Strings - my/maSCENA

Musica Camerata Kicks Off 48th Season

By Ian Cochrane on 18 September 2017 Chamber Music, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Newswire, Piano, Romantic, Strings, Violin

Musica Camerata kicked off its 48th season with an evening of quartets for piano, violin, viola, and cello. Respected as a premiere Canadian chamber ensemble, Musica Camerata is justifiably proud of its longevity. The concert was held in the resplendent Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur where the parterre seating area is usually hydraulically raised to provide theatre style seating. The roughly 100 attendees filled this venue. From this reviewer’s vantage point in the balcony, the acoustics were a little dry for a chamber string ensemble. The instrumentalists on this program were Luis Grinhauz (violin), Victor Fournelle-Blain (viola), Bruno Tobon (cello), and…

Eclectic, Eccentric, and Essential Sounds of Revolution, from Shostakovich to The Beatles to Frank Zappa

By Newswire on 14 September 2017 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Newswire, Popular Music, Violin, Visual Arts

*Very limited seats remaining!* September 14, 2017, Montreal, QC – The MCO, under its Artistic Director Boris Brott, opens its 78th season with Revolution, an eclectic evening of music from the 60s and 70s, including Shostakovich, The Beatles, and Frank Zappa, in conjunction with the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s boisterous current exhibition, “You Say You Want a Revolution.” The MCO performs a new work based on songs from the iconic Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, in newly-minted arrangements by François Vallières. Infamous Canadian fiddler Ashley Maclsaac will then join the MCO to transport the public into his eccentric sonorities.…

Alain Lefèvre © Caroline Bergeron

Alain Lefèvre: Honorary Patron of the CMIM

By Newswire on 12 September 2017 Arts Industry, Classical, Classical Music, Newswire, Piano, Violin, Vocal

Montréal, Tuesday, September 12, 2017 – The CMIM (Concours musical international de Montréal) is extremely pleased to announce that pianist and composer Alain Lefèvre will act as honorary patron of its annual event. Attracting some of the world’s most promising young singers, pianists and violinists, the CMIM’s next edition will be held from May 27 to June 7 and is dedicated to Voice. A world-renowned virtuoso pianist, Alain Lefèvre has performed in over forty countries in prestigious venues and with the world’s leading conductors and symphony orchestras. He has won numerous prizes, amongst them a Juno, an Opus and ten…

The Bartók World Competition and Festival kicked off with unique programme

By Newswire on 11 September 2017 Classical Music, Education, Music Competition, Newswire, Violin

On 9 September, 2017, 44 contestants arrived in Budapest for the Bartók World Competition and Festival. In accordance with the official drawing lots, the Preliminary round started with Competitor No.47, the Japanese Tategami Mai. Already on the opening day of the event series organised by the Liszt Academy, a wide range of extraordinary musical and historical treats awaited the audience. As the President of the Liszt Academy, Dr Andrea Vigh highlighted in her welcome address ” Bartók’s roots are at the Liszt Academy since this institution was his alma mater. This Festival is therefore closely connected to Bartók’s many faces:…

The Verbier Festival: An excursion in opulence

By Xenia Hanusiak on 28 July 2017 Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Strings, Violin

Imagine attending an entire year of recitals at Carnegie Hall or Der Musikverein. At either concert hall you will no doubt encounter the pianists András Schiff, Barry Douglas, Richard Goode, Evgeny Kissin, Yefim Bronfman, Daniil Trifonov or Yuja Wang. Your listening path would also include at least one of the leading violin virtuosi of our time, perhaps Joshua Bell, Leonidas Kavakos or Janine Jansen. You may also add to your annual subscription the experience of hearing Pablo Ferrandez, George Li, or Daniel Lozakovich, three rising stars of their generation. And, as an opera lover your radar will meet Esa-Pekka Salonen…

Regina Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster, Simon MacDonald, Accepts New Position As Department Head For Strings At The Victoria Conservatory of Music

By Newswire on 25 July 2017 Arts Industry, Employment, Newswire, Violin

July 24, 2017 – It is with bittersweet excitement that the Regina Symphony Orchestra (RSO) wishes to announce the impending departure of RSO concertmaster, Simon MacDonald. Simon has accepted a prestigious position as the Department Head for Strings at the Victoria Conservatory of Music (VCM), and will complete his position as concertmaster as of July 31, 2017. For the past three seasons, Simon has been a valuable member and leader in the RSO family. In his role as concertmaster, he has made a significant contribution artistically and within the organization. He inspired his colleagues – both on stage and off stage -…

Lebrecht Weekly – Walton: Violin concerto, Hindemith variations (Hyperion)

By Norman Lebrecht on 21 July 2017 CD and Book Reviews, Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Violin

Any new recording of the Walton concerto will always be measured against Jascha Heifetz, who commissioned the work in 1935, edited the solo part and gave the first performances, throwing down a challenge to all others to do it better, or different. Ida Haendel and Yehudi Menuhin were able to soften the granitic contours but few others have suggested that there is more to the piece than the mighty Heifetz mined out of it. Now along comes Anthony Marwood and turns our ears around. From first utterance, he finds an expansive, Elgarian colour to the piece, a breadth of phrase…

Lebrecht Weekly – Shostakovich, Martinu: Second cello concertos (Bis)

By Norman Lebrecht on 7 July 2017 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly, Orchestral, Strings

The second concerto for cello by Dmitri Shostakovich is the least ingratiating of the six he wrote, two for each major instrument. Opening with a gloomy, growling monologue, the solo part is matched in misery by the orchestra. The concerto was written in 1966 and first performed by Mstislav Rostropovich at a Moscow concert to mark the composer’s 60th birthday. Knowing that public pessimism was an offence in the Soviet Union, Shostakovich held nothing back. The four-minute middle movement is friskier, though no less morbid than the opening Largo. Only in the finale does the composer express some relief and gratitude…

Lebrecht Weekly – Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli: Sonate da Camera, 1-6 (Delphian)

By Norman Lebrecht on 20 June 2017 Baroque and Early, CD and Book Reviews, Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Violin

Never heard of Carbonelli? Don’t feel too bad about it. The Vivaldi scholar Michael Talbot writes that he ‘has remained unknown, even to specialists’. Listen to the music, though, and you will wonder how work of such quality and intricacy could vanish so comprehensively into the mists of history. Carbonelli was a star violinist in London during Handel’s time. Born in Livorno in 1694 and possibly half-French, he becomes concertmaster at Drury Lane Theatre at the age of 25 and a much sought-after soloist. The Duke of Rutland paid for the publication of 12 sonatas and Carbonelli seemed well set…

Victor Julien-Laferrière Wins the First Queen Elisabeth Cello Competititon

By Newswire on 5 June 2017 Newswire, Strings

Victor Julien-Laferrière has won the 2017 Queen Elisabeth cello competition! The winner of the International Queen Elisabeth Grand Prize – Queen Mathilde Prize receives 25.000 EUR and numerous concerts in Belgium and abroad. The prizewinners First Prize : Victor Julien-Laferrière Second Prize : Yuya Okamoto Third Prize : Santiago Cañón-Valencia Fourth Prize : Aurélien Pascal Fifth Prize : Ivan Karizna Sixth Prize : Brannon Cho The six unranked laureates, in alphabetical order : Sihao He, Seungmin Kang, Maciej Kulakowski, JeongHyoun Christine Lee, Yan Levionnois and Bruno Philippe. An overview of the prizes is presented on the competition’s website in the Cello 2017 menu. Ivan Karizna has won both prizes of the public (Prix Musiq’3 and Canvas-Klaraprijs).…

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