The Arts Maven

David Fillingham
Spare Change News

New England Conservatory: Free Concerts
Date: October 3, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

New England Conservatory faculty have always enjoyed playing chamber music together, but it was cellist Laurence Lesser —at the time Conservatory President— who transformed these occasional musical evenings into a stellar, regularly occurring series. Twenty-seven years later, chamber music buffs eagerly anticipate the six free concerts held on the first Mondays of October, November, December, March, April, and May. They know they can count on fascinating repertory that ranges from Bach and Brahms to Bartók and beyond. They know they can hear the concerts in one of the great halls of the world. And they know they can expect illuminating performances by some of the world’s greatest artists—NEC faculty, alumni, students and friends, who donate their services in exchange for the opportunity to experience together music that is among the most transcendent expressions of human culture.
Dvorak: Terzetto
Miriam Fried, Lucy Chapman, violins; Paul Biss, viola
Arensky: Trio (in honor of composer’s 150th birthday)
Masuko Ushioda, violin; Laurence Lesser, cello; Sergey Schepkin, piano
Brahms: Quintet in G Major, op.111
Borromeo String Quartet with Kim Kashkashian, viola

KidsJam: Songs about Fall – Berklee
Date: Monday, October 3, 2011, 11:00 a.m.
Price: Free
Location: Cafe 939 (939 Boylston Street)

The program is intended to introduce young children to a variety of musical activities essential to a well-rounded music education. These include singing and sound exploration, moving, playing rhythm instruments, creating, listening, and responding to music, as well as learning about a variety of musical concepts and instruments.

Anna Talpe Recital – Berklee
Date: Monday, October 3, 2011, 7:00 p.m,
Price: Free
Location: Berk Recital Hall

Singer Anna Talpe presents her original compositions and arrangements.

Composition Dept. Faculty Concert – Berklee
Date: Monday, October 3, 2011, 7:30 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: David Friend Recital Hall

New and recent compositions from faculty members in Berklee’s Composition Department led by Jonathan Holland.

New England Conservatory Teacher Concert
Date: October 4, 2011 – 7:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

Violinist Miriam Fried and harpsichordist John Gibbons of the NEC faculty combine their talents to perform all six sonatas for violin and keyboard by J.S. Bach. “These are masterpieces that are relatively neglected, and it is exciting to hear them as a set,” says Fried. In addition to their work at NEC, Gibbons and Fried perform separately in ensembles and orchestras all over the world.

Yunmi’s Recital Berklee
Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Berk Recital Hall

Pianist Yunmi Bak presents this recital.

African Blues
Date: October 5, 2011 – 1:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall NEC

One of the early exponents of African blues, Boubacar Traoré’s rapid rise to fame in his native Mali in the 1960s was interrupted by long periods out of the public eye. Since the 1990’s he has once again become a key figure in Malian music. His soulful voice and his gently rhythmic playing is a fusion of the traditional styles of his native western Mali, Arabic music and American blues.

Jazz Writers’ Collective in Concert – Berklee
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Berk Recital Hall

Jazz Writers’ Collective performs a selection of originals and arrangements written by emerging composers from Berklee.

Guest Artist: Shizuyo LeNestour
Date: Thursday, October 6, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Berk Recital Hall

Guest artist Shizuyo LeNestour will perform works for piano by Composition Department faculty and composition degree majors. This event is supported by the Professional Writing Division.

Hot Club of Cowtown – Berklee
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 1:00 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: Berk Recital Hall

Since its first recording in 1998, Austin-based Hot Club of Cowtown has grown to be the most globe-trotting, hardest-swinging western swing trio on the planet. The first American band to tour Azerbaijan, it has opened stadiums for such artists as Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson and continues to bring its brand of western swing to a wide range of festival audiences all over the world. But for guitarist Whit Smith, fiddler Elana James, and bassist Jake Erwin, it has always been about staying true to their roots.
Remaining willfully out of the musical mainstream, Hot Club of Cowtown has created an international cult following for its sonic personification of joy and unique sound inspired by the trio’s namesakes: “Hot Club” from the hot jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli’s Hot Club of France, and “Cowtown” from the western swing influence of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.

Autism Speaks and Sings: The Power of Music Therapy in the World of Autism – Berklee
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 7:00 p.m.
Price: Free
Location: David Friend Recital Hall

Nationally-known experts in music therapy services for autism Darcy Walworth and Marica Humpal lead a program for families affected by autism on what music therapy offers for children on the autism spectrum.

