Slatkin has rough time with La Traviata at the Met

Leonard Slatkin conducted a rough-hewn "Taviata" at the Met, according to this review in the New York Times. He survived the evil eye from Angela Gheorghiu and was tolerated by Thomas Hampson.

Today's Birthdays

Francesco Durante (1684-1755)
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Serge Diaghliev (1872-1929)
Clemens Krauss (1893-1954)
John Mitchinson (1932)
Herb Alpert (1935)
Nelly Miricioiu (1952)
Robert Gambill (1955)
Jake Heggie (1961)


and

René Descartes (1596-1650)
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852)
Octavio Paz (1914-1998)
Cesar Chavez (1927-1993)

Today's Birthdays

Tommaso Traetta (1727-1779)
Ted Heath (1900-1969)
Sandor Szokolay (1931)
John Eaton (1935)
Eric Clapton (1945)
Maggie Cole (1952)
Margaret Fingerhut (1955)
Sabine Meyer (1959)

and

Francisco Jose de Goya (1746-1828)
Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Sean O'Casey (1880-1964)

Conversation with John Adams

I've posted a very long conversation with John Adams posted on Oregon Music News. The conversation took place as part of the annnual meeting of the Music Critic Association of North American (of which I'm a member) last summer in New York City. This year (in early May), the critics will meet in Dallas to compare notes, swap shop talk, and hear the Dallas Symphony, the Fort Worth Symphony, and the world premier of "Moby Dick" at Dallas Opera.

Today's Birthdays

Henri Lutz (1864-1928)
Rosina Lhévinne (1880-1976)
Sir William Walton (1902-1983)
E Power Biggs (1906-1977)
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (1936)
Guher Pekinel (1953)
Suher Pekinel (1953)

Today's Birthdays

Joseph Weigl (1766-1846)
Willem Mengelberg (1871-1951)
Rudolf Serkin (1903-1991)
Jacob Avshalomov (1919)
Robert Ashley (1930)
Martin Neary (1940)
Samuel Ramey (1942)
Richard Stilgoe (1942)

and

Raphael (1483-1520)
Mario Vargas Llosa (1936)
Iris Chang (1968-2004)

Today's Birthdays

Vincent d'Indy (1851-1931)
Ferde Grofé (1892-1972)
Anne Ziegler (1910-2003)
Sarah Vaughn (1924-1990)
Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007)
Paul Ruders (1949)
Maria Ewing (1950)
Bernard Labadie (1963)

and

Heinrich Mann (1871-1950)
Edward Steichen (1879-1973)
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)
Budd Schulberg (1914)
Julia Alvarez (1950)
John O'Farrell (1962)

Carlos Kalmar to fill in for ailing James Levine

Hot new item: Oregon Symphony's MD Carlos Kalmar will direct the Boston Symphony's concerts April 8-10. Kalmar will conduct the world premier of John Harbison's Double Concerto and Mahler's 7th Symphony. Here's an excerpt from the press release, which you can find here on the BSO web site:

Carlos Kalmar will lead the Boston Symphony Orchestra and husband and wife soloists, Mira Wang, violin, and Jan Vogler, cello, in the world premiere of John Harbison’s Double Concerto for violin and cello, April 8-10 at Symphony Hall. The Double Concerto, the seventh piece the BSO has commissioned from Harbison, is the latest product of a longstanding relationship between the orchestra and the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer that dates back to the premiere of his First Symphony in 1984. The new Harbison work was commissioned by the Friends of Dresden Music Foundation for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, James Levine, Mira Wang, and Jan Vogler in honor of Ms. Wang’s most influential teacher, 99-year-old Roman Totenberg, who made his BSO debut as soloist in 1955 and continues teaching at Boston University today. Mira Wang, who lived with Mr. Totenberg and his wife during her student days in Boston, remains close to the Totenberg family, often joining them for visits and vacations with her own family.

Joining the Double Concerto on the program will be Mahler’s kaleidoscopic Symphony No. 7. Carlos Kalmar fills in for BSO Music Director James Levine who had to withdraw from his final three weeks of the 2009-10 season due to ongoing back problems.

Today's Birthdays

Josef Slavík (1806-1833)
Wilhelm Backhaus (1884-1969)
André Cluytens (1905-1967)
Harry Rabinowitz (1916)
Pierre Boulez (1925)
Kyung Wha Chung (1948)

and

Edward Bellamy (1850-1898)
A. E. Housman (1859-1936)
Robert Frost (1874-1963)
Joseph Campbell (1904–1987)
Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
Gregory Corso (1930-2001)

Oregonian Amber Wagner wins George London Competition

According to Musical America, soprano Amber Wagner, who is a native of Oregon, is one of the winners of the 2010 George London Competition, which was held last week. Wagner was recently a soloist in the Oregon Symphony's performances of Rossini's "Stabat Mater." Each winner of the George London competition received $10,000.

Here is the list of winners (each of whom received $10,000):

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, scheduled to make his New York City Opera debut presently as Armindo in “Partenope,” a Masters of Music degree graduate of the Manhattan School of Music.

Soprano Lori Guilbeau, Met Opera National Council Auditions first-prize winner, also affiliated with Manhattan School of Music.

Baritone Elliot Madore, 2010 grand final winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, working on his Masters of Music degree at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Baritone Michael Anthony McGee, graduate of the San Francisco Opera’s Merola Opera Program with a Masters of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music.

Tenor Nathaniel Peake, member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio with a Master of Music degree from Michigan State University.

Soprano Nadine Sierra, first place winner in the 2007 Marilyn Horne Foundation Awards, trained at the Mannes College of Music, the International Vocal Arts Institute and the Music Academy of the West.

Baritone Donovan Singletary, in his third year of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Metropolitan Opera National Council grand finals winner.

