BIG EARS 09 is a very promising new music festival coming up this winter. I may even plan to go myself. I'm a big fan of Michael Gira, Pauline Oliveros, and Philip Glass (sometimes...) See details below:
Big Ears will be held in Knoxville, Tennessee February 6,7,8, 2009. The mission of Big Ears is to offer an exciting and dynamic platform of musical and artistic discovery, presenting a variety of adventurous, exploratory concerts and performances, installations, discussions, and interactive experiences by artists possessed of singular and unique visions that stand apart from the mainstream. Confirmed artists performing over the course of the weekend are Phillip Glass, Antony and The Johnsons, Fennesz, Matmos, Michael Gira (Angels of Light/Swans), The Necks, Jon Hassell + Maarifa Street, Pauline Oliveros, Negativland and many more to be announced.
The event will occur in multiple venues located within walking distance of one another throughout downtown Knoxville. In addition there will be lectures, art installations, films and much more.
Info about Knoxville: http://tiny.cc/cepIB
Big Ears site: http://bigearsfestival.com/
-Thanks to Bob Deck of Ace Entertainment/ConcertWire.com for the heads-up and description.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
BIG EARS 09
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Music in the Area for October 11-14
I will be away in Memphis this weekend to play some Barber with the IRIS orchestra. Hence, there will be no blogging for a few days. If you're in the area, why not go out and catch some of the great classical music performances being offered this weekend? Here are a few ideas:
The CSO Chamber Players are featuring the Brahms Horn Trio (with CCM faculty pianist Frank Weinstock) on their program this Friday at 7:30 in Memorial Hall.
How about a free concert of innovative percussion music? Check out Percussion Group Cincinnati at CCM on Friday, October 12, at 8:00.
The CSO is doing a program of Mahler and Beethoven (with guest violinist Vadim Repin) at various times October 11-13.
The Dayton Philharmonic is doing another program of American music by Copland, Bernstein, and Winteregg Thursday and Saturday evenings.
Here's one more (I wish I could be here to catch this): Pianist Kenneth Griffiths and tenor Stanford Olsen will be performing Schubert’s great song cycle Die Schöne Müllerin on Sunday at 2:30 PM at CCM.
Tickets for this last event can be purchased here.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Antioch Piano Series
The Antioch College Music Department presents a professional piano series every year in the town of Yellow Springs, Ohio. This season features two solo piano recitals and one trio concert.
Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 7:00 PM: James Tocco, piano (Mr. Tocco is a former teacher of mine; he teaches at UC-CCM in Cincinnati.)
Monday, November 12, 2007 (time TBA): The Merling Trio of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Sunday, April 6, 2008 at 7:00 PM: Jon Nakamatsu (gold medal winner of the 10th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.)
The series is made possible through support from the Adams Foundation, which sponsors many professional piano series throughout the country. It is also co-sponsored by Chamber Music Yellow Springs. All performances are located in Kelly Hall on the campus of Antioch College.
No brochure is available online yet for this year’s series, but there is a PDF brochure from last year that contains directions, contact info, and other information. I will update this post with a link if a current online brochure is produced.
(Thanks to Dr. Christopher Chaffee for bringing the series to my attention.)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Chamber Palooza! at Cincinnati Art Museum
There is a free concert at the Cincinnati Art Museum on Saturday, September 8, from 11:45 AM to 3:00 PM. Called "Chamber Palooza!" (surely named after the famous multi-group annual rock events know as "Lollapalooza"), the concert features many local performers and a wide range of chamber instrumentation. It is an offering from the Chamber Music Network of Greater Cincinnati. Groups include piano trio, a harp duo (that caught my attention), jazz trio, steel drum band, and many other variations on the chamber ensemble (which isn't just limited to classical repertoire). Each group plays for about twenty minutes.
See this flyer for more details. It looks to be a fun and eclectic musical afternoon.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
CincinnatiArts.com Link Exchange
Recently I was contacted by CincinnatiArts.com, which is an online arts portal supported by the Enjoy the Arts/Start organization.
Their mission "is to promote the arts in the greater Cincinnati region by:
(Source page)
This is a great site that packs a lot of information about arts events in and around Cincinnati. If you are in the area (either permanently or just in for a visit) I would recommend looking there for any arts-related events. All kinds of cultural occasions can be found, including art and photography exhibits, dancing and dining events, musical and theatrical shows, literary events, special museum exhibits, and much more.
Christopher Lamping over at the CincinnatiArts blog was kind enough to offer a blogroll link exhange with my Cincinnati Pianist blog. (You can find my site listed under their Blogroll list, and I put a link to theirs in my blogroll located to the right in the sidebar.) One of the neat things about this blogging project is when an arts organization sees value in a site like this one, which I hope does foster communication and arts advocacy. When arts communities and individuals network online in this way, it really is a step in the right direction for the betterment of interconnected access to the arts (for any particular region). Thank you, Christopher and CincinnatiArts.com, for the opportunity to serve more arts patrons through this link exchange.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Nixon In China via Cincy
I’ve been incredibly lazy in my lackluster support for local performances recently, perhaps due to a little burnout from the long performance season that finished for me in late May. But now I’m pretty excited about Cincinnati Opera’s production of Nixon in China! This important opera was written by renowned American composer John Adams in 1987 and focuses on President Richard Nixon’s diplomatic mission to China in 1972.
Surely Cincinnati will be the cultural beacon for the mid-Atlantic area on the two performance dates of July 12 and 14. This is a rare chance to see a large contemporary concert music phenomenon in the Cincinnati area. (You would usually need to travel to places like New York, Chicago, or London to see something like this.) If you are close to the city and available to attend I would urge you to go see it, especially if you are a history/politics junkie. I’m probably going to see it on Thursday evening. If you have problems with opera because you often can’t understand what the characters are saying, there will be projected titles even though the opera is in English.
The music is poly-stylistic and incorporates plenty of popular music genres in its unique vocabulary. John Adams’ musical language has a rather Romantic sensibility that is well balanced with more challenging harmonies and textures. The stage production by James Robinson features multi-media techniques and choreography by Seán Curran.
Tickets available here.
Photo from the White House Photo Office (1969-74) Source: archives.gov (ARC Identifier:194759)
Friday, February 16, 2007
Upcoming Performances
I will be posting my own upcoming performances as well as interesting performances of note happening in the Cincinnati area. Clicking on one of the labels at the right called "Upcoming Performances" will bring up posts pertaining to these events. One is dedicated to my own performances and the other is going to be dedicated to events with performers other than myself. Because I am a classical musician by trade, classical performances will be mostly what I'll bring to the blog. But I'll try to also include some interesting things outside of the classical world as well. After all, the music world is a BIG place with lots of good things happening these days. Of course, I don't have the time to post every single concert (or even every single great concert) that happens here, but I'll strive to post at least one a week from now on.
For my students (well, sure, and anybody else for that matter): REMEMBER that part of being a good musician is to sit in an audience and take in performances; it's an important aspect of your musical education that can often be overlooked. The more you see and the more you experience, the more complete you will be as an artistically active person.
If anybody has any suggestions for something coming up performance-wise that they would like me to post here, please let me know. Input is always welcome!
