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Arts & Entertainment, Music

2012-13 Season Preview: The Year Ahead in Seattle Classical Music

Fall has arrived. Summer vacations are coming to an end, and it’s time to head back to school and work. For classical musicians, it’s back to the concert hall for the start of a new season. Now that autumn’s here, Seattle’s classical music ensembles have been announcing their performance schedules for the upcoming year. It looks like we have a fantastic season of concerts in store!

Here are few highlights from the major local ensembles, a list of notable events, and tips on groups to watch in the coming year.

Seattle Symphony Music Director Ludovic Morlot (Photo: Michael DiVito)

Seattle Symphony

  • The usual roster of visiting luminaries returns to Benaroya Hall this year, including Joshua Bell, Itzhak Perlman, Andras Schiff, Hilary Hahn, Emanuel Ax, Garrick Ohlsson, Gil Shaham, Yefim Bronfman, and Anne-Sophie Mutter.
  • (Untitled), the Symphony’s exciting new concert series, provides a much-needed space for 20th century and contemporary classical music at Benaroya Hall.
  • Sonic Evolution returns for a second year. This popular fall concert features new symphonic works inspired by icons of the Seattle pop and rock scenes. This year’s Sonic Evolution includes local alt-country favorites Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs.
  • Hear all four of Rachmaninoff’s piano concertos at Rach Fest, in early January. Four up-and-coming young pianists will perform the concertos in two concerts with the Symphony.
  • The Symphony presents their premiere performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla Symphony in January. This important 20th century work features the ondes Martenot, an electronic musical instrument similar to the theremin.

Seattle Opera

  • Seattle Opera‘s season began last month with a gorgeous production of Turandot and continues with Beethoven’s Fidelio in October. Other upcoming productions include Rossini’s Cinderella, Puccini’s La Boheme, and a double-bill featuring Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

Pacific Northwest Ballet

  • PNB has a fantastic collection of audience favorites in store this season. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake is likely to draw crowds, as well as productions of two Prokofiev ballets: Romeo & Juliet and Cinderella.

    Pianist Hélène Grimaud (Photo: Mat Hennek / DG)

UW World Series

  • The President’s Piano Series brings another crop of all-star pianists to UW’s Meany Theater, including Hélène Grimaud, Christopher O’Riley (host of NPR’s From the Top radio program), and Jon Kimura Parker, who will perform his own transcription of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.
  • Prepare for an impressive line-up of chamber music concerts this season with the International Chamber Music Series. Seattle audiences will be treated to performances by the Emerson String Quartet, Juilliard String Quartet, Tafelmusik, Tokyo String Quartet, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
  • This season’s World Dance Series includes two exciting collaborations between international dance companies and local classical music ensembles. In November, the Paul Taylor Dance Company will team up with Seattle Modern Orchestra for a piece featuring music by Arvo Pärt. Then, in January, Compagnie Marie Chouinard will be joined by the UW Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring.

Early Music Guild & Seattle Baroque Orchestra

  • The Early Music Guild’s International Series presents a prestigious list of visiting ensembles this season, including Musica Ficta, Hesperion XXI, the Baltimore Consort, the King’s Singers, and Tafelmusik. Also on the calendar is a special performance of the epic poem Beowulf by harpist and bard Benjamin Bagby.
  • Bach fans will be pleased to hear that the Seattle Baroque Orchestra is planning two concerts of Johann Sebastian’s music this season. In addition, soprano Ellen Hargis returns to Seattle for a program of arias from Italian Baroque operas.

TownMusic

  • TownMusic artistic director Joshua Roman kicked off Town Hall’s classical music series this week with a concert of piano trios. The series continues with performances from the musical comedy duo Ingudesman & Joo (of “Rachmaninoff Had Big Hands” fame), the Talea Ensemble, JACK Quartet, and violinist Jennifer Koh.

