So, there’s this opera, you see, it’s by Charles Gounod. It’s called Romeo and Juliet which is a famous play by a guy named Shakespeare, perhaps you’ve heard the name. It’s being put on by the Knoxville Opera Company with the Knoxville Symphony performing the score. It’s happening TONIGHT at 8 and Sunday afternoon at 2:30 at the Tennessee Theater. Tenor Noah Stewart (as Romeo, one would hope) and soprano Zulimar Lopez-Hernandez will lead the cast in this most romantic tragedy (or is it the most tragic romance?) ever. Gounod’s score will remind you of music of his contemporaries Georges Bizet and especially Jacques Offenbach, although you will not hear any Can-cans here.
I am always amazed at the onslaught of entertainment opportunities in Knoxville on any given weekend. A fully opera-tized weekend can be had this weekend with the R & J in Knoxville and the powerful work that is being put on by the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association, Brundibar. It is a children's opera by Jewish Czech composer Hans Krása with a libretto by Adolf Hoffmeister, originally written for and performed by the children of Theresienstadt concentration camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. The name comes from a Czech colloquialism for a bumblebee.
If you enjoyed the Sound Company children’s show choir on our Clayton Holiday (and other) concerts, then you will want to see this production (under the direction of Music Director Dan Alcott) which features them exclusively as cast members. A goodly number of KSO musicians are Oak Ridge Symphony members and will be performing Brundibar at the Oak Ridge High School Performing Arts Center.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
From the Dim Past
In early 1987, our first year here, my parents came and visited us at our rented shack in the South Knox County hinterlands. They arrived on a Sunday in late March; after some language barrier issues with people giving them directions (“Maryville Pike” spoken with a southern accent sounds just like “Murrville Park” with a northern accent), they finally found our place. Trees had leafed out more than just a little, and we grilled out at violist Bill Pierce’s Cedar Lane apartment comfortably in the 65-degree weather. A violinist in the orchestra then, Karen Lowry, threw a chamber music party on a rainy Thursday evening at the house of Pat Carter. When we left Pat’s house, it was snowing. After eight inches fell overnight, we opened Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet with the Knoxville Opera under the direction of Robert Lyall at the Tennessee on April 3, 1987.
Since this was our first winter here, we thought that random snowstorms could happen at any time during any month with an “r” in it. My wife, a Minnesotan, and I, from Connecticut (I don’t know what you call people from Connecticut), have been sadly disappointed over the years to find that that was the exception and not the rule.
The opera that happened that weekend has consistently been a treat, however. Robert Lyall, Francis Graffeo and Brian Salesky all have led many memorable performances over the years. Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet will again be produced this coming weekend, and snow doesn’t seem to be in the picture. More to follow...
Since this was our first winter here, we thought that random snowstorms could happen at any time during any month with an “r” in it. My wife, a Minnesotan, and I, from Connecticut (I don’t know what you call people from Connecticut), have been sadly disappointed over the years to find that that was the exception and not the rule.
The opera that happened that weekend has consistently been a treat, however. Robert Lyall, Francis Graffeo and Brian Salesky all have led many memorable performances over the years. Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet will again be produced this coming weekend, and snow doesn’t seem to be in the picture. More to follow...
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Manhattan Transfer, Yoga, and Brass Quintets
We are so excited to have Manhattan Transfer coming to Knoxville to perform with us! Ever since the late 70's, when tasty hits such as Birdland and Tuxedo Junction graced the airwaves, I have been a fan. Linking the jazz vocal ensembles of the past (The Pied Pipers, Brazil 66, The Four Freshmen) with those of today (Bobby McFerrin’s Voicestra, The Bobs, The Nylons), there is no more iconic group in their genre that is still performing after all these years. The show will be Saturday, Feb. 4th at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium, 8:00.
The inaugural Calvin Smith Brass Quintet Competition has been announced. While the Competition gets its own website up and running, the temporary link for this event is at the Knox Brassworx website. Pre-formed ensembles may compete in the Student Division or the Graduate/Professional Division. The competition will take place in “historic” Oak Ridge in early July. What an awesome way to memorialize our late colleague Calvin.
