Performance honors skaters who died in D.C. plane crash
In the center of the vast, sleek ice at Capital One Arena stood a slip of a girl in a bedazzled black and white dress — Isabella Aparicio, poised to begin her skate.
A recording of her late father, 48-year-old Luciano Aparicio, playing Pachelbel's Canon in D, came over the speakers. For 1 minute and 50 seconds, Aparicio glided across the ice, her lyrical movements matching the music.
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Washington Post
03-03-2025
- Washington Post
Performance honors skaters who died in D.C. plane crash
In the center of the vast, sleek ice at Capital One Arena stood a slip of a girl in a bedazzled black and white dress — Isabella Aparicio, poised to begin her skate. A recording of her late father, 48-year-old Luciano Aparicio, playing Pachelbel's Canon in D, came over the speakers. For 1 minute and 50 seconds, Aparicio glided across the ice, her lyrical movements matching the music.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Yahoo
Groom in Tears After Bride Recreates His Favorite Scene from 'She's All That 'During Wedding Ceremony! (Exclusive)
Kelly Hazen married Christian Avelar on July 3, 2024 at Liberty House in Jersey City, New Jersey During their wedding ceremony, the bride surprised the groom by recreating the heartfelt staircase scene from his favorite romantic comedy . Hazen secretly had the DJ switch her wedding processional song to the 1999 movie scene's song, "Kiss Me" "I also started tearing up myself," Hazen tells PEOPLE. "I blew him a kiss from the top of the aisle once I could see that he realized the surprise" A groom couldn't help but cry when his bride surprised him during their wedding ceremony. When Kelly Hazen, 32, tied the knot with Christian Avelar, 32, on July 3, 2024 at Liberty House in Jersey City, New Jersey, she wanted to make the day extra special for him. So she surprised him by recreating an iconic scene from his favorite '90s rom-com. Videographer Kevin Fonash with Fonash Studios captured the heartwarming moment Hazen's wedding processional song switched from Disclosure's "You & Me (Flume Remix)" to Sixpence None The Richer's "Kiss Me." "I thought at first maybe the DJ messed up the songs," Avelar tells PEOPLE. "Once the song started playing and I saw Kel start smiling I realized — she's playing Laney Boggs' song!" Related: 'She's All That' : See the Cast of the Teen Classic Then and Now Romantic comedy classic She's All That follows high school hotshot Zach Siler (Freddie Prinze Jr.) agreeing to the seemingly impossible challenge of transforming nerdy outcast Laney Boggs (Rachael Leigh Cook) into the school's next prom queen in just six weeks. When "the new, not improved, but different" Boggs is revealed, Siler is left in awe as she walks down a staircase. "Kiss Me" was playing during the 1999 movie scene. "That's how I always pictured seeing my future wife before coming down the aisle," Avelar says. In the wedding video, which now has more than 2 million views on TikTok, Hazen stands at the top of a staircase with her original wedding song playing. Avelar's expression changes from happiness to confusion when the song suddenly switches to "Kiss Me." The bride locks eyes with the groom, who quickly realizes the song's significance and smiles tearfully. Like Boggs, Hazen left Avelar in awe as she gracefully walked down the steps in her stunning dress. "I also started tearing up myself," Hazen tells PEOPLE. "I blew him a kiss from the top of the aisle once I could see that he realized the surprise." She adds: "Our wedding guests picked up on the '90s rom-com cue — one guest said to me, 'That was so cute! I started falling in love with you at the top of the stairs too!' " She then made her way down the aisle, accompanied by her father, to "Canon in D." Hazen had been planning the sweet surprise for four months, with only DJ Ridd from Baseline Productions in on the secret. "A couple months into wedding planning I told my now-husband, Christian, I don't think I have ever seen She's All That from start to finish, only bits and pieces. He was so insistent it was a classic and I HAD to see it," Hazen recalls. "Once I saw his reaction to the scene, I knew the song for the ceremony intro would be perfect." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Hazen and Avelar's love story would also make for a great rom-com. The two met in sixth grade math class at Frelinghuysen Middle School in New Jersey in 2003. Their friendship blossomed into romance during their teenage years at Morristown High School when they had "nearly the same schedule" junior year. "We fell in love flirting in Italian class and joking around together in Social Studies before graduating together in June 2010," Hazen says. Related: Bride Leaves Groom in Tears at Altar After She Secretly Changed the Song She Walked Down the Aisle to (Exclusive) But it wasn't until Hazen graduated from Kent State University in Ohio in May 2014 and moved back to her home state that she reconnected with Avelar. The pair started hanging out to watch soccer games, and had their first date on July 12, 2014 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey. "The rest is history," she says. "We got engaged July 3, 2021 and got married exactly three years later on July 3, 2024." Read the original article on People