    Portland Cello Project (Photo: Jason Quigley)

Ensembles to Watch

  • The Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra may be a new orchestra on the block, but they have an exciting fourth season in store. Their season opener features Vaughan Williams’ beloved Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis.
  • Lutenist Stephen Stubbs’ early music ensemble Pacific Musicworks is back with another season of ambitious programming, including Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, a collaboration with the Seattle Dance Project, and a performance of Handel’s newly-discovered cantata Gloria.
  • Tacoma’s Broadway Center for the Performing Arts get my vote for “venue to watch” this year. This season they’ll present the Fireworks Ensemble, experimental cellist Zoe Keating, the Portland Cello Project, and violinist Mark O’Connor.

Exciting Events

  • Philip Glass shuns Seattle in favor of the Eastside for the second year in a row. The renowned composer returns to Kirkland Performance Center in late October for a performance with Foday Musa Suso, a master of the African Kora.
  • Celebrate the John Cage centennial with the Seattle Modern Orchestra. Their John Cage Festival in early November features a documentary about the composer’s life as well as performances of some of his most famous works.
  • Known for their orchestral arrangements of Radiohead, Queen, and the Arcade Fire, the ever-popular Seattle Rock Orchestra rings in the new year with a concert of new works for orchestra.
  • Chicago-based contemporary music ensemble eighth blackbird pays a visit to Kirkland Performance Center in January. This GRAMMY-winning ensemble is a must-see for new music fans.
  • Choreographer Donald Byrd and the edgy, experimental dancers of Spectrum Dance Theater present their take on Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in April.
Arts & Entertainment, Music

What We’re Hearing This Month: Classical Music Picks for September

Alas, the sunny days of summer are winding down. However, as fall approaches, classical music ensembles around the city are gearing up for a new season of performances. This month, both the Seattle Symphony and Town Hall begin their 2012-13 concert seasons with spectacular opening night programs. Also on the calendar this September is the 100th anniversary of John Cage’s birth. Performances celebrating the famed composer’s life are scheduled around the country, with Seattle being no exception.

Violinist Joshua Bell joins the Seattle Symphony for their Opening Night Concert & Gala (Photo: South Florida Classical Review)

The weather may be cooling off, but things are just starting to warm up in concert halls around the city…

Sep. 7 – 9 — John Cage, anyone? Innovative vocal ensemble The Esoterics celebrates the composer’s 100th birthday with three evenings of concerts. They’ll be performing 42 of the 92 works in Cage’s Songbook, as well as three of his “Number Pieces“: Four2, Four6, and Five. This ambitious series of performances has plenty to offer for Cage fans and newbies alike.

Sep. 11 — Town Hall kicks off its 2012-13 TownMusic series with an evening of piano trios. Cellist Joshua Roman, who serves as music director of TownMusic, will be joined onstage by Vancouver-based violinist Dale Barltrop and pianist Victor Santiago Asuncion. The program will be a mix of old and new, featuring beloved works by Beethoven and Schubert alongside a piece by up-and-coming composer Dan Visconti.

Sep. 15 — The Seattle Symphony begins the 2012-13 concert season with a festive evening of American music. This year’s Opening Night Concert & Gala features superstar violinist Joshua Bell performing Bernstein’s Serenade. Also on the program is Copland’s inspiring Lincoln Portrait, which will be narrated by former Washington State Governor Daniel J. Evans.

Oct. 1 — Author Paul Elie visits Town Hall to discuss his book Reinventing Bach. His multimedia presentation, which includes clips of performances by Glenn Gould, Pablo Casals, and Yo-Yo Ma, will explore how contemporary artists and musicians keep J.S. Bach’s music fresh and relevant in today’s world.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Joshua Roman’s All-Star Cello Extravaganza Rolls Into Town Hall

Joshua Roman and an all-cello ensemble perform music by Mason Bates, Richard Strauss, Astor Piazzolla, Hector Villa-Lobos, Arvo Pärt, and Led Zeppelin at Town Hall Seattle on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, at 7:30 p.m.

Cellist Joshua Roman has been making waves in Seattle since 2006, when he was named principal cellist of the Seattle Symphony. After a two-year tenure with the Symphony, Roman left to pursue a solo career, but has remained a strong force in the local classical music scene. As artistic director of Town Hall’s popular TownMusic concert series, he’s brought innovative classical music programming to Seattle audiences, with a special focus on new music and emerging artists.