Yoga seems to be on the up-and-up these days, being a wonderful partner to music performance. I haven’t yet been (re-)bitten by the bug, but I have been known to bust out a shoulder stand every once in a while. Second flutist Jill Waguespack Allard has found a calling in yoga instruction, leading several types of yoga classes at the Glowing Body in Old North Knoxville and at The Practice Yoga in Western Plaza. She has pursued this endeavor with missionary zeal, which has in turn spurred several symphony players to take up this beneficial practice. Violinist Sara Matayoshi has proven to be a yogi, also leading classes at both of these venues.
Orchestra players attend classes that both Jill and Sara lead. At post-concert gatherings, Concertmaster Gabe Lefkowitz has been known to call it an early night, say “I have a 6:30 yoga class tomorrow morning,” leading to many a face-palm by those within earshot. Violinists Ilia Steinschneider and Diane Zelickman, violist Eunsoon Corliss and pianist Carol Zinavage have also been on board the yoga express with varying degrees of intensity.
6:30???? AM??????
The inaugural Calvin Smith Brass Quintet Competition has been announced. While the Competition gets its own website up and running, the temporary link for this event is at the Knox Brassworx website. Pre-formed ensembles may compete in the Student Division or the Graduate/Professional Division. The competition will take place in “historic” Oak Ridge in early July. What an awesome way to memorialize our late colleague Calvin.
Yoga seems to be on the up-and-up these days, being a wonderful partner to music performance. I haven’t yet been (re-)bitten by the bug, but I have been known to bust out a shoulder stand every once in a while. Second flutist Jill Waguespack Allard has found a calling in yoga instruction, leading several types of yoga classes at the Glowing Body in Old North Knoxville and at The Practice Yoga in Western Plaza. She has pursued this endeavor with missionary zeal, which has in turn spurred several symphony players to take up this beneficial practice. Violinist Sara Matayoshi has proven to be a yogi, also leading classes at both of these venues.
Orchestra players attend classes that both Jill and Sara lead. At post-concert gatherings, Concertmaster Gabe Lefkowitz has been known to call it an early night, say “I have a 6:30 yoga class tomorrow morning,” leading to many a face-palm by those within earshot. Violinists Ilia Steinschneider and Diane Zelickman, violist Eunsoon Corliss and pianist Carol Zinavage have also been on board the yoga express with varying degrees of intensity.
6:30???? AM??????
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Chamber Orchestra this Sunday, 2:30 at the Bijou!
I am Baroque-ified. This concert, of all the past 10 seasons of Chamber Orchestra concerts most resembles what we used to call the “Concerto Gala.” No fewer than seven soloists will regale us, and you, with swirling counterpoint and crystalline melodies from 300 years ago.
Henry Purcell’s Chacony is the eldest work on the program, dating from Newton’s time. There is no certified composition or premiere date, but “they” say that it’s from around 1680. This is a very somber ground-bass work that may remind you of his Dido’s Lament.
Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor is the gala piece on the program. New Associate Concertmaster Gordon Tsai, Principal Second violin Edward Pulgar, Ilia Steinschneider and Sean Claire are our Four Horsemen of the Appoggiatura. I’m giving away free broken bow hair to whoever can find the passage (in the last movement) that Schubert quotes in his Unfinished Symphony.
I’m just going to blurt it out here, violists Eunsoon Corliss and Katy Gawne sound amazing on the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. When the highest instrument on a work is the viola and there are 5 other players, you know the texture is going to be real bassy and thick. It’s a deep string showcase that hits heart-wrenching sonorities you will not hear anywhere else.
But the same could be said for Bach’s Suite No. 3 in B Minor, featuring our principal flutist Ebonee Thomas. Bach knew the language of B Minor very well, and this Suite represents the book of Genesis in that key. Ms Thomas’ tempi are brisk and refreshing. Like that dash of cold water the Army recommended you end your hot shower with. And as with the Vivaldi, you get to hear the orchestra play in F# major for a while. The Badinerie that the concert ends with will leave you (and her, I dare say) breathless.
