Author: bfc-admin

“When German break-dancer Vartan Bassil came up with the idea for ‘Red Bull Flying Bach,’ he hoped to bring together those who sneer at pop culture and those who snore at high culture,” writes Kristen Page-Kirby in Thursday’s (1/5) Washington Post. “ ‘At my kid’s school, there was a parents’ night and they asked me, “What is your job?” ‘ [says Bassil]. ’Then I understand that I have to do something with high culture for people who know nothing about break-dancing, to show them how artful break-dancing is.’ What he did—’Red Bull Flying Bach’—combines break-dancing with the music of Johannes Sebastian Bach’s ‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’ to tell the story of a dance class preparing for an upcoming recital. The nine-person show features members of the Flying Steps, the b-boy crew Bassil co-founded in Berlin in 1993…. With ‘Flying Bach,’ he wants to show the link between classical dancing and more modern forms.” Says Bassil, “We wanted to give young people the opportunity to go to a classic concert so you can learn something about high culture, but also you enjoy the show.… The kids can take the parents and say, ‘Look, Father; look, Mother: This is hip-hop.’ ”

Posted January 6, 2017

“As Berkeley Symphony announced today the third consecutive substitution of a conductor for Music Director Joana Carneiro in four months, the organization also stated the reason for her lengthy absence for the first time: ‘Carneiro is pregnant and is under doctor’s advice not to conduct or travel,’ ” writes Janos Gereben in Thursday’s (1/5) San Francisco Classical Voice. “Carneiro withdrew from the Berkeley Symphony concert on Jan. 26 in Zellerbach Hall, and the conductor will be Christian Reif, [resident conductor] of the San Francisco Symphony, while the program remains the same: the Bay Area premiere of Mason Bates’ Cello Concerto with Joshua Roman … and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4. Berkeley Symphony’s December concert was conducted by Elim Chan, and the one in October by Edwin Outwater…. Carneiro is also being replaced in San Francisco Symphony’s Feb. 16-18 performances of John Adams’ The Gospel According to the Other Mary. Grant Gershon, artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and resident conductor of Los Angeles Opera, will conduct. He had prepared the work’s world premiere with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and also conducted the work at the Ravinia Festival in 2013.”

Posted January 6, 2017

“When the Princeton Symphony Orchestra takes the stage on Jan. 29 it will feature clarinetist David Krakauer playing a piece with personal meaning composed by Wlad Marhulets,” writes Debra Rubin in Tuesday’s (1/3) New Jersey Jewish News. “Marhulets, a budding musical talent in his native Poland, found Krakauer’s klezmer music inspirational and decided he wanted to compose a piece for him.… Marhulets received the inaugural Azrieli Prize in Jewish Music this past spring for the [Concerto for Klezmer Clarinet], which is about 18 minutes long and performed in the standard concerto format of three movements…. The piece was debuted by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 2009. The idea to include klezmer music in [the Princeton Symphony’s] performance … came about when orchestra director Rossen Milanov decided to focus on personal and individual expression.… The … concert also features American composer Saad Haddad’s ‘Manarah,’ or beacon in Arabic. Haddad is noted for his fusion of classical with the Middle Eastern music of his heritage…. In addition to Marhulets’s concerto, Krakauer will perform Osvaldo Golijov’s K’vakarat and his own arrangement of Der Heyser Bulgar and Synagogue Wail. The concert will also include Shostakovich’s Chamber Symphony Op. 110a.”

Posted January 6, 2017

“As regular South Florida Classical Review readers know, since this website was launched in 2008 we have had a relationship with the Miami Herald wherein nearly all of the newspaper’s classical coverage was provided by SFCR,” writes Lawrence A. Johnson in Thursday’s (1/5) South Florida Classical Review. Johnson is SFCR’s founder and editor, and formerly was the Miami Herald’s classical music critic. “Last year the Herald began cutting back drastically on the number of articles and reviews they picked up from SFCR. At the beginning of this 2016-17 music season I was informed that due to space limitations and lack of freelance money, the Herald has decided to drop its classical music coverage entirely, and would not be carrying classical reviews from SFCR or any other source. Except for a preview about a New World Symphony chamber concert of Pulitzer Prize winners last fall, the Herald hasn’t run any classical articles or reviews for the past four months…. I’ve been told that the Herald’s allocation of freelance resources is now based almost entirely on how many website clicks an article receives…. I want to emphasize … that South Florida Classical Review is not going anywhere.”

Posted January 6, 2017

“Maurice Todd is no stranger to the stage,” writes Lucy May on Friday (1/6) at WCPO.com (Cincinnati). “He’s a section bassist in the Lexington Philharmonic. He’s performed his double bass with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Dayton Philharmonic, the Grand Rapids Symphony, Richmond Symphony and Kentucky Symphony and has been a soloist with several orchestras, too. Now Todd is counting on an innovative partnership between the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the CSO to help him reach his next major goal: landing a job with one of the great American orchestras. Todd is one of five outstanding string musicians selected for the first class of a program called CSO/CCM Diversity Fellows.… The program targets talented musicians from minority groups that are underrepresented in American orchestras to prepare them for jobs in the industry.… A 2016 study commissioned by the League of American Orchestras found that only 2.5 percent of all orchestra musicians were Hispanic or Latino in 2014, and only 1.8 percent of all musicians were black.… A second study released in 2016 by the League … concluded with recommendations for making fellowships more successful, including several that CCM and the CSO already had built into the Diversity Fellows program here.”

Posted January 6, 2017

Pictured: The inaugural CSO/CCM Diversity Fellows with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Music Director Louis Langrée. Photo by AJ Waltz

The Virginia Symphony Orchestra has announced a staff reorganization, merging its artistic/operations department with education and community engagement under the new heading of “Orchestra Activities.” Dr. Christy Havens, the VSO’s director of education and community engagement since July 2015, now serves as Director of Orchestra Activities and will be responsible for all the orchestra’s work in the community, onstage and off. She will oversee production and operations functions, including orchestra personnel and library, and education and community engagement. The changes are a result of the VSO’s recent strategic planning process, with the aim of enhancing the orchestra’s focus on community service. Karen Philion is the orchestra’s president and CEO, and JoAnn Falletta is music director. The VSO performs in Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News, and Williamsburg, as well as in outlying Virginia and North Carolina communities. 

Posted January 5, 2017

“Georges Prêtre, the debonair French conductor who led the premiere of Poulenc’s one-woman opera La Voix Humaine, accompanied Maria Callas in several celebrated performances and recordings, and became a favorite in Vienna, died on Wednesday in Navès, France,” writes Michael Cooper in Wednesday’s (1/4) New York Times. Prêtre “led many of the world’s leading orchestras during a remarkable 70-year career that lasted through October when, visibly frail, he gave an emotional farewell concert with the Vienna Symphony, of which he was honorary conductor.… The Vienna Symphony, which he first conducted in 1962, and where he served as principal guest conductor from 1986 to 1991, said that his brand of music-making could be challenging but that he was the ‘genuine article,’ and that he had left his mark on two generations of the orchestra’s musicians.” Born in northern France on Aug. 14, 1924, and educated at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris, Prêtre made his debut at the Marseilles Opera at 22. His career would go on to include engagements at the Opéra Comique, Paris Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and Teatro alla Scalla as well as at major orchestras. Survivors include his wife, Gina Marny, and their daughter, Isabelle Prêtre Koch.

Posted January 5, 2017