30 Great Violinists

Janine Jansen and John Clare

This month, KPAC celebrates thirty years in broadcasting. Our hosts are having some fun sharing "30 lists" - artists, music, movies, and recordings you might enjoy and help shape the great sound of your classical oasis.
Kicking things off is Afternoon Host John Clare with 30 Great Violinists! (They are in no particular order, and were chosen keeping in mind the artist was available to be heard on Spotify)
Listen to these violinists on Spotify: http://spoti.fi/VG9KKJ 

1 Janine Jansen
(I remember exactly when and where I was listening to Janine's debut cd, and hearing her live is even better. We did an interview in Washington, DC after a concert. This is her answer about playing Bach.http://classicallyhip.com/sounds/janine/ending.mp3)
2 Itzhak Perlman
(It was a dream to interview the violinist who inspired me to play the violin, Itzhak Perlman - listen to our talk here: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2011/03/cs1103172.html)
3 Jascha Heifetz
4 Mischa Elman
5 Leonid Kogan
(I was delighted to see the Faure Piano Quartet on Spotify, an all star group from Russia - while there are LOTS of recordings that might have shown Kogan's talent, to me, this is supreme music making on all parts!) 

Josh Bell and John Clare

6 Joshua Bell
7 Gil Shaham
(Gil is as nice a person as he is a great artist - and now he runs his own recording company!)
8 Midori
9 Sarah Chang
10 Maxim Vengerov
11 Isaac Stern
(A modern masterpiece for the violin, and one I adore hearing Stern play - Penderecki's 1976 Violin Concerto. I also treasure Stern's unique sound.)
12 Anne-Sophie Mutter
(Every chance I get, I try to hear Anne-Sophie Mutter live. She was a large inspiration as a teenager and her playing has only deepened. It was a dream come true when I interviewed her: http://classicallyhip.com/sounds/asm/ASM.mp3)
13 Viktoria Mullova
14 David Oistrakh
15 Gidon Kremer
(If Gidon recorded John Cage's 4'33" I would buy it. Pretty much anything he touches is gold.)
16 Nicola Benedetti
17 Yehudi Menuhin
(There is so much to love about Yehudi and his playing, but I couldn't resist also sharing a portion of on of his unknown commissions, Andrzej Panufnik's Violin Concerto!)

Hilary Hahn and John Clare

18 Hilary Hahn
(Since her Sony debut to her latest DG release of improvisations, Hilary plays perfectly. We also had a great run of yearly interviews as she played at the Las Vegas Music Festival!) 
19 Lisa Batiashvili
20 Nathan Milstein
21 Oscar Shumsky
22 Toscha Seidel
(They say that if Jascha Heifetz was the angel in Leopold Auer's violin class, that Toscha Seidel was the devil - and with an instrument that is often associated with Ol' Nick, it certainly is a compliment to Seidel! I was delighted some of his artistry can be heard on Spotify!!!)
23 Anne Akiko Meyers
(This stunning virtuoso calls Texas home but plays worldwide, and is a great mom, too! How does she do it all? Listen to our interview about Air: http://kpac883.blogspot.com/2012/02/annes-air.html)
24 Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg

John Clare and Mark O'Connor

25 Mark O'Connor
(This amazing fiddler plays it all. Classical, jazz, bluegrass, swing, you name it. Nowadays not only does he share his artistry but has a new spin on technique, one that he teaches in various camps as well as method books!)
26 Rachel Barton Pine
27 Pinchas Zukerman
(Such an outstanding musician, known for his violin and viola playing, plus an international career as a conductor.)
28 Simon Standage
(A period performer, Simon does amazing things with music that you might not have realized you liked, or even heard of, all with a very old violin!) 
29 Lara St. John
(I wondered about some of her album cover choices, but Lara proves you can't judge a recording by the cover! We talked Mozart not long ago: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2010/10/cs1010145.html) 
30 Julia Fischer
(Another musician who I would buy their recording if it were the phone book...she is also an amazing pianist - having recorded Grieg's Piano Concerto on DVD! We talked Paganini and more one day: http://www.tpr.org/classicalspotlight/2010/09/cs1009094.html)

There are lots of great violinists - who are some of your favorites? Let us know in the comments below or on facebook!

Anne's Air

Clare and Meyers in San Antonio

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers is a world class violinist, who has not one but two amazing instruments! She has put them to good use on her latest album, Air.
Host John Clare recently spoke to Meyers about this new release (out today, February 14, 2012), her social media activity and motherhood. You can listen to their interview here. [mp3 file]

Listen to the album here at Anne's website. She tweets, and has a great Facebook page. It's on the top of the charts at Amazon, purchase it here and a portion goes to Texas Public Radio!

Best of 2011

Here are ten of our favorite interviews from 2011 on Classical Spotlight:

John and Joyce in Houston, TX.

Janine Jansen on Beau Soir

Sharon Isbin on Guitar Passions

Dmitry Sitkovetsky on Haffner

Joyce DiDonato on Divo/Diva

Ruth Moreland on Sacred Tranquility

David Kim on Redeemer Fine Arts

Marguerite McCormick on Spring Song

Sebastian Lang Lessing on Liszt

Angèle Dubeau on Portrait

Itzahk Perlman on his Recital

Share your knoweldge

At last month's PRPD conference in Baltimore, I learned about a unique online tool that allows users and media outlets to harness the power of their audiences to help facilitate sharing content with others around the globe. The website service http://www.universalsubtitles.org allows users to tag YouTube or Vimeo videos with subtitltes in other languages. This could be a great way for KPAC, or anyone in America, to share their content with non-English speakers around the globe.

If you know another language -- any language -- consider giving this a try. Learn more at the website (linked above), or give it a try with our test video, an interview with conductor Alondra de la Parra.

http://www.universalsubtitles.org/en/videos/5Y7shPW1qm2I/info/

Thanks for your help!

Nathan Cone

Still composing

Elliott Carter is still making waves in the music world. He'll be 103 years old this December and his publisher has posted some great interviews with Carter, filmed last summer.

It's in three parts:
Video 1

Video 2

Video 3

Placido speaks

From Monday evening:

We'll see you tonight at the AT and T Center for San Antonio Opera's Con Amor a San Antonio!

March: Composer Ellen Taaffe Zwilich

"There are not many composers in the modern world who possess the lucky combination of writing music of substance and at the same time exercising an immediate appeal to mixed audiences. Zwilich offers this happy combination of purely technical excellence and a distinct power of communication."

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, is widely considered to be one of America's leading composers. She studied at the Florida State University and the Juilliard School, where her major teachers were Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter. She also studied violin with Richard Burgin and Ivan Galamian and was a member of the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski.

Zwilich is the recipient of numerous prizes and honors, including the 1983 Pulitzer Prize in Music (the first woman ever to receive this coveted award). She was elected to the Florida Artists Hall of Fame and the American Academy of Arts and Letters and, in 1995, was named to the first Composer's Chair in the history of Carnegie Hall. Musical America designated her the 1999 Composer of the Year. A prolific composer in all media except opera, Zwilich has produced four symphonies and other orchestral essays, numerous concertos for a wide variety of solo instruments, and a sizable canon of chamber and recital pieces. Her works are commissioned and played regularly by the leading orchestras and ensembles throughout the world.

Zwilich marked the beginning of her 70th birthday season – featuring two major premieres, recordings, and performances of her work across the country – with the world premiere of Symphony No. 5, commissioned by the Juilliard School, and performed October 27, 2008, by the Juilliard Orchestra conducted by James Conlon at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY. The new symphony’s premiere launched a season that concluded with the world premiere of another major work, the Septet for Piano Trio and String Quartet, performed by the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio and the Miami String Quartet. In addition, a disc of three of Zwilich’s works performed by artists from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center was released by Koch Records, the Claremont Trio is released a new disc titled American Trios which will include Zwilich’s Piano Trio, and a half-hour television program of her work Peanuts Gallery, which has been broadcast over local PBS stations nationwide almost 700 times, recently received an award from the National Educational Telecommunications Association.

Host John Clare spoke to Zwilich at her home in Riverdale, NY about composition, awards and creativity.

Listen to the interview in two parts:

Part 1 [mp3 file]

Part 2 [mp3 file]

You might also enjoy this selection of the Boston Trio:

March: Composer Augusta Read Thomas

"Augusta Read Thomas's impressive body of works embodies unbridled passion and fierce poetry. Championed by such luminaries as Barenboim, Rostropovich, Boulez, and Knussen, she rose early to the top of her profession. Later, as an influential teacher at Eastman, Northwestern and Tanglewood, chairperson of the American Music Center, and the Chicago Symphony's longest-serving resident composer, she has become one of the most recognizable and widely loved figures in American Music."

Augusta Read Thomas is one of the most outstanding younger generation American composers. Augusta has had her work conducted by everyone from Boulez to Barenboim to Knussen and was Mead Composer-in-Residence with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1997-2006. She was the Wyatt Professor of Music at Northwestern University and in 2005, was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the American Music Center. Her work is published exclusively by G. Schirmer.

Thomas has been appointed as University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music and the College at the University of Chicago. University Professors are selected for internationally recognized eminence in their fields as well as for their potential for high impact across the University. Thomas will become the 16th person ever to hold a University Professorship, and the fifth currently at the University. Thomas is widely considered to be among the world's most accomplished and original contemporary composers. She has won acclaim for the dramatic, spontaneous quality of her work and her masterful use of instrumental color. Her extensive body of work has won praise from conductors, performers and music critics worldwide.

Clare and Thomas

Augusta will be in residence at Trinity University, sponsored by the Stieren Arts Enrichment Series. Her residency will include meetings with student composers and a lecture and performance (by the Walden Chamber Players) of her music on Friday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall. The closing concert by the Walden Chamber Players will feature some of her music as well as works by Turina and Brahms on Sunday, March 27 at 3 p.m., also in the Ruth Taylor Recital Hall.

Host John Clare spoke with Thomas in early 2010 as she prepared a new work for the Houston Symphony Orchestra. Listen to their conversation here. [mp3 file]
You might also enjoy her talk filmed by the Boston Symphony:


You might also want to hear some of Gusty's incredible music, played here by Rachel Barton Pine:

Composer Milton Babbitt

Host John Clare shares his interview and memories of the late Milton Babbitt. Read it here, including an unedited interview, outtakes and video.

More about Milton from his publisher G Schirmer: The compositional and intellectual wisdom of Milton Babbitt influenced a wide range of contemporary musicians. His broad array of distinguished musical achievements in the dodecaphonic system and important writings on the subject generated increased understanding and integration of serialist language into the eclectic musical styles of the late 20th century. Babbitt was also renowned for his great talent and instinct for jazz and his astonishing command of American popular music. His All Set, for jazz ensemble, reveals an extraordinary compositional flexibility, uniquely American and vintage Babbitt.
Babbitt, born on 10 May 1916 in Philadelphia, studied composition privately with Roger Sessions. He earned degrees from New York and Princeton Universities and was awarded honorary degrees from Middlebury College, Swarthmore College, New York University, the New England Conservatory, University of Glasgow, and Northwestern University. He taught at Princeton and The Juilliard School.
An extensive catalogue of works for multiple combinations of instruments and voice along with his pioneering achievements in synthesized sound made Babbitt one of the most celebrated of 20th-century composers. He was a founder and member of the Committee of Direction for the Electronic Music Center of Columbia-Princeton Universities and a member of the Editorial Board of Perspectives of New Music. The recipient of numerous honors, commissions, and awards, including a MacArthur Fellowship and a Pulitzer Prize Citation for his "life's work as a distinguished and seminal American composer," Babbitt was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

There are also great resources from NPR, American Music Center and more.