The 2011-12 TownMusic season concludes this Tuesday with an all-star cello concert featuring Roman and seven prominent local cellists. The diverse program spans centuries and genres, including Strauss art songs, Piazzolla tangos, and a Led Zeppelin cover arranged by Roman himself. Performances feature a variety of cello ensembles, ranging from solo cellist to cello octet.

Joshua Roman (Photo: Tina Su)

The highlight of the evening will be the world premiere of a work for solo cello by composer Mason Bates, continuing the TownMusic tradition of premiering a commissioned work at the final concert of each season. An acclaimed performer, composer, and DJ, Bates is taking the classical music world by storm with his unique blend of orchestral and electronic sounds.

Roman plans to carry TownMusic’s winning blend of ambitious programming, exciting new works, and emerging talent into the upcoming 2012-13 season. “Next season will retain the diversity of style and era that has been showcased in previous seasons, but with a few twists,” he said, writing from Nova Scotia, where he recently completed a two-week residence at the Scotia Festival of Music. “There will be familiar faces as well as some new ones that we’re excited to introduce to Seattle.”

Although next season’s lineup won’t be revealed until Tuesday’s concert, Roman hinted at the surprises in store. “We’re adding the element of humor. It’s something which we can all relate to, and is often overlooked during our pursuit of the ‘seriousness’ in music.”

TownMusic’s owes much of its success to Roman’s fresh perspective on classical music. To him, it’s a continually evolving art form that honors the past while adapting to the current cultural climate. “If you really look at the history of classical music over the last few centuries, rather than just the last 50-60 years, you see that one of its biggest strengths has been the ability to adapt to cultural changes and needs. Sometimes ahead of the curve, and sometimes with a bit of a lag, but always changing.”

This viewpoint has inspired him in the choices he’s made with TownMusic. The series offers something for everyone, from world-class performances of chamber music favorites to genre-blending new works inspired by rock, pop, electronica, and jazz. Often, music representing these two extremes appears in the same concert program.

Roman emphasizes the importance of experimentation in his role as TownMusic artistic director. “There is a way of thinking that is ‘this is how it’s been done, and so it should always be done this way’, but I think that is an unproductive mode to be in. These days, as orchestras are trying new things every season, its easy to see the need for flexibility as a presenter.”

The concept of flexibility extends to Roman’s view of himself as a performer. “I think we need to be adapting more as musicians. The era of recording changed the game and brought new levels of technical proficiency and competition to all corners of the music world, but in the pursuit of ‘perfection’ some important musical elements can become undervalued. Great musicians of the past wrote, played, and presented music, even if they were better at one than the others.”

Roman stresses the importance of these skills to today’s classical musicians. “In my own experience, writing music has helped me understand more of how a composer might think, and therefore enhanced my interpretations and ability to focus on the ‘what’ and ‘how’ in music, not just try to hit each note perfectly.”

Tuesday’s concert perfectly embodies Roman’s philosophy of musical flexibility, incorporating his talents as a performer, arranger, and concert presenter. Though he will be performing as a soloist, Roman is also enthusiastic about his role as a collaborative musician. “I’ve chosen some points during the concert to highlight the other cellists in the core quartet, so I’ll get to play ‘second fiddle’ on several of the pieces, something I’m really looking forward to.”

The concert isn’t just an opportunity to grow musically. For Roman, it’s a labor of love. “(It’s) something I have wanted to put on at Town Hall Seattle for a few years now,” he said. The concert pays tribute to the cello, showcasing what Roman describes as “its inherent range of expressivity, color, and sexiness”. “The cello is not only a unique voice, but a versatile one, so the repertoire was chosen to reflect this ability to be vocal, to be rhythmic, to be ethereal, and to rock out.”

Roman relishes this opportunity to collaborate with others who share his passion for the cello. Among the cellists joining him on stage are several Seattle Symphony members, including current principal cellist Efe Baltacigil. It’ll be a veritable Seattle cello family reunion. “It is a great joy to work with colleagues you haven’t seen in awhile. Cellists tend to be a cool bunch of musicians to hang with!”

Arts & Entertainment, Music

May Day! A Soundcloud of New Local Music Envelops Town Hall

What does May Day mean to you? Dancing around the Maypole? Marching for workers rights? Pagan rituals celebrating the return of spring? A troubled ship’s distress call for help? For the past three years, Town Hall’s “May Day! May Day!” concert has asked this question of Seattle composers. This celebration of new Seattle music, curated by local flutist Paul Taub, brought a whirlwind of sounds to Town Hall on Tuesday evening.

In previous years, the “May Day! May Day!” concert spanned an entire day, featuring short performances by a over a dozen local artists and musical groups. This year, Taub switched to a more traditional evening concert format, featuring only three ensembles, each presenting a large-scale work. Performers in Tuesday’s sonic kaleidoscope included the Seattle Modern Orchestra, the Seattle Chamber Players, and up-and-coming composer Aaron Otheim.

Paul Taub (Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis)

Otheim took the stage first to present the world premiere performance of “Bones”, a work written specifically for the May Day concert. A rising star in the local experimental music scene, Otheim’s well-known for his performances with the avant-garde jazz ensemble Speak and for his work a founding member of the Racer Sessions, a weekly music salon held at the University District’s Cafe Racer. Five musicians, all veterans of the Racer Sessions, joined him onstage for Tuesday night’s performance.

Scored for keyboard, piano, alto and tenor saxophone, cello, and double bass, “Bones” is an expansive work full of musical ideas, some composed, some improvised. A veritable grab-bag of sounds, the piece flowed smoothly between complex melodies and moments of pure noise.

As with any work that presents such a wide variety of sounds, some sections were more captivating than others. Exciting at first, the clamorous introduction, which juxtaposes furious bow-scratches from the string with wails from the saxophones, seemed to go on for too long without any development. Other sections layered musical sounds and textures in novel, fascinating ways. I was particularly taken by an intriguing piano-keyboard duet that evoked an image of two lounge pianists playing slightly out-of-sync.

The Seattle Modern Orchestra followed with a performance of John Cage’s “Thirteen”. Cage composed “Thirteen” in 1992, towards the end of his life, as part of a series of “number” pieces — the title of each work signifies the number of instruments to be used.

Instead of a musical score, each piece consists of a set of notes, some “suggestions” on when and what to play, and a couple of ground rules defining how sounds must be made. A stopwatch marks the start and end of the performance. The result is a cloud of sound, hovering somewhere between musical collaboration and random noise-making.

Seattle Chamber Players (Photo: Tim Summers)

“Thirteen” features a wide variety of instruments, including strings, woodwinds, horns, and a pair of xylophones. With this ensemble, the potential palette of sounds is virtually limitless. The musicians are free to play when they please, resulting in ever-shifting layers and blots of sound.

Over the course of Seattle Modern Orchestra’s performance, “Thirteen” began to feel more like a sonic game or puzzle than a work of music. It was fun to hear how different instruments blended with each other and to guess which of the “suggestions” each musician might be following.

The Seattle Chamber Players wrapped up the evening with Frederic Rzewski’s “Coming Together/Attica”, composed in 1971 in response to the riot and uprising at Attica Prison in New York. This two-part work interweaves melodies and musical textures with spoken excerpts from letters and speeches written by prisoners who witnessed the Attica uprising.

The four members of the Seattle Chamber Players (flutist Paul Taub, clarinetist Laura DeLuca, Mikhail Shmidt on violin, and cellist David Sabee) were joined by four other instrumentalists and a narrator) for their performance of Rzewski’s powerful, historic piece.

In the first part of the work, “Coming Together”, a constant flowing pattern of notes provided a pulsing beat that supported Roger Nelson’s narration. The rhythmic pattern of Nelson’s spoken words took on an instrumental quality of their own, blending in with the musical patterns of the ensemble around him. The second part of the piece, “Attica”, had a melancholy, meditative tone featuring gentle melodies and a blend of spoken and sung words.