Soprano Amber Wagner, winner of the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Grand Finals, winner of a 2009 Richard Tucker Career Grant. Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Grand Canyon University.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783)
Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957)
Béla Bartók (1881-1945)
Magda Olivero (1910)
Sir Elton John (1947)

and

Flannery O'Connor (1925-1964)
Gloria Steinem (1934)

Today's Birthdays

Maria Malibran (1808-1836)
Christiane Eda-Pierre (1932)
Benjamin Luxon (1937)

and

Malcolm Muggeridge (1902-1990)
Dwight Macdonald (1906-1982)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti (1919)
Dario Fo (1926)
Martin Walser (1927)

dramma per musica runs its course

Bob Kingston, one of Portland's most astute opera commentators, is pulling the plug on his blog, dramma per musica, which has been one of the blogs that I usually check every day. We are going to miss Bob in the blogosphere, and we hope to see him back someday soon. If you haven't taken a look a dramma per musica, please do so soon, because you only have unitl the end of the week.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748)
Léon Minkus (1826-1917)
Eugène Gigout (1844-1925)
Franz Schreker (1878-1934)
Josef Locke (1917-1999)
Doc Watson (1923)
Norman Bailey (1933)
Boris Tishchenko (1939)
Michael Nyman (1944)
David Grisman (1945)

and

Roger Martin du Gard (1881-1958)
Erich Fromm (1900-1980)
Gary Joseph Whitehead (1965)

Interview with Robert Ainsley

My chat with conductor Robert Ainsley has been posted in Oregon Music News. Ainsley discusses the upcoming Portland Opera triple bill of Bernstein and Monteverdi one-act operas.

While doing the interview, I learned from Julia Sheridan, Portland Opera's publicity and publications manager, that the company has paid off its mortgage and is thinking of celebrating that fact when its new Orphee CD comes out - which will be sometime soon.

Today's Birthdays

Carl Rosa (1842-1889)
Joseph Samson (1888-1957)
Martha Mödl (1912-2001)
Fanny Waterman (1920)
Arthur Grumiaux (1921-1986)
Stephen Sondheim (1930)
Joseph Schwantner (1943)
George Benson (1943)
Alan Opie (1945)
Rivka Golani (1946)
Lord (Andrew) Lloyd Webber (1948)
Edmund Barham (1950)

and

Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)
Edith Grossman (1936)
Billy Collins (1941)
James McManus (1951)

Chamber Music Northwest announces summer festival

Chamber Music Northwest has announced its summer music festival, and I have a summary on Oregon Music News, but you can get all of the details on CMNW's website.

Today's Birthdays

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Modeste Moussorgsky (1839-1881)
Eddie James "Son" House (1902-1988)
Nikos Skalkottas (1904-1949)
Paul Tortelier (1914-1990)
Nigel Rogers (1935)
Owain Arwel Hughes (1942)
Elena Firsova (1950)
Ann MacKay (1956)

and

Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998)

Today's Birthdays

Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957)
Lauritz Melchoir (1890-1973)
Sviatoslav Richter (1915-1997)
Dame Vera Lynn (1917)
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-1970)
Marian McPartland (1918)
Henry Mollicone (1946)

and

Ovid (43 BC - AD 17)
Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)

Today's Birthdays

Max Reger (1873-1916)
Dame Elizabeth Maconchy (1907-1994)
Nancy Evans (1915-2000)
Dinu Lipatti (1917-1950)
Robert Muczynski (1929)
Ornette Coleman (1930)
Myung-Wha Chung (1944)
Carolyn Watkinson (1949)
Mathew Rosenblum (1954)

and

Tobias Smollett (1721-1771)
Nikolay Gogol (1809-1852)
Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890)
Philip Roth (1933)

American Music Center 2010 Awards

From the press release (note that there's a list of previous winners at the end):

The American Music Center is extremely pleased to announce the following recipients of its 2010 Awards.

AMC’s Founders Award:

Francis Thorne

AMC’s Letter of Distinction:

Jack Beeson
Fred Ho
Meredith Monk
Esa-Pekka Salonen
The Society for New Music

AMC’s Trailblazer Award:

International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)

(Biographies of the 2010 honorees follow.)

“Each year, we are proud to honor those who have given so much of their talent and passion to this industry,” AMC President and CEO Joanne Hubbard Cossa comments. “This illustrious group of composers and performers truly exemplifies the diversity and extraordinary abilities of those championing new American music today, and each winner has made an extraordinary contribution to the world of contemporary music in this country.”

She continues, “We are extremely proud to honor Francis Thorne with our Founders Award. Not only have his compositions had a lasting impact on new American music, but his co-founding of the American Composers Orchestra some thirty-five years ago advanced the field enormously

“Those receiving Letters of Distinction — Jack Beeson, Fred Ho, Meredith Monk, Esa-Pekka Salonen and The Society for New Music — have left their mark on the new American musical landscape in five very different ways. Collectively they have served the community as composers, performers, mentors, teachers and music advocates. Their contributions to the field are diverse and unparalleled.”

“Lastly,” she concludes, “the commitment, style and fresh new look International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) brings to new American music makes them the perfect recipient for our Trailblazer Award.”

AMC Awards: History and Descriptions

Since 1964, the American Music Center has annually awarded the Letter of Distinction to recognize those who have made a significant contribution to the field of contemporary American music. This year’s Letter of Distinction recipients join a celebrated group of individuals and organizations who have received this honor, including George Balanchine, Leonard Bernstein, John Cage, Joan Tower, Merce Cunningham, Morton Feldman, Laurie Anderson, Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Reich, Michael Tilson Thomas, Virgil Thomson, Joan La Barbara, Randy Weston, the Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can, Dawn Upshaw, and the American Composers Orchestra.

The Founders Award, established in 1999, is named in honor of the six founders of the American Music Center: Aaron Copland, Howard Hansen, Marion Bauer, Otto Luening, Quincy Porter and Harrison Kerr. It celebrates lifetime achievement in the field of new American music. Previous winners include: Elliott Carter, Lou Harrison, Milton Babbitt, and Steve Reich. Last year’s honoree was Gunther Schuller.

The Trailblazer Award, instituted in 2003, honors those deserving of commendation and support from the American contemporary music community for their early and mid-career efforts toward championing new music. Previous winners have included Matt Haimovitz, eighth blackbird, and Derek Bermel.

Awards will be presented on Monday, May 3, 2010, at the Chelsea Art Museum in New York City from 5-7pm to an audience of American Music Center members and guests.

BIOGRAPHIES OF AMERICAN MUSIC CENTER HONOREES – 2010

FRANCIS THORNE
Francis Thorne embraced his passion for composition after a varied career as a naval officer, banker, stockbroker, and jazz pianist. Born into a musical family, the young Thorne studied composition at Yale, but after graduation he entered the Navy to serve in WWII. Following the end of the war, he pursued a career on Wall Street. It wasn’t until the mid-1950s that he decided to return to music and he began performing as a jazz pianist. After hearing Thorne play, Duke Ellington recommended him to the famed Hickory House jazz club where he landed a two-year engagement. In 1958, Thorne moved his family to Italy to study privately with David Diamond and develop the craftsmanship that would set his music apart with its distinctive interweaving of jazz and classical forms. Thorne’s first orchestral success, Elegy for Orchestra—premiered by Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1964—came at the age of 42. With jazz as an ever-present influence, Thorne’s eclectic tastes led to his grounding-breaking and genre-bending 1968 composition, Sonar Plexus, for electric guitar and orchestra. Since then, Thorne has been the recipient of numerous commissions and awards, from such organizations as the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Today his catalogue includes over 117 works in every genre, ranging from intimate songs and piano pieces to operas, three piano concertos, and seven symphonies. In addition to his activities as a composer, Thorne has advocated for American music through his career-long participation on boards of new music and composer service organizations, including the American Composers Orchestra, which he co-founded with Dennis Russell Davies and Paul Lustig Dunkel and which is now in its 33rd season.

JACK BEESON
Jack Beeson was born in 1921 in Muncie IN and began piano lessons at the age of 7, soon additionally studying clarinet, xylophone, and composition. Seduced by the Metropolitan Opera’s first broadcasts, Beeson spent his teenage years atypically—writing three libretti while also attempting to set some scenes to music. He attended the Eastman School of Music, majoring in composition (while continuing piano and cello studies), where he earned Bachelor and Master degrees. Beeson interrupted his Doctoral work to go to New York City to study with Béla Bartók, who—six months later—unfortunately became too ill to work with the young composer. By that time, Beeson had become the coach and assistant conductor of the Columbia University Opera Workshop, where he was integrally involved with annual productions of premieres of works by American composers. He remained at Columbia for 50 years, teaching and mentoring some 300 graduate students. For 22 years, he has also served as the MacDowell Professor Emeritus of Music. Throughout his career, Beeson’s commitment to new music included serving on the boards of many organizations which support American composers; he is still actively involved with ASCAP and the Ditson Fund. Beeson’s composition catalogue is extensive, comprising works for orchestra, band, and chamber ensemble. However, his main output has been vocal music, including songs, choral pieces, and ten operas, among them Hello Out There and Lizzie Borden which have both been widely performed as well as televised in the United States and abroad. In 2008, Edwin Mellen Press published his autobiography, How Operas Are Created by Composers and Librettists: The Life of Jack Beeson, American Opera Composer.

FRED HO
Fred Ho—composer, baritone saxophonist, producer, playwright, author, and social activist—is the leader of the Afro Asian Music Ensemble (sextet), the Green Monster Big Band (a 21 piece chamber orchestra), the Monkey Orchestra (a unique chamber ensemble/big band comprised of traditional Chinese and western instrumentation and Chinese language vocals), Caliente: Circle Around the Sun (duet with poet Magdalena Gomez), the Afro Asian Scientific Soul Duo (with tenor saxophonist Salim Washington), and the Saxophone Liberation Front (a saxophone quartet). An assertive but affirmational political agenda is the cornerstone of all of the music of Fred Ho, who earned a degree in sociology from Harvard University but is a self-taught musician and composer. For over two decades, Ho’s insight has presciently embraced 21st century multiculturalism with his intricate and soulful amalgamation of a number of musical traditions spanning musical theatre, African American and traditional Chinese folk music. Described as both brilliant and chaotic, Ho’s music is "is neither easily pigeonholed nor easily ignored." (Washington Post) His output encompasses solos and compositions for his own ensembles, orchestral pieces, operas and music/theater epics, multimedia performance works, martial arts ballets, and oratorios. His opera, A Chinaman’s Chance, which received its premiere at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, was the first contemporary Chinese-American opera. Ho has been honored with numerous commissions and awards, most recently receiving the 2009 Harvard Arts Medal. He was also named the first Asian American recipient of the Duke Ellington Distinguished Artist Lifetime Achievement Award from the Black Musicians Conference.

MEREDITH MONK
Meredith Monk is a composer, singer, choreographer, filmmaker, and creator of new opera and music theater works. During a career spanning five decades, Monk has been acclaimed by audiences and critics as a major creative force. A pioneer in what is now called “extended vocal technique” and “interdisciplinary performance,” Monk has been hailed as a “magician of the voice,” and “one of America’s coolest composers.” In 1965, she began her innovative exploration of the voice as a multi-faceted instrument and subsequently composed and performed many solo pieces for unaccompanied voice and voice/keyboard. In 1978, she formed Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble to further expand her musical textures and forms. Her vocal music is an eloquent language in and of itself which expands the boundaries of musical composition, creating landscapes of sound that unearth feelings, energies, and memories for which there are no words. In addition to her groundbreaking vocal and theater pieces (which include Book of Days, Dolmen Music, Mercy, Impermanence, and ATLAS), Monk has created vital new repertoire for orchestra, chamber ensembles, and solo instruments. Her music has also appeared in motion pictures by Jean-Luc Godard and the Coen Brothers, among others. Celebrated internationally, her music has been presented by the Lincoln Center Festival, Houston Grand Opera, London's Barbican Center, and at major venues in countries from Brazil to Syria. Monk’s most recent work, composed for chamber orchestra, chorus and two vocal soloists, was premiered in March by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. With a discography featuring over a dozen recordings, Monk’s numerous honors include induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, receiving a MacArthur Award and being named a United States Artists Fellow.

