Classic Ross Amico

  • Live Music Today WWFM Classical Network

    Live Music Today WWFM Classical Network

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    Ross Amico
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    4 responses

    It’s a refreshing change of pace to be able to enjoy any live music these days. All the more reason to savor two special events, which will take place at Mercer County Community College’s Black Box Theatre and will be shared today over WWFM The Classical Network.

    First, pianist Clipper Erickson will perform works by R. Nathaniel Dett, Beethoven, and Laurie Altman, at 12:00 EDT.

    Then Rob Kapilow will present an all-new “What Makes It Great?” playing and deconstructing music by Beethoven, Sondheim, and composers of the Great American Songbook, at 8:00 EDT.

    Enjoy a sense of connection, with genuine live performances, presented in real-time. The seating is in your living room, today on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

  • Ross Amico Double Feature Tall Ships & Westworld

    Ross Amico Double Feature Tall Ships & Westworld

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    Ross Amico
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    Get set for another Classic Ross Amico double-feature.

    First, at 6:00 EDT, we traverse the open seas, with an hour of music from films featuring tall ships – including selections from “Captain Horatio Hornblower” (Robert Farnon), “Botany Bay” (Franz Waxman),” “ Mutiny on the Bounty” (Bronislau Kaper), and “Windjammer” (Morton Gould) – on “Picture Perfect,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

    Then at 7:00 EDT, so much for wide-open spaces! The intractable frontier closes in on itself, real fast, in Michael Crichton’s “Westworld” (1973). Roy Bjellquist and I discuss this dystopian nightmare of an amusement park gone horribly wrong, which laid the groundwork for today’s HBO hit revival as well as Crichton’s “Jurassic Park.” The conversation will be live-streamed on Facebook at “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”

    https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/.

    The next time you get a computer virus, thank your lucky stars it’s not Yul Brynner with a six-shooter!

  • Leon Fleisher at 92 A Brahms Birthday Tribute

    Leon Fleisher at 92 A Brahms Birthday Tribute

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    Ross Amico
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    Happy birthday, Leon Fleisher, a great artist and a lovely person, here playing a selection from Brahms’ First Piano Concerto – at the behest of Yo-Yo Ma, no less (follow the link below). Fleisher’s recordings of the Brahms concertos, set down with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, over half a century earlier, remain benchmarks.

    Focal dystonia curtailed Fleisher’s career as a pianist not long after. But like a plant trimmed back that soon develops fresh tendrils, he then flourished as a conductor, as a champion of the left-hand piano repertoire (there’s much more to it than Ravel’s famous concerto), and especially as a teacher. He has taught at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, among other places, and held master classes, since 1959.

    Thanks in part to Botox injections in his right hand, Fleisher has been able to return to performing two-handed repertoire, to some extent, and has continued to make critically acclaimed recordings. And yes, he also still performs recitals.

    Speaking with me in 2014, he expressed gratitude that things developed as they did. If he could do it all over again, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

    Many happy returns, Leon Fleisher, 92 years-old today!

    Impromptu performance of a passage from Brahms:

    Fleisher, the young lion:

    In 2014, in Brahms’ left-hand arrangement of the Bach Chaconne:

  • Westworld Weekend on Roy’s Sci-Fi Corner

    Westworld Weekend on Roy’s Sci-Fi Corner

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    Ross Amico
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    4 responses

    It’s wagons west this weekend, on “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”

    Delos Inc. invites you to visit Westworld, where all your fantasies are brought vividly to life. The experience promises to be both invigorating and rejuvenating – that is, until Yul Brynner goes rogue!

    Roy Bjellquist and I will discuss Michael Crichton’s 1973 feature film debut, which explores the consequences of corporate recklessness and technology run amok. Of course, Crichton would later revisit the hazards of malfunctioning sci-fi amusements when he came to write “Jurassic Park.”

    I hope you’ll join us for this live-stream analysis of “Westworld,” on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT.

    Then Roy will ride solo, as he welcomes special guest Jimmi Simpson, who plays Will on the current HBO revival of “Westworld.” At three seasons and counting, “Westworld” in its television iteration has had more freedom to plumb deep into the story’s ethical and philosophical implications.

    Simpson has also appeared on the sci-fi anthology series “Black Mirror” and in the most recent incarnation of “The Twilight Zone.” Roy and Jimmi will chat this Sunday evening at 7:00 EDT.

    Enjoy both “Westworld” live-streams on the Facebook page of “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.”

    https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/

    Now, draw!

  • Hadi Karimi Recreates Composers in 3D

    Hadi Karimi Recreates Composers in 3D

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    Ross Amico
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    4 responses

    Have you heard about Hadi Karimi? Karimi is the Iranian computer graphics artist who has been beguiling classical music lovers this summer with his uncannily realistic 3-D recreations of composers long past. These include, so far, Chopin, Schubert, Liszt, and Brahms.

    Karimi earlier applied his skills to images of popular singers and movie actors. But for now, he appears to have embraced the challenges of translating vintage photographs, portraits, and death masks of the 19th century to lifelike, digital busts in living color.

    Here’s an article from June on his portrait of Chopin.

    https://www.thefirstnews.com/article/face-to-face-artist-creates-stunning-3d-portraits-of-chopin-13200

    You can sample the breadth of his 3-D sculptures here:

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/HadiKarimi.Art/

    For more information about Hadi Karimi, visit his website at hadikarimi.com.

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