New composer in town

Violinist and Composer Daniel Kobialka has recently relocated to San Antonio. He stopped by the TPR studios for a chat with host John Clare. Hear some of his music and their conversation Thursday on Classical Spotlight.
You can also see Daniel in the studio here:

Artist Interview: Walden Chamber Players

The Walden Chamber Players were in town as part of their residency with Trinity University...they sat down with John Clare for an interview. Professor Carl Leafstedt also joined the talk, who coordinated the visit!

They also played a selection from their program, Saariaho's I feel a second heart:

Gil in SA

A great discussion about violin, concertos of the 1930s, and teaching:

Shaham in SA from Classical Spotlight on Vimeo.

Real winner of an interview!

Host John Clare spoke with Cliburn finalist Di Wu this weekend - she was in town to play Chopin with the Mid Texas Symphony. Listen to their conversation: (mp3 file)

Hear more insights with local performances and guest artists every Thursday afternoon at 2pm with Classical Spotlight!

RIP, Kunzel 1935-2009

We are sadden by the news of Erich Kunzel's death. (There is more @ the Cincinnati Enquirer) He leaves a large legacy of recordings, prominmently on Telarc with the Cincinnati Pops.

Last year TPR's Barry Brake spoke with the maestro during the Olympics. Listen to the interview: mp3 file

Founder of Round Top

The International Festival-Institute at Round Top continues through July 11th. Host John Clare recently sat down with James Dick, educator-pianist-founder of the festival.

Picturing Leif

"Modest Mussorgsky's famous suite ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ of 1874 is one of the most demanding pieces for solo piano. It proved so experimental that, over the years, hundreds of artists have taken the work as a starting point for new interpretations. Robin Rhode and I have joined forces and embarked on our journey – a new approach ... It’s an amazing adventure, and not without risks, but hopefully they are risks worth taking.” – Leif Ove Andsnes

Listen to an interview of Leif Ove Andsnes and host John Clare here about this project as well as his latest release. [mp3 file]

Leif Ove Andsnes embarks on a major project that marks a new departure for the internationally acclaimed pianist and exclusive EMI Classics artist. Together with South African-born visual artist Robin Rhode he has created a special program entitled “Pictures Reframed,” which centers around Mussorgsky’s epic piano suite Pictures at an Exhibition and combines music, film and still imagery. EMI Classics will release the project on both DVD and CD in fall 2009 and the world premiere takes place on November 13 (with a second performance on November 14) at New York’s Lincoln Center (Alice Tully Hall), followed by live performances in the United States and throughout Europe during November and December. StatoilHydro is the project’s commissioning sponsor and New York’s Lincoln Center is the commissioning arts institution.
Leif Ove Andsnes is usually alone and center stage in recital; however, for “Pictures Reframed” he will be flanked by an installation of five screens that will surround the piano, evoking a room within an exhibition. “There are pieces of music where you feel everything’s there, everything is said,” comments Andsnes. “Pictures at an Exhibition, however, is the opposite, making it a perfect composition to experiment with, since Mussorgsky’s music is incredibly strong but also very open and experimental. The main thing isn’t the notes themselves, but the composer’s grand vision. For me, therefore, the original version of the work remains almost as a sketch that is open for transformations and changes. You have this wild narrative of a person walking into an exhibition and he crashes into the first picture and is faced with various strong images and textures. Later in the cycle he becomes a part of the picture and it takes on so many aspects. It’s psychologically challenging.”
Leif Ove Andsnes and Robin Rhode share a fascination for Pictures at an Exhibition. Rhode had already been experimenting with images based on Mussorgsky’s work, and his 2008 digital animation “Promenade” has become the opening sequence for “Pictures Reframed”. With its colorful and constantly changing interplay between actor and drawing, it sets the scene fittingly for the musical narrative to follow. “I have always worked very closely with music,” Rhode says, “playing with the notion of rhythm and sound. This new project is not, therefore, so distant from my regular practice, although classical music has such an intense history and that will be a difficult challenge.”
Robin Rhode and Leif Ove Andsnes met for the first time in Munich in September 2007 and ideas for the program have been evolving ever since, moving from piano to studio and back to piano. One of their early meetings took place in a derelict Berlin factory where Rhode started to draw on a bare wall – a backdrop that is often featured in his work, stemming from his introduction to art on the streets of Johannesburg. As Rhode embellished the imaginary instrument, Andsnes stepped forward to perform on it, bringing another dimension to Rhode’s playful and often illusionary work.
Recently their adventure took them to Bergen where Andsnes performed in a disused shipyard as water rushed in. How a flooded piano (the same instrument that Leif Ove had previously played on top of a mountain, an image of which was used to promote his Grieg anniversary release) brings their collaboration to a climax will be revealed this fall as music and art converge on stage.
In addition to Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, “Pictures Reframed” will include Andsnes playing Schumann’s Kinderszenen and a new commission by Austrian composer Thomas Larcher, with whom Andsnes and Rhode have both worked in the past.
EMI Classics will release a special luxury collector's edition of “Pictures Reframed”. It will include a DVD and CD packaged together in an exhibition-catalogue-style hardback book with a wide selection of images from the creation and final performance version of the project. In addition, EMI will release a standard CD of a studio recording of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and other solo piano works by Mussorgsky, coupled with Schumann’s Kinderszenen.
Robin Rhode's new solo exhibition in the U.S., entitled “Catch Air”, opened at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio on 2nd April and runs until 26 July. He will also have a large-scale solo exhibition of new work at the Perry Rubenstein Gallery in New York during November 2009, in conjunction with the world premiere of “Pictures Reframed” at Lincoln Center on 13 November.
Norwegian TV (NRK) will film a preview performance of “Pictures Reframed” in Norway this summer, to be broadcast in the fall together with a documentary about the making of the project. The documentary will be syndicated for worldwide broadcast.