Henry Purcell’s Chacony is the eldest work on the program, dating from Newton’s time. There is no certified composition or premiere date, but “they” say that it’s from around 1680. This is a very somber ground-bass work that may remind you of his Dido’s Lament.
Vivaldi’s Concerto for Four Violins in B Minor is the gala piece on the program. New Associate Concertmaster Gordon Tsai, Principal Second violin Edward Pulgar, Ilia Steinschneider and Sean Claire are our Four Horsemen of the Appoggiatura. I’m giving away free broken bow hair to whoever can find the passage (in the last movement) that Schubert quotes in his Unfinished Symphony.
I’m just going to blurt it out here, violists Eunsoon Corliss and Katy Gawne sound amazing on the Brandenburg Concerto No. 6. When the highest instrument on a work is the viola and there are 5 other players, you know the texture is going to be real bassy and thick. It’s a deep string showcase that hits heart-wrenching sonorities you will not hear anywhere else.
But the same could be said for Bach’s Suite No. 3 in B Minor, featuring our principal flutist Ebonee Thomas. Bach knew the language of B Minor very well, and this Suite represents the book of Genesis in that key. Ms Thomas’ tempi are brisk and refreshing. Like that dash of cold water the Army recommended you end your hot shower with. And as with the Vivaldi, you get to hear the orchestra play in F# major for a while. The Badinerie that the concert ends with will leave you (and her, I dare say) breathless.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
If it Ain't Baroque, Don't Fix It!
January 29th brings the next KSO Chamber Classics series concert to the Bijou, this time with Baroque music taking the stage in a well-balanced program that will feature Resident Conductor James Fellenbaum in a different role.
I’m remembering from school that the word “Baroque” originally had quite a different meaning from what we have come to accept these days. From Spanish, French or Portugese origins, it was derived from a word meaning “rough or imperfect pearl.” Initially it was a derogatory term that dealt with an artwork’s “eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details.” As a means of differentiating between music of the leaner and cleaner Renaissance and Classical periods that preceded and followed the Baroque, the term is apt in its description of the ornate melodic display and counterpoint that characterizes the music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and that crowd. The Classical period’s very streamlined, simplistic musical constructs (see last week’s Masterworks concert) were a reaction to the rampant ornamentation that was prevalent in the Baroque (and even more intensely so later in the Rococo). Baroque music was not called such until the 20th century, as late as 1940 in English. For the most part, the term is used simply to correlate the music to other disciplines’ time frames.
J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 is a piece that goes back a long way for me. As an 8th-grader I played it with some kids in my high school’s chamber orchestra. I always loved the syncopated finale rhythm; you know, Minnesota Public Radio uses a snippet of it for their jingle just before Prairie Home Companion comes on. Maestro Fellenbaum will be playing cello on this work, which is more of a septet than an orchestral work per se. Just a half-step away, Bach’s Orchestra Suite No. 2 in B Minor is about as excellent a piece there is in B Minor, with the Schubert Unfinished Symphony (coming up on our April Masterworks) and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet being up there also. Additional works by Vivaldi, Handel and Purcell will alternately soothe and dazzle with their beautiful “noisy abundance of details.”
Speaking of Baroque, our principal trombonist Sam Chen spent this past weekend in Memphis where the U. of Memphis Low Brass Workshop took place. Sam has had a project of learning the Solo Cello Suites of J.S. Bach on the trombone. I have heard him play them and I can vouch for them as very listenable. Sam was a guest artist in Memphis and he performed several movements of Bach there, as well as leading a masterclass and panel discussion. Way to go, Sam!
I’m remembering from school that the word “Baroque” originally had quite a different meaning from what we have come to accept these days. From Spanish, French or Portugese origins, it was derived from a word meaning “rough or imperfect pearl.” Initially it was a derogatory term that dealt with an artwork’s “eccentric redundancy and noisy abundance of details.” As a means of differentiating between music of the leaner and cleaner Renaissance and Classical periods that preceded and followed the Baroque, the term is apt in its description of the ornate melodic display and counterpoint that characterizes the music of Bach, Handel, Vivaldi and that crowd. The Classical period’s very streamlined, simplistic musical constructs (see last week’s Masterworks concert) were a reaction to the rampant ornamentation that was prevalent in the Baroque (and even more intensely so later in the Rococo). Baroque music was not called such until the 20th century, as late as 1940 in English. For the most part, the term is used simply to correlate the music to other disciplines’ time frames.
