by Kenneth Woods | Dec 31, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
I’ve written here before about the modern excesses of copyright law. Today, I came across this interesting article in the Boston Globe- it appears that legal scholars have found interesting models for the protection of intellectual property that doesn’t involve the...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 30, 2007 | A view from the podium, Lists, Nuts and bolts, Performing Life
I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long time, as I think it’s probably a useful thing (based on my experience of seeing some very gifted people shoot themselves in the foot) to go on record with some tips for soloists who want to have long and successful...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 25, 2007 | A view from the podium
Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson has died at age 82. I amassed quite a few of his recordings over the years and have marvelled at his performances on video whenever I could find them. Anyone who has ever made the effort try to master an instrument can’t help but be...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 21, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media, News and Reviews
The Rose City Chamber Orchestra (KW principal guest conductor) has been nominated for the first Oustanding Achievement in Classical Music Award as part of the 2008 Portland Music Awards sponsored by Music Spectator Magazine. Other nominees include the Oregon Symphony,...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 18, 2007 | A view from the podium
As I catch up with events of recent weeks, I just wanted to also follow up on the Mozart 41 performance with Surrey Mozart Players from last week. I’d be remiss not to say something about the concert, as it was a memorable evening and I know well that quite a few...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 17, 2007 | A view from the podium, Lists, Nuts and bolts
William from Phoenix emailed the following over the weekend- “Dear Maestro Woods- I’m a regular VftP reader and young conductor about to do my own first Messiah at my church this coming week. I read your posts about the piece, but was hoping you might write a...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 14, 2007 | A view from the podium
I thought I would take a minute to follow up on my Bath Philharmonia Messiah, since I had previously mentioned my preparations for it. Of course, all my musician friends and readers are probably well sick of Messiah, since just about everyone I know has played, sung...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 13, 2007 | A view from the podium, Repertoire Reports
One of the most asked questions I get from students and audience members is “how many pieces do you play/conduct in a year.” Well, we paid a conducting doctoral student $.50/hour to alphabetize my concert archive for this year now that I’m...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 13, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
It was a blustery Friday night, and I had a lot on my mind already. It’s always a long drive to rehearsals, Fridays doubly so, and rainy, windy Fridays in the holiday season trebly so. As I ground out the long commute, you might well have thought I was using every...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 11, 2007 | A view from the podium
For those of you who were following my concert with Parrry Karp at the Surrey Mozart Players concert in October, there is a new review of his sonata disc “Late Romantic Music for Cello and Piano,” with Howard Karp at MusicWeb International. The critic, Jonathan Woolf,...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 8, 2007 | A view from the podium, Music and Media
Yes, in this context that means me LA based violinist Lindsay Deutsch has a foundation called Classics Alive dedicated to encouraging young people’s participation in music and they’ve set up a fantastic kids website and newsletter. Their newest feature...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 8, 2007 | A view from the podium
More thoughts to follow. One of the most influential and controversial composers of the 20th Century has passed. You may not have loved his music, but we’re all poorer for living in an age of market-tested platitude-music without his uncompromising intensity...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 5, 2007 | A view from the podium
I’ve recently been following a lively discussion of the fascist beliefs of the conductor Reginald Goodall, which has, predictably, spilled over to discussion of Karajan and Furtwangler. After writing this about Furtwangler, I thought it was interesting enough to...
by Kenneth Woods | Dec 3, 2007 | A view from the podium
It’s often said that conducting is a lonely profession…. This week, I’m conducting the Surrey Mozart Players in (among other things), Mozart’s Symphony no. 41. Digging out a piece this well known when you’ve done it before imposes a certain extra degree of discipline...
by Kenneth Woods | Nov 30, 2007 | A view from the podium
Since my last NQHO post has generated so many emails and comments, I forward on a review of their most recent concert. No- I don’t work for them. However, having heard them live, and having felt it was one of the most revelatory concerts I’d heard in ages,...
Recent Comments