Two concerts with Symphony Silicon Valley this weekend, one down one more to go. On the program:
Tchaikovsky: Romeo and Juliet Overture Fantasy
Debussy: Nocturnes
Rachmaninov: The Bells
http://symphonysiliconvalley.org
This is my second time conducting Rachmaninov’s “choral symphony”. Here is my blogpost from 2013 about my performance with the Hungarian Radio Symphony with an “all about bells” theme:
http://gregoryvajda.com
The sound of the famous “Russian Bells” of course can be found in Tchaikovsky’s Overture Fantasy as well, and also in the delicate sounds of Debussy’s mezmerising Nocturnes, with female voices added to the mix of the orchestra timbres.
More bells for me in the coming weeks. In between rehearsals and performances I spent most of my time in my hotel room while in San Jose, CA. Let me tell you, I was missing out on some beautiful weather. I spent several hours preparing my score and making additional cuts to Busoni’s opera, Doctor Faust. Two semi-staged performances are coming up at the Budapest Opera. The entire opera starts with the sound of Easter Bells and ends with the sound of more bells accompanying the strange and actually pretty blasphemous apotheosis of Dr. Faust.
http://opera.hu
I am happy to have some of my Huntsville friends in Budapest for the second performance. They will be on a cruise ship on the Danube and will be stopping by in Budapest just in time to see me conduct Doktor Faust. I am looking forward to showing them around in my hometown and to spend some fun times together in my neck of the woods.
Tag Archives: choral music
Percussion, Piano, Clarinet, Food And Drinks
This is going to be a long but fun weekend! HSO’s special guest for Classical 2 is the Amadinda Percussion Group.
http://www.en.wikipedia.org
This world famous ensemble has agreed to stop by on their way to the Percussive Arts Society Annual meeting in Indianapolis
http://www.pas.org/
and play a concert at the VBC. This is a one in a lifetime opportunity to hear the group that is now, after 30 years in the business, is part of music history. They play with amazing musicianship and their repertoire stretches from Haiti folk music through jazz to contemporary classical pieces. They are great entertainers and masters of their countless instruments. Huntsville Symphony and myself will be joining Amadinda for the second half of the program for J.S. Bach’s Concerto for two keyboards (played on 2 vibraphones and 2 marimbas) and for a piece written for four percussionists and orchestra. The latter composition is by Levente Gyongyosi
http://www.kontrapunktmusic.com/
Levente is pretty well known in choral circles in the US. His vocal pieces are popular all around the world. I am happy to be part of the US Premiere of this 35 minute long Sinfonia Concertante written just last year, hopefully contributing to the future success of the composition.
Since we do not have the full orchestra on stage for the beginning of the concert Zoltan Racz and I will be playing the National Anthem on the piano, four hands, for our usual opening sing along. I can’t remember when was the last time I played the piano in front of a life audience. Zoltan and I are practicing every day.
I will be spending my Saturday rehearsing for our first Casual Classics concert this season. It is time for Dinner DIvertimento again (we only have 5[!] tickets left). This year we are matching different courses with different pieces. On the program: Richard Strauss: Serenade op.7, Dvorak: Serenade for Winds in D-minor, Jean Francaix: Ten Character Pieces. I’ll be playing the clarinet for the first two numbers and will be conducting the third one.
Again; practice time for Gregory!
The musical dinner will be served on Sunday at the Early Works Museum.
For more information visit our website
http://www.hso.org/
Radio Christmas
Two more concerts left for this year. Tonight I am conducting part of the now traditional year end Christmas Concert of the musical groups of the Hungarian Radio. Here is the program with some links:
Miklos Kocsar: Hungarian Christmas
http://info.bmc.hu
I studied with Mr. Kocsar for a year as a composer student back in the 90s. He is 80yo this year and his Birthday is just two days after the concert. This piece is a wonderful arrangement of traditional Hungarian Christmas songs.
Respighi: Lauda per la Natività del Signore
http://www.osscs.org/notes
Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Bruckner: Scherzo from Symphony #1
Bruckner: Te Deum
http://en.wikipedia.org
The first and the third pieces are sung by the MR Children’s Choir and conducted by its two choral masters. I get to conduct the charming Respighi and the celebratory, joyous Bruckner compositions. The entire concert is part of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) Christmas broadcast. As always you can listen to the concert at
http://www.mr3-bartok.hu/
live [19:30 local time] or stream it on your computer for two more weeks.
On December 23 I will conduct my first concert at the newly remodeled Franz Liszt Academy of Music. On the program three brand new Christmas Cantatas by young Hungarian composers. Just like earlier this season I am the member of the jury for a composers’ competition and the conductor of the final round. Two Christmas themed texts by Hungarian writer Geza Gardonyi was selected for the competitors to put into music. Three finalists were selected by the pre-screening committee and my orchestra and the MR Symphonic Choir will perform their compositions in front of a live audience. This concert can also be heard on the radio.
Let me wish Merry Christmas, a Wonderful Holiday Season and a Very Happy New Year to all my blog readers and music lovers out there! Come back and visit my site in 2014, too!
