“Listening to the Future” Documentary Highlights the Success of Chinese Contemporary Music
The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (CCOM)—founder of the Chinese Music Composition Center and a driving force in the global success of Chinese contemporary music— releases a documentary about the Chinese music of today: “Listening to the Future.” The 30-minute film chronicles the Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra of Beijing’s Carnegie Hall debut and celebrates initiatives propelling Chinese Contemporary Music forward.
The Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing (CCOM)—founder of the Chinese Music Composition Center and a driving force in the global success of Chinese contemporary music— releases a documentary about the Chinese music of today: “Listening to the Future.” The 30-minute film chronicles the Central Conservatory of Music Symphony Orchestra of Beijing’s Carnegie Hall debut and celebrates initiatives propelling Chinese Contemporary Music forward.
The works of CCOM composition professors have been premiered multiple times to great critical acclaim in North America including at Lincoln Center in 2018 and at Carnegie Hall by the CCOM Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Professor Feng Yu, President of CCOM, in 2019. The compositions feature well-incorporated Chinese and Western musical elements including a mix of traditional Chinese instruments and Western chamber orchestra. In the documentary, all eight composers who had their works performed at Carnegie Hall in 2019 discuss their compositions and thoughts about Chinese contemporary music. Classical music critic, Dr. Linda Holt—who attended the 2019 Carnegie Hall concert—shares the origin of her interest in Chinese music and uses CCOM as an example of the success of the genre.
Other highlights of the film include details of the long-term partnership between the internationally-renowned publishing house, Edition Peters, and Central Conservatory of Music Publisher (CCMP). Together, they launched the Edition Peters Silk Road Library project in April 2019 and plan to release the international version of CCOM’s score collection in 2021. By working with Edition Peters to publish works by Chinese composers, the CCMP can be certain that orchestras, conductors, and performers have the confidence to program the works of Chinese composers outside China, forging unprecedented, longstanding genuine links between the East and West.
Additionally, the documentary details the Chinese Music Composition Center’s upcoming performance tour in Europe next year. Comprised of musicians from the symphony orchestras of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (MDW) and the Central Conservatory of Music, the ensemble performs in 2021 in the Grosser Saal of Wiener Konzerthaus and Festsaal. Ulrike Sych, Rector of the MDW, explains the long and intensive collaboration between MDW and CCOM, two of the largest and most renowned music universities in the world on opposite sides of the world. The joint orchestra is set to provide musical dialogue of western and Chinese repertoire at the highest artistic level. Especially in these globally challenging days—in the face of public restrictions, closed borders, and closed institutions—the ensemble provides the most beautiful evidence that culture knows no borders and always remains open.
Watch below.
The Denver Post: Colorado’s Biggest and Boldest Art Moments of 2020
The pandemic was raging this summer when the Bravo! Vail Music Festival threw caution to the wind and went ahead with an abbreviated summer concert season. Sure, it was different than the usual fare. Instead of putting major international orchestras on stage, the programs featured small ensembles. And instead of packing the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with throngs of classical fans, it played to the bare maximum, filling just a portion of the seats to keep spectators at safe distances. Not everything that was planned actually happened. But something about the effort felt epic, as the organization stood firm, as best it could, against its viral showstopper. It was also generous. Unlike other orchestras that took whatever cash they could this summer, Bravo! Vail also made the programming free online to anyone who wanted to see it. Those who clicked in will remember the concerts for a long time.
The Denver Post
Ray Mark Rinaldi
Playing on: Bravo! Vail Music Festival
The pandemic was raging this summer when the Bravo! Vail Music Festival threw caution to the wind and went ahead with an abbreviated summer concert season. Sure, it was different than the usual fare. Instead of putting major international orchestras on stage, the programs featured small ensembles. And instead of packing the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater with throngs of classical fans, it played to the bare maximum, filling just a portion of the seats to keep spectators at safe distances. Not everything that was planned actually happened. But something about the effort felt epic, as the organization stood firm, as best it could, against its viral showstopper. It was also generous. Unlike other orchestras that took whatever cash they could this summer, Bravo! Vail also made the programming free online to anyone who wanted to see it. Those who clicked in will remember the concerts for a long time.
Read more here.
The Times: Composer’s Carol Honours Oxford Team’s Covid Vaccine
Joseph’s doubts as he made his way to Bethlehem have inspired a new carol in honour of Oxford University’s vaccine scientists.
The composer John Rutter and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel have been recruited by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert in the city’s Sheldonian Theatre in honour of the team at the university who have developed a coronavirus vaccine.
The Times
David Sanderson
Joseph’s doubts as he made his way to Bethlehem have inspired a new carol in honour of Oxford University’s vaccine scientists.
The composer John Rutter and bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel have been recruited by the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra for a concert in the city’s Sheldonian Theatre in honour of the team at the university who have developed a coronavirus vaccine.
Read more here.
Classical Music Magazine: Oxford Philharmonic to Stream Concert Dedicated to Vaccine Team
On Friday 18 December the Oxford Philharmonic will stream a concert from the Sheldonian Theatre in celebration of and dedicated to the Oxford vaccine team.
It was a joy to attend a recording session on December 3. The programme includes the world premiere of John Rutter’s Joseph’s Carol, written 'at the invitation of Marios Papadopoulos and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and respectfully dedicated to the Oxford Vaccine team': the Oxford Vaccine Group, the Jenner Institute and the RECOVERY team. It was written with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in mind, who sang the premiere, which was conducted by John Rutter himself.