NEC Master Class
Date: October 7, 2011 – 10:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

Milton Babbitt Memorial Concert
Date: October 9, 2011 – 4:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall

Milton Babbitt (1916–2011) was one of the most influential American composers of the 20th century, with his feet planted in both prevailing stylistic streams of mid-century: serialism and electronics.
NEC faculty members D’Anna Fortunato, John Ziarko, and Rodney Lister, who chairs the composition program of NEC’s Preparatory School, have gathered local friends of Babbitt’s music for this memorial concert. Other performers include soprano Sarah Bach and NEC Preparatory School students Hannah Ryu, Niklas Kniesche, Daniel Kim, and Sophia Basile.
Sarah Bach, soprano; Rodney Lister, piano

NEC Student Recital
Date: October 9, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

New England Conservatory student recital by David Tarantino ’12, B.M., who studies percussion with Will Hudgins.

NEC Student Recital
Date: October 10, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: St Botolph Building, Room G01

Bachelor of Music jazz guitar recital by Jeremy Marx, student of Jerry Bergonzi and John McNeil.

EMMA Recital
Date: October 11, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

New music by John Mallia, the director of NEC’s Electronic Music Studio, and his faculty colleagues Katarina Miljkovic, Stratis Minakakis, and Julia Werntz; along with two guest sound artists, John Holland and Marc McNulty. This first production under the banner of EMMA—representing music that is electronic, microtonal, multimedia, and/or algorithmic—will be followed throughout the year by lectures from visiting artists, and a spring concert featuring work by the pioneering sound artist Phil Niblock.

Piano Concerto
Date: October 12, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

NEC welcomes Yan Pascal Tortelier, Principal Conductor of Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra, as guest conductor of the Philharmonia.
Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole
Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.2, op.16, G minor
Morton Gould: Spirituals

Mahler Celebration
Date: October 13, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

He’s more than a bunch of symphonies and songs. Even those are not what you think. Although the music stopped with his death in 1911—100 years later—his time is now. During four months of concerts, jam sessions, conversation, and film, free your mind about what Mahler really means.
As part of the Conservatory’s ongoing Mahler celebration, Charles Peltz, Director of Wind Ensemble Activities, conducts Um Mitternacht (“At Midnight”), one of the five Rückert-Lieder by Gustav Mahler.

Vocal Master Class
Date: October 14, 2011 – 3:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall

Opera conductor and impresario John Moriarty graduated from New England Conservatory in 1952 during a postwar enrollment surge, when great singing casts were easy to assemble for memorable school productions. Over the years, intermixed with his work at professional opera companies, Moriarty returned to NEC to rebuild and lead the school’s opera studies program. He continues to teach as a member of NEC’s collaborative piano and vocal coaching faculties.
The longevity of Moriarty’s influence on opera studies and the production of successful opera careers are unparalleled, and is celebrated throughout Reunion weekend. Experience Moriarty’s philosophy of vocal presentation firsthand in today’s masterclass with current NEC voice majors.
Reunion Weekend events include:
2011-10-14 John Moriarty master class
2011-10-14 Celebration of John Moriarty
2011-10-15 Ernest Triplett: Melody, Harmony, Life
2011-10-15 John Heiss Then and Now
2011-10-15 Entrepreneurial Musicianship: What’s Next?
2011-10-15 Bill Cantos: Life as a Chameleon
2011-10-15 Music of John Heiss

Triplett Musical Speech
Date: October 15, 2011 – 10:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

Ernest Triplett, Jr. ’61, an NEC Outstanding Alumni Award recipient, founded and was a mainstay of Associate Artist Opera Company, the main progenitor of today’s Boston Lyric Opera. At that time, he was the only black director of a union-affiliated professional opera company. On the 50th anniversary of his graduation from NEC, Triplett returns to his alma mater to share his reflections on a life-long career in music making.

A Conversation with John Heiss
Date: October 15, 2011 – 11:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

Since 1967, John Heiss has taught New England Conservatory students the roots of 20th-century modernism both in the classroom and as a conductor and coach. Each year Heiss recruits students interested in performing 20th- and 21st-century music to join the NEC Contemporary Ensemble. His courses on Ives, Schoenberg, and Stravinsky have shaped generations of musicians. Due to the accuracy of his ear in rehearsals, Stravinsky called him “the pitch doctor.” This conversation with Heiss will travel through the more than 40 years during which he has shaped the NEC student experience.

