JKP
A “Play by Play” of a New York Premiere
With Cho-Liang Lin and William VerMeulen backstage at Alice Tully Hall
Today Cho-Liang “Jimmy” Lin and I are performing Paul Schoenfield’s Sonata for Violin and Piano in its New York Premiere performance in the wonderfully improved Alice Tully Hall. The program includes the Brahms Horn Trio with our esteemed horn colleague, William “Bill” VerMeulen. The Sonata is a New York premiere, but not quite the World Premiere – that honor went to the La Jolla Summerfest last August. The Sonata is the result of a joint premiering program by the LaJolla Summerfest and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
So which would be the better performance to attend? The World Premiere, with its freshness bursting from the players, or the New York Premiere, eight months longer in the tooth, but with a notch of experience on the belt?
William Hirtz’s Fantasy on “Wizard of Oz”
Jon Kimura Parker and William Hirtz
My friend and colleague, the composer William Hirtz, can work pianistic miracles out of harmony, rhythm and texture. Several years ago he showed me a piano duet Fantasy that he had composed using several of Harold Arlen’s iconic themes from the “Wizard of Oz” soundtrack. It was joyous, technically raucous, and seemingly featured dozens of notes all at once. I jokingly commented that I if he could arrange this Fantasy for one piano two hands, I would happily play it. I thought nothing more about it.
Fast forward several months: one day my fax machine started up and several insanely dotted pages spewed forth. I recognized the music – it was indeed the Fantasy… Continue reading
Andrew Staupe wins Shepherd School Concerto Competition
Andrew Staupe
Doctoral piano student Andrew Staupe wins the Shepherd School Concerto Competition with Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3! Competing first in a day filled with exemplary concerto performances, Andrew gave it his all. He will perform “Rach 3” with the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra in the 2010-2011 season.
Judy Park performs Bartok Concerto No. 3
Judy Park
By James McQuillen, Special to The Oregonian
March 20, 2010, 12:35PM
In ten seasons with the semi-pro Portland Columbia Symphony, conductor Huw Edwards has improved the ensemble’s sound and broadened its range with challenging programming. Friday night’s concert presented a typically ambitious pairing worthy of any major orchestra – Béla Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto and Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony, the powerful “Pathétique” – in an uneven but ultimately winning performance.
Former Portland piano wunderkind Judy Park, a prominent figure in the city’s youth music scene now studying with Jon Kimura Parker at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, returned as guest soloist in the Bartók, bringing her strength, precision and candor. She crunched the opening… Continue reading
Andrew Staupe, Jeewon Lee take honors at Young Texas Artists Competition
Arts & Entertainment
Young Texas Artists Music Competition
News Release
Monday, March 15, 2010
26th Annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition Winners Announced at ENTERGY Finalists’ Concert & Awards
CONROE, TEXAS – Conroe’s historic Crighton Theatre was host to the Entergy Finalists’ Concert & Awards on Saturday evening, March 13. Finalists in the 26th Annual Young Texas Artists Music Competition, presented by the Montgomery County Performing Arts Society, dazzled concert attendees with technique, poise and tremendous musical talent. Winners, selected by five distinguished judges and one audience favorite, received awards totaling $21,000.
Musical artists from Rice University Shepherd School of Music made a clean sweep, winning all first place positions in every category plus the grand prize. Winners in each category are: Sarah Mesko, mezzo-soprano and grand prize winner in Voice; Andrew Staupe in Piano; Aaron Perdue on flute in Winds, Brass, Percussion, Harp, and Guitar; and Luke Hsu on violin in Strings. Continue reading
Richard Marshall: From Toccatas to the Tomb
Richard Marshall
Master’s Student Richard Marshall perfomed a recital today that including the fiendishly difficult Schumann Toccata, Ravel’s less-well-known suite Le Tombeau de Couperin, Chopin’s texturally challenging Ballade No. 4, and finished with the Barber Sonata. Programs don’t get much more difficult than this!
Very few pianists tackle the Ravel Tombeau, but Richard has the fierce technique required, and also a delicate touch and an ear for color. Even fewer pianists tackle the Schumann Toccata, myself included…
How Not To Play Rach 3
Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, Chicago, Ill
First of all, Rach 3 is just a terrible summer piece. I am never asked to play this in the summer. Orchestras have very minimal rehearsal time in the summer (I’ll never forget my 17-minute single dress rehearsal of the Ravel Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Vail a few summers ago…) and Rach 3 is filled with rehearsal-time-sucking rubati. There’s also something about the structural ambition of the piece – it’s a little long for a summer audience’s attention span.
But here I am in Chicago playing Rach 3 with Carlos Kalmar and the Grant Park Festival Orchestra, which has kept its famous name (it’s their 75th anniversary) but has physically moved to the spectacular new outdoor Frank Gehry-designed Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Continue reading
Jeewon Lee wins Shepherd School Concerto Competition
Jeewon Lee
Congratulations to Parker Studio doctoral pianist Jeewon Lee, who won the First Prize in the Shepherd School Concerto Competition! Conductor Larry Rachleff commented that for the first time in the history of the competition, it was won with a Mozart Concerto, in this case, Mozart Piano Concerto in D Minor, K. 466.
NACO tour blog 8: Aim Even Higher
Thie Highest Point of our Tour?
Winnipeg, Manitoba It is 6:03pm and I am stepping out of my 15th floor hotel room in Winnipeg to hear a most unexpected sound. It is a sound coming from the room across the hall. It is the sound of a sweet melody of Tchaikovsky’s imagining. It is the sound of a beautifully shaped phrase, articulate and warm at the same time. It is the sound of someone experimenting to make something better than before. To my amazement, it is the sound of Charles “Chip” Hamann, Principal Oboist of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, and he is practicing the oboe solo from the 2nd movement of Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1.
This is the last day of our 20-day tour. Last night we performed in Saskatoon, and today we have bussed and flown and bussed to Winnipeg. By all rights every member of the orchestra should be resting in their rooms, finding lunch, or enjoying the fresh air and the crunch of the snow. But Chip is rehearsing a solo that he has performed absolutely beautifully over and over on this tour. I’m incredibly touched and inspired to hear this. Continue reading
NACO tour blog 7: If it’s Sunday it must be Saskatoon
JKP with NACO violinist and buddy Mark Friedman
Saskatoon, SK
We are officially on the final stretch, having played in Calgary two nights ago and Regina last night, with Saskatoon tonight and Winnipeg, our final concert, tomorrow night.
There are signs. After last night’s concert in Regina, several of the players walked offstage looking slightly stunned. The hotel bar was a little quieter than usual at midnight. There’s a little less chatter and little more napping on the busses and planes.
And of course, the number one telltale sign that we’re near the end of an orchestra tour: it’s becoming obvious to anyone who looks – or smells – closely, that none of us have had a chance to launder or dry clean our clothes for some time. You can really tell if an orchestra is at the beginning or end of a tour by checking out their wrinkled tails and dresses onstage. (In case you were wondering who the best-dressed orchestra is, it’s the Hong Kong Philharmonic. Their secret? Thousands of local and inexpensive tailors in the nearby streets of Kowloon.) Continue reading
