US, in a program of Mozart, Brahms and Beethoven. The violinist will also perform as soloist in Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1 and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in E minor. The Academy also travels abroad this season with acclaimed guest artists such as Jörg Widmann, Fazil Say and principal guest conductor Murray Perahia.”

Posted November 18, 2019

“Maia Jasper White is a chamber musician, teacher, and the co-Artistic Director of Salastina, a [chamber] ensemble in Pasadena, California,” writes Jillian DeGroot in Thursday’s (11/14) icareifyoulisten.com. “The ensemble’s 10th season features seven commissions and world premieres…. This season’s ‘The Black Violin’ [program] explores how music by Black composers and performers has not been given the recognition or credit it deserves. Q: ‘The Black Violin’ highlights Black composers and performers who were (often deliberately) erased from history. How do you untangle these rich and troublesome histories in order to share them, and why they’re important, with your audience? White: With honesty, curiosity, and pathos. (And without shaming, preaching, or virtue-signaling.) … Throughout ‘The Black Violin,’ Brian [Lauritzen] will interview Derrick Spiva Jr., the composer of the concert’s premiere … As I Heard When I Was Young…. Derrick’s … music is gorgeous, fun, open, and full of life. Q: What has utilizing a variety of concert formats taught you about audiences and the significance of modernizing the culture around classical music? White: That context is everything.… The context all Salastina events aspire to create is one of celebration…. When it comes to ‘The Black Violin,’ the celebration is, essentially, better late than never.”

Posted November 18, 2019

“The Cleveland Orchestra will become the first American symphony to perform at the Abu Dhabi Festival in the United Arab Emirates next March and April, one of a number of stops on what marks its 20th international tour under Music Director Franz Welser-Möst,” writes Sarah Shay in Tuesday’s (11/12) MusicalAmerica.com (subscription required). “They’ll perform ten concerts in all, touching down in the cities of Paris, Vienna, and Linz, Austria, with four performances in Abu Dhabi. Two of those concerts will be in collaboration with the American Ballet Theater, performing Prokofiev’s complete Romeo and Juliet, choreographed by Artistic Director Kevin McMillan.… The other programming for the tour includes Symphonies Nos. 3, 8, and 9 of Schubert; Nos. 2, 3, and 6 of Prokofiev, along with his D-major Violin Concerto with Julia Fischer as soloist; the Dvořák Cello Concerto, with Yo-Yo Ma; Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5; and baritone Simon Keenlyside singing a selection of arias. Discussing his choices, Welser-Möst noted that ‘Prokofiev’s Second Symphony has never been performed at the [Vienna] Musikverein…’ Cleveland Orchestra President and CEO André Gremillet pointed out that the orchestra had toured internationally for nearly every season in the past 50 years.”

Posted November 18, 2019

In photo: Cleveland Orchestra Music Director Franz Welser-Möst

“Astronaut Anne McClain fondly remembers peering out the expansive bay windows of the International Space Station’s Cupola and watching the Earth fly by below her while she played music from the iPod that had to be shuttled to her on a different launch,” writes Jared Brown in Sunday’s (11/17) Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA). “ ‘You have this amazing 360-degree view,’ said McClain, a 1997 Gonzaga Prep graduate and U.S. Army lieutenant colonel…. Two Spokane Symphony shows … over the weekend—where three scenic space films by astronomer and experimental photographer Dr. José Francisco Salgado played during space-themed orchestral music—brought people from McClain’s hometown about as close to her experience as possible without donning flight suits of their own…. The first film shown pieced together Salgado’s own time-lapse footage of the moon from around the globe set to [Debussy’s] ‘Clair de lune.’ … The next film … showed different views from the space station as it rotated around the planet while the symphony played ‘Un bal’ from [Berlioz’s] ‘Symphonie fantastique.’ … The third film, ‘The Planets,’ set to the orchestral suite of the same name composed by Gustav Holst, was a collection of shorter films depicting the other seven planets.”

Posted November 18, 2019

In photo: Astronaut Anne McClain speaks onstage during the Spokane Symphony’s “50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing,” conducted by Roger Kalia on November 17. McClain was a guest speaker at the concert, along with astronomer and photographer José Francisco Salgado. Photo by Libby Kamrowski / The Spokesman-Review