J. S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 is a piece that goes back a long way for me. As an 8th-grader I played it with some kids in my high school’s chamber orchestra. I always loved the syncopated finale rhythm; you know, Minnesota Public Radio uses a snippet of it for their jingle just before Prairie Home Companion comes on. Maestro Fellenbaum will be playing cello on this work, which is more of a septet than an orchestral work per se. Just a half-step away, Bach’s Orchestra Suite No. 2 in B Minor is about as excellent a piece there is in B Minor, with the Schubert Unfinished Symphony (coming up on our April Masterworks) and Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet being up there also. Additional works by Vivaldi, Handel and Purcell will alternately soothe and dazzle with their beautiful “noisy abundance of details.”
Speaking of Baroque, our principal trombonist Sam Chen spent this past weekend in Memphis where the U. of Memphis Low Brass Workshop took place. Sam has had a project of learning the Solo Cello Suites of J.S. Bach on the trombone. I have heard him play them and I can vouch for them as very listenable. Sam was a guest artist in Memphis and he performed several movements of Bach there, as well as leading a masterclass and panel discussion. Way to go, Sam!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Mozart Played Live? Who Wouldn’t Go?
Guest conductors always present an opportunity to diversify our orchestral experience, and it’s been very engaging to have Maestro Edward Cumming guesting with us this week for an all-Mozart show that can’t be beat at the Tennessee Theatre tonight and tomorrow at 8. Mozart's 23rd and 40th Symphonies will be sandwiched around the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major (aka Theme from Elvira Madigan).
I know some of you are thinking it. “I didn’t even know Mozart wrote a 23rd Symphony.” It’s a real gem of a piece, sometimes called Overture since there are no pauses between movements. Indeed, you might think it the Entracte to an 18th century Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Phyllis Secrist’s beautiful oboe solos carry the second movement, and the violins are in high gear.
No. Mozart did not write the music for the film Elvira Madigan. I resent the fact that his Piano Concerto No. 21's duly exalted status must be buoyed for the listening public by the movie soundtrack tag. I wonder what they used to call it. According to Wikipedia (which is thankfully back in view), only three of the 25 Mozart Piano Concerti have subtitles: K. 246, the Lutzow; K. 271, the Jeunhomme/Jenamy (very interesting story there); and K. 537, the Coronation. But even those titles don’t originate with the composer. Since they are basically written-out improvisations by Mozart with an orchestra accompanying, the piano concerti are the best glimpse into the world of Mozart the performer. Perhaps there is a movie for each one, that would help further the reputation of these gems. Anyways, it’s a old friend; Grout calls it “spacious and symphonic.” Pianist Yeol eum Son’s cadenzas are captivating, and if you KEEP CLAPPING, SHE’LL PLAY AN ENCORE.
Mozart’s 40th Symphony was written a year after a 16-year-old Beethoven played for Mozart. In the lineage of Germanic symphonists, Beethoven (and Schubert) would succeed both Haydn and Mozart, but the rigid constructs of the classical period that Beethoven rent asunder with his symphonies can be heard tearing at the seams in the outer movements of 40. Only two symphonies earlier, in the Prague (which we just played in the Bijou in November), Mozart stayed with the formulae that had brought him success since 10 and 28, but his final three symphonies are so different from each other and all his previous efforts that you just knew something was up over there.
Join us! And remember, Mozart did not write for the marimba.
I know some of you are thinking it. “I didn’t even know Mozart wrote a 23rd Symphony.” It’s a real gem of a piece, sometimes called Overture since there are no pauses between movements. Indeed, you might think it the Entracte to an 18th century Rodgers and Hammerstein musical. Phyllis Secrist’s beautiful oboe solos carry the second movement, and the violins are in high gear.
No. Mozart did not write the music for the film Elvira Madigan. I resent the fact that his Piano Concerto No. 21's duly exalted status must be buoyed for the listening public by the movie soundtrack tag. I wonder what they used to call it. According to Wikipedia (which is thankfully back in view), only three of the 25 Mozart Piano Concerti have subtitles: K. 246, the Lutzow; K. 271, the Jeunhomme/Jenamy (very interesting story there); and K. 537, the Coronation. But even those titles don’t originate with the composer. Since they are basically written-out improvisations by Mozart with an orchestra accompanying, the piano concerti are the best glimpse into the world of Mozart the performer. Perhaps there is a movie for each one, that would help further the reputation of these gems. Anyways, it’s a old friend; Grout calls it “spacious and symphonic.” Pianist Yeol eum Son’s cadenzas are captivating, and if you KEEP CLAPPING, SHE’LL PLAY AN ENCORE.
Mozart’s 40th Symphony was written a year after a 16-year-old Beethoven played for Mozart. In the lineage of Germanic symphonists, Beethoven (and Schubert) would succeed both Haydn and Mozart, but the rigid constructs of the classical period that Beethoven rent asunder with his symphonies can be heard tearing at the seams in the outer movements of 40. Only two symphonies earlier, in the Prague (which we just played in the Bijou in November), Mozart stayed with the formulae that had brought him success since 10 and 28, but his final three symphonies are so different from each other and all his previous efforts that you just knew something was up over there.
Join us! And remember, Mozart did not write for the marimba.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Down for the Count
This is it. The Cold of the Century. A difficult, busy month is infused with this head-in-a-vise condition that sends me bedward. My wife’s chicken and dumplings helps somewhat, but students, quartet members and band members are told to stay away on account of my misery. A couple lessons I’ve simply had to teach because the work load this month (many more daytime, weekday services) simply does not allow for a rescheduling. I’ve had to beg off of a Swingtet gig on the site of “Extreme Makeover” because of this... this.... thing. The fact that it was outdoors would have ensured the longevity of my ailment. Gabe Lefkowitz’s merry band of diners who have been eating their way across Knoxville have come within five blocks of my house, this time to Palavah Hut for Liberian food on Magnolia Ave, but alas and alack, I am cuckolded in this Kleenex castle for at least another day.
I can sort of do bowings in my state. There’s plenty of that– the Bach Brandenburg 6, Mahler 2 and Purcell’s Chacony. I’ll just spray the parts with Chloraseptic before I hand them in. Also surfing the web is pretty safe. In doing so, I have come across an interesting blog by Edward Cumming, who will take the podium for the next Masterworks concerts this coming Thursday and Friday at 8. Maestro Cumming speaks of two things I am very familiar with; classical music and the city of Hartford. Current Director of Orchestras at the Hartt School in Hartford and former director of the Hartford Symphony, he and I have literally trod a lot of common ground, although luckily for all, the podium was never under MY feet. (Just so you know, I started college 33 years ago at the Hartt School).
Knoxville and Hartford are intense rivals athletically, but pretty copasetic musically. They have Geno, we have Pat. “(But ah, they have the Pats!” you say). The UConn men’s basketball team will play at the Thompson-Boling Arena next Saturday. I wonder if Maestro Cumming will go...
I can sort of do bowings in my state. There’s plenty of that– the Bach Brandenburg 6, Mahler 2 and Purcell’s Chacony. I’ll just spray the parts with Chloraseptic before I hand them in. Also surfing the web is pretty safe. In doing so, I have come across an interesting blog by Edward Cumming, who will take the podium for the next Masterworks concerts this coming Thursday and Friday at 8. Maestro Cumming speaks of two things I am very familiar with; classical music and the city of Hartford. Current Director of Orchestras at the Hartt School in Hartford and former director of the Hartford Symphony, he and I have literally trod a lot of common ground, although luckily for all, the podium was never under MY feet. (Just so you know, I started college 33 years ago at the Hartt School).
Knoxville and Hartford are intense rivals athletically, but pretty copasetic musically. They have Geno, we have Pat. “(But ah, they have the Pats!” you say). The UConn men’s basketball team will play at the Thompson-Boling Arena next Saturday. I wonder if Maestro Cumming will go...
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