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Tomorrow on Today- Mahler 5 with KW and Sir Mark Elder

February 26th, 2010

VFTP readers who have been following my current Mahler in Manchester series may interested to listen in tomorrow, Saturday the 27th of Feb at 8:20 AM GMT to Today on BBC Radio 4.

We will be discussing my recent post, “Mahler 5, a tempo,” and the whole question of tempo, character and form. What sorts of considerations go into finding the “right” tempo for a piece of music? Is it just what sounds good or feels comfortable, or are there other issues? Should we ever intentionally choose a tempo that feels uncomfortable? Why would we do such a thing? Joining me in the discussion will be Sir Mark Elder. Nicholas Kenyon will be the host for the discussion.

For those of you without access to Radio 4 on FM, you can listen live on line, or on demand via the Radio 4 website. When the archive recording is posted to their website, we’ll update listening details here.

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6th Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop

February 24th, 2010

Rose City Chamber Orchestra announces

6th Annual Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop

July 5-11, 2010

Concordia University

Portland, Oregon

Priority Application Deadline- April 21, 2010

Emerging Artists Program

An intense professional workshop for conductors in the advanced stages of their studies, entering the field, or already active as professionals

Invited participants will have the opportunity to work intensively with all three mentors and the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra. Each participant will conduct in five teaching sessions and a final mock concert.

Teaching sessions include Opera Masterclass with full orchestra and professional singers, String Orchestra, Concerto accompanying, Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Masterclass

Repertoire-

Verdi- excerpts from Otello, with Brennen Guillory (Otello) and Esther Mae Moses (Desdemona)

Beethoven- Symphony no. 6,

Strauss- Metamorphosen,

Stravinsky- Symphonies of Wind Instruments,

Schumann- Piano Concerto in A minor, Neal Kurz, piano solo

Discovery Program-

A perfect opportunity for younger conductors to get started, for educators and teachers to refresh their technique, choral conductors to get time in orchestral repertoire, and for amateurs to test their mettle.

Invited participants will take part in all classes and discussions, will receive personal coaching on basic technique and score preparation and will have 3 opportunities to conduct.

Conducting sessions include Piano reduction session, String Ensemble session, Full Orchestra session, and Classes in score preparation, Stick technique, Movement, breathing and posture.

Repertoire-

Beethoven- Symphony no. 6,

Strauss- Metamorphosen,

Mozart- Symphony no. 39 in E Flat (piano reduction)

Fees and tuition costs-

Application Fee- $65/US Video Fee- $85/US

Emerging Artist Program Tuition $960/US 2 Payments of $480/US

Discovery Program Tuition $580/US 2 Payments of $290

Faculty-

Kenneth Woods (director)-

Hailed by the Washington Post as an up-and-coming conductor and a true star of the podium, conductor and cellist Kenneth Woods is quickly becoming recognized as major talent on the international scene. He has worked with many orchestras of international distinction including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared on the stages of some of the worlds leading music festivals, including Aspen, Lucerne, Round Top and Scotia. His work on the concert platform and in the recording studio has led to numerous broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2010, Woods takes up the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Stratford-upon-Avon based virtuoso ensemble, Orchestra of the Swan, with whom he will be active on stage and in recordings. As music director of the Oregon East Symphony from 2000-9, he transformed a tiny orchestra in a remote, rural area into possibly the most talked-about orchestra in the Pacific Northwest, winning universal praise for their nationally celebrated Redneck Mahler cycle, progressive programming and their innovative youth programs. Other affiliations include Conductor of the Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra in Portland, Oregon. In September of 2009, Kenneth Woods made his recording debut as a conductor in sessions for Avie Records with the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage Gateshead,

David Hoose-

David Hoose is Music Director of two distinguished Boston musical institutions, the Cantata Singers & Ensemble, a organization whose repertoire reaches from Bach and Handel to the music of today, with all in between, and Collage New Music, a chamber ensemble devoted to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and whose members include musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well, Mr. Hoose has recently completed eleven years as Music Director of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. He is Professor of Music at the Boston University School of Music where he is Director of Orchestral Activities and Chairman of the Conducting Department. Mr. Hoose has just been awarded the 2005 Alice M. Ditson Conductors Award, given in recognition of his commitment to the performance of American Music. He has also received the Dmitri Mitropoloulos Award and, as a member of the Emmanuel Wind Quintet, the Walter W. Naumburg Award for Chamber Music. Mr. Hooses recordings appear on the New World, Koch, Nonesuch, Delos, CRI and GunMar labels. His recordings of John Harbisons Motteti di Montale with Collage New Music and Harbisons Four Psalms and Emerson with the Cantata Singers & Ensemble have been recently released by New World Records, and his recordings of Peter Childs chamber opera Embers and of the complete chamber music of Donald Sur are forthcoming. The recording of the Harbison Motteti di Montale has been nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award.

