RGV Beyond Arts and More Magazine
San Antonio/Austin, Texas
"Music Connect"
Stories by Helen Lin
Read Online Here http://www.beyondartsmagazine.com
December 2016
Pure Magic
Michael Fiday, Composer
By Helen Lin
“Pure magic” -American Record Guide
“Clearly structured, colorful and unflaggingly compelling work” -The Philadelphia Inquirer
Michael Fiday, the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies from, among others, BMI, ASCAP, American Composers Forum, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council, is a composer with a fertile imagination, a probing inventiveness, an ear for telling instrumental color, and gentle wit. The Colorado native did graduate work and taught in Philadelphia many years, then lived in the San Francisco Bay area before becoming an associate professor of composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Fiday, trained as a classical violinist, has a reputation for bringing pop culture elements into his music. His “Dharma Pops” is based on haiku texts by Jack Kerouac with musical references to jazz great Charlie Parker. And several years ago he composed “Gonzo Variations” for chamber orchestra based on the work of journalist Hunter S. Thompson. He has written a big rock-and-roll-influenced piece called “It Shakes My Teeth” for two electric guitars and percussion, commissioned and premiered by CCM’s Percussion Group Cincinnati. “But it needs some work,” he said. He’s working on revisions for a performance about a year from now by the noted ensemble Mantra Percussion.
Composers of Fiday’s generation are caught in the middle aesthetically, which might help explain his ambivalence on where pieces like “3 for 1” lie. “3 for 1” is a product of pop/rock influence, a symphonic work that fits in the classical tradition. Fiday said, “I have a complex relationship with orchestral music. I know the orchestra and how it works. But there’s a danger of being constricted by that tradition. It’s easy when writing for the orchestra to fall into all these cliches – the crashing climaxes and things like that. The challenge for me was, ‘how do I use my knowledge of the orchestra in a way that’s fresh for me?’ The limitations of the material helped with that.”
Using pop music in classical pieces is nothing new, Fiday said, especially in America. It has been happening since the 1960s. But while it was more a superficial effect in past decades, it’s now more of a true hybrid among musical genres. And that change exposes a generational gap among composers. “My colleagues and I in my generation feel like we’re on the fence,” he said. “We struggle to reconcile with the influence of our older teachers, but we want to be relevant with our own students, encouraging their unique voices and making sure they develop good technique.”
Fiday has found that teaching helps his own work as a composer. “Teaching, say, music theory is lecturing, about explaining material, and it goes one way,” he said. “But when you’re teaching students in composition in a studio, the ideas are going in both directions. I get great creative ideas from my students.”
Michael Fiday’s music has been commissioned and performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and elsewhere by a diverse range of performers such as Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Percussion Ensemble of The Hague, pianists James Tocco and Marc-Andre Hamelin, and electric guitarist Seth Josel. His principal teachers in composition have included Richard Toensing at University of Colorado, George Crumb at University of Pennsylvania, and Louis Andriessen, with whom he studied in Amsterdam under the auspices of a Fulbright Grant.
“Pure magic” -American Record Guide
“Clearly structured, colorful and unflaggingly compelling work” -The Philadelphia Inquirer
Michael Fiday, the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies from, among others, BMI, ASCAP, American Composers Forum, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Ohio Arts Council, is a composer with a fertile imagination, a probing inventiveness, an ear for telling instrumental color, and gentle wit. The Colorado native did graduate work and taught in Philadelphia many years, then lived in the San Francisco Bay area before becoming an associate professor of composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Fiday, trained as a classical violinist, has a reputation for bringing pop culture elements into his music. His “Dharma Pops” is based on haiku texts by Jack Kerouac with musical references to jazz great Charlie Parker. And several years ago he composed “Gonzo Variations” for chamber orchestra based on the work of journalist Hunter S. Thompson. He has written a big rock-and-roll-influenced piece called “It Shakes My Teeth” for two electric guitars and percussion, commissioned and premiered by CCM’s Percussion Group Cincinnati. “But it needs some work,” he said. He’s working on revisions for a performance about a year from now by the noted ensemble Mantra Percussion.
Composers of Fiday’s generation are caught in the middle aesthetically, which might help explain his ambivalence on where pieces like “3 for 1” lie. “3 for 1” is a product of pop/rock influence, a symphonic work that fits in the classical tradition. Fiday said, “I have a complex relationship with orchestral music. I know the orchestra and how it works. But there’s a danger of being constricted by that tradition. It’s easy when writing for the orchestra to fall into all these cliches – the crashing climaxes and things like that. The challenge for me was, ‘how do I use my knowledge of the orchestra in a way that’s fresh for me?’ The limitations of the material helped with that.”
Using pop music in classical pieces is nothing new, Fiday said, especially in America. It has been happening since the 1960s. But while it was more a superficial effect in past decades, it’s now more of a true hybrid among musical genres. And that change exposes a generational gap among composers. “My colleagues and I in my generation feel like we’re on the fence,” he said. “We struggle to reconcile with the influence of our older teachers, but we want to be relevant with our own students, encouraging their unique voices and making sure they develop good technique.”
Fiday has found that teaching helps his own work as a composer. “Teaching, say, music theory is lecturing, about explaining material, and it goes one way,” he said. “But when you’re teaching students in composition in a studio, the ideas are going in both directions. I get great creative ideas from my students.”
Michael Fiday’s music has been commissioned and performed extensively throughout the United States, Europe and elsewhere by a diverse range of performers such as Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, Oakland East Bay Symphony, Percussion Ensemble of The Hague, pianists James Tocco and Marc-Andre Hamelin, and electric guitarist Seth Josel. His principal teachers in composition have included Richard Toensing at University of Colorado, George Crumb at University of Pennsylvania, and Louis Andriessen, with whom he studied in Amsterdam under the auspices of a Fulbright Grant.
November 2016
Beyond Incredible
Ruslan Biryukov, Cellist
By Helen Lin
"An astonishing young cellist Ruslan Biryukov. The audience gave the concert a standing ovation. If the first concert is any consideration, I would get my tickets early!" - Wendy Kikkert, Beverly Hills Outlook
"To say the performance was incredible would not do it justice." - Jose Ruiz, Review Plays
"Ruslan is an extraordinary; one of a kind performer. He has everything: technique, virtuosity, personality, communication, attractive and articulate presence, a great human story and background!" "He will be a big WINNER!" - Peter Mark, Artistic Director, Virginia Opera
"Ruslan is a charismatic performer who brings the audiences to their feet. His artistry is both sensitive and passionate and his technical command of the instrument is stunning." - Eleonore Schoenfeld, Piatigorsky Chair, Thornton School of Music
Cellist Ruslan Biryukov (Руслан Бирюков), known for his "superb artistry, passion and individuality," represents a new generation of creative professional musicians whose artistic level is recognized not only by awards, but also by a worldwide audience. Mr. Biryukov has performed throughout the world, including countries in the former USSR, Europe, and United States. He was the only cellist ever invited to perform for 10 consecutive years solo recitals at the Sundays Live Concert Series in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the longest running live radio broadcasted concert series in the United States, as well as the only Russian cellist invited to solo with orchestra during the inaugural season of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Memorable chamber music experience includes performances with world renowned violinist Midori at the Disney Hall in Los Angeles, cellist Kirill Rodin at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, and members of the Ysaye Quartet.
Ruslan Biryukov has been a master teacher in music festivals in Europe and Russia. He has held teaching positions at the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Institute of Music in Moscow, Russia and the Music Academy in Lovran, Croatia. His creative artistic ideas are based upon the tradition he learned from esteemed artists Kirill Rodin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Natalia Gutman, Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, and Eleonore Schoenfeld.
Mr. Biryukov received his formal music education at Baku Music Academy in Azerbaijan, Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in Russia, and the USC Thornton School of Music. He first earned international recognition by winning major awards in Azerbaijan and by the inclusion of his name in the Gold Book of Russia's international program "New Names". Biryukov has gone on to win numerous other awards worldwide, including the 17th Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition.
Founder of the Glendale Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of Positive Motions Concert Series in Los Angeles, heralded as a charismatic performer who captivates the attention of his audiences, Ruslan Biryukov is a much sought-after young musician who is committed to a lifetime of music making by sharing the art of music with worldwide audiences from all walks of life.
Since 2003 Mr. Biryukov resides in Los Angeles, California. He was awarded permanent residency from the U.S. government as an "Extraordinary Ability Artist". The title means that he has "sustained national or international acclaim and the achievements have been recognized" in his field, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additionally, Mr. Biryukov is the only Russian cellist granted American Private Pilot license and enjoys flying airplanes as a hobby.
"An astonishing young cellist Ruslan Biryukov. The audience gave the concert a standing ovation. If the first concert is any consideration, I would get my tickets early!" - Wendy Kikkert, Beverly Hills Outlook
"To say the performance was incredible would not do it justice." - Jose Ruiz, Review Plays
"Ruslan is an extraordinary; one of a kind performer. He has everything: technique, virtuosity, personality, communication, attractive and articulate presence, a great human story and background!" "He will be a big WINNER!" - Peter Mark, Artistic Director, Virginia Opera
"Ruslan is a charismatic performer who brings the audiences to their feet. His artistry is both sensitive and passionate and his technical command of the instrument is stunning." - Eleonore Schoenfeld, Piatigorsky Chair, Thornton School of Music
Cellist Ruslan Biryukov (Руслан Бирюков), known for his "superb artistry, passion and individuality," represents a new generation of creative professional musicians whose artistic level is recognized not only by awards, but also by a worldwide audience. Mr. Biryukov has performed throughout the world, including countries in the former USSR, Europe, and United States. He was the only cellist ever invited to perform for 10 consecutive years solo recitals at the Sundays Live Concert Series in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the longest running live radio broadcasted concert series in the United States, as well as the only Russian cellist invited to solo with orchestra during the inaugural season of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Memorable chamber music experience includes performances with world renowned violinist Midori at the Disney Hall in Los Angeles, cellist Kirill Rodin at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, and members of the Ysaye Quartet.
Ruslan Biryukov has been a master teacher in music festivals in Europe and Russia. He has held teaching positions at the Ippolitov-Ivanov State Institute of Music in Moscow, Russia and the Music Academy in Lovran, Croatia. His creative artistic ideas are based upon the tradition he learned from esteemed artists Kirill Rodin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Daniil Shafran, Natalia Gutman, Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, and Eleonore Schoenfeld.
Mr. Biryukov received his formal music education at Baku Music Academy in Azerbaijan, Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory in Russia, and the USC Thornton School of Music. He first earned international recognition by winning major awards in Azerbaijan and by the inclusion of his name in the Gold Book of Russia's international program "New Names". Biryukov has gone on to win numerous other awards worldwide, including the 17th Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition.
Founder of the Glendale Philharmonic Orchestra and Artistic Director of Positive Motions Concert Series in Los Angeles, heralded as a charismatic performer who captivates the attention of his audiences, Ruslan Biryukov is a much sought-after young musician who is committed to a lifetime of music making by sharing the art of music with worldwide audiences from all walks of life.
Since 2003 Mr. Biryukov resides in Los Angeles, California. He was awarded permanent residency from the U.S. government as an "Extraordinary Ability Artist". The title means that he has "sustained national or international acclaim and the achievements have been recognized" in his field, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Additionally, Mr. Biryukov is the only Russian cellist granted American Private Pilot license and enjoys flying airplanes as a hobby.
October 2016
Embraceable You
Shannen Tay, Piano Prodigy
By Helen Lin
“Passion and expression from the gut! Bravo!”
“Stylish playing that promises much for the future!”
“Great handling of the complex musical texture! Natural and expressive playing!”
“Wonderful Work!”
“Bravo on your performance of this marvelous piece! Excellent work! I look forward to hearing much more from you in the future!”.
These are just a few of the comments Shannen Tay (Tay Hsien En) received from the professional musicians such as Ralitsa Obretenova (Bulgaria) at Carnegie Hall in March this year after her recent piano performance of Embraceable You by George Gershwin, arranged by Earl Wild.
I first met Shannen, just 8 years old, in Singapore. She was petite, pretty, had a quick smile and chatted with me like an adult and was quite knowledgeable about music theory and history. I thought in my heart that this girl will make a difference in this world. And when she sat down on the bench and started playing for me, my jaw dropped! The music and emotions flowing through her tiny fingers were extraordinary. She performed with the maturity and sensitivity of an accomplished professional. Her musical artistry and creativity were well above her age.
Born to Monica Chen, a professional musician, Shannen began to study music at the tender age of three. By five, she was wowing audiences from all over the world and winning prizes, like the Best Piano Performance in Singapore Music Festival in 2012.
This child prodigy has diligently pursued her passion at music schools and international music festivals. She has participated and excelled in many local and international piano recitals and competitions. Her recent achievements have included a concert at the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition / Piano and Violin Competition Winner’s Recital, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA in March 2016; 1st Place at American Protégé International Music Talent Competition Fall 2015; Silver Prize Winner, Asia International Music Competition 2015; Gold Prize, Ars Nova Festival 2014, etc.
She has begun a piano pedagogy journey, displaying a passion for sharing her gift of music by guiding other children in Singapore, including her 2 younger sisters. After primary school she hopes for an academic scholarship to pursue her dream to be a concert pianist.
Besides music, she believes in gaining a variety of experiences. She enjoys swimming, rollerblading, ballet, singing and traveling. Indeed, masters of any art tend to pursue excellence in a variety of other areas, which interact to produce further excellence.
“Passion and expression from the gut! Bravo!”
“Stylish playing that promises much for the future!”
“Great handling of the complex musical texture! Natural and expressive playing!”
“Wonderful Work!”
“Bravo on your performance of this marvelous piece! Excellent work! I look forward to hearing much more from you in the future!”.
These are just a few of the comments Shannen Tay (Tay Hsien En) received from the professional musicians such as Ralitsa Obretenova (Bulgaria) at Carnegie Hall in March this year after her recent piano performance of Embraceable You by George Gershwin, arranged by Earl Wild.
I first met Shannen, just 8 years old, in Singapore. She was petite, pretty, had a quick smile and chatted with me like an adult and was quite knowledgeable about music theory and history. I thought in my heart that this girl will make a difference in this world. And when she sat down on the bench and started playing for me, my jaw dropped! The music and emotions flowing through her tiny fingers were extraordinary. She performed with the maturity and sensitivity of an accomplished professional. Her musical artistry and creativity were well above her age.
Born to Monica Chen, a professional musician, Shannen began to study music at the tender age of three. By five, she was wowing audiences from all over the world and winning prizes, like the Best Piano Performance in Singapore Music Festival in 2012.
This child prodigy has diligently pursued her passion at music schools and international music festivals. She has participated and excelled in many local and international piano recitals and competitions. Her recent achievements have included a concert at the American Protégé International Music Talent Competition / Piano and Violin Competition Winner’s Recital, Carnegie Hall, New York, USA in March 2016; 1st Place at American Protégé International Music Talent Competition Fall 2015; Silver Prize Winner, Asia International Music Competition 2015; Gold Prize, Ars Nova Festival 2014, etc.
She has begun a piano pedagogy journey, displaying a passion for sharing her gift of music by guiding other children in Singapore, including her 2 younger sisters. After primary school she hopes for an academic scholarship to pursue her dream to be a concert pianist.
Besides music, she believes in gaining a variety of experiences. She enjoys swimming, rollerblading, ballet, singing and traveling. Indeed, masters of any art tend to pursue excellence in a variety of other areas, which interact to produce further excellence.
September 2016
With Stories to Tell
Stacy Garrop, Composer
By Helen Lin
Stacy Garrop’s musical aesthetic embraces a diverse range of styles and languages, which she weaves together into a musical tapestry that fits the needs of each new piece. Her music has strong dramatic and programmatic tendencies, which are tempered by more abstract, gesture-based ideas. In all that she composes, Stacy strives to clearly communicate the intention of each piece, whether this is to musically portray the words of poets, to depict Greek myths, or to simply explore a range of sonic qualities. Stacy Garrop is a composer with stories to tell. The role of narrative—whether indirectly or overtly applied to the final composition—is a central factor in her typical working process. In it, she had found a way to shape and chart the sonic image she wants her music to ultimately project to the world beyond her studio.
Stacy has received numerous awards and grants including a Fromm Music Foundation Grant, three Barlow Endowment commissions, Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award, Boston Choral Ensemble Competition Contest, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s Harvey Gaul Composition Competition, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize, Sorel Medallion Choral Composition Competition, and competitions sponsored by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and the New England Philharmonic. She has participated in reading session programs sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra (the Composers Institute), and Dale Warland Singers.
Theodore Presser Company publishes her chamber and orchestral works; she self-publishes her choral works under the name Inkjar Publishing Company. She is a recording artist with Cedille Records, with works on nine CDs; her works are also commercially available on Blue Griffin Recording, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella Records, Equilibrium, Innova, Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Ravello Records, Saxophone Classics, and Summit Records.
She has served as composer-in-residence with several organizations including the Volti Choral Institute for High School Singers, Skaneateles Festival, Albany Symphony, and Music in the Loft. Garrop has attended residencies at the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony, Oxford Summer Institute, Ragdale Colony, Round Top Music Festival, Ucross Foundation, Wellesley Composers Conference, and Yaddo.
Stacy has been commissioned and performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella, San Francisco Choral Society, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Gaudete Brass Quintet, and the Rembrandt Chamber Players; the Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, Music in the Loft, Norton Building Concert Series, and WFMT 98.7 FM have commissioned works as well.
Additional performances have been given by the Cabrillo and Grant Park Music Festival Orchestras; Amarillo, Charleston, Columbus, Illinois, Nashua, Omaha, and Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestras; National Repertory Orchestra; Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and the New England Philharmonic; by the Avalon, Biava, Cecilia, Chiara, and Enso String Quartets; by the Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Gaudete Brass Quintet, Lincoln Trio, New EAR, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Voices of Change; and by Clerestory, Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, South Bend Chamber Singers, Voices of Ascension, and Volti.
As an educator, Stacy has created innovative programs to bring music to young people. For a residence with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she helped middle school students compose a semi-staged music production about the explorer Henry Hudson. In collaboration with the Skeaneateles Festival, she designed a series of workshops for elementary, middle, and high school students in which the students learned and created musical works using Hyperscore, a computer program that allows people to write music without having to read music. Stacy is on the composition faculty of the annual Fresh Inc Festival, sponsored by Fifth House Ensemble and held in Kenosha, WI.; the goal of this festival is to teach the composer and musician participants the business of music alongside music-making.
Stacy earned degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Indiana University-Bloomington (D.M.). After teaching full-time for 16 years at Roosevelt University, she stepped down from her position in 2016 to pursue a free-lance composing career. For the 2016-2017 academic year, she will serve as Artist Faculty in Composition at Roosevelt University.
Stacy Garrop’s musical aesthetic embraces a diverse range of styles and languages, which she weaves together into a musical tapestry that fits the needs of each new piece. Her music has strong dramatic and programmatic tendencies, which are tempered by more abstract, gesture-based ideas. In all that she composes, Stacy strives to clearly communicate the intention of each piece, whether this is to musically portray the words of poets, to depict Greek myths, or to simply explore a range of sonic qualities. Stacy Garrop is a composer with stories to tell. The role of narrative—whether indirectly or overtly applied to the final composition—is a central factor in her typical working process. In it, she had found a way to shape and chart the sonic image she wants her music to ultimately project to the world beyond her studio.
Stacy has received numerous awards and grants including a Fromm Music Foundation Grant, three Barlow Endowment commissions, Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award, Boston Choral Ensemble Competition Contest, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble’s Harvey Gaul Composition Competition, Raymond and Beverly Sackler Music Composition Prize, Sorel Medallion Choral Composition Competition, and competitions sponsored by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Omaha Symphony, and the New England Philharmonic. She has participated in reading session programs sponsored by the American Composers Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra (the Composers Institute), and Dale Warland Singers.
Theodore Presser Company publishes her chamber and orchestral works; she self-publishes her choral works under the name Inkjar Publishing Company. She is a recording artist with Cedille Records, with works on nine CDs; her works are also commercially available on Blue Griffin Recording, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella Records, Equilibrium, Innova, Peninsula Women’s Chorus, Ravello Records, Saxophone Classics, and Summit Records.
She has served as composer-in-residence with several organizations including the Volti Choral Institute for High School Singers, Skaneateles Festival, Albany Symphony, and Music in the Loft. Garrop has attended residencies at the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, MacDowell Colony, Millay Colony, Oxford Summer Institute, Ragdale Colony, Round Top Music Festival, Ucross Foundation, Wellesley Composers Conference, and Yaddo.
Stacy has been commissioned and performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Albany Symphony, Chanticleer, Chicago a cappella, San Francisco Choral Society, Piedmont East Bay Children’s Chorus, Capitol Saxophone Quartet, Chicago Chamber Musicians, Gaudete Brass Quintet, and the Rembrandt Chamber Players; the Chicago Classical Recording Foundation, Music in the Loft, Norton Building Concert Series, and WFMT 98.7 FM have commissioned works as well.
Additional performances have been given by the Cabrillo and Grant Park Music Festival Orchestras; Amarillo, Charleston, Columbus, Illinois, Nashua, Omaha, and Santa Cruz Symphony Orchestras; National Repertory Orchestra; Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and the New England Philharmonic; by the Avalon, Biava, Cecilia, Chiara, and Enso String Quartets; by the Aspen Music Festival Contemporary Ensemble, Fifth House Ensemble, Gaudete Brass Quintet, Lincoln Trio, New EAR, Red Clay Saxophone Quartet, Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players, and Voices of Change; and by Clerestory, Grant Park Music Festival Chorus, South Bend Chamber Singers, Voices of Ascension, and Volti.
As an educator, Stacy has created innovative programs to bring music to young people. For a residence with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she helped middle school students compose a semi-staged music production about the explorer Henry Hudson. In collaboration with the Skeaneateles Festival, she designed a series of workshops for elementary, middle, and high school students in which the students learned and created musical works using Hyperscore, a computer program that allows people to write music without having to read music. Stacy is on the composition faculty of the annual Fresh Inc Festival, sponsored by Fifth House Ensemble and held in Kenosha, WI.; the goal of this festival is to teach the composer and musician participants the business of music alongside music-making.
Stacy earned degrees in music composition at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor (B.M.), University of Chicago (M.A.), and Indiana University-Bloomington (D.M.). After teaching full-time for 16 years at Roosevelt University, she stepped down from her position in 2016 to pursue a free-lance composing career. For the 2016-2017 academic year, she will serve as Artist Faculty in Composition at Roosevelt University.
August 2016
A MASSive Composer
Paul Barker, Composer
By Helen Lin
Paul Barker has been placed first in the UK Songwriting Contest and represented Hong Kong with a first place award in the International Music Aid Competition. His repertoire comprises 3 full musicals including ‘Paradise Park’ which reached the finals of the Vivian Elis Prize Competition in London and work for theatre, radio, video in the UK and Middle East and has recently been commissioned to compose repertoire for the Nuvo Instrumental Company. His choral works have been performed by leading choirs around the world including the Australian Youth Choir, ISCMS choir in Asia, St. Viktor Kirche Choir in Germany and Chesterfield Choral Society in the UK. As a composer, he enjoys producing and being commissioned to produce both small and large scale works for all levels to bring new and original music to the masses and is featured on Spotify and iTunes with 3 albums. He has also written for major events such as the Hong Kong World Environmental Conference.
Paul studied music with the UK composer Patrick Stanford in the United Kingdom at Bretton Hall University. He specialized in piano and composition and also holds a Degree in Music Education and a Diploma In Music from the World Music Foundation.
Many of his works such as ‘Roquiem’, 'MASSive', 'Paradise Park', 'Christmas Spirits',’Momentium’ and ‘Images of Christmas’ have been published and performed around the world.
The award-winning ‘RoQuiem’ is an exciting work for choir and orchestra/band, written for young performers - whether they are experienced or inexperienced. Full of vitality and irresistible melodies, this piece will delight singers and audiences alike. 'RoQuiem' is arranged for full orchestra, but may equally be performed with a smaller group of instruments. The piece may also be performed by choirs using the CD backing tracks, although the inclusion of a live guitarist is recommended, as lead guitar is featured widely throughout. The CD contains a live concert performance, as well as instrumental backing tracks (both with and without guitar).
The ‘MASSive’ Choral suite starts with the 'Requiem and Kyrie'; a mysterious thought - provoking piece carefully screening the sound of massed choir which follows. In stark contrast, the 'Miserere Nobis' and 'Sanctus' begin with a minimal theme eventually exploding into rock- driven orchestration allowing the choir to air its full force. The 'Pie Jesu' gently introduces a moment of reflection and rest from the ‘rock forces’ and features a warm and memorable Soprano solo. The choral suite concludes with the 'Gloria and Amen' which releases the full might of the rock guitar pitted against full choir, orchestra and soloist culminating in a climatic fortissimo finale. This album also includes a specially remixed chamber - acoustic version of 'Pie Jesu'. Recording features the Choir of Sha Tin College (Hong Kong), Jovita Leung (Soprano) and Charles Yang (Lead Guitar). Graphics by Alan Dickson. This title is published and available from www.starshinemusic.co.uk. Vocal Score also available from Music Sales, Amazon and other major outlets. Regular performances have taken place in Hong Kong, UK, Germany, China, Australia and Spain.
'Image of Christmas' is a Christmas Cantata for two choirs (any size) and soloist suitable for both Junior and Secondary Schools and Youth Choirs as a concert item. Five singable and thought-provoking songs focus attention on the troubles of the world, even during the congenial Christmas season. There is one poignant solo and the two choirs symbolize the contrasting moods of happy and serious. The singable and thought-provoking songs focus attention on the less fortunate at Christmas time as well as on the festive fun side. The work ends with the joyous, festive side of Christmas. Includes 'A Season's Greeting', 'Call It Christmas Time?', 'Lonely People Cry At Christmas Time'.
'Momentium' is a lively and exciting addition to any concert performance suitable for intermediate/higher level orchestras and ensembles. Includes a dynamic violin solo and opportunities for large use of percussion. Could also be played by a smaller ensemble. This best selling work was commissioned and first performed by South Island School (Hong Kong).
He is a Co-Founder of the iStage Academy in central Shanghai developing new and exciting programs in Music, Dance a Drama with leading practitioners around the the world.
Paul Barker has been placed first in the UK Songwriting Contest and represented Hong Kong with a first place award in the International Music Aid Competition. His repertoire comprises 3 full musicals including ‘Paradise Park’ which reached the finals of the Vivian Elis Prize Competition in London and work for theatre, radio, video in the UK and Middle East and has recently been commissioned to compose repertoire for the Nuvo Instrumental Company. His choral works have been performed by leading choirs around the world including the Australian Youth Choir, ISCMS choir in Asia, St. Viktor Kirche Choir in Germany and Chesterfield Choral Society in the UK. As a composer, he enjoys producing and being commissioned to produce both small and large scale works for all levels to bring new and original music to the masses and is featured on Spotify and iTunes with 3 albums. He has also written for major events such as the Hong Kong World Environmental Conference.
Paul studied music with the UK composer Patrick Stanford in the United Kingdom at Bretton Hall University. He specialized in piano and composition and also holds a Degree in Music Education and a Diploma In Music from the World Music Foundation.
Many of his works such as ‘Roquiem’, 'MASSive', 'Paradise Park', 'Christmas Spirits',’Momentium’ and ‘Images of Christmas’ have been published and performed around the world.
The award-winning ‘RoQuiem’ is an exciting work for choir and orchestra/band, written for young performers - whether they are experienced or inexperienced. Full of vitality and irresistible melodies, this piece will delight singers and audiences alike. 'RoQuiem' is arranged for full orchestra, but may equally be performed with a smaller group of instruments. The piece may also be performed by choirs using the CD backing tracks, although the inclusion of a live guitarist is recommended, as lead guitar is featured widely throughout. The CD contains a live concert performance, as well as instrumental backing tracks (both with and without guitar).
The ‘MASSive’ Choral suite starts with the 'Requiem and Kyrie'; a mysterious thought - provoking piece carefully screening the sound of massed choir which follows. In stark contrast, the 'Miserere Nobis' and 'Sanctus' begin with a minimal theme eventually exploding into rock- driven orchestration allowing the choir to air its full force. The 'Pie Jesu' gently introduces a moment of reflection and rest from the ‘rock forces’ and features a warm and memorable Soprano solo. The choral suite concludes with the 'Gloria and Amen' which releases the full might of the rock guitar pitted against full choir, orchestra and soloist culminating in a climatic fortissimo finale. This album also includes a specially remixed chamber - acoustic version of 'Pie Jesu'. Recording features the Choir of Sha Tin College (Hong Kong), Jovita Leung (Soprano) and Charles Yang (Lead Guitar). Graphics by Alan Dickson. This title is published and available from www.starshinemusic.co.uk. Vocal Score also available from Music Sales, Amazon and other major outlets. Regular performances have taken place in Hong Kong, UK, Germany, China, Australia and Spain.
'Image of Christmas' is a Christmas Cantata for two choirs (any size) and soloist suitable for both Junior and Secondary Schools and Youth Choirs as a concert item. Five singable and thought-provoking songs focus attention on the troubles of the world, even during the congenial Christmas season. There is one poignant solo and the two choirs symbolize the contrasting moods of happy and serious. The singable and thought-provoking songs focus attention on the less fortunate at Christmas time as well as on the festive fun side. The work ends with the joyous, festive side of Christmas. Includes 'A Season's Greeting', 'Call It Christmas Time?', 'Lonely People Cry At Christmas Time'.
'Momentium' is a lively and exciting addition to any concert performance suitable for intermediate/higher level orchestras and ensembles. Includes a dynamic violin solo and opportunities for large use of percussion. Could also be played by a smaller ensemble. This best selling work was commissioned and first performed by South Island School (Hong Kong).
He is a Co-Founder of the iStage Academy in central Shanghai developing new and exciting programs in Music, Dance a Drama with leading practitioners around the the world.
June 2016
An Interview with Eduardo Rojas, pianist
By Helen Lin
HL: Can you talk about your musical background? How did you start and how do you get to where you are today?
ER: I began playing the piano at home when I was 4 years old. Both of my parents are musicians so naturally they started all of their five children on instruments as soon as possible. I'm told that even at the very young age of 4 my parents would have to pull me away from the piano so that I would eat meals. I fell in love with the piano and it's been the center of my life as long as I can remember. My dad was my first piano teacher until the age of 12 when he realized I was way beyond what he was able to teach anymore and my parents began looking for the best private lesson teacher they could find for me. They started driving me 18 hours every month from a little town in Colombia to a major city to take lessons from a very famous pianist in Colombia a German decent professor Manfred Gerhardt. After 1 year of traveling back and fourth Maestro Manfred Gerhardt invited me to join his studio permanently and move to the small town. At the age of 13, I moved out of my home and started living on my own and studying piano full time. I received my bachelors in Music Education in Colombia at the Universidad del Cauca and then in 2006 came to the United States to study with Professor Harold Martina as well as Van Cliburn winner Jose Feghali and receive my Artist Diploma and Master Degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
HL: Can you talk about your concert programs? Who are your favorite composers and what are your favorite repertoire and why ER: Understanding that "classical" music is not "popular" music I work hard to develop programs that include a variety of genres including my native Latino music. I also create my own arrangements based on Latin American folk music. One of my favorite composers is Astor Piazzolla. As a 20th century composer he combined styles such as Jazz, Classical, Tango and improvisation creating a new style still very enjoyable and understandable to everyone everywhere.
HL: Can you talk about the Rojas School of Music?
ER: In the summer of 2014, my wife and I decided to begin our own school of music in which we could offer a well-rounded music education and share the gift of music. Originally we started with only 3 students and teaching In-Home lessons. Since then we have expanded to almost 200 students in less than 2 years, are opening a new studio this summer where we will offer private lessons as well as several classes including elementary orchestra, early childhood music among others and we hold several shows and recitals each year throughout the community. We are looking forward to our First Annual Rojas School of Music International Music Festival beginning next year. You can learn more about us at www.RojasSchoolofMusic.com
HL: What are your goals in the next 5 years and projects?
ER: As I mentioned before I am very excited about our First Annual Rojas School of Music International Music Festival beginning next year. As well, we are working with several of our current families to create a non-profit organization to further develop the arts in our surrounding communities. As well I am always looking forward to performing concerts around the globe and collaborating with new artists and students.
HL: Can you talk about your musical background? How did you start and how do you get to where you are today?
ER: I began playing the piano at home when I was 4 years old. Both of my parents are musicians so naturally they started all of their five children on instruments as soon as possible. I'm told that even at the very young age of 4 my parents would have to pull me away from the piano so that I would eat meals. I fell in love with the piano and it's been the center of my life as long as I can remember. My dad was my first piano teacher until the age of 12 when he realized I was way beyond what he was able to teach anymore and my parents began looking for the best private lesson teacher they could find for me. They started driving me 18 hours every month from a little town in Colombia to a major city to take lessons from a very famous pianist in Colombia a German decent professor Manfred Gerhardt. After 1 year of traveling back and fourth Maestro Manfred Gerhardt invited me to join his studio permanently and move to the small town. At the age of 13, I moved out of my home and started living on my own and studying piano full time. I received my bachelors in Music Education in Colombia at the Universidad del Cauca and then in 2006 came to the United States to study with Professor Harold Martina as well as Van Cliburn winner Jose Feghali and receive my Artist Diploma and Master Degree from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas.
