Terri Richter is about to embark on a Tour as part of the Apollo's Fire performing Monteverd Verpers of 1610
Ten years after stunning audiences with Monteverdi's masterpiece, Jeannette Sorrell and Apollo's Fire return to what has become their signature piece. Monteverdi forged a vivid new style, evoking the struggle between the archaic and the revolutionary.
The Vespers of 1610 was hailed as "the smash hit of the season" when Apollo's Fire introduced it to Cleveland. These concerts are part of an 11-concert national tour.
Jeannette Sorrell, conductor
Terri Richter & Nell Snaidas, sopranos
Richard Edgar-Wilson & Zachary Wilder, tenors
Kirsten Sollek • Jesse Blumberg • Paul Shipper APOLLO'S SINGERS
For more information and tour dates please go to here
MM Music grows once more
Welcoming on board; Lorna Flowers, a singer/songwriter who was voted NCM magazine Country Songwriter in 1998. Lorna’s had several songs in the European Country Radio charts including three #1 songs and several top 10s. Duff Harris, a vocal performance major at Lipscomb University and multi-instrumentalist. Francis Perry, a professional classical guitarist, specializing also in Renaissance and Baroque lutes. And we have started to promote Guido's Ear, an early music ensemble specializing in a repertoire of late renaissance and early baroque; MM Music is working with them to secure concerts for the 2011/12 season.
We are so happy to welcome these wonderful, talented performers in to the MM Music family!
Trevor Pinnock conducts the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires.
Scotsman.com By Ken Walton ****
THEY say good things come in small packages. Sure enough, the diminutive figure of Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires seemed in direct contrast to the broad sweep of a performance of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4 she gave in the vastness of the Usher Hall, partnered by conductor Trevor Pinnock and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.
But where Pires's musicianship truly matched her slender physique was in the delicacy of her touch. Beyond the famous solo opening – unpretentious, but with a tempered sparkle – her approach was sensitive and sweet, enriching Beethoven's innate masculinity with a touching poeticism. Not that the interpretation lacked robustness, as the belligerent dialogue between teasingly calm soloist and petulant strings made clear at the conversational outset of the second movement.
It helped that Pinnock and Pires are musical conspirators, a partnership that was displayed with some humour on Thursday when they both sat down at the piano and playfully jousted their way through a four-handed Mozart encore.
Pinnock made his own mark in the purely orchestral portions of the concert, shaping Mendelssohn's pictorially fluid overture The Fair Melusine with all the gentleness required to emphasise its watery premonitions and silvery textures. And in Mozart's Symphony No 39 he latched on to its gestural phrases, giving suppleness to its structure. Pinnock, like Pires, is small-framed. But musically, too, he packs a Goliath punch. Read the full artical.
EdinburghGuide.com By Barbara Bryan **** (excerpt)
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra are developing into a very fine orchestra indeed. Last night, under the expert baton of guest conductor Trevor Pinnock, they gave an excellent performance of compositions by Mendelssohn, Beethoven and Mozart.
The encore was charming. Another piano stool was brought onto the platform and both Pires and Pinnock sat down and played an entertaining Mozart Sonata for four hands.
The concert concluded with Mozart's Symphony No 39. Trevor Pinnock is a harpsichord player of some repute and has conducted many Mozart compositions over his musical career. Conducting with a panache he brought out the best in the orchestra - the string sections, woodwind, brass, timpani - all blended to give a fine performance playing the last movement of the Symphony at a breath-takingly fast pace. Read the full artical.
The Benvenue Fortepiano Trio…
is this week's (8th May) BBC Music Magazine's free download. The piece featured is Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 49 (Avie AV 2187). The Scherzo is performed on period instruments – an 1841 Viennese fortepiano, a Dutch violin of 1770 and an English cello of 1811.
Mendelssohn composed his first piano trio in 1839. 'It is the master trio of today,' wrote his friend and fellow composer Robert Schumann in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. 'A lovely composition which in years to come will still delight our grand- and great-grandchildren.'
Trevor Pinnock makes his CSO debut
Terri Richter joins FPCB for Haydn's Creation
The Chorus and Orchestra of Bellevue, First Presbyterian Church (FPCB) present
HAYDN'S CREATION
Soloists: Ross Hauck, Terri Richter, Morgan Smith
Scott Dean, Director
Friday, May 21, 7:30pm
Saturday, May 22, 7:30pm
Tickets - $20 general; $15 seniors; $10 students
Tickets can be purchased at: www.brownpapertickets.com
FBCB: First Presbyterian Church of Bellevue
1717 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue WA 98004
www.belpres.org
425-454-3082
Mitzi Matlock Music launches publishing division
With lead hit writer Bernie Nelson, MM Music began a new venture in the world of music publishing March 1, 2010. Other writers the company is working with include No. 1 hit writers Jim Femino and Benita Hill. Up and European No. 1 hit writer and demo producer Lorna Flowers. Hit co writers of MMP's writers include Bob Dipiero, Phill O'Donnell and Bridgette Tatum.
Zivian Tomkins Duo - Beethoven Sonatas for Fortepiano and Cello - Six Bagatelles for Fortepiano
The Duo's latest release on the Bridge label has been warmly welcomed in the music press.
