Strings - my/maSCENA

Alexandre Da Costa Takes on Opera

By Ian Cochrane on 1 February 2017 Interviews, Opera, Orchestral, Violin

Canadian violin virtuoso Alexandre Da Costa is on a mission – to bring classical music to the public. His latest project Stradivarius à l’Opéra consists of twelve gems from the operatic repertoire, reworked for solo violin and orchestra. He selected the works that he felt suited his large, lush tone, found the arrangements and then made a recording, now out on CD. Da Costa said that the project has two principal objectives: to appeal to opera lovers with a different approach to classics, and to reach out to those not familiar with the beauty of opera by providing an easily…

Paul Leggett

Daily News Roundup: 14 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 14 December 2016 Classical, Daily News Roundup, Orchestral, Strings

Decca launches a publishing division and it has appointed Natasha Baldwin as the head. Decca Publishing will help expand opportunities for ‘neo-classical’ composers to write for television, film and video games. It will also work with Universal Music Publishing Classical. The English Symphony Orchestra has appointed Michael Young in the new role of assistant conductor. The British conductor will take the new position in January 2017. The board of the Camerata Nordica, orchestra based in Oskarshamn in Sweden, has cancelled the rest of the season. It also announced the resignation of its artistic director Terje Tonessen, all due to…

Daily News Roundup: 12 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 12 December 2016 Classical, Daily News Roundup, Orchestral, Strings

Cellist Taeguk Mun won the János Starker Foundation Award, worth $25,000. The 22-year-old South Korean is based in Boston. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmqU2EGVBZQ Violist and music teacher Christopher Waters was fatally shot in his Memphis home during a home invasion. The 30-year-old was shot dead last Friday. Two men, both aged 22, have been charged in connection of the murder. Cellist David Ethève died at the age of 50 following a battle with brain cancer. The French-born musician was a founding member of the Sinfónica de Galicia in Spain in 1992 and served as the ensemble’s principal cellist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3pzoyDmiCQ

Lebrecht Weekly – The alternative record of the year

By Norman Lebrecht on 9 December 2016 Classical Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Romantic, Violin

Most critics pick their album of the year from the ones they reviewed over the past 52 weeks. I’ve decided to choose from the ones I haven’t, the ones that for one reason or other failed to make the weekly cut. So much good stuff out there. Try Peter Donohoe’s new set of the Scriabin sonatas (Somm ****), the early ones especially showing where Rachmaninov might have gone if he had followed fantasy to the end of the flight. And Boris Giltburg’s account of the Rachmaninov’s Etudes-tableaux (Naxos ****) has not strayed far from my player all year long. I…

Sheku Kanneh-Masson et violoncelle Amati de 1610

Daily News Roundup: 8 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 8 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Orchestral, Popular Music, Strings, Violin

Greg Lake, bassist, guitarist and singer of British progressive rock group Emerson, Lake & Palmer lost his fight to cancer yesterday at the age of 69. The keyboardist Keith Emerson took his own life in March 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89g1P_J40JA Sheku Kanneh-Mason was presented with the 1610 Amati cello he played at BBC Young Musician of the Year. The instrument is a permanent loan from Florian Leonhard workshop in London. Russian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky announced today he was withdrawing from all coming opera engagements. The 54-year-old singer who was diagnosed with brain tumor in 2015 will continue giving concerts and recitals,…

Anthony Bramall - Photo: Andreas Pohlmann

Daily News Roundup: 7 December 2016

By Nicole Yeba on 7 December 2016 Daily News Roundup, Opera, Scena Jazz, Violin

Jazz pianist Joey Alexander is nominated for a Grammy in the jazz solo category. The 13-year-old Indonesian was nominated last year in two jazz categories but left empty-handed. Find out who the other nominees are here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1liUart72g Anthony Bramall has been named principal chief conductor of Munich’s State Theater on Gärtnerplatz. The British conductor, 59, will start in summer 2017. The Northern Ireland Opera has appointed Walter Sutcliffe as its new artistic director. The 30-year-old British will be starting in February 2017. Violinist and concertmaster Jerrold Rubenstein passed away yesterday in Brussels. The New Yorker taught at the Antwerp…

La musique aux enfants room Photo: Raphaël Thibodeau

La musique aux enfants

By Nicole Yeba on 1 December 2016 Education, Piano, Violin, Vocal

Yesterday, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) and other partners launched La musique aux enfants, a prekindergarten and kindergarten music project at École St-Rémi-Annexe of the Commission scolaire de la Pointe-de-l’Île (CSPI) in the borough of Montréal-Nord. The project imagined by Maestro Kent Nagano, and developed by the OSM in collaboration with the Université de Montréal and the CSPI, is to introduce preschool children to music as a means to support their overall development. All the students of École St-Rémi-Annexe will receive a minimum of one lesson in rhythm and choral singing per week. They will also be able to participate in cultural activities putting…

Pauline Oliveros

Industry News: December 2016

By Kiersten van Vliet on 1 December 2016 Arts Industry, Classical Music, Education, La Scena Spotlight, Popular Music, Strings, Vocal

Awards and Honours In November, the Schwarz-Bournaki Duo won first prize at the annual Boulder International Chamber Music Competition’s “Art of the Duo” in Boulder, Colorado. The competition celebrates the duo with piano, an intimate chamber genre that is often overshadowed by the string quartet and piano trio. This year, the competition received over 150 applications from 25 countries, with 22 ensembles making the semi-finals. The Schwarz-Bournaki Duo is American cellist Julian Schwarz and Canadian pianist – and native Montrealer – Marika Bournaki, who made her professional debut at age 11 with Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 under Yannick Nézet-Séguin. The…

La Scena Musicale 20th Anniversary – Gala LA RELÈVE / RISING STARS

By La Scena Events on 18 November 2016 Arts Industry, Canadian Music, Chamber Music, Classical, Classical Music, La Scena Online, Piano, Quebec Music, Scena Jazz, Violin, Vocal

La Scena Musicale celebrates its 20th anniversary with the first edition of Gala LA RELÈVE/RISING STARS, a benefit concert on Thursday, November 24, 2016 at 7:30 PM at Salle Pierre-Mercure of the Centre Pierre-Péladeau featuring some of Canada’s future star musicians, many of whom have won recent national competitions. Soprano Chelsea Rus, baritone Hugo Laporte, clarinetist David Dias da Silva, violinist Joshua Peters, pianist Emily Oulousian and Piano Caméléons will perform; pianist Michael McMahon will accompany the singers. “I’m very excited with our line-up of six young musicians and duo,” said Wah Keung Chan, founder of La Scena Musicale. “Each…

Lebrecht Weekly – Elgar, Martinu: Cello concertos (Sony Classical)

By Norman Lebrecht on 18 November 2016 Contemporary, Lebrecht Weekly, Strings

The Argentine-born Sol Gabetta, now in her mid-30s, made her first recording of the Elgar concerto six years ago in Denmark, an impressive performance stressed ever-so-faintly at the edges by the long shadow of Jacqueline Du Pré. In this live concert with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, Gabetta is more languorous and, one suspects, more herself. The opening phrases are so leisurely you can imagine half the orchestra taking an illicit sip of tea from an under-chair flask, knowing there is plenty of time before they have to come in. But her tempo is immediately convincing and musically…

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