HL: Can you talk about your concert programs? Who are your favorite composers and what are your favorite repertoire and why ER: Understanding that "classical" music is not "popular" music I work hard to develop programs that include a variety of genres including my native Latino music. I also create my own arrangements based on Latin American folk music. One of my favorite composers is Astor Piazzolla. As a 20th century composer he combined styles such as Jazz, Classical, Tango and improvisation creating a new style still very enjoyable and understandable to everyone everywhere.
HL: Can you talk about the Rojas School of Music?
ER: In the summer of 2014, my wife and I decided to begin our own school of music in which we could offer a well-rounded music education and share the gift of music. Originally we started with only 3 students and teaching In-Home lessons. Since then we have expanded to almost 200 students in less than 2 years, are opening a new studio this summer where we will offer private lessons as well as several classes including elementary orchestra, early childhood music among others and we hold several shows and recitals each year throughout the community. We are looking forward to our First Annual Rojas School of Music International Music Festival beginning next year. You can learn more about us at www.RojasSchoolofMusic.com
HL: What are your goals in the next 5 years and projects?
ER: As I mentioned before I am very excited about our First Annual Rojas School of Music International Music Festival beginning next year. As well, we are working with several of our current families to create a non-profit organization to further develop the arts in our surrounding communities. As well I am always looking forward to performing concerts around the globe and collaborating with new artists and students.
May 2016
An Interview with Michael Lewin, pianist part 2
By Helen Lin
1. Can you tell us a little about your musical background? What leads you to the most wanted and sought-out concert pianist and music educator today?
I grew up in New York, and was fortunate to hear the greatest artists of the world while growing up. I heard all the great pianists at Carnegie Hall from when I was six years old. When I was a teenager, I entered the Juilliard Pre-College Division, and stayed at Juilliard for Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. I was fortunate to always be exposed to the highest level of talent from my peers, to have great teachers, and to understand as a child what level of playing and repertoire is necessary to actually have a successful concert career. I also studied in France with Yvonne Lefebure and spent 3 years working with Leon Fleisher after graduating.
Winning top prizes in the Kapell Competition and the Liszt International Piano Competitions and the American Pianists Association Award allowed me to get a manager and build a concert career. The secret of a career is reengagements! While it is wonderful to play with orchestras, to have a career, they must invite you back!
As a natural career progression I began recording. I currently have twelve solo recordings, available on Centaur, Naxos and Sono Luminus, covering a very wide repertoire. The success of the recordings has also played a major role in establishing my reputation. Most recently I have released a pair of Debussy recordings, called "Beau Soir" and "Starry Night." Several years ago I was honored to receive a Grammy Award, which was a thrill.
2. Being an expert in so many composers and styles, do you have favorite(s) and why?
I always loved to teach, but I wanted to establish my concert career before accepting a faculty position. The offer to join the Boston Conservatory came at a perfect time, and I was very happy to join the faculty and move to Boston, where I live today. It has been a great privilege to have taught and guided some extraordinarily gifted young pianists and major competition winners. Passing on the traditions and knowledge that I have to the next generation is an important part of my legacy and a deeply important part of my life. I am very close to my students, we call our class the "studio family."
3. Having intensive touring, performing, and teaching schedules, how do you balance your life with all activities of your career?
Finding balance between my musical life and my personal life, not to mention balancing the just different aspects of my musical life, is very challenging, and sometimes, impossible! The Boston Conservatory has always allowed me to have a limited number of students, which permits me to give them a tremendous amount of attention while still giving me time to practice and go on tour. Managing repertoire is challening- solo recital programs, concerto engagements, preparing recordings, constantly learning new music and bringing back old repertoire! And of course one must find time to live, and take care of "normal" activities and responsibilities. The thing that I hate the most, and am always behind with, is email! To be a pianist means making many sacrifices for your instrument- you have to be willing to live with those sacrifices in exchange for the endless and inexhaustible joy of spending your life with the greatest music. There is no other career that I know that demands that you are a poet, a scholar and an athlete, coupled with the excitement of performing and sharing this great music.
1. Can you tell us a little about your musical background? What leads you to the most wanted and sought-out concert pianist and music educator today?
I grew up in New York, and was fortunate to hear the greatest artists of the world while growing up. I heard all the great pianists at Carnegie Hall from when I was six years old. When I was a teenager, I entered the Juilliard Pre-College Division, and stayed at Juilliard for Bachelor's and Master's Degrees. I was fortunate to always be exposed to the highest level of talent from my peers, to have great teachers, and to understand as a child what level of playing and repertoire is necessary to actually have a successful concert career. I also studied in France with Yvonne Lefebure and spent 3 years working with Leon Fleisher after graduating.
Winning top prizes in the Kapell Competition and the Liszt International Piano Competitions and the American Pianists Association Award allowed me to get a manager and build a concert career. The secret of a career is reengagements! While it is wonderful to play with orchestras, to have a career, they must invite you back!
As a natural career progression I began recording. I currently have twelve solo recordings, available on Centaur, Naxos and Sono Luminus, covering a very wide repertoire. The success of the recordings has also played a major role in establishing my reputation. Most recently I have released a pair of Debussy recordings, called "Beau Soir" and "Starry Night." Several years ago I was honored to receive a Grammy Award, which was a thrill.
2. Being an expert in so many composers and styles, do you have favorite(s) and why?
I always loved to teach, but I wanted to establish my concert career before accepting a faculty position. The offer to join the Boston Conservatory came at a perfect time, and I was very happy to join the faculty and move to Boston, where I live today. It has been a great privilege to have taught and guided some extraordinarily gifted young pianists and major competition winners. Passing on the traditions and knowledge that I have to the next generation is an important part of my legacy and a deeply important part of my life. I am very close to my students, we call our class the "studio family."
3. Having intensive touring, performing, and teaching schedules, how do you balance your life with all activities of your career?
Finding balance between my musical life and my personal life, not to mention balancing the just different aspects of my musical life, is very challenging, and sometimes, impossible! The Boston Conservatory has always allowed me to have a limited number of students, which permits me to give them a tremendous amount of attention while still giving me time to practice and go on tour. Managing repertoire is challening- solo recital programs, concerto engagements, preparing recordings, constantly learning new music and bringing back old repertoire! And of course one must find time to live, and take care of "normal" activities and responsibilities. The thing that I hate the most, and am always behind with, is email! To be a pianist means making many sacrifices for your instrument- you have to be willing to live with those sacrifices in exchange for the endless and inexhaustible joy of spending your life with the greatest music. There is no other career that I know that demands that you are a poet, a scholar and an athlete, coupled with the excitement of performing and sharing this great music.
April 2016
Flawless, Intricate, Precision
Michael Lewin, Pianist
By Helen Lin
Lewin's interpretations of Debussy stand out. He captures both the brilliance and subtlety of Debussy's imagination. Estampes is beautifully paced and full of poetry- flawless, intricate precision. - American Record Guide
Michael Lewin is internationally applauded as one of America’s most gifted concert pianists, performing to acclaim in over 30 countries. His many recordings, enormous repertoire and charismatic stage presence have established him as an artist whose warmth, imagination and dazzling virtuosity make him an audience favorite.
Commanding a repertoire of 40 piano concertos, his orchestral engagements include the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Cairo Symphony, Bucharest ‘Enescu’ Philharmonic, China National Radio and Film Orchestra, Filharmónica de Guadalajara, State Symphony of Greece, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, the Boston Pops, the Symphonies of Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina and the Sinfonia da Camera. He has premiered two piano concertos by David Kocsis, and performed Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" over 50 times. He has collaborated with conductors including Carlos Miguel Prieto, Keith Lockhart, Constantine Orbelian, Ian Hobson, Sergei Babayan, Maximiano Valdés, Hugh Wolff, Anton Kersjes and Seymour Lipkin.
Lewin’s career was launched with top prizes in the Liszt International Piano Competition in the Netherlands, the William Kapell International Competition, and the American Pianists Association Award. At his New York Lincoln Center debut, The New York Times proclaimed that “his immense technique and ability qualify him eminently for success.” His tours have since taken him to Moscow’s Great Hall, Hong Kong's City Hall Theater, Taipei's National Concert Hall, China's Poly Theatres, the Opera House of Cairo, the Athens Megaron, Holland’s Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, and London’s Wigmore Hall. His popular PBS Television recital hosted by Victor Borge featuring the Schubert “Wanderer Fantasy” and Chopin Etudes was widely rebroadcast. He has been the featured interview in Clavier and Piano & Keyboard Magazines, and edited piano music of Griffes for C.F.Peters. A Steinway Artist, he was Artistic Director of the Steinway & Sons 150th Anniversary Gala Concert held in 2003 in Boston’s Symphony Hall. A devoted chamber musician, he was Artistic Director of the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players and played in the Lewin-Chang-Díaz Trio and the Lewin-Muresanu Duo. He has premiered music by Joel Hoffman, David Kocsis, Sylvia Rabinof, Robert Chumbley, Andy Vores and John Harbison. Composers with whom Mr. Lewin is particularly associated include Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Chopin, Liszt and Griffes.
Mr. Lewin has just released his second Debussy recording, “Starry Night,” for Sono Luminus. This is the companion disc to last year’s acclaimed “Beau Soir.” The discs include both Books of Préludes, Estampes and a variety of other solo works. Lewin’s recordings have garnered extraordinary critical praise. Also on Sono Luminus is "Piano Phantoms," music inspired by goblins, phantoms and the spirit world and “If I Were a Bird,” a popular collection of bird-themed pieces, which received a Grammy nomination in the "Producer of the Year" category. For Naxos he made a best-selling collection of 20 Scarlatti Sonatas and a landmark 2-CD set of the complete piano music of American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes. His Centaur recordings include “Michael Lewin plays Liszt," “A Russian Piano Recital,” (Scriabin, Glazunov and Balakirev), “Bamboula!" piano music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and the Violin Sonatas of William Bolcom with violinist Irina Muresanu. Michael Lewin’s Featured Performance of a Chopin Nocturne on the No.1 Billboard New Age Album “Winds of Samsara” won the 2014 Grammy Award.
One of America’s most sought-after teachers, he has taught many prize-winning pianists, gives master classes worldwide and is a frequent international competition judge. He is a member of the Piano Faculty at The Boston Conservatory and Boston University, and is Artistic Director of the Boston Conservatory Piano Masters Series. Born in New York, he studied at the Juilliard School. His teachers include Leon Fleisher, Yvonne Lefébure, Adele Marcus and Irwin Freundlich.
Lewin's interpretations of Debussy stand out. He captures both the brilliance and subtlety of Debussy's imagination. Estampes is beautifully paced and full of poetry- flawless, intricate precision. - American Record Guide
Michael Lewin is internationally applauded as one of America’s most gifted concert pianists, performing to acclaim in over 30 countries. His many recordings, enormous repertoire and charismatic stage presence have established him as an artist whose warmth, imagination and dazzling virtuosity make him an audience favorite.
Commanding a repertoire of 40 piano concertos, his orchestral engagements include the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Cairo Symphony, Bucharest ‘Enescu’ Philharmonic, China National Radio and Film Orchestra, Filharmónica de Guadalajara, State Symphony of Greece, Youth Orchestra of the Americas, Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico, the Boston Pops, the Symphonies of Phoenix, Indianapolis, Miami, Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia, Illinois, North Carolina and the Sinfonia da Camera. He has premiered two piano concertos by David Kocsis, and performed Gershwin’s "Rhapsody in Blue" over 50 times. He has collaborated with conductors including Carlos Miguel Prieto, Keith Lockhart, Constantine Orbelian, Ian Hobson, Sergei Babayan, Maximiano Valdés, Hugh Wolff, Anton Kersjes and Seymour Lipkin.
Lewin’s career was launched with top prizes in the Liszt International Piano Competition in the Netherlands, the William Kapell International Competition, and the American Pianists Association Award. At his New York Lincoln Center debut, The New York Times proclaimed that “his immense technique and ability qualify him eminently for success.” His tours have since taken him to Moscow’s Great Hall, Hong Kong's City Hall Theater, Taipei's National Concert Hall, China's Poly Theatres, the Opera House of Cairo, the Athens Megaron, Holland’s Muziekcentrum Vredenburg, and London’s Wigmore Hall. His popular PBS Television recital hosted by Victor Borge featuring the Schubert “Wanderer Fantasy” and Chopin Etudes was widely rebroadcast. He has been the featured interview in Clavier and Piano & Keyboard Magazines, and edited piano music of Griffes for C.F.Peters. A Steinway Artist, he was Artistic Director of the Steinway & Sons 150th Anniversary Gala Concert held in 2003 in Boston’s Symphony Hall. A devoted chamber musician, he was Artistic Director of the Boston Conservatory Chamber Players and played in the Lewin-Chang-Díaz Trio and the Lewin-Muresanu Duo. He has premiered music by Joel Hoffman, David Kocsis, Sylvia Rabinof, Robert Chumbley, Andy Vores and John Harbison. Composers with whom Mr. Lewin is particularly associated include Beethoven, Schubert, Debussy, Chopin, Liszt and Griffes.
Mr. Lewin has just released his second Debussy recording, “Starry Night,” for Sono Luminus. This is the companion disc to last year’s acclaimed “Beau Soir.” The discs include both Books of Préludes, Estampes and a variety of other solo works. Lewin’s recordings have garnered extraordinary critical praise. Also on Sono Luminus is "Piano Phantoms," music inspired by goblins, phantoms and the spirit world and “If I Were a Bird,” a popular collection of bird-themed pieces, which received a Grammy nomination in the "Producer of the Year" category. For Naxos he made a best-selling collection of 20 Scarlatti Sonatas and a landmark 2-CD set of the complete piano music of American composer Charles Tomlinson Griffes. His Centaur recordings include “Michael Lewin plays Liszt," “A Russian Piano Recital,” (Scriabin, Glazunov and Balakirev), “Bamboula!" piano music of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and the Violin Sonatas of William Bolcom with violinist Irina Muresanu. Michael Lewin’s Featured Performance of a Chopin Nocturne on the No.1 Billboard New Age Album “Winds of Samsara” won the 2014 Grammy Award.
One of America’s most sought-after teachers, he has taught many prize-winning pianists, gives master classes worldwide and is a frequent international competition judge. He is a member of the Piano Faculty at The Boston Conservatory and Boston University, and is Artistic Director of the Boston Conservatory Piano Masters Series. Born in New York, he studied at the Juilliard School. His teachers include Leon Fleisher, Yvonne Lefébure, Adele Marcus and Irwin Freundlich.
March 2016
Easier to enjoy than to write about
Jason Ekardt, composer
By Helen Lin
"Jason Eckardt is an American composer new to me who composes exhilarating music that is easier to enjoy than to write about.... 'After Serra' seeks to echo the sculptor's precarious balance 'verging on collapse' (see cover illustration) with aggressive, volatile outbursts giving way to emergence of the instrumentalists as soloists, but without final stability being achieved. In 'Polarities' the instruments are 'drawn to and away from each other in myriad ways', frenetic activity giving way to final stasis. 'Tangled Loops' celebrates the virtuosity of Coltrane, Parker and Dolphy, with overlapping reappearances of material and furious uninhibited virtuosity at the limits of possibility. 'A Glimpse Retraced' is for five instruments, four of them accompanying the piano in permutated combinations, duets comprising the most extended passages.... It is all music which grabs and holds attention, and makes you want to play the pieces again to get closer to the composer's mind and procedures." --- Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers
Jason Eckardt played guitar in jazz and metal bands until, upon first hearing the music of Webern, he immediately devoted himself to composition. Since then, his music has been influenced by his interests in perceptual complexity, the physical and psychological dimensions of performance, political activism, and self-organizing processes in the natural world. He has been recognized through commissions from Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Koussevitzky Foundation (2000, 2011), the Guggenheim Museum, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (1996, 2008), Chamber Music America, the New York State Music Fund, Meet the Composer, the Oberlin Conservatory, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie; awards from the League of Composers/ISCM (National Prize), Deutschen Musikrat-Stadt Wesel (Symposium NRW Prize), the Aaron Copland Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, ASCAP, the University of Illinois (Martirano Prize), the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and Columbia University (Rapoport Prize); and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fondation Royaumont, the MacDowell and Millay Colonies, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, the Composers Conference at Wellesley, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. His music is published by Carl Fischer.
Major festivals have programmed his works, including the Festival d'Automne a Paris, IRCAM-Resonances, ISCM World Music Days (1999, 2000), Darmstadt, Musica Strasbourg, Voix Nouvelles, Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Musikhost, Currents in Musical Thought-Seoul, New Consortium, International Review of Contemporary Music, Festival of New American Music, and the International Bartok Festival. Performances of Eckardt's music have been broadcast by the BBC, Saarlandisches Rundfunk, Radio Socioculturelle, WKCR, the Australian Broadcasting Company, WBAI, and Cultura FM Espana.
Subject, a new CD featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and soloists Tony Arnold, Jay Campbell, Jordan Dodson, Eric Lamb, and Marilyn Nonken was recently released by Tzadik. Two additional portrait CDs, Undersong, featuring Fred Sherry, Claire Chase, Tony Arnold, and ICE conducted by Steven Schick, and Out of Chaos, featuring Ensemble 21, are available on Mode. Other recordings include Strömkarl by violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen on Urlicht, Echoes' White Veil by pianist Marilyn Nonken on CRI, Transience by marimbist Makoto Nakura on Helicon, Sweet Creature by percussionistMichael Lipsey on Capstone, 16 by ICE on New Focus, Multiplicities by flutist Nancy Ruffer on Metier, Tangled Loops by saxophonist Nathan Nabb on Amp, Tango Clandestino by pianist Amy Briggs on Revello, A Fractured Silence by the Prism Saxophone Quartet on Innova, and Rendition by clarinetist Jean Kopperud on Albany.
Eckardt has written on subjects ranging from cognitive research informing composition to Richard Serra's use of process from a musical perspective. His work has appeared in Perspectives of New Music, Autour de la Set Theory in IRCAM's Musique-Sciences series, L'etincelle, Dansk Musik Tidsskrift, Current Musicology, and a chapter in Arcana II, edited by John Zorn.
Also active as a promoter of new music, Eckardt co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Ensemble 21, the contemporary music performance group in New York City. Under his leadership, the critically acclaimed Ensemble earned a reputation for innovative programming and top-caliber performances, premiered over thirty works, and recorded for the CRI and Mode labels. In 1999, Ensemble 21 was the first American ensemble to collaborate in concert with IRCAM.
Eckardt received a doctorate in composition from Columbia University as a Presidential Fellow. In 1992, Eckardt graduated cum laude from Berklee College of Music where he was awarded the Richard Levy Scholarship. He has attended masterclasses with Milton Babbitt, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has taught at Columbia University, the Oberlin Conservatory, New York University, the University of Illinois, Rutgers University, and Northwestern University and is currently on the faculties of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In the 2015-16 academic year, he will be a Visiting Professor at the Peabody Conservatory.
"Jason Eckardt is an American composer new to me who composes exhilarating music that is easier to enjoy than to write about.... 'After Serra' seeks to echo the sculptor's precarious balance 'verging on collapse' (see cover illustration) with aggressive, volatile outbursts giving way to emergence of the instrumentalists as soloists, but without final stability being achieved. In 'Polarities' the instruments are 'drawn to and away from each other in myriad ways', frenetic activity giving way to final stasis. 'Tangled Loops' celebrates the virtuosity of Coltrane, Parker and Dolphy, with overlapping reappearances of material and furious uninhibited virtuosity at the limits of possibility. 'A Glimpse Retraced' is for five instruments, four of them accompanying the piano in permutated combinations, duets comprising the most extended passages.... It is all music which grabs and holds attention, and makes you want to play the pieces again to get closer to the composer's mind and procedures." --- Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers
Jason Eckardt played guitar in jazz and metal bands until, upon first hearing the music of Webern, he immediately devoted himself to composition. Since then, his music has been influenced by his interests in perceptual complexity, the physical and psychological dimensions of performance, political activism, and self-organizing processes in the natural world. He has been recognized through commissions from Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Koussevitzky Foundation (2000, 2011), the Guggenheim Museum, the Fromm Foundation at Harvard University (1996, 2008), Chamber Music America, the New York State Music Fund, Meet the Composer, the Oberlin Conservatory, and percussionist Evelyn Glennie; awards from the League of Composers/ISCM (National Prize), Deutschen Musikrat-Stadt Wesel (Symposium NRW Prize), the Aaron Copland Fund, the New York State Council on the Arts, ASCAP, the University of Illinois (Martirano Prize), the Alice M. Ditson Fund, and Columbia University (Rapoport Prize); and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Fondation Royaumont, the MacDowell and Millay Colonies, the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, the Fritz Reiner Center for Contemporary Music, the Composers Conference at Wellesley, the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and the Yvar Mikhashoff Trust for New Music. His music is published by Carl Fischer.
Major festivals have programmed his works, including the Festival d'Automne a Paris, IRCAM-Resonances, ISCM World Music Days (1999, 2000), Darmstadt, Musica Strasbourg, Voix Nouvelles, Musik im 20. Jahrhundert, Musikhost, Currents in Musical Thought-Seoul, New Consortium, International Review of Contemporary Music, Festival of New American Music, and the International Bartok Festival. Performances of Eckardt's music have been broadcast by the BBC, Saarlandisches Rundfunk, Radio Socioculturelle, WKCR, the Australian Broadcasting Company, WBAI, and Cultura FM Espana.
Subject, a new CD featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and soloists Tony Arnold, Jay Campbell, Jordan Dodson, Eric Lamb, and Marilyn Nonken was recently released by Tzadik. Two additional portrait CDs, Undersong, featuring Fred Sherry, Claire Chase, Tony Arnold, and ICE conducted by Steven Schick, and Out of Chaos, featuring Ensemble 21, are available on Mode. Other recordings include Strömkarl by violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Blair McMillen on Urlicht, Echoes' White Veil by pianist Marilyn Nonken on CRI, Transience by marimbist Makoto Nakura on Helicon, Sweet Creature by percussionistMichael Lipsey on Capstone, 16 by ICE on New Focus, Multiplicities by flutist Nancy Ruffer on Metier, Tangled Loops by saxophonist Nathan Nabb on Amp, Tango Clandestino by pianist Amy Briggs on Revello, A Fractured Silence by the Prism Saxophone Quartet on Innova, and Rendition by clarinetist Jean Kopperud on Albany.
Eckardt has written on subjects ranging from cognitive research informing composition to Richard Serra's use of process from a musical perspective. His work has appeared in Perspectives of New Music, Autour de la Set Theory in IRCAM's Musique-Sciences series, L'etincelle, Dansk Musik Tidsskrift, Current Musicology, and a chapter in Arcana II, edited by John Zorn.
Also active as a promoter of new music, Eckardt co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Ensemble 21, the contemporary music performance group in New York City. Under his leadership, the critically acclaimed Ensemble earned a reputation for innovative programming and top-caliber performances, premiered over thirty works, and recorded for the CRI and Mode labels. In 1999, Ensemble 21 was the first American ensemble to collaborate in concert with IRCAM.
Eckardt received a doctorate in composition from Columbia University as a Presidential Fellow. In 1992, Eckardt graduated cum laude from Berklee College of Music where he was awarded the Richard Levy Scholarship. He has attended masterclasses with Milton Babbitt, James Dillon, Brian Ferneyhough, Jonathan Harvey, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. He has taught at Columbia University, the Oberlin Conservatory, New York University, the University of Illinois, Rutgers University, and Northwestern University and is currently on the faculties of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In the 2015-16 academic year, he will be a Visiting Professor at the Peabody Conservatory.
February 2016
Playing on the Nerve Ends
Michael Schelle, composer
By Helen Lin
Playing on the nerve ends, Schelle's "The End of Al Capone" held its own between two landmark works by Peter Maxwell Davies, "Eight Songs for a Mad King" (1969) and "Miss Donnithorne's Maggot" (1974). --Jay Harvey, Upstage
Michael Schelle’s “Straight, No Lithium,” a collection of nine preludes for solo piano, opened the program with a tongue-in-cheek jolt. Schelle begins with a rollicking update of the barrelhouse style, sometimes mating parodies of Sprechstimme, with the energetic pianist, Jim Loughery, gamely vocalizing. A more introspective, angular middle section (the preludes are grouped in threes) leads to an explosion of purely Bachian figuration, punctuated by brash, increasingly assertive chords that seemed oddly natural, rather than disruptive. --Allan Koznin, The New York Times
Micheal Schelle (b. 1950 in Philadelphia) was raised in northern New Jersey and graduated from NHR High School where, as Captain of the track team, he held the all-state distance records in the javelin, shot put and hammer for three years running. Now, 30+ years running as Composer in Residence and founder / director of the notorious JCA Composer Orchestra (new music ensemble) at Butler University in Indianapolis, he has been 3X nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a finalist for the International Humour in Poetry Competition (Paris), a published author (film music book), and restaurant critic.
Michael Schelle's music has been commissioned and / or performed by over 350 orchestras, symphonic bands and professional chamber ensembles across the US and abroad including the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, the major orchestras of Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Portland (OR), Dayton, Nashville, Kansas City, Arizona, Honolulu and Springfield (MA), the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, XTET (Los Angeles), Urban Quartet (Phoenix), Voices of Change (Dallas) ... and internationally by Kammerorchester Basel (Switzerland), the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow), Czestochowa Philharmonic (Poland), Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica), Koenig Ensemble of London, the Banff Centre (Canada), CoMET (Tokyo), Firenza New Music Festival (Italy), Beijing (China) Opera House, Zimbabwe, and the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
He has received composition prizes, grants and awards from over 30 prestigious national arts organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League (NYC), American Pianists Association, National Band Association (2012 Revelli Composition Prize), the Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff), the New England Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Arts Council, Arts Midwest, the Great Lakes Arts Alliance and ArtsFest 2015. He has held extended composition residencies at dozens of leading American universities, conservatories and new music festivals, and at Spoleto USA, Wolf Trap, the MacDowell Colony (NH), and many extended residencies abroad - including the Czech Republic, Austria, Amsterdam, Costa Rica, Japan (X3) and China. Schelle holds degrees from Villanova University (theatre), the Hartt School of Music (CT), the Trinity College of Music, London, UK, (diploma), and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His composition teachers have included Aaron Copland, Arnold Franchetti, Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento. During the summers of 1998 – 2005, Schelle lived in Los Angeles, writing a film music book (The Score, published in 2000 by Silman-James Press, LA, and translated / published in Korea in 2013) - and working on the original scores for such Hollywood blockbusters as The Mummy, G Men from Hell and Bikini Prison. Visit: www.schellemusic.com
Playing on the nerve ends, Schelle's "The End of Al Capone" held its own between two landmark works by Peter Maxwell Davies, "Eight Songs for a Mad King" (1969) and "Miss Donnithorne's Maggot" (1974). --Jay Harvey, Upstage
Michael Schelle’s “Straight, No Lithium,” a collection of nine preludes for solo piano, opened the program with a tongue-in-cheek jolt. Schelle begins with a rollicking update of the barrelhouse style, sometimes mating parodies of Sprechstimme, with the energetic pianist, Jim Loughery, gamely vocalizing. A more introspective, angular middle section (the preludes are grouped in threes) leads to an explosion of purely Bachian figuration, punctuated by brash, increasingly assertive chords that seemed oddly natural, rather than disruptive. --Allan Koznin, The New York Times
Micheal Schelle (b. 1950 in Philadelphia) was raised in northern New Jersey and graduated from NHR High School where, as Captain of the track team, he held the all-state distance records in the javelin, shot put and hammer for three years running. Now, 30+ years running as Composer in Residence and founder / director of the notorious JCA Composer Orchestra (new music ensemble) at Butler University in Indianapolis, he has been 3X nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Music, a finalist for the International Humour in Poetry Competition (Paris), a published author (film music book), and restaurant critic.
Michael Schelle's music has been commissioned and / or performed by over 350 orchestras, symphonic bands and professional chamber ensembles across the US and abroad including the Chicago Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Milwaukee Symphony, the major orchestras of Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Portland (OR), Dayton, Nashville, Kansas City, Arizona, Honolulu and Springfield (MA), the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, XTET (Los Angeles), Urban Quartet (Phoenix), Voices of Change (Dallas) ... and internationally by Kammerorchester Basel (Switzerland), the St. Petersburg (Russia) Chamber Orchestra, the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra (Moscow), Czestochowa Philharmonic (Poland), Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional (Costa Rica), Koenig Ensemble of London, the Banff Centre (Canada), CoMET (Tokyo), Firenza New Music Festival (Italy), Beijing (China) Opera House, Zimbabwe, and the Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Symphonic Wind Ensemble.
He has received composition prizes, grants and awards from over 30 prestigious national arts organizations including the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, American Symphony Orchestra League (NYC), American Pianists Association, National Band Association (2012 Revelli Composition Prize), the Welsh Arts Council (Cardiff), the New England Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Arts Council, Arts Midwest, the Great Lakes Arts Alliance and ArtsFest 2015. He has held extended composition residencies at dozens of leading American universities, conservatories and new music festivals, and at Spoleto USA, Wolf Trap, the MacDowell Colony (NH), and many extended residencies abroad - including the Czech Republic, Austria, Amsterdam, Costa Rica, Japan (X3) and China. Schelle holds degrees from Villanova University (theatre), the Hartt School of Music (CT), the Trinity College of Music, London, UK, (diploma), and a Ph.D. from University of Minnesota. His composition teachers have included Aaron Copland, Arnold Franchetti, Paul Fetler and Dominick Argento. During the summers of 1998 – 2005, Schelle lived in Los Angeles, writing a film music book (The Score, published in 2000 by Silman-James Press, LA, and translated / published in Korea in 2013) - and working on the original scores for such Hollywood blockbusters as The Mummy, G Men from Hell and Bikini Prison. Visit: www.schellemusic.com
January 2016
Singing Bird
Shudong Braamse, coloratura soprano
B Helen Lin
An international performer, coloratura soprano Shudong Braamse has appeared on stages in Italy, Austria, Singapore and China. She has sung as Lucy in The Telephone, Sally in Thomas and Sally, and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. As a recitalist, she has premiered a number of works by Asian and American composers, including Gary Nash’s cycle Peace, Love and Prosperity. In addition to her academic credentials, Dr. Braamse was certified by the Salzburg Voice Festival Program in 2012. Critic Carol Cohan of Orlando’s The Villages Daily Sun praised Shudong’s “powerful upper register” and described her technique as “fluid and true,” flowing from “top to bottom effortlessly.” Dr. Braamse has been invited to judge the George Gershwin International Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in summer 2014 and perform in concerts in Estonia, Latvia and Spain.
The following is the interview with Dr. Braamse.
HL: Can you talk about your music background? What inspired you to become a great soprano you are today?
SB: I studied violin when I was a child. My mother has a voice degree, I was influenced by her and started to perform in high school. When I was a child, my mother used to take me to Nanjing, 30 miles away from my hometown –Maanshan, to attend great concerts and dance shows. My mother has been the most supportive person who has inspired me to become who I am today. All
my wonderful voice professors – Zhang Wei, from my home college in China, Mrs. Claritha Jacobs, Mrs. Patricia Green and Ms. Meredith Zara, from Michigan State University taught me greatly. I will always be thankful for
them.
HL: On your newly released CD album, why do you choose "French" theme?
SB: French composer Jules Massenet wrote more than thirty operas. The three most frequently staged are Manon (1884),Werther (1892), and Thaïs (1894). He also wrote many beautiful melodies, but they are rarely performed except the famous Élégie. Hopefully my project can introduce Massenet’s art songs to colleagues and voice students. Above all, I am fascinated by the beauty of French language, and of course I also love Massenet.
HL: Who are your favorite singers and why?
SB: This is a tough question because there are many unbelievable singers in the world, although some of them are not very well known yet. When I first came to the states to study back in the 90s, Kiri Te Kanawa was my favorite because of the beauty of her tone, now she still is one of my favorites. I am amazed by Edita Gruberova because of her great vocal technique and longevity. She is 69, and she still performs regularly. Her performance schedule has already gone to 2017. I also love Renée Fleming, Susan Graham and Debra Voigt. For male singers, I love Luciano Pavarotti, Jonas Kaufmann, Piotr Beczała, and Peter Mattei. I was totally awed by Peter Mattei’s beautiful singing and phrasing when I was watching Tannhäuser during a Metropolitan Opera performance. I love Piotr Beczala not only because he is a great tenor, but also because he seems very charming and sweet in real life. His sweet personality matches his sweet voice perfectly. Jonas Kaufmann’s acting touches me the most. He has so much power and emotion on the stage. He made me cry when I was watching him singing Massenet’s Werther last year. I admire these opera singers very much because they are great musicians, actors and athletes, which means they are able to project their voice above the orchestra and fill the whole opera house. They all speak several languages. The pressure is also tremendous when they perform for the live from the Met in HD because the audience from 70 countries can watch their singing at the
same time.
HL: What is your future plan as an artist and educator for the next generations?
