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roller coaster ride June 4, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : fun, music, the orchestra world, video, add a comment

It is, or at least should be, a roller coaster ride when you go to an orchestral concert (and I think that the OSO has been pretty successful at making these kinds of concerts happen on a regular basis), and the folks over at the Zürich Chamber Orchestra used this element as the basis for a remarkable advertising campaign. See the video after the break…

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instrument petting zoo April 25, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : education, music, the orchestra world, video, youth orchestras, add a comment

As part of our partnership with different communities each year, our education department includes what is called the instrument petting zoo.  No, it’s not a bunch of instruments in a fenced in area, with children walking around them petting them with timid hands.  

What it is in actuality is a chance for kids to get their hands on an instrument and be taught or guided in how to make some sort of elementary sound on it.  The theory is, if they get a small taste of creating new sounds on an instrument they’ve never seen or heard, they’ll want more, and might even want to take up an instrument in school or at home.

Here’s a YouTube movie I found of a youngster named Soren getting his first taste of the violin, with OSO violist Stephen Price giving him a hand with fingering the notes:

Here’s another video of OSO music director Carlos Kalmar giving the Portland Metropolitan Youth Symphony a workout in Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.

best oscar moment February 25, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : music, popular music, video, add a comment

Marketa Irglova, co-winner Best Song
Photo credit: Michael Caulfield/WireImage.com

The best moment of the bloated-as-usual Academy Awards ceremony had to be the second chance for Marketa Irglova to give her acceptance speech as co-winner of Best Original Song - Falling Slowly - from the movie Once. And it was a poignant and beautiful one, too: (more…)

dudamel on 60 minutes February 19, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : conducting, music, television, the orchestra world, video, add a comment

For those of you who missed it, Gustavo Dudamel (music director-designate of the LA Philharmonic) was featured on 60 Minutes on Sunday evening.  You can go here to see the video of the segment.

schubert’s erlkönig February 3, 2008

Posted by Charles Noble in : music, soloists & recitals, video, violin, 2comments

Last night, after his brilliant performance of the Beethoven Second Piano Concerto, Kirill Gerstein played an encore that I’d never heard before, at least on piano alone. It was Erlkönig - originally a song by Schubert, transcribed for solo piano by Liszt. I had heard a similar transcription, by the violinist Max Ernst, for solo violin - and that is even more impressive.

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