I've rarely enjoyed this enigmatic music so thoroughly. San Francisco Classical Voice
The expressive range is enormous, from the inward communing of he D-minor Adagio of Op. 102/2 to the quicksilver wit of the finale of Op. 102/1. These performances truly rise to the challenge of Beethoven's radicalism, exuding a sense of fresh-minted excitement and discovery. Fanfare
Every not is controlled. Tomkins' playing is technically superior and musically informed, providing listeners with everything from vigorous excitement to serene tranquillity. Allmusic
Six Assured Singers Harmonizing on a Trip Back to 1641 and Monteverdi’s Venice (extract)
Classical music loves to celebrate its own, with performers seizing upon any artist’s birthday or major work’s debut to which a milestone number can be added and staging a party. Chopin and Schumann at 200 are much in the air this season, as is Barber for his centenary. Monteverdi, too, has attracted his share of attention: 2010 is the 400th anniversary of his “Vespro Della Beata Vergine,” a landmark liturgical collection more widely known as the 1610 Vespers.
Several significant performances of that work have already been presented in New York, with more to come. One such event, mounted by the Green Mountain Project in January, involved Jolle Greenleaf, a splendid soprano known for her work in the Tiffany Consort and other local early-music concerns…
Put simply, the performance was sensational. The six vocalists — Ms. Greenleaf, the mezzo-soprano Hai-Ting Chinn, the countertenor Ryland Angel, the tenors Philip Anderson and Marc Molomot and the bass Joe Chappel — sang with assurance and appropriate period style and blended smoothly while still registering individually. The shifting focus from plainspoken piety to flamboyant drama could be slightly jarring, but Tenet’s singers were compelling in both modes.
Deft, sensitive accompaniment was provided by Avi Stein, an organist and the evening’s guest director; the theorbo player Hank Heijink; and two violinists, Alexander Woods and Benjamin Charmot. The violinists were also featured in showstopping accounts of two purely instrumental works, the canzone “La Treccha” by Tarquinio Merula and Dario Castello’s Sonata No. 4 from Book 2, lending further variety, vivacity and balance to an exemplary presentation. By STEVE SMITH, Published: February 15, 2010
For the full article go to The New York Times Music Section
You can see Alexander Wood conducting at Music City Baroque on Sunday, February 21, 4:00 p.m.
Music City Baroque in discussions with Apollo's Fire
Music City Baroque is in discussions with Cleveland based baroque orchestra Apollo's Fire to form a collaboration and bring AF's new program Come to the River to Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium. Come to the River brings to life the rich American tradition of shape-note singing and Southern harmony. Last year's premiere season completely sold out, attracting a review of "fresh, impeccable and enchanting" in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
More information on the Come to the River program or download the PDF brochure (2.2mb)
Music City Baroque - The Baroque Fiddling Project
Where better than Nashville?
Whether you’re a fiddler young or old, or a violin professional or student, this is for you – bring your string instrument and bow and come join in!
Bach Suites and Hoedowns are based on the dance, and use surprisingly similar ways of playing the violin (or fiddle!) And both baroque music (Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell and the rest) and country fiddlers improvise a lot – what’s on the page is not all that we play!
An opportunity for fiddlers to learn about the new baroque style that’s sweeping the classical world, and for classical players to find out how close this really is to fiddling; for professionals and students to delve deeply, and for young people and amateurs to experiment and try it out.
Zivian Tomkins Duo
Critic Boyd Pomeroy has described the duo's latest recording of Beethoven Sonatas as "...excellent, with superb presence throughout its wide dynamic range. It serves this vibrantly characterful music-making well, adding to the attractions of an outstanding release." He also comments: "These performances truly rise to the challenge of Beethoven's radicalism, exuding a sense of fresh-minted excitement and discovery." Review in full
BEETHOVEN Cello Sonatas: No. 3; No. 4; No. 5. 6 Bagatelles, op. 126 l Tanya Tomkins (vc); Eric Zivian (fp) (period instruments) l BRIDGE 9305 (77:47)
Trio Sonnerie earn a Grammy Nomination
Period-instrument pioneer Monica Huggett, director of Trio Sonnerie, has received a Grammy® nomination together with oboist Gonzalo X. Ruiz, for their recording J. S. Bach Orchestral Suites for a Young Prince, on Avie Records (AV2171). The recording has been nominated in the category Best Small Ensemble Performance in the Classical Field.
The recording of Bach’s Four Orchestral Suites immediately gained attention when it was released in the spring of 2009, particularly for Ruiz’s new reconstruction of the Second Suite which features the oboe in place of the more familiar flute. Together, Huggett and Ruiz have unearthed historical evidence revealing the provenance of the works and present Suites Nos. 2, 3 and 4 on the Avie recording in their original orchestrations and instrumentation.
Rosie Brown releases her new CD 'Bicycles and Dreams'
This is Rosie's first real foray into songwriting. Jazzwise magazine said that she and Jami Sheriff's had a "strong songwriting partnership". The English Arts Council think she is so good they sponsored the making of the cd.
Featuring also the songwriting talents of Latin Quarter's Mike Jones - his first tune since Radio Africa.
With elements of pop, folk and jazz Instrumentation is rich and varied: tabla, beatbox, guitar, banjo, grand piano, hammond organ, flute and sax.
There are two choice covers from Neil Young and John Martyn too.