SB: Singing is my passion and love! I discovered beautiful Spanish anthology called Canciones de España: Songs of Nineteenth-Century Spain edited by Dr. Suzanne Draayer when I attended a National NATS Conference several years ago. Hopefully, my next project is to record 20 songs from the anthology. Now, I am in the process asking for permission from the publisher. I still plan
on maintaining a regular schedule to perform and teach master classes in China regularly, as well as in the Alion Baltic International Music Festival in July in Estonia every summer. The festival is expanding to Saint Petersburg, Russia in the summer of 2016. I love my voice students, and love Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida where I have been teaching since 2002. Compared to the time when I was studying, I feel that nowadays the students are very blessed because of YouTube, IPA source and other great sources on the internet that can help students to learn greatly. There are more choices for voice students to choose. Besides classical singing programs and opera programs, many music programs offer musical theatre degrees, and music business degrees. The only advice I want to give to voice students is that if you have a gorgeous voice, and you love to sing, just simply focus on your
study and don’t give up easily although it is a competitive singing world.
An international performer, coloratura soprano Shudong Braamse has appeared on stages in Italy, Austria, Singapore and China. She has sung as Lucy in The Telephone, Sally in Thomas and Sally, and Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore. As a recitalist, she has premiered a number of works by Asian and American composers, including Gary Nash’s cycle Peace, Love and Prosperity. In addition to her academic credentials, Dr. Braamse was certified by the Salzburg Voice Festival Program in 2012. Critic Carol Cohan of Orlando’s The Villages Daily Sun praised Shudong’s “powerful upper register” and described her technique as “fluid and true,” flowing from “top to bottom effortlessly.” Dr. Braamse has been invited to judge the George Gershwin International Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in summer 2014 and perform in concerts in Estonia, Latvia and Spain.
The following is the interview with Dr. Braamse.
HL: Can you talk about your music background? What inspired you to become a great soprano you are today?
SB: I studied violin when I was a child. My mother has a voice degree, I was influenced by her and started to perform in high school. When I was a child, my mother used to take me to Nanjing, 30 miles away from my hometown –Maanshan, to attend great concerts and dance shows. My mother has been the most supportive person who has inspired me to become who I am today. All
my wonderful voice professors – Zhang Wei, from my home college in China, Mrs. Claritha Jacobs, Mrs. Patricia Green and Ms. Meredith Zara, from Michigan State University taught me greatly. I will always be thankful for
them.
HL: On your newly released CD album, why do you choose "French" theme?
SB: French composer Jules Massenet wrote more than thirty operas. The three most frequently staged are Manon (1884),Werther (1892), and Thaïs (1894). He also wrote many beautiful melodies, but they are rarely performed except the famous Élégie. Hopefully my project can introduce Massenet’s art songs to colleagues and voice students. Above all, I am fascinated by the beauty of French language, and of course I also love Massenet.
HL: Who are your favorite singers and why?
SB: This is a tough question because there are many unbelievable singers in the world, although some of them are not very well known yet. When I first came to the states to study back in the 90s, Kiri Te Kanawa was my favorite because of the beauty of her tone, now she still is one of my favorites. I am amazed by Edita Gruberova because of her great vocal technique and longevity. She is 69, and she still performs regularly. Her performance schedule has already gone to 2017. I also love Renée Fleming, Susan Graham and Debra Voigt. For male singers, I love Luciano Pavarotti, Jonas Kaufmann, Piotr Beczała, and Peter Mattei. I was totally awed by Peter Mattei’s beautiful singing and phrasing when I was watching Tannhäuser during a Metropolitan Opera performance. I love Piotr Beczala not only because he is a great tenor, but also because he seems very charming and sweet in real life. His sweet personality matches his sweet voice perfectly. Jonas Kaufmann’s acting touches me the most. He has so much power and emotion on the stage. He made me cry when I was watching him singing Massenet’s Werther last year. I admire these opera singers very much because they are great musicians, actors and athletes, which means they are able to project their voice above the orchestra and fill the whole opera house. They all speak several languages. The pressure is also tremendous when they perform for the live from the Met in HD because the audience from 70 countries can watch their singing at the
same time.
HL: What is your future plan as an artist and educator for the next generations?
SB: Singing is my passion and love! I discovered beautiful Spanish anthology called Canciones de España: Songs of Nineteenth-Century Spain edited by Dr. Suzanne Draayer when I attended a National NATS Conference several years ago. Hopefully, my next project is to record 20 songs from the anthology. Now, I am in the process asking for permission from the publisher. I still plan
on maintaining a regular schedule to perform and teach master classes in China regularly, as well as in the Alion Baltic International Music Festival in July in Estonia every summer. The festival is expanding to Saint Petersburg, Russia in the summer of 2016. I love my voice students, and love Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida where I have been teaching since 2002. Compared to the time when I was studying, I feel that nowadays the students are very blessed because of YouTube, IPA source and other great sources on the internet that can help students to learn greatly. There are more choices for voice students to choose. Besides classical singing programs and opera programs, many music programs offer musical theatre degrees, and music business degrees. The only advice I want to give to voice students is that if you have a gorgeous voice, and you love to sing, just simply focus on your
study and don’t give up easily although it is a competitive singing world.
December 2015
Simply Brilliant
Hsin-I Huang, pianist
By Helen Lin
The brilliant soloist Hsin-I Huang [is] lithe and nimble in delicate passages, bold and penetrating in the powerful ones, and expressively romantic throughout. This was one of the best performances of the Rhapsody [on a Theme of Paganini] I have heard. I predict a great career for this young soloist! —Peter Perret, Classical Voice
Mr. Huang gave his first public performance at the age of eight and debuted in the United States at the age of sixteen at the world-renowned Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York, New York. Pianist Hsin-I Huang captivates his audiences with his virtuoso performances, in which he exhibits masterful playing and profound musical sensitivity. His impressive range has attracted much praise, and his illustrious career has earned him many awards. As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Huang has performed throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States and continues to hold recitals around the world.
Mr. Huang began his piano studies at the age of seven and has won numerous competitions, including the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York, New York; the Daniel Piano Competition for Young Artists, in Greenville, South Carolina; the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Concerto Competition, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, in Raleigh, North Carolina; the Kawai International Piano Competition, in Taipei, Taiwan; and the Taipei Piano Competition, in Taipei, Taiwan. Mr. Huang has performed in Taipei’s National Concert Hall and was the featured soloist of the Emerging Keyboard Artist Recital at Lander University, in Greenwood, South Carolina.
As a soloist, Mr. Huang has performed with such distinguished orchestras as the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra. He has also had the honor of performing with venerable musicians such as Zuill Bailey, Chia-Hong Drapal Liao, Alexander Kobrin, Alan Neilson, Tao Fan, Ransom Wilson, and the Rousseau Quartet. He has studied with Grace Chung, Alexander Kobrin, Eric Larsen, Victor Rosenbaum, and Kristine Wei and performed in the master classes of Ning An, Vladimir Feltsman, Richard Goode, Arthur Greene, Robert McDonald, Jon Nakamatsu, Victor Rosenbaum, Logan Skelton, Boris Slutsky, and Da-Ming Zhu.
He was awarded a full scholarship for summer study at the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music, in Westport, New York, in 2008, 2009, and 2010. He was also invited to participate at the 2012, 2015 International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College at The New School, in New York City. Mr. Huang is currently on scholarship and teaching assistantship pursuing his doctorate degree in piano performance at Stony Brook University, State University of New York, where he studies under the accomplished pianist Gilbert Kalish.
The brilliant soloist Hsin-I Huang [is] lithe and nimble in delicate passages, bold and penetrating in the powerful ones, and expressively romantic throughout. This was one of the best performances of the Rhapsody [on a Theme of Paganini] I have heard. I predict a great career for this young soloist! —Peter Perret, Classical Voice
Mr. Huang gave his first public performance at the age of eight and debuted in the United States at the age of sixteen at the world-renowned Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, in New York, New York. Pianist Hsin-I Huang captivates his audiences with his virtuoso performances, in which he exhibits masterful playing and profound musical sensitivity. His impressive range has attracted much praise, and his illustrious career has earned him many awards. As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Huang has performed throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States and continues to hold recitals around the world.
Mr. Huang began his piano studies at the age of seven and has won numerous competitions, including the Bradshaw & Buono International Piano Competition in New York, New York; the Daniel Piano Competition for Young Artists, in Greenville, South Carolina; the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Concerto Competition, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition, in Raleigh, North Carolina; the Kawai International Piano Competition, in Taipei, Taiwan; and the Taipei Piano Competition, in Taipei, Taiwan. Mr. Huang has performed in Taipei’s National Concert Hall and was the featured soloist of the Emerging Keyboard Artist Recital at Lander University, in Greenwood, South Carolina.
As a soloist, Mr. Huang has performed with such distinguished orchestras as the Evergreen Symphony Orchestra, the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra, the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra. He has also had the honor of performing with venerable musicians such as Zuill Bailey, Chia-Hong Drapal Liao, Alexander Kobrin, Alan Neilson, Tao Fan, Ransom Wilson, and the Rousseau Quartet. He has studied with Grace Chung, Alexander Kobrin, Eric Larsen, Victor Rosenbaum, and Kristine Wei and performed in the master classes of Ning An, Vladimir Feltsman, Richard Goode, Arthur Greene, Robert McDonald, Jon Nakamatsu, Victor Rosenbaum, Logan Skelton, Boris Slutsky, and Da-Ming Zhu.
He was awarded a full scholarship for summer study at the prestigious Meadowmount School of Music, in Westport, New York, in 2008, 2009, and 2010. He was also invited to participate at the 2012, 2015 International Keyboard Institute and Festival at Mannes College at The New School, in New York City. Mr. Huang is currently on scholarship and teaching assistantship pursuing his doctorate degree in piano performance at Stony Brook University, State University of New York, where he studies under the accomplished pianist Gilbert Kalish.
November 2015
All About Music and Art
Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano/fine art painter
By Helen Lin
.."an astonishing singer" by the Chicago Tribune, Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano and fine art painter, was born in The Netherlands in a family of musicians.
Josefien won the Chicago Oratorio Award, and 2nd Prize in The American Prize Opera Competition.
Last Spring, she performed for Dutch King Willem Alexander. As a soloist of oratorio and chamber music, she made concert tours to China, South-Korea, South Africa, Europe, Venezuela and the Arab Emirates. Josefien studied voice at the Amsterdam Conservatory and lived and worked in Cologne, Germany afterwards, focusing on Opera, Oratorio and Art Song. She toured with the Junge Kammeroper Koeln (Young Cologne Chamber Opera) and performed in several opera festivals such as the International Chamber Opera Festival (with Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine-a 45 minute one-woman opera).
Her mother is a pianist and music teacher, her father a composer and conductor and together with her sister Charlotte she forms a vocal duo (www.cjstoppelenburg.nl) Charlotte and Josefien received lessons on clarinet and violin from a very early age on, and joined the Dutch National Children’s Choir, which inspired both of them to pursue a musical career as professional singers.
The sisters, who are acclaimed for the way their voices blend together, were the first singers to win the National Princes Christina Competition. Since then they performed in nearly every Dutch concert hall together and appeared regularly on radio and television. They performed for the Dutch Royal Family and currently perform a lot with piano duo and brothers Martijn and Stefan Blaak, as Ensemble Brothers and Sisters. (www.brotherssisters.nl)
The ensemble performed in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, on the Dutch radio and in many concert halls.
Josefien Stoppelenburg moved to Chicago and is a specialist in Baroque Music. She is regularly invited to sing works by Bach and Handel in the USA, such as in the Boulder Bach Festival, Arizona Bach Festival, and with groups as the Cincinnati Bach Ensemble, Chicago’s Baroque Band, Rembrandt Chamber Players, Haymarket Opera Company, Handel Week Festival, Newberry Consort, Music of the Baroque and Camerata Amsterdam and many others. She teaches vocal masterclasses at American conservatories (such as Indiana University and Colorado University.)
Last year Josefien founded the Early Music ensemble Black Tulip, (www.blacktulip.org)with Joel Spears, lute/theorbo, Mirja Lorenz, recorders and Dr. Phillip Serna, viola da gamba. The musicians were invited right away to perform live on WFMT, Chicago’s classical music radio station and were selected to perform for several art and music events in the Chicago area.
Also, Stoppelenburg is very passionate about new music and premiered many new works by composers from the Netherlands, Germany and the USA. She premiered many new works by her father Willem Stoppelenburg, who wrote works especially for her and her sister. Her father won several awards for his compositions. He composed an opera about painter Vincent van Gogh and the Westerbork Symphony, a work commissioned by one of the survivors of Nazi transit Camp Westerbork in the Netherlands. He also wrote the Love Songs (on Shakespeare Sonnets) for Josefien and Charlotte, for strings, harp and 2 female voices. This Fall, Ensemble Brothers and Sisters will premiere a new Stabat Mater by Willem Stoppelenburg, together with the Koelner Vokalsolisten.
The Stoppelenburg family recently won the Dutch Henk Boerwinkel Award for their cultural contributions to the north of the country.
Painting is Josefiens other passion. She paints frequently on commission. Commissioners give Josefien themes that are meaningful to them and she combines these themes into a colorful, dream-like painted collage. A lot of her artwork has music as the main theme. Her work was described in newspapers as’ colorful, intuitive, other-worldly, with a hint of mystique and a strong storytelling power’. Josefien’s greatest inspirations are Chagall, Gauguin, van Gogh and Odilon Redon. Josefien sells prints of her artwork and sets of postcards through her art website www.inspiration-paintings.com and through Etsy.
Her artwork has been used in opera sets, on the cover of a rock album and has been exhibited in galleries, schools and hospitals. Several of her paintings with musical themes have been auctioned of to the benefit of musical organizations, such as the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Bach Festival and the Peninsula Music Festival.
For more information, please visit: www.josefienstoppelenburg.com
.."an astonishing singer" by the Chicago Tribune, Josefien Stoppelenburg, soprano and fine art painter, was born in The Netherlands in a family of musicians.
Josefien won the Chicago Oratorio Award, and 2nd Prize in The American Prize Opera Competition.
Last Spring, she performed for Dutch King Willem Alexander. As a soloist of oratorio and chamber music, she made concert tours to China, South-Korea, South Africa, Europe, Venezuela and the Arab Emirates. Josefien studied voice at the Amsterdam Conservatory and lived and worked in Cologne, Germany afterwards, focusing on Opera, Oratorio and Art Song. She toured with the Junge Kammeroper Koeln (Young Cologne Chamber Opera) and performed in several opera festivals such as the International Chamber Opera Festival (with Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine-a 45 minute one-woman opera).
Her mother is a pianist and music teacher, her father a composer and conductor and together with her sister Charlotte she forms a vocal duo (www.cjstoppelenburg.nl) Charlotte and Josefien received lessons on clarinet and violin from a very early age on, and joined the Dutch National Children’s Choir, which inspired both of them to pursue a musical career as professional singers.
The sisters, who are acclaimed for the way their voices blend together, were the first singers to win the National Princes Christina Competition. Since then they performed in nearly every Dutch concert hall together and appeared regularly on radio and television. They performed for the Dutch Royal Family and currently perform a lot with piano duo and brothers Martijn and Stefan Blaak, as Ensemble Brothers and Sisters. (www.brotherssisters.nl)
The ensemble performed in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, on the Dutch radio and in many concert halls.
Josefien Stoppelenburg moved to Chicago and is a specialist in Baroque Music. She is regularly invited to sing works by Bach and Handel in the USA, such as in the Boulder Bach Festival, Arizona Bach Festival, and with groups as the Cincinnati Bach Ensemble, Chicago’s Baroque Band, Rembrandt Chamber Players, Haymarket Opera Company, Handel Week Festival, Newberry Consort, Music of the Baroque and Camerata Amsterdam and many others. She teaches vocal masterclasses at American conservatories (such as Indiana University and Colorado University.)
Last year Josefien founded the Early Music ensemble Black Tulip, (www.blacktulip.org)with Joel Spears, lute/theorbo, Mirja Lorenz, recorders and Dr. Phillip Serna, viola da gamba. The musicians were invited right away to perform live on WFMT, Chicago’s classical music radio station and were selected to perform for several art and music events in the Chicago area.
Also, Stoppelenburg is very passionate about new music and premiered many new works by composers from the Netherlands, Germany and the USA. She premiered many new works by her father Willem Stoppelenburg, who wrote works especially for her and her sister. Her father won several awards for his compositions. He composed an opera about painter Vincent van Gogh and the Westerbork Symphony, a work commissioned by one of the survivors of Nazi transit Camp Westerbork in the Netherlands. He also wrote the Love Songs (on Shakespeare Sonnets) for Josefien and Charlotte, for strings, harp and 2 female voices. This Fall, Ensemble Brothers and Sisters will premiere a new Stabat Mater by Willem Stoppelenburg, together with the Koelner Vokalsolisten.
The Stoppelenburg family recently won the Dutch Henk Boerwinkel Award for their cultural contributions to the north of the country.
Painting is Josefiens other passion. She paints frequently on commission. Commissioners give Josefien themes that are meaningful to them and she combines these themes into a colorful, dream-like painted collage. A lot of her artwork has music as the main theme. Her work was described in newspapers as’ colorful, intuitive, other-worldly, with a hint of mystique and a strong storytelling power’. Josefien’s greatest inspirations are Chagall, Gauguin, van Gogh and Odilon Redon. Josefien sells prints of her artwork and sets of postcards through her art website www.inspiration-paintings.com and through Etsy.
Her artwork has been used in opera sets, on the cover of a rock album and has been exhibited in galleries, schools and hospitals. Several of her paintings with musical themes have been auctioned of to the benefit of musical organizations, such as the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Bach Festival and the Peninsula Music Festival.
For more information, please visit: www.josefienstoppelenburg.com
October 2015
Between North and South America
Eduardo Rojas, pianist
By Helen Lin
The celebrated classical music star, virtuoso pianist Eduardo Rojas, is renowned for his delicate touch, colorful tone and the deep musicality with which he delivers his powerful, fiery renditions of European and PanAmerican repertoire. His flawless technique, vast knowledge of composition theory and historical background of the works he choses to present, earn him the admiration and respect of fellow musicians and critics while his big heart, courage and humanity win him the love of his audiences.
Eduardo Rojas has performed as soloist works by Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Grieg and others with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Bogotá Philharmonic, Valle Philharmonic (Cali, Colombia), EAFIT University Symphony Orchestra (Medellín, Colombia), the Panamá National Symphony Orchestra (Panama City), the American Wind Symphony (Pennsylvania), New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving (Texas), the Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), and the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra (Wisconsin). His tour with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Colombia was a great success and marked the start of an active relationship between Rojas and Colombia's system of youth orchestras, the Batuta Foundation.
Eduardo Rojas has represented his native country at various music festivals in Bolivia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and has been a featured guest artist at the Popayán International Music Festival in Colombia and at the celebrations for Chopin’s 200th birthday at the renowned Luis Angel Arango Concert Hall in Bogotá, Colombia. His recital programs span the gamut of classical European as well as North and South American composers. His uniquely authentic renditions of works by Ástor Piazzolla, Hector Villalobos, George Gershwin and others are always highlights of his solo recitals.
For 2013 Eduardo Rojas returned once more to his home country to perform Piano Sonatas at the 1st Bogota Beethoven Festival and in Summer to present Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 on tour with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Colombia with a grand finale at the New World Symphony Center in Miami, Florida. Another highlight on last year's calendar was the performance of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto #5 with the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra.
Eduardo Rojas has finished recording his first classical album - Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol. 1 - to be released later this year. He is currently in the studio to record an album of Latin American Art Music featuring composers Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ástor Piazzolla and others.
In addition to his concertizing and recording schedule Eduardo Rojas devotes time to support programs for music education and cultural exchange between North and South America.
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Eduardo Rojas began taking piano lessons with his father, Eduardo Rojas, at the age of five. At age thirteen he entered the University of Cauca where he completed his studies under the tutelage of Uruguayan pianist Manfred Gerhardt. In 2005 he was awarded a full scholarship to Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Rojas received his Artist Diploma in 2009 and his Master in Piano Performance in 2011. His piano teachers included Harold Martina, Veda Kaplinsky, Joseph Kalichstein, José Feghali, and Steve Harlos.
The celebrated classical music star, virtuoso pianist Eduardo Rojas, is renowned for his delicate touch, colorful tone and the deep musicality with which he delivers his powerful, fiery renditions of European and PanAmerican repertoire. His flawless technique, vast knowledge of composition theory and historical background of the works he choses to present, earn him the admiration and respect of fellow musicians and critics while his big heart, courage and humanity win him the love of his audiences.
Eduardo Rojas has performed as soloist works by Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Grieg and others with the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Bogotá Philharmonic, Valle Philharmonic (Cali, Colombia), EAFIT University Symphony Orchestra (Medellín, Colombia), the Panamá National Symphony Orchestra (Panama City), the American Wind Symphony (Pennsylvania), New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving (Texas), the Great Lakes Symphony Orchestra (Michigan), and the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra (Wisconsin). His tour with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Colombia was a great success and marked the start of an active relationship between Rojas and Colombia's system of youth orchestras, the Batuta Foundation.
Eduardo Rojas has represented his native country at various music festivals in Bolivia, Ecuador, Puerto Rico and has been a featured guest artist at the Popayán International Music Festival in Colombia and at the celebrations for Chopin’s 200th birthday at the renowned Luis Angel Arango Concert Hall in Bogotá, Colombia. His recital programs span the gamut of classical European as well as North and South American composers. His uniquely authentic renditions of works by Ástor Piazzolla, Hector Villalobos, George Gershwin and others are always highlights of his solo recitals.
For 2013 Eduardo Rojas returned once more to his home country to perform Piano Sonatas at the 1st Bogota Beethoven Festival and in Summer to present Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2 on tour with the Youth Philharmonic Orchestra of Colombia with a grand finale at the New World Symphony Center in Miami, Florida. Another highlight on last year's calendar was the performance of Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto #5 with the Manitowoc Symphony Orchestra.
Eduardo Rojas has finished recording his first classical album - Beethoven Piano Sonatas Vol. 1 - to be released later this year. He is currently in the studio to record an album of Latin American Art Music featuring composers Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ástor Piazzolla and others.
In addition to his concertizing and recording schedule Eduardo Rojas devotes time to support programs for music education and cultural exchange between North and South America.
Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, Eduardo Rojas began taking piano lessons with his father, Eduardo Rojas, at the age of five. At age thirteen he entered the University of Cauca where he completed his studies under the tutelage of Uruguayan pianist Manfred Gerhardt. In 2005 he was awarded a full scholarship to Texas Christian University (TCU) in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Rojas received his Artist Diploma in 2009 and his Master in Piano Performance in 2011. His piano teachers included Harold Martina, Veda Kaplinsky, Joseph Kalichstein, José Feghali, and Steve Harlos.
September 2015
The Most Unique and Exotic Subject
Gary Powell Nash, Classical Composer
By Helen Lin
Gary Powell Nash, a native of Flint, Michigan is Professor of Music at Fisk University in Nashville, TN where he teaches and coordinates courses in music theory, technology, composition, applied woodwinds and conducts the Fisk Jazz Ensemble. Nash holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Michigan State University.
As a composer of Western classical music, Nash has composed musical works for orchestra, band/wind ensemble, choir, art songs (four in Chinese), electroacoustic works and instrumental chamber compositions, including two short film scores. His music has been performed in all major regions of the United States and abroad on the continents of Asia and Europe.
Nash has received numerous grants, commissions and awards for his compositions including the 2007 UNCF/Mellon Foundation Faculty Seminar in Ghana. Others include Tennessee Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year, 2005-6, Mississippi Arts Commission, American Composers Forum, Carnegie Hall and Fulbright, where he was Visiting Professor of Music Composition at University of the Philippines-Diliman, May 30, 2000 - March 28, 2001. Eleven of Nash's compositions are featured on compact disc with five of those appearing on Albany, Centaur and Citadel Records labels.
Gary Powell Nash is Professor of Music Theory and Technology at Fisk University and Conductor for the Fisk University Jazz Ensemble. He has also been brass arranger, brass technician and musical consultant for Music City Legend Drum and Bugle Corps, Nashville, TN and SoCal Dream Drum and Bugle Corps, Fountain Valley, CA. As a composer, arranger, transcriber, clarinetist and saxophonist for all occasions, Nash specializes in composing/arranging works for large instrumental ensembles and currently resides in Nashville, TN.
Gary Powell Nash is a composer who has been very much influenced by his education, as well as his environment, to compose music that contributes to, and helps advance American music. His compositions range from chamber to orchestral works and are influenced by European music as well as traditional American genres such as jazz, blues, spirituals and ragtime. His objective is to find the most unique and exotic subject matter as a premise for a new creative work.
Gary Powell Nash’s music is bright, strongly rhythmic and shaped by his musical roots and traditions in the African-American community. He is able to abstract blues/gospel/jazz elements and infuse these morphs into a solid, crafted style based on Western classical disciplines with a keen understanding of instrumentation and a particularly wonderful sensitivity to all types of instruments. Audiences are affected by the intense, dramatic power of his style and the intellect behind the music and Nash is wholeheartedly committed to the unifying power of music.
Gary Powell Nash, a native of Flint, Michigan is Professor of Music at Fisk University in Nashville, TN where he teaches and coordinates courses in music theory, technology, composition, applied woodwinds and conducts the Fisk Jazz Ensemble. Nash holds a Ph.D. in Music Composition from Michigan State University.
As a composer of Western classical music, Nash has composed musical works for orchestra, band/wind ensemble, choir, art songs (four in Chinese), electroacoustic works and instrumental chamber compositions, including two short film scores. His music has been performed in all major regions of the United States and abroad on the continents of Asia and Europe.
Nash has received numerous grants, commissions and awards for his compositions including the 2007 UNCF/Mellon Foundation Faculty Seminar in Ghana. Others include Tennessee Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year, 2005-6, Mississippi Arts Commission, American Composers Forum, Carnegie Hall and Fulbright, where he was Visiting Professor of Music Composition at University of the Philippines-Diliman, May 30, 2000 - March 28, 2001. Eleven of Nash's compositions are featured on compact disc with five of those appearing on Albany, Centaur and Citadel Records labels.
Gary Powell Nash is Professor of Music Theory and Technology at Fisk University and Conductor for the Fisk University Jazz Ensemble. He has also been brass arranger, brass technician and musical consultant for Music City Legend Drum and Bugle Corps, Nashville, TN and SoCal Dream Drum and Bugle Corps, Fountain Valley, CA. As a composer, arranger, transcriber, clarinetist and saxophonist for all occasions, Nash specializes in composing/arranging works for large instrumental ensembles and currently resides in Nashville, TN.
Gary Powell Nash is a composer who has been very much influenced by his education, as well as his environment, to compose music that contributes to, and helps advance American music. His compositions range from chamber to orchestral works and are influenced by European music as well as traditional American genres such as jazz, blues, spirituals and ragtime. His objective is to find the most unique and exotic subject matter as a premise for a new creative work.
Gary Powell Nash’s music is bright, strongly rhythmic and shaped by his musical roots and traditions in the African-American community. He is able to abstract blues/gospel/jazz elements and infuse these morphs into a solid, crafted style based on Western classical disciplines with a keen understanding of instrumentation and a particularly wonderful sensitivity to all types of instruments. Audiences are affected by the intense, dramatic power of his style and the intellect behind the music and Nash is wholeheartedly committed to the unifying power of music.
August 2015
A Magic Moment
Daniele Petralia, pianist
By Helen Lin
"..one of the most brilliant Italian pianists of his generation, Daniele Petralia”
--New York Press
"..everyone was immersed in the intensity of a great performance…, ”
--Angelo Mastrandrea, Puglia Spettacoli
During our interview, Mr. Petralia expressed his philosophy as a concert pianist "Performing is, in my view, a magic moment that can create a subtle but substantial “bridge” between the artist and the audience; today, the real problem is that, all over the world, the piano technique average level is high but the “artistry” is more and more neglected.. When I attend a concert, I wish to go out as a different person from the concert hall! The music experience should transform my life, my perception of reality and my soul.." "..sound is the main aspect featuring the pianist’s personality and the care of the timbre is one of the parameters by means of which the pianist can express his creativity and his artistry”. He feels a special connection with Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Prokofiev.
Mr. Petralia enjoys an active concert schedule worldwide: ITALY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND. FRANCE, GERMANY, POLAND, RUMANIA, GREECE, MOROCCO, UNITED STATES, CANADA, RUSSIA, JAPAN, etc.: ROME (Marcello’s Theatre; Barberini Palace), MILAN, STRESA (Settimane Musicali of Stresa and Lago Maggiore), SALERNO, CHIETI, ENNA, NOTO (International Music Festival), CATANIA (A.M.E.; Lyceum Club; Massimo Bellini Theatre), CORTONA, PARIS (Maison de RADIO-FRANCE; Conservatoir Italien de Paris; Association F.L.A.M.E.), ZURICH (Zurich University), MOSCOW, SALISBURY (Seminar Schloss Leopoldskron; Wiener Saal), KOBERN-GONDORF (Sommerclassics International Music Festival), WARSAW, KRAKOW (6th Mendelssohn International Music Days), ATHENS (Pallas-centre Theatre of the Simphony Orchestra of State; Pireas University; Romanos o’Melodos Conservatory), TRIKALA (Aristotelio Odeio), THESSALONIKI, ARAD, CASABLANCA, RABAT, FES, NEW YORK (Tenri Cultural Institute of Manhattan in Guggenheim Museum), MONTREAL, OTTAWA, PREVOST, NAGOYA; he also made several recording for Radio and Television like France - Musique in Paris.
He has worked with several Orchestras as soloist: Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, Massimo Bellini Theatre Orchestra, Arad State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Settimane Musicali di Stresa Academy, Donetsk Symphony Orchestra, New World Philharmonic Orchestra of Montreal, Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy having been accepted by the audience enthusiastically.
He has won several First Prizes at National Piano Competitions (Torre Orsaia Piano Competition, A.M.A. Calabria Music Competition, Messina Music Competition, Brahms Chamber Music Competition of Barcellona P.G. in Italy); the Second Prize at the International Piano Competition “Prix Saint-Vincent”, the Third Prize at the International Piano Competition “Ibla Grand Prize”, the Third Prize at the International Piano Competition “F.P.Neglia” of Enna, the Second Prize (First Prize not awarded) at the International Piano Competition “V.Bellini” of Caltanissetta. Semi Finalist at the MonteCarlo Piano Master 2000, he also obtained the First Prize at the prestigious International Piano Competitions of “Meknès” (Morocco) where he received the “Grand Prize of Princess Lalla Meriem”. Also, the Carlo and Rodolfo Furcht Special Prize for the interpretation of the Prokofiev 7th Sonata as Finalist to the “G. Pecar” International Piano Competition.
He is a Professor of the Piano Faculty at the “V. Bellini” Music University in Catania and Artistic Co-Director of the “Mascalucia Auditorium S. Nicolò” Philarmonic Orchestra and OSN Mascalucia International Classical Music Festival with his Soprano wife Alexandra Oikonomou. Upcoming engagements include concerts in Poland, Greece, Norway, Latvia, Australia, Morocco. Mr. Petralia has been awarded with an UNESCO Recognition for High Achievements in the field of Art by the International Academy “Amici della Sapienza”.
"..one of the most brilliant Italian pianists of his generation, Daniele Petralia”
--New York Press
"..everyone was immersed in the intensity of a great performance…, ”
--Angelo Mastrandrea, Puglia Spettacoli
During our interview, Mr. Petralia expressed his philosophy as a concert pianist "Performing is, in my view, a magic moment that can create a subtle but substantial “bridge” between the artist and the audience; today, the real problem is that, all over the world, the piano technique average level is high but the “artistry” is more and more neglected.. When I attend a concert, I wish to go out as a different person from the concert hall! The music experience should transform my life, my perception of reality and my soul.." "..sound is the main aspect featuring the pianist’s personality and the care of the timbre is one of the parameters by means of which the pianist can express his creativity and his artistry”. He feels a special connection with Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, and Prokofiev.
Mr. Petralia enjoys an active concert schedule worldwide: ITALY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND. FRANCE, GERMANY, POLAND, RUMANIA, GREECE, MOROCCO, UNITED STATES, CANADA, RUSSIA, JAPAN, etc.: ROME (Marcello’s Theatre; Barberini Palace), MILAN, STRESA (Settimane Musicali of Stresa and Lago Maggiore), SALERNO, CHIETI, ENNA, NOTO (International Music Festival), CATANIA (A.M.E.; Lyceum Club; Massimo Bellini Theatre), CORTONA, PARIS (Maison de RADIO-FRANCE; Conservatoir Italien de Paris; Association F.L.A.M.E.), ZURICH (Zurich University), MOSCOW, SALISBURY (Seminar Schloss Leopoldskron; Wiener Saal), KOBERN-GONDORF (Sommerclassics International Music Festival), WARSAW, KRAKOW (6th Mendelssohn International Music Days), ATHENS (Pallas-centre Theatre of the Simphony Orchestra of State; Pireas University; Romanos o’Melodos Conservatory), TRIKALA (Aristotelio Odeio), THESSALONIKI, ARAD, CASABLANCA, RABAT, FES, NEW YORK (Tenri Cultural Institute of Manhattan in Guggenheim Museum), MONTREAL, OTTAWA, PREVOST, NAGOYA; he also made several recording for Radio and Television like France - Musique in Paris.
He has worked with several Orchestras as soloist: Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, Massimo Bellini Theatre Orchestra, Arad State Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Settimane Musicali di Stresa Academy, Donetsk Symphony Orchestra, New World Philharmonic Orchestra of Montreal, Sydney Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy having been accepted by the audience enthusiastically.
He has won several First Prizes at National Piano Competitions (Torre Orsaia Piano Competition, A.M.A. Calabria Music Competition, Messina Music Competition, Brahms Chamber Music Competition of Barcellona P.G. in Italy); the Second Prize at the International Piano Competition “Prix Saint-Vincent”, the Third Prize at the International Piano Competition “Ibla Grand Prize”, the Third Prize at the International Piano Competition “F.P.Neglia” of Enna, the Second Prize (First Prize not awarded) at the International Piano Competition “V.Bellini” of Caltanissetta. Semi Finalist at the MonteCarlo Piano Master 2000, he also obtained the First Prize at the prestigious International Piano Competitions of “Meknès” (Morocco) where he received the “Grand Prize of Princess Lalla Meriem”. Also, the Carlo and Rodolfo Furcht Special Prize for the interpretation of the Prokofiev 7th Sonata as Finalist to the “G. Pecar” International Piano Competition.
He is a Professor of the Piano Faculty at the “V. Bellini” Music University in Catania and Artistic Co-Director of the “Mascalucia Auditorium S. Nicolò” Philarmonic Orchestra and OSN Mascalucia International Classical Music Festival with his Soprano wife Alexandra Oikonomou. Upcoming engagements include concerts in Poland, Greece, Norway, Latvia, Australia, Morocco. Mr. Petralia has been awarded with an UNESCO Recognition for High Achievements in the field of Art by the International Academy “Amici della Sapienza”.
July 2015
It doesn't get much better than this
Houston Dunleavy, composer, conductor
By Helen Lin
When Houston Dunleavy was 14 years old he made a decision –to be a professional musician, spending his life playing clarinet, saxophone and flute! It rocked his parents a little, who were soothed, a little, when they got to know his teachers and the friends that he made. It was better for them again that he went to the University of Melbourne to study it, as they had had far different ideas of what a life in music might be like – living in a garret above a stinky shop in some foul-smelling part of town, living from gig to gig!
He made the transition from student to professional fairly easily, building a career based on playing, teaching, conducting and composing. That life and career were satisfying and fruitful until one day, during a break in auditions for a show he was conducting, he walked under a glass light fitting that chose that moment to dislodge. He covered he head, as anyone would, only to have the glass slice through his left thumb. As he lay in hospital a few hours later have it all stitched up, he knew his career as a clarinetist was over. The tragedy seemed immense - it was all he thought he knew how to do.
He couldn’t hold the instrument for a long time, let alone play it. His hand took a long time to heal, as the glass had almost severed a tendon and cut through most of the nerves that help control its movement. (It took four years until all the feeling was restored in his left hand!). He did try to come back, even winning an audition for bass clarinet (an instrument that could be supported on the floor and not held) in an opera orchestra. However, the pain was excruciating in his arms from playing the “wrong” way because he couldn’t feel everything in his hand. So something had to change.
13 months later, he was in the USA, studying for a Masters in composition. There had been lot of tears and encouragement that went into this move. He left a life behind which he thought he could pick up again when he came back to Australia. This all disintegrated within a few months, and he began to question if he’d made the wrong move. Personally, perhaps, it was at the time, but the composer part of him, which had always been the dominant part, finally got let out. What was supposed to be and 18-month stint became 7 years, with two Masters degrees, and a Ph D, a wife and a child along the way before he finally returned to Australia!
His triple career as a composer and conductor and academic, has allowed him to pursue the sort of life many musicians crave. He has no “day job”, in the sense that he does nothing but work in music as a composer, conductor and academic. Currently he is Head of Composition and Production at The Australian Institute of Music (taking in both the Sydney and Melbourne campuses) as well as Musical Director of the Sydney Male Choir, one of Australia’s premiere choirs, while living in Melbourne.
He believes that nothing brings success like hard work – talent alone is insufficient. In 25 years of teaching new talent, he marvels how the ones who work hardest, who realize the depth of the commitment that they have made to music, are always the ones who “make it”. He rates as of the greatest compliments he ever had came from his mentor, Donald Erb, who told him, “You’re the hardest-working student I’ve ever had!” Dunleavy can’t find any fault with being that way! Now he works in two cities, usually in the same week, flying between them and catching a short nap on each flight, and spends most of each day working on something to do with his three-pronged career. Most of the Qantas flight attendants now know him by sight and the Frequent Flyer points are superb!
And now and then, he gets to pick up his old instrument and play in “Third Rail”, a free improvisation group he helped found over 10 years ago. As he says, “It doesn’t get much better than this!”
When Houston Dunleavy was 14 years old he made a decision –to be a professional musician, spending his life playing clarinet, saxophone and flute! It rocked his parents a little, who were soothed, a little, when they got to know his teachers and the friends that he made. It was better for them again that he went to the University of Melbourne to study it, as they had had far different ideas of what a life in music might be like – living in a garret above a stinky shop in some foul-smelling part of town, living from gig to gig!
He made the transition from student to professional fairly easily, building a career based on playing, teaching, conducting and composing. That life and career were satisfying and fruitful until one day, during a break in auditions for a show he was conducting, he walked under a glass light fitting that chose that moment to dislodge. He covered he head, as anyone would, only to have the glass slice through his left thumb. As he lay in hospital a few hours later have it all stitched up, he knew his career as a clarinetist was over. The tragedy seemed immense - it was all he thought he knew how to do.
He couldn’t hold the instrument for a long time, let alone play it. His hand took a long time to heal, as the glass had almost severed a tendon and cut through most of the nerves that help control its movement. (It took four years until all the feeling was restored in his left hand!). He did try to come back, even winning an audition for bass clarinet (an instrument that could be supported on the floor and not held) in an opera orchestra. However, the pain was excruciating in his arms from playing the “wrong” way because he couldn’t feel everything in his hand. So something had to change.
13 months later, he was in the USA, studying for a Masters in composition. There had been lot of tears and encouragement that went into this move. He left a life behind which he thought he could pick up again when he came back to Australia. This all disintegrated within a few months, and he began to question if he’d made the wrong move. Personally, perhaps, it was at the time, but the composer part of him, which had always been the dominant part, finally got let out. What was supposed to be and 18-month stint became 7 years, with two Masters degrees, and a Ph D, a wife and a child along the way before he finally returned to Australia!
His triple career as a composer and conductor and academic, has allowed him to pursue the sort of life many musicians crave. He has no “day job”, in the sense that he does nothing but work in music as a composer, conductor and academic. Currently he is Head of Composition and Production at The Australian Institute of Music (taking in both the Sydney and Melbourne campuses) as well as Musical Director of the Sydney Male Choir, one of Australia’s premiere choirs, while living in Melbourne.
He believes that nothing brings success like hard work – talent alone is insufficient. In 25 years of teaching new talent, he marvels how the ones who work hardest, who realize the depth of the commitment that they have made to music, are always the ones who “make it”. He rates as of the greatest compliments he ever had came from his mentor, Donald Erb, who told him, “You’re the hardest-working student I’ve ever had!” Dunleavy can’t find any fault with being that way! Now he works in two cities, usually in the same week, flying between them and catching a short nap on each flight, and spends most of each day working on something to do with his three-pronged career. Most of the Qantas flight attendants now know him by sight and the Frequent Flyer points are superb!
And now and then, he gets to pick up his old instrument and play in “Third Rail”, a free improvisation group he helped found over 10 years ago. As he says, “It doesn’t get much better than this!”
June 2015
Astonishingly Talented
Min Kwon, pianist
By Helen Lin
'a superb pianist from all points of view...' Pianist Min Kwon excels in a dynamic and versatile career as a performer, teacher, and administrator..
A Korean-born pianist and Chair of Keyboard Department and Professor of Music at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in New Jersey. Previously, she also taught piano minor and chamber music at The Juilliard School in New York.
Min Kwon received her BM at Curtis Institute of Music and her MM and DMA at the Juilliard School. Her post-doctoral studies have taken her to the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. A Steinway Artist, Kwon is a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Her professional engagements have taken her to 62 countries on 7 continents and to all 50 states in the US, including such venues as Carnegie Hall; Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center; the United Nations in New York, Orchestra Hall in Chicago; the Academy of Music in Philadelphia; Seoul Arts Center in Korea; Borse Saal in Vienna; Klementinum in Prague; and to the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Cape & Islands, Caramoor, Colmar (France), Salzburg and Altenburg (Austria), Kuhmo (Finland), Interlaken (Switzerland), Freiburg (Germany), and Prague (Czech Republic).
Performance highlights include a critically acclaimed, a sold-out recital at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and at London and Sydney's Steinway Hall, Singapore's National University; as well as appearances in Australia, Curacao, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Malaysia, and Norway. Kwon has given over 200 recitals, workshops, and master classes throughout the United States under the auspices of CAMI Community Concerts and has recorded for BMG/RCA Red Seal and MSR Classics. She is regularly invited to teach by major institutions and festivals around the world, among them the Royal College of Music in London, Shanghai Conservatory and Beijing Central Conservatory in China, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, Academy of Fine Arts and National University in Hong Kong, Vladmir Feltsman's Summerfest in New Paltz, New York, AMEROPA International Festival in Prague, Positano International Festival in Italy, and Altenburg Music Akademie and MozartFest in Austria. The Grand Prize winner of Korea’s KBS Emerging Artists Award in 1995, Kwon was also the recipient of The Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer International Piano Awards, school’s highest award given to a pianist, and has garnered more than two dozen top prizes in national and international competitions of the United States, Italy, Scotland, and Spain.
'a superb pianist from all points of view...' Pianist Min Kwon excels in a dynamic and versatile career as a performer, teacher, and administrator..
A Korean-born pianist and Chair of Keyboard Department and Professor of Music at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University in New Jersey. Previously, she also taught piano minor and chamber music at The Juilliard School in New York.
Min Kwon received her BM at Curtis Institute of Music and her MM and DMA at the Juilliard School. Her post-doctoral studies have taken her to the University of Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. A Steinway Artist, Kwon is a soloist, chamber musician, and teacher. Her professional engagements have taken her to 62 countries on 7 continents and to all 50 states in the US, including such venues as Carnegie Hall; Avery Fisher Hall and Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center; the United Nations in New York, Orchestra Hall in Chicago; the Academy of Music in Philadelphia; Seoul Arts Center in Korea; Borse Saal in Vienna; Klementinum in Prague; and to the festivals of Aspen, Ravinia, Cape & Islands, Caramoor, Colmar (France), Salzburg and Altenburg (Austria), Kuhmo (Finland), Interlaken (Switzerland), Freiburg (Germany), and Prague (Czech Republic).
Performance highlights include a critically acclaimed, a sold-out recital at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall and at London and Sydney's Steinway Hall, Singapore's National University; as well as appearances in Australia, Curacao, Czech Republic, Estonia, Italy, Malaysia, and Norway. Kwon has given over 200 recitals, workshops, and master classes throughout the United States under the auspices of CAMI Community Concerts and has recorded for BMG/RCA Red Seal and MSR Classics. She is regularly invited to teach by major institutions and festivals around the world, among them the Royal College of Music in London, Shanghai Conservatory and Beijing Central Conservatory in China, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore, Academy of Fine Arts and National University in Hong Kong, Vladmir Feltsman's Summerfest in New Paltz, New York, AMEROPA International Festival in Prague, Positano International Festival in Italy, and Altenburg Music Akademie and MozartFest in Austria. The Grand Prize winner of Korea’s KBS Emerging Artists Award in 1995, Kwon was also the recipient of The Juilliard School’s Gina Bachauer International Piano Awards, school’s highest award given to a pianist, and has garnered more than two dozen top prizes in national and international competitions of the United States, Italy, Scotland, and Spain.
May 2015
Wildly Inventive
Douglas Knehans, Composition Scholar
By Helen Lin
With a gift for extravagant color, beautiful melodic style, clear musical form and engaging, soulfully dramatic work, the music of award winning composer Douglas Knehans has gained the attention and warm appreciation of audiences and performers around the world. Knehans’ two-piano work cascade has been performed in Steinway Hall, New York; UIC Recital Hall, Chicago; Tokyo, Japan; Kiev, Ukraine and recorded for worldwide CD release on Ablaze Records by the virtuoso piano duo The Pridonoff Duo in a recording hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “ … effective … incisive … hauntingly beautiful … ” A disc of his early music for acoustic and electronic cello was released on Ablaze Records in the fall of 2010 which was called “ … amazingly sophisticated … very beautiful … intriguing … captivating …” by Audiophile Audition.
Lin: What inspired you to produce these projects?
Knehans: That is an interesting question. I say interesting because, unlike other musicians in the areas of Rap, Rock, Jazz, Pop, etc. classical composers seem to focus on creating works for concert performance in the first instance and then, maybe, a subsequent recording. In recent years I have started to think about recording projects as the thing I am writing for with performance, and especially the premiere performance as an ancillary to recording and not the other way around. Musicians in other genres routinely look at music this way: “cut the record and then tour the 'songs’”. So I have just adopted this approach since it seems to make such sense: if the music is already recorded it has a much better representation as a piece and maybe therefore a better chance of being programmed than if only a score or a perhaps quite compromised ‘archive;’ recording only existed. So this practical issue was one strand of the inspiration for these projects.
The other strand of inspiration was getting to a stage in my career where I had a sizable number of works and many of them unrecorded. So I wanted to begin setting that right and by starting to record everything I could. When looking at one’s work in terms of collecting various works together as a coherent disc, one’s output takes on a different dimension. For the two recent releases, My Concertos disc and Lux Dei, my disc of choral music, each had a different genesis and theme. The Concertos disc has four works on it: Soar my first cello concerto; Drift for oboe and strings; …Mist, Memory, Shadow… for violin and strings; and Cascade my concerto for orchestra. What unites all of these pieces is the flamboyant yet expressive style of the works. The cello concerto is in a single movement that traverses both slow and expressive music as well as fast virtuosic music. Instrumental color was also important as was putting the soloist really centrally within the argument of the work. Drift and …Mist, Memory, Shadow… are united by a similarity of approach. These are not really full blown concertos, but almost little concertinos that highlight the expressive aspect of each instrument primarily, though there are some move agitated moments in both pieces where the soloist is allowed to ‘show off’ a little more flamboyantly. The disc concludes with my Cascade - concerto for orchestra. This work may interest you especially since its genesis was in a two piano work of the same name that I composed for the brilliant Pridonoff Duo. Even as I was composing this work, which really was composed for pianos with lashings of strictly pianistic figurations and approaches I could not help also thinking of it possible orchestrated (this is a kind of compositional reflex that I can’t seem to control!). I have also been so enamored of Ravel’s piano music and so very much of it he orchestrated, as you know. So I have always felt this to be a very sensible model as well as one that allows for deep growth in one’s craft. The movements and the music within them has remain unchanged (except for some necessary re-arrangements to allow for a better ‘fit’ with the orchestra) and the piece works very effectively I think. The performance by Mikel Toms and the Brno Philharmonic is simply excellent and I am very proud of the piece.
The disc of choral works, Lux Dei, had a not dissimilar genesis in seeking to record as much of what I have written as possible. These works traverse an almost 25 year span and are all in Latin, a vestige of my Catholic upbringing, and range from quite short works such as my Panis Angelicus, which opens the disc, to my Missa Brevis for choir and organ, which is the only work on the disc with instrumental accompaniment. The work of conductor Brett Scott is simply amazing and the CCM Chorale have responded to some performance challenges with terrific enthusiasm and craft. I hope one day to also record my two very large choral works St. Luke Magnificat and Shoah Requiem as well.
Lin: Can you talk about your background as a musician, composer?
Knehans: I come from a family of non-musicians, except for my paternal grandfather who played piano and my brother who plays guitar. When I was a boy I would sing harmony with my brother on various pop/folk songs. Then, rather late I will admit, I took up an instrument myself when I started flute studies in my last year of high school. I made pretty rapid progress and then two years later was admitted to the Australian National University’s Canberra School of Music which was then a premiere training conservatory. There I studied all of the usual things: history, theory, keyboard, orchestral studies and took electives in composition finishing my studies there with the equivalent of a double major in flute and composition. Once I graduated I moved to Melbourne where I started to teach and play the flute as a free-lancer and also kept writing. Over a few years I made the transition to being solely a composer and lived for about 5 or 6 years in the late 1980s solely from commissions fulfilling between 5-7 new works per year. I then had an opportunity to attend MacDowell Colony where I was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful artists and work at the same desk at which Copland finished Appalachian Spring (what a thrill!). After MacDowell I went to New York and was recruited to Queens College to study with Distinguished Professor Thea Musgrave—an awesome experience. Afterward I went to Yale where I studied principally with the late Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jacob Druckman. From him I learned so much about the orchestra and orchestration but also he fueled a bigger love of timbre and gesture and I, like countless others, owe so much to him. At Yale I also studied with Lukas Foss and we had many visitors during that time who had enormous influence on me. After Yale I landed my first job at the University of Alabama where I worked for seven years, followed by an eight year period in Tasmania as the Director of the Conservatory there and came back to the USA to take up the deanship at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. After the deanship I reverted to a faculty position and am now the Norman Dinerstein Professor of Composition Scholar at CCM.
My compositional style is one other thing I should talk about under this question. Like many composers of my generation, when I was at school we learned serial/12 tone technique and that was it. After leaving school, as early as 1981, I was pretty unhappy with this methodology for me and my music and so gradually over the years as I waxed and waned in my struggles with this I always also looked at other composers from the full spectrum of history, 20th, 19th, 18th and earlier centuries and sought to learn about line, harmony, shape, form, texture, etc. from these masters. My current style is one that fuses a few elements: minimalistic repetition (without my music not being really minimalist at all) with expressive, even neo-Romantic style gestural expression, but with a harmonic sense that, although centric and tonally impressionistic is not at all functionally tonal in the theoretical sense.
Lin: Which composer(s) influenced you the most and why?
Knehans: I think it is fair to say Mahler is one of my biggest influences and not just for the bombast! Mahler’s sense of line and counterpoint and how he marries this with a newly fractured, distinctly 20th century approach to form that is almost filmic in it’s aural use of ‘cross-fades’ and ‘jump-cuts’ has been deeply influential to me. Stravinsky has also been a powerful influence both timbrally and in terms of his tessellated view of formal construction. Finally, I would say Debussy for his organic sense of formal unfolding, his terrifically subtle and nuanced sense of timbre and texture and the wonderful élan of his melodic lines. In the later 20th century Messiaen, Boulez and definitely Lutoslawski have been huge influences as I learned from them newer interpretations of what I was looking at in the earlier composers. What an array of masters from which to learn!
Lin: What are your goals and future plans?
Knehans: I have a bunch of recording projects in the future and some new works to write! First up will be my Flute Concerto Tempest that we will record in Brno this summer; also in the summer we will record two chamber works: Heat for trombone and piano and Tremor for doublebass and piano. Then, in the fall we will record my second cello concerto Black City with the brilliant cellist Paul York. This is massive new work in five movements of about 45 minutes duration with the unusual element of a concertino that sits somewhat ‘behind’ the cello consisting of prepared piano, Hammered Dulcimer and Orchestral Harp. I am really looking forward to all of these recording projects!
Then I also have some new works to write: a new symphony for our own CCM Philharmonia—this work will feature a large array of trumpets (about 8 of them on and offstage) and recorders, prepared piano and then, of course the full orchestra as well. I am also excited about a new commission from a young Singapore based quintet—Ensemble Go— for Marimba and String Quartet which I will begin work on in the fall.
With a gift for extravagant color, beautiful melodic style, clear musical form and engaging, soulfully dramatic work, the music of award winning composer Douglas Knehans has gained the attention and warm appreciation of audiences and performers around the world. Knehans’ two-piano work cascade has been performed in Steinway Hall, New York; UIC Recital Hall, Chicago; Tokyo, Japan; Kiev, Ukraine and recorded for worldwide CD release on Ablaze Records by the virtuoso piano duo The Pridonoff Duo in a recording hailed by Fanfare Magazine as “ … effective … incisive … hauntingly beautiful … ” A disc of his early music for acoustic and electronic cello was released on Ablaze Records in the fall of 2010 which was called “ … amazingly sophisticated … very beautiful … intriguing … captivating …” by Audiophile Audition.
Lin: What inspired you to produce these projects?
Knehans: That is an interesting question. I say interesting because, unlike other musicians in the areas of Rap, Rock, Jazz, Pop, etc. classical composers seem to focus on creating works for concert performance in the first instance and then, maybe, a subsequent recording. In recent years I have started to think about recording projects as the thing I am writing for with performance, and especially the premiere performance as an ancillary to recording and not the other way around. Musicians in other genres routinely look at music this way: “cut the record and then tour the 'songs’”. So I have just adopted this approach since it seems to make such sense: if the music is already recorded it has a much better representation as a piece and maybe therefore a better chance of being programmed than if only a score or a perhaps quite compromised ‘archive;’ recording only existed. So this practical issue was one strand of the inspiration for these projects.
The other strand of inspiration was getting to a stage in my career where I had a sizable number of works and many of them unrecorded. So I wanted to begin setting that right and by starting to record everything I could. When looking at one’s work in terms of collecting various works together as a coherent disc, one’s output takes on a different dimension. For the two recent releases, My Concertos disc and Lux Dei, my disc of choral music, each had a different genesis and theme. The Concertos disc has four works on it: Soar my first cello concerto; Drift for oboe and strings; …Mist, Memory, Shadow… for violin and strings; and Cascade my concerto for orchestra. What unites all of these pieces is the flamboyant yet expressive style of the works. The cello concerto is in a single movement that traverses both slow and expressive music as well as fast virtuosic music. Instrumental color was also important as was putting the soloist really centrally within the argument of the work. Drift and …Mist, Memory, Shadow… are united by a similarity of approach. These are not really full blown concertos, but almost little concertinos that highlight the expressive aspect of each instrument primarily, though there are some move agitated moments in both pieces where the soloist is allowed to ‘show off’ a little more flamboyantly. The disc concludes with my Cascade - concerto for orchestra. This work may interest you especially since its genesis was in a two piano work of the same name that I composed for the brilliant Pridonoff Duo. Even as I was composing this work, which really was composed for pianos with lashings of strictly pianistic figurations and approaches I could not help also thinking of it possible orchestrated (this is a kind of compositional reflex that I can’t seem to control!). I have also been so enamored of Ravel’s piano music and so very much of it he orchestrated, as you know. So I have always felt this to be a very sensible model as well as one that allows for deep growth in one’s craft. The movements and the music within them has remain unchanged (except for some necessary re-arrangements to allow for a better ‘fit’ with the orchestra) and the piece works very effectively I think. The performance by Mikel Toms and the Brno Philharmonic is simply excellent and I am very proud of the piece.
The disc of choral works, Lux Dei, had a not dissimilar genesis in seeking to record as much of what I have written as possible. These works traverse an almost 25 year span and are all in Latin, a vestige of my Catholic upbringing, and range from quite short works such as my Panis Angelicus, which opens the disc, to my Missa Brevis for choir and organ, which is the only work on the disc with instrumental accompaniment. The work of conductor Brett Scott is simply amazing and the CCM Chorale have responded to some performance challenges with terrific enthusiasm and craft. I hope one day to also record my two very large choral works St. Luke Magnificat and Shoah Requiem as well.
Lin: Can you talk about your background as a musician, composer?
Knehans: I come from a family of non-musicians, except for my paternal grandfather who played piano and my brother who plays guitar. When I was a boy I would sing harmony with my brother on various pop/folk songs. Then, rather late I will admit, I took up an instrument myself when I started flute studies in my last year of high school. I made pretty rapid progress and then two years later was admitted to the Australian National University’s Canberra School of Music which was then a premiere training conservatory. There I studied all of the usual things: history, theory, keyboard, orchestral studies and took electives in composition finishing my studies there with the equivalent of a double major in flute and composition. Once I graduated I moved to Melbourne where I started to teach and play the flute as a free-lancer and also kept writing. Over a few years I made the transition to being solely a composer and lived for about 5 or 6 years in the late 1980s solely from commissions fulfilling between 5-7 new works per year. I then had an opportunity to attend MacDowell Colony where I was fortunate enough to meet some wonderful artists and work at the same desk at which Copland finished Appalachian Spring (what a thrill!). After MacDowell I went to New York and was recruited to Queens College to study with Distinguished Professor Thea Musgrave—an awesome experience. Afterward I went to Yale where I studied principally with the late Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jacob Druckman. From him I learned so much about the orchestra and orchestration but also he fueled a bigger love of timbre and gesture and I, like countless others, owe so much to him. At Yale I also studied with Lukas Foss and we had many visitors during that time who had enormous influence on me. After Yale I landed my first job at the University of Alabama where I worked for seven years, followed by an eight year period in Tasmania as the Director of the Conservatory there and came back to the USA to take up the deanship at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. After the deanship I reverted to a faculty position and am now the Norman Dinerstein Professor of Composition Scholar at CCM.
My compositional style is one other thing I should talk about under this question. Like many composers of my generation, when I was at school we learned serial/12 tone technique and that was it. After leaving school, as early as 1981, I was pretty unhappy with this methodology for me and my music and so gradually over the years as I waxed and waned in my struggles with this I always also looked at other composers from the full spectrum of history, 20th, 19th, 18th and earlier centuries and sought to learn about line, harmony, shape, form, texture, etc. from these masters. My current style is one that fuses a few elements: minimalistic repetition (without my music not being really minimalist at all) with expressive, even neo-Romantic style gestural expression, but with a harmonic sense that, although centric and tonally impressionistic is not at all functionally tonal in the theoretical sense.
Lin: Which composer(s) influenced you the most and why?
Knehans: I think it is fair to say Mahler is one of my biggest influences and not just for the bombast! Mahler’s sense of line and counterpoint and how he marries this with a newly fractured, distinctly 20th century approach to form that is almost filmic in it’s aural use of ‘cross-fades’ and ‘jump-cuts’ has been deeply influential to me. Stravinsky has also been a powerful influence both timbrally and in terms of his tessellated view of formal construction. Finally, I would say Debussy for his organic sense of formal unfolding, his terrifically subtle and nuanced sense of timbre and texture and the wonderful élan of his melodic lines. In the later 20th century Messiaen, Boulez and definitely Lutoslawski have been huge influences as I learned from them newer interpretations of what I was looking at in the earlier composers. What an array of masters from which to learn!
Lin: What are your goals and future plans?
Knehans: I have a bunch of recording projects in the future and some new works to write! First up will be my Flute Concerto Tempest that we will record in Brno this summer; also in the summer we will record two chamber works: Heat for trombone and piano and Tremor for doublebass and piano. Then, in the fall we will record my second cello concerto Black City with the brilliant cellist Paul York. This is massive new work in five movements of about 45 minutes duration with the unusual element of a concertino that sits somewhat ‘behind’ the cello consisting of prepared piano, Hammered Dulcimer and Orchestral Harp. I am really looking forward to all of these recording projects!
Then I also have some new works to write: a new symphony for our own CCM Philharmonia—this work will feature a large array of trumpets (about 8 of them on and offstage) and recorders, prepared piano and then, of course the full orchestra as well. I am also excited about a new commission from a young Singapore based quintet—Ensemble Go— for Marimba and String Quartet which I will begin work on in the fall.
April 2015
Cinderella
Othalie Graham, Dramatic Soprano
By Helen Lin
Once upon a time in a far away land lived a budding Dramatic Soprano with heart, guts, tenacity and a dream. But just like every other fairy tale princess, she has an obstacle to overcome before she can reach her happily ever after..
Othalie came from humble beginnings. Never had a proper voice teacher, she arrived to audition at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia with her raw talent. It was in AVA, she received the advice that she needed to lose weight. Alone in a foreign country for the first time and dealing with "weight" issues from her father's death, she continued to turn to food for comfort until she sang an Elektra with Doittie Danner directing. "I was just absolutely clueless about the weight issue in our business," she admits. "I would never have been able to sing my first Tosca if I had not lost massive amounts of weight. I would not have been able to continue with the Turandots, and Aidas, or even Wagner without the weight loss," she says firmly. "..when I sang big excerpts of Isolde, I was on my knees and lying on my side..now I can kneel as often as a director asks and get up quickly and gracefully and elegantly. I can run onstage, up stairs, or anywhere without being winded.."
In 2006, Othalie met her prince charming Koran Willis with his love at first sight. One year later, they married in the theater at AVA. "He was strong enough to handle me and the demands of my career," she says.
Known for her interpretation of the title role in Turandot, she has performed the icy princess with Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Columbus, Opera Delaware, Utah Festival Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Pensacola Opera, Sacramento Opera, Boston’s Chorus Pro Musica, the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Harrisburg Symphony. Additional appearances have included Odabella in Attila with Sarasota Opera, the title role of Aida for the inaugural performance of the Istanbul International Opera Festival, Leonora in Il Trovatore with Utah Festival Opera, the title role in Tosca with Festival Opera, and the title role in Elektra at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. Emerging into the Wagnerian repertoire, Ms. Graham’s notable roles also include Senta in Der Fliegender Holländer, Brünnhilde and Sieglinde in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser.
Othalie is receiving critical acclaim throughout North America. As Turandot, the Boston Globe says her “timbre and power were thrilling – steely ring from top to bottom – and her path from imperiousness to passion was convincing.”
Most recent engagements have included Minnie in La Fanciulla del West with Nashville Opera, Turandot with Opera de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico, an all Wagner program with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center and in Lima, Peru, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center, her Atlanta Symphony debut performing the Verdi Requiem, and a series of concerts with ProMusica, Festival Opera, and Opera Delaware.
In the 2013-2014 season Othalie sang the title role of Aida with Opera Carolina and Toledo Opera, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in concert in Zagreb, Croatia, and an all Wagner concert to open the season for the Oakland East Bay Symphony. For her 2014-2015 season Ms. Graham will perform Minnie in La Fanciulla del West with Indianapolis Opera, the title role of Turandot with Michigan Opera Theater, a Wagner Gala with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa in Mexico, the Verdi Requiem with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Lima Symphony, Essential Verdi concert with the Washington Chorus, and the Britten War Requiem with the Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico di Milano Giuseppe Verdi with Maestra Xian Zhang, Aida in Sicily Italy in the Teatro Greco, Turandot in Mexico City with OFUNAM, Turandot with Opera Carolina, Serena in Porgy and Bess with the Jacksonville Symphony and Verdi Requiem with The Handel Society at Dartmouth College.
Concert highlights include a New York recital debut with the Liederkranz Society after winning its annual competition; a Wagner concert co-sponsored by the Wagner Society of Washington D.C. featuring Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung and Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Turandot excerpts with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center; Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra in California; Brünnhilde excerpts from Die Walküre for the L’Opéra de Montréal gala; Elijah with Bryn Terfel and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; a featured appearance with Eve Queler at the Dahesh Museum of Art; as well as opera galas for Pacific Opera Victoria, Vancouver Opera, and Canada’s Oakville Symphony.
Othalie was the first-place winner of the 2010 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition in the Wagner Division; the first-place winner of the 2005 Joyce Dutka Competition; a recipient of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Grant for 2005; and the first-place winner in the Wagner Division of the 2009 Liederkranz Competition. In Canada, her many awards and honors include the coveted Jean Chalmers prize in the Canadian Music Competition, winner of the Edward Johnson Competition, and first place in the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques Competition.
Once upon a time in a far away land lived a budding Dramatic Soprano with heart, guts, tenacity and a dream. But just like every other fairy tale princess, she has an obstacle to overcome before she can reach her happily ever after..
Othalie came from humble beginnings. Never had a proper voice teacher, she arrived to audition at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia with her raw talent. It was in AVA, she received the advice that she needed to lose weight. Alone in a foreign country for the first time and dealing with "weight" issues from her father's death, she continued to turn to food for comfort until she sang an Elektra with Doittie Danner directing. "I was just absolutely clueless about the weight issue in our business," she admits. "I would never have been able to sing my first Tosca if I had not lost massive amounts of weight. I would not have been able to continue with the Turandots, and Aidas, or even Wagner without the weight loss," she says firmly. "..when I sang big excerpts of Isolde, I was on my knees and lying on my side..now I can kneel as often as a director asks and get up quickly and gracefully and elegantly. I can run onstage, up stairs, or anywhere without being winded.."
In 2006, Othalie met her prince charming Koran Willis with his love at first sight. One year later, they married in the theater at AVA. "He was strong enough to handle me and the demands of my career," she says.
Known for her interpretation of the title role in Turandot, she has performed the icy princess with Arizona Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Opera Columbus, Opera Delaware, Utah Festival Opera, Connecticut Grand Opera, Pensacola Opera, Sacramento Opera, Boston’s Chorus Pro Musica, the Westfield Symphony Orchestra, and the Harrisburg Symphony. Additional appearances have included Odabella in Attila with Sarasota Opera, the title role of Aida for the inaugural performance of the Istanbul International Opera Festival, Leonora in Il Trovatore with Utah Festival Opera, the title role in Tosca with Festival Opera, and the title role in Elektra at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. Emerging into the Wagnerian repertoire, Ms. Graham’s notable roles also include Senta in Der Fliegender Holländer, Brünnhilde and Sieglinde in Wagner’s Ring Cycle, and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser.
