Conductor

The Five: Jayce Ogren

August 11, 2010

Jayce Ogren is an example of what is happening in classical music these days. He’s a conductor who has stood before some of the finest orchestras in the world. Ogren finished a tenure with the Cleveland Orchestra in 2009. He has also conducted the Boston Symphony, LA Phil, and City Opera. Before that, he was [...]

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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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Questioning the conductors: Meet Morlot!

July 9, 2010

Our conductor interviews end with the person chosen to lead the SSO to new artistic heights and performance excellend — Ludovic Morlot. Morlot was one of the few conductors I didn’t meet. I was in New York when he was here last fall and when he returned in the spring, an exploding volcano in Iceland [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Christian Knapp

May 20, 2010

Christian Knapp is the only guest conductor this season, with or without an orchestral post who has admitted to being interested in having his own orchestra. You can draw all sorts of conclusions from his openness. Is he angling to be the SSO’s next music director? Given his history with the orchestra as its associate [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Jun Markl

May 13, 2010

Update: I am not entirely sure what happened with the video for two minutes in the middle. I apologize and will upload a mirror copy tonight. I had a chance to sit down with Jun (pronounced June) Markl earlier this week. Markl, no stranger to the Seattle Symphony, is guest conducting a program of German [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Andrew Manze

May 5, 2010

The early music world has known Andrew Manze for years as an accomplished Baroque violinist, but the rest of the classical music world is getting acquainted with Manze as an assured, intelligent conductor working hard to establish a reputation as an interpreter of core 18th and 19th century repertory.  Manze’s recent Beethoven recordings have even [...]

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Come for the Rachmaninov, stay for the Adams

April 30, 2010

Robert Spano’s debut with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall started with Jean Sibelius’ Pohjola’s Daughter and ended with John Adams’ Harmonielehre. In between, Dejan Lejic, a rising, young Croatian pianist joined the orchestra for Sergey Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. In the build-up to the concert, the orchestra’s marketing emphasized Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto (“Before [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Robert Spano

April 29, 2010

The first thing I noticed about Robert Spano when I met him for the first time last summer was the exhilarating energy that surrounds him. His mind races through more thoughts than are possible to keep up with. His wit is quick and sharp (often at my expense). In my conversations with Spano, good ideas [...]

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Despite twists of fate, Seattle Symphony delivers

April 23, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly It’s the hall mark of a professional orchestra that when unexpected obstacles threaten to overcome a concert, musicians rise above them and achieve a high level of performance anyway. This week the Seattle Symphony rose to the challenge and triumphed. I’ve been at a performance elsewhere where the lights went out and [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Gilbert Varga

April 16, 2010

Gilbert Varga is in town this week to conduct the SSO in a series of concerts with Stravinsky and Beethoven as the focus. Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto will have the help of Horaccio Gutierrez; after the intermission it’s Stravinsky’s ballet Petrouchka. Varga is the son of violin legend Tibor Varga. The younger Varga also played [...]

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Ludovic Morlot to replace Roberto Abbado

April 5, 2010

Roberto Abbado has withdrawn from his upcoming appearance with the SSO.  In his place, the orchestra is bringing back Ludovic Morlot.  Morlot was last here in October when he conducted a concert of Martinu and Haydn.  For that concert, the orchestra was split with the opera.  This time, Morlot will have the benefit of the [...]

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Consider me a Dausgaard partisan

March 27, 2010

Whether you fell in love with Lutoslawski’s Fourth Symphony or loathed it, found a new favorite in Sibelius’ Fifth Symphony or still prefer the Second, Danish conductor Thomas Dausgaard had one of the toughest programs to conduct of any of the season’s guest conductors. Based on the audience’s reaction after each piece, it can be [...]

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Poland, Russia and Finland covered in SSO program

March 26, 2010

By R.M. Campbell The Seattle Symphony Orchestra’s current program, which runs through Saturday, was always interesting, sometimes compelling, sometimes unsatisfying.

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Questioning the conductors: Thomas Dausgaard

March 24, 2010

This week’s Seattle Symphony concerts could be a sleeper hit of the 2009/2010 season. Thomas Dausgaard is in town to lead the orchestra in performances of Sibelius’ Fifth and Lutoslawski’s Fourth Symphony. These two 20th century view of the symphony bookend a 20th Century concerto – Rachmaninov’s Fourth Piano Concerto. Sibelius’s Fifth isn’t as well [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Vassily Sinaisky

March 21, 2010

My series of interviews with the guest conductors taking the SSO podium continues with Vassily Sinaisky. Sinaisky wrapped up a series of four concerts with the SSO this weekend that paired Brahms’ Double Concerto for cello and violin and Ravel’s “Daphnis et Chloe.” This program is a departure, of sorts, for Sinaisky. In his previous [...]

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Exciting Ravel, robust Brahms at the SSO

March 21, 2010

By Philippa Kiraly Russian conductor Vassily Sinaisky takes the podium this week for four concerts with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall, the first of which was Thursday night. The well-designed program, not blockbusters but two big works by Brahms and Ravel, created a study in contrasts between the two. Written a short generation apart, [...]

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Sinaisky returns to Seattle with Brahms and Ravel

March 19, 2010

It was couples only night Thursday at the Seattle Symphony. French and German. Ravel and Brahms. Cello and Violin. Daphnis and Chloe. Returning to the podium was the conductor Vassily Sinaisky. With everyone wondering who will be the Seattle Symphony’s next music director, Sinaisky is undoubtedly at the top of the list for some people. [...]

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Ingrid Fliter Makes Her Seattle Debut Thursday night at Benaroya Hall

March 13, 2010

By R.M. Campbell Until pianist Ingrid Fliter was awarded the Gilmore Artist Award four years ago, she was little known beyond the borders of her native Argentina. That coveted prize gave her international press she could not buy and launched her career. Prestigious dates at prestigious halls and with prestigious conductors followed quickly. So did [...]

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One from Mozart and one from Mendelssohn

January 30, 2010

By Gigi Yellen The CD “Live in the Fiddler’s House,” played in the car as I headed for Benaroya Hall to hear “Reb Itzik” play. That would be Itzhak Perlman, the wildly famous virtuoso violinist, whose Jan. 28 concert as soloist and conductor was the second in a two-night stand that launched this year’s Seattle [...]

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Questioning the conductors: Kurt Masur

January 7, 2010

The legendary Kurt Masur is in Seattle this week to lead the SSO in three concerts of Mozart’s 40th Symphony and Anton Bruckner’s 4th Symphony.  Masur is now well over 80 years old, but he continues to maintain schedules as busy as conductor’s half his age.  When he is finished in Seattle, he will get [...]

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