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PRIORITY CLARINET AND MUSIC EVENTS
November 2013 Hot
News
25
November 2013
Clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein joined with conductor Vladimir Lande and
the
Washington Soloists Chamber Orchestra for a
performance of Sean Hickey's Clarinet Concerto at Merkin Hall
New York City USA
Clarinetist
Alexander Fiterstein joined conductor Vladimir Lande and the
Washington Soloists Chamber Orchestra for a performance of Sean
Hickey's Clarinet Concerto in what will be Mr. Fiterstein's first live
performance of the concerto in North
America
after recording the piece for the 2013 album Sean Hickey: Concertos. Also on the
program was Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 performed by Xiayin Wang as part of
her five-concert series at Merkin Concert Hall. The concert took place at Merkin
Hall in the Kaufman Music Center on Monday, November 25 at
7:30 p.m.
Sean Hickey:
Concertos, which was released on the DELOS label in 2013, features Mr.
Fiterstein's performance of the Clarinet Concerto with Mr. Lande and the St.
Petersburg State Academic
Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Fiterstein gave the Russian premiere
performance with Mr. Lande in the Grand Hall of the
St. Petersburg Philharmonic in November 2011. Mr. Fiterstein's
debut concerto album featuring both of Carl Maria von Weber's clarinet concertos
recorded with Martin West and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra was released on
October 1, 2013 on the Bridge label.
In the
2013-14 season Mr. Fiterstein will perform with the Chamber Music Society of
Lincoln Center, the Daedalus Quartet, the IRIS Orchestra, the
Minnesota Sinfonia, and will
travel to Tel
Aviv and Jerusalem to perform chamber music. He will perform at the
Kennedy
Center with his ensemble, the Zimro Project, in a concert of rarely performed
Russian Jewish chamber
music, and he will perform with his Goldstein-Peled-Fiterstein trio
for University of
Chicago
Presents and the Civic Music Association in Iowa. Mr. Fiterstein was also named
Co-Artistic Director of the new Sedona Winter Musicfest, taking place in January
in Carefree, Arizona.
Mr. Fiterstein was
born in Belarus. At the age of two, he immigrated with his family to Israel
where he later studied at the Israel Arts and Science Academy. He graduated from
the Interlochen Arts Academy and the Juilliard School. Mr. Fiterstein is
recipient of the 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant, a first prize winner of the
Carl Nielsen International Clarinet Competition and the "Aviv" competitions in
Israel; a winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions; and he is
the recipient of the Bunkamura Orchard Hall Award (Tokyo) and numerous awards
from the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Mr. Fiterstein is the clarinet
professor at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
Read more about
Alexander Fiterstein to Play Merkin Concert Hall, 11/25 - BWWClassical
MusicWorld by
www.broadwayworld.com
24 November 2013
New
York Philharmonic
Legend and Senior VIP Stanley Drucker
and Naomi Drucker perform Major Recital at the State University of New York
(Middletown) - Orange County Community College Artist Series
Middletown, New York USA
In 2009
Stanley Drucker, after 61 years in the New York Philharmonic, and Solo
Clarinetist since 1960, along with his cohort and wife Naomi, gave a major class
recital for a near capacity audience at this Community College Artist Series.
Program included many of the standard literature for recital, including works of
Bernstein, Debussy, Weber, Poulenc, Mendellsohn, and Weinberg. Along with
galleries above with the program, it was an endurance challenge, and after being
retired over 4 years, there is no letup in the core excellence of the
performance. Many who retire from an Orchestra do not maintain their drive
to keep playing, not to be seen here. Dr Drucker in the past years has
been even busier in performance, judging at major competitions here and abroad,
with many future projects in preparation. The same can be said of
Naomi, who directs the American Chamber Ensemble, and teaches as a faculty
member at Hofstra University. This is an inspiration to all to never
lose it and keep the musical drive alive, and they are a model to be emulated.
Stanley Drucker is a legend of our time.
23 November 2013
Solemn Day Recalled by Strings and Heartstrings
with Performance of Messiean's Quartet for the End of Time with VIP
Charles Neidich and members of the Brentano String
Quartet -
Classical Tributes to Kennedy in Dallas
Dallas, Texas USA
Brass and percussion players from the
Dallas Symphony Orchestra were to have presented a
half-hour prelude to
The 50th, the city’s official commemoration of the
anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, which took place at noon on
Friday outdoors in Dealey Plaza, the site of the shooting. The short concert,
which was to have begun with Leonard Bernstein’s “Fanfare for the Inauguration
of J.F.K.,” fell victim to the cold, wind and rain (actually, sleet at times).
There was still music woven into the event itself, performed by the Dallas Metro
Police Pipes and Drums and the United States Naval Academy Men’s Glee Club. And
there were other musical memorials over the weekend.
Apart from the Dallas Symphony program presented Thursday through Sunday (and
already reviewed in these pages), the most notable
classical tribute was a chamber concert presented at City Performance Hall on
Saturday evening as part of the Soundings series of the Nasher Sculpture Center.
It featured the
Brentano String Quartet, the clarinetist
Charles Neidich and the pianist Seth Knopp in works
by Messiaen, Cage and
Steven Mackey.
It also included recorded material: Theodore Bikel reading Jorge Luis Borges’s
“In Memoriam, J.F.K.”; sounds from Kennedy’s
funeral (drumbeats, hoofbeats, bagpipes); the words of John and Robert Kennedy
punctuating Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time”; the words of President
Kennedy, Walter Cronkite and individual citizens framing Cage’s “4’33”.”
The Messiaen work, a rapt and
soulful look ahead to the last days as envisioned in the Book of Revelation, was
beautifully performed by Mr. Neidich, Mr. Knopp and two Brentano members: Mark
Steinberg, violinist, and Nina Lee, cellist. The mute “4’33”,” which Cage called
“Silent Prayer,” when conceiving it, was enacted by Brentano players, one taking
the stage for each of its three movements and sitting in cumulative silence,
which was finally broken, all too predictably, by the ringing of a cell phone.
"Mr Neidich’s complete technical and emotional command in Abîme
des oiseaux (“Abyss of the Birds”) was so transcendent that even such
virtuosity couldn’t remind me I was merely at a concert on a Saturday
night. His performance was matched i...n
intensity and subtlety by that of his colleagues – violinist Mark
Steinberg and cellist Nina Lee of the Brentano String Quartet, and Seth
Knopp, pianist and Artistic Director of Soundings." -- Evan Mitchell for
Bachtrack
The Brentano players concluded the evening with Mr. Mackey’s “One Red Rose,”
which was written for the anniversary and had its
premiere in New York in February. Named for a
phrase from a Secret Service agent’s description of the presidential limousine
after the shooting, this compelling work, in Mr. Mackey’s words, “explores the
dialectic between the personal and the public”: the personal, presumably, in its
first section, Five Short Studies, intimate character pieces that are variously
reflective, probing, anxious; public in its second section, the anguished Fugue
and Fantasy; and in its third, the Anthem and Aria, still agitated but straining
to look beyond.
“The World Is Very Different Now,” the young
Conrad
Tao’s new piece in the Dallas Symphony program, also plays
personal against public, taking its origin, in Mr. Tao’s words, from “the many
devastatingly personal stories that use J.F.K.’s assassination as a starting
point,” responses to “a seemingly inexplicable act of public violence.” The
demarcations here are not so clear, and it was hard to take the measure of the
piece at all on first hearing, since the performance was overwhelmed by strong
but distracting visual images from a film commissioned for these performances
but not an integral part of the work.
So I went back to hear Mr. Tao’s piece again on Friday evening, this time with
eyes firmly closed, and it proved shapely and powerful, especially in its
haunting, accepting if not optimistic coda. At 19, Mr. Tao knows his way around
a large orchestra (here including scrap metal as percussion) as well as many an
elder master.
He was helped immeasurably by the Dallas Symphony and
Jaap van Zweden, its music director since 2008, who
performed superbly in both concerts. So it came as no surprise on Sunday, when
the orchestra announced that Mr. van Zweden’s contract had just been extended
for three years, to 2019.
16 November 2013
2nd Annual Clarinet Day with The United
States Navy Band - Captain Brian O Walden, Commander and Leader, and Senior
Chief Musician Laura Grantier, Director
Washington, DC USA
The 2nd Clarinet Day at the United States Navy Band here in the Washington Navy
Yard, with celebrated guest Artists and pedagogues Senior VIP Larry Combs (Solo
Clarinetist Emeritus in the Chicago Symphony), Dr Julie DeRoche (Professor
at DePaul University and a founding member of the Chicago Clarinet Trio, and
Director of the ClarinetFest 94 in collaboration with the
International Clarinet Association - ICA),
and VIP Eugene Mondie (2nd and Eb Clarinetist in the Washington National
Symphony and faculty at Catholic University), gave a day of Master Classes and
Mr Mondie together with Chamber colleagues performed the Brahms Trio Op 114.
The classes with Combs/DeRoche were intensive and duo in coaching students who
got 2 views and approaches to enhancing their performance and how to achieve
their solving of individual issues. In addition, Mark
Jacobi, a Master Clarinet Craftsman/Technician, who worked in his early years
with Hans Moennig in Philadelphia, gave a class demonstration on effective
maintenance and how to properly care for one's instrument.
A major appearance of Clarinet Quartets and Trios from the four Premiere Bands
(The US Army Band - Pershing's Own, The President's Own US Marine Band, and the
USAF Band, and the US Navy Band) with a diverse and high
quality performance was a highlight of the day. All programs were
announced. Exhibitors displayed their products including Rico,
Vandoren, and Buffet.
A Participant Clarinet Choir including Band members held a reading session along
with a reading and seminar on improvisation conducted by the Commodores
Director.
Command support of this event was well stated by Commander and Leader Captain
Brian O Walden in an introduction at the beginning of the day.