ESA-PEKKA SALONEN
Esa-Pekka Salonen is renowned both for his striking compositions and his illuminating interpretations of contemporary music. The Helsinki-born Salonen has led countless premieres of new works since his arrival in the United States in 1992 to serve as Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic—a position he held until 2009. (He is now Conductor Laureate.) A champion of American composers, he has conducted world premieres of works by John Adams, William Kraft, Bernard Rands, Steven Stucky, Tan Dun, and Augusta Read Thomas, among others, and has recorded major works by John Corigliano, Bernard Herrmann, and Wynton Marsalis. He has also introduced American audiences to works by some of the most respected international composers, including Franco Donatoni, Anders Hillborg, Magnus Lindberg, Witold Lutoslawski, Kaija Saariaho, and Rodion Shchedrin. Being such a strong advocate for the music of other composers initially made it difficult for Salonen to have time to work on his own compositions, but in recent years he has been able to take time off from his demanding conducting schedule to actively compose large-scale works, many of which have been inspired by his adopted California homeland. LA Variations, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, had a triumphant premiere in January 1997 and has since proven to be one of the most popular orchestral works of recent decades. Wing on Wing, a 2004 score for two sopranos and orchestra inspired by Frank Gehry's remarkable architecture for Walt Disney Concert Hall, has also been highly successful both in the United States and abroad. His 2009 Violin Concerto for Leila Josefowicz has recently toured Europe and will be performed as the score for a new ballet danced by the New York City Ballet this June.

SOCIETY FOR NEW MUSIC
Since its founding in 1971, the Society for New Music (SNM) has served the central New York State community by bringing new music to a broad audience throughout the region. Founding members Neva Pilgrim, Ralph D'Mello, and Greg Levinhave successfully guided the Society’s growth as it has become a driving cultural force for contemporary music in the United States through its commissioning activities, performances, recordings, and other initiatives. SNM commissions at least one new work each season, has produced four recordings including a CD featuring its commissioned works, and hosts the Cazenovia Counterpoint summer festival. As New York State’s only year-round new music organization outside of Manhattan, SNM provides a format for living composers in the same way art galleries offer a platform for visual artists. It presents multiple opportunities for audiences of all ages to become conversant with the music of their time and strives to feature diverse styles of contemporary works. Originally offering five performances a year, SNM’s programming has grown to approximately 25 concerts per season, with additional workshops and master classes. It also funds composer-residencies in inner-city schools. SNM has offered opportunities to composers across a wide career spectrum, prominently featuring regional composers alongside nationally-known composers. They have also brought new music beyond the concert hall through their cable TV concerts as well as on their weekly hour-long new music radio program, “Fresh Ink,” which airs on several local stations in the region and is also accessible throughout the world via the website of Central New York's public broadcasting station WCNY. The Society has previously been honored with ASCAP/Chamber Music America Awards, the American Composer Alliance’s 'Laurel Leaf' Award, and a New York State Governor's Arts Award.

INTERNATIONAL CONTEMPORARY ENSEMBLE (ICE)
Founded in 2001, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) has established itself as one of the leading new-music ensembles and organizations of its generation, performing over 50 concerts a year in the United States and abroad. With a roster of 30 of the country's most accomplished young musicians and a staff of visionary arts entrepreneurs, ICE functions as performer, presenter, and educator, advancing the music of our time by commissioning and performing new works and by developing groundbreaking strategies for audience engagement. In an era of increasingly diverse audiences, changes in arts education, new patronage models, and rapidly shifting musical genres, ICE redefines concert music as it brings together new works and new listeners. ICE emphasizes inter-disciplinary collaborations (including multimedia and dance) and active commissioning of both unknown and established composers. Over the course of its short history, ICE has already given over 400 world premieres and has issued several critically acclaimed recordings on the Bridge, Naxos, and New Focus labels. Forthcoming 2010 releases include albums for New Amsterdam, Nonesuch, Mode, and Tzadik. Along with its concerts at major world venues, ICE also presents performances in non-traditional venues and has self-produced eight large-scale contemporary music festivals in settings as wide-ranging as nightclubs, galleries, and public spaces, many of which are free and open to the public.

The American Music Center is dedicated to building a national community of artists, organizations, and audiences, creating, performing, and enjoying new American music. Since its founding in 1939, AMC has been a leader in providing field-wide advocacy, support, and connection. AMC advocates for the community through its media programming; supports the community by making grants to composers and ensembles each year, and by offering professional development services to artists; and connects the community with an array of information services designed to facilitate performances, including a vast, searchable online database of 50,000 American works by over 6,000 composers, publications compiling opportunities in new music and other information useful to industry professionals, and benefits and services for nearly 2,500 members in all 50 states and around the world.

Historical List of American Music Center Award Recipients


Founders Award
2010 Francis Thorne
2009 Gunther Schuller
2008 Steve Reich
2007 Philip Glass
2006 Milton Babbitt
2005 William “Count” Basie (posthumous); Charles Ives (posthumous)
2004 Ornette Coleman
2003 Betty Freeman; Lou Harrison (in memoriam)
2001 John Duffy
1999 Elliott Carter

Trailblazer Award
2010 International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)
2008 Derek Bermel
2007 eighth blackbird
2005 The Minnesota Commissioning Club
2004 Matt Haimovitz
2003 George Steel/Miller Theatre

