Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton Symphony Orchestra

WPRB Celebrates Groundhog Day & Local Music

If you haven’t tuned in to WPRB yet this morning (and you really should), we are saluting the Groundhog this morning with music evocative of the animal kingdom. Sure, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter, but he’s only right 39 percent of the time. Even so, he deserves our love, because he’s a groundhog.

Yet to come: Lucas Richman: Conductor/Composer’s “Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant,” after witty animal poems by Jack Prelutsky, which will introduce us to Ballpoint Penguins, Shoehornets, Zipperpotamuses, and the Clocktopus, among others. Richman will conduct the Princeton Symphony Orchestra Saturday Evening POPS! concert at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this weekend. Broadway phenom Sierra Boggess will celebrate the musical, in a program that will trace its transition from stage to screen and back again.

At 10:00 this morning, we’ll shift gears, as I will be joined by Saad Haddad, Composer. Haddad’s fascinating “Manarah” was heard on a PSO concert this past weekend. He’ll be dropping by to share more of his music and to talk about his use of electronic processing to suggest the sounds of his Middle Eastern heritage.

There’s plenty yet to come today. Join me in hibernation, between now and 11:00 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

PHOTO: Saad Haddad (left) with PSO Music Director Rossen Milanov

February 2, 2017
Groundhog Day Music Special

Tomorrow, the Groundhog will demonstrate the full scope of his prognosticatory powers, as he emerges from his den, briefly, to call the expiration date on winter.

But the Groundhog is not the only creature of the natural world possessed of extraordinary talents. Tomorrow morning on WPRB, we’ll salute this wise and gifted rodent through music inspired by zoological and cryptozoological wonders – creatures such as the Hedgehog, the Bee, the Unicorn, the Whale, and the Bold Umbrellaphant.

At 10:00, I will be joined by a very special guest, composer Saad Haddad, Composer, whose fascinating work, “Manarah,” was heard on a concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra this past weekend. Haddad will share more of his music, which similarly employs electronics to expand the palette of Western acoustic instruments, such as the trumpet, the piano, the violin, the viola, and the cello, to evoke the microtones and glissandi characteristic of the Middle East.

Join me, as I brag as lustily as Thoreau’s Chanticleer, standing on his roost, this Thursday morning, from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We shadow the Groundhog, on Classic Ross Amico.

February 1, 2017
PSO Concert Explores Heritage and Identity

Four composers featured on the next concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra have traveled far, both geographically and genealogically, yet all manage to retain a strong sense of heritage at their core.

Celebrated clarinetist David Krakauer will join the PSO and its music director, Rossen Milanov, for a program of music rooted in explorations of personal and cultural identity. The program, “Un/Restrained,” will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium this Sunday afternoon at 4:00.

On the concert will be klezmer-infused works by Krakauer, Osvaldo Golijov and Wlad Marhulets – composer. Saad Haddad, Composer will use live processing of acoustic instruments to suggest the microtonal music of his Arabic past.

Rounding off the afternoon will be Rudolf Barshai’s arrangement of Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 into a Chamber Symphony. Shostakovich’s quartet is deeply personal – intense, harried, neurotic, enigmatic, visceral, and unforgettable. It’s also full of veiled self-references, including allusions to his other works, among them a piano trio that quotes a Jewish folk song.

Read more about this fascinating program in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/01/classical_music_david_krakauer.html

January 27, 2017
NJ Classical Concerts Your 2017 Resolution

No matter what 2017 may hold, you should make it a New Year’s resolution to catch as many concerts as you can. Check out representative enticements from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, McCarter Theatre Center, the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey, Princeton University Concerts, Downtown Concert Series, Princeton University Glee Club, Princeton University Orchestra, Princeton Pro Musica, Boheme Opera NJ, Westminster Opera Theatre, VOICES Chorale, and Westminster Community Orchestra, in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/01/classical_music_several_local.html

IMAGE: While we’re on the subject of musical resolutions…

January 6, 2017
Jayce Ogren Conducts Tchaikovsky in Princeton

Conductor Jayce Ogren is a man of many disciplines. He served as assistant conductor of one of America’s “Big Five” orchestras (Cleveland). He was music director of the New York City Opera. He is now artistic director of Philadelphia’s ‘new music’ ensemble, Orchestra 2001.

Ogren will be in Princeton this weekend to guest conduct the Princeton Symphony Orchestra in a program titled “Impassioned Russia.” The concert will include Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No.6, the “Pathètique.” Natasha Paremski will be the soloist in Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3. The concert will be held on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium.

Next season, he plans to bring Orchestra 2001 together with PSK: The Princeton Sound Kitchen for a special series. PSK specializes in music by Princeton University graduate students and faculty composers.

You can learn more about Ogren, and his personal connection to the Princeton community, in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/11/classical_music_pso_performing_2.html

Of perhaps related interest: WWFM – The Classical Network will broadcast the PSO’s October 9th concert, which featured Leila Josefowicz as soloist in Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto and music director Rossen Milanov conducting works by Franz Schubert and Julian Grant, tonight at 8:00 EDT. Listen locally at 89.1 FM or online at wwfm.org.

November 4, 2016

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