Tour dates for “Pictures Reframed” 2009
13 & 14 November: Premiere at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York
16 November: Calgary, Jack Singer Concert Hall
18 November: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
20 November: Washington, Terrace Theatre, Kennedy Center
22 November: Houston, Cullen Hall (matinee concert)
24 November: Brussels, Palais des Beaux–Arts
27 November: Moscow, Tchaikovsky Hall
29 November: Stockholm, Konserthuset
1 December: Hamburg, Kampnagel
2 December: Munich, Prinzregententheater Theater
4 December: London, Queen Elizabeth Hall (2 concerts)
7 December: Naples, venue tbc
9 December: Berlin, Radial System (2 concerts)
11 December: Paris, Theatre des Champs-Elysées
13 December: Copenhagen, Koncerthuset
17 December: Stavanger, Concert Hall
18 December: Oslo, Concert Hall
20 December: Cologne, Philharmonie
2010
16 March: Beijing
29 March: Abu Dhabi

Artist Interview: Sharon Isbin

The latest from guitarist Sharon Isbin is a release called Journey to the New World. Besides her own arrangements, she is joined by guest artists Joan Baez and Mark O'Connor. Host John Clare had a chance to speak with Isbin about the new release.
Listen to the interview here. (mp3 file)

Be sure to listen to Classical Spotlight Thursday afternoons for more great artist insights, and check out our weekly podcasts here.

Artist Interview: Leif Ove Andsnes

The latest release by Leif Ove Andsnes is music by Dalbavie, Lutoslawski, Kurtag and Sorenson. The disc includes two concerti and solo piano music. Host John Clare spoke with Andsnes about the music and upcoming projects.
Listen to the interview here (mp3 file).

Andsnes presents a new project with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition this fall.

5 Browns have the answer

The Five Browns recently played in Kerrville - two concerts and an outreach program for youth & seniors. Part of the outreach featured the siblings taking questions from the audience...this is what they were asked:

You can hear the Five Browns in concert at the Callioux Theater in Kerrville for KPAS this Sunday afternoon, May 17th at noon on KPAC & KTXI.

Maestro Rossen Milanov

Texas Public Radio will speak with all the candidates for the San Antonio Symphony Music Director Search and have them on Classical Spotlight. You'll get a chance to learn more about the maestros - don't forget to attend the symphony and fill out the questionaire as well!

This week we talk with Rossen Milanov. John Clare asked about the program and music.