Othalie is receiving critical acclaim throughout North America. As Turandot, the Boston Globe says her “timbre and power were thrilling – steely ring from top to bottom – and her path from imperiousness to passion was convincing.”
Most recent engagements have included Minnie in La Fanciulla del West with Nashville Opera, Turandot with Opera de Nuevo Leon in Monterrey, Mexico, an all Wagner program with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center and in Lima, Peru, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the Mann Center, her Atlanta Symphony debut performing the Verdi Requiem, and a series of concerts with ProMusica, Festival Opera, and Opera Delaware.
In the 2013-2014 season Othalie sang the title role of Aida with Opera Carolina and Toledo Opera, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde in concert in Zagreb, Croatia, and an all Wagner concert to open the season for the Oakland East Bay Symphony. For her 2014-2015 season Ms. Graham will perform Minnie in La Fanciulla del West with Indianapolis Opera, the title role of Turandot with Michigan Opera Theater, a Wagner Gala with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Xalapa in Mexico, the Verdi Requiem with the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Lima Symphony, Essential Verdi concert with the Washington Chorus, and the Britten War Requiem with the Fondazione Orchestra Sinfonica e Coro Sinfonico di Milano Giuseppe Verdi with Maestra Xian Zhang, Aida in Sicily Italy in the Teatro Greco, Turandot in Mexico City with OFUNAM, Turandot with Opera Carolina, Serena in Porgy and Bess with the Jacksonville Symphony and Verdi Requiem with The Handel Society at Dartmouth College.
Concert highlights include a New York recital debut with the Liederkranz Society after winning its annual competition; a Wagner concert co-sponsored by the Wagner Society of Washington D.C. featuring Brünnhilde’s Immolation Scene from Götterdämmerung and Isolde’s Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Turandot excerpts with the Washington Chorus at the Kennedy Center; Isolde in Tristan und Isolde with the Young Musicians Foundation Orchestra in California; Brünnhilde excerpts from Die Walküre for the L’Opéra de Montréal gala; Elijah with Bryn Terfel and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; a featured appearance with Eve Queler at the Dahesh Museum of Art; as well as opera galas for Pacific Opera Victoria, Vancouver Opera, and Canada’s Oakville Symphony.
Othalie was the first-place winner of the 2010 Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition in the Wagner Division; the first-place winner of the 2005 Joyce Dutka Competition; a recipient of the prestigious Sullivan Foundation Grant for 2005; and the first-place winner in the Wagner Division of the 2009 Liederkranz Competition. In Canada, her many awards and honors include the coveted Jean Chalmers prize in the Canadian Music Competition, winner of the Edward Johnson Competition, and first place in the Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques Competition.
March 2015
Apart from Simply Brilliant Ones
Stanislav Ioudenitch, pianist
"Apart From Simply Brilliant Ones!!" --Stanislav Ioudenitch, pianist
By Helen Lin
Page 24, 25
“A musician of aristocratic elegance and imagination, he makes everything fresh, finding revelatory facets and emotional dimensions without ever imposing anything foreign.”--Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News
“Ioudenitch announced himself as a musician of originality and imagination.”--David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“He searched deeply into Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 in C, K. 467 (a.k.a. the "Elvira Madigan" concerto), shaping every phrase fluidly and poetically with a light, crisp yet never brittle touch. Nothing was blurred or precious, and his playing, even at its gentlest, had an understated rhythmic spine.” --Richard S. Ginell, Los Angeles Times
“Everything is marked by a laserlike clarity and cleanness. His command of octaves, passagework, trills, repeated notes—the whole arsenal of virtuoso fireworks—is complete. And this technical accomplishment is entirely at the service of a probing musical intellect.”--Ellen Pfeifer, The Boston Globe
“The world will continue to watch Ioudenitch with tremendous interest. He possesses much of the disciplined extravagance and genuine artistic maturity that traditionally sets great artists apart from simply brilliant ones.”--Paul Horsley, Kansas City Star
“… a young man whose playing is consistently interesting and whose interpretations are fresh, thought-through, intelligent and musical while faithful to the composers’ intent.”--Philippa Kiraly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Stanislav Ioudenitch has grown to become one of the most promising young artists in the world of music, already at a young age exhibiting a strong individuality and musical conviction that set him apart from other artists of his generation.
In 2001 Stanislav Ioudenitch received the Gold Medal at the Eleventh Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Additionally he was awarded three years of international concert engagements and career management, as well as a compact disc recording of his award-winning Cliburn Competition recital performances for the Harmonia Mundi label.
Mr. Ioudenitch has netted top prizes at numerous piano competitions including F. Busoni, W. Kapell, and Maria Callas Competitions. He has given concerts in major cities and venues throughout Asia, Europe, North America and South Africa, and performed with various orchestras including the National Washington Symphony Orchestra, the Munchner Philharmoniker, Philharmonie der Nationen, the National Philharmonic of Russia, National Symphony of Ireland, Borusan Philharmonic and Cape Philharmonic.
Mr. Ioudenitch was featured in "Playing on the Edge", the Peabody Award-winning documentary about the Eleventh Van Cliburn Competition which has aired on PBS stations across the United States. his Final Round Cliburn Competition performances with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and Maestro James Conlon are showcased in the PBS series Concerto.
He has studied with Natalya Vasinkina, Dmitry Bashkirov, Leon Fleisher, Murray Parahia, Karl ulrich Schnabel, Fou Ts'ong, William Grant nabore and Rosalyn Tureck, among others. According to Ioudenitch, it is through working with such expert ears that a pianist shapes a personal style. After a pianist learns the notes and dynamics of a composition, the final work is polished with the help of outside opinions. As for his personal style, Ioudenitch says he attempts to bring out the heart in the music. "I try to bring emotions to the sound, to play with emotions," he said.
Mr. Ioudenitch is building a new music program at Park University, where he currently serves as a professor of piano and Executive Director of the International Center for Music.
February 2015
Goddess on Cello
Tina Guo, cellist
Goddess on Cello
By Helen Lin
Page 19
"…a heavy metal goddess on cello, Tina Guo."—Rolling Stone (Italy)
"Saying that Tina is a talented musician is an understatement... utterly speechless and amazed. A musical prodigy."—All Access Magazine
Tina Guo has developed an international multi-faceted performance and recording career as a classical cellist and heavy metal electric cellist, erhuist, and composer known for her distinctive sound and improvisatory style in major motion picture, television, and game scores. She is featured in the commercial for the new 2014 Mazda6, the 2014 United Airlines commercial, and was also a featured soloist in Cirque Du Soleil's Michael Jackson "The Immortal" World Tour from 2011-2013 performing in sold out arenas around the world. Tina performed to 2 million audience members worldwide with the tour, and they topped the charts for 2 years as the highest grossing tour in America and sold out shows at the Ice Palace in Saint Petersburg, Hallenstadion in Zurich, Madison Square Garden in New York City, Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, O2 Arenas in London, Berlin, and Prague, Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Staples Center in Los Angeles, and almost all major arenas throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Germany, Austria, Spain, Hungary, Italy, France, Belgium, Turkey, Portugal, and Japan. Tina is also featured on the Epic Records/Jackson Estate release "Immortal," replacing the original guitar solo in "Beat It" with an Electric Cello/Guitar Battle-style duet with guitarist Greg Howe.
Tina's musical education began at the age of 3, when she began her piano studies in Shanghai, China. After coming to America at the age of 5, she began violin lessons with her mother and later began studying the cello under the instruction of her father, Lu-Yan Guo at the age of 7. Tina continued her professional cello studies with Eleonore Schoenfeld at the the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music on full scholarship, and was also a Governor's Scholar for academic excellence.
As a classical cello soloist, Tina Guo has appeared as guest artist with the San Diego Symphony, the State of Mexico National Symphony, the Thessaloniki State Symphony in Greece, the Petrobras Symphony in Brazil, and the Vancouver Island Symphony in British Columbia. She also performed with violinist Midori Goto in Dvorak's American String Quartet at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and completed four national tours of Mexico and Italy performing the Shostakovich, Dvorak, Haydn, and Saint-Saëns Cello Concertos. Tina toured as a featured guest with Al Di Meola, one of the most prominent virtuosos and influential guitarists in the contemporary jazz field, with Japanese superstar Yoshiki of X Japan on his Classical World Tour, and recently appeared with the Tenerife Symphony and Choir in the Canary Islands performing "Batman: The Dark Knight" Suite at the 2014 Tenerife International Film Festival, featured on Electric Cello.
Tina was the cello soloist on the scores of Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Clash of the Titans, Red Riding Hood, Abduction, Olympus Has Fallen, CSI:NY, Vikings, The Borgias, Iron Chef, Blizzard's Diablo III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Journey, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack. Tina can also be heard on the soundtracks of Inception, Hancock, Battle: Los Angeles, The Hangover Part II, Predators, Fast Five, Arthur, No Strings Attached, Beginners, Public Enemies, Rango, The Rite, X-Men: First Class, Your Highness, Yogi Bear, The Mentalist, Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, King of the Hill, and a commercial for Apple iPhone, among many others. Tina also contributed Electric Cello to the creation of elements that were used by Sound Designer Scott Martin Gershin in the creation of the Kaijus in Pacific Rim. Her arrangement and performance of "The Flight of the Bumble-Bee" was featured in the end credits for The Heartbreak Kid and she was an additional composer on the feature film Persecuted. Tina will appear in 2015 on Shameless (Showtime) as "Gilly" and also provided original music for the show.
Tina played at the American Country Music Awards with Carrie Underwood, on Dancing with the Stars with Carlos Santana and India Arie, Jimmy Kimmel Live with Ellie Goulding, the Lopez Show with Far East Movement, the Grammy Awards with the Foo Fighters, the MTV Movie Awards, American Idol, at Comic Con in San Diego featured on the electric cello in the Battlestar Galactica Orchestra, and with Brazilian guitarist Victor Biglione in a Jimi Hendrix Tribute Concert at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro. She also performed at the wrap party for the Sundance Film Festival, was featured in a wildlife benefit concert at the Playboy Mansion, and has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Peter Gabriel, Josh Groban, John Legend, LeAnn Rhimes, Chris Isaak, Il Divo, Far East Movement, Ariana Grande, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Jennifer Hudson, and Michael McDonald. Corporate clients have included Microsoft, Cephalon Biopharmaceutics, and the PGA.
The instrumental metal music video for her song "Queen Bee" won Best Short Film/Music Video at the Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival. Her songs "Queen Bee" and "Forbidden City" are also available for download to play for Rockband on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Metal Hammer Magazine UK described Tina as "an international sensation" and she was also featured in Glamour Magazine Russia with a full 2 page spread. An avid writer, her first published work is "Event Horizons of Yin and Yang," a collection of philosophical prose and poetry. Tina holds a Bachelors in Metaphysics and is currently working on her Masters Degree. Currently, Tina is recording her 2015 debut Metal Album, which include both original songs and covers of metal classics by Slayer, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pantera, and Black Sabbath. The covers feature guest guitarists John 5, Wes Borland, Al Di Meola, Nita Strauss, and Logan Mader.
Tina Guo Contracting, based in Los Angeles, provides Exclusive Musicians and Entertainment for Live Performance, Recording, and Corporate Events. Tina is also the co-founder and CEO of MG Music Int'l, a production company in partnership with her husband, composer and director R. Armando Morabito, that specializes in hybrid epic cinematic music for TV, Film, Video Games, and Trailers. MG Music has provided music for the 2014 Mercedes S-Class Video, Call of Duty: Ghosts MTX 4, and the Official Trailer for feature film "The Best Offer." On television, their music can be heard on WWE Smackdown, WWE Monday Night Raw, NHL Rivals, Chopped, Mission October on Fox Sports, Inside the PGA Tour, Road to Ferrari, and Against the Odds on the American Heroes Channel.
January 2015
Born with Talent to Burn
Laura Schwendinger, Classical Composer
"Born with talent to burn"
-Laura Schwendinger,
classical composer
By Helen Lin
The first composer to win the prestigious American Academy in Berlin Prize, Laura Schwendinger, is one of the leading composers of her generation. A Professor of Composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Director of the Contemporary Ensemble there, was born in Mexico City in 1962. Her music has been performed leading artists or our day, including Dawn Upshaw, on her Carnegie Hall debut and subsequently on Tour 1997-2013; and recorded by Upshaw on Voices of Our Time, a TDK/Naxos DVD), the Arditti and JACK quartets, recording artists Janine Jansen, Grammy winner Jennifer Koh, Matt Haimovitz, Christina Jennings, and Internationally recognized new music ensembles including, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, New Juilliard Ensemble, Collage New Music, the Boston Musica Viva, Aspen Ensemble, Voices of Change, Dinosaur Annex, and established ensembles alike, such as the Trinity Choir, the American Composers Orchestra and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra; At many of the world’s leading venues, including the Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall London, Berlin Philharmonic Kammermusiksaal, Carnegie Hall, Times Center, Symphony Space, BargeMusic, National Arts Centre of Canada, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in NY, The Theatre du Chatalet in Paris, the Tanglewood, Aspen and Ojai Music Festivals, and was just named a recipient of the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA Music Alive Partnerships residency with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
Her extensive honors include those from many of the most prestigious in her field, including from the Guggenheim, Koussevitzky-Library of Congress and Fromm Foundations, Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Copland House, Harvard Musical Association, Chamber Music America, two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (a Leiberson Fellowship given to “mid-career composer of exceptional gifts”& Charles Ives Scholarship) and first-prize of the 1995 ALEA III International Composition Competition.
She has written over one hundred concert works. Two acclaimed CDs of her work were released last year on Centaur and Albany records; High Wire Acts (Centaur), and 3 Works for Solo Instruments and Orchestra featuring Matt Haimovitz, and Christina Jennings (2001 Concert Artist Guild winner). Her works have been widely reviewed in the nation’s papers. Barnaby Rayfield wrote in his review of 3 Works (Fanfare) "You know you have talent to burn, when you intend just to major in the flute, but instead (out of the blue) John Adams recommends you also go into composition, just on the strength of a few submitted works."..."This is ballsy, confident music-making in both writing and execution and proves that serious contemporary music does not have to dumb down to be immediately accessible and emotional. Highly recommended.' Art Lange wrote in his Fanfare review of 3 Works for Solo Instruments and Orchestra "..her music has at its core her own impressive point of view...its material is tightly wound and full of surprising shifts and contrasts...—Schwendinger isn’t afraid to stretch her muscles—that allow the violin to bristle and wax rhapsodic (and, occasionally, wistful), responding to the fanciful, emphatic orchestral provocation. In these works, Schwendinger displays an acute ear for engaging melodic contours and evocative settings”. Lynn Bayley wrote in her Fanfare review"...There is an exquisite slow section in the middle of the movement before it ends, emphatically, with guillotine-like chopped chords in the orchestra, that force the work towards its conclusion. Moreover, Schwendinger manages to sustain the drama even in the quietest passages, even when the orchestra drops to a near-whisper. It is tremendously effective writing." Winning a Grammy for its producer Judith Sherman, Cedille’s Notable Women featured her C’e la Luna Questa Sera? recorded by the Lincoln Trio and was listed as a "hidden gem" in UK Guardian. The disc received great critical praise. William Zagorski (in Fanfare) wrote of her work, “it evokes a sense of serene mystery and infinite beauty.”
Her works have been extensively reviewed in the New York Times, with three entries in the last month alone.
A Google search of her name and the NY Times alone, yields three full pages of reviews, a full Google search her name yields hundreds of entries. In addition to Corinna Fonseca-Wollheim’s review of Schwendinger’s CD High Wire Acts, the New York Times coverage is extensive. Of her Song for Andrew, performed by the prestigious New Juilliard Ensemble at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, Anthony Tommasini wrote (NY Times) “The piece is darkly attractive, artful and moving…”Anthony Tommasini wrote of Dawn Upshaw -and Schwendinger’s Carnegie Hall debuts in 1997, “Laura Elise Schwendinger's fanciful setting of E. E. Cummings's ''In Just-Spring,'' with its wonderfully fidgety accompaniment.” And Vivien Schweitzer wrote of Schwendinger’s American Composers Orchestra commission at Carnegie Hall (NY Times) “In Laura Schwendinger’s “Shadings,” richly scored shimmering music ebbed and swirled in tandem with a series of enigmatic photographs projected above the orchestra.”
-Laura Schwendinger,
classical composer
By Helen Lin
The first composer to win the prestigious American Academy in Berlin Prize, Laura Schwendinger, is one of the leading composers of her generation. A Professor of Composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Director of the Contemporary Ensemble there, was born in Mexico City in 1962. Her music has been performed leading artists or our day, including Dawn Upshaw, on her Carnegie Hall debut and subsequently on Tour 1997-2013; and recorded by Upshaw on Voices of Our Time, a TDK/Naxos DVD), the Arditti and JACK quartets, recording artists Janine Jansen, Grammy winner Jennifer Koh, Matt Haimovitz, Christina Jennings, and Internationally recognized new music ensembles including, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Eighth Blackbird, New Juilliard Ensemble, Collage New Music, the Boston Musica Viva, Aspen Ensemble, Voices of Change, Dinosaur Annex, and established ensembles alike, such as the Trinity Choir, the American Composers Orchestra and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra; At many of the world’s leading venues, including the Kennedy Center for thePerforming Arts, Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall London, Berlin Philharmonic Kammermusiksaal, Carnegie Hall, Times Center, Symphony Space, BargeMusic, National Arts Centre of Canada, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in NY, The Theatre du Chatalet in Paris, the Tanglewood, Aspen and Ojai Music Festivals, and was just named a recipient of the League of American Orchestras and New Music USA Music Alive Partnerships residency with the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
Her extensive honors include those from many of the most prestigious in her field, including from the Guggenheim, Koussevitzky-Library of Congress and Fromm Foundations, Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies at Harvard University, Copland House, Harvard Musical Association, Chamber Music America, two awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (a Leiberson Fellowship given to “mid-career composer of exceptional gifts”& Charles Ives Scholarship) and first-prize of the 1995 ALEA III International Composition Competition.
She has written over one hundred concert works. Two acclaimed CDs of her work were released last year on Centaur and Albany records; High Wire Acts (Centaur), and 3 Works for Solo Instruments and Orchestra featuring Matt Haimovitz, and Christina Jennings (2001 Concert Artist Guild winner). Her works have been widely reviewed in the nation’s papers. Barnaby Rayfield wrote in his review of 3 Works (Fanfare) "You know you have talent to burn, when you intend just to major in the flute, but instead (out of the blue) John Adams recommends you also go into composition, just on the strength of a few submitted works."..."This is ballsy, confident music-making in both writing and execution and proves that serious contemporary music does not have to dumb down to be immediately accessible and emotional. Highly recommended.' Art Lange wrote in his Fanfare review of 3 Works for Solo Instruments and Orchestra "..her music has at its core her own impressive point of view...its material is tightly wound and full of surprising shifts and contrasts...—Schwendinger isn’t afraid to stretch her muscles—that allow the violin to bristle and wax rhapsodic (and, occasionally, wistful), responding to the fanciful, emphatic orchestral provocation. In these works, Schwendinger displays an acute ear for engaging melodic contours and evocative settings”. Lynn Bayley wrote in her Fanfare review"...There is an exquisite slow section in the middle of the movement before it ends, emphatically, with guillotine-like chopped chords in the orchestra, that force the work towards its conclusion. Moreover, Schwendinger manages to sustain the drama even in the quietest passages, even when the orchestra drops to a near-whisper. It is tremendously effective writing." Winning a Grammy for its producer Judith Sherman, Cedille’s Notable Women featured her C’e la Luna Questa Sera? recorded by the Lincoln Trio and was listed as a "hidden gem" in UK Guardian. The disc received great critical praise. William Zagorski (in Fanfare) wrote of her work, “it evokes a sense of serene mystery and infinite beauty.”
Her works have been extensively reviewed in the New York Times, with three entries in the last month alone.
A Google search of her name and the NY Times alone, yields three full pages of reviews, a full Google search her name yields hundreds of entries. In addition to Corinna Fonseca-Wollheim’s review of Schwendinger’s CD High Wire Acts, the New York Times coverage is extensive. Of her Song for Andrew, performed by the prestigious New Juilliard Ensemble at the Museum of Modern Art in NY, Anthony Tommasini wrote (NY Times) “The piece is darkly attractive, artful and moving…”Anthony Tommasini wrote of Dawn Upshaw -and Schwendinger’s Carnegie Hall debuts in 1997, “Laura Elise Schwendinger's fanciful setting of E. E. Cummings's ''In Just-Spring,'' with its wonderfully fidgety accompaniment.” And Vivien Schweitzer wrote of Schwendinger’s American Composers Orchestra commission at Carnegie Hall (NY Times) “In Laura Schwendinger’s “Shadings,” richly scored shimmering music ebbed and swirled in tandem with a series of enigmatic photographs projected above the orchestra.”
December 2014
Self Managed
Brett Deubner, Violist
"Self-managed"
-Brett Deubner, violist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
Internationally acclaimed viola soloist Brett Deubner is based in the New York City area but has his roots in Texas where he was a student at Houston's High School for the Visual Arts. A student of famed violinist Fredell Lack in the mid 80's, Deubner went on to graduate from the Eastman School of Music and has gone on to make a singular name for himself as one of the world's leading viola soloists, championing over 80 works written for him by composers world wide.
Recent collaborations include concertos written for him by Samuel Adler, Lalo Schifrin and an upcoming concerto by Grammy winning American composer Richard Danielpour. Brett Deubner is affiliated with the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York City but during the summer he is on the faculty at the International Festival of Round Top, Texas.
Deubner recalls, " Coming to Round Top as the viola faculty artist is sort of like coming home because in the early 90's I was a student there. Now the very professors with whom I studied are my dear colleagues."
Brett Deubner's recent engagements include successful solo appearances with the New Jersey, Grand Rapids, Missoula, Knoxville Symphonies as well as the Thuringer Symphoniker of Germany, the National Symphony of Ecuador, Orchestre bel'Arte of Paris in addition to concerto performances in Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Australia.
Deubner has over 15 CD's to his credit on the Naxos, Innova, Centaur, Albany labels and is featured in Wikipedia for his transcription and recordings of Frank Lewin's 2 viola concerti. With a minimum of 2-3 world premiere concertos for the next three seasons and several more in the works, Brett Deubner is enjoying the role he has carved out for himself performing concertos with 8-10 symphonies and roughly 20 recitals per season. What may be even more surprising is that Deubner is "self managed" and through the skills of self promotion and marketing he has developed he often gives motiviational lectures to young aspiring professionals about being their own "best advocate in the arts."
In addition to his busy career as a self made soloist, Brett runs his own concert series in New Jersey and is the father of four including a high school bassoonist attending Juilliard pre-college.There is no sign of things slowing down as Brett gives the world premiere of five viola concerti during the next three seasons as well as return concerto, recital, and master class engagements in North and South America and Europe.
-Brett Deubner, violist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
Internationally acclaimed viola soloist Brett Deubner is based in the New York City area but has his roots in Texas where he was a student at Houston's High School for the Visual Arts. A student of famed violinist Fredell Lack in the mid 80's, Deubner went on to graduate from the Eastman School of Music and has gone on to make a singular name for himself as one of the world's leading viola soloists, championing over 80 works written for him by composers world wide.
Recent collaborations include concertos written for him by Samuel Adler, Lalo Schifrin and an upcoming concerto by Grammy winning American composer Richard Danielpour. Brett Deubner is affiliated with the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York City but during the summer he is on the faculty at the International Festival of Round Top, Texas.
Deubner recalls, " Coming to Round Top as the viola faculty artist is sort of like coming home because in the early 90's I was a student there. Now the very professors with whom I studied are my dear colleagues."
Brett Deubner's recent engagements include successful solo appearances with the New Jersey, Grand Rapids, Missoula, Knoxville Symphonies as well as the Thuringer Symphoniker of Germany, the National Symphony of Ecuador, Orchestre bel'Arte of Paris in addition to concerto performances in Denmark, Bulgaria, Italy, Venezuela, Ukraine, and Australia.
Deubner has over 15 CD's to his credit on the Naxos, Innova, Centaur, Albany labels and is featured in Wikipedia for his transcription and recordings of Frank Lewin's 2 viola concerti. With a minimum of 2-3 world premiere concertos for the next three seasons and several more in the works, Brett Deubner is enjoying the role he has carved out for himself performing concertos with 8-10 symphonies and roughly 20 recitals per season. What may be even more surprising is that Deubner is "self managed" and through the skills of self promotion and marketing he has developed he often gives motiviational lectures to young aspiring professionals about being their own "best advocate in the arts."
In addition to his busy career as a self made soloist, Brett runs his own concert series in New Jersey and is the father of four including a high school bassoonist attending Juilliard pre-college.There is no sign of things slowing down as Brett gives the world premiere of five viola concerti during the next three seasons as well as return concerto, recital, and master class engagements in North and South America and Europe.
November 2014
The Sound that Grabs You By Ears and Won't Let Go
Andrew Rudin, Composer
"The Sound Grabs You By Ears And Won't Let Go"
-Andrew Rudin, Composer
By Helen Lin
page 19
“Extroverted, engaging and driven by an almost heroic sense of drama, Rudin has a gift for the kind of gesture that grabs you by the ears and won’t let go.”, wrote the Washington Post at the 2008 premiere of his Piano Concerto.
Of the Viola Concerto, Fanfare magazine declared “The concerto is an important addition to the none-too-large repertoire for this instrument.”
Andrew Rudin, born in Texas has lived in Philadelphia and New York for the last 50 years, and now resides in Allentown, NJ. He is the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among his many grants and awards. He has taught on the faculties of the Juilliard School and The Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, where he was the founding director of the Electronic Music Center.
His latest work, "September Trilogy", for string orchestra was given its premiere recently by the Philadelphia-based new music ensemble, Orchestra 2001. Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, described it as “an intriguing three-movement work that became the composer's reaction to 9/11, much of it having a foreboding undercurrent from double basses, but also following the lead of Britten's Cello Symphony in bass interplay with fragmented treble writing for the upper strings. The march-like second movement is more like Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges than anything conventional, and the final movement, titled "Prayer," exudes a sincerity that makes this piece a genuine addition to the body of 9/11 laments.”
In his 75th birthday year, "September Trilogy", is but the latest in a celebratory year that seen his violin and cello sonatas featured at NYC’s BargeMusic, an evening of his pioneering synthesizer works in Philadelphia, and the release of his Three String Sonatas on Centaur Records. The Dallas-based ensemble, Voices of Change will premiere Dreaming at the Wheel, a setting of four poems by Texas poet, Charles Behlen, on October 19, and he will travel to Moscow in early December where his Celebrations for two pianos and percussion, the first movement of which is dedicated to George Crumb, will be performed as part of a jubilee celebration of Crumb’s work at the Moscow Conservatory. Early in 2015 his Portentum for solo percussion will be featured in a program presented by the Washington Square Chamber Music Society in New York. A residency at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has commissioned a piano trio from Rudin to be presented next season in November by 1807 & Friends in Philadelphia.
The last ten years have seen the creations of his Concertos for Violin, Piano, and Viola, as well as his 2013 Piano Sonata. All of these works, as well as the cello sonata, have used the 12-tone system to highly lyrical effect, with the Viola Concerto dedicated to the memory of his principle teacher and mentor, George Rochberg, drawing its 12-note series from the opening theme of Rochberg’s Second Symphony. However, the two most recent works mentioned above depart from that technique and are more freely organized.
Rudin says, “It has always been my belief that systems do not guarantee success or failure in a composition. While Schonberg said that there was still plenty of good music to be written in C major, it is also true that merely being tonal is no guarantee of excellence or even attractiveness. The belief that is held by many lay-listeners that 12-tone or atonal music is automatically harsh or off-putting is something that I believe my music demonstrates is a false concept. I have also come to believe that the principle difficulty that the general music loving public has is the lack of genuine melody in much music of recent decades. It has been my desire to face this problem and return to a principle that I understood instinctively as a fledgling composer, that melody and memorable thematic material is the starting point of most composition, the lack of which cannot be made up by "orchestrational" effects, or textural gimmicks. At the same time, the so-called “new Romanticism”or “return to tonality” is not guaranteed merely by the appearance of the familiar triads and 7th-chords of tonal music. It is not enough to merely borrow or imitate the harmonic and melodic characteristics of the past. My employment of the 12-tone method of composing has been in part to realize my own preference for a music that might be called “pan-chromatic” in its pitch materials, and attempts to make accessible melodic and harmonic material that does not rely on diatonic organization. I believe we are in a period of great consolidation from the Modernist revolution of the 20th Century, where it must be noted still that Bartok, Ives, Schonberg, Berg, and such later masters as Messiaen and Lutoslawski still exhibit the skills of great melodic writing as has always been true in past eras.”
His music can be heard on the Centaur, Innova, and ERM labels, and is published by Associated Music Publishers as well as Skåne Hill Music. The composer’s professional affiliation is BMI.
-Andrew Rudin, Composer
By Helen Lin
page 19
“Extroverted, engaging and driven by an almost heroic sense of drama, Rudin has a gift for the kind of gesture that grabs you by the ears and won’t let go.”, wrote the Washington Post at the 2008 premiere of his Piano Concerto.
Of the Viola Concerto, Fanfare magazine declared “The concerto is an important addition to the none-too-large repertoire for this instrument.”
Andrew Rudin, born in Texas has lived in Philadelphia and New York for the last 50 years, and now resides in Allentown, NJ. He is the recipient of fellowships from Yaddo, The MacDowell Colony, Ucross Foundation, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, among his many grants and awards. He has taught on the faculties of the Juilliard School and The Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, where he was the founding director of the Electronic Music Center.
His latest work, "September Trilogy", for string orchestra was given its premiere recently by the Philadelphia-based new music ensemble, Orchestra 2001. Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns, described it as “an intriguing three-movement work that became the composer's reaction to 9/11, much of it having a foreboding undercurrent from double basses, but also following the lead of Britten's Cello Symphony in bass interplay with fragmented treble writing for the upper strings. The march-like second movement is more like Prokofiev's Love for Three Oranges than anything conventional, and the final movement, titled "Prayer," exudes a sincerity that makes this piece a genuine addition to the body of 9/11 laments.”
In his 75th birthday year, "September Trilogy", is but the latest in a celebratory year that seen his violin and cello sonatas featured at NYC’s BargeMusic, an evening of his pioneering synthesizer works in Philadelphia, and the release of his Three String Sonatas on Centaur Records. The Dallas-based ensemble, Voices of Change will premiere Dreaming at the Wheel, a setting of four poems by Texas poet, Charles Behlen, on October 19, and he will travel to Moscow in early December where his Celebrations for two pianos and percussion, the first movement of which is dedicated to George Crumb, will be performed as part of a jubilee celebration of Crumb’s work at the Moscow Conservatory. Early in 2015 his Portentum for solo percussion will be featured in a program presented by the Washington Square Chamber Music Society in New York. A residency at The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts has commissioned a piano trio from Rudin to be presented next season in November by 1807 & Friends in Philadelphia.
The last ten years have seen the creations of his Concertos for Violin, Piano, and Viola, as well as his 2013 Piano Sonata. All of these works, as well as the cello sonata, have used the 12-tone system to highly lyrical effect, with the Viola Concerto dedicated to the memory of his principle teacher and mentor, George Rochberg, drawing its 12-note series from the opening theme of Rochberg’s Second Symphony. However, the two most recent works mentioned above depart from that technique and are more freely organized.
Rudin says, “It has always been my belief that systems do not guarantee success or failure in a composition. While Schonberg said that there was still plenty of good music to be written in C major, it is also true that merely being tonal is no guarantee of excellence or even attractiveness. The belief that is held by many lay-listeners that 12-tone or atonal music is automatically harsh or off-putting is something that I believe my music demonstrates is a false concept. I have also come to believe that the principle difficulty that the general music loving public has is the lack of genuine melody in much music of recent decades. It has been my desire to face this problem and return to a principle that I understood instinctively as a fledgling composer, that melody and memorable thematic material is the starting point of most composition, the lack of which cannot be made up by "orchestrational" effects, or textural gimmicks. At the same time, the so-called “new Romanticism”or “return to tonality” is not guaranteed merely by the appearance of the familiar triads and 7th-chords of tonal music. It is not enough to merely borrow or imitate the harmonic and melodic characteristics of the past. My employment of the 12-tone method of composing has been in part to realize my own preference for a music that might be called “pan-chromatic” in its pitch materials, and attempts to make accessible melodic and harmonic material that does not rely on diatonic organization. I believe we are in a period of great consolidation from the Modernist revolution of the 20th Century, where it must be noted still that Bartok, Ives, Schonberg, Berg, and such later masters as Messiaen and Lutoslawski still exhibit the skills of great melodic writing as has always been true in past eras.”
His music can be heard on the Centaur, Innova, and ERM labels, and is published by Associated Music Publishers as well as Skåne Hill Music. The composer’s professional affiliation is BMI.
October 2014
A Musician To Cherish
Margarita Shevchenko, pianist
"A musician to cherish"
-Margarita Shevchenko, pianist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
"A musician to cherish" who has won the hearts of audiences, critics and competition judges around the world..Cleveland's music critic Donald Rosenberg said.
"...the delicacy of her scurrying pianissimo passage work was exemplary.." The New York Times noted.
Margarita Shevchenko, a native of Russia, a musician of "uncommon sensitivity and refinement," is one of the leading young pianists on the international concert platform today. She has won top prizes at major international piano competitions including the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw; Leeds International Piano Competition, England; Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (Outstanding Merit Prize) Japan; Goettingen International Piano Competition, Germany; UNISA International Piano Competition, Pretoria, South Africa, Cleveland International Piano Competition, USA; and the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Israel. In addition, she was honored to be the recipient of five Special Chopin Prizes at the competitions in Warsaw, Cleveland, Goettingen, Pretoria and Tel Aviv.
Ms. Shevchenko has toured throughout the world, giving recital and concerto performances in the United States, Canada, throughout Europe, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Israel and South Africa. Highlights of her many orchestral appearances include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Mendi Rodan and Cape Town Symphony under JoAnn Faletta, as well as the Polish National Philharmonic, Polish Radio Television Orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, New Arts Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, and the Hamamatsu Symphony Orchestra Japan. Highlights including her debut with the Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra under Ruben Gazarian at the Weilburg Schlosskonzerte in Germany in 2005 and 2006, Orquestra Symphonica Braziliera in Rio de Janeiro under the direction of Gisele Ben Dor in 2007, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra led by Lucas Richman in 2008.
Ms. Shevchenko has given solo recitals to critical acclaim at New York's Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and other major halls abroad including Gasteig Performance Center, Munich; Old Opera House, Frankfurt; Salle Cortot, and Chatelet Theater, Paris; Leeds City Hall, U.K, Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow; Big Hall of Moscow Conservatory; Yamaha Hall, Tokyo, Japan; Minsk Philharmony; Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary; National Philharmony, Warsaw; Philharmony Brazilia; Cape Town Philharmony; South Africa, and Mann Auditorium, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Her performances have been broadcast in Germany, Denmark, England, Russia, Poland and the USA. In 2000 she recorded a solo recital for NHK Television (Japan) in New York City's Steinway Hall. Her four CD's include a collection of Schubert works (Master Musicians, England, Cleveland Competition Winner's Recital, Live from Chopin Competition in Warsaw and Chopin Recital. The CD's were reviewed by John Bell Young, pianist and music critic of the American Record Guide, as "recordings that stand out as object lessons in musical intelligence and decorum."
Ms. Shevchenko resides in the United States. She started to play the piano at the age of 5 and made her debut with a symphony orchestra at the age of 12. She received her musical training at Moscow Central Music School, Moscow State Conservatory, where she received her Master of Music degree, and at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ohio.
-Margarita Shevchenko, pianist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
"A musician to cherish" who has won the hearts of audiences, critics and competition judges around the world..Cleveland's music critic Donald Rosenberg said.
"...the delicacy of her scurrying pianissimo passage work was exemplary.." The New York Times noted.
Margarita Shevchenko, a native of Russia, a musician of "uncommon sensitivity and refinement," is one of the leading young pianists on the international concert platform today. She has won top prizes at major international piano competitions including the Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw; Leeds International Piano Competition, England; Hamamatsu International Piano Competition (Outstanding Merit Prize) Japan; Goettingen International Piano Competition, Germany; UNISA International Piano Competition, Pretoria, South Africa, Cleveland International Piano Competition, USA; and the Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition, Israel. In addition, she was honored to be the recipient of five Special Chopin Prizes at the competitions in Warsaw, Cleveland, Goettingen, Pretoria and Tel Aviv.
Ms. Shevchenko has toured throughout the world, giving recital and concerto performances in the United States, Canada, throughout Europe, Brazil, Japan, Russia, Israel and South Africa. Highlights of her many orchestral appearances include performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under Mendi Rodan and Cape Town Symphony under JoAnn Faletta, as well as the Polish National Philharmonic, Polish Radio Television Orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, New Arts Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, and the Hamamatsu Symphony Orchestra Japan. Highlights including her debut with the Wuerttemberg Chamber Orchestra under Ruben Gazarian at the Weilburg Schlosskonzerte in Germany in 2005 and 2006, Orquestra Symphonica Braziliera in Rio de Janeiro under the direction of Gisele Ben Dor in 2007, and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra led by Lucas Richman in 2008.
Ms. Shevchenko has given solo recitals to critical acclaim at New York's Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and other major halls abroad including Gasteig Performance Center, Munich; Old Opera House, Frankfurt; Salle Cortot, and Chatelet Theater, Paris; Leeds City Hall, U.K, Tchaikovsky Hall, Moscow; Big Hall of Moscow Conservatory; Yamaha Hall, Tokyo, Japan; Minsk Philharmony; Jack Singer Concert Hall, Calgary; National Philharmony, Warsaw; Philharmony Brazilia; Cape Town Philharmony; South Africa, and Mann Auditorium, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Her performances have been broadcast in Germany, Denmark, England, Russia, Poland and the USA. In 2000 she recorded a solo recital for NHK Television (Japan) in New York City's Steinway Hall. Her four CD's include a collection of Schubert works (Master Musicians, England, Cleveland Competition Winner's Recital, Live from Chopin Competition in Warsaw and Chopin Recital. The CD's were reviewed by John Bell Young, pianist and music critic of the American Record Guide, as "recordings that stand out as object lessons in musical intelligence and decorum."
Ms. Shevchenko resides in the United States. She started to play the piano at the age of 5 and made her debut with a symphony orchestra at the age of 12. She received her musical training at Moscow Central Music School, Moscow State Conservatory, where she received her Master of Music degree, and at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ohio.
September 2014
Modern David Oistrakh
Chin Kim, Violinist
"Modern David Oistrakh"
-Chin Kim, violinist
By Helen Lin
page 19
"Virtuoso," "musically assertive," "rich, golden tone" and "perceptive" are words of critical acclaim describing Mr. Kim's performance of the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 compact disc, "Kim's deep, into-the-strings tone reminded me of a very favorite recording, the old David Oistrakh Soviet monaural recording," "more than enough technique to master these piece..." are words describing the Tchaikovsky, and the Glazunov Concertos recording.
"From the beginning it was obvious that here was a fiddler with a natural knack for the instrument...possessed of an irrepressible spirit...the flashing brilliance of the last movement literally brought the audience to its feet."-The Strad, London, England
"The technique is brilliant, and the sonority penetrating; it could even appear piercing...It was a personal rendition, one of those rare occasions of risking a personal approach in the familiar Concerto of Tchaikovsky and in the work of Freedman."-HIER SOIR, Montreal, Canada
Top prizewinner in several of the most prestigious international violin competitions including the Concours International de Musique de Montréal, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Paganini Competition, and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Mr. Kim is the recipient of the Nan-Pa Prize awarded by the Nan-Pa Foundation in Korea, which is one of the highest honors given to a Korean-born musician.
He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and, subsequently from the Juilliard School where he received the Petschek Award, and won the Concerto Competition which led to the performance of the Glazunov Concerto with the Juilliard Philharmonia in Lincoln Center. With his busy performing schedule, he also teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York. His major teachers include Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian, and Josef Gingold.
Mr. Kim has been concertizing extensively throughout North America, Asia and Europe as guest artist with orchestras as those of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montréal, and Atlanta with conductors like Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Myung Whun Chung, and Sixten Ehrling. As recitalist, Mr. Kim appeared in major halls of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montréal, Toronto, Brussels, and Seoul. His recent concerts include the performance of Bernstein's Serenade with the Atlanta Symphony, Barber Concerto with Wayne Chamber Orchestra, and the Glazunov Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic.
Mr. Kim's debut recording of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Russia), under the baton of Paul Freeman, and the Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 in D Major with pianist David Oei, was released on the ProArte/Fanfare label. His second CD consisting of the Mendelssohn c minor, and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio with the "Starr-Kim-Boeckheler Piano Trio" was released on the Mastersound label, and his most recent CD, the Glazunov and Tchaikovsky Concertos was recorded and released by Intersound/Fanfare label in the fall of 1995, following the performances of the Concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. He is one of the most versatile, and sought-after young violinists today.
-Chin Kim, violinist
By Helen Lin
page 19
"Virtuoso," "musically assertive," "rich, golden tone" and "perceptive" are words of critical acclaim describing Mr. Kim's performance of the Prokofiev Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 compact disc, "Kim's deep, into-the-strings tone reminded me of a very favorite recording, the old David Oistrakh Soviet monaural recording," "more than enough technique to master these piece..." are words describing the Tchaikovsky, and the Glazunov Concertos recording.
"From the beginning it was obvious that here was a fiddler with a natural knack for the instrument...possessed of an irrepressible spirit...the flashing brilliance of the last movement literally brought the audience to its feet."-The Strad, London, England
"The technique is brilliant, and the sonority penetrating; it could even appear piercing...It was a personal rendition, one of those rare occasions of risking a personal approach in the familiar Concerto of Tchaikovsky and in the work of Freedman."-HIER SOIR, Montreal, Canada
Top prizewinner in several of the most prestigious international violin competitions including the Concours International de Musique de Montréal, the Queen Elisabeth Competition, the Paganini Competition, and the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. Mr. Kim is the recipient of the Nan-Pa Prize awarded by the Nan-Pa Foundation in Korea, which is one of the highest honors given to a Korean-born musician.
He graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music and, subsequently from the Juilliard School where he received the Petschek Award, and won the Concerto Competition which led to the performance of the Glazunov Concerto with the Juilliard Philharmonia in Lincoln Center. With his busy performing schedule, he also teaches at the Mannes College of Music in New York. His major teachers include Dorothy DeLay, Ivan Galamian, and Josef Gingold.
Mr. Kim has been concertizing extensively throughout North America, Asia and Europe as guest artist with orchestras as those of Philadelphia, St. Louis, Montréal, and Atlanta with conductors like Leonard Slatkin, John Nelson, Myung Whun Chung, and Sixten Ehrling. As recitalist, Mr. Kim appeared in major halls of New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montréal, Toronto, Brussels, and Seoul. His recent concerts include the performance of Bernstein's Serenade with the Atlanta Symphony, Barber Concerto with Wayne Chamber Orchestra, and the Glazunov Concerto with the Czech Philharmonic.
Mr. Kim's debut recording of Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic (Russia), under the baton of Paul Freeman, and the Prokofiev Sonata No. 2 in D Major with pianist David Oei, was released on the ProArte/Fanfare label. His second CD consisting of the Mendelssohn c minor, and the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio with the "Starr-Kim-Boeckheler Piano Trio" was released on the Mastersound label, and his most recent CD, the Glazunov and Tchaikovsky Concertos was recorded and released by Intersound/Fanfare label in the fall of 1995, following the performances of the Concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic in the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow. He is one of the most versatile, and sought-after young violinists today.
August 2014
My Music Is Me
Joseph Hallman, Classical Composer
"My Music Is Me!"
Joseph Hallman--classical music composer
By Helen Lin
page 19
When Joseph Hallman was a child, his mother would tell him that he was so open-minded that his brain would fall out. Thankfully that never happened, and years later it may be that very open-mindedness that the Philly-based composer can credit for much of his success, including the recent news that his album, Sprung Rhythm, was nominated for a 2014 Grammy in the "Best Surround Sound Album" category. And get this, among the five albums up for the award are works crediting Paul McCartney and Les Claypool. The Washington Post called Hallman’s work on Sprung Rhythm “skillful” and claimed that he was a composer “to watch.”
Hallman sees music as being part of who he is, that there's a self-awareness in his compositions he calls "organic." “My music is me,” he says. Indeed, this might be the best way to describe Hallman’s philosophy on music-making. In a world of pop-star generators like American Idol and The Voice, his approach to cranking out tunes is refreshingly simple: “Just be yourself."
Even before his Grammy nomination, Hallman had been touted for his wide scope of work: In 2011, NPR named him one of the top 100 composers under 40. Major companies, like the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony have played his compositions. He has also been named Best Musician by several Philadelphia magazines and newspapers.
Hallman began composing at the age of 13. He graduated the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Margaret Brouwer. He continued his studies with masterclasses by George Crumb, Christopher Rouse, John Corigliano, John Harbison, and others. His compositions have won numerous awards, including the Marcel Dik prize, the Donald Erb prize, and the Darius Milhaud award. Known for his generosity of collaboration and joy for composing, he is quickly becoming a noted name on concert programs both nationally and internationally.
His list of influencers includes everyone from Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. and modern composer Nico Muhly to American Horror Story. (He recently composed a piece of music inspired by his fascination with witches and the television show.)
Among his most prominent collaborations, Hallman has composed multiple concerti and chamber and solo works for the internationally acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, winner of a 2011 MacArthur “Genius” Grant. The live premiere recording of The St. Petersburg Concerto is available on iTunes and all other major digital distributors. He is currently working on a Second Sonata for cello and piano for Ms. Weilerstein. Hallman’s work with poets, in particular Jessica Hornik, has inspired strong relationships and beautiful works for voices and chamber ensembles. The Inscape Chamber Music Project, on the Sono Luminos label, recorded and released Three Poems of Jessica Hornik and imagined landscapes: six Lovecraftian elsewheres, which was then nominated for a Grammy award. He is currently working on two song cycles for soprano and string quartet (Mudtime and Vermont Seasons) with the Vermont Poet Laureate, Sydney Lea. He has had the distinct pleasure of working with the English horn icon Thomas Stacy, of the New York Philharmonic, bassoonist Pascal Gallois, organist Kevin Bowyer, principal clarinetist of the Columbus Symphony, David Thomas.
Hallman has also worked in the downtown New York music scene with the experimental group ThingNY. His Suite for Boombox and Piano was composed for Kathy Supové, who premiered the Suite at the Tribeca Music Festival. His Aphorisms was written for the dramatic pianist, Anthony DeMare. He has also collaborated with the poet and screenwriter Antwone Fisher. Cultivating his special love for chamber music, Hallman has worked with the Avian Ensemble, Chamber Music Now, Network for New Music, Dolce Suono and several chamber groups. His Alice, a ballet based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, was premiered in San Diego in April 2010 and has been produced on two other occasions since its premiere.
Hallman teaches at Drexel University. He is the Composer-in-Residence of the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival and has served in similar roles at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, The Traverse Arts Project, Strings Music Festival, and many Universities and Colleges domestically and internationally . He has worked with the American Composers Forum in multiple capacities.
Joseph Hallman--classical music composer
By Helen Lin
page 19
When Joseph Hallman was a child, his mother would tell him that he was so open-minded that his brain would fall out. Thankfully that never happened, and years later it may be that very open-mindedness that the Philly-based composer can credit for much of his success, including the recent news that his album, Sprung Rhythm, was nominated for a 2014 Grammy in the "Best Surround Sound Album" category. And get this, among the five albums up for the award are works crediting Paul McCartney and Les Claypool. The Washington Post called Hallman’s work on Sprung Rhythm “skillful” and claimed that he was a composer “to watch.”
Hallman sees music as being part of who he is, that there's a self-awareness in his compositions he calls "organic." “My music is me,” he says. Indeed, this might be the best way to describe Hallman’s philosophy on music-making. In a world of pop-star generators like American Idol and The Voice, his approach to cranking out tunes is refreshingly simple: “Just be yourself."
Even before his Grammy nomination, Hallman had been touted for his wide scope of work: In 2011, NPR named him one of the top 100 composers under 40. Major companies, like the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Symphony have played his compositions. He has also been named Best Musician by several Philadelphia magazines and newspapers.
Hallman began composing at the age of 13. He graduated the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Margaret Brouwer. He continued his studies with masterclasses by George Crumb, Christopher Rouse, John Corigliano, John Harbison, and others. His compositions have won numerous awards, including the Marcel Dik prize, the Donald Erb prize, and the Darius Milhaud award. Known for his generosity of collaboration and joy for composing, he is quickly becoming a noted name on concert programs both nationally and internationally.
His list of influencers includes everyone from Sri Lankan rapper M.I.A. and modern composer Nico Muhly to American Horror Story. (He recently composed a piece of music inspired by his fascination with witches and the television show.)
Among his most prominent collaborations, Hallman has composed multiple concerti and chamber and solo works for the internationally acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, winner of a 2011 MacArthur “Genius” Grant. The live premiere recording of The St. Petersburg Concerto is available on iTunes and all other major digital distributors. He is currently working on a Second Sonata for cello and piano for Ms. Weilerstein. Hallman’s work with poets, in particular Jessica Hornik, has inspired strong relationships and beautiful works for voices and chamber ensembles. The Inscape Chamber Music Project, on the Sono Luminos label, recorded and released Three Poems of Jessica Hornik and imagined landscapes: six Lovecraftian elsewheres, which was then nominated for a Grammy award. He is currently working on two song cycles for soprano and string quartet (Mudtime and Vermont Seasons) with the Vermont Poet Laureate, Sydney Lea. He has had the distinct pleasure of working with the English horn icon Thomas Stacy, of the New York Philharmonic, bassoonist Pascal Gallois, organist Kevin Bowyer, principal clarinetist of the Columbus Symphony, David Thomas.
Hallman has also worked in the downtown New York music scene with the experimental group ThingNY. His Suite for Boombox and Piano was composed for Kathy Supové, who premiered the Suite at the Tribeca Music Festival. His Aphorisms was written for the dramatic pianist, Anthony DeMare. He has also collaborated with the poet and screenwriter Antwone Fisher. Cultivating his special love for chamber music, Hallman has worked with the Avian Ensemble, Chamber Music Now, Network for New Music, Dolce Suono and several chamber groups. His Alice, a ballet based on Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, was premiered in San Diego in April 2010 and has been produced on two other occasions since its premiere.
Hallman teaches at Drexel University. He is the Composer-in-Residence of the Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival and has served in similar roles at the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia, The Traverse Arts Project, Strings Music Festival, and many Universities and Colleges domestically and internationally . He has worked with the American Composers Forum in multiple capacities.
July 2014
Dedicated Exclusively
Marilyn Nonken, pianist
"Dedicated exclusively"
- Marilyn Nonken, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 19
"'Dedicated exclusively,' it says in Marilyn Nonken's artist's bio, 'to music of this century.' Does this have a reader's eyes glazing over already? If so, please un-glaze them at once! No two ways about it, what we have here is a remarkable young pianist by any standards, and those other centuries' loss is very much our gain.... In addition to being the possessor of a first-class technique, not so unusual a thing these days, Nonken summons up a passionate identification with just the sort of music that would most seem to resist any such identification.... When she returns -- soon, please -- may there be a crush to hear her. She's that kind of pianist."
— Richard Buell, The Boston Globe
"Nonken lived up to her considerable press. There's nobody like her out there, from her attractive stage presence (think Bebe Neuwirth in Broadway's Chicago) to her lack of self-serving ostentation.
— David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Marilyn Nonken is one of the most celebrated champions of the jaw-dropping difficult modern repertoire of her generation, known for performances that explore transcendent virtuosity and extremes of musical expression. Upon her 1993 New York debut, she was heralded as "a determined protector of important music" (New York Times). Recognized a "one of the greatest interpreters of new music" (American Record Guide), she has been named "Best of the Year" by some of the nation's leading critics.
Marilyn Nonken's performances have been presented at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Miller Theatre, the Guggenheim Museum, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM and the Théâtre Bouffe du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Instituto-Norteamericano (Santiago), the Music Gallery (Toronto), the Phillips Collection, and the Menil Collection, as well as conservatories and universities around the world. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d'Automne 4both, Paris) and When Morty Met John, Making Music, and Works and Process (all, New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), The Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d'Aujourd-hui (Caen), Messiaen 2008 (Birmingham, UK), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Piano Festival Northwest (Portland), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition. Highlights of recent seasons have included performances of Hugues Dufourt's Erlkönig, Morton Feldman'sTriadic Memories,Tristan Murai's complete piano music, and Olivier Messiae's "Visions de'l Amen" with Sarah Rothenberg. Composers who have written for her include Milton Babbitt, Drew Baker, Pascal Dusapin, Jason Eckardt, Michael Finnissy, Joshua Fineberg, Liza Lim, and Tristan Murail.
She has recorded for New World Records, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Divine Art, Innova, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Cairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Her solo discs include "American Spiritual," a CD of works written for her, “Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories,” “Tristan Murail: The Complete Piano Music,” “Stress Position: The Complete Piano Music of Drew Baker," and "Voix Voilees," music of Joshua Fineberg and Hugues Dufourt. She appears as concerto soloist in David Rakowski's Piano Concerto (Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project), Roger Reynolds's “The Angel of Death (Magnus Martensson and the Slee Sinfonietta), and Jason Eckardt's "Trespass" (Timothy Weiss and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble).
A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. degree in musicology from Columbia University. Her writings on music have been published in Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Contemporary Music Review, Agni, Current Musicology, Ecological Psychology, and the Journal of the Institute for Studies in American Music. She has contributed chapters to “Perspectives on French Piano Music” and “Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence, and Reception” (both, Ashgate) and is currently writing a monograph on spectral piano music for Cambridge University Press. Director of Piano Studies at New York University's Steinhardt School, Marilyn Nonken is a Steinway Artist.
- Marilyn Nonken, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 19
"'Dedicated exclusively,' it says in Marilyn Nonken's artist's bio, 'to music of this century.' Does this have a reader's eyes glazing over already? If so, please un-glaze them at once! No two ways about it, what we have here is a remarkable young pianist by any standards, and those other centuries' loss is very much our gain.... In addition to being the possessor of a first-class technique, not so unusual a thing these days, Nonken summons up a passionate identification with just the sort of music that would most seem to resist any such identification.... When she returns -- soon, please -- may there be a crush to hear her. She's that kind of pianist."
— Richard Buell, The Boston Globe
"Nonken lived up to her considerable press. There's nobody like her out there, from her attractive stage presence (think Bebe Neuwirth in Broadway's Chicago) to her lack of self-serving ostentation.
— David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Marilyn Nonken is one of the most celebrated champions of the jaw-dropping difficult modern repertoire of her generation, known for performances that explore transcendent virtuosity and extremes of musical expression. Upon her 1993 New York debut, she was heralded as "a determined protector of important music" (New York Times). Recognized a "one of the greatest interpreters of new music" (American Record Guide), she has been named "Best of the Year" by some of the nation's leading critics.
Marilyn Nonken's performances have been presented at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Miller Theatre, the Guggenheim Museum, (Le) Poisson Rouge, IRCAM and the Théâtre Bouffe du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Instituto-Norteamericano (Santiago), the Music Gallery (Toronto), the Phillips Collection, and the Menil Collection, as well as conservatories and universities around the world. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d'Automne 4both, Paris) and When Morty Met John, Making Music, and Works and Process (all, New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), The Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d'Aujourd-hui (Caen), Messiaen 2008 (Birmingham, UK), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Piano Festival Northwest (Portland), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition. Highlights of recent seasons have included performances of Hugues Dufourt's Erlkönig, Morton Feldman'sTriadic Memories,Tristan Murai's complete piano music, and Olivier Messiae's "Visions de'l Amen" with Sarah Rothenberg. Composers who have written for her include Milton Babbitt, Drew Baker, Pascal Dusapin, Jason Eckardt, Michael Finnissy, Joshua Fineberg, Liza Lim, and Tristan Murail.
She has recorded for New World Records, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Divine Art, Innova, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Cairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Her solo discs include "American Spiritual," a CD of works written for her, “Morton Feldman: Triadic Memories,” “Tristan Murail: The Complete Piano Music,” “Stress Position: The Complete Piano Music of Drew Baker," and "Voix Voilees," music of Joshua Fineberg and Hugues Dufourt. She appears as concerto soloist in David Rakowski's Piano Concerto (Gil Rose and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project), Roger Reynolds's “The Angel of Death (Magnus Martensson and the Slee Sinfonietta), and Jason Eckardt's "Trespass" (Timothy Weiss and the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble).
A student of David Burge at the Eastman School, Marilyn Nonken received a Ph.D. degree in musicology from Columbia University. Her writings on music have been published in Tempo, Perspectives of New Music, Contemporary Music Review, Agni, Current Musicology, Ecological Psychology, and the Journal of the Institute for Studies in American Music. She has contributed chapters to “Perspectives on French Piano Music” and “Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence, and Reception” (both, Ashgate) and is currently writing a monograph on spectral piano music for Cambridge University Press. Director of Piano Studies at New York University's Steinhardt School, Marilyn Nonken is a Steinway Artist.
June 2014
The Firebird
Sergei Babayan, pianist
The "Firebird"
- Sergei Babayan, pianist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
Hailed for unequaled emotional intensity, bold energy and phenomenal levels of color and imagination, Sergei Babayan brings new dimensions and insight to stylistically diverse repertoire. His artistic personality is a rare combination of emotional explosiveness and sensitivity, staggering virtuosity and immediacy. The Juilliard School is pleased to announce the appointments the distinguished pianist and educator Sergei Babayan to its piano faculty beginning this fall 2014 as part-time faculty member of the College Division.
Mr. Babayan began his career in the United States, Japan, and the UK, winning several consecutive prizes in major international competitions, including the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish international competitions. As soloist, he has performed with the Mariinsky Theater, London, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, BBC Scottish, and New World symphony orchestras, the Warsaw and Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras, and the Orchestre National de Lille. He has collaborated with conductors Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, David Robertson, Neeme Järvi, Tugan Sokhiev, Hans Graf, and Kazimierz Kord, among others. Mr. Babayan is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. His deep interest and love for the music of Bach led him to study with Helmuth Rilling, and he also studied conducting in order to deepen his orchestral understanding. Mr. Babayan’s concerto repertoire includes 54 concertos, and he has made several highly-praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society, Pro Piano, and Mariinsky labels. As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Babayan has appeared at numerous major music festivals, including Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Salzburg Festival, Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, Stars of White Nights in St. Petersburg, and Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano. Among his chamber music partners are Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov (his student, the first Prize winner of the 2011 Arthur Rubinstein Competition, and the first Prize winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition), Ivry Gitlis, and the Borodin Quartet. He has made numerous appearances with Valery Gergiev in recent years in the most prestigious venues. Their live performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 was recorded for Medici TV. Mr. Babayan will remain as the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Gilliam Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
In 1996, Mr. Babayan founded the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He said: I believe that artists must live and work at a fever-pitch in the incessant pursuit of ideal beauty and the highest degree of artistry. My hope is to inspire students to focus intensely on a single facet of the music, for hours if necessary, in their 'search for the fire-bird.' This way of searching together for artistic expression and individuality has evolved from the great traditions in the Russian school of my teachers - Vera Gornostaeva, Lev Naumov and Mikhail Pletnev.
- Sergei Babayan, pianist
By Helen Lin
Page 19
Hailed for unequaled emotional intensity, bold energy and phenomenal levels of color and imagination, Sergei Babayan brings new dimensions and insight to stylistically diverse repertoire. His artistic personality is a rare combination of emotional explosiveness and sensitivity, staggering virtuosity and immediacy. The Juilliard School is pleased to announce the appointments the distinguished pianist and educator Sergei Babayan to its piano faculty beginning this fall 2014 as part-time faculty member of the College Division.
Mr. Babayan began his career in the United States, Japan, and the UK, winning several consecutive prizes in major international competitions, including the Cleveland, Hamamatsu, and Scottish international competitions. As soloist, he has performed with the Mariinsky Theater, London, Cleveland, Baltimore, Detroit, BBC Scottish, and New World symphony orchestras, the Warsaw and Rotterdam philharmonic orchestras, and the Orchestre National de Lille. He has collaborated with conductors Valery Gergiev, Yuri Temirkanov, David Robertson, Neeme Järvi, Tugan Sokhiev, Hans Graf, and Kazimierz Kord, among others. Mr. Babayan is a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory. His deep interest and love for the music of Bach led him to study with Helmuth Rilling, and he also studied conducting in order to deepen his orchestral understanding. Mr. Babayan’s concerto repertoire includes 54 concertos, and he has made several highly-praised recordings for EMC, Connoisseur Society, Pro Piano, and Mariinsky labels. As a soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Babayan has appeared at numerous major music festivals, including Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Salzburg Festival, Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam, Stars of White Nights in St. Petersburg, and Progetto Martha Argerich in Lugano. Among his chamber music partners are Martha Argerich, Daniil Trifonov (his student, the first Prize winner of the 2011 Arthur Rubinstein Competition, and the first Prize winner of the 2011 Tchaikovsky Competition), Ivry Gitlis, and the Borodin Quartet. He has made numerous appearances with Valery Gergiev in recent years in the most prestigious venues. Their live performance of Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 5 was recorded for Medici TV. Mr. Babayan will remain as the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Gilliam Artist-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
In 1996, Mr. Babayan founded the Sergei Babayan International Piano Academy at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He said: I believe that artists must live and work at a fever-pitch in the incessant pursuit of ideal beauty and the highest degree of artistry. My hope is to inspire students to focus intensely on a single facet of the music, for hours if necessary, in their 'search for the fire-bird.' This way of searching together for artistic expression and individuality has evolved from the great traditions in the Russian school of my teachers - Vera Gornostaeva, Lev Naumov and Mikhail Pletnev.
May 2014
Canada's Next Piano Superstar
Annie Zhou, pianist
Canada's next piano superstar
-Annie Zhou, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 34
Fourteen-year-old pianist Annie Zhou is a full scholarship student at the Young Artists Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studies with Marietta Orlov. She began her piano studies at the age of four with Tanya Tkachenko. At the ages of five and six, she was the youngest student of any discipline to be awarded a scholarship from the Royal Conservatory School. Annie has won national first prize at the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) for three consecutive years. She was a top winner at the Canadian Chopin Piano Competition (2010), and the grand winner at the CCC National Piano Competition (2011). Internationally, Annie was a gold medalist at the AADGT International Young Musicians Competition (2010), and the youngest prize winner at both the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition (2011), and the Cooper International Piano Competition (2012). Recently, she won first prize at the Ettlingen International Competition (2012).
Annie made her orchestral debut when she was eight, and has since performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Sinfonietta.
Annie has performed in premier concert venues across North America, such as Glenn Gould Studio and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Maison symphonique in Montreal, the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed in Italy four times, and recently in Germany as well. Annie has been on local and national TV and radio, including her duo with world-acclaimed pianist Lang Lang on CTV’s Canada AM, and her performances on CBC Radio One, CBC-Radio Canada, and Classical 96.3 FM. She was also on US radio, such as WCLV 104.9 FM Ohio. As a chamber musician, she performed on WNED Classical 94.5 FM Buffalo. Recently, Annie has been selected by the CBC as a Next! Artist for the year of 2013 and featured on CBC's "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30" as one of the most promising young artists in Canada.
Annie shared the stage with “The Tragically Hip”, one of Canada’s most successful and influential rock bands, at the Royal Occasion. She was videotaped for demonstration at the CFMTA-MTNA-RCM World Pedagogy Conference in 2007. Annie also performed in various benefit concerts, such as “Ivory Keys for Cancer” for the Canadian Cancer Society, the St. James Chancel Choir in Concert for helping needy children in developing countries, and the globally collaborated “Young Artists for Haiti” virtual concert for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.
Annie had master classes or private lessons with Arie Vardi, Andrea Bonatta, Christopher Elton, Emanuel Ax, John Perry, Hamish Milne, John O'Conor, Jeffrey Siegel, Kirill Gerstein, Leon Fleisher, Marc Durand, Richard Goode, Robert McDonald, Ronan OHora, Sa Chen, and Yuja Wang.
Annie currently attends the University of Toronto Schools, where she is a straight A student in grade 9. In her spare time, she likes to read, draw, and she enjoys biking, skating, and skiing as well.
-Annie Zhou, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 34
Fourteen-year-old pianist Annie Zhou is a full scholarship student at the Young Artists Performance Academy at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, where she studies with Marietta Orlov. She began her piano studies at the age of four with Tanya Tkachenko. At the ages of five and six, she was the youngest student of any discipline to be awarded a scholarship from the Royal Conservatory School. Annie has won national first prize at the Canadian Music Competition (CMC) for three consecutive years. She was a top winner at the Canadian Chopin Piano Competition (2010), and the grand winner at the CCC National Piano Competition (2011). Internationally, Annie was a gold medalist at the AADGT International Young Musicians Competition (2010), and the youngest prize winner at both the Minnesota International e-Piano Junior Competition (2011), and the Cooper International Piano Competition (2012). Recently, she won first prize at the Ettlingen International Competition (2012).
Annie made her orchestral debut when she was eight, and has since performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Sinfonietta.
Annie has performed in premier concert venues across North America, such as Glenn Gould Studio and Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, the Maison symphonique in Montreal, the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, and Carnegie Hall in New York. She has performed in Italy four times, and recently in Germany as well. Annie has been on local and national TV and radio, including her duo with world-acclaimed pianist Lang Lang on CTV’s Canada AM, and her performances on CBC Radio One, CBC-Radio Canada, and Classical 96.3 FM. She was also on US radio, such as WCLV 104.9 FM Ohio. As a chamber musician, she performed on WNED Classical 94.5 FM Buffalo. Recently, Annie has been selected by the CBC as a Next! Artist for the year of 2013 and featured on CBC's "30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30" as one of the most promising young artists in Canada.
Annie shared the stage with “The Tragically Hip”, one of Canada’s most successful and influential rock bands, at the Royal Occasion. She was videotaped for demonstration at the CFMTA-MTNA-RCM World Pedagogy Conference in 2007. Annie also performed in various benefit concerts, such as “Ivory Keys for Cancer” for the Canadian Cancer Society, the St. James Chancel Choir in Concert for helping needy children in developing countries, and the globally collaborated “Young Artists for Haiti” virtual concert for earthquake victims in Haiti and Chile.
Annie had master classes or private lessons with Arie Vardi, Andrea Bonatta, Christopher Elton, Emanuel Ax, John Perry, Hamish Milne, John O'Conor, Jeffrey Siegel, Kirill Gerstein, Leon Fleisher, Marc Durand, Richard Goode, Robert McDonald, Ronan OHora, Sa Chen, and Yuja Wang.
Annie currently attends the University of Toronto Schools, where she is a straight A student in grade 9. In her spare time, she likes to read, draw, and she enjoys biking, skating, and skiing as well.
April 2014
The Grand ISCMS Fesival
Shane O'Shea, Founder and Artistic Director
The Grand ISCMS Music Festival
-Shane O'Shea, Founder and Artistic Director
By Helen Lin
page 34
From the 19th to 23rd of February the International Schools Choral Music Society (ISCMS) presented its 7th Festival, and what a resounding success it was. Building on previous years, the ISCMS has now become the Asian/Pacific premier Society for Orchestral and Choral music, bringing together over 350 musicians from 24 International schools from around the region. Nearly 40 nationalities performed in the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Saturday the 22nd, in the Gala Concert, which brought the Festival to a triumphant end. The Festival, hosted by Dulwich College Beijing, also brings together some of the worlds finest practitioners, musicians and conductors, to assist the music teachers in developing a better-rounded student of music throughout the week.
The main body of the work preceding the Gala Concert took place in the aforementioned school, with facilities to rival anything in the world. Its two state of the art theatres were a beauty to behold, and not only held rehearsals throughout the event, but faculty concerts, a presentation from Berklee College of Music and an interview with the world famous Christopher Tin, who was the Societies guest of honor. Tin was flown in especially to be a part of ISCMS VII, and was commissioned to write a piece for choir and orchestra. This piece, titled Temen Oblak, received its world premiere in the Gala Concert, and it proved not only a musical challenge for all to perform, but it was written in Bulgarian, a language that most have never sung in. The performance was exhilarating, uplifting and energetic and brought the packed house to its feet on conclusion. Tin, a two-time Grammy winner for his album Call of the Dawns, said ‘performing Temen Oblak with those kids and seeing them bring it to life at the last minute was the thrill of a lifetime.’ He was ably assisted by Dr. Robert Hasty (ISCMS Director of Orchestras) who was working on his 5th Festival and brought a wealth of music, knowledge and patience to all he does. Hasty conducted the first half of the Gala Concert, an orchestral half containing Mussorsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain, and the Karl Jenkins award winner for composition, a beautifully crafted piece titled Rise of the Trolls, written by Gordon Yam from Hong Kong. This innovative award for composition is judged by the ISCMS Patron, Dr. Karl Jenkins and named in his honor. Each participating school is entitled to enter one student work for this competition, Jenkins chooses the winner and the winning composition is given its world premiere in the ISCMS Gala Concert. After the break we were treated to the Haydn Nelson Mass, a magnificent performance from the 220 choir and 90 piece orchestra, beautifully crafted by Shane O’Shea, the Director and Founder of ISCMS. O’Shea led from the podium with grace and aplomb, and a level of sophistication that was admired by all.
During the week the students of ISCMS were treated to concerts given by an illustrious faculty, including Helen Lin on piano, soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg, alto Gemma Ni Bhriain, tenor Dominique Moralez and bass Tim Parker. They all came together as one to deliver a fantastic faculty concert, and led the solo lines in the Haydn with intuition and sensitivity rarely heard in this part of the world. Of course ISCMS is about the student, about offering them an opportunity to perform top class repertoire in a world-class venue, and again they exceeded everyone’s expectations with its crowning glory being an almost flawless performance of the Haydn. ISCMS is now planning for the next Festival and proud to support another world first in Music Education, the Dulwich International Music Academy (www.DIMAfest.net). This elite Academy will bring together some of the worlds finest faculty and take place over 10 days in Beijing from the 22nd June to 2nd July. Student places are limited, with only 12 being admitted per studio, and the closing date for submission of an audition tape is March 15th. For further information click on the website link above.
-Shane O'Shea, Founder and Artistic Director
By Helen Lin
page 34
From the 19th to 23rd of February the International Schools Choral Music Society (ISCMS) presented its 7th Festival, and what a resounding success it was. Building on previous years, the ISCMS has now become the Asian/Pacific premier Society for Orchestral and Choral music, bringing together over 350 musicians from 24 International schools from around the region. Nearly 40 nationalities performed in the Forbidden City Concert Hall on Saturday the 22nd, in the Gala Concert, which brought the Festival to a triumphant end. The Festival, hosted by Dulwich College Beijing, also brings together some of the worlds finest practitioners, musicians and conductors, to assist the music teachers in developing a better-rounded student of music throughout the week.
The main body of the work preceding the Gala Concert took place in the aforementioned school, with facilities to rival anything in the world. Its two state of the art theatres were a beauty to behold, and not only held rehearsals throughout the event, but faculty concerts, a presentation from Berklee College of Music and an interview with the world famous Christopher Tin, who was the Societies guest of honor. Tin was flown in especially to be a part of ISCMS VII, and was commissioned to write a piece for choir and orchestra. This piece, titled Temen Oblak, received its world premiere in the Gala Concert, and it proved not only a musical challenge for all to perform, but it was written in Bulgarian, a language that most have never sung in. The performance was exhilarating, uplifting and energetic and brought the packed house to its feet on conclusion. Tin, a two-time Grammy winner for his album Call of the Dawns, said ‘performing Temen Oblak with those kids and seeing them bring it to life at the last minute was the thrill of a lifetime.’ He was ably assisted by Dr. Robert Hasty (ISCMS Director of Orchestras) who was working on his 5th Festival and brought a wealth of music, knowledge and patience to all he does. Hasty conducted the first half of the Gala Concert, an orchestral half containing Mussorsky’s Night on a Bald Mountain, and the Karl Jenkins award winner for composition, a beautifully crafted piece titled Rise of the Trolls, written by Gordon Yam from Hong Kong. This innovative award for composition is judged by the ISCMS Patron, Dr. Karl Jenkins and named in his honor. Each participating school is entitled to enter one student work for this competition, Jenkins chooses the winner and the winning composition is given its world premiere in the ISCMS Gala Concert. After the break we were treated to the Haydn Nelson Mass, a magnificent performance from the 220 choir and 90 piece orchestra, beautifully crafted by Shane O’Shea, the Director and Founder of ISCMS. O’Shea led from the podium with grace and aplomb, and a level of sophistication that was admired by all.
During the week the students of ISCMS were treated to concerts given by an illustrious faculty, including Helen Lin on piano, soprano Josefien Stoppelenburg, alto Gemma Ni Bhriain, tenor Dominique Moralez and bass Tim Parker. They all came together as one to deliver a fantastic faculty concert, and led the solo lines in the Haydn with intuition and sensitivity rarely heard in this part of the world. Of course ISCMS is about the student, about offering them an opportunity to perform top class repertoire in a world-class venue, and again they exceeded everyone’s expectations with its crowning glory being an almost flawless performance of the Haydn. ISCMS is now planning for the next Festival and proud to support another world first in Music Education, the Dulwich International Music Academy (www.DIMAfest.net). This elite Academy will bring together some of the worlds finest faculty and take place over 10 days in Beijing from the 22nd June to 2nd July. Student places are limited, with only 12 being admitted per studio, and the closing date for submission of an audition tape is March 15th. For further information click on the website link above.
March 2014
A Life Between Africa and America; A Life Between Safaris and Concert Halls
Petronel Malan, pianist
A Life Between Africa and America;
A life Between Safaris and Concert Halls
-Petronel Malan, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 34
Lauded by reviewers as an unmistakably creative force in the classical music industry, Petronel Malan’s critical acclaim culminated in the nomination of three Grammy Awards, including “Best Instrumental Solo Album 2004” for her debut disc “Transfigured Bach: The Complete Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti and Friedman.” As an exclusive recording artist for the internationally award-winning label Hänssler Classic, 2006 saw the release of “Transfigured Mozart” and "Transfigured Beethoven".
"Formidable…dizzying…magical." These words from New York reviewer Harris Goldsmith vividly illustrate pianist Petronel Malan's uniquely captivating style. "Malan's electrifying performance made me wonder why these works aren't part of the mainstream repertoire. It also revealed some of the qualities that earned her a Grammy Award nomination. Malan has steel fingers in speedy passages, a great ear for tonal colors, a remarkable sense of musical architecture and the emotional intensity of an operatic diva." said Chris Waddington, The Times-Picayune.
Born into a political family in South Africa, of French Huguenot descent, she started piano lessons with her mother, an opera singer, at age four. Considered the "last prodigy" of the late South African pedagogue Adolph Hallis, she debuted with the Johannesburg Symphony at the age of ten. Malan won her first national gold medal at age twelve (ATKV Prelude Competitions) and her first international gold at age fourteen at the Third International Piano Competition in Marsala, Sicily. After winning every competition she was eligible to enter in South Africa, she emerged as the top South African pianist of her generation when she became the youngest person ever to win the coveted SABC Music Prize Competition. She moved to the USA to further her studies. Following a degree at Michigan State University, she completed her graduate work at the University of North Texas. Her teachers have included Steven de Groote, Ralph Votapek and Joseph Banowetz. She also received intensive coaching from the legendary Earl Wild.
Malan's career was launched following five gold medals in 2000 at international piano competitions throughout the USA. These included the Louise McMahon, Missouri Southern, Los Angeles Liszt “Budapest Concert” and Hilton Head International Piano Competitions. In addition, she garnered the grand prize in the 2000 Web Concert Hall Competition and gold medals in both the Grace Welsh Piano Competition and the Entergy Young Artist Award.
Although a permanent resident of the USA (she is currently living in Denton near Dallas, Texas), Petronel Malan continues her strong ties to her native South Africa. In 2003, she received the “Rapport/City Press Prestige Award” as one of the “10 Most Inspirational Women in South Africa.” A popular celebrity in her home country, she has appeared on magazine covers and features, as well as a picture-clue in crossword puzzles. Apart from a love for vintage gowns, her stage wardrobe is designed by foremost South African designers such as Henja Schaap and Hip Hop Clothing. A frequent speaker and promoter for classical music in schools, music scholarships in her name are awarded annually to promising young South African musicians.
"Thansfigured Tachaikowsky" is Malan's fourth album in a series of works transcribed for piano. It is devoted to a selection of 16 transcriptions which Tchaikowsky called "romances" of which he wrote more than 100 for solo voice and piano. These were settings to music of poetry written by some of his friends, and by the great Russian composer himself, and have been transcribed for this album in a world premiere recording by Isaac Mikhnovsky and Samuil Feinberg. It can be purchased online from the Classical KDFC website.
A life Between Safaris and Concert Halls
-Petronel Malan, pianist
By Helen Lin
page 34
Lauded by reviewers as an unmistakably creative force in the classical music industry, Petronel Malan’s critical acclaim culminated in the nomination of three Grammy Awards, including “Best Instrumental Solo Album 2004” for her debut disc “Transfigured Bach: The Complete Bach Transcriptions of Bartok, Lipatti and Friedman.” As an exclusive recording artist for the internationally award-winning label Hänssler Classic, 2006 saw the release of “Transfigured Mozart” and "Transfigured Beethoven".
"Formidable…dizzying…magical." These words from New York reviewer Harris Goldsmith vividly illustrate pianist Petronel Malan's uniquely captivating style. "Malan's electrifying performance made me wonder why these works aren't part of the mainstream repertoire. It also revealed some of the qualities that earned her a Grammy Award nomination. Malan has steel fingers in speedy passages, a great ear for tonal colors, a remarkable sense of musical architecture and the emotional intensity of an operatic diva." said Chris Waddington, The Times-Picayune.
Born into a political family in South Africa, of French Huguenot descent, she started piano lessons with her mother, an opera singer, at age four. Considered the "last prodigy" of the late South African pedagogue Adolph Hallis, she debuted with the Johannesburg Symphony at the age of ten. Malan won her first national gold medal at age twelve (ATKV Prelude Competitions) and her first international gold at age fourteen at the Third International Piano Competition in Marsala, Sicily. After winning every competition she was eligible to enter in South Africa, she emerged as the top South African pianist of her generation when she became the youngest person ever to win the coveted SABC Music Prize Competition. She moved to the USA to further her studies. Following a degree at Michigan State University, she completed her graduate work at the University of North Texas. Her teachers have included Steven de Groote, Ralph Votapek and Joseph Banowetz. She also received intensive coaching from the legendary Earl Wild.
Malan's career was launched following five gold medals in 2000 at international piano competitions throughout the USA. These included the Louise McMahon, Missouri Southern, Los Angeles Liszt “Budapest Concert” and Hilton Head International Piano Competitions. In addition, she garnered the grand prize in the 2000 Web Concert Hall Competition and gold medals in both the Grace Welsh Piano Competition and the Entergy Young Artist Award.
Although a permanent resident of the USA (she is currently living in Denton near Dallas, Texas), Petronel Malan continues her strong ties to her native South Africa. In 2003, she received the “Rapport/City Press Prestige Award” as one of the “10 Most Inspirational Women in South Africa.” A popular celebrity in her home country, she has appeared on magazine covers and features, as well as a picture-clue in crossword puzzles. Apart from a love for vintage gowns, her stage wardrobe is designed by foremost South African designers such as Henja Schaap and Hip Hop Clothing. A frequent speaker and promoter for classical music in schools, music scholarships in her name are awarded annually to promising young South African musicians.
"Thansfigured Tachaikowsky" is Malan's fourth album in a series of works transcribed for piano. It is devoted to a selection of 16 transcriptions which Tchaikowsky called "romances" of which he wrote more than 100 for solo voice and piano. These were settings to music of poetry written by some of his friends, and by the great Russian composer himself, and have been transcribed for this album in a world premiere recording by Isaac Mikhnovsky and Samuil Feinberg. It can be purchased online from the Classical KDFC website.
February 2014
Laganella's Electric Slide
David Laganella, Composer and Guitarist
LAGANELLA'S ELECTRIC SLIDE
By Helen Lin
page 34
Perhaps one reason Dr. David Laganella is attracted to Chair the Wesley College Department of Music would be plying his trademark amplified vibrations inside the former staid halls of a converted 19th century historic church. Or possibly allowing his students accessibility to the Steinway grand pianos, a harpsichord and the Voshell Recording Studio featuring a 16-channel Protools recording workstation.
Or, when one gets right down to it, maybe it's the freedom to voice his advocacy of the electric guitar as a serious choice for composers of contemporary Classical music.
"I strongly encourage my students to find their own voice in their music. It is important that I provide my students the skills to make evaluations about their work to ensure success in their future compositions and performances. Students who finish studying with me will know how to interpret music, will be able to improvise, and will have a solid foundation in the concepts of theory, composition, orchestration and technology. They will be knowledgeable of a wide and varied repertoire that includes Classical, Jazz and Popular music," said Dr. Laganella, who studied Guitar and Jazz at Berklee School of Music then pursued music composition degrees from New York and Pennsylvania University's and also currently holds a position as Associate Professor of Music at Wesley College, Dover, Delaware.
"David Laganella’s work is focused on a more elemental approach, opting instead to build the texture of the music itself around a fundamental energy that is the essence of the relationship between the earth, the oceans, and the heavens. A sense of gravitational force drives these compositions, pulling and pushing in sound and gesture around an elemental, immovable presence. His music is intensely focused and rhythmic, often swirling around a central pitch, as objects swirling around their gravitational center."--Peter Burwasser, music writer.
Dr. Laganella's professional expertise's are in Modern Classical Music, Improvisation and American Popular Music and he regularly performs with Philadelphia based Jazz, Rock and Blues bands and is the author of the book, The Composer’s Guide to the Electric Guitar.
As a composer, his music has been performed by many leading artists and ensembles including The American Composers Orchestra, The Prism Quartet, Network for New Music, The Da Capo Chamber Players, Symphony in C (winner of their annual composer competition) and the Serafin String Quartet. His music has been featured at diverse venues, from New York City Rock clubs to Carnegie Hall and has been featured at John Zorn's New Rock Complexity Festival (NYC), the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Darmstadt New Music Festival (Germany), the World Saxophone Congress (United Kingdom) and with the Bergslagen Chamber Symphony Festival (Sweden) where he served as the Composer in Residence. The first recording of Laganella's chamber music, "The Calls of Gravity" is a reference to a technique that is prevalent in many of his works in which musical objects are attracted towards each other, some objects with greater mass than others. The tidal cover image is an apt metaphor for his musical process, where gravity dictates the movement of sounds that swirl like waves around a central core of energy or the power that pulls waves on to the shore line then decimate to transparency, ultimately pulled back to repeat the process.
Dr. Laganella's compositions have received awards and honors from numerous organizations including ASCAP, Meet the Composer Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The American Composers Forum, The Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and The Society of Composers Inc. If interested in a snippet of his work, try YOUTUBE's "The Furthest Point."
To quote Wesley students and Philadelphia locals, "Laganella is the man!"
By Helen Lin
page 34
Perhaps one reason Dr. David Laganella is attracted to Chair the Wesley College Department of Music would be plying his trademark amplified vibrations inside the former staid halls of a converted 19th century historic church. Or possibly allowing his students accessibility to the Steinway grand pianos, a harpsichord and the Voshell Recording Studio featuring a 16-channel Protools recording workstation.
Or, when one gets right down to it, maybe it's the freedom to voice his advocacy of the electric guitar as a serious choice for composers of contemporary Classical music.
"I strongly encourage my students to find their own voice in their music. It is important that I provide my students the skills to make evaluations about their work to ensure success in their future compositions and performances. Students who finish studying with me will know how to interpret music, will be able to improvise, and will have a solid foundation in the concepts of theory, composition, orchestration and technology. They will be knowledgeable of a wide and varied repertoire that includes Classical, Jazz and Popular music," said Dr. Laganella, who studied Guitar and Jazz at Berklee School of Music then pursued music composition degrees from New York and Pennsylvania University's and also currently holds a position as Associate Professor of Music at Wesley College, Dover, Delaware.
"David Laganella’s work is focused on a more elemental approach, opting instead to build the texture of the music itself around a fundamental energy that is the essence of the relationship between the earth, the oceans, and the heavens. A sense of gravitational force drives these compositions, pulling and pushing in sound and gesture around an elemental, immovable presence. His music is intensely focused and rhythmic, often swirling around a central pitch, as objects swirling around their gravitational center."--Peter Burwasser, music writer.
Dr. Laganella's professional expertise's are in Modern Classical Music, Improvisation and American Popular Music and he regularly performs with Philadelphia based Jazz, Rock and Blues bands and is the author of the book, The Composer’s Guide to the Electric Guitar.
As a composer, his music has been performed by many leading artists and ensembles including The American Composers Orchestra, The Prism Quartet, Network for New Music, The Da Capo Chamber Players, Symphony in C (winner of their annual composer competition) and the Serafin String Quartet. His music has been featured at diverse venues, from New York City Rock clubs to Carnegie Hall and has been featured at John Zorn's New Rock Complexity Festival (NYC), the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Darmstadt New Music Festival (Germany), the World Saxophone Congress (United Kingdom) and with the Bergslagen Chamber Symphony Festival (Sweden) where he served as the Composer in Residence. The first recording of Laganella's chamber music, "The Calls of Gravity" is a reference to a technique that is prevalent in many of his works in which musical objects are attracted towards each other, some objects with greater mass than others. The tidal cover image is an apt metaphor for his musical process, where gravity dictates the movement of sounds that swirl like waves around a central core of energy or the power that pulls waves on to the shore line then decimate to transparency, ultimately pulled back to repeat the process.
Dr. Laganella's compositions have received awards and honors from numerous organizations including ASCAP, Meet the Composer Fund, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, The American Composers Forum, The Orchestra Society of Philadelphia and The Society of Composers Inc. If interested in a snippet of his work, try YOUTUBE's "The Furthest Point."
To quote Wesley students and Philadelphia locals, "Laganella is the man!"
January 2014
Baby Steps to Destiny
Carol Worthey, composer
Carol Worthey: Baby-Steps to Destiny
By Helen Lin
page 12
Story by Carol Worthey
When I was a very small child, I somehow realized that it is more life-enhancing to give than to get, that a gift (meaning "talent") is NOT a gift unless you give it to OTHERS, that giving love is more important than getting love... that somehow if you give it, it comes back to you, maybe not directly from the same person, but it returns in full or greater measure. What does this have to do with music? Everything! Music floats in the air, manifesting what is beyond words to convey. Music heals, it takes us away from our cares, shaping patterns that tell us that life is more than mere existence, that life has meaning, purpose and... love.
When I compose, I journey to this magical realm and return to help put more beauty and meaning into the lives of others... as best I can. It's not always easy, I have had to spend my life learning how to write these raptures down, how to orchestrate well for instruments and the voice, how to craft a composition that takes the listener along on a journey to the heart-of-home.
As long as I can remember I was also drawing incessantly and reading every book in sight --- it was my escape, I suppose. Today I'm all three, a composer, painter and writer. It's a whirlwind, a challenge, a juggling act between creativity and the "normal" busy-ness of life. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I get to give my gift to YOU!
How did this all begin? Well, when family friend Leonard Bernstein is in your home the day you are born, somehow auspicious beginnings can turn baby steps into destiny.
At three-and-a-half, I was invited to a rehearsal at Tanglewood where Lenny was being mentored by Serge Koussevitzky. Enthralled and convinced that the trees were dancing to the music, I returned home and attempted to write a mini-opera about a giant named Dicky Bundle who stole the sacred scarf (spelled "skraf") of the Pixies. At five I was admitted to Adult Classes at Rhode Island School of Design where I became immersed in skills at such an early age that they are second nature to me now, studying anatomy (at six), design, color theory, oil painting and watercolor. Painting and drawing have always been my respite from the more intense act of creating the full fabric of music seemingly out of "thin air." You can see a painting right before your eyes. So I go from music to painting, like a duck switching from pond to park.
A breakthrough came when I was ten: Pianist Vivian Rivkin performed a work by me at Carnegie Hall. On the train back to Providence, the clickety-clack on the rails seemed to say, "I'm a composer, who knew?! I'm a composer, who knew?!"
My first composition lessons at thirteen were with Grant Beglarian who was studying
with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. At Columbia I studied with Otto Luening and Henry Cowell and enjoyed studies during summer with vibrant Vincent Persichetti as well as Walter Piston and Elliot Carter. After winning First Prize in Composition at Columbia, I attended Aspen Music Festival and studied with the great Darius Milhaud. Years later, as a single Mom I realized I had gaps in my orchestration skills, so attended a very intense year-long "Contemporary Composing and Arranging Program" at the (now defunct) Grove School of Music in Studio City, CA where I learned to compose in all kinds of styles, including jazz. Today I'm happily married and a grandma!
It hasn't been an easy ride but what a ride it's been!
Today my accessible, lyrical music is being performed by world-class performers such as pianists Helen Lin, Beth Levin, violinist Yury Revich, Cellists Ruslan Birykov, Maksim Velichkin, hornist Luca Benucci and others throughout the US, Europe and Asia. My paintings have been exhibited in Florence, Beverly Hills and Manhattan. In 2014 my book Turning Life into Art: How A Composer Works will be published. And I occasionally have a good night's rest. Life IS a journey! Give to others and you will REAP the benefits!
For more information, visit www.carolworthey.com
By Helen Lin
page 12
Story by Carol Worthey
When I was a very small child, I somehow realized that it is more life-enhancing to give than to get, that a gift (meaning "talent") is NOT a gift unless you give it to OTHERS, that giving love is more important than getting love... that somehow if you give it, it comes back to you, maybe not directly from the same person, but it returns in full or greater measure. What does this have to do with music? Everything! Music floats in the air, manifesting what is beyond words to convey. Music heals, it takes us away from our cares, shaping patterns that tell us that life is more than mere existence, that life has meaning, purpose and... love.
When I compose, I journey to this magical realm and return to help put more beauty and meaning into the lives of others... as best I can. It's not always easy, I have had to spend my life learning how to write these raptures down, how to orchestrate well for instruments and the voice, how to craft a composition that takes the listener along on a journey to the heart-of-home.
As long as I can remember I was also drawing incessantly and reading every book in sight --- it was my escape, I suppose. Today I'm all three, a composer, painter and writer. It's a whirlwind, a challenge, a juggling act between creativity and the "normal" busy-ness of life. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I get to give my gift to YOU!
How did this all begin? Well, when family friend Leonard Bernstein is in your home the day you are born, somehow auspicious beginnings can turn baby steps into destiny.
At three-and-a-half, I was invited to a rehearsal at Tanglewood where Lenny was being mentored by Serge Koussevitzky. Enthralled and convinced that the trees were dancing to the music, I returned home and attempted to write a mini-opera about a giant named Dicky Bundle who stole the sacred scarf (spelled "skraf") of the Pixies. At five I was admitted to Adult Classes at Rhode Island School of Design where I became immersed in skills at such an early age that they are second nature to me now, studying anatomy (at six), design, color theory, oil painting and watercolor. Painting and drawing have always been my respite from the more intense act of creating the full fabric of music seemingly out of "thin air." You can see a painting right before your eyes. So I go from music to painting, like a duck switching from pond to park.
A breakthrough came when I was ten: Pianist Vivian Rivkin performed a work by me at Carnegie Hall. On the train back to Providence, the clickety-clack on the rails seemed to say, "I'm a composer, who knew?! I'm a composer, who knew?!"
My first composition lessons at thirteen were with Grant Beglarian who was studying
with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood. At Columbia I studied with Otto Luening and Henry Cowell and enjoyed studies during summer with vibrant Vincent Persichetti as well as Walter Piston and Elliot Carter. After winning First Prize in Composition at Columbia, I attended Aspen Music Festival and studied with the great Darius Milhaud. Years later, as a single Mom I realized I had gaps in my orchestration skills, so attended a very intense year-long "Contemporary Composing and Arranging Program" at the (now defunct) Grove School of Music in Studio City, CA where I learned to compose in all kinds of styles, including jazz. Today I'm happily married and a grandma!
It hasn't been an easy ride but what a ride it's been!
Today my accessible, lyrical music is being performed by world-class performers such as pianists Helen Lin, Beth Levin, violinist Yury Revich, Cellists Ruslan Birykov, Maksim Velichkin, hornist Luca Benucci and others throughout the US, Europe and Asia. My paintings have been exhibited in Florence, Beverly Hills and Manhattan. In 2014 my book Turning Life into Art: How A Composer Works will be published. And I occasionally have a good night's rest. Life IS a journey! Give to others and you will REAP the benefits!
For more information, visit www.carolworthey.com
December 2013
A 'Growling' Professor -Meet ASU's Dr. John Irish
By Helen Lin
page 49
“I’ve always been drawn to the trumpet,” admits Dr. John Irish, professional trumpet player and professor at Angelo State University (ASU) in San Angelo, Texas. “I knew I wanted to spend my life in music,” he continues crediting his former inspiring teachers for helping him develop a love for playing music—particularly the trumpet. “There was never any doubt as what I wanted to do in life. I was focused on pursuing a career in music.” Now as a full-time professor of music, Irish focuses on teaching the next generation of musicians, although his early years were all focused on music and playing trumpet.
A member of the brass family, the trumpet dates back from as early as 1500 BC. A trumpeter's language ranges from growling, humming while playing, to glissando's, sliding between notes and doodle tongue, try playing the trumpet while saying the word 'doodle.'
In the mid-1970s, he was accepted into the ultra-prestigious United States Armed Forces Bicentennial Band, a large band and chorus made up of men and women from all five branches of the US Military. The Bicentennial Band performed in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as parts of Canada and Mexico celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Following his tenure with those two special assignments, Dr. Irish decided to make a career performing in the US Air Force Bands where he was assigned in Germany (where he travelled all across Europe), San Antonio, Texas, Dayton, Ohio, and Omaha, Nebraska. Along with his international performing career in these military units, he was able also to freelance in a varied mix of ensembles such as symphony orchestras, chamber groups, jazz bands, touring Broadway shows, and solo engagements. While in the service, he finished three degrees earning his Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) diploma from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
As Principal Trumpet of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, he is able to delve into the great orchestral repertoire—a particular love of his. In October of 2012, he and the ASU Wind Ensemble gave the Texas premiere of Joseph Turrin’s The Sounding of the Call, a featured solo for trumpet and wind ensemble in which ASU were part of a 12-member consortium that commissioned the work. Classical forms are not his only interest—jazz is also a passion. He is active playing jazz with a lively sextet he co-founded. Mixing the two styles of music culminated in March, 2013, when Irish was spotlighted on a symphony concert devoted to jazz playing a solo tribute to the great Louis Armstrong.
Active in the local San Angelo cultural scene, Irish is a member of the San Angelo Cultural Affairs Council, which promotes all the visual and performing arts in the Concho Valley. Proof of his hard work culminated in being nominated for the ASU President’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavors in 2013.
Voted as Secretary of the ITG, the International Trumpet Guild—a body that boasts over 5,000 members in over 50 countries. Irish's publications have been included in the popular British publication, The Brass Herald. In the field of music education, he has been specifically requested to review a number of music texts from four of the leading U.S. textbook publishers. At the ITG conference in 2011, which featured trumpeters from around the world, he gave the world premiere of Concert Gallop: Thunderbolt’s Revenge, by Australian composer, Brendan Collins. More importantly, he wrote the complete instructor’s manual of a very successful text on American popular music that was published in 2012.
Dr. Irish spreads his trumpet talents to foreign countries and international festivals alongside his active performance schedule in Texas. As a fellow musician, personally I am pleased that since the 20th century, the trumpet has experienced a revival of delegated and contemporary music.
Whether behind the trumpet or helping students, Dr. Irish is fulfilling his dream to be a positive force in music. Teaching and playing is always what he wanted to accomplish throughout his career and he has certainly found the right mix.
By Helen Lin
page 49
“I’ve always been drawn to the trumpet,” admits Dr. John Irish, professional trumpet player and professor at Angelo State University (ASU) in San Angelo, Texas. “I knew I wanted to spend my life in music,” he continues crediting his former inspiring teachers for helping him develop a love for playing music—particularly the trumpet. “There was never any doubt as what I wanted to do in life. I was focused on pursuing a career in music.” Now as a full-time professor of music, Irish focuses on teaching the next generation of musicians, although his early years were all focused on music and playing trumpet.
A member of the brass family, the trumpet dates back from as early as 1500 BC. A trumpeter's language ranges from growling, humming while playing, to glissando's, sliding between notes and doodle tongue, try playing the trumpet while saying the word 'doodle.'
In the mid-1970s, he was accepted into the ultra-prestigious United States Armed Forces Bicentennial Band, a large band and chorus made up of men and women from all five branches of the US Military. The Bicentennial Band performed in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands as well as parts of Canada and Mexico celebrating the 200th anniversary of the founding of the United States. Following his tenure with those two special assignments, Dr. Irish decided to make a career performing in the US Air Force Bands where he was assigned in Germany (where he travelled all across Europe), San Antonio, Texas, Dayton, Ohio, and Omaha, Nebraska. Along with his international performing career in these military units, he was able also to freelance in a varied mix of ensembles such as symphony orchestras, chamber groups, jazz bands, touring Broadway shows, and solo engagements. While in the service, he finished three degrees earning his Bachelors and Masters degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) diploma from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music.
As Principal Trumpet of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra, he is able to delve into the great orchestral repertoire—a particular love of his. In October of 2012, he and the ASU Wind Ensemble gave the Texas premiere of Joseph Turrin’s The Sounding of the Call, a featured solo for trumpet and wind ensemble in which ASU were part of a 12-member consortium that commissioned the work. Classical forms are not his only interest—jazz is also a passion. He is active playing jazz with a lively sextet he co-founded. Mixing the two styles of music culminated in March, 2013, when Irish was spotlighted on a symphony concert devoted to jazz playing a solo tribute to the great Louis Armstrong.
Active in the local San Angelo cultural scene, Irish is a member of the San Angelo Cultural Affairs Council, which promotes all the visual and performing arts in the Concho Valley. Proof of his hard work culminated in being nominated for the ASU President’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Research/Creative Endeavors in 2013.
Voted as Secretary of the ITG, the International Trumpet Guild—a body that boasts over 5,000 members in over 50 countries. Irish's publications have been included in the popular British publication, The Brass Herald. In the field of music education, he has been specifically requested to review a number of music texts from four of the leading U.S. textbook publishers. At the ITG conference in 2011, which featured trumpeters from around the world, he gave the world premiere of Concert Gallop: Thunderbolt’s Revenge, by Australian composer, Brendan Collins. More importantly, he wrote the complete instructor’s manual of a very successful text on American popular music that was published in 2012.
Dr. Irish spreads his trumpet talents to foreign countries and international festivals alongside his active performance schedule in Texas. As a fellow musician, personally I am pleased that since the 20th century, the trumpet has experienced a revival of delegated and contemporary music.
Whether behind the trumpet or helping students, Dr. Irish is fulfilling his dream to be a positive force in music. Teaching and playing is always what he wanted to accomplish throughout his career and he has certainly found the right mix.
