Seattle

Quarter notes: end of summer edition

August 20, 2010

Summer is winding down, classical performance — with the exception of Seattle Opera’s head scratching new production of Tristan und Isolde – are more or less on hiatus until September. All of this leaves a blogger with little to blog about. Yet a few noteworthy bits have popped up here and there. This Sunday George [...]

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An increasingly enlightened audience at Seattle Chamber Music Festival

August 13, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Time was, maybe 17 years ago, when Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival was full of well known classics. We could confidently expect to hear Brahms, Beethoven, and Schumann, Mozart and Haydn, Tchaikovsky and Dvorak. Sure there was, is, plenty to choose from among much-loved works. Some amongst us grew restless, wanting [...]

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The Five: an introduction

August 11, 2010

The Five is a feature I intended to start back in July. The feature was supposed to start with the musicians of the Seattle Chamber Music Society. It never able to take off because of the scheduling challenges presented by an always changing line up of musicians. I wish I could say the idea for [...]

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Quarter notes: Shangrow remembered

August 10, 2010

It’s been more than a week since we learned of George Shangrow’s untimely death. In that time the tributes for this Seattle original have been growing with each day. Orchestra Seattle’s website has been turned into a rolling memorial. My favorite is from Kerry Fowler who wrote: “I was a bit nervous the night before [...]

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Seattle Chamber Music Festival enters final week of 2010 season

August 10, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Memories can be short and distorted, but it seems to me, as the Seattle Chamber Music Festival enters its final week of the summer, this season has been if not the best than one of the best in its nearly 30-year history. Two things are certain. The move from the dull acoustics [...]

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A tribute to Shangrow and an evening of remarkable music making

August 5, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival has headed to The Overlake School in Redmond for its final five concerts, the first of which took place in those beautiful surroundings Wednesday night. But first, the Society’s associate artistic director, James Ehnes, came out to give a tribute to the late George Shangrow, citing [...]

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RIP George Shangrow

August 1, 2010

George Shangrow, one of Seattle’s finest musicians and musical personalities, died last night in an auto collision.  Shangrow was driving to give a talk at the Methow Valley Chamber Music Festival when a teenager crossed the center lane of the highway, crashing into Shangrow’s car, killing him. This is a tremendous loss for Seattle’s classical [...]

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New production of “Tristan” opens Saturday at McCaw

August 1, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Wagner’s monumental “Tristan und Isolde”  is not a stranger to Seattle Opera: it has never been approached lightly. The opera is too important, too central to the Wagner canon, too demanding to be treated with anything less than awe and respect. The last time the company mounted the opera, in 1998, it [...]

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Seattle Chamber Music Society wraps up Seattle festival, heads to Redmond

July 31, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Despite concerns and trepidation over its move from the bucolic ambiance of Lakeside School to the urban Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya, Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival there has been an undoubted success. It managed to fill, mostly, over 100 seats more than Lakeside has for each concert and recital. It [...]

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Grimsley sings Kurwenal again in Seattle Opera’s new production of Tristan

July 31, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly It was Speight Jenkins, general director of Seattle Opera who persuaded bass-baritone Greer Grimsley that he should sing Wagner. That was for the 1994 production of “Lohengrin,” and Grimsley has sung in nearly every Wagner production here since. Talking with him as he prepares to sing Kurwenal in “Tristan and Isolde” which [...]

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Schwarz’s Schuman cycle released as box set

July 30, 2010

Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony’s survey of William Schuman’s complete published symphonies has been packaged and is in stores now in a convenient boxed set (Naxos, 8.505228). This is a set that is years in the making. I picked up the first few disks for pennies when the Queen Anne Tower Records was clearing [...]

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Mozart to Barber Wednesday Night at Festival

July 29, 2010

By R.M. Campbell There has been so much to admire in the concerts that I’ve attended at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival this season at Nordstrom Recital Hall, it seems redundant to say so yet again. But it is the truth. As always there are musicians making their festival debut. A more significant new element [...]

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Seattle Chamber Music Festival opens final week of 2010 Seattle season Monday

July 27, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Seattle Chamber Music Festival used to be criticized by some for its lack of adventure in programming contemporary music. The 20th-century was well enough represented but limited mostly to well-known composer who worked early in the century. This was not necessarily a reflection of artistic director Toby Saks’ taste but a [...]

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A lot of good and some bad close out third week of SCMS festival

July 25, 2010

By the third week of the Chamber Music Society’s festival the excitement of opening week is gone.  We’ve heard enough expertly crafted chamber music to carry us through to the fall.  A number of musicians have come and gone by the third week.   The third week is also when repertory experiments takes place. The [...]

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Schwarz’s Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano to be premiered next week

July 23, 2010

By Peter Klein We all know about Gerard Schwarz, conductor. Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about Gerard Schwarz, composer. Schwarz’ latest work, a “Trio for Violin, Horn, and Piano” (Horn Trio for short), will receive its world premiere at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival on Monday, July 26 at 8:00 PM in Benaroya [...]

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Quarter notes: summer edition

July 21, 2010

Summer is finally in full swing. Seattle is warming up. We are in the thick of the summer chamber festival. And, the new symphony seasons are still a few months away. Even though the number of classical performances have thinned out, it doesn’t mean there aren’t events worth mentioning or worth seeking out. The biggest [...]

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Summer festival continues as expected: another splendid concert on Sunday

July 19, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Each year for the past decade or more, I have been saying that Seattle Chamber Music Society surpasses itself with a season which is even better played with even more superb (and young) performers than the year before, and with programming which is far more interesting than it used to be. This [...]

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More superb chamber music: Bridge, Stravinsky, and Schubert

July 17, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Summer Festival is a joy in the midst of July’s usual musical dearth. Concerts come up three times a week, each with stellar performances and programs which are never boring. Even very familiar pieces receive illuminating performances which bring out facets not perceived before. Friday’s performance at Nordstrom [...]

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Bliss

July 16, 2010

Without a doubt, hearing new musicians perform is the best part of the Seattle Chamber Music Society festival. We might be hearing them for the first time, but others, especially the musicians in the festival and Toby Saks are already familiar with their talents.  Over the years, Saks has plucked players out of the musical [...]

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Must hear Martin, Kodaly and Dvorak at Wednesday’s SCMS concert

July 15, 2010

In an alternate (maybe even perfect) universe unfamiliar composers and works would be cat nip for curious ears looking to expand their musical horizons. Dissonances would pleasantly shake listeners. We’d tap our toes to awkward rhythms and take pleasure in sorting out difficult melodies. Seats would be filled. People would be turned away at the [...]

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