New York Times
05-12-2024
- New York Times
Poking Fun at Classical Music, With Wigs, Hula-Hoops and Puns
The violinists Eddy Chen and Brett Yang arrived in the suburbs of Bangkok recently on a mischievous mission. They had come to record hip-hop videos about Beethoven, Bach and other titans of music as if they were alive today. 'They called me calloused, called me unfeeling,' Chen, dressed as Beethoven, with a gray wig and crimson scarf, rapped in one video. 'Can't let them know what I am concealing.' It was just another day in the life of Chen and Yang, better known as the comedy duo TwoSet Violin, who have millions of fans for the humor and whimsy they bring to the often very serious world of classical music. Over the past 11 years, they have galvanized a younger generation of musicians and helped dispel their field's stuffy image. Chen and Yang have performed Pachelbel's Canon in D with rubber chickens, hosted wild composer-themed games of charades and brutally taken down actors pretending to play the violin in movies. They have produced skits about showboating musicians, pushy parents and high-stakes auditions. Some of classical music's biggest names have joined in on the fun. Hilary Hahn joined Chen and Yang to perform Paganini caprices while hula-hooping. Ray Chen played a game in which he and the duo imitated violinists like Jascha Heifetz and Anne-Sophie Mutter. Now, to the dismay of many fans, Chen, 31, and Yang, 32, who are based in Singapore, say they are moving on. They announced in October that TwoSet Violin was ending. They removed nearly all their videos from the internet and wrote on Instagram, 'It's been a wild ride with you all.' The post garnered more than 330,000 likes, with many fans in disbelief. In an interview, Chen and Yang confirmed they were finished with TwoSet Violin, though they said they would likely continue to work together. They said they were increasingly worn out by the demands of creating more than 100 videos each year. And, with 4.3 million subscribers on YouTube, they said, they were growing tired of the scrutiny. 'We've said all that we wanted to say,' Yang said. 'It felt like I had 50-kilo weights on my shoulders for the last 11 years, just trying to please people and be the best that we can.' Chen and Yang, who have made a habit of reading comments on their work, said they felt like they were under a microscope. At times, they were stung by criticisms of their personalities, music and style. 'Sometimes social media becomes this question of, 'Who's the next person for us to all hate on?'' Chen said. 'We needed a break.' As part of their farewell, Chen and Yang are planning to release six videos in which they play members of a band of composers called B²TSM. (Inspired by South Korean pop, or K-pop, the band's name stands for Bach, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Mozart.) In the first video, titled 'I'm Bach,' released on Thursday, Chen, as Bach, finds himself dismayed by modern music. He raps: Chen described the videos as a final gift to fans: 'our blood, sweat and tears.' 'We're showing what TwoSet has meant to us through our art, in the same way a composer shares how they feel through their music,' he said. 'To us that feels very meaningful.' Chen and Yang were both born in Taiwan and raised in Brisbane, Australia. They met as teenagers, enrolled in Friday night math classes together and playing in the Queensland Youth Symphony. They pursued a traditional path in music, studying at a conservatory and joining Australian orchestras. But they found themselves drawn to social media. They posted their first videos as TwoSet Violin in 2013, recording violin versions of pop songs. In 2016, Chen and Yang quit their orchestra jobs and made plans to perform a mix of comedy and music on their own. They financed their first tour by livestreaming as they played violin around the clock on the streets of Sydney, while fans tuned in and made donations. After four nights of sleeping on benches, they reached their fund-raising goal of 50,000 Australian dollars (about $32,200). TwoSet became known for jokes about violinists, conductors, prodigies and pit musicians. Chen and Yang sometimes tackled weighty topics, such as the pressures of auditions, discrimination in classical music and the mental health struggles of artists. They did not shy from controversy, calling out the K-pop band Blackpink in 2022 for using a bit of Paganini in their hit song 'Shut Down.' In a video called 'Sell Out,' Chen played Paganini. 