Aisle Be Seeing You

Lang Lang's program and personal reflections

Lang Lang and his broad reach

Pianist Lang Lang has announced the program for his January 28 Celebrity Series recital at Symphony Hall. It is typically expansive and challenging, taking the piano star from Mozart and Liszt to Catalan pianist, composer (and even painter) Enrique Granados and traditional Chinese songs. Lang Lang has also offered his personal reflections on the program (to be included in the concert's program book), available here.

Mozart, Piano Sonata No. 13 in B flat major, K. 333
Schumann, Fantasie for piano in C major, Op. 17
6 Traditional Chinese Works
Granados, Goyescas, H. 64
Liszt, Isoldens Liebestod: Schlußszene aus Tristan und Isolde, transcription for piano (after Wagner), S. 447
and Hungarian Rhapsody for piano No. 6 in D flat major, S. 244/6

Happy Thanksgiving (plus Pilobolus links)

I'm taking the break that virtually everyone is taking...

I'll be back next week, but in the meantime, here are a few Pilobolus links submitted for your approval:

Pilobolus on YouTube.com

Pilobolus on Myspace.com (video, tour schedule, photos, blog, etc.)

Pilobolus dancer Ras Mikey C on Myspace.com

Pilobolus Official web site

Lois Greenfield's Pilobolus photo gallery

And the link to our performance (December 8-10)...

Mutter and Fuller (and Orkis) on WGBH-FM

Those of you who missed Cathy Fuller's chat with violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and pianist Lambert Orkis last week on Classics in the Morning are in luck. The 27 minute (give or take) conversation, just as it was broadcast, is available in streaming audio on the WGBH-FM Classical web site (look on the right-hand silo).

Look on the same page (same right-hand silo) for an approximately hour-long interview with soprano Dawn Upshaw, scheduled to sing a Celebrity Series recital on Sunday, February 25.

Have violin, will hip hop

Daniel Bernard Roumain

Get a load of this: Violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain on YouTube.com performing his Voodoo Violin Concerto with the Vermont Youth Orchestra this past September. DBR, as he is known, comes to the Celebrity Series and the Berklee Performance Center March 31 with his band, THE MISSION.

Then there is his turn on the CBS Evening News, also a YouTube.com post. Not the best video quality, but it has an overview.

The Boston Phoenix: Phat and 40

The Boston Phoenix is turning 40 and the editor(s) celebrated last week with a spiffy 40th anniversary issue - identifying the photos on the cover made for easy sport in the print edition, which is still available on the street. Maybe it's because I am of similar age myself that I feel a certain kinship with the Phoenix (is the B.P. a Sagittarius, too?). In any case, I have been an avid Phoenix reader (along with several other local publications, naturally) for quite a while.

Not to compare any one publication to any other, nor am I backscratching because they often cover our performances, but if you, Bostonian, care about the performing arts, you shouldn't miss the Boston Phoenix each week. If you are of a certain age (or beyond), you probably regard the Phoenix as being full of pop culture and for students, and it is, but not exclusively.

Now, just to make a liar of myself, here's a link to Jeffrey Gantz' second review of the Kirov Ballet's Swan Lake and also a link to Lloyd Schwartz' fond remembrance of the restaurants, theatre and lively life of Harvard Square's past.

Chuckle and back away...

"The piano is a monster that screams when you touch its teeth."
                                                                      -Andrés Segovia

Exploring the ancient ruins of Steinway

Composer Ross Bolleter is obsessed with ruined pianos. He makes a kind of accidental (sorry) music with them and he has created something called the World Association for Ruined Piano Studies, or WARPS. Here's a bit of the introduction from his web site:

"A piano is said to be Ruined (rather than Neglected or Devastated) when it has been abandoned to all weathers and has become a decaying box of unpredictable dongs, clicks and dedoomps, with not a single note (perhaps excepting D) sounding like one from an even-tempered upright piano."

There's a sort of John Cage meets Tom Waits character to this concept, but of course I haven't actually heard any of it...yet. Bolleter's CD, Secret Sandhills and Satellites, on Emanem Records can be ordered here.

Visit the WARPS Music web site - there's a lot to find here, it's well worth a look.

Do I even have to say it? Thanks to The Well-Tempered Blog.

Mutter and Orkis do some heavy lifting

Anne-Sophie Mutter and Lambert Orkis got up early yesterday morning so she could be interviewed by Cathy Fuller on WGBH-FM. After the interview they went to rehearsal for two hours, then lunch, then another rehearsal, a half-hour wait, a Symphony Hall concert with two encores, followed by a CD signing that went until after 11pm. Without even getting into the fact that they were on the road or that they performed at an extremely high level, that is a dilly of a schedule (that's right, I said a "dilly" of a schedule).

So anyway, I took a few photos at the CD signing:

 

Congrats, Eileen!

Let me take a moment to extend a hearty congratulations to Eileen Reuter, our Director of Ticketing Services on her 10-year anniversary at the Celebrity Series. Many happy returns and thanks for all the hard work!

The Assads reviewed in The Boston Globe

Kevin Lowenthal, reviewed Sergio and Odair Assad's Saturday evening concert for today's Boston Globe, here's a wee bit, but you'll want to follow the link and check out the whole thing:

"The Brazilian-born Assad brothers, a guitar duo, perform with almost telepathic unity. Barely glancing at each other, eyes often closed, they trade lead and supporting roles with astonishing fluidity. With your own eyes closed, it's impossible to tell who's playing what."

Read Brazilian brothers offer dazzling guitar duet.