Paganini, Berlioz Live Concert Webcast and a Virtual Museum Tour

Get ready for a whirlwind of a concert!

On Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 3:00 PM EST (GMT -5), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present a live concert webcast.  The concert will feature Augustin Hadelich playing Paganini’s First Violin Concerto.

Here’s just a taste of the violinist’s Paganini flare:  Augustin Hadelich playing Paganini Caprice No. 5.

The second half of the concert will feature the wild ride of Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique.  Jader Bignamini, the DSO’s new music director, will conduct.  You can see the concert here.

Paganini and Berlioz met in Paris, and became regular correspondents.  Both enjoyed guitar music, and Paganini gave Berlioz a guitar.  Both signed the guitar, which still exists and is at the Musée de la Musique in Paris. [1]   Berlioz donated the guitar to the museum when he was its curator.  And here it is:

You can take a fascinating virtual tour of the museum at this link.  You can even download a museum map to facilitate your tour. Click the pictures; any picture with a compass on it will allow you to wander through the museum and view the exhibits.  Other pictures will provide slideshows with musical clips.  Enjoy!

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References

1. Niccolò Paganini, Wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niccol%C3%B2_Paganini.

Image attributions:  Globe with eighth note, C. Gallant, 2019.  Paganini, Berlioz guitar, Musée de la musique, Paris / A Giordan – http://mediatheque.cite-musique.fr/musee [Public domain] via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jean-Nicolas_Grobert_-_Early_Romantic_Guitar,_Paris_around_1830.jpg.

Free Live Webcast: Mendelssohn and More!

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present a live concert webcast on December 6, 2019 at 10:45 AM EST (GMT -5).  The concert will feature Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, performed by violinist James Ehnes.  Juanjo Mena will conduct.  You can see the concert at dso.org/live. Here’s the program:

Haydn  Symphony No. 44 in E minor, “Trauersinfonie”

Mendelssohn  Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in E minor, Op. 64

Schubert  Symphony No 9 in C major, D. 944, “The Great”

 

Free Concert Webcast Tonight: Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and More

“I shall not alter a single note,” I answered, “I shall publish the work exactly as it is!”

So said Tchaikovsky after receiving blistering criticism from pianist Nikolai Rubinstein after hearing Tchaikovsky’s first piano concerto a few days after the composition was completed. [1]  Rubinstein, who is known for debuting Balakirev’s insanely difficult Islamey, [2] deemed the concerto “unplayable” and “vulgar.”

It would appear Tchaikovsky was vindicated.  The first piano concerto met with great audience acclaim at its debut in Boston, and has become one of Tchaikovsky’s most popular works.  Rubinstein later came around, both playing and conducting the work he once vilified.

Tonight at 8PM EST (GMT -5) the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present a free live concert webcast, which will include Tchaikovsky’s concerto.  The concert will feature conductor Dalia Stasevska and pianist Simon Trpčeski.  You can see the webcast at dso.org/live or on Facebook Live.  Here’s the program:

Julia Wolfe  Fountain of Youth (described by the composer as “a sassy, rhythmic, high energy swim”) [3]

Tchaikovsky  Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23

Sibelius  Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Op. 39.

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1. Warrack, John, Tchaikovsky.  New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1973 pp 78-79.
2. Nikolai Rubinstein, wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Rubinstein.
3. https://juliawolfemusic.com/music.

Free Live Concert Webcast: Schumann’s Piano Concerto with Jeremy Denk

On September 15, 2019 at 2:00 PM CST (GMT -5) the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will present a live webcast of a performance of Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A Minor featuring pianist Jeremy Denk.

Don’t miss this great program, which will also include Rossini’s Overture to La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder) and Schubert’s Symphony No. 2.

Also be sure to check out the SPCO’s extensive concert library.

You can see the webcast here.

Free Concert Webcast: Beethoven, Prokofiev, and Currier

On Saturday, April 13, 2019 at 8:00 PM EDT (GMT -4), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will feature pianist Hélène Grimaud performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto.  Also on the program are Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, and a new work, Divisions, a commemoration of World War I, written by Sebastian Currier.  Ludovic Morlot will conduct.  You can see the concert at www.dso.org/live or on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/detroitsymphony).

Free Concert Webcast Tonight: Overtures and Suites from Schumann, Strauss, and More

Tonight, conductor Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra present an evening of Strauss (Johann II and Richard) and Schumann.  The concert will feature cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras.  You can see the concert at https://www.dso.org/live.  Here’s the program:

Johann Strauss II.:   Overture to Die Fledermaus
Robert Schumann: Concerto for Cello and Orchestra
Robert Schumann: Overture to Manfred
Richard Strauss: Suite from Der Rosenkavalier

Free Concert Webcast Today: Beethoven’s Fifth and Brahms’s Violin Concerto

In just two hours from now (10:45 EST, GMT -5), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present the Brahms Concerto for Violin, featuring Christian Tetzlaff, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, conducted by Carlos Miguel Prieto.  You can see it at https://www.dso.org/live.

If you’ve already missed it, or if it doesn’t fit into your schedule, I’d like to mention that a $50 donation (or more) to the Detroit Symphony comes with a one-year subscription to Replay, the orchestra’s online library of concerts, which includes their last four seasons as well as the Brahmsfest, Mozartfest, and Frenchfest series of concerts, over 200 works to choose from, as well as artist interview and pre-concert lectures.

Enjoy!

 

Free Concert Webcast: Tchaikovsky’s Fourth and More!

On Saturday, November 17 at 8:00 EST (GMT-5) the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present a free live webcast of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4.  John Storgårds will conduct.  The webcast will also feature violinist Pekka Kuusisto.  The webcast can be seen at https://www.dso.org/live.  Here’s the program.

George Antheil:  Over the Plains

Daniel Bjarnason: Violin Concerto

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4

 

By the way, you should really read George Antheil’s bio.  It’s rare to find a composer who developed a radio guidance system for torpedoes (with actress Hedy Lamarr, no less; I am not making this up), and who was a friend of the poet Ezra Pound.

Free Concert Webcast: Stravinsky, Chopin, and a World Premiere

Today, Friday, June 1, 2018 at 10:45 AM EDT (GMT -4) the Detroit Symphony Orchestra will webcast a free live concert.  Here’s the program:

Jared Miller: Luster (World Premiere)
Frédéric Chopin: Piano Concerto No 1
Igor Stravinsky: Rite of Spring

Robert Spano will conduct, and the Chopin piano concerto will feature pianist Seong-Jin Cho.  See the concert at dso.org/live.

Free Live Concert Webcast: Baroque to Classical

On Saturday, 19 May 2018 at 9 PM EDT (UTC-4), The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will present a free live concert webcast that traces the transition from the Baroque to the Classical.  You can see the concert here.

Here’s the program:

Charles Avison: Concerto Grosso No. 5 in D Minor (after D. Scarlatti)

Jan Dismas Zelenka:  Sinfonia in A Minor for Orchestra

C.P.E. Bach: Sinfonia in E Minor, Wq. 178

Franz Joseph Haydn: Symphony No. 6, Morning.

 

The SPCO also has a great library of concert videos that you can access here.  You should be able to see this concert there in a short while.