Tag Archives: uw world series

Arts & Entertainment, Music

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

As the weather gets warmer, things are starting to heat up in the local classical music scene. Catch world premiere performances from today’s hottest composers and choreographers. Explore great works of the 20th century with Shostakovich at Benaroya Hall and a Charles Ives festival at the University of Washington. Or travel further back in time with the Medieval Women’s Choir as they transport audiences to 12th century Germany.

May 3 — The Oregon Symphony rolls into town for a performance at Benaroya Hall. Our orchestral neighbors from the south bring along a diversity of musical treats. Hear Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony alongside music by Ravel and Kurt Weill (of “Mack the Knife” fame). A special performance of a work by Thai composer Narong Prangcharoen rounds off the evening.

Who’s there? Soprano Nuccia Focile in La Voix Humaine (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

May 4 – 18 — Seattle Opera brings two unusual tales of damsels in distress to the McCaw Hall stage. The operatic double bill begins with Francis Poulenc’s The Human Voice. Based on a 1930 play by Jean Cocteau, the one-woman opera captures one side of the conversation as a despairing Parisian woman is dumped via telephone. After intermission, Puccini’s Sister Angelica transports the audience to 17th century Italian convent, where a young nun struggles with hidden secrets from her past.

May 6 – 8 — The University of Washington School of Music explores the strange world of American composer Charles Ives with three days of lectures and performances. An insurance agent by day and composer by night, Ives was fond of quoting American patriotic songs and familiar classical works in his compositions. Hear Ives’ orchestral works on May 6, his devilishly difficult “Concord” Piano Sonata on May 7, and a collection of songs and chamber music on May 8.

May 8 — Pianist Jon Kimura Parker shows off his chops at the UW’s Meany Hall with his own solo piano arrangement of Stravinsky’s infamous ballet Rite of Spring. As if a full-length performance of Rite isn’t enough, Parker also throws in Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff.

May 11 — Soprano Marian Seibert joins the Medieval Women’s Choir for “Music of the Spheres,” a tribute to 12th-century abbess and religious mystic Hildegard of Bingen. A renowned healer, poet, and composer, Hildegard is most famous for her multi-sensory “visions” that affected her throughout her lifetime. Travel back in time to Hildegard’s Middle Ages with this choral performance, accompanied by period instruments.

May 14 — Learn about the astounding life of poet Krystyna Zywulska, member of the Polish Resistance and survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp. Music of Remembrance presents the world premiere performance of Jake Heggie’s Farewell, Auschwitz!, which brings Zywulska’s poetry to life through music and song.

May 16 – 17 — The Seattle Symphony celebrates Shostakovich with two concerts of the composer’s most beloved works. On May 16, the orchestra performs the dramatic Symphony No. 5 along with Piano Concerto No. 1, featuring guest soloist Ignat Solzhenitsyn. The next evening, May 17, hear Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 performed by 21-year-old Julian Schwarz, son of SSO Conductor Laureate Gerard Schwarz.

May 18 – 19 — With the long, sunny days of summer quickly approaching, it’s the perfect time to pay tribute to sunshine and light. Seattle Pro Musica‘s “Lucis” celebrates the season with a program of contemporary choral works devoted to the theme of light. The concert features several composers who herald from Scandinavia and the Baltics, including Finnish composer Jaakko Mantyjarvi, whose Canticum calamitatis maritimae honors those who perished in the tragic MS Estonia shipwreck of 1994.

May 31 – Jun. 9 — Who says Pacific Northwest Ballet doesn’t do modern? The company’s annual “Director’s Choice” production brings together short masterpieces by the great choreographers of the 20th century and today. This year’s show pairs Balanchine favorites with a world premiere by Christopher Wheeldon, one of contemporary ballet’s shining stars.

Arts & Entertainment, Dance

Black Grace’s Dancers from Down Under Mesmerize at Meany

Watching and hearing a performance by Black Grace is unlike anything from a contemporary dance company in the European tradition. One of New Zealand’s premier dance groups since its 1995 formation, Black Grace was founded and is still led by choreographer Neil Ieremia, who catalogues the experiences and history, good and bad, of Pacific Islanders in his dances, transforming them into expressive movement.

