For your dining and dancing pleasure–through the miracle of YouTube–Club Sequenza21 is delighted to present the talented violinist/composer Piotr Szewczyk performing short solo violin pieces by regulars Lawrence Dillon and Jeff Harrington, live and in color, as part of his Violin Futura program at Spoleto. Roll ’em, Pete. [youtube]xJGdeOUNokM [/youtube] [youtube]z5yBrIFZIcs [/youtube]
Read moreBeverly Sills, the All-American diva from Brooklyn, has died of cancer. Bubbles, as she was known to all, was a big lady with a big heart whose down-to-earth personality, talent and lifelong dedication to Lincoln Center made her a treasure for the city’s arts establishment. I never heard her sing live in her prime but there are those who swear her Lucia and Rosina were among the best. She was a hometown heroine who will be missed. UPDATE Steve Smith, Tim Page, Anthony Tommasini
Read moreOne of my dearest friends and a neighbor of many years died this afternoon. He was a lifelong bachelor who had lost most of the hearing in both ears when an anti-tank gun fired while he was crawling under it in France during World War II when he was 19. He went on to become a respected man of science, a cancer researcher, and a well-known skeptic of alternative medicine. He had no tolerance for miracle cures and especially hated those who sold hope to the hopeless with their promises of blood transfers and shark skin enemas and other exotic cures. He was not warm and cuddly and he didn’t have a lot of
Read moreSo, the wonderful Serbian film director Emir Kusterica’s new opera Time of the Gypsies (based on his zany film of the same name) opened last night in Paris. Woody Allen is directing Puccini and David Cronenberg is prepping The Fly for L.A. Anthony Minghella, Michael Haneke, Zhang Yimou. What is happening here? Have we run out of opera directors? Have film directors done operas in the past? Are opera companies just hoping that a high profile director can pack the seats?
Read moreJoshua Bell tells the Korea Times that he’s working toward writing his own stuff in a few years. Could work, I suppose. His pal Edgar Myers is a decent composer and fine musician. But, you pretty much have to go back to Rachmaninoff to find someone who was “great” as both a performer and composer. (Or, I’m sure someone will remind me that you don’t have to go back that far.) Same thing for conductors. Okay, Lenny was great at both but most are not. The most excruciating half hour I ever spent in a concert hall (and this includes
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Read more[youtube]H31YzXCq0Sg[/youtube] [youtube]bfPcu_buWkg[/youtube] Performed by the Rubio String Quartet. Photography by James Archambeault
Read moreThe indispensible Alex Ross is back from a fact finding mission to gauge the state of serious music making in the provinces and his report, in this week’s New Yorker (yes, the New Yorker) finds cause for optimism. What’s the state of serious music making in your city?
Read moreJudd Greenstein and Kimball Gallagher are looking for a few good proposals for the 2007-2008 season of VIM: TRIBECA. Proposals may be submitted by performers (instrumental and vocal), composers, ensembles, or mixed-art groups that include music. VIM: TRIBECA is centered around music in the Western classical tradition, Greenstein says, but proposals may be made by any musicians whose work pushes the boundaries of genre, or whose work is affiliated with other traditions. Download a pdf file with details here. And get out there and push a genre today. Just don’t be too noisy. Our buddy Marvin Rosen will be joined by American
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