Grammy Winner and Metropolitan Opera Bass/Baritone Mark S. Doss accepted an invitation to sing during 50th Anniversary MARCH on WASHINGTON Concert August 18, 2013

Mark S. Doss

John Malveauxofwww.MusicUNTOLD.comwrites:

Grammy Winner Bass/Baritone Mark S. Doss accepted an invitation to sing during 50th Anniversary MARCH on WASHINGTON Concert August 18, 2013, Zipper Hall-Colburn School. The Canadian-American Mr. Doss is currently featured as Amonasro in AIDA with San Diego Opera.

Zipper Hall is downtown Los Angeles, 200 South Grand Ave, across from Disney Concert Hall. The Concert will be recorded for delayed broadcast and on-demand streaming. See  

http://www.marksdoss.com/

John Malveaux

www.musicuntold.com

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Valerie Coleman on Flute at Composers Concordance 'Chamber People' 7 PM April 25, 2013 at Turtle Bay Music School

Valerie Cooper

Composers Concordance

April

What:  Composers Concordance 'Chamber People' 

When:  April 25th at 7pm

Where: Turtle Bay Music School, The Richmond Room

Who: Composers Concordance Quintet 

Composers: Kraft, Oteri, Quines, Pritsker, Cooper, Soldier, Hause

Performers: 

Valerie Coleman - flute

Michiyo Suzuki - clarinet

Lynn Bechtold, Mioi Takeda, and Yibin Li - violin

Michael Midlarsky - cello

Dimitri Dover - piano

WEBSITE

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"Soprano Marti Newland performs 'Rain Song' by Will Marion Cook 4/7/13 live in concert presented by MELODEON" with pianist Artis Wodehouse

Will Marion Cook (1869-1944)

Marti Newland

Artis Wodehouse of MELODEON:

Rain Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pesQ3ot4rOk

Published on Apr 22, 2013

Soprano Marti Newland performs Rain Song by Will Marion Cook 4/7/13 live in concert presented by MELODEON. She is accompanied by Artis Wodehouse, pianist. This video was filmed during the 3rd in a series of concerts presented by MELODEON at Church of the Epiphany, NYC during 2012-13. MELODEON performs American music from the 19th and early 20th century.

Rain Song was written by Will Marion Cook (1869-1944), one of the most important figures in pre-jazz African-American music. Born in Washington D.C. of free, educated Afro-American parents, Cook's early musical promise was such that Frederick Douglass helped organize a fundraiser to send him to study in Europe. There he studied at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik with Joseph Joachim, the famous violinist and associate of Brahms. He later studied with Dvorak when that famous European composer visited the US. 

However, Cook of necessity turned to popular music as his classical career was not successful in the US. He became one of the most important early Afro-American composers of musicals and reviews featuring pre-jazz ragtime and related Afro-American vernacular styles. The popularity of his music was such that in 1912 G. Schirmer issued a collection of Three Negro Songs by Cook: Exhortation (from In Dahomey), Rain Song (from Bandanna Land), and Swing Along! (from the musical of the same name). As mentor and teacher, Cook influenced a generation of young African-American musicians, including jazz composer and performer Duke Ellington and singer/choir director Eva Jessye,

Audio and video by Whitney Slaten.

Comment by email:Bill,  Great music, great performer, thanks!  Artis Wodehouse

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Reading and Reception of Verdi's rarely-performed work, 'Attila' 4 PM Sunday, May 19, 2013, at Opera America National Opera Center

Waundell Saavedra is the president and Artistic Director of Empire Opera, a young company in New York focusing on new and rare works.  To learn more about Empire visit www.empireopera.org.

Join us for a little R&R! A Reading and a Reception of Verdi's powerful opera, Attila. This little-performed work tells the story of Attila the Hun and the woman who brings him down. This is the second performance we will be giving at the Opera America National Opera Center.

Tickets are only $15 which you can purchase online at www.brownpapertickets.com.

Sunday, May 19th @ 4:00pm

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'Shirley Verrett Edition' from Newton Classics on 4 CDs: 'Singin' in the Storm,' 'Carnegie Hall Recital 1957,' 'Spanish Songs,' & 'Sacred Works by Vivaldi'

Newton Classics 4cds 8802167

Sergio A. Mims sends this link:

MDT.co.uk

Shirley Verrett Edition

Shirley Verrett, Leonard de Paur, Charles Wadsworth, Polyphonic Ensemble of Rome, Virtuosi di Roma / Renato Fasano. Newton Classics 4cds

£18.05 Ex VAT: £15.04

Release Date April 29, 2013

• Singin’ in the Storm
• Carnegie Hall Recital 1957
• Spanish Songs
• Sacred Works by Vivaldi

Shirley Verrett, mezzo-soprano
Leonard de Paur, conductor
Charles Wadsworth, piano
Polyphonic Ensemble of Rome
Virtuosi di Roma / Renato Fasano

One of the leading vocal artists of her generation, Shirley Verrett (1931–2010) began singing as a child in church and went on to study at the Juilliard School in Manhattan before winning the Metropolitan Council National Auditions. She made her début in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia in 1957, and the following year appeared in Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars at New York City Opera in 1958. European success soon followed, notably as Carmen, and Verrett steadily built up a career as one of the world’s leading mezzo-sopranos before in the late 1970s moving up to the soprano range.

