Michael Landers and Ariel Hsing, table tennis champions in their early 20s, are featured as the Ping-Pong-playing soloists in Andy Akiho’s energetic concerto “Ricochet,” which will have its American premiere on Tuesday as part of the Philharmonic’s Lunar New Year gala. And yes, this is the first time a Ping-Pong table has been onstage at David Geffen Hall.
Rap icon Kanye West and classical legend Ludwig van Beethoven are, at first glance, polar musical opposites. But one project, dubbed Yeethoven, is bringing their music together in a bi-coastal mash-up concert that cuts through the distance of centuries and styles.
The conductor Gerard Schwarz’s upcoming concert with the Juilliard Orchestra, at Alice Tully Hall on Thursday, highlights an essential but overlooked period of American composition: the great mid-twentieth-century symphonies.
We asked some of the most talented younger pianists (and one harpsichordist) to share and discuss their favorite Argerich recordings. Their answers — and the music — are below. Yekwon Sunwoo, the 28-year-old South Korean pianist who won this year’s Cliburn Competition, loved Ms. Argerich’s recording of “Gaspard de la Nuit,” but then he found a video of her playing the piece.
Gerard Schwarz was the second-ever conductor of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra before spending 26 years on the podium with the Seattle Symphony. KUSC’s Alan Chapman caught up with him while Schwarz was in town to help celebrate LACO’s 50th anniversary. Here’s their conversation about the unique logistics of Schwarz’s first concert with LACO and how he (secretly) became a champion of American music in Seattle.
The worlds of classical and electronic music come together this weekend in Little Tokyo. It’s all part of a concert and community arts festival hosted by the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Chamber Orchestra and dreamed up by YMF music director Yuga Cohler and composer Stefan Cwik. The event will combine the music of Igor Stravinsky, Benjamin Britten, and LA-based DJ and electronic musician Flying Lotus in a unique concert experience.
Finckel is especially excited about the Shanghai Quartet, which performs in the final concert of the festival, the program originally played on March 26, 1827 (March 27). “The Shanghai really is as fine a string quartet as one can hear. I’m very gratified that they’re coming to do this,” he says. There’s another notable aspect of this particular program: Beethoven died the same day.
First prize-winner at last year's Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, South Korean pianist Yekwon Sunwoo has a wise head on him for one so young, building a busy international career with care and consideration. Stephen Wigler talks to a pianist who is devotes to learning even as he excels as a master of his instrument.
Michael Landers and Ariel Hsing, table tennis champions in their early 20s, are featured as the Ping-Pong-playing soloists in Andy Akiho’s energetic concerto “Ricochet,” which will have its American premiere on Tuesday as part of the Philharmonic’s Lunar New Year gala. And yes, this is the first time a Ping-Pong table has been onstage at David Geffen Hall.
Young Dominican violinist, Aisha Syed, debuts in New York City at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall, on February 27th at 8pm. The performance marks one of the first on her “Golden Land World Tour” which takes her to 14 countries across the Americas, Europe, and Asia - including her homeland of the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Heritage and Culture Society, based in New York, presents the concert to commemorate the 174th Anniversary of Dominican Independence.