21st Century Musicians in a Changing World
Date: October 15, 2011 – 2:30:PM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

NEC’s Director of Entrepreneurial Musicianship, Rachel Roberts, addresses this question and talks about NEC’s approach to developing a place for 21st-century musicians in a changing world.

Life as a Chameleon:
Staying True to Your Color While Blending in Many Musical Environments
Date: October 15, 2011 – 3:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

Bill Cantos of New England Conservatory class of ’86 is known as a keyboardist, vocalist, writer, arranger, and producer specializing in a variety of genres, including Pop, Jazz, R&B, and Gospel. Join Bill—one of this year’s Outstanding Alumni Award recipients—as he shares his philosophy for adapting and blending with others while simultaneously staying true to his own sound.

Music for Food
Date: October 17, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Brown Hall

In 2010, moved by reports that poverty and hunger have risen in the current recession, a group of New England Conservatory artist faculty, students and alumni, headed by violist Kim Kashkashian, united to present a chamber music concert series to benefit The Greater Boston Food Bank. “Price of admission” to the concerts was a donation of non-perishable food items or a check to the GBFB. Tonight, Music For Food returns to launch their second series of concerts. Join the fight against hunger and hear some of Boston’s finest musicians. Instead of a ticket, bring a food or monetary donation for the Greater Boston Food Bank.

NEC Student Recital
Date: October 17, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

NEC student recital by Brian Maloney ’12, who studies percussion with Frank Epstein.

Alash
Date: October 20, 2011 – 4:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall

All four members of Alash were trained in traditional Tuvan music, first in their families and later as students of masters of overtone singing (“throat singing” or khoomii). Alash performances are a sensuous mix of vocal music and original combinations of Tuvan bowed strings (igil and byzaanchy), plucked strings (doshpuluur and chadagan), and the large bass drum (kengirge). Alash musicians look for contemporary ideas that mesh well with the sound and feel of traditional Tuvan music.

Cello Recital
Date: October 20, 2011 – 7:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall

Cellist Ralph Kirshbaum began the summer of 2011 by participating as juror for the prestigious XIV International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Following performances in summer festivals throughout the US, he returns to his native Tyler, Texas, in September to open a new concert hall with a gala recital; the autumn features further recitals in New York and London. Orchestral concerts this season include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the symphonies of Spokane, Albany and Southwest Florida.
Alongside his solo career, Mr. Kirshbaum is a renowned pedagogue who has influenced generations of young cellists as a committed and impassioned mentor. He served on the faculty of the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester for 35 years and remains International Chair of Cello. Currently he holds the Gregor Piatigorsky Endowed Chair in Violoncello at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.

Dave Holland Music for Big Band
Date: October 20, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

In July 1968, Miles Davis was so impressed with a London performance by jazz bassist Dave Holland that he asked Holland to join his band. On the road with Davis for two years, Holland also recorded on classic Davis albums, including Bitches Brew, lavishly reissued just a few weeks ago. Holland subsequently formed the group Circle with Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, and Barry Altschul, and continued to work with such jazz notables as Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, and Sam Rivers.
In the 1980s, Holland was part of several jazz combos and taught at NEC. He currently leads a quintet, and is a 2005 and 2007 Grammy winner for his big band and for his work with Herbie Hancock.
Awarded an honorary degree by NEC in spring 2004, that fall Holland began a twice-yearly series of residencies in which he shares the many dimensions of his activity as soloist, composer, bandleader, and all-round musician.
In tonight’s concert, the NEC Jazz Orchestra, coached by Dave Holland and Ken Schaphorst, will perform Holland’s music for big band. Dave Holland will double as bass soloist and conductor.

Piano Seminar: Peter Sykes
Date: October 21, 2011 – 10:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

Emma Kirby Master Class
Date: October 22, 2011 – 10:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

In between performances in Cambridge and New York, Soprano and Early Music specialist Emma Kirkby makes a stop at NEC to lead a master class. Recognized by critics and audiences alike for her intensely expressive singing and her pure, bright tone, she was the recent recipient of the Queen’s Medal for Music. Dame Emma said she was “very pleased and grateful” to receive the Award. She said: “I feel extremely lucky to have worked so many years with excellent colleagues, both singers and instrumentalists, in the revival of music from the richest eras of our national heritage; this is repertoire offering joy and fulfillment to players and listeners alike and I am happy to see so many younger artists now adding their own voices to the endeavor.”

