Chuck Berry died today at the age of 90.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/18/arts/chuck-berry-dead.html?_r=0
Tell Tchaikovsky the news.
Tag: Tchaikovsky
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Goodyear’s Nutcracker a Solo Piano Treat
Capturing the essence of one of Tchaikovsky’s most colorful scores on a single instrument might seem like a tough nut to crack. But it was a prerequisite for pianist Stewart Goodyear if he was going to undertake something as ambitious as “The Nutcracker.”
“I first transcribed the march for the CBC in Toronto, and I was delighted by the experience,” he says. “And then I looked at the entire full score to see if it would be just as pianistic, and to my happiness it was. It took me two years just going through the score, because I wanted to be very faithful to everything that Tchaikovsky wrote.”
His 2015 recording of “The Nutcracker,” issued by Steinway & Sons, was selected by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of the year. Now, like a Herr Drosselmeyer of the keyboard, Goodyear will unpack his portmanteau of musical enchantments at McCarter Theatre Center tonight at 8 p.m.
As luck would have it, McCarter will also be collaborating with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra tonight at 7:30 p.m. George Manahan will conduct members of the orchestra and the Montclair State University Singers in Handel’s holiday juggernaut, “Messiah,” across town at Richardson Auditorium. Soloists will include Patricia Schuman, soprano; Mary Phillips, mezzo-soprano; Ryan MacPherson, tenor; David Pittsinger, bass-baritone.
Music-lovers will have the option of enjoying Handel’s monumental rendering of the life of Christ, deployed by chorus and orchestra, or the more secular pleasures of Tchaikovsky’s confectionary ballet expressed intimately on a single instrument.
Read more about it in my article in today’s Trenton Times:
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/12/classical_music_stewart_goodye.html
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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.
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Xian Zhang Tchaikovsky NJSO Debut
When certain composers or pieces have become ensconced in the repertoire, it’s very easy to take them for granted. But, as the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s new music director, Xian Zhang, reveals, it’s often hard work to make the familiar sound effortless.
“People know Tchaikovsky, in a way – you know, the most popular works – but if you look deeper, it’s not that easy to make it sound good,” she says. “The Fifth is one of the most popular symphonies. We have to actually work very hard to make it sound as good as people expect.”
It’s certainly worth noting, as the orchestra prepares three favorites by one of classical music’s most beloved composers. Simon Trpčeski will be the soloist in Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1. In addition, Zhang will conduct the Polonaise from his opera “Eugene Onegin” and the Symphony No. 5.
The program will mark Zhang’s debut as the orchestra’s music director, with appearances at four different venues across the state. Remaining performances will take place at Richardson Auditorium in Princeton (tonight at 8), the State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick (tomorrow night at 8), and the Mayo Performing Arts Center – MPAC in Morristown (Sunday at 3).
Find out more in my article in today’s Trenton Times:
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/10/classical_music_njso_performin_2.html
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Heroic Beethoven & Tchaikovsky in Plainsboro
The Bravura Philharmonic Orchestra will begin its tenth season on a heroic note, when founding music director Chiu-Tze Lin raises her baton for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3, “Eroica,” and Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.”
Interestingly, both works are tied to Napoleon. Tchaikovsky’s overture was written in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s successful weathering of Bonaparte’s invading troops in 1812.
Beethoven famously dedicated his symphony to Napoleon, whom the composer had viewed idealistically as an advocate of democracy and egalitarianism; but when Bonaparte declared himself Emperor, the composer scratched out the dedication with such vehemence that he tore a hole in the page. The inscription was changed to read, “… to the memory of a great man.” The second movement of the work is a funeral march.
Beethoven’s symphony stands as a monument to a fallen idol, but it remains heroic to its core, both in scope and content. Lin has selected these works to coincide with the 15th anniversary of the attacks of 9/11 and all the tragedy and triumph of the human spirit those events entailed.
“We’ve titled the concert ‘Heroic Masterworks,’ to commemorate the heroism of our firefighters and police on 9/11,” Lin says. She cites the aforementioned funeral march and the overall uplifting spirit of both pieces as bases for her programming decisions.
The concert will take place at Princeton Alliance Church in Plainsboro on Sunday night at 7 p.m. Also on the program, 16 year-old cellist Noah Lee will perform the Cello Concerto No. 1 by Dmitri Shostakovich.
Find out more about this remarkable young artist in my article in today’s Trenton Times.
http://www.nj.com/times-entertainment/index.ssf/2016/09/classical_music_bpo_performing.html
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