Big guns

The latest "big name" classical performer has been announced for June 2011: In celebration of Mexico's 100th Anniversary, Placido Domingo will perform a romantic concert of opera, zarzuela, tango and Mariachi favorites accompanied by guest artists and a full symphony orchestra. Find out more at SAOpera: http://www.saopera.com/placido_domingo/

In January, pianist Lang Lang plays Rachmaninoff with the San Antonio Symphony. Information here: http://www.sasymphony.org/index3_1011.php?eventIdD=53
A recital by Itzahk Perlman takes place in March:
http://www.stradviolin.com/spotlight-events/itzhak-perlman-march-19-2011-7-30pm-lila-cockrell-theater-san-antonio-tx.html
Also in March, Yo-Yo Ma comes to town with the Silk Road Ensemble:
http://www.artssanantonio.com/IndividualPrograms/Yo-YoMa/

Simple gift ideas

Still shopping for that right gift for that person? Didn't find what you wanted on Black Friday or Cyber Monday?
Check out our suggestions from the KPAC staff for your holiday needs: http://www.tpr.org/articles/2010/12/simplegifts.html
There's more to come, as well as the year's best of list and don't forget to check out the KPAC 100: http://www.tpr.org/articles/2009/09/kpac100.html

Stay abreast of holiday concerts this season too on Classical Spotlight, Thursday afternoons at 1pm on KPAC & KTXI.

Composer Award - Grawemeyer

Congratulations to Louis Andriessen for winning the University of Louisville’s 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition. He received the award for La Commedia, his fourth opera. This year’s award is $100,000.


He was also Musica America's Composer of the Year 2010.  You can learn more about him and his music here, including a free cd-rom!

Home of the Fighting Turkeys?

Benjamin Franklin thought the Meleagris gallopavo, or Wild American Turkey would be the best avian symbol of our country. He explains in a letter to his daughter…

"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Since Thanksgiving is the quintessential American Holiday and the turkey isn't quite gone from our refrigerators yet, on the Piano this Sunday we present a U.S. program with American composers, not imitating Europeans, but making music that best exemplifies life in this country.
There is Charles Ives, hard nosed and brilliant, Virgil Thompson's take on American mythology with George Washington and the Cherry Tree and a Texas boy, David Guion and music close to every Westerner's heart.

The Piano, hear it this Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC & KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Classical Spotlight: Thanks!

NUTS ABOUT TCHAIKOVSKY
Delight your whole family with this cherished tradition — The Nutcracker, performed by the San Antonio Symphony and Ballet San Antonio. Don’t miss this charming classic. It’s a holiday celebration for the whole Family! Starting Friday November 26 to December 5 at the Majestic. Find out more at http://www.sasymphony.org/ or http://www.balletsanantonio.org/

ENCORE, ENCORE!
The first concert of our 2010-2011 “Musical Evenings at San Fernando Cathedral” series, this concert will feature Russian artists Mark Cheiket, violin, and Elena Portnaya, piano, performing an entrancing program of all-time violin favorites, from their new CD, Encore! CDs will be available for signing after the concert, during the delicious dessert reception catered by Giovanni’s.
Please visit http://www.musicalbridges.org/ for more information.

CHRISTMAS FAVORITES – ALL THAT JAZZ
December 2 at 12:10pm First Presbyterian Church in San Antonio presents their first Midday Noel 2010! Join the Mark Little Trio as they perform the Christmas music of the jazz legend, Vince Guaraldi. The Trio appears regularly at Old San Francisco Steak House and includes Little (piano), George Prado (bass) and Kevin Hess (drums). You’ll hear “music of the spirit” that began with his musical foundation "in the church" in Amarillo, Texas, where he was born and raised. Little began piano lessons at the age of four, studying with the director of his church choir. Mastering the music quickly, he played by rote and then, flying in the face of tradition, he expanded with his own versions. Far from putting down her student as a musical vandal, his teacher enthusiastically encouraged him toward further innovation, a path Little has pursued ever since. A Full Lunch will be served in Westminster Hall after each concert for $7.00 and a “Grab & Go” Sack Lunch will be available as you exit the Sanctuary for $3.00.
More at http://www.fpconline.org/

