A night of surprises, enthusiastic artistry and brave new compositions graced the Roy Thomson Hall Tuesday night. The TORONTO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA opened its 2017-2018 season with a program that effortlessly mingled the classical with the contemporary. This is a year of big changes for the orchestra. For the past 14 years, music director Peter Oundjian has been successfully anchoring the TSO as one of the finest orchestras in the world. The audience could not have been more appreciative during the opening night of Oundjian's final season. The evening's first surprise came in the form of a tasteful change in the program order, which facilitated a smooth transition from the fascinating, new compositions, to a second act of inherently classical pieces. Derek Charke's Élan, a Sesquie for Canada's 150th, featured a minimalist, cinematic soundscape, setting the tone for the first act. The concert's headliner followed with Academy Award winner Mychael Danna's glorious Suite from Life of Pi. Violinist James Ehnes' presence was enough to keep everyone resolutely focused for the second half. Beginning with Ernest Chausson's Poéme for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 25 - Ehnes seduced us all with his earnest, romantic timbre. I've never quite heard the highest registers of a violin played with such a crystalline quality. Ehne's second piece, Camille Saint-Saëns' Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 28, showed a different side of the artist. Ehne was aggressive, ferocious and impressively virtuosic. His commitment to the piece was meticulously focused and passionate. I was practically gasping for air by the time he had finished. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px} Speaking of virtuosos, another one of the night's surprises included an encore with Ehnes and Canadian pianist Jan Lisiecki. Dedicated to Maestro Peter Oundjian, the two squeezed onto one piano bench for an adorable performance of a Slavonic dance by Dvorák.  Photo credit: Jag Gundu READ THE FULL BroadwayWorld ARTICLE

 

The great classical soloists have always enjoyed celebrity, from Niccolo Paganini, the touring virtuoso, to Enrico Caruso, the first star signed by RCA records, to Leonard Bernstein, who brought classical music to Americans via television. The same goes for modern stars such as Hilary Hahn, Joshua Bell, Yo Yo Ma and the late Jacqueline du Pre, who shared something beyond fame with her fans. They are heroes of the classical music world, and, to some degree, household names. Yuja Wang is no exception to this. The brilliant young pianist will perform with Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra Saturday, September 23 at the Kentucky Center's Whitney Hall, raising the curtain on the Orchestra's 80th season. READ THE FULL Voice Tribune ARTICLE

 

He was a wunderkind: the youngest music director ever to lead the New York Philharmonic and the genius behind the score to "West Side Story." The late Leonard Bernstein would have turned 100 next year, and on Friday, the Boston Symphony Orchestra kicks off a new season dedicated to the Massachusetts-born composer-conductor, one of America's most famous maestros. Carnegie Hall gets into the act, too, launching its 2017-18 season on Oct. 4 with a Bernstein program by the Philadelphia Orchestra and music director Yannick Nezet-Seguin. And the New York Philharmonic will perform Bernstein's complete symphonic works in a centennial remembrance that starts Oct. 25. Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony's music director, calls Bernstein an "iconic figure" who influenced generations - including his own. "Growing up in Latvia in the 1980s and '90s, Leonard Bernstein always loomed large in the hearts and minds of all of us who aspired to a life in music, including mine," Nelsons told The Associated Press in an email. "It was Bernstein's exuberance, passion and all-encompassing love of music that convinced all who encountered him that music was essential, affirming and necessary for a full life, in which beauty and inspiration ignite the very best of the human spirit," said Nelsons, now in his fourth season leading the BSO. SEE AP - WTOP PAGE for list of centennial celebrations p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

 

Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, a legendary vocalist of the music of Kirana Gharana, was the first artist to perform at Consulate General of India as a part of their new initiative called "Art&Culture@Consulate." The show was presented by Sunny Thakkar of the American Academy of Indian Classical Music (AAICM) and a promoter of Indian classical music. Khan presented his soulful music to a full house and also presented his newly released CD ‘Transcendence' released by Nimbus Records, to the Consul General Sandeep Chakravorty. Khan has received many awards for his contribution to Indian classical music, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar, Sangeet Ratna Award and the title of Bandish Nawaz. He has been regularly coming to New York since 1992, to spread the music of Kirana Gharana. PHOTO (L TO R): Shri Dibyarka Chatterjee (Tabla), Dr Sudha Parikh, Dr. Kedar Naphade (Harmonium), Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan (Vocal), Consul General (NY) Sandeep Chakravorty, Sunny Thakkar & Shampa Bhattacharya. (Photo: Veronique Lerebours) SEE THE India NewsTimes PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial; min-height: 11.0px}

 

Sarah Chang, whose performances send critics reaching for superlatives, has expanded her discography with a recording of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, the composer's best known work and one of the most popular pieces in the entire classical oeuvre. Sarah's partners in The Four Seasons and Vivaldi's Concerto for Violin in G minor, Op. 12, No. 1 are the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Sarah Chang and Orpheus performed The Four Seasons on a triumphant tour of South Korea in May, shortly before recording it at the State University of New York at Purchase. A month later, they reprised the work at the Ravinia Festival in Chicago. "Sarah Chang contrasted driving force in the fast movement with lyricism in the slow," wrote News Korea. "She not only expressed 'four seasons' but also the complexities of human emotion."  Sarah has described her work with Orpheus as a unique experience: "Every member of Orpheus is a fantastic soloist. I always look forward to performing [with them] because it is such a natural collaboration. Playing Vivaldi's Four Seasons together is particularly rewarding ... With Orpheus, because of the focus and thoughtfulness that goes into every rehearsal and performance, it is possible to fully convey the vivid and colourful images Vivaldi created with this piece."
   
