Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Guitar Music

Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo TCNJ Concert Friday

After being pinned down in the house for a few days by torrential rain, maybe you’d like to get out for an evening and enjoy some guitar music. If so, I have the very thing, as the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo will perform at The College of New Jersey on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

The recital will be held at the Mayo Concert Hall (located in the music building), 2000 Pennington Rd., in Ewing, NJ.

Together ensemble-in-residence at Mannes College of Music, Michael Newman and Laura Oltman are founders and artistic directors of the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes and New Jersey’s Raritan River Music Festival. Michael serves on the faculties of Mannes and TCNJ. Laura serves on the faculties of Princeton University and Lafayette College.

I have no idea what’s on tomorrow’s program, but I’d be very surprised if the evening doesn’t include at least some Leo Brouwer, as the artists have enjoyed a close working relationship with the composer in recent years and had a couple works written specifically for them. In fact, they’ve released an all-Brouwer album on the MusicMasters label.

This is also an excellent opportunity for me to give advance notice of the Raritan River Music Festival, which always manages to sneak up on me, as the first of the warm weather music festivals. The concerts are held in historic venues in Central Jersey’s Raritan and Warren Counties throughout the month of May. Learn more about the rapidly-approaching 35th season at raritanrivermusic.org.

In the meantime, Laura and Michael, who make their home along the banks of the swollen Delaware, will slalom down to TCNJ for tomorrow night’s appearance.

For tickets and information, visit tcnjcenterforthearts.universitytickets.com or call the box office at 609-771-2585.

April 4, 2024
Brouwer Premiere LIVE on The Classical Network

¡Hola!

Tune in this afternoon on The Classical Network to get a taste of LEO BROUWER, LIVE.

Join me for a special visit from Michael Newman and Laura Oltman of the Newman and Oltman Guitar Duo. Newman and Oltman will drop by to talk about the final concert of this year’s Raritan River Music Festival, which will take place this Saturday at 7:30 p.m., at Stanton Reformed Church, in Lebanon, NJ, and will include the WORLD PREMIERE of Brouwer’s “El Libro de los Seres Imaginarios” (“The Book of Imaginary Beings”).

Brouwer, who turned 80 in March, is Cuba’s foremost composer and arguably the most important living composer of music for the classical guitar. “El Libro” is a 16-minute, four movement work, inspired by a compendium of mythological beings by Jorge Luis Borges.

The fulfillment of the commission, which was planned to coincide with Newman and Oltman’s 40th anniversary as a guitar duo and the 30th anniversary of the Raritan River Music Festival, has been years in the making, the culmination of a successful pentathlon of sorts, guitarists and composer bounding over the hurdles of language, geography, culture, politics, and bureaucracy.

What makes Newman and Oltman’s visit today particularly exciting is that they plan to perform selections from Brouwer’s new work, LIVE, IN-STUDIO, which means the music will be heard FOR THE FIRST TIME ANYWHERE. Following Saturday’s premiere, the couple will take the piece to New York City for the opening of the New York Guitar Seminar on June 26. The duo holds exclusive performance and recording rights to the piece.

Saturday’s program, “New Music of the Americas: Compositions from Brazil, Cuba, & USA,” will also include music by Paul Moravec and works by festival guests Clarice Assad and João Luiz.

The Raritan River Music Festival was founded by Newman and Oltman in 1989, as a stimulating series of concerts that embrace new music, world music, and straightforward classical repertoire, presented by professional musicians, in intimate, historic venues in Hunterdon and Warren Counties.

This year’s festival has included concerts by the Horszowski Trio, performing Schumann and Elliot Carter, at Greenwich Presbyterian Church in Stewartsville; Eileen Ivers and the unIVERSal Roots Band, in a celebration of Americana music and its Irish roots, at Clinton Presbyterian Church in Clinton; and harmonicist Robert Bonfiglio and flutist Clare Hoffman, performing works by Native American and Grand Canyon-inspired composers, at Prallsville Mills in Stockton.

For more information about Saturday’s concert and the Raritan River Music Festival, visit raritanrivermusic.org; to learn more about Newman and Oltman, look online at guitarduo.com; and for scintillating music and conversation, tune in at 5:00, the core of today’s broadcast with Classic Ross Amico, which will take place, as always, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

May 20, 2019
Stephen Dodgson Composer Remembered

The English composer Stephen Dodgson was born on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1924. At the time I spoke with him in 2012, he was the closest living relative to share the surname Dodgson with his famous forebear, Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll.

At 88, he was in good physical health, it seemed, but unfortunately he was developing serious problems with his memory. His wife informed me after our interview, which took place via telephone, that he had good days and bad days, and that he had been perfectly lucid the day before. In any case, he was a perfectly articulate and charming man, who even invited me to dinner at his house outside of London. However, at the end of 15 or 20 minutes, I still had nothing that I could use on my radio show, “The Lost Chord.”

Dodgson wasn’t making a lot of sense that afternoon, but when it came to his music, it was like a cloud lifted. He may not have been able to stay on topic long enough to give me any useful audio, but he had no trouble at all naming some of his favorite pieces.

After the program aired, in October of 2012, I was told by his wife that the two were able to listen to the webcast and that it brought Stephen a lot of pleasure to hear it. I was sorry to learn that he died six months later, nearly a month after his 89th birthday. This Sunday night on “The Lost Chord,” I will be rebroadcasting that program, a few days in advance of what would have been Dodgson’s 93rd birthday.

The composer was perhaps best known for his guitar music, beginning with a commission from Julian Bream in 1952. The show will open and close with selections from “Watersmeet,” from 2002, written for John Williams (the guitarist was to have been the Dodgsons’ dinner guest on the night that we spoke), for solo guitar and guitar ensemble.

Flutist Robert Stallman, who lived in Philadelphia for many years, will perform Dodgson’s Flute Quintet, composed in 2003. We’ll also hear the cantata “The Last of the Leaves,” from 1975, on texts of Austin Dobson, Ernest Rhys, G.K. Chesterton and Harold Monro, with bass Michael George and clarinetist John Bradbury. This was an absolute favorite of the composer and his wife.

Dodgson wrote no symphonies, but he wrote eight large-scale orchestral movements, which he called “Essays.” He selected the fifth of those for inclusion in our program. The Essay No. 5 was composed in 1985.

Stephen Dodgson was a gentleman in all regards. He was also an educator (beginning at the Royal College of Music in 1947) and a radio host (with the BBC). I am sorry I wasn’t able to take him up on his invitation for dinner, but it was a pleasure at least to make contact with him by telephone, since I genuinely admire his music. I hope you’ll join me tonight at 10:00 EDT* for “Dodgson’s Choice,” on WWFM – The Classical Network and at wwfm.org.

*Did you remember to turn your clocks ahead?

ON A RELATED NOTE: The Stephen Dodgson Charitable Trust has been quite active recently in promoting his music. You can learn more at their Facebook page, Stephen Dodgson – composer, or at stephendodgson.com.

March 12, 2017

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