ON THE RISE
December 2 the Symphony of the Hills has Rising Stars- featuring Collin Turner, violin; Evana Toll, string bass; and a new composition by young composer Jonathan Willing. Jay Dunnahoo directs. There's more information at http://www.symphonyofthehills.org/

HOW DO YOU GET TO CARNEGIE
Tenor Donald Braswell II joins Tim Janis for the American Christmas Carol Tour next week. This tour features Tim’s music, choir and singer/songwriter Jim Cole. Next Thursday, December 2nd at Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage with The Tim Janis Singers (200 voices) and the 94 piece Tim Janis Youth Symphony Orchestra and special guests Sarah Darling, Emily Bear, Eli Mattson, Jim Cole, Chandler and Ryan Lutz.
There's more at http://www.donaldbraswell.com/ and http://www.timjanis.com/news.htm

CCSA EXPANDS
The Children’s Chorus of San Antonio (CCSA) is moving uptown! Starting January 20, 2011, CCSA will launch a new training choir outside of Loop 1604 to reach families in Stone Oak and neighboring communities. This ensemble is the latest in a series of new programs designed to reach young artists across San Antonio with the same great experiences that are a hallmark of the organization. Singers will participate in weekly rehearsals that nurture their artistic and personal potential through a comprehensive curriculum of performance and instruction. They will also have the opportunity to develop the confidence, poise, maturity, self-esteem, and self-discipline necessary for success in music and success in life.
Following are the details on CCSA’s new Junior Chorus North (JCN) program:
· JCN is open to boys and girls currently in grades 3-5
· Rehearsals will be held on Thursdays from 4:30 – 6:10pm at Northern Hills UMC, 3703 North Loop 1604 East, starting January 20, 2011. JCN singers will participate in concerts on March 27 and May 1, 2011.
· JCN conductor is Amy Ballenger, CCSA alumna and choral director at Bradley Middle School in NEISD.
· Space in JCN is limited to the first 60 singers to complete registration; no auditions are necessary! Cost for JCN is $165 and includes all materials.
· Registration is available online at http://www.childrenschorussa.org/ or by calling 210.826.3447. Deadline for registration is January 1, 2011.

REVEL IN RAVEL & BEETHOVEN
The Claremont Trio's newest cd is Beethoven & Ravel. Host John Clare recently spoke to Julia and Emily from the Claremont Trio while in NYC.


NOT A MUSICAL TRAMP
When sound came rushing in, Charlie Chaplin remained steadfastly a silent comic, producing his two greatest films, City Lights (1931), and nearly a decade after the introduction of sound, Modern Times (1936). By the mid 1930s, Chaplin had over two decades of experience on screen honing his Little Tramp persona. Perhaps because it was my first experience with Chaplin, but Modern Times, although the Tramp’s last appearance on screen, is my favorite Chaplin film. As a romantic comedy, it works well, but as a satire on “modern” life, it works superbly, and still does to this day. And it is deliriously funny.
TPR's Nathan Cone explains Charlie Chaplin was not only a genius filmmaker, but a gifted composer with a new Blu-ray and DVD of "Modern Times." More at: http://www.tpr.org/articles/2010/11/cinema-keaton.html

Find out more about Classical Spotlight and hear the interviews online at: http://tpr.org/programs/classicalspotlight.html

Giving Thanks Key

This Thanksgiving I want to give thanks for the people with whom I make MUSIC. There are many of them: INSPIRED composers that create, MUSICIANS that realize a composer's dream, people who 'ORCHESTRATE' the means by which we make the music, to the receivers of the music -- the AUDIENCE.

This circle is a GIFT. We share something so beautiful, fulfilling, so RECHARGING. We connect in shared desire to reach out, to COMMUNICATE the soul of the music that touches us so deeply.

The music and people with whom I play have made me WHO I AM today.

