Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Downtown Concert Series

Indian Classical Music on The Classical Network

For today’s Noontime Concert on The Classical Network, you had better pack a lunch. We’ll be bypassing the deli in favor of Delhi. The Akshara Music Ensemble will perform classical Indian music-inspired works, on a program given at the Downtown Concert Series in Freehold, NJ, this past May.

Founded in 2008, the award-winning Akshara is a pioneer in crossover music rooted in the Indian classical genre. Tune in for the distinctive sounds of the bansuri, the mridangam, and the tabla.

The Downtown Concert Series is presented at Freehold’s historic St. Peter’s Church. This season’s opening concert, a recital by pianist Janice Carissa, will take place on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. For more information, visit downtownconcertseries.org.

Following the noon broadcast, we’ll hear works on Indian themes, including Karl Goldmark’s “Sakuntula Overture” (after the Mahabharata), Gustav Holst’s “Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda,” and Wilhelm Stenhammar’s “Chitra,” inspired by the writings of Rabindranath Tagore.

We’ll also explore the opulent and distinctive sound world of pianist-composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji, born in Greater London, whose father was a civil engineer from Bombay.

John Foulds moved in the opposite direction, arriving India in 1935. There, he labored tirelessly to fulfill his vision of a synthesis between Eastern and Western music.

All of these artists were sincere in their admiration. I’ll do my best to sidestep any whiff of imperialism.

It’s an imaginary passage to Indian this afternoon, from 12 to 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Original crossover artist John Foulds, with members of his Indo-European Orchestra

October 15, 2019
Freehold Concert Dvořák Piazzolla and More

Even an uptown listener like you will want to tune in for today’s Noontime Concert from the Downtown Concert Series in Freehold.

The East End Quartet (made up of saxophonists Jonathan Wintringham, Myles Boothroyd, Matthew Amedio, and Timothy Harris) will join pianist Szu-Yi Li to present an eclectic and engaging program of music, including a fresh interpretation of Antonin Dvořák’s beloved Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81.

Also featured will be two of “Las Cuatros Estaciones Porteñas” (“The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires”), Astor Piazzolla’s response to Antonio Vivaldi’s masterwork, though of course from Piazzolla’s perspective, living as he did in the Southern Hemisphere, the significance of the individual seasons can be quite different.

In between will be Graham Lynch’s “Symphony Cocteau,” a tribute to the multifaceted artist, who produced poetry, plays, films, novels, and visual art. Perhaps you were on hand for “Picture Perfect” on Friday, when I presented selections from George Auric’s score for Cocteau’s “La belle et la bête” (posted as a webcast here: http://wwfm.org/post/picture-perfect-may-11-cinematic-fairy-tales). Cocteau is also credited with having coined the name by which Auric and his colleagues – Francis Poulenc, Darius Milhaud, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, and Louis Durey – are collectively known, “Les six.”

The concert took place on February 17 at historic St. Peter’s Church in downtown Freehold, NJ. The Downtown Concert Series is curated by Mark Hyczko. Hyczko will conduct the New Brunswick Chamber Orchestra in music by Christopher Cerrone, Howard Hanson, Mason Bates, and Bela Bartok in Freehold this Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The program will be repeated on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Christ Church in New Brunswick. For more information, visit downtownconcertseries.org and newbrunswickchamberorchestra.org.

Following today’s Noontime Concert broadcast, I hope you’ll stick around for more music, beginning with two works by Piazzolla compatriot Alberto Ginastera, including his Harp Concerto, with soloist Ann Hobson Pilot. (Pilot was Rachel Katz’s guest on “A Tempo” this past Saturday; you can listen to the webcast here: http://wwfm.org/post/tempo-interviews-cleveland-institute-music-honorees-pilot-huang.) I’ll be spinning the platters until 4 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 15, 2018
Beethoven Sonatas in Freehold NJ: A Once-in-a-Lifetime Event

“It’s guaranteed to be the first and last time the complete cycle of sonatas is ever presented in Freehold,” quips Mark Hyczko, artistic director of the Downtown Concert Series in Freehold, NJ.

German-born Austrian pianist Stephan Möller will conclude the organization’s 2014-2015 season, offering the grandest of grand finales, by undertaking an epic journey encompassing all 32 Beethoven sonatas. The sonatas will be presented in chronological order, on eight recitals over the course of a week, beginning tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. The concerts will be held at historic St. Peter’s Church in Freehold.

Interestingly, the venue is just about as old as Beethoven himself. The construction of St. Peter’s began all the way back in 1771, the year after the composer’s birth. Originally conceived on a design of Philadelphia architect Robert Smith, the structure’s completion was delayed by the Battle of Monmouth, when the site is alleged to have served as a hospital.

Following the Revolution, it was employed as an army storehouse, until the 1790s. It was in the last decade of the 18th century that the interior was finally completed so that services could be held. Throughout the 1800s, continued renovations and expansions transformed the original meeting house design into the gothic structure which stands today.

In anticipation of Möller’s Beethoven marathon, Hyczko has been posting a “Sonata-a-Day” feature on the Downtown Concert Series Facebook page, with links to complete performances of the works by different pianists and little-known facts about the composer.

On Sunday, the Capital Singers of Trenton will present music by one of Beethoven’s teachers, Franz Joseph Haydn. Haydn’s setting of the “Te Deum” will appear on the first half of the program, alongside selections from “The Creation” and the “Mass in Time of War.” The second half will feature works by contemporary composers Franz Biebl and Stephen Paulus. The most grandiose entry should be a second “Te Deum” setting by Mark Hayes.

“It’s more romantic, almost like film scores of the 1950s,” says the chorus’ artistic director, Richard Loatman. “I don’t know if you know the composer Miklós Rózsa, who wrote the music for ‘Ben-Hur’ and ‘El Cid’ and those biblical epics, but it has that kind of a feel to it.”

Sounds good to me!

The concert will be held on Sunday at 4 p.m., at Sacred Heart Church in Trenton. You can read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2015/05/classical_music_haydn_coming_t.html

PLEASE NOTE: I’m not responsible for the malaprop in the headline.

May 15, 2015

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS