YouTube Symphony with SA Bassist!

Congrats to bassist David Milburn - who will fly to Australia this March to play a new work by Mason Bates in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra!!!

Dave plays with the San Antonio Symphony and teaches privately in the area.

YouTube today announced the 101 musicians who have been selected to form YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 at Sydney Opera House. The announcement was made after a global audition held online at YouTube.com/Symphony. The winning musicians will be flown to Sydney for a week of rehearsals and concerts from March 14-20, 2011, with a final performance on March 20 that will be live-streamed around the world.
The 97 members of YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 come from more than 30 countries, and range in age from 14 to 49 years old. They include amateur and professional musicians, students and teachers, and include some who have never set foot outside their home country. In addition, four soloists have been selected to perform an improvisation to a piece composed specifically for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra by American composer Mason Bates. Invited to audition on the instrument of their choice, the selected soloists performed on electric guitar (Brazil), violin (USA), the guzheng (China), and electric double bass (Australia). For more information on the orchestra members and soloists, visit YouTube.com/Symphony.
“The applicants for this year’s YouTube Symphony Orchestra have been truly outstanding,” noted Michael Tilson Thomas, Conductor and Artistic Advisor. “It has been inspiring to listen to such excellent music-making by people from all over the world, and to see the great reaction from the online community to the auditions. I am looking forward to getting together with everybody in March and creating a fine orchestra.”
After an online audition period on YouTube last fall, a panel of experts selected more than 300 finalists from 46 countries based on skill and technique. Nine orchestras around the world participated in the judging, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, and Sydney Symphony. During a week of online voting in December, the YouTube user community gave their input on the finalists. Online votes were then taken into consideration by Michael Tilson Thomas in selecting the final orchestra.
In March, 2011, the musicians will be flown to the iconic setting of Sydney Opera House to participate in a week-long classical music summit with Grammy Award-winning conductor Michael Tilson Thomas and leading performers in the field, culminating in a final performance on March 20, 2011, which will be live-streamed on YouTube. The YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011 focuses on celebrating musical education, offering online master classes with orchestras around the world and classes for Australian musicians during the summit week.
YouTube Symphony Orchestra is one of several collaborative efforts by YouTube to push the boundaries of music, art, and film. Along with the film project Life in a Day, and YouTube Play, a collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum, YouTube Symphony Orchestra is an example of the convergence of online video with more traditional art forms.
US Winners, by location: Scottsdale, AZ; Irvine, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Palo Alto, CA; San Francisco, CA; Denver, CO; New Haven, CT; Boca Raton, FL; Miami, FL; Naples, FL; Orlando, FL; Evanston, IL; Bloomington, IN; Ann Arbor, MI; New York, NY; Rochester, NY; Oberlin, OH; Cleveland, OH; Mingo Junction, OH; Wayne, PA; Austin, TX; Sugar Land, TX; Dallas, TX; Fort Worth, TX; San Antonio, TX; Woodinville, WA; Spokane, WA; Milwaukee, WI. Bayamon, Puerto Rico.

Classical on Hulu

Having a little time off host John Clare stumble upon some great classical movies and performances online...here are two wonderful examples on Hulu:
The entire War Requiem by Benjamin Britten, with a film by Derek Jarman


Also, this classic 1939 movie featuring Jascha Heifetz (including music by Mendelssohn, Saint-Saens and more!) They Shall Have Music

Wild to see Walter Brennan as a conductor (he doesn't do too bad!) instead of a cowboy!

Bach's Christmas Oratorio concludes this Sunday

Johann Sebastian Bach composed a great deal of sacred music and these works were to lead the congregation into the spirit of the church year. To incorporate the six Sundays of Christmas, Bach took cantatas dealing with the Holiday season and combined them into his Christmas Oratorio. This Sunday KPAC broadcasts the last part of this work which takes its text from the book of Matthew and tells the story of Herod's scheming to destroy the coming Messiah. This cantata features a new recording with Riccardo Chailly and the Gewandhaus Orchestra.

Join Ron Moore this Sunday afternoon at 2 for this spirited performance of this Holiday classic on KPAC & KTXI.

Success in the Music Industry!

Not a headline we see nowadays, but during the golden age of the piano, students were flocking to the best teachers and their conservatories. An out and out success would describe the careers of Franz Xaver and Phillip Scharwenka. It doesn't matter if you are speaking about their teaching careers, concerts given, or their compositions. On the Piano this Sunday hear music from these Polish pianist/ composers from the best of the Good old days.

The Piano broadcast at 5 Sunday afternoon on KPAC & KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Classical Spotlight: SLL and tangos

Classical Spotlight focuses on two concerts this weekend, Tango Buenos Aires and the San Antonio Symphony!
Friday night at 8pm at the Carver Cultural Center, see and hear Tango Buenos Aires.


Also Friday night, the San Antonio Symphony celebrates the 200th anniversary of Franz Liszt's birth.
Here is Sebastian Lang Lessing talking about the concert repertory:

Hear Dvorak's New World Symphony and Liszt tone poems Friday and Saturday night at 8pm at the Majestic. More at sasymphony.org.

