Two movies are coming out about ye olde classical music with CELEBRITIES - real, live ones! And the films basically have the same title. The first is A Late Quartet, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (!) and Christopher Walken (!). It chronicles the "Fugue String Quartet" as they learn of their cellist's Parkinson's disease diagnosis. Description, from West End Films: The four members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of death, competing egos and insuppressible lust. Set in iconic New York City, … [Read more...]
Bravo!
Van Cliburn, who has been reported as being extremely ill, gives a beautiful and sprited speech at his foundation's 50th Anniversary Gold Medalists Concert on September 6, 2012. We should all look and act so good! … [Read more...]
R.I.P. Authenticity, you had a good run
The last shark in the Atlantic was jumped today when a former classical music magazine editor's consulting firm issued a press release announcing that the company would be handling pianist Lang Lang's social media. Said shark-jumping was posted about on Slipped Disc earlier today. The press release, which can be found in its entirety here, explains: IPMC to help deepen the star pianist’s relationship with vast online community Inverne Price Music Consultancy has signed an exclusive agreement for social networking strategic services with Lang … [Read more...]
Some photos from The Armory that I probably wasn’t allowed to take but I didn’t do it when the Phil was playing
...promise! The New York Philharmonic's concert at The Park Avenue Armory last night was wonderful. I assume tonight's was terrific, too, but I'm home watching Step Up. The Philharmonic performed unannounced Gabrieli, Gruppen by Stockhausen, Rituel in Memoriam Bruno Maderna by Boulez, a smidge of Don Giovanni, which I'm sure the critics will like least, and ((swoon)) Ives’ The Unanswered Question. There's nothing worse than simply recreating a traditional concert venue in an alternative space, and that was not the case here. As I said, I'm … [Read more...]
“You have viewers?”
Cellist Nick Canellakis hosts a series of "Conversations" with classical musicians along with the guest who gets invited every time, pianist Michael Brown. Each episode comes complete with that nice, bookended Curb Your Enthusiasm traveling music. Here is Season 1. Pilot: Michael Brown, pianist Episode 2: Michael Brown, pianist Episode 3, Michael Brown, pianist/first-and-only-guest Episode 4, Rachel Lee, violinist Episode 5, Orion Weiss, … [Read more...]
We’ll have a Campari about it.
A few weeks ago, Vivien Schweitzer tracked my meteoric rise to fame in The New York Times: OK well actually, it was a profile of pianist Yuja Wang, the reaction to whose concert dress I discussed here. The dress was written about in the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, by Perez Hilton, and by Jezebel, among others. The first Google search suggested when you type "Yuja Wang" is now "dress". Should you not have time to hark back to my original post, I wrote that Wang can wear whatever she wants so long as she can still play in it … [Read more...]
Things go better with music
From AdAge: Just months after 4-year-old music startup Spotify partnered with Facebook to goose new-user signups and reach new audiences, it's turning to a behemoth of an entirely other type: Coca-Cola. Spotify and the Coca-Cola Co.have forged a strategic partnership to promote the music-streaming service as it launches in new countries. In turn, Coca-Cola will feature Spotify in a campaign as the beverage giant looks to double revenue by 2020. ...Spotify will be the centerpiece of Coca-Cola's "Year of Music" campaign in 2013, said Joe … [Read more...]
The Internet is a delight
Pitches, I have neglected you. I have no excuses except my Real Job and the 7 weddings I have to go to this year. I Tweet a lot: the lazy woman's blogging. But the Interweb continues to entertain, with or without my presence. First, via Alex Ross, we have Dan Deacon's Twitter exchange with Amtrak about his Carnegie Hall performance. The best part, believe it or not, is actually yet to come. That would be when Amtrak Tweets back, "@ebaynetflix Wow, that's awesome! We bet the performance will be amazing." And then some random … [Read more...]
Live from Los Angeles, it’s their orchestra
On Wednesday night, I went to the Los Angeles Philharmonic's LA Phil LIVE rebroadcast of Gustavo Dudamel conducting Mahler 8 from Caracas. Now in its second year, LA Phil LIVE features three concerts in movie theaters during the 11-12 season, seen in 450 theaters in the US and Canada. My friends and I went to Union Square, and as we chomped on popcorn, and slurped down Diet Coke, I thought unfondly of the hag glaring at my sister as she quietly unwrapped a cough drop at Avery Fisher earlier in the week. Here is the trailer: The … [Read more...]
Frogger of Seville
For Rossini's birthday and Leap Day, the Google homepage featured cartoon froggies performing The Barber of Seville. They neglected to also feature Sadie Hawkin's Day, so I refer you to this In Honor. … [Read more...]
“Nice is different than good”
Lin-Manuel Miranda, who was truly excellent in the recent City Center production of Merrily We Roll Along, started a series of Tweets that are continuing to this moment of Sondheim lower back tattoos (#sondheimlowerbacktattoo). This started when Miranda Tweeted back at theater publicist [I've since been corrected on Twitter - "Theater Publicist-in-the-making"...well congrats or I'm sorry, @mrtylermartins, You've Arrived!] Tyler Martins's suggestion of a Sondheim tramp stamp: You can read all the potential Sondheim lower back tattoos … [Read more...]
“Even better, you’re not watching PBS”
Placido Domingo did VERY well on The Colbert Report last night. Stephen Colbert is obviously a fan, which makes the thing completely adorable. The two discussed "the most popular song of all time" ("La donna è mobile", obviously, not "Imagine"), why tenors get all the girls, and "soaking the snooty crowd". The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive After a commercial break, Stephen and Placido perform. Together. More classical musicians on TV, … [Read more...]
Who’s honoring classical music now
Tonight, Plácido Domingo will teach Stephen to sing on The Colbert Report. My sister points out that he probably needs to learn because Obama has been singing everywhere. The show has done a better job than most of supporting classical music, which is to say, I found three interviews. All from 2008, randomly enough. Here's Alex Ross, from January 29, 2008, talking about Ronald Reagan getting to first base with Communism: The Colbert Report Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video … [Read more...]
The Borrowers
Photoshopping one of Hilary's CDs into the back of Tiger Woods's crashed car is the extent my creative output, so I'm not going to judge composer Osvaldo Golijov. There is a controversy swirling around a commission for the Eugene Symphony. Respected NPR classical music critic Tom Manoff blogged about it here, and the Register-Guard picked up the story: When the Eugene Symphony performed the Pacific Northwest premiere Thursday night of “Sidereus,” a newly commissioned work by Grammy Award-winning composer Osvaldo Golijov, two members of the … [Read more...]