not your average concert July 14, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : appreciation/criticism, bloggers, chamber music, summer festivals, add a comment
James Bash, one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet, met up with a patron at a recent Chamber Music Northwest concert who contributed in a significant way to his concert experience - by vomiting all over his back! Yech!
Maybe CMNW should have air sick bags tucked into their seats for upcoming concerts?
You can read all about it (and about how the concert went) by clicking here.
continuing education April 2, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentYesterday, thanks to the generosity of Chamber Music Northwest, my string quartet [the Arnica Quartet] got the opportunity to get a two-hour coaching with an internationally-renowned chamber musician - Steven Tenenbom of the Orion Quartet and Opus One piano quartet. It was a great experience for us to get some high-level feedback on our work up to this point on the Janacek String Quartet No. 2 ‘Intimate Letters’.
As a professional musician, it’s hard to keep one’s objectivity because one works in a vacuum most of the time. Unlike most vocalists, instrumentalists don’t often continue with private lessons or master classes much beyond their school years. Life gets busy, one’s ego gets enlarged, and lessons don’t seem like a priority anymore.
But the fact is, getting objective opinions of one’s playing from leaders in the field is vitally important to maintain artistic growth throughout one’s career.
My former (and sometime current) teacher Roberto Diaz, now the president of the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, took lessons with Louis Krasner even as he was in his second gig as a member of the Boston Symphony.
In an interview I conducted with Diaz for The Strad magazine back in 2003, he credited the time he spent taking these lessons with helping him to win prizes in the Naumberg and Munich competitions, and with drastically improving his playing - even though he was already a top violist in a major orchestra.
For me, the chance to go back and take even just one lesson every year or so really gives my playing and morale a kick-start. It reminds me of why I went into music, and what my goals for myself before life took over art.
So, to make a long story short, we got our best wishes validated, our butts kicked just a little, and came out of the coaching with big smiles on our faces.
Life is good.
messiaen and carter festival primer January 22, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : chamber music, contemporary, music, soloists & recitals, add a commentDavid Stabler offers an excellent compendium of links and photos that relate to the upcoming weekend’s Carter/Messiaen Project concerts by Chamber Music Northwest.
Don’t forget, if you are or know of a full-time college student who might like the Carter/Messiaen concerts, they can get free student passes online.
Stabler also highlights this Thursday’s (01/24) lieder recital by tenor Ian Bostridge presented by Friends of Chamber Music. He’s singing what looks to be a program of some of the best-loved songs of Franz Schubert - a must-hear concert by one of the leading lieder singers of his generation (perhaps the next Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau?).
Photo credit: ©EMI/Simon Fowler
free student tickets! January 16, 2008
Posted by Charles Noble in : the orchestra world, add a commentChamber Music Northwest is offering free tickets to college students from around Oregon and SW Washington for their upcoming Carter-Messiaen Project concerts, coming up this January 25 - 27, 2008 at Kaul Auditorum at Reed College. For additional info, check the CMNW website or call their ticket office at 503-294-6400.
Interested full-time college students should surf over to www.cmnw.org/students and fill out the form. A pass will then appear on screen - simply print it out and bring it, along with a current student ID to the ticket table at the concert, and you’ll be inside for all the fun, absolutely free!
David Schiff, noted professor, composer and writer, has prepared an essay about the works presented during this project - click here to download a pdf file to print and read at home.