Stay tuned for next year’s “May Day! May Day!” concert, when a completely new crop of local music will take Town Hall by storm.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Classical Music Remixed: Alarm Will Sound at Town Hall

Alarm Will Sound performs music by the Beatles, Aphex Twin, John Adams, Edgard Varèse, Stefan Freund, and Matt Marks at Town Hall Seattle on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30pm.

Strange rumblings are shaking the classical music world these days. Today’s musicians and composers are branching out from the traditional works of the classical canon, venturing further afield in search of new influences and collaborations. Increasingly, the music they write and perform crosses boundaries and blends genres, challenging our expectations of classical music.

The members of New York based ensemble Alarm Will Sound are pioneers at the cutting edge of these exciting changes. The group’s twenty musicians are all well-versed in the classical tradition, but draw influence from a broad spectrum of sounds. Their diverse repertoire includes pieces by modern classical composers like John Cage and Steve Reich, acoustic arrangements of works by electronica legend Aphex Twin, and even covers of the Beatles.

The group’s creative and experimental flair makes shifts between genres a breeze. “As a chamber orchestra, our sound has the full range of instrumental colors and, at the same time, the rhythmic flexibility of a band,” says composer and co-founder Gavin Chuck.

Alarm Will Sound (Photo: Naomi White)

Chuck founded Alarm Will Sound in 2001 with a group of fellow graduates from the Eastman School of Music. “We started Alarm Will Sound because there wasn’t a large ensemble dedicated to touring contemporary classical music in the USA.”

In the past decade, that simple mission has grown into a full-scale movement devoted to “adventurous, genre-bending projects and performances”. In 2010, Alarm Will Sound collaborated with indie darlings the Dirty Projectors for three performances at major classical concert halls in London, New York, and Los Angeles.

This Thursday evening, Alarm Will Sound makes their Seattle debut at Town Hall, performing music by the Beatles, Aphex Twin, John Adams, and Edgard Varèse. Chuck notes that the program is tailor-made with variety in mind. “Whenever we play a city for the first time, we want to present the diversity of styles that exist today, so there’s a lot of contrast on the program.”

Much of that contrast lies in the increasingly blurred line between acoustic and electronic music. The oldest piece on the program is an arrangement of Edgard Varèse’s Poème électronique, an experimental electronic work composed for the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair. Chuck says the piece is a fun challenge for the ensemble. “(It’s) wild to play live because it requires stretching our acoustic instruments to produce analogs of electronic sounds.”

In 2005, Alarm Will Sound released Acoustica, an album of live-performance arrangements of pieces by electronica artist Aphex Twin. Since then, acoustic reinterpretations of Aphex Twin’s electronic stylings have been a staple at Alarm Will Sound performances.

At Thursday’s concert, the ensemble pairs Aphex Twin with another work that crosses electro-acoustic boundaries: their arrangement of the Beatles’ “Revolution 9″. “As if that stylistic variety weren’t enough,” says Chuck, “two songs by members of the band bend genres even further: Stefan Freund’s ‘Drowning’ is a dark take on the rock ballad. And Matt Marks’ ‘A Song for Wade (This is Not That Song)’ mashes up 1950s doo-wop, Doris Day and—of all things—The Carpenters.”

Between their busy ensemble touring schedule and individual musical endeavors, Alarm Will Sound is developing a multimedia production of John Cage’s Song Books, a groundbreaking work that combines acoustic and electronic songs with theatrical performances. They’ll present Song Books in Cork, Ireland, Amsterdam, and New York City this summer.

The project has helped Alarm Will Sound grow as an ensemble. Chuck notes that Song Books‘ multimedia format “calls on each of us to push ourselves as performers beyond playing our instruments.” The production also jives well with the ensemble’s mission. “Song Books is essentially a theatrical event that grows out of Cage’s belief that music is inherently linked to action and vice-versa. That’s an inspirational philosophy and one that’s motivated all the work we’ve done to innovate concert-hall conventions.”

Chuck predicts that such innovations will become more commonplace. “I think that all genres, including classical music, will continue to increasingly cross-pollinate.” Nowadays, Alarm Will Sound isn’t alone in their genre-bending experimentation. In the local scene, the youthful Seattle Rock Orchestra gives pop/rock favorites a symphonic spin. The ensemble has become a favorite with Seattle audiences, who regularly pack venues to hear the group’s reinterpretations of Stevie Wonder, Queen, and Radiohead.