'Barely making songs, how you call yourselves pop stars?' he rapped. 'You must play the tuba, 'cause you keep repeating only two bars.' As their popularity grew, Chen and Yang drew the attention of top violinists like Hahn, who met them at a cafe in New York in 2018, after she commented on a post of theirs and they started messaging back and forth. They quickly became friends. Hahn said that TwoSet Violin captured the quirks of classical music in a relatable way. 'They don't have a separate persona; they are exactly who they seem to be,' she said. 'I think the world of them. I think they're phenomenal.' The TwoSet universe, which is chronicled in minute detail on sites like Fandom and Reddit, is rife with heroes, villains, code words and fantasy. Fans unite in their worship of Ling Ling, a fictional violinist who is said to practice 40 hours each day. Chen and Yang built a company around their brand. In 2015, they started a streetwear clothing line, which they described as 'the world's first classical music fashion brand.' In 2018, Chen and Yang devised the 'Ling Ling Workout,' a series of tasks meant to test even the most formidable virtuosos, including Hahn. She was forced to play part of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the only the lower third of her bow. And she had to reverse her usual bearing — putting the bow into her left hand and the violin in her right — while playing an arrangement of Schubert's 'Erlkönig.' In 2021, during pandemic lockdowns, Chen and Yang produced a virtual tour, performing a show about going back in time to save classical music. Then, in the 2023-24 season, they went on a 39-city tour, appearing at some of the world's top concert halls. At the Philharmonie in Berlin, a fan threw a bra onstage. But their grueling schedule began to take a toll. During a vacation in Japan earlier this year, Chen and Yang found themselves tied to their desks. They reached what they described as a mutual decision to move on. 'It's exciting to question yourself and challenge yourself sometimes,' Chen said, 'and not just do things purely out of inertia.' In October, back at home in Singapore, they removed most of their more than 1,500 videos from YouTube, preserving only 29 — the crème de la crème, in their view, with titles like '21 Types of Orchestral Players' and 'The World's FASTEST (and most INACCURATE) VIOLINIST!' In their farewell post, they wrote: 'We've all grown up together and it's kinda surreal that we're ending our chapter here. Thank you for all the laughs, the genuine encounters in real life and all the special moments we've had with you online and offline.' The reaction from fans was intense. Some were angered by Chen and Yang's decision and chastised them for removing their content. Others said they had grown up watching TwoSet Violin and were not sure how they would cope. 'My childhood crumbling before my eyes,' the pianist Erica Lee wrote on Instagram. Chen and Yang unplugged from social media and stayed silent. Friends messaged to ask if they were OK. Fans published investigations and commentary. ('What Happened to TwoSet Violin? The Shocking Truth About Their Future!,' one YouTube video was titled.) They did not want to post a trite video explaining their decision, they said, and resolved instead to make the B²TSM videos as their send-off. 'I would much rather give all of you our best in these music videos than give you a nice, kind, seems-authentic video,' Yang said. 'I'd rather let your dreams and fantasies run free.' For the B²TSM videos, which are lavishly produced, the duo filmed in Hong Kong, Thailand and Austria. They worked with Hong Kong Ballet to record a video about Tchaikovsky. In Austria, they produced 'Papa Wolfgang Style,' a Mozart-themed video, at the Eckartsau palace. They also filmed at Vienna's storied Musikverein concert hall. Chen and Yang said they did not know what would come next, though they said it was possible they would perform again as B²TSM, which they introduced in 2022. 'It would be stupid to throw this all way,' Yang said, 'after all the ups and downs we've been through together.' