Last night (Tuesday) at the Old Church I had the great fortune to attend one of the most mind-blowing performances I’ve ever seen. The violinist was the Oregon Symphony’s (and Arnica Quartet’s) own Shin-young Kwon, and she played, in one concert, all of the six Sonatas for Solo Violin, Op. 27 by the great violin
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I just finished giving money to a wonderful organization that helps young musicians, and I strongly urge you to do the same. The organization is the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation, which provides resources for young string musicians. Rachel Barton is a Chicago-based violinist who has a busy solo career (and happened to record the Brahms
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Head on over to Plos Blogs and read this article – it’s entitled “What’s the Most Important Lesson You Learned from a Teacher”. Of course, the music student’s anecdote (written by the writer and journalist David Dobbs) was what caught my eye – here’s what I think is some great advice to think about making
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Violinist Andy Liang, who has performed several times with the Oregon Symphony over the past decade, is spending this summer at one of the more prestigious summer music festivals, the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colorado. He’s also been tapped to perform a solo in front of the orchestra this weekend – Tchaikovsky’s Valse-Scherzo, Op.
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In just two hours the Oregon Symphony will play the first of three subscription concerts in Portland that may be a high point of our season thus far. I think Carlos arrived at the hall on Thursday with a burning desire to show that he’s still a relevant and potent force in the musical
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I’m stunned by this video – I am literally speechless. I’m glad that I’m still able to type! Let me know what you think of this – is this the future of classical music?
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Amy Schwartz Moretti, former concertmaster of the Floriday Orchestra and the Oregon Symphony, and director of the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University’s Townsend School of Music since 2007, has released a new recording on the Sono Luminous label. Recorded by Skywalker Sound‘s Grammy Award winning engineer Leslie Anne Jones, the recording
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While the Classical Beaver makes it seem like we in the Oregon Symphony are doing keg stands, beer bongs, wet t-shirt competitions, and slathering sunscreen all over each other’s bodies during spring break, it’s often quite different for some of us. Yes, there are some lucky musicians who have scraped together the funds to head
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The XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition has announced the competitors that have made it through to the first live rounds. The categories are piano, violin, cello and voice. The most interesting tidbit from the competitors lists is that former Seattle Symphony principal cellist Joshua Roman has made the cut. It will be interesting to see how
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There are some clever people in this world. Do you remember the “Yo-Yo Shreds at the Inauguration” vid that popped up on YouTube? Then there was the “Perlman Shreds Winter”: Now, there is the “Berliner Philharmoniker Masterclass”: I was in tears for the last one – it’s a great job of dubbing over what the
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The famed “Vieuxtemps” violin made by Guarneri del Gesu is up for sale. Interested? Hopefully you’ve got deep pockets, the asking price is a record $18 million.
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Coming up after the orchestra’s extended spring hiatus is a concert conducted by Pinchas Zukerman. In addition to conducting a work by Malcom Forsyth and Beethoven’s First Symphony, he’ll be playing the Brahms Double Concerto for violin and cello with his wife, cellist Amanda Forsyth (and leading the orchestra from the violin). Here’s one of
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As I’ve written in the OSO’s program books in years past, the business of booking soloists and conductors takes place years in advance of their appearances with the orchestra. So when there are last minute emergencies such as illness or accident, it’s an all-hands-on-deck scramble to find a replacement who will meet or exceed the
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Violinist Jennifer Koh (last heard with the Oregon Symphony in performances of the Brahms Violin Concerto, and before that the Szymanowski 1st Violin Concerto) has a new solo recording out on Cedille Records, entitled Rhapsodic Musings. It features works by Elliot Carter, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Augusta Read Thomas, and John Zorn for solo violin. Based upon
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