Christopher Zimmerman-

From his professional debut, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, of which The Daily Telegraph of London observed Contact with the orchestra seemed immediate, the result a reading in which the playing responded keenly to gestures which themselves were expressive both of the symphonys fiery vigour and of its finer nuances. Christopher Zimmerman revealed a sharp interpretative profile and control of orchestral timbre…. a most auspicious London debut. to guest conducting in Cleveland with the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, where Donald Rosenberg of the Cleveland Plain Dealer described his performance as some of the finest conducting at Severance (Hall) in recent years, Zimmerman elicits enthusiasm and praise. Christopher Zimmerman graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music, and received his Masters from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, and at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine with Charles Bruck. Zimmerman served as an apprentice to Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony and in Prague, as assistant conductor to Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Zimmermans debut with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was followed by engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. He has also conducted the Prague Symphony, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Edmonton Symphony, the Hartford Symphony, the El Paso Symphony, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra among many other orchestras.

Application instructions and more information on our website- http://www.rosecityworkshop.org

All enquiries via email please- admin@rosecityworkshop.org

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More on KW and Orchestra of the Swan from Classical Music Mag

February 9th, 2010

The latest on Orchestra of the Swan from Classical Music Magazine-

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Announcements and reviews

Harlech Orchestral Academy, August 7-14 2010

November 18th, 2009

One of the disappointments of the previous summer was the forced cancellation of my first summer as conductor of the Harlech Orchestral Academy in North Wales. Asbestos was discovered in the housing facilities of the campus, so everything had to be closed for cleanup. Fortunately, everything has been made safe, and we’re now able to announce dates for 2010- August 7-14. The repertoire for the 2010 course will be

Arnold- The Inn of Sixth Happiness
Janacek- Taras Bulba
Mahler – Symphony No 5
Niccolai- Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor
Prokofiev- Selections from Romeo and Juliet Suite No.  2
Rachmaninov – Isle of the Dead
Ravel – La valse
Shostakovich – Symphony No 6
Walton- Variations on a Theme of Paul Hindemith

Participants work under the guidance of a distinguished team of coaches, and the workshop culminates in a final concert, which this year will include La Valse and Mahler 5. The Academy is known for fine playing and a spirited atmosphere.

The course website will be updated in a few weeks, meanwhile, email the office at info@kennethwoods.net if you are interested or have any questions.

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Orchestra of the Swan in the Sunday Telegraph

October 12th, 2009

For readers who want to know more about Orchestra of the Swan, as it happens, their latest disc is a focus of Michael Kennedy’s weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph (alongside Rattle’s Brahms cycle and an aria disc by soprano Cheryl Barker). Good company, to be sure…

Bax, Ireland- Piano Concertos

Bebbington (piano), Curtis (conductor), Orchestra of the Swan, Somm Records

Bax’s Concertino, intended for Harriet Cohen, was abandoned in 1939 and has been edited and orchestrated by Graham Parlett. It is typical of the composer in its blend of romantic fervour and restless gloom until his spirits rise in the finale. Mark Bebbington and the conductor David Curtis are wholehearted in the advocacy of this fascinating piece. Bebbington is also impressive in Ireland’s attractive concerto with its brilliant jazzy episodes and its lyrical intensity.

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“A Season of Symphonies” Meet the orchestras of the Northwest on NWPR

September 15th, 2009

Robin Rilette, Music Director of Northwest Public Radio, has been a very busy person this summer. One by one, she’s tracked down almost every conductor of every orchestra in the region, and has been getting to know them and their bands. Her series, “A Season of Symphonies,” is now unfolding on NWPR, and is all available on their website.

Although I’m no longer “the conductor” of the OES, I guess I was the only guy she could get on the phone, and our chat is now available on the website. In addition to our discussion about an orchestra in transition, you can hear opinions on beer and brass playing and our performances of Mahler 2 and Wagner’s Meistersinger Overture. Click here to visit the “Season of Symphonies” home page, where you can find all the episodes in the series to date.

Again, I can’t overstate what a wonderful thing this is that Robin and NWPR have done for orchestras and music lovers in the region. I know that many, many, many hours of hard work went into this, and I hope fans of regional orchestras everywhere will take a few minutes to take in the astounding array of ensembles the region has to offer.

