Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Robert Young McMahan

Accordion Concert Preview on The Classical Network

If the accordion is your thing – or even if you think it’s not – I hope you’ll join me this Wednesday afternoon on The Classical Network for a visit from Robert Young McMahan.

McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on the instrument. He’ll drop by to talk about an upcoming concert that will take place this Saturday at Mayo Concert Hall in the TCNJ Music Building titled “Bellows and Bows: A Potpourri of Chamber Works for Violin, Cello, and Accordion.” The 8:00 program will include works by Lukas Foss, Johan Halvorsen, George Kleinsinger, Edward McQuire, Alberto Acosta Ortega, Mátyás Seiber, Jaroslav Vanĕc̆e, Heitor Villa-Lobos, and McMahan himself.

We’ll also get a taste of the accordion’s striking sonorities when applied to the classical repertoire. Join us for music and a brief conversation this afternoon at 4:00. It will certainly lend variety to a projected Schubert birthday celebration, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

January 31, 2018
Accordion Advocate Talks Polka & More

When asked if there’s anything about the accordion he wishes the public knew, Robert Young McMahan responds he wishes there was a lot that they didn’t.

“Polka is at the top of my list,” he says. “Lawrence Welk is second.” But he hastens to add that, even though Welk “wasn’t cool,” he helped popularize the instrument. “The arrangements were quite good, and Myron Floren played quite well, for what they were doing.”

He winces at the mention of “Lady of Spain” (“I was hoping you weren’t old enough to know that,” he says), and he hates the term “squeezebox.”

McMahan’s lifelong passion for the accordion is evident in every sentence, as he vacillates between wistfulness at the instrument’s waning popularity among Americans (in part he blames Elvis, who caused youngsters to gravitate to the electric guitar), and hope, in the acknowledgment of up-and-coming talent from Scandinavia, Russia, and the Far East.

A professor of music on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, he is secretary of the American Accordionists’ Association. Each year, the association holds its conference in a different American city. This year, hundreds of accordionists and accordion aficionados will descend on the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Festival registration will begin at 3:00 this afternoon, with exhibits opening at 5.

McMahan, whose wife, Anne, is president of Princeton Friends of Opera, will give a lecture about the accordion and opera, on July 13 at 9 a.m. He will also participate in a gala concert, performing music of Lukas Foss, alongside violinist Emmanuel Borowski and cellist Cecylia Barczak, on July 14 at 7 p.m.

The conference will include music of all genres (presumably even polka), workshops, and scholarship competitions. You can find out more about it in my article in this week’s edition of U.S. 1 Newspaper – PrincetonInfo, out today.

http://www.princetoninfo.com/index.php/component/us1more/?Itemid=6&key=7-12-17mcmahan

July 12, 2017
Ashkenazy at 80 Uncommon Classics on WPRB

Classical music radio stations around the world will be celebrating the 80th birthday of Vladimir Ashkenazy. How many will do so, I wonder, by playing “B-sides?”

This morning on WPRB, we’ll take our usual tack and try to focus on the unusual and neglected, with Ashkenazy as pianist, performing music by Taneyev, Stravinsky, Previn and Rautavaara (okay, we’ll toss in a little Rachmaninoff, too), and as conductor, performing works by Franck, Prokofiev, Scriabin and Boris Blacher.

At 9:00, we’ll pause for a visit from accordionist Robert Young McMahan. McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on his instrument. He is on the governing board of the American Accordionists’ Association, which will hold its annual festival at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Tune in to learn more, or look online at http://www.ameraccord.com. The AAA has commissioned prominent contemporary composers to write for the accordion for over 65 years. McMahan will share some of his insights and recordings.

It will be mostly Ashkenazy, with a dash of accordion, this morning from 6 to 11 EST, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. Come to think of it, when are we not dashing, on Classic Ross Amico?

PHOTO: Ashkenazy, oblivious of the dress code

July 6, 2017
Ashkenazy at 80 A WPRB Birthday Salute

July 6 marks the 80th birthday of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Who hasn’t heard his Rachmaninoff, his Beethoven, his Chopin? It’s been done.

Then, the more I thought about it, I started to remember his cherishable recording, as conductor, of César Franck’s “Psyché.” And his disc of rarely-heard orchestral works by Boris Blacher. And his album of two-piano music by Igor Stravinsky, recorded with Andrei Gavrilov. And his Robert & Clara Schumann lieder recordings with Barbara Bonney. And his solo turns in André Previn’s Piano Concerto and Einojuhani Rautavaara’s “Gift of Dreams.” And I thought, okay, I guess I really do have the justification and the means to put together a truly compelling show.

I hope you’ll join tomorrow morning on WPRB as I salute Ashkenazy at 80.

We’ll also have a visit from accordionist Robert Young McMahan. McMahan, who is on the faculty of The College of New Jersey, is one of the foremost authorities on his instrument. He is on the governing board of the American Accordionists’ Association, which will hold its annual festival at the Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village, from July 12 to July 16. Tune in tomorrow to learn more, or look online at http://www.ameraccord.com. The AAA has commissioned prominent American composers to write for the accordion for over 65 years. McMahan will share some of his insights and recordings in the 9:00 hour.

It will be Ashkenazy in concord with the accordion, this Thursday morning from 6 to 11 EDT, on WPRB 103.3 FM and wprb.com. We’ll be tickling the keys, in whatever form, on Classic Ross Amico.

July 5, 2017

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