Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton Symphony Orchestra

Winter Music Inspiration on WPRB

If, as Edison said, genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration, where does that leave room for stimulation? I’ll let you know when I get to the bottom of my double-bagged, 20-ounce tea. The Bumble – well, The Bumble is as The Bumble does.

The snow begins tomorrow night in the Philadelphia-Trenton-Princeton area, and we’re back up to projected accumulations of at least a foot. Thankfully my new boots are in the mail, and I’ve got plenty of bread and milk.

While the rest of you are standing in line at the grocery store, I’ll be at WPRB this morning, setting the tone for the impending snowpocalypse, with music of a decidedly wintry nature. As time allows, we’ll take trips to the North Pole, with George Lloyd’s epic Symphony No. 4 – the “Arctic” symphony – and to the South – with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 7, the “Sinfonia Antarctica.” (If we run short, we may have to resort to selections from RVW’s film score to “Scott of the Antarctic,” which was the symphony’s source.)

Representatives of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, including composer-in-residence Jing Jing Luo, will drop by at around 9:00 to talk about their upcoming concert at Richardson Auditorium, on January 31 at 4 p.m. Luo’s work, “Tsao Shu” (“Grass Scripts”), was inspired by her fascination with Chinese calligraphy. Also on the PSO program will be music by Mozart and Kodaly.

Then at around 10:00, we’ll enjoy a chat with visitors from the orchestra Grand Harmonie. Grand Harmonie will present the U.S. authentic instrument premiere of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” in a semi-staged performance, at Richardson this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

We’ll also feature Dawn Upshaw’s Grammy Award-winning recording of Maria Schneider’s “Winter Morning Walks.” Upshaw will perform three songs by Osvaldo Golijov on the upcoming concert of the Princeton Symphony.

Get ready to scrape your windshields, from 6 to 11 ET on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’ll be Bumbling through another shift, on Classic Ross Amico.

January 21, 2016
Arctic Symphony Beethoven on WPRB

On a morning devoted to wintry topics, we’re currently listening to George Lloyd’s epic Symphony No. 4, subtitled the “Arctic.” Lloyd wrote the piece while recovering from injuries sustained in naval combat during World War II, when his ship was torpedoed, killing 17 of his crewmates and nearly drowning him in machine oil. Lloyd couldn’t speak afterward for nearly a year. The symphony reflects none of the horrors of war, but rather, as Lloyd put it, “a world of darkness, storms, strange colors, and a far away peacefulness.”

A little after 9:00, I will be joined by Jing Jing Luo, composer-in-residence with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Luo’s “Tsao Shu” (“Grass Scripts”), inspired by her fascination with Chinese calligraphy, will be performed by the PSO at Richardson Auditorium on January 31 at 4 p.m., on a program which will also feature works by Mozart, Kodaly and Osvaldo Golijov. (Dawn Upshaw will be the soloist in Golijov’s “Three Songs.”)

Later on, around 10:00, representatives of the orchestra Grand Harmonie will pay a visit, to talk about the U.S. authentic instrument premiere of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” which the group will present, in a semi-staged performance at Richardson, this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Before the morning is out, we’ll hear either the Symphony No. 7, the “Sinfonia Antartica,” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, or selections from the film score that inspired it, RVW’s music for “Scott of the Antarctic.”

One way or another, the snow’s a-comin’, this morning until 11 ET, here on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com.

January 21, 2016
Winter Music on WPRB Radio Princeton NJ

If you’re a denizen of the Mid-Atlantic or Northeastern states, then chances are the impending winter storm is beginning to worm its way into your consciousness. This week on WPRB, we go with the flow, with a full morning of wintry music, including, if time allows, trips to the North and South Poles.

We’ll have two sets of visitors: one from the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, including composer Jing Jing Luo, whose work “Tsao Shu” will be heard on the orchestra’s next concert, which will take place at Richardson Auditorium, on January 31 at 4 p.m.; and the other from Grand Harmonie, which will present the U.S. authentic instrument premiere of Beethoven’s “Fidelio,” in a semi-staged performance, at Richardson this Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

We’ll also feature Dawn Upshaw’s Grammy Award-winning recording of Maria Schneider’s “Winter Morning Walks.” Upshaw will perform three songs by Osvaldo Golijov on the upcoming concert of the Princeton Symphony.

Pull on your boots and get in the mood for tomato soup and toasted cheese sandwiches, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 ET, on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com. We’re industriously loading snowballs into the freezer, on Classic Ross Amico.

More entertaining squirrel photos by Vadim Trunov here:

http://vadim-trunov.wix.com/foto

January 20, 2016
Princeton Symphony: Clyne’s “Seamstress”

I made my song a coat
Covered with embroideries
Out of old mythologies
From heel to throat…

Anna Clyne’s “The Seamstress,” a work for violin and orchestra after a poem of William Butler Yeats, will open this Sunday’s concert of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. Jennifer Koh will be the soloist. Also on the program, music director Rossen Milanov will conduct Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2. The concert will take place at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium Sunday afternoon at 4. Milanov will deliver a pre-concert talk at 3.

A PSO “Behind the Music” event will take place tomorrow afternoon at 3, at The Arts Council of Princeton’s Paul Robeson Center. Insights into Clyne’s music will be offered, with Koh discussing her collaborative relationship with the composer, and Milanov his method of preparing her scores for live performance. The event is free and open to the public, with advanced reservations available through the PSO, at princetonsymphony.org or 609-497-0020.

Clyne and Koh talk to me about “The Seamstress” in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2015/09/classical_music_pso_opening_se.html

Of perhaps related interest, Milanov and the PSO can be heard, along with guest soloists soprano Michelle Johnson, mezzo-soprano Margaret Lattimore, tenor Zach Borichevsky, and baritone Hugh Russell, and the Princeton High School Choir, in a broadcast concert of last season’s PSO finale, “Viva Verdi,” tonight at 8 ET, on WWFM – The Classical Network, at 89.1 FM or online at wwfm.org.

PHOTOS: Anna Clyne (left) with Jennifer Koh and Rossen Milanov

September 25, 2015
Blood Moons Popes & Purrs on WPRB

Some regard a “blood moon” eclipse as a portent of the End of Days. Others blanch at the cataclysmic implications of swapped air shifts.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/doomsday-predicted-as-blood-moon-coincides-with-sukkot/

Chances are you will either be in synagogue this morning, or you’ll wish you were, when flighty bird Classic Ross Amico sits in for the always reliable Marvin Rosen at WPRB. Ah well, we might as well make the best of it.

We’ll be jumping on the media bandwagon this week to salute Pope Francis and maybe grumble a little bit about the situation in Philadelphia, where the Pope Fence is going up and tow trucks are impounding cars all across Center City.

We’ll honor the Pope (it’s not his fault) with music inspired by his namesake, St. Francis. Francis brought forth musical tributes from many composers across the centuries. We’ll hear from Kenneth Fuchs, Paul Hindemith, Franz Liszt, Francis Poulenc, Joaquin Rodrigo, Sir William Walton, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Leo Sowerby.

Also, because of Francis’ well-known affinity with and for the critters, we’ll leaven the proceedings with works evocative of the animal kingdom, pieces like Samuel Barber’s “The Monk and His Cat,” Jennifer Higdon’s “An Exaltation of Larks,” Peter Schickele’s “Bestiary,” and of course Gioachino Rossini’s “Cat Duet.”

Marc Uys, Executive Director of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will drop by at around 9:00 to tell us a little bit about the PSO’s upcoming season, which will begin on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, when violinist Jennifer Koh will perform Anna Clyne’s “The Seamstress” (after a poem of William Butler Yeats) and Rossen Milanov will conduct Sergei Rachmaninoff’s wonderfully wistful Symphony No. 2.

Due to Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar, Marvin Rosen’s Classical Discoveries will be heard on THURSDAY this week, from 5:30 to 11 a.m. ET. Despair not! This is only a temporary circumstance. Marvin will return to his regular Wednesday slot next week, and I’ll be back on Thursdays.

For the time being, I hope you’ll join me for St. Francis and friends, this morning from 6 to 11, on WPRB 103.3 FM or online at wprb.com. The fur will fly this week, on Classic Ross Amico.

September 23, 2015

Tag Cloud

RECENT POSTS