April, 2014

42 Posts
archive-post-image
Barker on the Bass
Yannatos: Variations In our earlier talk with bassist Ed Barker, we focused solely on his return to China with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 35 years after his first visit to China with the orchestra In 1979. Our conversation continued, discussing
Read more
archive-post-image
Kissin’ Kissin
A few nights ago, Hong Kongers greeted the return of the prodigious Russian pianist, Evgeny Kissin, with pure rapture. It has been three years since his last visit, but music-lovers here have not at all forgotten about him. The fact
Read more
archive-post-image
Glioblastoma Multiforme and George Gershwin
How the medical community got it deadly wrong!
In 1937 George Gershwin was at the top of his game. His Rhapsody in Blue (1924), An American in Paris (1928) and his opera Porgy and Bess (1935) had established him as one of the most prolific and talented composers
Read more
archive-post-image
A day in the life of Perugia… Part II
Music Fest Perugia
After having talked with the Artistic and Executive Directors of Music Fest Perugia, Ilana Vered and Peter Hermes, I decided to see how the festival fared in the eyes of some of its young participants. Nathan Lee and Vanessa Haynes,
Read more
archive-post-image
Four Friends
In all of classical music, there’s nothing quite as wonderful as a string quartet. Four voices but which produce a world of sound. In a letter to the composer C.F. Zelter in late 1829, Goethe described a string quartet as
Read more
archive-post-image
In touch with Ilari Kaila
Hailed as “the city’s most innovative music experience” by the Financial Times, the Intimacy of Creativity, founded by Chinese-American composer Bright Sheng, begins its fourth cycle this April, to bring together internationally acclaimed performers and composers for creative dialogue and
Read more
archive-post-image
In touch with Andy Akiho
Composer Andy Akiho did not grow up with classical music training. If you had asked him what a string quartet was a few years ago, “I would have told you violin, viola, cello and bass. I wouldn’t have known it
Read more
archive-post-image
Red Roses!
Richard Strauss and Lotti Speyer
During the summer of 1883, the nineteen-year-old Richard Strauss (1864-1949) spent a short ten-day holiday at the little spa of Heilbrunn. Located between Bad Tölz and the Kochelsee in Bavaria, the natural thermal springs and forested rolling hills had long
Read more