Classically Speaking

A short week can be especially hectic. Take some time to listen.

David Tudor performing 4'33" by John Cage, via The Rest is Noise

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TorQ Ensemble performing "Sleep" by EricWhitacre

Lots of concerts as music students head back to school and new concert seasons begin! Let me know what is missing!

Sept. 2: Richard Kosowski, tenor; Russell Young (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

Sept. 5: Wheeling Symphony Music Under the Stars, with Chris Tedesco, trumpet

Sept. 5: WV Symphony at the Greenbrier

Sept. 5: WV Symphony with Ryan Hardiman and Randall Reid-Smith (Schoenbaum Stage, Charleston)

Sept. 6: WV Symphony (Beckley)

Sept. 7: Kim Goodman, flute (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

Sept. 10-11: West Virginia Symphony: Opening Night with David Kim and Carter Brey

Sept. 10: Divine Melodies: Dale Capehart, baritone (MUsic Alive)

Sept. 14: Tuesday with Fran (Carnegie Hall, Lewisburg) (interview)

Sept 15: Greg Partain, piano (WVU Guest Artist Recital)

Sept. 16: The Music of Gil Trythall (WVU)

Sept. 19: Michael Stroeher, trombone (Marshall University Faculty Recital)

Sept. 22: Alderson-Broaddus Afternoon Recital

Sept. 23: WVU Symphony Orchestra

Sept. 24: Wheeling Symphony with William Wolfram, piano

Sept. 24-26: Hansel and Gretel (Shepherd University Opera Workshop)

Sept. 25: WV Symphony (Chuck Mathena Center, Princeton)

Sept. 25: La Catrina String Quartet (CCMS)

Sept. 26: Appalachian Choral Invitational Concert (Alderson-Broaddus)

Sept. 26: Joint Marshall University Faculty Recital

Sept. 26: WV Symphony (Forrest Burdette Memorial United Methodist Church, Hurricane)

Sept. 27: WVU Faculty Chamber Music Recital

Sept. 30: Martin Saunders, trumpet (Marshall University Faculty Recital)

Sept. 30-Oct. 2: Opera Scenes (WVU)

Something missing? Let me know!

Pop the popcorn and make room on the couch, PBS’s line-up for this Wednesday night (September 1st) has me hooked.

8:00pm: Renée Fleming & Dmitri Hvorostovsky: A Musical Odyssey in St. Petersburg 

Fans of the human voice take note – soprano Renee Fleming and baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky will be singing together on Great Performances. I will fully admit to swooning over their performance in Eugene Onegin.  Here’s another one of my favorites:

9:30pm: A Surprise in Texas: The Thirteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition

The Van Cliburn International Competition is a prestigious and challenging piano competition held every four years in Fort Worth, Texas. It’s named for Texan pianist Van Cliburn, who made quite a splash with Tchaikovsky in Moscow in 1958 (winning the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow).

I spent last summer immersed in Cliburn-mania. I have no good explanation for it – I’m not a pianist and I hadn’t particularly followed competitions before. Perhaps it was the live webcast that got me hooked. Even though my favorites didn’t win, I still look forward to revisiting the competition and the music through this documentary.  

Since most people I know didn’t spend their summer watching piano competitions online, I was happy to recently meet pianist Gerald Lee, who in addition to being a wonderful recitalist and a professor at West Liberty University, also was hooked on following the Cliburn broadcasts online. I hope to interview him about all things piano and post our conversation online here sometime soon.

* View the WV PBS Schedule here

* Find your local station listings
     - Fleming & Hvorostovsky
     - A Surprise in Texas

Over the Labor Day weekend, the West Virginia Symphony will be playing free concerts in Charleston and Beckley. They start the weekend with a Saturday performance at the Greenbrier (which is not free).

Vocalist Ryan Hardiman is one of the featured soloists. He was voted “Symphony Idol” in 2008, and he was also one of first guests on the Classically Speaking blog. You can hear two interviews with Ryan Hardiman by clicking the links below: 

* On being the Symphony Idol
* Something Old, Something New: Rent & La Boheme

Then head on over to our Facebook page, where you can win a free pair of tickets to the WV Symphony’s opening night concert, featuring David Kim (interview) of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Carter Brey of the New York Philharmonic.

WV Symphony Labor Day Schedule 2010:
* Saturday at the Greenbrier (ticket information)
* Sunday, 7pm, Schoenbaum Stage on the Levee (free)
* Monday, 7pm, Woodrow Wilson Auditorium, Beckley (free) – with members of the New River Youth Symphony