Verrett was not just an opera singer but also a considerable artist in concert and recital whose deep musicianship and intelligence allowed her to explore a large repertory with commanding insight. Almost all the material on these discs, recorded relatively early on in Verrett’s long career, testifies to her artistry outside the opera house.

Newton Classics 4cds 8802167

                    

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Richard C. Alston Performs Anton Arensky's Etude Op. 25, No. 3 from Centaur CD on YouTube

Richard C. Alston

Anton Stepanovich Arensky
Centaur 2307

Richard C. Alston writes:

Good Morning Bill,

In addition to performing piano compositions by composers of African Descent I also enjoy discovering and performing rare 19th century romantic piano compositions. Here is the final track from my CD Arensky Piano Concerto in f minor and Etudes For Solo Piano. Jean-Marie van Bronkhorst posted this on Youtube. He included the score so that the viewer can follow along. By the way, Maestro Paul Freeman conducted the Czech National Orchestra in the performance of the Piano Concerto. The CD is available for download at Amazon.com  

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywords=alston+arensky

 I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoy playing it! 

.

Harmoniously,

Richard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=229sLFw-UPc&feature=em-share_video_user 

Uploaded on Feb 5, 2010

Anton Stepanovich Arensky (Russian: Антон Степанович Аренский) (12 July [O.S. 30 June] 1861 - 25 February [O.S. 12 February] 1906), was a Russian composer, a pianist and a professor of music.

Etude no. 3 from: 4 Pieces Op. 25
Richard Alston, piano

Arensky was born in Novgorod, Russia. He was musically precocious and had composed a number of songs and piano pieces by the age of nine. With his mother and father, he moved to Saint Petersburg in 1879, where he studied composition at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.

After graduating from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in 1882, Arensky became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Among his students there were Alexander Scriabin, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Alexander Gretchaninov.

In 1895 Arensky returned to Saint Petersburg as the director of the Imperial Choir, a post for which he had been recommended by Mily Balakirev. Arensky retired from this position in 1901, spending his remaining time as a pianist, conductor, and composer.

Arensky died of tuberculosis in a sanatorium in Perkijarvi, Finland. It is alleged that drinking and gambling undermined his health.

Pyotr Tchaikovsky was the greatest influence on Arensky's musical compositions. Indeed, Rimsky-Korsakov said, "In his youth Arensky did not escape some influence from me; later the influence came from Tchaikovsky. He will quickly be forgotten." The perception that he lacked a distinctive personal style contributed to long-term neglect of his music, though in recent years a large number of his compositions have been recorded. Especially popular are the orchestral Variations on a Theme of Tchaikovsky based on one of Tchaikovsky's Songs for Children, Op. 54.

Arensky was perhaps at his best in chamber music, in which he wrote two string quartets, two piano trios, and a piano quintet.

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Michael S. Wright Reviews 'An American Port of Call' of Adolphus Hailstork by Virginia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on Naxos

[Adolphus Hailstork: An American Port of Call 

Naxos 8.559722 (2012)]

 Michael S. Wright writes:

Bill,

I do buy quite a few CD's via Amazon and they keep coming back to give a review of the products I buy! The one that appears below has been posted on Amazon UK should have done ages ago regarding 'An American Port of Call' and hope that people are encouraged to get it. I am also hoping that further fine recordings by Dr Hailstork will emerge.

Best wishes

Mike


Adolphus Hailstork, born 1941, a former student of Nadia Boulanger, is now one of America's leading lights of symphonic music. His music never confronts its audience. Whilst he is not well known outside America, I believe that this will change.  The title track is his lively and 'atmospheric' early work described as a 'concert overture' but in reality, more a short symphonic poem.  'An American Port of Call' is understood to have been inspired by his home town in Norfolk, Virginia and is superbly performed by the orchestra to which it was dedicated. 

The last track of the CD uses Walt Whitman's poetry very effectively in 'Journey: 'Launch out on endless seas'  and I hope that he will develop further movements in future. 

The first symphony was written in the 1980's and originally recorded getting on for 20 years ago by Julius P Williams on Albany in a trailblazing performance with a European orchestra. However, JoAnn Faletta has pulled off something rather special from an orchestra I know little about, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra which is not well known in the UK. Hailstork's first symphony can be described as ‘neo-classical’ (Allegro /  Adagio: Lento ma non troppo / Scherzo: Alegretto / Rondo: Vivace). It is a great 'access point' to his music and perhaps reflects a little of the style of Copland.

The 'Three Spirituals' are orchestral settings originally written for organ. I am aware of some of the organ music of Dr. Hailstork and it is something special! It can be heard on Amazing Grace: Organ Music Of Adolphus Hailstork 034061087328. 

After listening to this CD, I would strongly recommend Naxos 8.559295 which features Dr Hailstork's very different 2nd and 3rd Symphonies with Grand Rapids Symphony under David Lockington.

[Adolphus C. Hailstork (b. 1941) is featured at AfriClassical.com]

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