Senior Chief Musician Laura Grantier,
a member of the US Navy Band Clarinet section as Director, was very effective in
the total fruition of the activities. Credit is due to her and the Band
members at the Navy Band and the other branch Clarinetists as well.
It is planned to continue this annual event
each year.
12 - 13 November 2013
2nd Annual Clarinet Spectacular at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio with
Special Artist Guests and
Eddie Daniels, Senior VIP and
Jazz/Classic Legend - VIP Dr
Caroline Hartig, Director
Columbus, Ohio USA
The 2nd year for VIP Dr Caroline Hartig, Professor
at The Ohio State University, has turned for a superstar 2nd annual event,
having last year Senior VIP Franklin Cohen
from The Cleveland Orchestra, and this year Jazz/Classic legend Senior VIP
Eddie Daniels, for a clarinet thrilling 2 days of
intensive activity including a major Master Class with Eddie Daniels, a Big Band
Concert with the the Ohio State Jazz Ensemble, and performance with Dr Hartig just
preceding. The above galleries give an intangible idea of the happenings
both days, which included several Clarinet Choir rehearsals and a Finale
concert, an Artist Guest Recital with performing Professors from several Ohio
University Music Departments, and Exhibition displays so all can try and buy,
including Clarinets, Moutpieces, accessories, Sheet Music, and get quick repairs
and checks on their instruments by Wolfgang Loeff from the Netherlands along
with Lisa's Clarinet Shop. Vandoren and Rico were also on hand for
auditioning their reeds and mouthpieces.
This Festival, like the previous one last year, proves how important it is to be
engaged with these music growth activities and meet new and old friends at the
top of the profession.
1 - 11 November 2013
Beijing International Music
Competition
- China
Beijing, China
9 November 2013
Performance of Mozart Clarinet
Concerto with Modern Period Bassett A Clarinet with VIP
Charles Neidich
with Brooklyn Chamber Orchestra
Brooklyn Height, New York USA
4 November 2013
Ensemble 54
, VIP David Gould, Director, performs a
film-and theater-inspired program as part of
Blessed Unrest's
Music Mélange series at the Interart Theatre Annex
New York City USA
It
was a tight squeeze in the 70-seat black-box
known as the Interart Theatre Annex, where
Ensemble 54 performed a film- and
theater-inspired program earlier this week
as part of
Blessed Unrest's Music Mélange series.
The five-year-old quartet consists of
clarinetists Nuno Antunes,
Pascal Archer,
David Gould, and
Nicholas Gallas (who joined the ensemble
this year)—who ensemble-wise, proved to be a
solid match in sound and personality, taking
a fresh and creative approach to a
clarinet-quartet recital.
Between the more traditional pieces on the
program—Peter Schubert's flashy operatic
arrangement of The Barber of Seville,
Alfred Uhl's quirky Divertimento,
and James Rae's arrangement of music
from The Threepenny Opera—laid the
premiere of
Hayes Greenfield's Rothko's Chapel.
Greenfield's music tonally captured the
sublime color palette, and effectively
reproduced the slow and subtle atmospheric
changes that one would experience while
viewing Rothko's paintings in the
chapel. The ensemble members
imperceptibly faded in and out to create
lingering chords that changed ever so
slightly over time. Unfortunately, the movie
that accompanied the work underwhelmed; the
contrast quality was poor, so for anyone who
had never seen a Rothko in person, the
meaning and concept was totally lost.
What began traditionally enough took a turn
after intermission, when the foursome mimed
their way, Chaplin-style, to their seats in
bow ties and
derbies. This behavior set the tone for
what would come next: their own arrangement
of Chaplin's Without You, which led
directly into his film The Cure,
for which the quartet provided a
semi-improvised synchronized soundtrack.
With each clarinetist musically paired
with certain on-screen characters, the group
kept the audience laughing as they ran,
fell, laughed, grunted, and drunkenly danced
their way from one side-splitting situation
to the next. As the film came to an end, the
group performed an arrangement of Chaplin's
Smile before finishing off the
evening with Alexandre Rydin's
Travelling: Hommage a Charles Chaplin.
An entire evening of clarinet-quartet music
can often be a bit much (even for a
clarinetist!), but Ensemble 54 did a
fabulous job of programming in such a way
that kept the energy and spirit alive in
both their group and the audience—a trait we
can hope to see much more of in the future.
4 November 2013
Master Class with Senior VIP and
Solo Clarinetist in the
Los Angeles Philharmonic
Michelle Zukovsky at
California State University at Northridge - Host - VIP
Julia Heinen
Northridge,
California USA
2 - 9 November 2013
International Conservatory Week (
World Festival of the Music Academies ) : St Petersburg, Russia with
VIP
Luigi Magistrelli, International Soloist
and Professor at the Milano Concervatory
St Petersburg, Russia
1 & 3 November 2013
Wright State University - Christopher Grymes Clarinet
Master Class and Recital, VIP
John
Kurokawa, Host
Dayton, Ohio USA
29 October - 1 November 2013
Latin American Clarinet Congress - Brazil - VIP Marco Antonio
Mazzini, Director
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Revised: December 09, 2013