By the way, the soloists on the Mahler 2 performance are Amy Paden and Angela Niederloh.

The season thus far looks like this- 

September 8 Victoria Symphony Listen Now
September 9 Spokane Symphony Listen Now
September 10 Washington Idaho Symphony Listen Now
September 11 Vancouver Symphony Listen Now
September 14 Portland Chamber Orchestra Listen Now
September 15 Oregon East Symphony Listen Now
September 16 Philharmonia Northwest Listen Now
September 17 Mid Columbia Symphony Listen Now
September 18 Skagit Symphony Listen Now
September 21 Port Angeles Symphony Listen Now
September 22 Walla Walla Symphony Listen Now
September 23 Bayshore Symphony Listen Now
September 24 Whatcom Symphony Listen Now
September 25 Wenatchee Valley Symphony Listen Now
September 28 Seattle Philharmonic Listen Now
September 29 Yakima Symphony Listen Now

 

Updated- Robin has a fine blog. There’s more from Robin on the OES and our season opening concert here.

Updated 10.10.09- The series is now finished and the complete broadcast listing is now above. The last 20 seconds of the OES Mahler 2 are missing (at last check). NWPR tells us they are working on the problem. Sorry for any frustration.

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Review- Helix Ensemble, July 4, 2009

August 15th, 2009

From Cigol Reviews- 

4th July 20097:30pmHelix Ensemble – Kenneth Woods  

All Saints with Holy Trinity Church, Loughborough, Leicester  

Roger Swann  

The highlight of this concert was a chance to hear only the second UK performance of Philip Sawyers Second Symphony. Introduced in some depth prior to the performance (during the concert) by the composer this piece is a significant splash of colour held together by genuine symphonic development of the basic material. Technical challenges for most sections of the orchestra were overcome with the help of Ken Woods clear conducting so that the quality of the work was given a genuine chance to come across.  

The concert ended with Haydn’s humourous Symphony No 60 ‘Il Distratto’ in which Kenneth Woods worked hard (and effectively) to bring out the many contrasts within the piece.  

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From the RCICW Office

July 2nd, 2009

 2 slots have opened up in the Emerging Artist program at the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop. Applications taken on a first-come, first-served basis.

Dear Colleagues We are just a couple of weeks away from the beginning of the 2009 Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop in Portland, Oregon. We’re looking forward to a great week, with repertoire ranging from Verdi’s Aida to Debussy’s L’apres midi d’un faune, with Mozart’s Gran Partita, the Fourth Piano Concerto of Beethoven and an anniversary immersion in Haydn’s Symphony no. 99. Our regular faculty- myself, David Hoose from Boston University, and the new Music Director of the Fairfax Symphony, Christopher Zimmerman, are joined by the Rose City Chamber Orchestra and a team of top flight professional soloists. There is a wealth of information about the workshop on our website. http://www.rosecityworkshop.org/Within the last few days, we’ve had a couple of cancellations, so at this time, there are 2 openings in the Emerging Artists’ program. Interested conductors should email the workshop office at admin@rosecityworkshop.org  or contact me directly. Please consider passing on this information to students, friends and colleagues that you think might benefit from the experience.

Many thanks

Kenneth Woods, director

Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop 

 

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Review- Surrey Mozart Players, June 13 2009

June 29th, 2009

 From the Surrey Advertiser (Print Edition)

As they approach their fortieth anniversary, the Surrey Mozart Players are going from strength to strength, presenting ever more adventurous programmes, and last Saturday at Holy Trinity Church was no exception.

Under their charismatic conductor, Kenneth Woods, they opened their programme with Beethoven’s Leonore Overture no. 2. This is considerably bolder than the more frequently played Leonore No 3, and Woods’ interpretation bore this out. The dramatic trumpet call was quite elaborate, if, in the splendid Holy Trinity acoustic, not distant enough. The wind and percussion between them bolstered an exciting performance.

Alberto Ginastera’s Harp Concerto conveys the atmosphere of the composer’s native Argentina. It is a large scale piece, with a huge orchestra— too big for Holy Trinity even with the scaling down of the percussion section. This colorful piece found the orchestra on top form, with wonderful interjections from the wind instruments and percussion.

Solo harpist Victoria Davies gave a sensitive performance and shone particularly in the central slow movement and the striking cadenza that follows it. Significantly these were the places where the orchestra was at its quietest: the composer never got around to re-scoring the concerto before his death.

By the time Schumann revisited the score of his 4th Symphony in 1851,he was already showing signs of his illness. As Kenneth Woods explained, these disturbances were borne out in the music, in the incessant repetition, the dramatic contrasts and the trombones coming in on a dissonant note at key moments in both the outer movements.

The performance reflected this frenzied mood in many ways, from the imposing opening with its constant return, to the continuous “A” that boomed out in the composer’s head, to a crisp, forward moving interpretation of the opening movement. A strongly archaic feel pervaded the slow movement, with some fine violin playing in the central trio (this music was quoted again in the third movement) and there was a robust mood in the Scherzo. Woods caught the mood of the link to the finale wonderfully, and the Finale itself was thrilling.

Shelagh Goodwin, Surrey Advertiser, June 26, 2009

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A view from the podium, Announcements and reviews

UPCOMING Concert- Orchestra of the Swan

June 16th, 2009

UPCOMING CONCERT

Friday 19 June 2009, 8pm
Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon
Shakespeare Summer Proms
Orchestra of the Swan

Haydn’s Farewell

Mozart- Symphony no 13 in F, K112

Haydn- Cello Concerto in C Major

     Nick Stringfellow, cello  

Mendelssohn- Songs Without Words

Haydn- Symphony no. 45, “Farewell”

I’m very excited to be making my first appearance with the wonderful ensemble Orchestra of the Swan this week at their exciting new summer festival, the Shakespeare Summer Proms. Orchestra of the Swan are fast becoming recognized as one of the more exciting and innovative orchestras in the UK, and have been featured on a number of TV shows within the last year. They have an exceptionally strong record for commissioning new works, and their Spring Sounds Festival is now one of the hottest tickets in the region.

I’m so excited to be conducting music so close to my heart. I love all Haydn, but as a cellist, the two concertos are pieces I’ve loved and lived with for many, many years. They’re a joy to play, but I’m happy this time to leave the cello duties to the orchestra’s principal cellist, the up and coming virtuoso Nick Stringfellow.And the Farewell? Well, we’ve all had our experiences with it, but I’ve found and learned so much working on it this time that we’ll need a separate blog post. For now, let me just tell you that you don’t want to miss it…

Should be a great show, do join us.

Tickets- £11.50 to £21.50
Box Office 01789 207100

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Review- Ensmeble Epomeo @ Newburyport Chamber Music Festival

June 15th, 2009

 

 

A nice review from Newburyport Arts Journal of Ensemble Epomeo’s June 6 performance at the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival-

 

…It’s hard to believe anyone felt less than sigh-and-snuggle-before-rolling-over-and-lighting-up-a-smoke satisfied after the Trio Epomeo’s June 6 performance for the Newburyport Chamber Music Festival. Except, perhaps, for the Schnittke fans, who, once they got a taste of the Moderato section of the Russian composer’s String started growling for the Adagio — a kind of musical blood lust…… The Newburyport performance, the penultimate stop of Trio Epomeo’s three-country, two-continent tour, had been conceived as musical tapas, of sorts, giving the audience a taster’s menu, a variety of works to sample, a selection of moods and colors, rather than complete works. But, even within this context, the emphasis was on the modern, and the mood tilted toward darker hues: Hans Krasa’s chilling “Tanz,” which opens with a waltz and ends with oblivion; Alan Hovhaness’ ethereal, otherworldly Trio, the musical manifestation of a deep, mournful sadness that seems to exist on a cellular level; Gideon Klein’s “Based on a Moravian Theme,” a concise and unforgettable emotional musical rollercoaster; and, finally, closing the first half of the performance with Schnittke’s alternately lulling and jolting crash-bang String Trio.Within this context, the Beethoven seems a little out of place historically, musically and even geographically, given that the work presented had an eastern Europe perspective — even the encore, a Kodaly Intermezzo. At the same time, it was comforting, steadying, closing with Beethoven, a lovely piece — lyrical, expressive, an incredible vehicle for exploring possibilities of the instruments. And, again, when you encounter such inspired playing —wonderfully executed and, at times, absolutely breathtaking performances by players at the top of their game, up close and personal— all this talk about the what’s what of the program becomes mere sport. So, again, within this context, the decision to go Ludwig becomes a fielder’s choice.