New Music Educator Award
2009 New World Symphony
2007 Charles Hamm

Letter of Distinction
2010 Jack Beeson; Fred Ho; Meredith Monk; Esa-Pekka Salonen; The Society for New Music
2009 La Monte Young; Albany Records
2008 Robert Ashley; Joan La Barbara; Edgar Meyer; Ned Rorem; Joan Tower
2007 Marin Alsop; T.J. Anderson; John Corigliano; Ralph Jackson; Terry Riley
2006 Chanticleer; Bill Frisell; Alex Ross; Billy Taylor
2005 Laurie Anderson; Lukas Foss; Ahmad Jamal; Richard Kessler; Gian Carlo Menotti; The Other Minds Festival; Frances Richard
2004 John Adams; Art Ensemble of Chicago; Dave Brubeck; Ben Johnston; George Perle; Stephen Sondheim;
Dawn Upshaw; Yale Oral History of American Music/Vivian Perlis
2003 George Crumb; Ronald Freed (in memoriam); Kyle Gann; Steve Reich; Wayne Shorter
2002 Henry Cowell (in memoriam); Phyllis Curtin; Sylvia Goldstein, Ursula Oppens, John Schaefer
2001 Donald Erb; Hale Smith; Mark Swed; Lyn Austin (in memoriam); Teresa Sterne (in memoriam)
2000 Composers Recordings, Inc.; John Harbison; Robert Hurwitz; K. Robert Schwarz (in memoriam); Michael
Tilson Thomas
1999 Ellis Freedman; Philip Glass; California EAR Unit; Harvey Lichtenstein; Mel Powell (in memoriam)
1998 Arnold Broido; Yo-Yo Ma; George Walker; Bette Snapp (in memoriam)
1997 Merce Cunningham; Tania Leon; Paul Sperry; Jacob Druckman (in memoriam)
1996 Earle Brown; Thomas Buckner; Randy Weston; Ulysses Kay (in memoriam)
1995 Ed London and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony; Max Roach; Gregg Smith
1994 David Baker; Arthur Cohn; Francis Goelet
1993 Morton Gould; Modern Jazz Quartet; Dizzy Gillespie (in memoriam); Stephen Albert (in memoriam)
1992 (none awarded due to schedule change)
1991 Bang on a Can; New World Records; Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust
1990 Muhal Richard Abrams; Pauline Oliveros; Lawrence Leighton Smith and the Louisville Orchestra
1989 Leo Ornstein; Minna Lederman Daniels; and Jan DeGaetani (in memoriam)
1988 Cecil Taylor; Sylvia Smith and Smith Publications; Peter Garland and Soundings Press
1987 Ornette Coleman; Kronos Quartet; Morton Feldman (in memoriam); Vincent Persichetti (in memoriam)
1986 Lou Harrison; Betty Freeman
1985 Gunther Schuller; Margaret Jory (in memoriam); Leonard Fleischer of Exxon, Howard Klein of the Rockefeller Foundation, and Frank Hodsoll of the National Endowment for the Arts for the Meet the Composer Orchestra Residencies Program
1984 Milton Babbitt; KPFA/Charles Amirkhanian; St. Louis Symphony/Leonard Slatkin
1983 Robert Erickson; C.F. Peters Corporation/Evelyn Hinrichsen; Paul Jacobs (in memoriam)
1982 Henry Brant; Institute for Studies in American Music/H. Wiley Hitchcock, founding director; Robert Miller (in memoriam)
1981 Conlon Nancarrow; American Composers Orchestra/Francis Thorne, Dennis Russell Davies
1980 Meet the Composer/John Duffy; Samuel Barber
1979 John Cage; Lawrence Morton
1978 Leonard Bernstein; Nicolas Slonimsky
1977 Hugo Weisgall; Martin Bookspan
1976 Virgil Thomson; Paul Fromm
1975 Aaron Copland; Otto Luening
1974 Koussevitsky Foundation; Olga Koussevitsky
1973 Elliott Carter; Roy Harris
1972 Hugo Weisgall; Max Pollikoff
1971 Howard Hanson; Roger Sessions
1970 Aaron Copland; Leopold Stokowski; Benjamin Steinberg
1969 Stefan Wolpe; George Balanchine; Samuel Rosenbaum
1968 Roger Sessions; Alberto Ginestera
1967 William Schuman
1965 Adele Addison; Milton Feist; Henry Allen Moe; Thomas Scherman
1964 Claire Reis; Donald Engle; Richard Franko Goldman; Virgil Thomson

Today's Birthdays

Johann Christoph Vogel (1756-1788)
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908)
Paul Le Flem (1881-1984)
Gian Francesco Malipiero (1882-1973)
Willem van Hoogstraten (1884-1964)
Nobuko Imai (1943)
James Conlong (1950)
Jan-Hendrik Rootering (1950)
Courtney Pine (1964)

and

Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)
George Plimpton (1927-2003)
Christa Wolf (1929)
John Updike (1932-2009)

Today's Birthdays

Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre (1665-1729)
Manuel García II (1805-1906)
Joseph Rheinberger (1839-1901)
Giuseppe Borgatti (1871-1950)
Brian Boydell (1917-2000)
Nat "King" Cole (1917-1965)
Stephen Dodgson (1924)
Betty Allen (1927-2009)
John Lill (1944)
Michael Finnissy (1946)
Patrick Burgan (1960)

and

Edmund Kean (1787-1833)
Frank B. Gilbreth (1911-2001)
Penelope Lively (1933)

John Adams compares Stokowski and Toscanini

In this terrific essay, John Adams compares Stokowski and Toscanini, both of who helped to propel the status of an orchestral conductor into mega-stardom. For Adams, Stokowski comes out on top. Here's a excerpt:

From my point of view, Stokowski is infinitely more interesting a musician and a cultural figure than Toscanini. I can deeply admire Toscanini for his standing up to Hitler and fascism. No argument there. And I guess he helped to make classical music popular. But his repertory was blinkered, and he stuck to the pieces he’d learned as a young man, doing them over and over and over, whereas Stokowski was endlessly curious, always up for risk or a crazy idea. And Stokowski, even more than Koussevitzky, did more to introduce serious new music to America than any other big time conductor. The list of composers he advocated is enormous. He gave US premieres of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder and the gnarly, twelve-tone Violin Concerto. He did the first US performances of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and three of Shostakovich’s symphonies.

You can read about this in any number of web pages or blogs. What interests me is the style of playing he favored, an approach to orchestral phrasing and sound production that has all but died out in the interim. So much of this is the result of the warmth and expressivity of string playing that he encouraged. This is remarkable because Stokowski was himself not a principally a string player, but rather an organist. But then, string playing around the early part of the twentieth century still maintained the incredible expressive freedom, the sliding and warm portamento approach that nowadays is no longer permitted in orchestral playing. Listen, for example, to the collaboration Stokowski did with cellist Emanuel Feuerman in Bloch’s “Shelomo,” particularly to the way in which Feuerman’s phrasing sounds more like a passionate Klezmer cantilena than it does like a prim classical cello concerto.

It gets better from there. Adams describes how he tried to encourage the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra to play in a different, more Stokowskian way, but they were unable to do so.

Today's Birthdays

Enrico Tamberlik (1820-1889)
Christa Ludwig (1928)
Sir Roger Norrington (1934)
Teresa Berganza (1935)
David Del Tredici 1937)
Claus Peter Flor (1953)

and

James Madison (1751-1836)
Maxim Gorky (1868-1936)
Alice Hoffman(1952)

Cincinnati Symphony looking for two conductors

From Musical America:

Cincinnati Symphony is in the process of not one but two music-director searches: One to replace Paavo Järvi, who steps down at the end of next season after ten years as music director of the Symphony, and one to succeed Pops founding music director Erich Kunzel, who died in September of cancer.

Interview with Carlos Kalmar

I've been doing a lot of interviews for Oregon Music News and my latest chat was with Carlos Kalmar, the music director of the Oregon Symphony. While walking through the offices of the Oregon Symphony, Kalmar mentioned that the administration is downsizing the office space. I noticed several moving carts and empty rooms. Kalmar's office looked half empty. I would think that this downsizing will help to contain costs. It seems to be a smart move.

Today's Birthdays

Eduard Strauss (1835-1916)
Johan Halvorsen (1864-1935)
Colin McPhee (1900-1964)
Nicolas Flagello (1928-1994)
Cecil Taylor (1929)
Jean Rudolphe Kars (1947)
Lynda Russell (1952)
Isabel Buchanan (1954)

and

Richard Ellmann (1918-1987)
Ben Okri (1959)

Today's Birthdays

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767)
Pierre-Louis Couperin (1755-1789)
Johann Strauss Sr. (1804-1849)
Lawrance Collingwood (1887-1982)
Witold Rudziński (1913-2004)
Quincy Jones (1933)
Philip Joll (1954)

and

Albert Einstein (1879-1955
Sylvia Beach (1887-1962)

Today's Birthdays

Michael Blavet (1700-1768)
Hugo Wolf (1860-1903)
Alec Rowley (1892-1958)
Irène Joachim (1913-2001)
Jane Rhodes (1929)
Alberto Ponce (1935)
Lionel Friend (1945)
Julia Migenes (1949
Wolfgang Rihm (1952)
Anthony Powers (1953)
Moses Hogan (1957-2003)
Terence Blanchard (1962)

and

Janet Flanner (1892-1978)

Today's Birthdays

Thomas Arne (1710-1778)
Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
Hans Knappertsbusch (1888-1965)
Ralph Shapey (1921-2002)
Norbert Brainin (1923-2005)
Philip Jones (1928-2000)
Helga Pilarczyk (1935)
Liza Minnelli (1946)
James Taylor (1948)

and

George Berkeley (1685-1753)
Vaslav Nijinsky (1889-1950)
Edward Albee (1928)
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Carl Hiaasen (1953)
David Eggers (1970)

Today's Birthdays

Carl Ruggles (1876-1971)
Henry Cowell (1897-1965)
Xavier Montsalvage (1912-2002)
Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)
Sarah Walker (1943)
Tristan Murail (1947)
Bobby McFerrin (1950)
Katia Labèque (1950)

and

Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

Today's Birthdays

Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838)
Pablo de Sarasate (1844-1908)
Arthur Honnegger (1892-1955)
Dame Eva Turner (1892-1990)
Bix Biederbecke (1903-1931)
Sir Charles Groves (1915-1992)
William Blezard (1921-2003)
Andrew Parrott (1947)
Stephen Oliver (1950-1992)

and

Henry Watson Fowler (1858-1933)

Review of Portland Opera's Orphée in the American Record Guide

My review of Portland Opera's production of Orphée appears in the March/April issue of The American Record Guide on page 19. It's part of three reviews of Philip Glass operas. Besides my review, Joseph Kepler reviewed "Kepler," and Michael Linton reviewed (in lacerating fashion) "The Fall of the House of Usher." Copies of The American Record Guide are available at Classical Millennium.

Today's Birthdays

Archie Camden (1888-1979)
Dame Isobel Baillie (1895-1983)
Samuel Barber (1910-1981)
Ornette Coleman (1930)
David Matthews (1943)
Kalevi Aho (1949)
Howard Shelley (1950)

and

Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512)
Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962)
David Pogue (1963)

Jump start in Oregon Symphony ticket sales for next season

At the Oregon Symphony concert on Saturday evening, president Elaine Calder told the audience that the orchestra has already sold $1.5 million of tickets for next season. That's great news for the orchestra, and it should give them a good head of steam before their appearance at Carnegie Hall.

Filmusik to present 'Kansas City Confidential' this week

Following is a press release from Galen Huckens of Filmusik:

This week, Filmusik is bringing together a group of local jazz musicians for a live soundtrack performance. From the pit, the jazz band re-imagines and recreates the soundtrack for a classic film-noir live in the theatre. With an originally composed soundtrack putting a modern musical spin on the 1952 crime caper. String players from the group Classical Revolution round out the ensemble of reeds, horns and jazz trio. Working with both improvised and orchestrated music, it's a concert not to miss that brings local musicians and composers to the movies for a unique performance.