At Meany Theater as part of the UW World Dance Series (through Saturday; tickets), on Thursday night the company performed three of Ieremia’s dances; the first, Pati Pati, described as a mixture of excerpts from older repertoire.

Nevertheless, it did not appear as a mishmash at all. Exquisitely lit as though coming from very early dawn on a clear day, ten company members danced in close formation. They used all kinds of slapping, stamping techniques in perfect unison, starting from a seated position and gradually rising to incorporating body movement as well, feet flexed, movements always swift, vigorous, separate but in unison and accompanied by drums. Not too long, it was the most effective piece of the evening.

The next was also an excerpt, this time from one work, Amata. While in Pati Pati the light was so low one could not really see colors of costume, just enough and cleverly enough that one could see all the form; in Amata the dancers wore shiny red — brief dresses for the women or culottes for the men. More fluid than Pati Pati, but again each person dancing vigorously and separately most of the time, there was more repetition of movement, and an interweaving of space and patterns on stage. As well as drums one could hear woodblocks as well, and sometimes chanting from the dancers.

The company presented a recent full length work, Vaka, after intermission. The word, meaning “canoe,” was used as a representation of how we navigate though life. Unfortunately, it was about twice too long for its substance.

Much slower moving at first, to a plucked accompaniment, there was more ceremony, but also much more running and, highly effective, the sounds and tension of an increasingly violent ocean with more urgent movement to match, and drum beats so deep one could feel the vibrations in the intensity.

In one section, a piece of cloth which may or may not have been a wave got drawn out to a long narrow triangle with one dancer lying motionless at its point, and images of a moving shoreline were projected on it, fascinating to watch. When this was gradually pulled off stage, dancer and all, it seemed an appropriate end, but no, it was about half way through. At the end, dancers were walking through what appeared to be a forest with dappled light and birdcalls, the women carried by the men on their backs.

Describing the actual movements is difficult. It’s not graceful. Much of it is almost like children’s experiments, jumping in place with the feet apart, doing somersaults off another’s upraised feet; but the synchronization between the dancers, the exactness of what they did, the litheness of their movements was at all times mesmerizing to watch.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Juilliard String Quartet Blends Old and New at UW’s Meany Hall

It’d be an understatement to call the Juilliard String Quartet a musical institution. Since the ensemble was founded in 1946, the Quartet has produced over a hundred recordings and serves as the official string quartet of the Juilliard School. Known for their interpretations of major string quartet works, the group also champions new additions to the repertoire. Last Wednesday, the Quartet presented a recital at the University of Washington’s Meany Hall. Their program balanced Beethoven and Mozart with a recent work: Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 5, composed in 1995.

The Juilliard String Quartet (Photo: Steve J. Sherman)
The Juilliard String Quartet (Photo: Steve J. Sherman)

In recent years, the Juilliard Quartet has been in a period of transition. The ensemble’s newest member is first violinist Joseph Lin, who arrived in 2011. In contrast, violist Samuel Rhodes and cellist Joel Krosnick are both veteran members who have performed with the ensemble for decades. A relative newcomer with his fifteen years of tenure, second violinist Ronald Copes rounds out the group.

But more personnel changes are on the way. At the end of the current concert season, Rhodes will retire, passing his post to Roger Tapping, a former member of the Takács Quartet.

The Quartet has adjusted relatively well to all of this shuffling. In particular, Lin is proving to be an excellent choice for first violinist. At Wednesday’s concert, his energy and strong leadership shone out through the entire performance. Although at first glance he stands out as the youngster amid seasoned veterans, his playing blends well with the others, bringing cohesion to the group.

Wednesday’s program opened with Mozart. The ensemble’s interpretation of the String Quartet No. 21 in D Major was conservative but spirited, highlighting the refined aspects of the piece. The performance showcased the dynamics between the members of the quartet. It’s clear that these musicians have been playing together for many years. As an ensemble, their communication had a sense of familiarity and ease that can only be attained by countless hours of collaboration. Mozart’s chamber music is full of mimicry and echoing between instruments, which resulted in many lovely exchanges.

As the lone modern work in a program of classics, Carter’s String Quartet No. 5 breaks from tradition in more ways than one. Cellist Joel Krosnick likened the work to a conversation between characters, each with a distinct voice and personality. The piece is divided up into six movements, each preceded by a brief interlude in which the characters “decide what to talk about next.”