It was a magical evening — seriously under-attended, but magical. The trio, which came together last year at the Festivale d’alla Musica da Camera d’Ischia in Italy to explore the possibilities of just one piece (the Schnittke Trio, natch) and discovered that they clicked musically, sounded like they had been playing together forever. The performance space (the Carriage House, a marvelous listening room fashioned out of an 19th-century out-building on the Lord Timothy Dexter Estate by NCMF patrons Julia Farwell Clay and Walter Clay) is a delight, as was the after-party — the social aspect, the schmooze, has been an important part of festival since its inception. There was plenty of food and wine and a chance to chat up musicians. We heard stories about Wallis’ recent tour of North Korea, of all places. Or the time when he and Wood, who worked together during a musical interlude in Arkansas, wandered into a rock and roll club. Wallis kind of hung back, but Woods, who performed in a rock band back in his Indiana University days, jammed with the band, playing guitar behind his head, a la Jimi Hendrix. But the best news we got, before the last of the wine had been poured, was that trio plans to record the Schnittke. Stay tuned.

Read the whole thing here.

FYI- The review mentions low-attendance. NPCMF tells me that they sold all the tickets available for the event, and all the chairs were full, but I don think we could have made room fo 50% more without making the room feel uncomfortable.

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Concert- Ensemble Epomeo in Rode

May 17th, 2009

Ensemble Epomeo

Byron Wallis- violin

David Yang- viola

Kenneth Woods- cello

Sunday, 17 May, 2009

7:30 PM

Christchurch House, Rode

PROGRAMME Hans Krasa (1899 –1944) Tanec (Dance) for String Trio (1944)

Alan Hovaness

String Trio op 201

I. Adagio

II. Allegro

III. Lento

Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998)

String Trio (1985)

I. Moderato

II. Adagio

–Interval—

Gideon Klein (1919-1945)  

Variations on a Moravian Theme (From String Trio, 1944)

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

String Trio no. 4 in C minor, op 9 no 3-

I. Allegro con spirito Movement

II. Adagio con espressione

III. Scherzo Allegro molto e vivace

IV. Finale. Presto

This evening’s programme brings together a diverse set of works which vividly demonstrate deep and powerful connections between concert and vernacular music. Written in the Terezin ghetto, Krasa’s “Tanec,” one of his last completed works, is a study of the emotional complexities of the dance worthy of Ravel’s La Valse. Alternately sarcastic, sensual, sinister, fragile and ultimately terrifying, it is a piece that resonates on many levels in a remarkably short time span of only five minutes. Armenian-American composer Alan Hovhanness was always fascinated with the folk music and mythology of his ancestral homeland, and goes to great lengths in his String Trio to recreate the twang of the oud and the plaintive cry of the duduk (a cousin of the Western oboe noted for its ability to seamlessly bend pitches) with the three classical string instruments. The evocative first and second movements feature stunning lyrical writing for the solo violin and viola, while supporting parts create a sense of natural atmosphere and place through a vivid collection of subtle sound effects.

If Krasa’s “Tanec” is a vivid demonstration of what can be done with dance music on a small scale, Alfred Schnittke’s epic String Trio of 1985 shows what can be done with dance material on a huge canvass. Written in memory of Alban Berg, Schnittke begins the piece with an innocent sounding baroque dance melody, reminiscent perhaps of Couperin. From this simple two-measure theme he is able to extract all of the thematic and motivic material for the entire work. The String Trio was written in 1985, the year of the first of the horrifying strokes which he suffered in his last years, and it is hard not to see a certain parallel between his health crisis and the violent and terrifying outbursts throughout the first movement, which alternate with periods of other-worldly stillness. Throughout it all, the dance theme remains the wellspring of all the musical material. The final Adagio is reflective and meditative, where the Moderato was dramatic. It begins with a transmutation of the dance theme into a funereal march, but it is reflective, not combative. It is surely some of the most heartrending music written in the last 30 years.

Also heartrending is Gideon Klein’s “Variations on a Moravian Theme” from his final work, the String Trio, completed only 9 days before his murder in Auschwitz. Klein was the youngest of the Terezin composers, and the extraordinary power of his surviving music is, among other things, a bleak reminder of what society lost when he was killed. Like the Krasa, this is a very short movement, a set of very classically proportioned variations on a Moravian folk-melody (one which Klein was very faithful to). Within this compact framework, Klein raises tensions to almost unbearable extremes while maintaining a high degree of lyricism, and the coda is truly unforgettable.