Game on!

Lang Lang comes to San Antonio this next Wednesday, January 12th to play Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto.  He also has recorded the soundtrack for Sony Playstation's blockbuster video game Gran Turismo® 5. The soundtrack features famous piano works by Chopin, J.S. Bach, Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Joplin, Holst and Beethoven throughout various parts of the game. Prokofiev's Precipitato appears prominently in its entirety in the first half of the opening sequence of Gran Turismo® 5. To see the performance, click here: http://us.gran-turismo.com/us/news/d5484.html.
Lang Lang says: "Gran Turismo is the most exciting racing game in the world and I have been a fan of it for many years. I feel honored to have this opportunity to connect with people who have never been in a concert hall before and show them that classical music is not just a part of history, but is actually very present and relevant today."
Lang Lang, Brand Ambassador for Sony Corporation, is known for his affinity for new technologies and his constant endeavors to bring classical music to the largest possible audience. His involvement in the official soundtrack for Gran Turismo® 5 marks a new chapter in the artist's synergetic approach to combine classical music with new technology.
In celebration of the holidays, Lang Lang also recorded a song called "A Sony Christmas Carol" which serves as the music bed for the UK Sony Christmas TV commercial for the ‘VAT-back' campaign. The commercial features actor Sir Derek Jacobi as Ebenezer Scrooge in a modern day portrayal of the Christmas classic "A Christmas Carol" and includes an epic 2-minute "mini-movie" version. The score includes a virtuosic piano part written especially for Lang Lang by leading young film composer Ilan Eshkeri, whose credits include Stardust, Kick-Ass and The Young Victoria. It was supported by a 35 piece orchestra and recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios.
About the score Lang Lang says "Recording the music for this advertisement was hugely enjoyable, Ilan's score perfectly complements each part of the storyline, and the uplifting ending is a great moment. So much is communicated in the two minutes that you almost feel as though you have watched an entire movie!"
To view the commercial please click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLJdBv6d3PM

You can view behind the scenes footage of Lang Lang performing the music for the commercial at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPTTGld-DRo

Recently, Lang Lang released his Sony Classical debut CD Live In Vienna on LP, various CD and DVD formats including a Blu-Ray Disc featuring "Lang Lang – The Third Dimension" filmed in 3D.

Dudamel on the screens

The LA Phil's music director Gustavo Dudamel appears on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno this evening. Watch part 1 of the interview here.

This weekend the LA Phil hits the silver screen in a concert program. Find out more information here.
January 9: Dudamel conducts Beethoven 7
During this LIVE broadcast, Dudamel leads a program of passionate, vigorous music by three different composers, each of whom expresses that passion in a highly individual style. The highlight is Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 – his ebullient, life-affirming symphony that achieved instant popular acclaim lasting to this day. Also featured is the Stravinsky-inspired Slonimsky’s Earbox written by acclaimed American composer John Adams (Nixon in China), and Leonard Bernstein’s powerful First Symphony, "Jeremiah," a profoundly personal account of the Book of Lamentations.

March 13: Dudamel conducts Tchaikovsky
This all-Tchaikovsky program features his three Overture-Fantasies inspired by Shakespeare plays – Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and The Tempest. Interspersed between these wonderful symphonic poems will be readings from the Bard’s immortal works by a cast of leading actors.

June 5: Dudamel conducts Brahms 4
Power and beauty can be heard throughout Brahms’ Fourth Symphony, from the tragic first movement – the composer at his most dramatic and passionate – through the requiem-like second and surprisingly joyful third, to the climactic final chords of the forceful last movement. Dudamel also is joined by brothers Renaud and Gautier Capuçon for Brahms’ towering Double Concerto, Brahms’ final orchestral work.

In San Antonio, there are five theaters you can go and see these concerts: http://www.fathomevents.com/upcoming/locations/78229/01/09/2011/PerformingArts/event/laphil_beethoven.aspx

Tailor made for Karr

This was sent from Jose Serebrier about an upcoming Bass World article on his concerto written for Gary Karr:
Garr Karr on being in two places at once?
How would you like to record Nueve with the Bournemouth Symphony in June of next year? - Before giving my answer to José Serebrier, several thoughts popped into my mind. I had to tell him that I no longer traveled anywhere by plane with my bass and that I had retired in 2001. Also, it had been several decades since I last performed Nueve, and I couldn’t remember the music. I hated saying “no” to Serebrier, but I couldn’t come up with a polite response that would reflect my joy in having been asked. So, after telling him about my retirement, I said, “give me a few days to think about it, and I’ll get back to you.” I then pulled out my score of the aleatoric, twelve-tone-like piece, and was struck once again, after all these years, by its inherent lyricism and long phrases—which is my cup of tea! I really wanted to be involved in the project, but the thought of traveling all the way to England with my bass was a strong deterrent. The increasing problem of flying with my instrument was one of the main reasons why I took early retirement.

