Aisle Be Seeing You

Pianist Ingrid Fliter's recital reviewed

Three reviews have appeared to date of Ingrid Fliter's Boston debut recital this past Sunday:

The Boston Globe (David Perkins)

The Arts Fuse (Caldwell Titcomb)

The Hub Review (Thomas Garvey)

Student rush tickets avail. for pianist Fliter's recital Nov. 1

$20 student rush tickets are available for this Sunday's Jordan Hall recital by Argentine pianist Ingrid Fliter. More details on student rush tickets are available here.

Berlin, Germany and the Celebrity Series

Several things have us meditating on Germany in general and Berlin in particular this season (no, not Berlin, New Hampshire, watch the video!). For one we are presenting a remarkable and somewhat coincidental array of German performers and works in 2009-2010. And many of them are indeed from Berlin. So, Bostonians, once you finish watching Berlin in 3-D, take a look at Germany coming to your own back yard:

1. The Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, make their return visit to Symphony Hall within a week of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. (November 15, Symphony Hall)

2. Violinist Christian Tetzlaff, though he was born in Hamburg and lives near Frankfurt, is certainly German. Tetzlaff will perform an unaccompanied violin recital that will feature works by J.S.  Bach, among others. (January 31, NEC’s Jordan Hall)

3. The Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet, as the name implies, is made up of first chair players from their venerable parent ensemble. The orchestra has been here before, of course, but this concert is the Wind Quintet's Boston debut. (February 5, NEC’s Jordan Hall)

4. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra will play an all-Beethoven program under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Chailly and featuring Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire. (February 25, Symphony Hall)

5. The Berlin-based Artemis String Quartet makes its Boston debut with an all-Beethoven program (March 5, NEC’s Jordan Hall)

6. Max Raabe & Palast Orchester capture the elegant decadence of pre-war Berlin of the 1920s and 30s in a program called “A Night in Berlin.” (March 6, Paramount Theatre, 2 shows)

7. German-born bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff, in addition to being a truly gifted singer and profound communicator, is also  a teacher at Berlin’s Hans Eisler School of Music. His May 2 recital will feature works by German composer Johannes Brahms, among others.(May 2, NEC's Jordan Hall)

Flicka's "Goodbye without tears"

Mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade - "Flicka" as she has long been known - called it quits this past weekend, at least as far as Boston recitals are concerned. At her Farewell Recital (and Celebrity Series 09-10 season opening performance) with her friend Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on Sunday she seemed to be serious about retiring, but it was not a sad occasion. As farewells go, this one was mostly about smiles, lightness and a fun afternoon with good friends: remarkable perhaps for its unremarkableness. But Flicka has always known how to put audiences at ease; melodrama is not her style. David Perkins, reviewing for the Globe, put it well:

"The afternoon ended, as it should have, with von Stade by herself, in a favorite encore, "La Vie en Rose." She sang it with a perfect blend of tonal warmth, expansive phrasing, and fine guttural French. It was a goodbye without tears."

Read all of Von Stade bids farewell to Boston.

Flicka & Kiri's additions & encores

The "TBA" selections and encores have all been sung and a good time was had by all. The two illustrious singers may have had the best time of all ...

Additional selections announced from the stage:

Ambroise Thomas
"Me voici dans son boudoir" from Mignon

Daniel Schmitt & Marc Berthomien
from Jardins de Paris
Jardin d'Albert Kahn
Bois du Boulogne  

George Gershwin
Summertime  

Cole Porter
By Strauss  

Carol Hall
Jenny Rebecca  

Jake Heggie
A Route to the Sky 

Gioachino Rossini
Duetto buffo di due gatti  

Encores:

Cole Porter
True Love  

Louiguy
La Vie En Rose

Berlin Philharmonic excerpt of Brahms Symphony No. 3

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in Brahms' Symphony No. 3 in this excerpt from a November 2008 performance. The full concert is available (for a fee, of course) here.

But I could hardly call myself your special blog friend (blogfreund?) if I didn't also tell you that the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle will play Brahms' Symphony No. 3 here in Boston on November 15.

WGBH program ad

The Celebrity Series is putting the finishing touches on the program book (you know, that little book they hand you with the names of the pieces to be played in it, among other things) for the new season and I wanted to share this cute/fun new ad submitted by our friends at WGBH:

Happy to take the stairs, thanks.

Bobby McFerrin: The power of the pentatonic scale

Bobby McFerrin uses the audience at the World Science Festival 2009 to demonstrate the power of the pentatonic scale.

We don't know that Bobby will do this same demonstration at his Celebrity Series concert (March 21, Symphony Hall), but he always brings his version of amazing.

All 2009-2010 Celebrity Series performances are now on sale.

Every Celebrity Series 2009-2010 performance on sale Monday, September 14!

Every performance in the Celebrity Series of Boston 2009-2010 season is on sale on from 9am to 5pm (regular box office hours 10-4) this Monday morning, September 14. Call (617) 482-6661 or visit http://www.celebrityseries.org anytime. Start your engines!

Individual tickets for our 2009-2010 season go on sale September 14!

That's right, peeps, you all know that Celebrity Series subscriptions (3 or more shows) have been available since April, but starting September 14 those of you who have not been able to find 3 or more performances to your liking (should be about 4 people by my count) can now buy the one or two shows you have your heart set on.

It all starts Monday, September 14.

You can buy your tickets online at www.celebrityseries.org or by calling CelebrityCharge at (617) 482-6661 and talk to one of our friendly box office wizards, they'll take good care of you.