Finally, we end with another “last” work, the final String Trio of Beethoven. Beethoven was 28 years old when this trio was published in 1798, while Gideon Klein was only 26 when he was killed. Still ahead for Beethoven were all the nine symphonies, the 15 string quartets and 29 of the 32 piano sonatas. What would Klein have achieved had he lived? In the early years of his career, the String Trio was Beethoven’s favorite genre, but after the completion of this C minor trio, he never returned to the genre again.  Fortunately, this ending was a beginning, as after this wonderful summation of his development of the trio, he turned his attentions to the quartet and never looked back. It is striking how completely developed Beethoven’s artistic personality already appears in this work- his strong identification with the symbolic power of keys is very much on show, with the brooding and dramatic C minor of this work very close in spirit to the Fifth Symphony and the final Piano Sonata. The stunning slow movement also shows an uncanny resemblance to the deeply spiritual slow movements of his late works. Like the “Heiliger Dankesang” from his A minor String Quartet op 132, and the slow movement of the 9th Symphony, this remarkable movement is in double variation form, a structure that seemed to allow Beethoven to express some of his most personal thoughts. After a sardonic Scherzo, the work concludes with a Presto finale, notable for its intensity and it’s rather ambivalent ending.
 

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A view from the podium, Announcements and reviews

2009 Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop Discovery Program

May 5th, 2009

Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop

Discovery Program

Welcoming Composers, Instrumentalists, Vocalists, Music Librarians, Undergraduate Conductors, Amateurs, Music Educators, Scholars

www.rosecityworkshop.org

Priority Application Deadline June 7, 2009

We all know that the conducting world is very hard to break into- there are scarcely enough opportunities for current and would-be full-time conductors to get experience and feedback. However, it is not only full-time conductors who can benefit from a solid conducting technique, and understanding of rehearsal dynamics and a deep grounding in score study.

Composers, who often end up conducting their own music and that of their peers, music educators, who often find they want a bit of tune-up after a busy and draining year in the class room, and instrumentalists who may even just want to develop a better understanding of what they’re seeing on the podium in their orchestra are all among the broad cross-section of musicians who often find themselves looking for opportunities to increase their understanding of the art of conducting. Committed amateur conductors, who are often deeply frustrated trying to find an opportunity to develop their passion for conducting without a conservatory education have often spent many, many years studying scores and yet have never been able to find a workshop that would give them a chance to stand in front of professional players.

Unfortunately, when many new or part-time conductors start looking for training programs, they find that a first-class violinist or teacher or composer can only hope to get into a second class program.

When the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop initiated the Discovery Program three years ago, our first goal was to create a program where composers, players, teachers and undergraduate conductors could get the same quality of training as their full-time counterparts in the Emerging Artist program, most of who are well into or have completed their graduate studies in conducting. Discovery Program students work with the same faculty as their EA counterparts, and are treated as equals in all seminars and discussions. The get to work with the professional musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra on the same full-orchestra work as the EA students, and they get to work with concert pianist Rick Rowley. Most importantly, they get to work with all the members of our conducting faculty.

In recent summers, we have seen DP students progress on the EA program, and others have parlayed their experience into admission to grad school in conducting. All DP teaching sessions are professionally recorded in CD-quality audio. Others have taken their new insights into the classroom or the recording studio.

Conducting sessions include

·             Piano reduction session·             Chamber Ensemble session

·             Chamber Orchestra session

and-

·             Classes in score preparation

·             Stick technique

·             Movement, breathing and posture

Repertoire-
Debussy (arr. Schoenberg)-
Prelude a l’apres midi d’un faune

Haydn- Symphony no. 99(with full orchestra)

Beethoven- Symphony No.4, Mvt I (piano reduction with Ricky Rowley)

Tuition- $660 (2 payments of $330)

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Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop- 2009 Faculty

April 28th, 2009

This Thursday, April 30th is the priority application deadline for the 2009 Rose City International Conductors Workshop, July 20-26th in Portland, Oregon. Applications may still be considered on a space available basis after this date, but for full, guaranteed consideration, conductors are strongly encouraged to apply this week. Full application details are on the workshop website- http://www.rosecityworkshop.org/

Returning for their fourth summer together are RCICW faculty members Christopher Zimmerman, chair of conducting and orchestral studies at the Hartt School of Music, David Hoose, director of orchestras and orchestral conducting at Boston University and course director Kenneth Woods, music director of the Oregon East Symphony and Chorale.

Key to the success of the workshop in past years has been the seamless team-teaching approach of the faculty. Alumni have commented “I’ve never been to a workshop where faculty members with such unique and diverse approaches were able to work so effortlessly together without the slightest hint of ego or rivalry” and “The RCICW faculty are unfailingly positive while remaining absolutely tenacious about getting each student to give their very best.”

The RCICW offers students extensive opportunities to work with our faculty in the formal teaching sessions, but also to interact, ask questions and build mentoring relationships outside of the classes.

We hope interested conductors will consider joining us for a lively week of great repertoire- Verdi’s Aida with professional singers, Beethoven’s 4th Piano Concerto with concert pianist and recording artist Rick Rowley, Haydn’s Symphony no. 99 in celebration of the 200th anniversary of his death and the Mozart Gran Partita for Winds.