Since Nueve was written specifically for me, Serebrier had my sound in his mind, and it was that soloistic double bass sound that he wanted on the recording. He urged me to think about it some more. So, for several weeks I gave the matter considerable thought. Then the phone rang. It was Serebrier and I never heard him so excited! My first thought was that in his inimitable style he had found a way to bring the entire Bournemouth Symphony to Victoria, Canada (where I live), to record Nueve. He said, “I was talking to Carole who had a great idea.” Carole Farley, his wife (I played at their wedding!), is a Metropolitan Opera star who became famous in her soprano roles in Salome and Lulu. Carole said to José, “Since much of the solo bass writing is without orchestra accompaniment, perhaps Gary would be willing to record the solo line in the comfort of his own private studio?” I was trapped. How could I say, “No” to such a logical and easy solution? “OK,” I said to José. “I’ll record my part, send it to you for your expert opinion, and then you can decide if it’ll work. This is what Serebrier later had to say:

“After discussions with the production team, we agreed that it was a great idea for this particular work. By the way, my friend Thomas Shepard, ex-CEO of RCA/BMG, and a producer of some 500 recordings (mostly with the Philadelphia Orchestra including Ormandy) recently made an opera recording (Naxos) with the London Symphony Orchestra, and added all the singers later in NY! You cannot tell the difference. What matters most in recording are the final results.”

He also told me that the recording engineer would be Phil Rowlands, with whom I worked before, and who is regarded as one of the top men in the business.

There were still two problems that I wanted Serebrier to address. I suggested that a real actor instead of me should read the Shelley poems included in Nueve. His response was, “You recited the words wonderfully in many of our concerts together in Cleveland, Cape Town etc., but I’ll ask Simon Callow, the great British actor, if he’ll consider doing it.” Fortunately for me, since I was a big fan of his, Callow loved the idea and eventually recorded, in London, six versions of the poems from which Serebrier could choose for the recording. My other concern was the short pizzicato sections that I felt should be done by another bassist at the recording session who can work in conjunction with the drums. To my delight, Serebrier said, “It’s a brilliant idea because the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is blessed with one of the best bass players I have encountered.” He then later emailed me, “I am delighted to tell you that the wonderful, brilliant solo bass of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, David Daly, is quite happy to record the jazz passages in Nueve. I know you will be pleased.” And indeed I was!

This is what José Serebrier wrote about the music:
NUEVE
“I wrote Nueve for and in homage to Gary Karr, commissioned by the Plainfield Symphony Orchestra for their 50th anniversary. Gary Karr was living in Plainfield, New Jersey at the time. We premiered it there, and played it in Cleveland and even in South Africa among other places.
I wrote it during my two seasons as composer-in-residence of the Cleveland Orchestra, as a companion piece to my harp concerto "Colores Mágicos." Both concertos have much in common: aleatoric writing, distance between the musicians, and most disturbing for conductors: no bar lines at all. Conductors can’t do what they do basically: beat time. The harp piece became a ballet with the Joffrey Ballet, and toured the United States. In it, the only musician on the stage was the harp soloist, with the orchestra in the pit, like in an opera. In Nueve, the solo bass is surrounded by the string orchestra, while the only woodwinds, two clarinets, are ‘incognito’ in the audience. During one of the variations, a jazz segment, the two clarinetists stand up and play along, surprising the unsuspecting audience. At the climax of the jazz variation, the brass erupts in the balcony. All along, the soloist also reads poetry, a poem by Shelley. While in the concerts Gary Karr did the poetry reading beautifully, for the recording he suggested an actor do it, and we had the great fortune to have the incomparable Simon Callow. At the end of Nueve, while the orchestra reaches a tremendous climax on one note in unison, a choir emerges from the distance and can be heard in an ethereal chant, adding an element of timelessness and perhaps eeriness. This is in direct contrast to the noisy jazz variation in which two opposite jazz drummers have a sort of ‘combat,’ alternating and finally joining in the game. The work has nine variations, and uses mostly nine notes. The reason for the title and the concept was that my New York apartment was, and remains, on 99th street, on the 9th floor. Nueve, of course, is Spanish for nine. While it may be a ‘period piece,’ unsurprising at the time it was conceived, something about its concept remains close to me, and is not different in its ultimate message to previous or later works, regardless of the different language used.”

As they say in the UK, I’m “gobsmacked” and absolutely delighted with the finished product. It’s an engineering and musical tour de force.

Take a look at the cd here. Listen for it on KPAC & KTXI!

SLL on LL

This month, Lang Lang joins the San Antonio Symphony for Rachmaninoff's Second Piano Concerto. Music Director Sebastian Lang Lessing discusses meeting Lang Lang years ago:


There's more information, including tickets for the San Antonio Symphony and Lang Lang here: http://www.sasymphony.org/

Happy Horn New Year

Here's to a bright new shiny year, 2011! Enjoy the latest from Genghis Barbie, a modern horn quartet:

They also have a new website, http://genghisbarbie.com/
and will be live on radio January 12th here: http://sevenseconddelay.blogspot.com/ on WFMU 91.1FM, Jersey City, NJ & 90.1FM, Mount Hope, NY.