The Strad: Andie, Andy and Andy present a work for violin, trumpet and steel pan
n an instrumentation not seen every day, violinist Andie Tanning, trumpeter Andy Kozar and percussionist Andy Akiho perform ‘the rAy’s end’.
Akiho composed the work in 2008 for the trio, dubbed ‘The Andes’ because of the first name shared by its members - indeed, the title of this work, ’the rAy’s end,’ can be rearranged to spell out ’three Andys’.
’Although we did not start playing music together until well after we met, we soon realised the potential for the unique combination of timbres between our instruments,’ said Akiho. ’It was an inspiring challenge to combine these sounds together, because all three instruments encompass a similar range of pitches.While each instrument is extremely unique as a solo sound, the combined timbres create an amazing homogenous texture.
The Strad
Members of the Andes Trio, who all share the same first name, perform Akiho’s work ’the rAy’s end’
In an instrumentation not seen every day, violinist Andie Tanning, trumpeter Andy Kozar and percussionist Andy Akiho perform ‘the rAy’s end’.
Akiho composed the work in 2008 for the trio, dubbed ‘The Andes’ because of the first name shared by its members - indeed, the title of this work, ’the rAy’s end,’ can be rearranged to spell out ’three Andys’.
’Although we did not start playing music together until well after we met, we soon realised the potential for the unique combination of timbres between our instruments,’ said Akiho. ’It was an inspiring challenge to combine these sounds together, because all three instruments encompass a similar range of pitches.While each instrument is extremely unique as a solo sound, the combined timbres create an amazing homogenous texture.
Read more here.
The Oregonian: Portland composer Andy Akiho’s ‘Seven Pillars’ blends sound and light into a percussion extravaganza
Created by Portlanders past and present, Chamber Music Northwest’s “Seven Pillars” is more than a concert. Composer Andy Akiho’s 11-movement extravaganza for Sandbox Percussion quartet also integrates stage director Michael McQuilken’s colorful lighting effects and stage design that add up to a multicolored dance of light and sound.
The Oregonian
By Brett Campbell
Created by Portlanders past and present, Chamber Music Northwest’s “Seven Pillars” is more than a concert. Composer Andy Akiho’s 11-movement extravaganza for Sandbox Percussion quartet also integrates stage director Michael McQuilken’s colorful lighting effects and stage design that add up to a multicolored dance of light and sound.
It’s also a showcase for some of today’s most inventive artists. Akiho created “Seven Pillars” explicitly for and with Sandbox and McQuilken. The quartet has quickly risen to be one of the world’s most prominent and accomplished new music percussion groups. Another opera designed by McQuilken, “Angel’s Bone,” won the 2016 Pulitzer. Sandbox’s recording of “Seven Pillars” earned a pair of Grammy nominations.
Read more here.
Your Classical: Marc-André Hamelin explores William Bolcom's piano rags in his new album
“In 1985, I won the Carnegie Hall competition for American Music. One of the prizes was an invitation to the Cabrillo Festival in California, which is still going on, I think. And the two composers in residence that year happened to be Arvo Pärt and William Bolcom. So, I got to meet him.”
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin not only got to meet Bolcom, the American composer whom he’d been admiring since he was 16, but he also got to make music with him. For his latest release, Hamelin has recorded a two-disc set of The Complete Rags of William Bolcom.
Your Classical
By Julie Amacher
“In 1985, I won the Carnegie Hall competition for American Music. One of the prizes was an invitation to the Cabrillo Festival in California, which is still going on, I think. And the two composers in residence that year happened to be Arvo Pärt and William Bolcom. So, I got to meet him.”
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin not only got to meet Bolcom, the American composer whom he’d been admiring since he was 16, but he also got to make music with him. For his latest release, Hamelin has recorded a two-disc set of The Complete Rags of William Bolcom.
There's a lot of diversity in Bolcom’s rags. Can you talk about the many moods that we experience throughout this two-disc set?
“I think his first rags were a little more Joplin influenced, even though he was adding some touches of his own.
“There is one of them, which is a kind of a joke, actually, it's called Brass Knuckles. And it was written in collaboration with the late William Albright. They decided to write that together one day as sort of an antidote to the overdelicate rags that they'd each been writing. It's just a joke, of course, but it's full of clusters and very violent piano writing. And that's why I put it at the very end of the two-disc set.
Read more here.
Jackson Hole News and Guide: GTMF goes deep for 61st season
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
Jackson Hole News and Guide
By Richard Anderson
After two years of COVID-induced uncertainty and instability, we all deserve a little something — a treat or a bonus, something that begins to make up for all the time lost social distancing and isolating.
The Grand Teton Music Festival is doing its part. Its 61st season begins Sunday and Monday with two free outdoor concerts on the Center for the Arts Lawn and then runs for eight full weeks, all the way through Aug. 27 — its longest season in decades, GTMF Executive Director Emma Kail said.
That’s eight weeks of symphonic music performed by the Grand Teton Festival Orchestra in the storied Walk Festival Hall in Teton Village, with longtime Music Director Sir Donald Runnicles at the podium for five of them and guest conductors for the others; seven Wednesday night chamber music programs featuring orchestra members and guests; four “Gateway” concerts highlighting jazz, folk and popular music; three new Sunday matinee piano recitals; and loads of free outreach programs for kids and families (and anyone else who just can’t get enough) at Teton County Library, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, Astoria Hot Springs and other fun and unexpected spots.
Read more here.
The Strad: Hsin-Yun Huang: Life Lessons
When I was growing up in Taiwan, people either played piano or violin. I learnt piano, and when the time came to learn a second instrument, at ten years old I thought I may as well be useful and play something other than the violin! So I went to the orchestra office and asked what they needed, which was the viola. At first I didn’t take it very seriously, but it was with the guidance of conductor Felix Chen that I progressed to the level of being able to join the Menuhin School when I was 14. Every Saturday my friends and I would spend five hours at Felix’s house having lunch, drawing, singing, joking, playing sonatas and duos – just having fun.
The Strad
The Taiwanese violist on what she learnt from her early years, and her move to the UK’s Yehudi Menuhin School
When I was growing up in Taiwan, people either played piano or violin. I learnt piano, and when the time came to learn a second instrument, at ten years old I thought I may as well be useful and play something other than the violin! So I went to the orchestra office and asked what they needed, which was the viola. At first I didn’t take it very seriously, but it was with the guidance of conductor Felix Chen that I progressed to the level of being able to join the Menuhin School when I was 14. Every Saturday my friends and I would spend five hours at Felix’s house having lunch, drawing, singing, joking, playing sonatas and duos – just having fun. This sense of the joy of music was also emphasised by my father, who taught us to sing. He had such a fresh mind and was so open to the world.
I was part of one of the first generations in the Taiwan music scene to get the chance to go abroad. People often say, ‘You poor thing, it must have been so hard,’ but at the time that wasn’t the mentality I had. I felt so lucky to have the freedom to explore and learn. Only in retrospect do I realise I developed coping strategies for what was often a very difficult time. Chamber music became my medicine and my daily walks around the school taught me the importance of taking time for myself.
Read more here.
Boston Globe: Marc-André Hamelin and the riches of ragtime
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Boston Globe
By David Weininger
The pianist, who appears at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival on Saturday, recently released a two-CD set of American composer William Bolcom’s complete piano rags
Like many music lovers of a certain age, pianist Marc-André Hamelin was introduced to ragtime by pianist Joshua Rifkin’s recording of Scott Joplin rags, which his father bought when Hamelin was young. Released in 1970, Rifkin’s recording was credited with sparking a revival of interest in ragtime. (The resurgence got an extra kick a few years later with the release of the Paul Newman-Robert Redford film “The Sting” and its ragtime-infused soundtrack.)
Hamelin started learning some of the rags from a popular Dover collection of Joplin’s piano works. A few years later, he came across “Heliotrope Bouquet,” an LP featuring the American composer William Bolcom at the piano. It featured a few Joplin rags, as well as pieces by Joseph Lamb and James Scott, who together made up the “big three” of ragtime.