If you have any questions, please email our offices at admin@rosecityworkshop.org

Below, you can find out more about our faculty-

Kenneth Woods

BIOGRAPHY

Hailed by the Washington Post as an “up-and-coming conductor” and a “true star” of the podium, Kenneth Woods is Music Director and Conductor of the Oregon East Symphony and Chorale, Principal Guest Conductor of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra and a regular guest conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Mr. Woods has also been a member of the conducting staff at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Pops. In 2009, he makes his first CD recordings with Northern Sinfonia for Avie Records, and makes his debut at the Stratford Proms with Orchestra of the Swan.

Already known in America as one of the most exciting conductors of the new generation, Kenneth Woods is quickly becoming recognized as major talent on the international scene. He has worked with many orchestras of international distinction including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the State of Mexico Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared of the stages of some of the world’s leading music festivals, including Aspen, Lucerne, Round Top and Scotia. His work on the concert platform and in the recording studio has led to numerous broadcasts on BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

In the spring of 2001, Kenneth Woods was selected by Leonard Slatkin as one of four participants in the Kennedy Center National Conducting Institute. At the completion of the Institute, he led the National Symphony Orchestra in a debut concert, drawing great critical acclaim. Toronto Symphony Music Director Designate Peter Oundjian has praised Woods as “a conductor with true vision and purpose. He has a most fluid and clear style and an excellent command on the podium… a most complete musician.”

Woods’ activities as an active proponent of contemporary music include collaborations as a conductor or cellist with such figures as John Corigliano, Krystopf Penderecki, Peter Lieberson, Oliver Knussen and many others. He is a highly regarded teacher of conducting who has been a clinician for masterclasses offered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and in 2005 was asked by the musicians of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra to found a new training institute for emerging professional conductors, the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop. Guest masterclasses and adjudication include the Royal College of Music in London, Boston University and in 2009 the University of Wisconsin. He is also artist in residence at the Ischia Chamber Music Festival in Italy and Music Director of the Harlech Orchestral Academy in Wales.

As a cellist he has been recipient of the Aspen Fellowship (Mr. Woods has received the Aspen Fellowship as both a cellist and conductor), the Dale Gilbert Award (the only musician to win this award in consecutive years), the Strelow Quartet Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts Rural Residency Grant and has recorded and toured extensively as soloist and chamber musician. He has played chamber music with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Cincinnati, Chicago and Toronto symphonies, and the Minnesota, Gewandhaus and Concertgebow orchestras.  As a student, he coached with members of many of the worlds leading quartets, including the Tokyo, Vermeer, La Salle, Pro Arte, Borodin, Emerson and Vegh.

Mr. Woods pursued his advanced conducting studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and has also studied at leading summer institutes and workshops around the world. He has studied conducting with Leonard Slatkin, David Zinman.  

Christopher Zimmerman

BIOGRAPHY

Of his professional debut, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Daily Telegraph of London wrote, “Contact with the orchestra seemed immediate, the result a reading in which the playing responded keenly to gestures which themselves were expressive both of the symphony’s fiery vigour and of its finer nuances. Christopher Zimmerman revealed a sharp interpretative profile and control of orchestral timbre….a most auspicious London debut.”

Christopher Zimmerman graduated from Yale with a B.A. in Music, and received his Master’s from the University of Michigan. He also studied with Seiji Ozawa and Gunther Schuller at Tanglewood, and at the Pierre Monteux School in Maine. Zimmerman served as an apprentice to Andrew Davis and the Toronto Symphony and in Prague as assistant conductor to Vaclav Neumann and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. Zimmerman made his professional debut in 1985 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by engagements with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. He has also conducted the Prague Symphony, the Slovak Philharmonic, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Edmonton Symphony, the Hartford Symphony, the El Paso Symphony, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra among many other orchestras. In opera he has worked as the assistant conductor for “Carmen” at the Nimes Festival and as the assistant conductor for “Salome” at the Mexico City Opera, where he was immediately reinvited to conduct a production of “Gianni Schicchi”. In 1989 he co-founded and became Music Director of the City of London Chamber Orchestra.