About the film:

Kansas City Confidential (1952): It may have been the perfect hold-up, but after an armored car robbery drops Rolfe (John Payne) in jail as a fall guy, he won’t give up until he’s cleared his name by tracking down the faceless thieves. Justice may not be as simple as it seems for Rolfe who is led to Mexico in the hunt for redemption and cold hard cash with only a pistol and a playing card! With the stone faced intensity of Lee Van Cleef and Preston Foster, it’s a movie not to miss, a pulpy snub-nosed entry into the American film canon.


As an aside, those who have read my reviews know I am a huge fan of Filmusik, and I wholeheartedly recommend this to cinephiles and live music lovers alike. For some reviews of their past shows, click here and scroll past the first entry. The performances are this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the 10th-12th at 7 pm at the Hollywood Theater.

Today's Birthdays

Carlo Gesualdo (1566-1613)
Carl Philip Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)
Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)
Dick Hyman (1927)
Christian Wolff (1934)
Robert Tear (1939)
Barthold Kuijken (1949)
Simon Halsey (1958)

and

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841-1935)
John McPhee (1933)

American Academy of Arts and Letters announces music award winners

From the press release:

American Academy of Arts and Letters 2010 Music Award Winners Announced


The American Academy of Arts and Letters has announced sixteen recipients of this year's awards in music, which total $170,000. The awards will be presented at the Academy's annual Ceremonial in May in New York City. Candidates for music awards are nominated by the 250 members of the Academy and the winners were selected by a committee of Academy members: Robert Beaser (chairman), Bernard Rands, Gunther Schuller, Steven Stucky, and Yehudi Wyner.

Academy Awards in Music

Four composers will each receive a $7,500 Academy Award in Music, which honors outstanding artistic achievement and acknowledges the composer who has arrived at his or her own voice. Each will receive an additional $7,500 toward the recording of one work. The winners are Daniel Asia, David Felder, Pierre Jalbert, and James Primosch.

Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond Award

The Wladimir and Rhoda Lakond award of $10,000 is given to a promising mid-career composer. This year the award will go to James Lee III.

Goddard Lieberson Fellowships

Two Goddard Lieberson fellowships of $15,000, endowed in 1978 by the CBS Foundation, are given to mid-career composers of exceptional gifts. This year they will go to Philippe Bodin and Aaron Travers.

Walter Hinrichsen Award

Paula Matthusen will receive the Walter Hinrichsen Award for the publication of a work by a gifted composer. This award was established by the C. F. Peters Corporation, music publishers, in 1984.

Charles Ives Fellowships

Harmony Ives, the widow of Charles Ives, bequeathed to the Academy the royalties of Charles Ives' music, which has enabled the Academy to give the Ives awards in music since 1970. Two Charles Ives Fellowships, of $15,000 each, will be awarded to Anna Clyne and Michael Djupstrom.

Charles Ives Scholarships

Shawn Brogan Allison, Jesse Jones, Eric Nathan, Clint Needham, Jude Vaclavik, and Roger Zare will receive Charles Ives Scholarships of $7,500, given to composition students of great promise.

Today's Birthdays

John Wilbye (1574-1638)
Tomaso Antonio Vitali (1663-1745)
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)
Christopher Seaman (1942)
Uri Segal (1944)
Nicholas Kraemer (1945)
Clive Gillinson (1946)
Okko Kamu (1946)
Montserrat Figueras (1948)
Michael Chance (1955)

and

William York Tindall (1903-1981)
William Boyd (1952)

Today's Birthdays

Julius Rudel (1921)
Sarah Caldwell (1924-2006)
Wes Montgomery (1925-1968)
Ronald Stevenson (1928)
Lorin Maazel (1930)
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (1944)
Marielle Labèque (1952)
Mark Gresham (1956)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin (1975)

and

Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655)
Gabriel García Márquez (1928)
Willie Mays (1931)
Dick Fosbury (1947)

New Bach DVD contains some amazing performances

In Oregon Music News, you'll find my review of Bach & Friends, a new DVD that features stellar performances by the likes of Joshua Bell, Hillary Hahn, Richard Stolzman, the Emerson String Quartet, and interweaves these performances with their testimony to the greatness of Bach's music. Bach & Friends is a terrific DVD that I can recommend wholeheartedly.

Also, in doing some research about Bach, I found this amazing quote in Paul Griffiths' "The Penguin Companion to Classical Music" on Bach's music.

"It is, in particular, music that teaches. It contains, within itself, all the information necessary for its understanding, and travellers have found that, where Beethoven or Chopin mean little in West Africa or Indonesia, a Bach invention is instantly recognized for what it is and enjoyed. In his cantatas, Bach set a fair bit of the Bible to music - the Bible as translated by Luther, who was born in the same region little more than two centuries before. But he also created a many-chaptered bible of his own, treating the miracles of tonality and harmony, of melodic shapes and their relationships, of regular metres and all these in counterpoint. He dedicated his life to the glory of God, and to the divinity that exists in sound."

Today's Birthdays

Alphonse Hasselmans (1845-1912)
Pauline Donalda (1882-1970)
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Anthony Hedges (1931)
Barry Tuckwell (1931)
Sheila Nelson (1936)
Richard Hickox (1948)

and

Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594)
Frank Norris (1870-1902)
Leslie Marmon Silko (1948)

Today's Birthdays

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
Cecil Aronowitz (1916-1978)
Samuel Adler (1928)
Bernard Haitnik (1929)
Aribert Reimann (1936)
Ralph Kirshbaum (1946)
Leanna Primiani (1968)

and

Khaled Hosseini (1965)

Gregory Vajda to conduct in Disney Hall

I just got word that Gregory Vajda will be conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group in Disney Hall next week. See my short report in Oregon Music News for more information.

Today's Birthdays

Eugen d'Albert (1864-1932)
Henry Wood (1869-1944)
Margaret Bonds (1913-1972)
Frank Wigglesworth (1918-1996)
Martin Lovett (1927)
Florence Quivar (1944)
Roberta Alexander (1949)
Katia Labèque (1950)

and

James Merrill (1926-1995)

Falstaff throws weight and goes for the gold in Seattle Opera production

Photo by Rozarii Lynch

Seattle Opera’s production of “Falstaff” is a real winner, blending comedy with Verdi’s great music to create laughter over our human predicament. The opening night performance (February 27) at McCaw Hall was a feast for the ears, with Peter Rose in the title role and an outstanding cast to support him.