The Quartet’s performance traversed the work with this philosophy in mind, turning the piece into an exploration of timbre, dynamics, and articulation. Unlike the Mozart, which brought the ensemble together as a single sonic unit, Carter’s work emphasized differences in musical character. The contrast between Copes’ and Lin’s parts was especially distinct — at times, it seemed that they were playing completely different instruments.

The ensemble concluded the program with a great warhorse: Beethoven’s monumental String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, one of the composer’s last works. Completed just a year before Beethoven’s death in 1827, it’s full of restlessness and constantly evolving musical ideas that test an ensemble’s mettle. The Juilliard Quartet’s performance began strong, particularly the transition between the first movement’s slow, haunting fugue and the charming dance-like rhythms of the second movement. By the end of the work, the ensemble’s momentum seemed to be flagging, especially during the intense Allegro that concludes the piece. First violinist Lin did his best to rally the troops to the blazing finale, carrying much of the musical energy himself.

The recent changes in the Juilliard Quartet represent an important changing of the guard, as veteran players nearing retirement pass the mantle to musicians at the beginning of their careers. Last Wednesday’s concert was an intriguing look into this process, which is a difficult milestone for every ensemble. It’s inspiring to see several different generations of musicians come together to play as a single unit — to witness decades-old musical relationships between the veterans, and to watch younger players step into leadership roles.

The future looks bright for the Juilliard Quartet. If last week’s concert was any indication, violist Rhodes will leave the ensemble in good hands when he departs at the end of this season. Despite the growing pains that plague every group in transition, the Quartet performs as a cohesive unit, blending Lin’s strong leadership with the maturity of the others. It’ll be interesting to catch the Juilliard Quartet during the next stage of their transformation, as they bring Tapping and his wealth of experience on board.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

Pianist Christopher O’Riley Performs Radiohead and Nirvana

Pianist Christopher O’Riley wears many hats. Renowned for his interpretations of classical works by Ravel, Rachmaninoff, and Gershwin, O’Riley frequently tours as a piano soloist. But you may also know him as the host of NPR’s popular show From the Top, where he interviews talented young classical musicians. Or perhaps you’ve heard his piano arrangements of hits by Radiohead, Nirvana, and other legends of the rock world. O’Riley arranges classical music as well, tackling mighty orchestral masterpieces and paring them down for solo piano.

Pianist Christopher O'Riley (Photo: Wendy Lynch)
Pianist Christopher O’Riley (Photo: Wendy Lynch)

This week, O’Riley is in Seattle for two very different recitals at the University of Washington. The first of these, held last night at the intimate Meany Studio Theatre, featured O’Riley’s piano renditions of popular rock songs. Tonight’s concert on the Meany Hall mainstage is an all-classical program, including arrangements by Liszt and O’Riley himself.

Last night’s program was announced from the stage. O’Riley’s enthusiastic introductions for each piece made it clear that he’s very passionate about all the music he arranges. Bands represented included Radiohead, Nirvana, and Pink Floyd. O’Riley also performed songs by Portland singer-songwriter Elliott Smith and bassist Reid Anderson of jazz trio The Bad Plus. In addition, he slipped one of his own pieces into the program, a waltz composed as part of the score to an interactive e-book.

A self-proclaimed Radiohead fanatic, O’Riley has recorded two full-length albums of arrangements of the band’s songs. Much to the delight of last night’s crowd, nearly half of the songs O’Riley performed were by Thom Yorke and his crew, including two encores. These arrangements were the most exciting and engaging songs on the program. Most of them were from the 1997 release OK Computer, including a dazzling arrangement of the hit single “Paranoid Android”, which O’Riley dubbed as the band’s most orchestral song.

In general, Radiohead’s style lends itself well to arrangement. The band’s songs are a sea of colors and textures, pierced by Thom Yorke’s melodic crooning, which floats over the wash of sound. It’s very similar to orchestral music, where melodies are supported and enhanced by layers of symphonic sound.