I love them all. I owe them all. Thank you for YOU -- all of you!

Stephanie Key
Artistic Director & Founder, SOLI
Assistant Principal Clarinetist, San Antonio Symphony

Giving Thanks Oboe

If I have a “main” story about gratitude in meeting a musician, it is my longtime friend Warren Jones that I have to talk about.
I started graduate school at the San Francisco Conservatory in the fall of 1974. The graduate school class was small – 20 or so. Many of us had accomplished some good things as musicians, but one of us, Warren Jones, was rumored to be the most significant of us. I didn’t know him at all.
We took a class together that met in the evening. Around dinner time I was in a practice room, working on the Oboe Concerto by Richard Strauss. The door burst open.
“Do you have a piano score for that?”
It was Warren. He’s a good bit taller than me and in those days dressing in ways that I would have to call bold and colorful. I was intimidated to say the least.
“Yes I do,” I said.
“Well let me play it.”
So Warren sat down at the piano in the practice room and started to play the first movement with me. It suddenly made musical sense that it hadn’t made before. Suddenly there was time for all the things I needed to do, breathe, extra time to elongate or emphasize part of a phrase, and much more. Now I knew why Warren had the reputation that exceeded the rest of us by so much.

Now, 36 years later, I have been on the stage performing with Warren more times than I can count. We’ve been close friends ever since that day. Every time I work with Warren, I emerge from the collaboration a better musician.
If I can sum up, in a few words, why he is so wonderful, it is this: He is never in a hurry. There’s always more time in the music than one might think. Tiny adjustments to tempo, a few percent, I mean, are easy for him, in a way that they are not for most of us.
If you want to know more about Warren, look at his website, http://www.warrenjones.com/. If you want to hear him play, keep your eye on the Olmos Ensemble concerts. His performance for this season is passed, already, but he’ll be back next season.
The recording I’ve submitted to John Clare with this story is from the Olmos Ensemble’s concert on October 26th. It is the Three Romances, composed by Robert Schumann, for oboe and piano. Schumann wrote something beautiful when writing these and also something treacherously difficult, causing fatigue in an oboist that can really limit the expressive range of the pieces. Warren plays them in such a way as to make room for phrasing and breathing in such a way that the pieces are as easy to play as they could possibly be.
(click on the link below to hear their performance)

