Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Princeton

Sharon Isbin Guitar at McCarter Princeton

With 25 recordings, four Grammy Awards, and a mastery of repertoire ranging from the baroque to the 21st century, it seems there is nothing guitarist Sharon Isbin can’t do well.

Isbin will appear at McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton on Saturday at 8 p.m. “The theme of the program, for the most part, is folk-inspired music,” she says. “That would include Spain, Latin America – including South America and Cuba – as well as our own country.

“There will be another couple of works that have been written for me, one of which is by Leo Brouwer, which is based on African love stories.” Also on the program will be music by Andrew York, formerly of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and Bruce MacCombie.

Isbin is the kind of performer composers love to write for. In the case of Brouwer, arguably Cuba’s most celebrated living composer, he sent her, unsolicited, the manuscript of “The Black Decameron.” The piece became an instant classic.

She has also had guitar concertos written for her by a number of other respected composers, including John Corigliano, Tan Dun, Lukas Foss, Christopher Rouse, and Joseph Schwantner.

A 2015 documentary, “Sharon Isbin: Troubadour,” continues to air on PBS stations across the country. The film was a recipient of an ASCAP Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Television Broadcast Award. Videos, including an excerpt from the documentary, news and touring information are posted at her website, http://www.sharonisbin.com.

Isbin will be the first of an impressive triumvirate of performers to appear at McCarter over the course of three days. Iranian-American harpsichord phenomenon Mahan Esfahani will present a stimulating program of works both old and new on Sunday at 3 p.m., and violinist Hilary Hahn will perform Bach, Mozart and Schubert, alongside music by Anton Garcia Abril and Hans Peter Turk, on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Learn more in my article in today’s Trenton Times.

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/03/classical_music_sharon_isbin_m.html

March 17, 2017
Kirill Gerstein Plays Liszt in Princeton

Pianist Kirill Gerstein will bring his transcendental technique to Princeton on Monday at 7:30 p.m., when he returns to McCarter Theatre Center with a recital that will include a selection of Franz Liszt’s “Transcendental Etudes.”

“They are showpieces, but in a much broader sense,” Gerstein says. “One could really say that Liszt, despite his enormous popularity, in some way is very much still an underrated composer. I think a lot of listeners and even some colleagues are distracted and partly disturbed by the flamboyance of some of the writing. But it is just one aspect, and a relatively small aspect, when you look at his entire, prodigious output. He was a serious composer and a fundamental musical force that really affected the course of music history. Of course he has his moments of being a superstar and tossing off glitter, which is also fine and part of life, but I don’t think that he was superficial.”

Gerstein has been touring the Etudes, with stops this month in Brussels, Liverpool and Vienna. He has recorded the entire cycle for the myrios classics label.

His McCarter program will also include sonatas by Beethoven (including the “Moonlight”) and Brahms (the Sonata No. 2) and four duets by Bach. Princeton Emeritus Professor Scott Burnham will deliver a pre-concert lecture at 6:30.

Gerstein will arrive at McCarter hot off a run of concerts with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, performing Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark on Friday at 8 p.m., at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank on Saturday at 8 p.m., and at Mayo Performing Arts Center – MPAC in Morristown on Sunday at 3 p.m.

On March 1, he’ll join the Hagen Quartett for Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F minor at Carnegie Hall. The Hagen Quartet will appear at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium on March 2 at 8:00 p.m., as part of the Princeton University Concerts series.

Read more of Gerstein’s thoughts on Liszt’s ‘Transcendental Etudes’ in my article in today’s Trenton Times:

http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2017/02/classical_music_kirill_gerstei.html

February 24, 2017
Snow Day No Ross Amico on WPRB

Due to the impending weather event (up to 12 inches of snow according to some sources), I hope you won’t mind too awfully if I sit out for “Classic Ross Amico” tomorrow morning on WPRB. My car is barely road-worthy even under the best of circumstances, and anyway I’ve been sick for the past two days (hence my paper-thin tone by the end of my air shifts). Taking a break will allow me to sit in my pajamas all day, propped up in bed, reading a book.

Who or what, exactly, will take my place is uncertain. It might be a Princeton student or at any rate someone within walking distance of the station, or it might be the automation, which could not by any means pass for classical. (I’m told this will change, beginning in the 5 a.m. hour, in the coming weeks.) For as much as I would love to do a snow show, it would hinge on my actually being able to get to the station to do one! All in all, this could be a good time to reacquaint yourselves with your CD collections.

Thank you for your interest. I’m hoping to be back next Thursday, from 6 to 11 a.m., on WPRB 103.3 FM and at wprb.com, with Classic Ross Amico.

UPDATE: It looks as if the shift will be split between two student DJs, Nicky and Bobby, starting at 7 a.m. They’ll likely draw pretty heavily from the station’s arcana section, so a lot of the music will be contemporary and/or avant-garde. The name Pauline Oliveros has been bandied. Thanks, guys!

February 9, 2017
Westminster Choir College Protest Princeton

If you’re in the Princeton area, and you just can’t sleep, Westminster Choir College is holding a 24-hour marathon performance-protest against its overlord university.

Rider University, desperate to shore up its own finances, is floating the idea of absorbing the operation of the Princeton music school into its Lawrenceville campus. Of course that would mean the primary artifacts of Westminster’s history, in the form of its neo-Georgian buildings, quadrangles, and invigorating greenery, would be left behind for a new owner to do with what it will. How Rider would propose to move all those organs is anyone’s idea.

Anyway, the marathon began at 11:00 this morning and will run through 11:00 tomorrow morning at Nassau Presbyterian Church. Performances will include the college’s bottomless arsenal of pianists, organists, harpists, and of course singers, with solidarity appearances by Princeton Girlchoir and Orpheus Club Men’s Chorus.

Nassau Presbyterian Church is located at 61 Nassau Street in Princeton. Just be aware that Princeton doesn’t like cars to be left on many of its streets after 2 a.m.

You can read more about it here:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/Westminster-Choir-College-begins-24-hour-performance-protest.html

And here:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2017/01/westminster_choir_college_musicians_sing_oppositio.html

February 1, 2017
Save Westminster Choir College in Princeton

Anybody else care about keeping Westminster Choir College in Princeton (as opposed to it being relegated to the music department of Rider University)? Sign the petition now.

Article:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2016/12/hundreds_sign_petition_against_selling_moving_west.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Petition:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-the-unification-of-the-westminster-choir-college-campus-and-the-rider-campus

December 12, 2016

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