Aisle Be Seeing You

Play Me, I'm Yours is Page 1 news ...

"The 'Play Me I’m Yours' public art project comes to Boston this week as Celebrity Series of Boston places 75 pianos around the city to celebrate its 75^th anniversary. The first pianos were installed Wednesday, with the full project starting Friday and running through Oct. 14"

Find a piano, upload and image or a movie, read about Play Me, I'm Yours: www.streetpianosboston.com

Check out our 75th Anniversary Season: www.celebrityseries.org.

Not "just playing, but making things..." Vijay Iyer gets a MacArthur Grant

Pianist Vijay Iyer is on this year's list of MacArthur Fellows; rarified air, indeed. Howard Reich talked to Iyer regarding his award for the Chicago Tribune:

"'I'm really inspired by the composer-pianists of the last century, particularly (Duke) Ellington and (Thelonious) Monk and people in that lineage who aren't just playing, but they're making things,' says Iyer, speaking by phone from his home in New York and adding such names as piano innovators Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner and Bud Powell."

Read the full story.

If you live in Boston or Cambridge, you can see and hear Iyer with poet Robert Pinsky on March 14 at Sanders Theatre as part of the Celebrity Series of Boston's 75th Anniversary Season.

vijay-iyer.com

The 2013 MacArthur Fellows

Boston's Street Piano locations are online!

The pianos are not on the street, yet, but the listings are! A map of all the locations of all 75 pianos in the Street Pianos Boston Festival, plus artists and host info are available online at: www.streetpianosboston.com.

Another small step in a season filled with 75th anniversary activities - learn more at www.celebrityseries.org!

Play Me I'm Yours, the 1000th piano

In honor of our 75th anniversary, Celebrity Series of Boston is presenting Play Me, I'm Yours, the Boston street piano festival from September 27 to October 14. The event places 75 pianos on streets all over Boston for the public to play at any time.

Boston is not the first city to host Luke Jerram's remarkable project, but among the unique aspects of Boston's festival is that we will host the 1000th Play Me, I'm Yours piano. The video above shows, in just under 8 minutes, the handiwork of  Frank Casazza (Eyeformation) and Michael Crockett (Hazel Eyes Studio) as they turn a baby grand into a work of visual art. The 1000th piano will be available for the public to play on City Hall Plaza during the fesitval.

Street Pianos Boston

Play Me, I'm Yours Celebrity Series page

Celebrity Series of Boston

Listen Magazine interview with pianist Yuja Wang

Check out Listen Magazine's interview with pianist Yuja Wang.

Yuja Wang performs on the Celebrity Series of Boston 75th Anniversary Season at Jordan Hall on October 18.

Van Cliburn (1934-2013)

Pianist Van Cliburn in Tel Aviv, 1962

Pianist Van Cliburn has died at age 78. The Shreveport, Louisiana native's triumph at the 1958 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow made him a household name.

Van Cliburn made his Celebrity Series debut in 1960 and performed on the Series a total of 13 times - all in recital and all at Symphony Hall - most recently in 2001.

Numerous winners of The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have also appeared on the Celebrity Series over the years, including Jose Feghali, Jon Nakamatsu, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Alexander Kobrin, Olga Kern, and Hoachen Zhang.

Coverage of Van Cliburn's death:

New York Times

Wall Street Journal

Washington Post

Los Angeles Times

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

BBC News

Chicago Tribune

Videos:

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in Moscow (1962)

Christie's Auction Interview (includes clip of 1958 competition)

On What's My Line?

At The Kennedy Center Honors (2001)

Playing Chopin Ballade No. 3

 

Pianist Daniil Trifonov's Celebrity Series recital streamed live!

The much anticipated Boston debut performance by pianist Daniil Trifonov at Pickman Hall, Longy School of Music at Bard College in Cambridge is sold out, but you can watch it live. The recital will be simulcast on ConcertWindow in HD with no commercials tonight at 8pm. Click on the link below and follow instructions on the page:

Trifonov video broadcast

Tonight's performance marks the launch of the Debut Series, a series of 5 performances by the next generation of the world's outstanding artists, presented by the Celebrity Series of Boston.

Globe: de la Salle shows "perfect touch"

Matthew Guerierii's review in today's Boston Globe said of Lise de la Salle's Celebrity Series debut recital on Saturday evening:

"... in Lise de la Salle’s excellent Celebrity Series concert on Saturday-the French pianist’s Boston recital debut-the focus of energy was the point of contact between finger and key. The effect was both vintage, foregrounding a clavichord-like primacy of touch, and modern: clarity as an illusion of objectivity."

Read all of the review (login required)

Pianist Lise de la Salle's Boston recital debut previewed

Keith Powers previews Lise de la Salle's Boston recital debut for Boston Classical Review (article).

More for info or tickets for Lise de la Salle's January 28 recital.

Globe reviews Lang Lang recital

Lang Lang during his masterclass at Sanders Theatre on Saturday

Matthew Guerrieri reviewed this past Sunday's Celebrity Series recital by pianist Lang Lang, the culmination of the superstar pianist's stay in Boston. Here's a snippet:

"During intermission, Lang swapped the fine-grained German Steinway for a brassier American one (something of a star-privilege trademark for him), then offered all 12 of Chopin’s Op. 25 Études, a fully stocked cabinet of virtuosity highlighting Lang’s penchant for show, not to mention showing off - the two A-minor études, nos. 4 and 11, were thrillingly cocky torrents, the relentless octaves of the B-minor positively blazed."

Read all of A dash of daring serves Lang.