David Soyer, Guarneri Cellist Passes Away

David Soyer, the cellist and founding member of the Guarneri String Quartet passed away at the age of 87 in his home in New York City. Mr. Soyer retired from the GSQ in 2001. More information available here. A video of the Guarneri playing Beethoven:

Schoenberg's Gershwin Tribute

In 1937 George Gershwin and Arnold Schoenberg met up in Hollywood (they had officially met sometime before, though the exact year is unclear). Like any good American, Gershwin brought along his handheld camera to capture some home movies, and what we have is look into the lives of two important composers of the 20th century. Schoenberg provides a moving tribute to his friend towards the end of this short video.

Metropolitan Opera Announces 2010-11 Season

New York, NY (February 22, 2010)—Seven new productions, including two company premieres and the first two parts of a new Ring cycle, featuring many of the world’s greatest singers and conductors, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-11 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine announced plans for the Met premieres of John Adams’s Nixon in China and Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, the first two installments of Robert Lepage’s new production of Wagner’s epic Der Ring des Nibelungen, with stagings of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, and new productions of three repertory classics by debuting directors—Boris Godunov by Peter Stein, Don Carlo by Nicholas Hytner, and La Traviata by Willy Decker. With Nixon in China, Peter Sellars will also make his Met directorial debut, and Bartlett Sher, director of Le Comte Ory, will return for his third production here following his recent successful stagings of Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Les Contes d’Hoffmann.

Also, the HD broadcasts at local cinemas will continue for a fifth year with 11 broadcasts:

The 2010-11 season of The Met: Live in HD will feature 11 transmissions, beginning on October 9 with Das Rheingold and continuing with Boris Godunov (October 23), Don Pasquale (November 13), Don Carlo (December 11), La Fanciulla del West (January 8), Iphigénie en Tauride (February 26), Lucia di Lammermoor (March 19), Le Comte Ory (April 9), Capriccio (April 23), Il Trovatore (April 30), and Die Walküre (May 14).

More information can be found here.

Louisville Orchestra Pre-Concert Conversation 02/18/10

The Louisville Orchestra performed two concerts in one day on February 18th with a program featuring a world premiere by George Tsontakis, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (From the New World).

Classical 90.5′s Scott Dowd hosted the pre-concert conversation for the evening performance with guests George Tsontakis, conductor Jorge Mester, and featured pianist Joyce Yang.  The conversation touched on topics ranging from the genesis and premiere performances of Tsontakis’ composition Impetuous, to the rigors of Rachmaninoff.

Listen in here.

Blessed Events

English priest and theologian Cardinal John Henry Newman, who wrote “The Dream of Gerontius”, on which Edward Elgar based his oratorio of the same name, will be given the title of ‘Blessed’ by Pope Benedict when he visits Britain in September. But the musical arts is blessing others lately too.

Composer David Dworkin feels blessed to have experienced the Shen Yun Performing Arts group, who will perform in Louisville in March. Knoxville Opera feels blessed to have lyric soprano Rachele Gilmore in their production of “Lucia di Lammermoor”. And we all are blessed by the BBC’s efforts to archive their extensive collection of audio and video recordings on the internet, including this 1936 audio recording of a Welsh minors’ choir. Many of the clips are not available for us in North America, unfortunately.