In 1993 Christopher Zimmerman became Music Director of the Cincinnati Concert Orchestra. He made his U.S. operatic debut conducting this orchestra in a production of “Susannah” by Carlisle Floyd, and has since conducted “The Turn of the Screw,” “Gianni Schicchi,” “Suor Angelica,” “Don Pasquale,” “The Song of Majnun,” and “Julius Caesar,” the last two winning the National Opera Association’s First Prize. In 1999 Zimmerman was a featured conductor in the American Symphony Orchestra League’s Conductors’ Preview with the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Zimmerman was appointed to succeed Werner Torkanowsky as Music Director of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in 1994 and in 1999 was appointed Music Director of the Hartt Symphony. In 2001 Mr. Zimmerman was appointed Music Director of the Symphony of Southeast Texas.

David Hoose

BIOGRAPHY

David Hoose is Music Director of two distinguished Boston musical institutions, the Cantata Singers & Ensemble, a organization whose repertoire reaches from Bach and Handel to the music of today, with all in between, and Collage New Music, a chamber ensemble devoted to music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and whose members include musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well, Mr. Hoose has recently completed eleven years as Music Director of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra. He is Professor of Music at the Boston University School of Music where he is Director of Orchestral Activities and Chairman of the Conducting Department.

Mr. Hoose has just been awarded the 2005 Alice M. Ditson Conductors Award, given in recognition of his commitment to the performance of American Music. He has also received the Dmitri Mitropoloulos Award and, as a member of the Emmanuel Wind Quintet, the Walter W. Naumburg Award for Chamber Music. Mr. Hoose’s recordings appear on the New World, Koch, Nonesuch, Delos, CRI and GunMar labels. His recordings of John Harbison’s Motteti di Montale with Collage New Music and Harbison’s Four Psalms and Emerson with the Cantata Singers & Ensemble have been recently released by New World Records, and his recordings of Peter Child’s chamber opera Embers and of the complete chamber music of Donald Sur are forthcoming. The recording of the Harbison Motteti di Montale has been nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award.

Mr. Hoose has conducted the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Utah Symphony, Chicago Philharmonic, Korean Broadcasting Symphony (KBS), Orchestra Regionale Toscana (Florence), Quad Cities Symphony Orchestra, Ann Arbor Symphony, Opera Festival of New Jersey, and at the Warebrook, New Hampshire, Monadnock and Tanglewood music festivals. In Boston he has appeared as guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Handel & Haydn Society, Back Bay Chorale, Chorus Pro Musica, Fromm Chamber Players, Dinosaur Annex, Auros, and many times both with the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and with Emmanuel Music. For many summers he has conducted the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra, and he has been guest conductor at New England Conservatory, Eastman School, Shepherd School of Rice University and University of Southern California.

David Hoose studied composition at the Oberlin Conservatory with Walter Aschaffenburg and Richard Hoffmann (student and amanuensis of Arnold Schoenberg), and at Brandeis University with Arthur Berger and Harold Shapero. His horn studies were with Barry Tuckwell, with Joseph Singer, principal horn of the New York Philharmonic, and with Richard Mackey of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His principal study of conducting was at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he studied with Gustav Meier and worked with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa.

The Rose City International Conductors Workshop is an educational program of the Rose City Chamber Orchestra, a 501 c3 non-profit organization.

The mission of the Rose City International Conductor’s Workshop is to provide advanced professional training at the highest levels to emerging conductors from all over the world.

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Prokofiev on Prokofiev

March 25th, 2009

Serge Prokofiev, writing about the Fifth Piano Concerto in his Autobiography-

 

If we discount the Fourth Concerto for left hand, more than ten years had passed since I had written a piano concerto. Since then my conception of the treatment of this form had changed somewhat, some new ideas had occurred to me (a passage running across the entire keyboard, with the left hand overtaking the right; chords in the piano and orchestra interrupting one another, etc.) and finally I had accumulated a good number of vigorous major themes in my notebook. I had not intended the concerto to be difficult and at first had even contemplated calling it “Music for Piano and Orchestra,” partly to avoid confusing the concerto numbers. But in the end it turned out to be complicated, as indeed was the case with a good many other compositions of this period. What was the explanation? In my desire for simplicity I was hampered by the fear of repeating old formulas, of reverting to ‘old simplicity,’ which is something all modern composers seek to avoid. I searched for ‘new simplicity’ only to discover that this new simplicity, with its novel forms and, chiefly, new tonal structure, was not understood. The fact that here and there my efforts to write simply were not successful is beside the point. I did not give up, hoping that the bulk of my music would in time prove to be quite simple when the ear grew accustomed to the new melodies, that is, when these melodies became the accepted idiom. 

The Surrey Mozart Players will be performing Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 5 in G this Saturday, March 28 at the United Reformed Church, Guildford. More here-

http://oclassical.com/3720

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