O’Riley’s arrangements honor the orchestral aspects of Radiohead’s music. His renditions are are full of compositional motifs from the Romantic and Impressionist eras. Melodic chords chime out while arpeggios in the lower notes create a blurry texture — an effect reminiscent of Debussy. At times, O’Riley channels the great pianists Franz Liszt, especially during sections where the right hand pinky pings out the melody high up on the piano while the rest of the fingers are busy creating a lush accompaniment.

The concert struck an appealing balance between intense, raging anthems and slow, melancholic ballads. O’Riley’s version of Nirvana’s “Heart-Shaped Box” doesn’t quite muster the raw angst of the original, but he comes close, rendering Kurt Cobain’s guitar chorus as enormous smashing chords in the piano.

In contrast, ballads like Elliott Smith’s “True Love” and Gary Jules’ cover of “Mad World” (made famous by the film Donnie Darko) have a much simpler texture evocative of Chopin’s Preludes or Nocturnes, featuring a singing melodic line in the right hand supported by a chord-based accompaniment in the left. O’Reily’s arrangements steer clear of sentimentality and sappiness. They’re full of emotion, but not overwrought.

O’Riley’s at the top of a growing genre of performers who are re-imagining pop and rock hits in different musical styles. In the local scene, the Seattle Rock Orchestra produces tribute concerts that bring together guest vocalists and a full orchestra for arrangements of popular songs by the Beatles, Queen, Arcade Fire, and other bands. They’ll be performing the music of The Smashing Pumpkins next month.

Judging from the whoops of joy as O’Riley announced each song, last night’s crowd was full of Radiohead fans. A look around the room confirmed that the performance attracted a decidedly younger set than the typical audience at a classical piano recital. It was a treat to see O’Riley perform and discuss his arrangements in such an intimate space, though it seemed that the performance could have drawn a larger crowd with more marketing and a better-known venue. I’d love to see O’Riley return next season to play Radiohead for a huge theater full of fans.

If you’d like to catch Christopher O’Riley before he leaves Seattle, tickets are still available for his an all-classical program tonight at the University of Washington’s Meany Hall. The concert, part of the UW World Series, features works by Schubert, Schumann, Wagner, and Liszt, as well as O’Riley’s own transcription of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.

Arts & Entertainment, Dance

For Compagnie Marie Chouinard, the Music Comes First

Choreographer Marie Chouinard performed her own work solo for twelve years before forming her Compagnie Marie Chouinard, developing her highly original style. It’s no surprise, then, that in both works she presented on the UW World Series at Meany Theater Thursday night (repeated tonight and Saturday; tickets), dancers performed individually much of the time, though often not alone on stage.

The two works couldn’t be more different in atmosphere: 24 Preludes by Chopin, and The Rite of Spring, music by Stravinsky. Again, it’s no surprise that Chouinard calls these works by the titles of the music, because for her the music comes first. Her dancers recreate the music in bodily form. If you could hear nothing at all through your ears, you could sense the music through the the way they move, not just the the rhythm but the emotions the music conjures.

Thus, in 24 Preludes, she mirrors each brief prelude as contrastingly as did Chopin.

The dancers are clad in black swim suits, trunks for the four men, one-piece for the six women, with a black strap around each foot which is otherwise bare, and with some fantastical hairstyles including several mohawks. Chouinard uses hands, wrists and fingers frequently and effectively here, sometimes sharply angled, sometimes fluttering, suggesting flight. One prelude has arms raising Heil-Hitler style then going beyond and dissipating the memory, another has the dancers kicking a soccer ball around. Impressions like joy, toughness, ghostliness, athletes, humor, being imprisoned, spasticity all enter the mind.

Superbly trained athletes the dancers are, undeniably. There is huge energy here, as Chouinard uses the whole body in movements fluid or jerky, seemingly easy but requiring great flexibility. At the same time the dancers need to be closely attuned to the music as so much of what they do is dictated by the phrasing, the mood, the rhythms of each prelude. With considerable courage, given the needs of the dance, the company agreed to use live music provided by, in 24 Preludes, UW doctoral student in piano Brooks Tran.

The same courage applied for Rite, where the company used the UW Symphony Orchestra led by its music director Jonathan Pasternack. While the dancers are often performing alone in individual pools of light, there is still a feeling of primitive tribal dance, enhanced when they all come together as a group.

There’s cohesiveness of feeling here but each one is dancing to a personal vision, and above all it’s the music which drives the dance rising out of it. The vigor, the energy, the sexuality inherent without being sexy because it doesn’t seem to be directed at another person, all embody Rite’s music, which shocked the audience 100 years ago this year, and can still take us aback now. It’s merely an unemphasized part of the whole that the female dancers, like the men, wear only black swimming trunks, naked from the waist up.

One prop is used, sparingly. Five curved spikes like fingernails, about a foot long, sprout from a dancer’s hands, elbows and thighs, later from another dancer also. As as they move together, they undulate like jellyfish tendrils. Another time a group of dancers has only has one spike on each hand, a unicorn horn, a penis, a pair of horns.

The originality of Chouinard’s choreography shows starkly in there is one and only one movement, a leap, which appears to derive from classical ballet. Her lighting for Rites is equally imaginative, while for 24 Preludes, it’s achieved by the gifted Axel Morgenthaler.

Arts & Entertainment, Music

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

Happy New Year! Seattle’s classical music ensembles and concert venues are off to a running start in 2013 with a stellar line-up of performances for the month of January. Explore exciting new works by local composers with the Seattle Rock Orchestra, experience chamber music classics at Seattle Chamber Music Society’s Winter Festival, and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring at the University of Washington. If you’ve resolved to catch more live music in 2013, you’re in luck!

Pianist HJ Lim (Photo: Simon Fowler)
Pianist HJ Lim (Photo: Simon Fowler)

Jan. 10 & 12 — Pianist HJ Lim joins the Seattle Symphony for a performance of Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1. Also on the program are works by Stravinsky and Mozart.

Jan. 12 — Seattle Rock Orchestra performs new works for orchestra by a host of local composers, including Nat Evans, Jherek Bischoff, and Evan Flory-Barnes. The concert also features music from Beck Hansen’s Song Reader.

Jan. 12 — West Seattle’s Holy Rosary Church provides an atmospheric setting for Cappella Romana‘s performance of Rachmaninoff’s The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. Last year, the Portland-based ensemble visited Seattle for a sold-out concert featuring Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil.

Jan. 18 — Cornish College of the Arts presents a recital by Trio de Kooning, a newly-formed string ensemble dedicated to performing new music by Dutch and American composers.

Jan. 18-26 — Seattle Chamber Music Society presents its 2013 Winter Festival, featuring six evenings of concerts. Highlights include a performance of all six of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos (Jan. 24), Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion (Jan. 20), and free pre-concert solo recitals by Festival artists.

Jan. 18 – 20 — Racer Sessions celebrates three years of improvised and experimental music at Cafe Racer with Cry and Roar, a three-day festival featuring musicians and ensembles that have played a key role in the Sessions’ history.

Eighth Blackbird (Photo: Luke Ratray)
Eighth Blackbird (Photo: Luke Ratray)

Jan. 22 – 23 — Chicago-based new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird visits the Seattle area for the first time. The Grammy Award-winning group will perform works by Glass, Ligeti, and others on January 22 at Kirkland Performance Center. On January 23, they’ll present a masterclass with students at Cornish College of the Arts.

Jan. 22 — Up-and-coming Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii presents a solo recital at Benaroya Hall, featuring works by Debussy and Chopin. 24-year-old Tsujii, who is blind, won the gold medal at the 2009 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition.

Jan. 24-26 — In honor of the 100th anniversary of the premiere of The Rite of Spring, the dancers of Compagnie Marie Chouinard perform Stravinsky’s influential work accompanied by the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra. Also on the program is an original choreography set to Chopin’s 24 Preludes, featuring live music by local pianist Brooks Tran.

Jan. 28-29 — The UW World Series presents pianist Christopher O’Riley in two recitals. On January 28, the popular host of NPR’s From the Top will perform his own transcriptions of popular songs by Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and Nirvana. The next day, he’ll take the stage at Meany Hall for a more traditional program featuring works transcribed by Liszt.

Jan. 31 & Feb. 2 — The Seattle Symphony gives its inaugural performance of Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie, featuring guest artist Cynthia Millar on the ondes Martenot, an electronic instrument similar to the theremin.