Seconding Sarah's sentiments, EMI producer Stephen Johns said, "The care and attention that these performers brought to the music was astonishing and their long experience of working as a chamber ensemble of equals meant that every player was alive to the re-creation and fresh viewpoint of these popular works. The interplay and inspiration between Sarah and the orchestra was astonishing." Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) taught for much of his life at an all-girls 'orphanage' in Venice that was home to the offspring of wealthy noblemen and their mistresses. The 'orphanage' was well endowed, thanks to financing by the anonymous fathers of its charges, and, among other things, the young girls received an excellent musical education. It was for the most talented pupils that Vivaldi composed a large number of his concertos. The so-called Four Seasons were among twelve concertos by Vivaldi that were published in 1725, although it is likely that they were composed a few years earlier, in the same period that Sarah Chang's violin, a 1717 Giuseppe Guarneri del Ges?, was created. One of classical music's most captivating performers, with a rare ability to bring freshness and spontaneity to even the most familiar works, Sarah Chang has matured from a remarkable prodigy into an adult artist of astonishing musical insight, technical virtuosity and emotional range. An exclusive EMI Classics artist, she has produced a discography that includes the violin concertos of Mendelssohn, Bruch, Tchaikovsky, Dvoř?k, Paganini No. 1, Prokofiev No. 1, Shostakovich No. 1, Goldmark, Sibelius, Richard Strauss and Vieuxtemps No.5, as well as Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, Saint-Sa?ns's Havanaise and Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso and chamber music by Dvoř?k, Tchaikovsky, Franck, Ravel and Saint-Sa?ns. Recognised internationally as one of the world's great orchestras, the conductor-less Orpheus has been thrilling music lovers on four continents for 35 years. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra was founded by a group of New York-based musicians who aspired to give musician-led performances of standard and contemporary orchestral repertoire. Central to the ensemble's distinctive personality is its unique practice of sharing and rotating leadership roles; for each work, the members select the concertmaster and the principal players. Orpheus has collaborated, in concert and recordings with many of the great artists of our time and premieres a large number of new works, in keeping with its commitment to expand the chamber orchestra repertoire. Sarah Chang performed The Four Seasons at the Verbier Festival in July. When her Vivaldi recording is released in October, she will be performing The Four Seasons on an extensive European tour taking in the U.K., Ireland, France, Holland and Spain in addition to a few North American dates performing with Orpheus.

Sarah Chang: Vivaldi / The Four Seasons

 

The forward slash in Yusuf / Cat Stevens' billing says quite a lot about the folksinger's return to conventional Western recording and performing over the past decade. With each album, Yusuf seemed to have one paw scratching about the musical alleyways of ‘70s icon Cat Stevens while the other foot stood bare at the foot of a prayer mat, drawing inspiration from a different type of spiritual well. An Other Cup (2006), Roadsinger (2009), and Tell ‘Em I'm Gone (2014) often found him reaching back to repurpose old works, composing new songs about life's curious journey, and even employing Islamic theology in his songwriting – occasionally, the artist on either side of the slash appearing to be the odd man out. Now, with The Laughing Apple, that paw stretches even further back into the pre-Tillerman days, and yet never has the pilgrim and pop star sounded more in harmony. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Helvetica; min-height: 12.0px} READ THE FULL Consequence of Sound REVIEW

 

To put things into perspective, when the Five Blind Boys of Alabama-the name under which they performed at the time-first recorded in 1948, most of the 1960s' future rock and R&B heroes were still wondering how their lives would change once they got into junior high. Nearly 70 years later, Blind Boys of Alabama-with surviving octogenarian co-founders Clarence Fountain and Jimmy Carter still involved-continue to evolve. Almost Home, divvies up the production four ways, with the tracks cut in four different cities. John Leventhal, who sat at the helm for the first three, collaborates on his segment with singer-songwriter Marc Cohn (Fountain and Carter, who still tours, each grab a co-credit). Interestingly, "God Knows Everything," a tune penned sans Blind Boys help, plays closest to the pure gospel vest. Later, Vance Powell and Charles Driebe utilize the songwriting talents of North Mississippi Allstars Cody and Luther Dickinson and Oteil Burbridge on the swampy "Pray for Peace," and Chris Goldsmith matches the group with Dylan's "I Shall Be Released," a song that you might feel needs a rest until you hear what these voices do with it. Finally, Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, keeps it rootsy, putting a Little Feat-esque backbeat on "I Can See," raving it up gospel-tent style on "I Kept on Walking" and closing it out in a grand way with massed vocals and plenty of jubilation on "I Was Called." Remarkably, given the pedigree, nothing about Almost Home feels retro-this is music that reaches across decades, belief systems and genres, its sole goal to spread some joy.

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