November 2013
Joni Mitchell meets Laura Marling
-Lily Mae
By Helen Lin
page 35
Truly amazing, prodigal, and innovative are all words that have been used to describe Lily Mae's work, who also has quite the following in the UK. At such a young age, her bio is growing. Lily Mae released her debut EP, "Early Days," in October of 2012. "Early Days" has been reviewed on both Folk Radio UK and For Folk's Sake, the latter calling Lily "a younger Laura Marling before she was scorned by life."
Lily Mae, the 17-year-old Contemporary Folk singer-songwriter is receiving the attention she deserves. A Bucks County, PA native, Lily is the daughter of noted songwriter Cathy Block. Block is known by stars, such as Tisha Campbell, Diana Ross and Myleka, recording her songs as well as being featured as the closing credit song, "Never Explain Love," in the Spike Lee motion picture, Do The Right Thing.
Lily began performing in public at the age of 4 when she appeared as the main character in a musical her mother wrote, "That's What Kids Do!" Lily sang the solo, "She'd Appreciate it!" while also performing on the original cast recording. Her greatest musical influences are Joni Mitchell and Jenny Owen Youngs.
And her younger sister Chloe. As musical partners, their writing is done in a very conversational way, usually sitting at a table; Lily writes the music, Chloe the lyrics. One of their techniques is to use a color palette as an inspirational tool for producing lyrical content: "More orange; no, more blue!"
John Cole of WDVR FM's Tempus with John Cole says, "A sculptured voice from the soul of a tender heart. Lily Mae's performance is a rare, nakedly powerful human expression that captivates." Music industry legend and president emeritus of Blue Note Records, Bruce Lundvall says, “Lily Mae has a signature voice, writes excellent songs, and will be a future star.”
Additionally, she was the WXPN Pick of the Day and has been a guest on several shows including Gene Shay's, Folk Show, Helen Leicht and The Key with John Vetesse. Lily has already opened for both Livingston Taylor, Ben Taylor (two times), the Marshall Tucker Band and Jenny Owen Youngs. She was on with Toby Lightman, Joan Osborne, Amy Helm in October, and will be on with Chris Smither in December. This summer, Lily was featured in several major music festivals including the Philadelphia Folk Festival (in Helen Leicht of WXPN's artist showcase), Musikfest and Black Potatoe Music Festival. Lily's upcoming shows will be at legendary Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, and Pianos in New York City.
In my opinion, Lily's natural, effortless and lovable vocal delivery is matched by her guitar chops and uplifting lyrics. Just like Marling, Lily plays and writes beyond her years, and will not disappoint!
-Lily Mae
By Helen Lin
page 35
Truly amazing, prodigal, and innovative are all words that have been used to describe Lily Mae's work, who also has quite the following in the UK. At such a young age, her bio is growing. Lily Mae released her debut EP, "Early Days," in October of 2012. "Early Days" has been reviewed on both Folk Radio UK and For Folk's Sake, the latter calling Lily "a younger Laura Marling before she was scorned by life."
Lily Mae, the 17-year-old Contemporary Folk singer-songwriter is receiving the attention she deserves. A Bucks County, PA native, Lily is the daughter of noted songwriter Cathy Block. Block is known by stars, such as Tisha Campbell, Diana Ross and Myleka, recording her songs as well as being featured as the closing credit song, "Never Explain Love," in the Spike Lee motion picture, Do The Right Thing.
Lily began performing in public at the age of 4 when she appeared as the main character in a musical her mother wrote, "That's What Kids Do!" Lily sang the solo, "She'd Appreciate it!" while also performing on the original cast recording. Her greatest musical influences are Joni Mitchell and Jenny Owen Youngs.
And her younger sister Chloe. As musical partners, their writing is done in a very conversational way, usually sitting at a table; Lily writes the music, Chloe the lyrics. One of their techniques is to use a color palette as an inspirational tool for producing lyrical content: "More orange; no, more blue!"
John Cole of WDVR FM's Tempus with John Cole says, "A sculptured voice from the soul of a tender heart. Lily Mae's performance is a rare, nakedly powerful human expression that captivates." Music industry legend and president emeritus of Blue Note Records, Bruce Lundvall says, “Lily Mae has a signature voice, writes excellent songs, and will be a future star.”
Additionally, she was the WXPN Pick of the Day and has been a guest on several shows including Gene Shay's, Folk Show, Helen Leicht and The Key with John Vetesse. Lily has already opened for both Livingston Taylor, Ben Taylor (two times), the Marshall Tucker Band and Jenny Owen Youngs. She was on with Toby Lightman, Joan Osborne, Amy Helm in October, and will be on with Chris Smither in December. This summer, Lily was featured in several major music festivals including the Philadelphia Folk Festival (in Helen Leicht of WXPN's artist showcase), Musikfest and Black Potatoe Music Festival. Lily's upcoming shows will be at legendary Bitter End, Rockwood Music Hall, and Pianos in New York City.
In my opinion, Lily's natural, effortless and lovable vocal delivery is matched by her guitar chops and uplifting lyrics. Just like Marling, Lily plays and writes beyond her years, and will not disappoint!
October 2013
The Mastermind Behind The Sound Of Music
Shane O'Shea, conductor
The Mastermind Behind The Sound Of Music
-Meet Maestro Shane O'Shea
By Helen Lin
page 40
As I walked into the middle of an orchestral rehearsal of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto, which I was about to perform that very night, I was refreshingly surprised. For I was hearing a familiar sound from my childhood - experienced while I was a student at Moscow Conservatory, Russia. "Am I really in China?" I wondered. Many orchestras can play beautiful sounds, but not many can capture the exact "Russian" sound which possesses the intensity and passion each sound produces. To define this concept, the "Russian" sound I know - and appreciate - is that each sound is a perfection by itself; each exquisite sonance can exist by itself without a phrasing, and still be complete. Having traveled across the globe, listening and participating in many musical styles and venues, I can honestly say, that such modulation of sweet sound is quite rare.
The perfection I was hearing was the critically acclaimed Beijing Youth Orchestra, founded by Maestro Shane O'Shea.
A graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, O'Shea conducted the Trinity College Chapel Choir, recorded the group’s first compact disc, 'Bow Down Thine Ear,' and received a Master's of Music Education from Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, specializing in conducting. A trained classical concert pianist and trumpetist, O'Shea also sang bass with the Lay Vicar Choral in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, performed at Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, recorded with Riverdancer, Michael Flatley, singers Bonnie Tyler and Phil Coulter, virtuoso flutist, James Galway and the Three Irish Tenors. Currently, O'Shea is the Director of Music for Dulwich College International, overseeing the development of an innovative and creative music program for six schools in the Asian-Pacific region (Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Zuhai, Seoul and Singapore).
In May, 2012, I was invited to perform a contemporary concert at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. The location of my concert didn't work out at Central Conservatory of Music and was instead, moved to Dulwich College Beijing at the Black Box Theater. Fortune smiled on me for two reasons, the first being the venue turned out to be a better locale with a more appreciative audience. Secondly, there was full house that night and following the concert, O'Shea invited me to perform two solo recitals and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto for the first "Diversity Project" in October, 2012.
"Diversity Project" is one of the many focuses that Shane O'Shea created to give students and professionals opportunities to perform because the Asian/Pacific region does not offer musicians the same chances as in the West. Later, I was invited as a practitioner at the International Schools Choral Music Society (www.ISCMS.net) in Busan, South Korea in February, 2013 to teach master classes and perform at a recital. ISCMS is another organization that O'Shea founded to address the void, or vacuum, in opportunities offered to musicians/students in performing top class choral repertoire with a full-sized orchestra. The aim is to offer the student a chance to perform top notch choral repertoire in the best concert halls of the host city. The society has grown from small humble beginnings to now having 26 International schools as full time members of the society and offering master classes, seminars, a resident world famous pianist, the world's best music education professors, all while becoming an innovative and creative music society.
Another integral aspect of O'Shea's philosophy is a strong and lasting commitment to "his" musician's, past and present. He is working to establish a strong Dulwich International Music Alumni, with such amazing and gifted students as Joseph Hyung Sup Lim, a student of O'Shea's and currently in the Royal Academy of Music, London, working alongside him to create and make new and even more innovative opportunities for all involved.
The next big idea takes him to the Dulwich International Music Academy, which will launch in June/July 2014 in Beijing, and bring 12 of the world's finest professors to the Beijing location to run a gifted and talented summer music school for Conservatoire and Dulwich students, working side by side within the all-encompassing concept offering opportunities to composers, performers, conductors and music philosophers. At this time, faculty are signing up from Juilliard, NEC, Royal Northern College of Music and scholarships are being planned.
O'Shea believes learning never stops. Music is, and will always be, bigger than the individual, thus perpetuating a life-long goal of creating opportunities for others while remaining respectful and honorable to the creators and previous innovators of this most noblest of art forms.
Thinking of the opportunities that O'Shea also contributed to my career, reminds me of the saying, "No matter how gifted the performers in an ensemble may be, it takes a great conductor to make a great orchestra."
And this is so true - and reflected by - the Beijing Youth Orchestra.
Conducting requires an understanding of the elements of music, the ability to communicate nuances of phrasing and expression through gestures. O'Shea takes conducting to a new level; his primary commitment is to the composer. Shane O'Shea is unrelenting in his dedication and devoted to uncovering the composer's true intent.
-Meet Maestro Shane O'Shea
By Helen Lin
page 40
As I walked into the middle of an orchestral rehearsal of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto, which I was about to perform that very night, I was refreshingly surprised. For I was hearing a familiar sound from my childhood - experienced while I was a student at Moscow Conservatory, Russia. "Am I really in China?" I wondered. Many orchestras can play beautiful sounds, but not many can capture the exact "Russian" sound which possesses the intensity and passion each sound produces. To define this concept, the "Russian" sound I know - and appreciate - is that each sound is a perfection by itself; each exquisite sonance can exist by itself without a phrasing, and still be complete. Having traveled across the globe, listening and participating in many musical styles and venues, I can honestly say, that such modulation of sweet sound is quite rare.
The perfection I was hearing was the critically acclaimed Beijing Youth Orchestra, founded by Maestro Shane O'Shea.
A graduate of Trinity College in Dublin, O'Shea conducted the Trinity College Chapel Choir, recorded the group’s first compact disc, 'Bow Down Thine Ear,' and received a Master's of Music Education from Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, specializing in conducting. A trained classical concert pianist and trumpetist, O'Shea also sang bass with the Lay Vicar Choral in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, performed at Westminster Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, recorded with Riverdancer, Michael Flatley, singers Bonnie Tyler and Phil Coulter, virtuoso flutist, James Galway and the Three Irish Tenors. Currently, O'Shea is the Director of Music for Dulwich College International, overseeing the development of an innovative and creative music program for six schools in the Asian-Pacific region (Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Zuhai, Seoul and Singapore).
In May, 2012, I was invited to perform a contemporary concert at the Beijing Modern Music Festival. The location of my concert didn't work out at Central Conservatory of Music and was instead, moved to Dulwich College Beijing at the Black Box Theater. Fortune smiled on me for two reasons, the first being the venue turned out to be a better locale with a more appreciative audience. Secondly, there was full house that night and following the concert, O'Shea invited me to perform two solo recitals and Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto for the first "Diversity Project" in October, 2012.
"Diversity Project" is one of the many focuses that Shane O'Shea created to give students and professionals opportunities to perform because the Asian/Pacific region does not offer musicians the same chances as in the West. Later, I was invited as a practitioner at the International Schools Choral Music Society (www.ISCMS.net) in Busan, South Korea in February, 2013 to teach master classes and perform at a recital. ISCMS is another organization that O'Shea founded to address the void, or vacuum, in opportunities offered to musicians/students in performing top class choral repertoire with a full-sized orchestra. The aim is to offer the student a chance to perform top notch choral repertoire in the best concert halls of the host city. The society has grown from small humble beginnings to now having 26 International schools as full time members of the society and offering master classes, seminars, a resident world famous pianist, the world's best music education professors, all while becoming an innovative and creative music society.
Another integral aspect of O'Shea's philosophy is a strong and lasting commitment to "his" musician's, past and present. He is working to establish a strong Dulwich International Music Alumni, with such amazing and gifted students as Joseph Hyung Sup Lim, a student of O'Shea's and currently in the Royal Academy of Music, London, working alongside him to create and make new and even more innovative opportunities for all involved.
The next big idea takes him to the Dulwich International Music Academy, which will launch in June/July 2014 in Beijing, and bring 12 of the world's finest professors to the Beijing location to run a gifted and talented summer music school for Conservatoire and Dulwich students, working side by side within the all-encompassing concept offering opportunities to composers, performers, conductors and music philosophers. At this time, faculty are signing up from Juilliard, NEC, Royal Northern College of Music and scholarships are being planned.
O'Shea believes learning never stops. Music is, and will always be, bigger than the individual, thus perpetuating a life-long goal of creating opportunities for others while remaining respectful and honorable to the creators and previous innovators of this most noblest of art forms.
Thinking of the opportunities that O'Shea also contributed to my career, reminds me of the saying, "No matter how gifted the performers in an ensemble may be, it takes a great conductor to make a great orchestra."
And this is so true - and reflected by - the Beijing Youth Orchestra.
Conducting requires an understanding of the elements of music, the ability to communicate nuances of phrasing and expression through gestures. O'Shea takes conducting to a new level; his primary commitment is to the composer. Shane O'Shea is unrelenting in his dedication and devoted to uncovering the composer's true intent.
May 2013
Helen Lin Conservatory of Music, When East Meets West
Helen Lin, pianist
Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music
-When East Meets West
page 50
Story by Jill Yris
As many of our faithful readers noted - and commented positively - our January 2013 issue of Beyond Arts and More featured world-renowned pianist Helen Lin.
We were first introduced to Helen Lin in 2007 when she performed at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and taught Master Classes at Angelo State University. "Texas is a beautiful place," says Lin. "People really take their time and effort to enjoy what life has to offer and are passionate about music, singing, the arts - and beer!"
Now, in deference to one of our favorite sayings, "Everything is Bigger in Texas," we're going to toss you an update on Lin, whose career and talent, just keep getting bigger.
Approximately 7 thousand miles from the Lone Star State is Anhui Province. A warm, monsoonal climate set in the eastern section of The People's Republic of China, Anhui has over 59 million residents. In the city of Bengbu, nestled on the meandering Hauihe River, is the Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music.
And here we go again with big: The arts center, Anhui's very first 15-year music educational system offering music, art, dance and theater, has a 26 story, 500 classroom building; a Cultural Center; 5 star hotel style faculty residence halls and student dorms.
Yet how did Lin receive the ultimate compliment of having her name on an International Conservatory?
In 2010, Lin and Dr. John Irish, ASU Professor of Music, performed together in Austria and Taiwan, premiering "Skeletal Dance," written and dedicated by Australian composer Dr. Houston Dunleavy for Helen Lin and Dr. Irish.
The following year, Southeastern University Associate Professor of Music, Dr. Shudong Luo Braamse, introduced Lin to China's unique and thriving artistic culture with a concert tour, followed by her debuting at prestigious Shenzhen Concert Hall and accepting artist residencies at Weifang, Shandong Technology, Taian, and Zhaoqing Universities.
In 2012 and 2013, Lin was featured at "The 1st Diversity Project" and "MASSive Music Festival, Busan, South Korea" hosted by Shane O'Shea at Dulwich College, Beijing, where she gave several concerts, including the performance of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra and the China premiere of American composer Carol Worthey's "Fantasia," "Pastorale" (May tour) and Dr. Anthony Paul de Ritis' "Tangled Impressions."
Amidst Lin's critically acclaimed performances and teaching accomplishments - her 8-year-old Taiwanese student Jennifer Wang won the gold medal at the 2012 Asia Pacific International Piano Competition - she was noticed by many dignitaries and educators including Principal Shiao from Bengbu's Xing-Zi School.
"They were amazed, impressed, and actually 'shocked' how I conduct my master classes," says Lin. In China, except for the first tier cities, people are not exposed to Western style music and thinking. "When I first demonstrated how Western music should be performed, they couldn't believe their eyes. They come to me and grab me and want pieces of me. They want me to train their students so they can play like I do. They want to pursue their playing with the kind of details that I interpret my pieces.
"They also mention that my personality is positive and encouraging - unlike the traditional Chinese professors' attitude." And thus the Bengbu and Beijing Branch's of the Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music were formed alongside encouragements for international student and faculty cultural exchanges.
Back here in the States, Dr. Irish has extended an invitation for Lin to perform a Shostakovich Piano Concerto with the ASU Orchestra. Piano virtuoso Helen Lin responds, "When I return to the States, I will make it happen."
Until then, click on HYPERLINK "http://www.helenlinpiano.weebly.com" www.helenlinpiano.weebly.com, grab a long, tall, sweet ice tea and listen to the even sweeter sounds of a pianist whose performing warms the heart, calms the spirit and energizes the soul.
-When East Meets West
page 50
Story by Jill Yris
As many of our faithful readers noted - and commented positively - our January 2013 issue of Beyond Arts and More featured world-renowned pianist Helen Lin.
We were first introduced to Helen Lin in 2007 when she performed at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts and taught Master Classes at Angelo State University. "Texas is a beautiful place," says Lin. "People really take their time and effort to enjoy what life has to offer and are passionate about music, singing, the arts - and beer!"
Now, in deference to one of our favorite sayings, "Everything is Bigger in Texas," we're going to toss you an update on Lin, whose career and talent, just keep getting bigger.
Approximately 7 thousand miles from the Lone Star State is Anhui Province. A warm, monsoonal climate set in the eastern section of The People's Republic of China, Anhui has over 59 million residents. In the city of Bengbu, nestled on the meandering Hauihe River, is the Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music.
And here we go again with big: The arts center, Anhui's very first 15-year music educational system offering music, art, dance and theater, has a 26 story, 500 classroom building; a Cultural Center; 5 star hotel style faculty residence halls and student dorms.
Yet how did Lin receive the ultimate compliment of having her name on an International Conservatory?
In 2010, Lin and Dr. John Irish, ASU Professor of Music, performed together in Austria and Taiwan, premiering "Skeletal Dance," written and dedicated by Australian composer Dr. Houston Dunleavy for Helen Lin and Dr. Irish.
The following year, Southeastern University Associate Professor of Music, Dr. Shudong Luo Braamse, introduced Lin to China's unique and thriving artistic culture with a concert tour, followed by her debuting at prestigious Shenzhen Concert Hall and accepting artist residencies at Weifang, Shandong Technology, Taian, and Zhaoqing Universities.
In 2012 and 2013, Lin was featured at "The 1st Diversity Project" and "MASSive Music Festival, Busan, South Korea" hosted by Shane O'Shea at Dulwich College, Beijing, where she gave several concerts, including the performance of Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto with the Beijing Youth Symphony Orchestra and the China premiere of American composer Carol Worthey's "Fantasia," "Pastorale" (May tour) and Dr. Anthony Paul de Ritis' "Tangled Impressions."
Amidst Lin's critically acclaimed performances and teaching accomplishments - her 8-year-old Taiwanese student Jennifer Wang won the gold medal at the 2012 Asia Pacific International Piano Competition - she was noticed by many dignitaries and educators including Principal Shiao from Bengbu's Xing-Zi School.
"They were amazed, impressed, and actually 'shocked' how I conduct my master classes," says Lin. In China, except for the first tier cities, people are not exposed to Western style music and thinking. "When I first demonstrated how Western music should be performed, they couldn't believe their eyes. They come to me and grab me and want pieces of me. They want me to train their students so they can play like I do. They want to pursue their playing with the kind of details that I interpret my pieces.
"They also mention that my personality is positive and encouraging - unlike the traditional Chinese professors' attitude." And thus the Bengbu and Beijing Branch's of the Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music were formed alongside encouragements for international student and faculty cultural exchanges.
Back here in the States, Dr. Irish has extended an invitation for Lin to perform a Shostakovich Piano Concerto with the ASU Orchestra. Piano virtuoso Helen Lin responds, "When I return to the States, I will make it happen."
Until then, click on HYPERLINK "http://www.helenlinpiano.weebly.com" www.helenlinpiano.weebly.com, grab a long, tall, sweet ice tea and listen to the even sweeter sounds of a pianist whose performing warms the heart, calms the spirit and energizes the soul.
January 2013
The Impossible Piano
Helen Lin, pianist
Helen Lin, pianist
The Impossible Piano
page 14, 15
"The Lincoln Center has Wynton Marsalis. The Philly Pops has Peter Nero. And we have Helen Lin.”;
“Electrifying, soothing, energetic, and uplifting, she envelopes her audience with an intensity that includes emotions and exudes joy.”
—The Doylestown Patriot
“Helen Lin is one of the greatest pianists of her generation…..hear classical piano like you never heard it before”---Dover News
Voted one of the top eight musicians in the world by the Web Concert Hall International Competition in 2003, Helen Lin’s professional engagements have ranged from performing as a full-scholarship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Tchaikovsky Music Festival, and Wagner Music Festival, to touring as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician in Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain, the United States, Japan, Korea, China, and her birth place Taiwan. Since 1996, her performances have been broadcast on television and radio stations frequently throughout the United States. The American Music Scholarship Association has made Lin’s performance of Chopin’s E Minor Piano Concerto as an educational videotape. The numerous prizes she has won have include “The Young Artist International Piano Competition”, the “IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition”, and the “Rising Star Concert Series Piano Competition”.
Lin’s performance has been described as “charismatic, contagious, of the highest level from which she communicates the essence of music combined with her vivid imagination and outstanding pianism….” “…unique as she exhibits great individuality, command, and unusually strong musical conviction with fiery temperament.” Lin's series of concerts in held in The National Concert Hall in Taipei, was an outstanding success in December 2000. Lin’s reputation in Taiwan as a sensational phenomenon caused the tickets for this series to be sold out in the first three days of sale. As a result, the Taiwanese President delivered a congratulatory telegram during his duty abroad and the Taipei City Mayor "FedExed" baskets of flowers prior to the event got started. A solo recital in Barcelona, Spain, in May 2001, hosted by Maria Canals International Piano Foundation; a solo recital in Paris, France, hosted by Yamaha Artist Concert Series; two solo recitals and a concerto concert in Muenchen, Germany; a solo recital in Barletta, Italy; and a concerto concert in Como, Italy secured her as a world-class concert pianist in Europe. Since 2000, Lin has collaborated with Armenian concert pianist Sergei Babayan (Casadasu gold medalist and Artist-in-Residence in The Cleveland Institute of Music) and performed piano-duo concerts worldwide. Lin has given concerts at the University of Dayton, Miami University at Oxford since 2002. She has served as the accompanying pianist for the Lima Piano Concerto Competition in March, 2003 to sightread difficult orchestral music for contestants. Her CD “In Remembrance of September 11th” has become the “text book” at universities for music appreciation classes since 2003. Her concert “Dream of Love” was broadcast on PBS TV in the Fall of 2005. Some of Lin’s recent concerts have included the privilege of performing on the Steinway & Sons “Rhapsody” piano (a specially designed art-case piano in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin); two solo concerts sponsored by Mercedes-Benz in 2006 and 2007; concerts at San Angelo State Museum, TX and master class at San Angelo State University where she performed with Dr. John Irish; a private concert for the Consulate General of Austria and the honor of performing for The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, while he received the Union League of Philadelphia’s Gold Medal Award in 2008; an invitation to perform a solo concert (where she peformed the virtuosic piano tone poem "Schuylkill at Night" composed by Dr. David Laganella) and to teach a master class at Wesley College, Delaware in 2009. Lin was invited to be a guest professor at The National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan in 2010 and has performed throughout Taiwan including a concert with Dr. John Irish to world premiere "Skeletal Dance" which was dedicated to both John and Helen composed by Australian composer Dr. Houston Dunleavy; featured soloist at Chang-Jung Christian University in Tainan in celebration of its 17th birthday with music director Dr. Ching-Shin Ko (renowned cellist); featured jazz soloist at The National Tsing Hua University; and featured soloist at Music Forum Concert Series in Taipei titled "Playing with Fire" (where she world premiered "Trillium" which was dedicated to her composed by New York City composer Jeremiah Bornfield). In 2011, Lin was invited by world renowned soprano Dr. Shudong Braamse (Voice Professor at Southeastern University, Florida and Weifang University, Shandong, China) for an extensive China concert tour, locations including Shandong University, Weihai; Weifang University, Shandong; and the prestigious Shenzhen Concert Hall, Guangzhou. In 2012, Lin gave a series of concerts and master classes in Beijing, Jinan, Taian, Weifang, Zibo, Shenzhen and Zhaoqing where she also premiered works including John Adams's "Phrygian Gates", Tristan Murail's "Territoires de L'oubli", Jeremiah Bornfield's "Trillium", Carol Worthey's "Fantasia" and "Pastorale" hosted by Dr. Shane O'Shea (Dulwich College) in China. Further more, Lin was the featured pianist at "The 1st Diversity Project", 6th and 7th "ISCMS Music Festival" hosted by Dulwich College Beijing and Beijing Central Conservatory of Music where she performed several concerts including a performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Beijing Youth Orchestra under the baton of Shane O'Shea and the China Premiere of "Tangled Impressions" by American composer Anthony Paul de Ritis. Lin has been serving as the American judge at The Asia Pacific International Piano Competition, Taipei, Taiwan since 2012. In July, Xing-Zi School of Bengbu (Anhui, China) has renamed itself after Lin as "Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music, it is the first international school which has the complete western musical education system for students from age of 3 to 18. Lin is also the editor/music critic for the "RGV Beyond Arts and More" magazine (Texas based) since September 2013, her articles "Musical Connect" (monthly) have included the most current music issues, people and events.
Besides her career as a concert pianist, she has been a Master Teacher and Artist-in-Residence at the Community Conservatory of Music in Doylestown, Pennsylvania since 2006. Lin served as a piano chair at Alvernia College and Albert Conservatory in 2007-2009. During her school years, Lin was the Resident Artist for Steinway & Sons pianos at Premier Pianos in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2005 and an opera coach for the Opera Department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. There, she held students’ recitals regularly under the sponsorship of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Premier Pianos. Currently, she is a piano professor at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan; a guest visiting professor at Weifang Univerity (Weifang, Shandong), Taian Univeristy (Taian, Shandong), University of Technology (Zibo, Shandong), Anhui Normal University (Wuhu, Anhui), Yantai University (Yantai, Shandong), Ludong University (Yantai, Shandong), and Zhaoqing University (Zhaoqing, Guangzhou), China. After receiving a Master of Music degree at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she continued her studies under the multiple gold prize winners and most wanted piano teachers in the United States, the Pridonoff Duo and the eminent scholar James Tocco for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature. She has attended the Juilliard School of Music and Michigan State University for her Bachelors Degree where she was under the guidance of Tchaikovsky gold medalist Chen-Zhong Yin and Van Cliburn gold medalist Ralph Votapek.
The Impossible Piano
page 14, 15
"The Lincoln Center has Wynton Marsalis. The Philly Pops has Peter Nero. And we have Helen Lin.”;
“Electrifying, soothing, energetic, and uplifting, she envelopes her audience with an intensity that includes emotions and exudes joy.”
—The Doylestown Patriot
“Helen Lin is one of the greatest pianists of her generation…..hear classical piano like you never heard it before”---Dover News
Voted one of the top eight musicians in the world by the Web Concert Hall International Competition in 2003, Helen Lin’s professional engagements have ranged from performing as a full-scholarship recipient at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Tchaikovsky Music Festival, and Wagner Music Festival, to touring as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and chamber musician in Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Italy, Spain, the United States, Japan, Korea, China, and her birth place Taiwan. Since 1996, her performances have been broadcast on television and radio stations frequently throughout the United States. The American Music Scholarship Association has made Lin’s performance of Chopin’s E Minor Piano Concerto as an educational videotape. The numerous prizes she has won have include “The Young Artist International Piano Competition”, the “IBLA Grand Prize International Piano Competition”, and the “Rising Star Concert Series Piano Competition”.
Lin’s performance has been described as “charismatic, contagious, of the highest level from which she communicates the essence of music combined with her vivid imagination and outstanding pianism….” “…unique as she exhibits great individuality, command, and unusually strong musical conviction with fiery temperament.” Lin's series of concerts in held in The National Concert Hall in Taipei, was an outstanding success in December 2000. Lin’s reputation in Taiwan as a sensational phenomenon caused the tickets for this series to be sold out in the first three days of sale. As a result, the Taiwanese President delivered a congratulatory telegram during his duty abroad and the Taipei City Mayor "FedExed" baskets of flowers prior to the event got started. A solo recital in Barcelona, Spain, in May 2001, hosted by Maria Canals International Piano Foundation; a solo recital in Paris, France, hosted by Yamaha Artist Concert Series; two solo recitals and a concerto concert in Muenchen, Germany; a solo recital in Barletta, Italy; and a concerto concert in Como, Italy secured her as a world-class concert pianist in Europe. Since 2000, Lin has collaborated with Armenian concert pianist Sergei Babayan (Casadasu gold medalist and Artist-in-Residence in The Cleveland Institute of Music) and performed piano-duo concerts worldwide. Lin has given concerts at the University of Dayton, Miami University at Oxford since 2002. She has served as the accompanying pianist for the Lima Piano Concerto Competition in March, 2003 to sightread difficult orchestral music for contestants. Her CD “In Remembrance of September 11th” has become the “text book” at universities for music appreciation classes since 2003. Her concert “Dream of Love” was broadcast on PBS TV in the Fall of 2005. Some of Lin’s recent concerts have included the privilege of performing on the Steinway & Sons “Rhapsody” piano (a specially designed art-case piano in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of George Gershwin); two solo concerts sponsored by Mercedes-Benz in 2006 and 2007; concerts at San Angelo State Museum, TX and master class at San Angelo State University where she performed with Dr. John Irish; a private concert for the Consulate General of Austria and the honor of performing for The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, while he received the Union League of Philadelphia’s Gold Medal Award in 2008; an invitation to perform a solo concert (where she peformed the virtuosic piano tone poem "Schuylkill at Night" composed by Dr. David Laganella) and to teach a master class at Wesley College, Delaware in 2009. Lin was invited to be a guest professor at The National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan in 2010 and has performed throughout Taiwan including a concert with Dr. John Irish to world premiere "Skeletal Dance" which was dedicated to both John and Helen composed by Australian composer Dr. Houston Dunleavy; featured soloist at Chang-Jung Christian University in Tainan in celebration of its 17th birthday with music director Dr. Ching-Shin Ko (renowned cellist); featured jazz soloist at The National Tsing Hua University; and featured soloist at Music Forum Concert Series in Taipei titled "Playing with Fire" (where she world premiered "Trillium" which was dedicated to her composed by New York City composer Jeremiah Bornfield). In 2011, Lin was invited by world renowned soprano Dr. Shudong Braamse (Voice Professor at Southeastern University, Florida and Weifang University, Shandong, China) for an extensive China concert tour, locations including Shandong University, Weihai; Weifang University, Shandong; and the prestigious Shenzhen Concert Hall, Guangzhou. In 2012, Lin gave a series of concerts and master classes in Beijing, Jinan, Taian, Weifang, Zibo, Shenzhen and Zhaoqing where she also premiered works including John Adams's "Phrygian Gates", Tristan Murail's "Territoires de L'oubli", Jeremiah Bornfield's "Trillium", Carol Worthey's "Fantasia" and "Pastorale" hosted by Dr. Shane O'Shea (Dulwich College) in China. Further more, Lin was the featured pianist at "The 1st Diversity Project", 6th and 7th "ISCMS Music Festival" hosted by Dulwich College Beijing and Beijing Central Conservatory of Music where she performed several concerts including a performance of Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 2 with Beijing Youth Orchestra under the baton of Shane O'Shea and the China Premiere of "Tangled Impressions" by American composer Anthony Paul de Ritis. Lin has been serving as the American judge at The Asia Pacific International Piano Competition, Taipei, Taiwan since 2012. In July, Xing-Zi School of Bengbu (Anhui, China) has renamed itself after Lin as "Helen Lin International Conservatory of Music, it is the first international school which has the complete western musical education system for students from age of 3 to 18. Lin is also the editor/music critic for the "RGV Beyond Arts and More" magazine (Texas based) since September 2013, her articles "Musical Connect" (monthly) have included the most current music issues, people and events.
Besides her career as a concert pianist, she has been a Master Teacher and Artist-in-Residence at the Community Conservatory of Music in Doylestown, Pennsylvania since 2006. Lin served as a piano chair at Alvernia College and Albert Conservatory in 2007-2009. During her school years, Lin was the Resident Artist for Steinway & Sons pianos at Premier Pianos in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2005 and an opera coach for the Opera Department at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. There, she held students’ recitals regularly under the sponsorship of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Premier Pianos. Currently, she is a piano professor at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan; a guest visiting professor at Weifang Univerity (Weifang, Shandong), Taian Univeristy (Taian, Shandong), University of Technology (Zibo, Shandong), Anhui Normal University (Wuhu, Anhui), Yantai University (Yantai, Shandong), Ludong University (Yantai, Shandong), and Zhaoqing University (Zhaoqing, Guangzhou), China. After receiving a Master of Music degree at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, she continued her studies under the multiple gold prize winners and most wanted piano teachers in the United States, the Pridonoff Duo and the eminent scholar James Tocco for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance and Literature. She has attended the Juilliard School of Music and Michigan State University for her Bachelors Degree where she was under the guidance of Tchaikovsky gold medalist Chen-Zhong Yin and Van Cliburn gold medalist Ralph Votapek.