Romance 1
Romance 2
Romance 3

Happy listening, Happy Thanksgiving!
Mark Ackerman

Giving Thanks Double Bass

I’m thankful for having had the opportunity to study the double bass under John Schaeffer, retired Principal Bass of the New York Philharmonic. Schaeffer was a demanding teacher who taught me the most important lesson of all—you have to take the responsibility to teach yourself. Even though I don’t play the double bass anymore, he is still one of the biggest influences of my life.
Schaeffer was a great bassist, a real expert on orchestral playing and somewhat of a caricature of a gruff New York Philharmonic musician. Unless he was on stage, you almost never saw him without a big cigar in his mouth. He was opinionated about other musicians and he never minced words about any student’s playing. I once asked him about a legendary bassist of the previous generation who had died before I was born, but with whom Schaeffer had played with when he first got to the New York Philharmonic. His response was, “He was so bad he didn’t even know how to turn the page in the music!”
Schaeffer hated the bureaucracy of The Juilliard School. I’ll never forget registration one year. I finally got up to the head of long line (this is before the era of computerized registration) and met the Registrar. She said, “YOU! You’re one of those Schaeffer students!” I meekly replied, “Yes.” She then said I should tell my teacher to get down to the office and pick up his paychecks IMMEDIATELY. It seems Schaeffer refused to set foot in the administrative offices and the school refused to mail him his check. This stalemate had gone on for more than a year and was disrupting their accounting system!
Another one of his students loved to go to downtown jazz clubs. Schaeffer knew that this student had been out very late the previous night, so he called him at 8 a.m. the next morning. He asked, “Did I wake you up?” The student replied, (barely audibly) “Yes.” Schaeffer yelled, “GOOD, now get up and practice!”
Schaeffer only accepted three students at a time and he never got involved in school politics. He wasn’t the most famous or most popular teacher in New York at the time. But, he was an amazing teacher. Most of my lessons were at his house in Queens. I’d meet him backstage at Avery Fisher Hall after a Philharmonic rehearsal and we would drive out to his house. He had a huge mirror in this studio and we played facing the mirror. I was required to play everything by memory, so I could look into the mirror and analyze my technique. He also required me to solfège (singing with syllables do, re, me, etc.) every piece before I was allowed to play it on the bass. He didn’t want technique to influence the musical interpretation.
We spent an enormous amount of time on etudes and orchestral music. He wasn’t interested in flashy concertos. He said to me, “A bassist’s job is to fart in the right place.” He believed the orchestral repertoire was the most important music to learn. Most of my lessons lasted three hours and we went over and over and over a passage until he was satisfied. He’d ask me, “Is it in tune? Is the tone right? Was the rhythm perfect? What is the phrasing? Is it even? What about the articulation?” All this for a simple passage that most teachers wouldn’t even review in a lesson! We played these orchestral passages over and over again, until I could HEAR the most subtle differences. After a lesson, I’d take the subway back to Manhattan. I was often so exhausted by the intense experience that I’d fall asleep on the train.
Schaeffer had a fantastic collection of old Italian basses and French bows. He was very generous, loaning me instruments and bows for all my years at The Juilliard School. He said he did it because he hated to listen to student’s lousy instruments. But, we knew that wasn’t the real reason. He was trying to teach us very subtle differences in sound. When you regularly play a great 300-year old instrument, you learn to produce sound differently. He had six instruments in his house and another at Lincoln Center, so he could let us learn on a variety of great basses.
So, Happy Thanksgiving Mr. Schaeffer. And thank you for pushing me so hard all those many years ago.

Jack Fishman
Former double bassist and
Currently President & CEO
San Antonio Symphony

Giving Thanks for Role Models

Throughout a lifetime, we all encounter numerous teachers, some better than others. If we're lucky, we might even encounter a teacher whose lessons linger forever.

I believe most musicians have an inner  voice which we rely upon when the chips are down and we are trying to do something extraordinary. That voice, I believe, is often that of our truest teacher. The voice which always speaks to me at such times is that of Wayne Barrington, my French horn teacher during my years at UT Austin in the late 60s and early 70s. He is my role model and I give thanks each time I hold my horn in my hand for all he gave me . But it's much more than that. Mr. Barrington's lessons were foremost about playing the horn, but many times he also taught discipline, honor and integrity. For those life lessons I give thanks.

In June of this year, a number of Mr. Barrington's former students gathered to honor him for the myriad lessons he offered us over his long years as an educator and role model. I am thankful we had this opportunity to again say thank you to such an extraordinary man. Thank you, Maestro.

-Contributed by James Baker-

Giving Thanks: Dr. Timothy Kramer

I am thankful for the friendship and guidance of former Trinity University professor Timothy Kramer. Kramer, who is now the chair of the Music Department at Illinois College, was one of my favorite professors while I was a student at Trinity.


Although I was not a music major, nor did I even minor in music, I did hang about the department a fair amount. Two of the courses I took were Electronic Music and Music Composition, both taught by Dr. Kramer.

Electronic Music was fantastic because we students got to play with an incredible collection of musical toys, including synthesizers, voltage-controlled oscillators, wave generators, and many, many other noisemakers. And I’ll never forget the first day of Composition class, when Dr. Kramer knocked a music stand over on the floor and asked us “How do you like my piece?” He was illustrating the infinite possibilities that came with the modern definition of music. Creating a framework and rules from which we constructed our pieces was then part of the learning process for us all. Hearing my final project that semester, scored for oboe, piano, double bass, and percussion, performed live, is still one of the great musical joys of my life.

His enthusiasm for innovation and musical experimentation was infectious. Thank you Dr. Tim Kramer!

Nathan Cone, Director of Classical Programming, TU Class of 1995.