From the instant he sauntered onto the stage, rocked slightly back on his chair, and chomped into a super-duper-sized drum stick, Rose embodied Shakespeare’s fat knight who has fallen on hard times and foolishly thinks that he has the swagger to seduce two young women and get his hands on their money. Rose knew how to make the most of his physical heft and got volumes of laughter from the audience with an array of facial expressions.

Rose’s bass-baritone masterfully combined agility and expressivity. It easily thundered above the orchestra whenever it swelled to a huge crescendo, but it also seamlessly slipped into a light, fluffy falsetto when Falstaff was mocking a woman’s voice. Rose could give his voice a rough, threatening edge whenever he wanted, but it was always gorgeously round in the center, no-matter what.

Svetla Vasseleva dazzled as Alice Ford with soprano that glowed. Anya Matanovic’s Nannetta played coquetry to the hilt and sang with ardor. As Dame Quickly, Stephanie Blythe was in her element, especially in the scenes in which she lured Falstaff into thinking that he had one last chance to woo Alice in the Windsor Forest at midnight. Delightful also was the interplay between Rose and the Sasha Cooke, who created the role of Meg Page.

As Ford, Weston Hurt created the epitome of the jealous husband, hurling accusations across the stage. The object of his venom was Fenton, played by Blagoj Nacoski, who showed off an refined tenor voice. As Falstaff’s inept sidekicks, Bardolph and Pistol, Steven Goldstein and Ashraf Sewailam added to the fun, as did Doug Jones in the role of Dr. Caius. All three men vaulted and tumbled over scenery with the grace of Olympic athletes.

Under the baton of Riccardo Frizza, the orchestra sounded robust but often was too loud for Goldstein, Sewailam, and Jones. The strings slipped on a few notes in the final act, but overall, the musicians played extremely well, transporting the audience into Falstaff’s world.

The scenery, created by Seattle Opera seemed too understated. A boardwalk atop rows of sawhorses allowed the characters to enter the stage area. They could also sit in chairs either to the left or the right side of the stage. The last scene in Windsor Forest used a tall ladder to depict the large oak tree and a cluster of chairs (suspended above the tree) represented its foliage. The costumes (from Cleveland Opera) were traditional, and were stripped off (though not completely) in the finale when everyone joins Falstaff to sing of how all the world is folly and everyone can be the subject of a joke.

---
This review is cross-posted in Oregon Music News.

Today's Birthdays

Bedřich Smetana (1824-1884)
Tom Burke (1890-1969)
Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
Marc Blitzstein (1905-1965)
John Gardner (1917)
Robert Simpson (1921-1997)
Bernard Rands(1935)
Robert Lloyd (1940)

and

Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss) (1904-1991)
Mikhail S Gorbachev (1931)
Tom Wolfe (1931)

CD Review: Brookly Rider--'Dominant Curve'

The NYC based string quartet Brooklyn Rider covers a lot of ground with their newest release from In A Circle Records, Dominant Curve. From Debussy to arrangements of John Cage and featuring compositions by the musicians themselves, Brooklyn Rider shows deep artistic maturity and a spiritual essence bordering on the psychedelic.

This disc, centered around Debussy's monumental String Quartet No. 1, featured music by, inspired by, or in the spirit of Debussy. Achille's Heel, by violinist Colin Jacobsen, opened with a spare threnody that hinted little at the chaos to follow in the second movement. Every trick in the book was pulled out: harmonics, glissandi, multiple stops and col legno combined to produce an intense sonic mind-warp, varied and somehow hypnotic despite the dynamic extremes. The third movement, Loveland, was simple and beautiful, featuring sighing violins and pizzicato cello playing in closely-layered modalities that occasionally intersected to create lush cadences. Finishing with a dragonfly's flight of fancy on a ceaseless moto perpetuo, the music heaved and seethed in impossible quadrangles and dying suns.

The extremely atmospheric (Cycles) what falls must rise by Kojiro Umezaki (who also played shakuhachi and electronics) was an eerie soundscape of very different character. Redolent with Japanese imagery and mystery, it moved ceaselessly, sound colors shifting in and out like a ghost coming in from a cold gray electronic fog. The piece closed with a perplexing coda, a more conventional string quartet playing with the shakuhachi. It seemed awkwardly appended to the end of an otherwise marvelous piece. Thematically it was enjoyable but did not seem to fit in the slightest with the rest of the material; it served to unnecessarily break the spell.

They approached the Debussy with a vigorous attack that seemed at times like almost too much, but Debussy always sounds right to me when played at the very edge of the emotions; his music inhabits a world of dreams and half-light, of terror and overpowering surges of innate divinity. Brooklyn Rider made the most of this titanic work, throwing caution to the wind with bold tempos and unabashedly dramatic dynamics. Yet there was something old-fashioned there too; the whole thing had a sepia-tone timbre to it, like listening to a recording from the thirties. The third movement ended with a gentle, rapturous ascent, rendered as prayerfully as anything by Messaien.

It closed with two more contemplative, dreamy works in keeping with the overall feel of the release: ...al niente by Dmitiri Yanov Yanovsky and an arrangement of John Cage's In a Landscape. Exciting and fresh, Dominant Curve is full of worthwhile new material as well as a valid and imaginative interpretation of the Debussy string quartet.

Today's Birthdays

Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849)
Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960)
Glenn Miller (1904-1944)
Leo Brouwer (1939)
Moray Welsh (1947)
Lorraine Hunt-Lieberson (1954-2006)
Galina Gorchakova (1962)
Thomas Adès (1971)

and

Oskar Kokoschka (1866-1980)
Ralph Ellison (1913-1994)
Robert Lowell (1917-1977)
Howard Nemerov (1920-1991)
Richard Wilbur (1921)