Classical Music Magazine
On Friday 18 December the Oxford Philharmonic will stream a concert from the Sheldonian Theatre in celebration of and dedicated to the Oxford vaccine team.
It was a joy to attend a recording session on December 3. The programme includes the world premiere of John Rutter’s Joseph’s Carol, written 'at the invitation of Marios Papadopoulos and the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra and respectfully dedicated to the Oxford Vaccine team': the Oxford Vaccine Group, the Jenner Institute and the RECOVERY team. It was written with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel in mind, who sang the premiere, which was conducted by John Rutter himself.
Read more here.
Toronto Star: Azrieli Foundation conducts a new approach to launching its prize-winning composers
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven? You know what they do. What about Keiko Devaux, Yotam Haber and Yitzhak Yedid? Actually, they do the same: they are composers. Only they are still alive and relatively unknown.
That is where the Azrieli Foundation comes in. Like philanthropic enterprises elsewhere, the Montreal-based foundation has undertaken a mission to discover and celebrate creative talent in music.
Established in 2014 and awarded biennially, the Azrieli Music Prizes are, at a total value of $200,000 each — including a commissioning prize, a gala concert, national premier and recording for release — the largest in Canada to be awarded to composers.
Toronto Star
William Littler
Bach, Mozart, Beethoven? You know what they do. What about Keiko Devaux, Yotam Haber and Yitzhak Yedid? Actually, they do the same: they are composers. Only they are still alive and relatively unknown.
That is where the Azrieli Foundation comes in. Like philanthropic enterprises elsewhere, the Montreal-based foundation has undertaken a mission to discover and celebrate creative talent in music.
Established in 2014 and awarded biennially, the Azrieli Music Prizes are, at a total value of $200,000 each — including a commissioning prize, a gala concert, national premier and recording for release — the largest in Canada to be awarded to composers.
Read more here.
BBC In Tune: Nicolas Namoradze
Sean Rafferty is joined by pianist Nicolas Namoradze ahead of the Southbank 'Inside Out' concert (3:34). Listen until November 19.
BBC In Tune
Sean Rafferty is joined by pianist Nicolas Namoradze ahead of the Southbank 'Inside Out' concert.
Listen here until November 19, beginning at 3:34.
The New York Times: Whispers of an Italian-Jewish Past Fill Yotam Haber’s Music
Since early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.
The New York Times
Thomas May
Yotam Haber’s “Estro Poetico-armonico III” combines live singing with archival recordings of cantors.
Since early in his career, Yotam Haber has grappled with what it means to be a contemporary Jewish composer. The tentative answers offered by his music — full of allusions, distortion and whispers of the past — suggest that the grappling itself is a vital part of that identity.
Mr. Haber’s most recent work, “Estro Poetico-armonico III,” which juxtaposes a live mezzo-soprano and orchestra with decades-old recordings of Italian Jewish cantorial singing, dramatizes a subtle dialogue between creation and tradition. One of three composers to receive the Azrieli Foundation’s music prizes for 2020, Mr. Haber wrote the piece to fulfill the Azrieli Commission for Jewish Music.
Read more here.
The Strad: Bravo! Vail's Inside the Music with the Dover Quartet
In this video from this year’s Bravo! Vail festival, the Dover Quartet reflects on how the global pandemic has impacted them as individuals and as an ensemble and perform the 2nd and 3rd movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, ‘Harp’.
The players of the Dover Quartet are the cover stars of November 2020 issue.
The Strad
In this video from this year’s Bravo! Vail festival, the Dover Quartet reflects on how the global pandemic has impacted them as individuals and as an ensemble and perform the 2nd and 3rd movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 74, ‘Harp’.
The players of the Dover Quartet are the cover stars of November 2020 issue. To read our interview in which they discuss recording the Beethoven String Quartet cycle, click here.
The New York Times: Classical Concert to Stream, Hsin-Yun Huang with the Brentano String Quartet
The 92nd Street Y is opening an enticing season of livestreams with a concert by this exciting quartet [Brentano String Quartet]. On paper, a program offering works by Haydn and Mendelssohn might not seem so daring. But these superb players have chosen rarer fare, including Haydn’s String Quartet in D (Op. 17, No. 6); four short pieces by Mendelssohn; and that composer’s String Quintet in B-flat, a restless score with a mournful slow movement and hurtling finale. (The violist Hsin-Yun Huang joins for it.)
The New York Times
Anthony Tommasini
Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m.; 92y.org; available for one week.
The 92nd Street Y is opening an enticing season of livestreams with a concert by this exciting quartet [Brentano String Quartet]. On paper, a program offering works by Haydn and Mendelssohn might not seem so daring. But these superb players have chosen rarer fare, including Haydn’s String Quartet in D (Op. 17, No. 6); four short pieces by Mendelssohn; and that composer’s String Quintet in B-flat, a restless score with a mournful slow movement and hurtling finale. (The violist Hsin-Yun Huang joins for it.)
Los Angeles Times: 23rd Beijing Music Festival to Kick Off in October Featuring Virtual Performances
The 23rd Beijing Music Festival is scheduled to kick off in October this year, back with a bang as it features a mix of physical, virtual performances and more than 240 hours of uninterrupted audio-visual performances for music lovers.
Los Angeles Times
The 23rd Beijing Music Festival is scheduled to kick off in October this year, back with a bang as it features a mix of physical, virtual performances and more than 240 hours of uninterrupted audio-visual performances for music lovers.
Read more here.