This success shouldn’t come as a surprise to any of us. According to Chuck, the future of classical music lies in collaborative, multi-genre endeavors that feed the creative curiosity of today’s listeners. “Musicians and audiences are hungry for music that has both directness and depth, that has an immediate impact and also makes you want to explore its complexity further. Hybrid, post-genre work tends to emerge from the kind of serious play that I see our generation reveling in.”

Arts & Entertainment, Music

What’s Better Than Seven Cellos? Eight Cellos

If you’ve never before heard a host of cellos playing together, you’d be astonished at the thrill of the sound, so rich and reverberant, so exciting. Such was my first reaction to the sound of six cellos playing a movement from a Vivaldi concerto for two cellos with four others taking the roles of violins, viola, and accompanying cello.  Downstairs at Town Hall on Friday night, it was the opening work on a program for eight cellos and one soprano presented by Simple Measures.

This lively organization, the brainchild of cellist Rajan Krishnaswami and now in its seventh year, aims to make classical music accessible, unalarming, and fun for all sorts of people including children, whether they know much about the genre or not. He gathers small groups of excellent musicians, performs with them wearing casual dress in unusual music venues like Mt. Baker Community Club or Q Café, and talks with the audience, not lecturing but having a discussion about the music. Usually the first half is short pieces or single movements which may relate to each other, and the second half is a full-length work.

Friday’s cello grouping is uncommon. It may have been that which drew the biggest audience Simple Measures has ever had, judging by the show of hands of cello-lovers in the hall, or maybe the centrality and space of the venue and ease of parking, or maybe because of the program’s big draw, the Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 of Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos. Composed for eight cellos and a soprano, we rarely get a chance to hear this extraordinary work live, particularly with, as here, accomplished professional musicians and an equally accomplished singer.
It was the culminating highlight of a fun concert. The programming had been put together with a deft hand, and the musical points were mentioned lightly in introductions as chairs were rearranged.

The first half included a Gigue from one of the Bach Cello Suites, paired with a Toccata from a George Crumb sonata for solo cello, showing the three-century differences but also Crumb’s debt to Bach, plus a lively movement from a sonata for two cellos by the 18th century-cello virtuoso Boccherini, a delightful Bacchanalia supposedly by Chopin and arranged for three cellos, and a mystery work which was instantly recognizable to the audience who loved it, Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven,” despite an overlong and somewhat dull performance.

The most arresting works came as the concert continued, with Golijov’s Lua Descolorida for soprano and string quartet played as written by four cellos, a fine arrangement of Faure’s Pavane for four instruments by cellist Chuck Jacot, and Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No. 1, composed for a cello orchestra and here played with eight, preceding the final tour de force.

The Pavane made an excellent choice for arrangement, with cello sonorities blooming in this stately work, and Villa-Lobos created in his first Bachianas Brasileiras a work poetical, declamatory and fast. Best of all were the two works with soprano Terri Richter, a past Seattle Opera Young Artist whose voice has developed to a warm purity perfect for this kind of music.

The Golijov, described enigmatically by the composer as “a slow motion ride on a cosmic horse” opens with long melismatic phrases in the voice, with the vocal line then remaining separate from a slow, gently moving, harmonic accompaniment. It’s one of those works where exact pitch sense is crucial, and Richter achieved it effortlessly, her whole range to the highest notes easy and clear and almost without vibrato as is needed here.

Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 is deservedly famous for the beautiful antigenicantilena with which it starts over soft, plucked strings, and then for the fast rhythmic second half with its imitations of bird song, if you listen carefully.

It was a treat to hear this live in a well rehearsed, satisfying performance with the right type of voice. Kudos go not only to Richter, a perfect choice for this, but to the eight cellists: Krishnaswami himself, Theresa Benshoof, Roberta Hansen Downey, Virginia Dziekonski, Eric Gaenslen, Chuck Jacot, Page Smith, and Brian Wharton. By the looks of it, they were enjoying themselves as much as the audience.