Read more here.
Strings: Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers Looks to the Stars on New Album ‘Shining Night’
It started with verse. Virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ latest album, Shining Night (Avie), is based on a poem by the late American writer James Agee and describes a man going on a walk and thinking back over his life. “That scenario inspired this collection of pieces that metaphorically begins in the morning and explores the vast musical history through Baroque, Romantic, popular, and current genres,” she notes. “The common themes throughout the music reflect on one’s relationship with nature, love, and poetry.”
Strings Magazine
By Greg Cahill
It started with verse. Virtuoso violinist Anne Akiko Meyers’ latest album, Shining Night (Avie), is based on a poem by the late American writer James Agee and describes a man going on a walk and thinking back over his life. “That scenario inspired this collection of pieces that metaphorically begins in the morning and explores the vast musical history through Baroque, Romantic, popular, and current genres,” she notes. “The common themes throughout the music reflect on one’s relationship with nature, love, and poetry.”
In keeping with the stunningly beautiful album’s starry theme, Shining Night was released on May 7—International Astronomy Day. "When I visited Wyoming recently, my family and I went stargazing,” Meyers explains.
Read more here.
The Wall Street Journal: ‘Big Things’ by Icarus Quartet Review: Percussive Powers
With the wisdom of hindsight, it makes perfect sense that elegantly balanced chamber ensembles like the string quartet or the woodwind quintet sprouted in the 19th century, and that the 20th century gave us more chaotically varied mixed-timbre groups and the high-energy assertiveness of percussion ensembles. A new recording by the Baltimore-based Icarus Quartet suggests that the 21st century might see a refinement of the mixed-timbre approach, with instruments that typically inhabit distinct sound worlds creating a common language.
The Wall Street Journal
By Allan Kozinn
In its debut recording, the group showcases new scores highlighting the unusual sound of its two-piano, two-percussionist configuration
With the wisdom of hindsight, it makes perfect sense that elegantly balanced chamber ensembles like the string quartet or the woodwind quintet sprouted in the 19th century, and that the 20th century gave us more chaotically varied mixed-timbre groups and the high-energy assertiveness of percussion ensembles. A new recording by the Baltimore-based Icarus Quartet suggests that the 21st century might see a refinement of the mixed-timbre approach, with instruments that typically inhabit distinct sound worlds creating a common language.
Read more here.
Gramophone: The icarus Quartet perform Big Things by Michael Laurello
Watch a behind-the-scenes studio film from the half piano/half percussion ensemble
Today’s film comes from the icarus Quartet, who invite you inside the studio to see the creation of their title track, released as a single, from their new debut album 'Big Things'.
Gramophone
Watch a behind-the-scenes studio film from the half piano/half percussion ensemble
Today’s film comes from the icarus Quartet, who invite you inside the studio to see the creation of their title track, released as a single, from their new debut album 'Big Things'.
‘The original version of Big Things was one of the first pieces I composed using a process of recording and improvisation, rather than traditional notation,’ writes its composer Michael Laurello.
Read more here.
Associated Press: Pianist, 18, from South Korea wins Van Cliburn competition
An 18-year-old from South Korea has won the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the top showcases for the world’s best pianists.
The competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, ended Saturday night with Yunchan Lim becoming the competition’s youngest winner of the gold medal. His winnings include a cash award of $100,000 and three years of career management.
Associated Press
An 18-year-old from South Korea has won the 16th Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the top showcases for the world’s best pianists.
The competition held in Fort Worth, Texas, ended Saturday night with Yunchan Lim becoming the competition’s youngest winner of the gold medal. His winnings include a cash award of $100,000 and three years of career management.
The silver medalist was Anna Geniushene, a 31-year-old from Russia, and the bronze medalist is Dmytro Choni, a 28-year-old from Ukraine.
Lim told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he’ll discuss with his teacher what the next move for his career should be.
“I am still a student and I feel like I have to learn a lot still,” Lim said. “This is a great competition and I feel the burden of receiving this great honor and award so I will just push myself to live up to the honor I received today.”
Read more here.