NEC Teacher Concert – Roger Tapping
Date: October 23, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

Great artists give free concerts at New England Conservatory—simply because they teach here. Roger Tapping joins distinguished NEC Alumna, pianist Judith Gordon for his Faculty Recital at Jordan Hall. A former member of the Grammy Award winning Takacs Quartet, Tapping become Chair of Chamber music in 2010.

Death Carols
Date: October 24, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

NEC Chamber Singers and Concert Choir, with Director of Choral Activities Erica Washburn, perform songs of beauty and darkness in a program celebrating All Hallows’ Eve. Works include Tavener’s exquisite and moving Song for Athene, best known for being performed at the funeral of Princess Diana; the beloved traditional Danny Boy arranged by Joseph Flummerfelt; and Mahler’s Ich Bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I am lost to the world).

Wind Ensemble
Date: October 25, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

William Drury, Associate Conductor of Wind Ensembles, conducts:
Robin Holloway: Divertimento No.2 (1972)
Jean Françaix: Sept dances d’après le ballet “Les malheurs de Sophie”
Peter Maxwell Davies: An Orkney Wedding, With Sunrise,
Carl Nielsen: Symphony No. 3, “Sinfonia espansiva” (arr. by Phil Snedecor)

Philharmonia and Lehninger
Date: October 26, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

Marcelo Lehninger, Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, leads the Philharmonia in works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Brazilian-born conductor Marcelo Lehninger made his BSO debut in 2010 with violinist Pinchas Zukerman as soloist and in 2011 stepped in for Maestro James Levine at short notice to conduct the world premiere of Harrison Birtwistle’s Violin Concerto with Christian Testzlaff. Also in 2011, with the BSO, he made an acclaimed debut at Carnegie Hall in New York and critic Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times: “He was terrific, conducting all three works with impressive technique, musical insight and youthful energy.”

Soundings on Ancient Strings
Date: October 27, 2011 – 5:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Pierce Hall

Music played on the ancient instrument from Japan, the koto will be showcased in today’s program. Yuki Yasuda, highly regarded virtuoso performs traditional pieces for the koto as well as two new works composed for the koto by NEC alumni Martin Schreiner and Takashi Koto. There will be a brief introduction to the Koto by Ms. Yasuda before the concert.

Piano Seminar: Jazz from Spirituals to Novelties
Date: October 28, 2011 – 10:00:AM
Price: Free
Location: Williams Hall

New England Conservatory piano chair Bruce Brubaker invites the public to join NEC students in exploring the challenges and complexities that pianists face in the world today, through presentations and master classes by guest artists and NEC faculty.
Piano soloist Virgina Eskin leads today’s seminar. A California native and long-time Boston resident, Eskin is an extremely versatile solo pianist, chamber player and lecturer, known for both standard classical repertoire and ragtime, and a long-time champion of the works of American and European women composers. She also created and hosted “First Ladies of Music” a 13-program radio series sponsored by Northeastern University and produced by WFMT, Chicago, carried by over 100 radio stations in the United States and abroad.

NEC Student Recital
Date: October 29, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: Keller Room

Bachelor of Music oboe recital by Zachary Boeding, a student of John Ferrillo.

Shadow of a Doubt
Date: October 31, 2011 – 8:00:PM
Price: Free
Location: NEC’s Jordan Hall

Pianist/composer/improviser Ran Blake and co-producer Aaron Hartley celebrate Halloween with two specimens of that most haunting genre, film noir: Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and Claude Chabrol’s Le Boucher (1970). Though far removed in time and space, the two films have much in common. Both take place in suffocating small-town settings, and both include the viewpoint of a child whose world is clouded by the “shadow of a doubt” when they realize an admired adult may be a murderer. Students and faculty of NEC’s Contemporary Improvisation department—along with guests—perform in response to the plots, moods, scenes, spirit, and music of these two films as clips appear onscreen. Ran Blake and Aaron Hartley coach a Storyboarding/Noir Ensemble that will play a key role in this concert.

—

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply