Scarlatti and The Musical Robots

On Saturday, November 30 at 5PM local time I get to conduct a concert at the helm of the Budapest Strings
http://www.budapestivonosok.hu
at the Palace of The Arts in Budapest, Hungary. The concert includes two world premieres, one by the world famous composer, Peter Eotvos. It is a composition for French Horn and string orchestra, a very elegant and sensitive piece of music. It is an honor to be able to do the World Premiere of a new composition by Eotvos, who is turning 70 in January 2014 and whom I can call my teacher and mentor in both composition and conducting.
See the composer’s webpage about this new composition entitled Hommage a Domenico Scarlatti:
http://www.eotvospeter.com

More compositions by Eotvos will be included in my 13-14 season.
As part of the so called “Mini Festival” at the end of January in cooperation with Neue Oper Wien and Palace Of The Arts I get to conduct the Hungarian premiere and the studio recording of Eotvos’ latest opera: Paradise Reloaded (Lilith).
In February Huntsville Symphony is presenting an orchestral composition of his entitled “The Gliding of The Eagle in The Skies”, and also a very interesting action-piece called “Brass The Metal Space”.
Watch my blog posts about these performances in the next few months!

The other world premiere this Saturday is that of my “Gulliver Suite” for Tubular Bells and Strings, an 11 minute long composition based on “Gulliver in Faremido”, a piece of mine for narrator and 5 players. You can buy the commercial recording of the latter piece by going on iTunes or to this website:
http://www.bmcrecords.hu
The story behind the music is based on a Gulliver-sequel by 20th Century Hungarian author, Frigyes Karinthy. In this modern voyage Gulliver ends up on a planet where robot-like beings communicate by music instead of speech. More program notes and the story itself can be found on the Budapest Music Center link above. The movements of “Gulliver Suite” are: 1) Gulliver in Faremido 2) Robot Concert 3) Story Of The Two Headed Monster 4) Be That As It May

Since the performance is part of the “Master and Student” conversation-concert series Mr. Eotvos and I will be joined by musicologist Prof. Imre Foldes. I am hoping for an interesting and stimulating conversation about the new pieces and the two Baroque compositions by Georg Philipp Telemann.
http://en.wikipedia.org

I picked Telemann’s Gulliver Suite (originally for two solo violins, but we play it with 5+4 players in a stereo setting) and one of his Horn Concertos to compliment the modern music performed. This will be my first time to work with the great, young horn player, Szabolcs Zempleni.
http://www.zempleni.com

The Season That Opens Twice

This is the season that opens twice. The first half of the first concert of 2013-14 starts with Brahms: Academic Festival Overture. The second half of the first concert of 2013-14 starts with Brahms: Tragic Overture. Having the longest continuously operating symphony orchestra in the state of Alabama alone calls for celebration. I also think that number 59 is just as nice a number as 60 (yes, we are already getting ready for a great season of celebration!). The concert will end with the mind-blowing piece of Leos Janacek entitled Sinfonietta. 9 extra trumpets (12 all together) and some other additional brass instruments are joining the HSO to finish the concert with a big bang. In the first half the great Robert McDuffie is joining the forces of the string section along with harp and percussion to play Bernstein’s Serenade. It is a real treat an tons of fun to make chamber music with Robert.
Check out his website here:
http://www.robertmcduffie.com

Brahms, Bernstein, Brahms, Janacek
Check out Huntsville Symphony website here:
http://www.hso.org
Listen to WLRH Radio tomorrow (Friday) morning for a pre-recorded interview with Ginney Kennedy about this concert and the upcoming season.
Let “The Season of Personalities” begin!

Season Opening, Gyorgy Ligeti and the Rapper

On Monday I am starting the rehearsals for two big projects with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (MR Symphony). On September 21 the orchestra opens its 70th Anniversary Season at the Palace of the Arts in Budapest with the following program:
Liszt: Les Preludes
Chopin: Piano Concerto #2 [Gergely Boganyi -piano]
Dohnanyi: Symphonic Minutes
Tchaikovsky: Symphony #5

This program is the exact replica of the very first public concert of the orchestra on October 7, 1943 conducted by Ernst von Dohnanyi himself. This concert kicks off our 70th season celebration with many exciting concerts and projects. More info here:
http://mrze.hu

Two concerts are coming up the week after our season opening concert. We’ll be playing 8 brand new compositions in two concerts (chamber orchestra and full orchestra), one at Budapest Music Center (my first time conducting in this amazing new chamber music hall) on Sept 25, the other one a day later at the Palace of the Arts. After the concerts the final committee (including myself) will decide about the prize winner compositions. I got to tell you that it is going to be a difficult decision. The quality of the 8 pieces in the finals are very high and every one of them represent a very unique, personal voice. Just as a teaser: one piece is for “pianist” and orchestra, where the soloist only plays one chord at the end of the piece. Another composition employes a rapper alongside with the symphony orchestra.
This year’s New Hungarian Music Forum competition is dedicated to the great Gyorgy Ligeti. Check out the details here:
http://bmc.hu

All concerts mentioned above can be heard live thanks to the Hungarian Radio. They are also available online live or after the performance for another two weeks at radio.hu

Music in the Mountains Summer Fest 2013 First Weekend

First concert of SummerFest 2013 tonight.
Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin, Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez (Gyan Riley-guitar), Bizet: Symphony in C
Saturday morning: Free Family Concert, Mozart: Magic Flute Overture, Britten: Young Persons’ Guide To The Orchestra
The fun and amazing band Three Leg Torso is playing a show in the evening.
Sunday: Glazunov: Summer, Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (original solo piano version: Aleksander Korsantia, piano), Chopin: Piano Concerto #2 (Aleksander Korsantia, piano)
Check out the details here:
http://www.musicinthemountains.org

Seasons of Santa Barbara

It’s the season of The Seasons. Conducting the Santa Barbara Symphony for the first time this week. Program includes: Vivaldi 4 Seasons and Glazunov The Seasons
See details at the SBS website:
http://www.thesymphony.org/2012-2013-season/


Here are some other “seasons” classical music videos for your enjoyment
Seasons of Buenos Aires by Astor Piazzolla

The American Four Seasons by Philip Glass

Piccolo Concerto and Rite of Spring in Costa Rica

Ready for my trip to San Jose, Costa Rica. My first ever trip to Central America and my debut with
Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional
http://www.osn.go.cr
Concerts on Friday and Sunday
Program:
Allen Torres: Tres Acuarelas (see the orchestra’s website about the composer)
Lowell Lieberman: Piccolo Concerto
See blog post by Crysania4 from 2010 with YouTube links to the piece
http://crysania4.livejournal.com

And of course it is still the 100th Birth-year of Good Old Rite of Spring. He has not aged a minute since his birth, I got to tell you that.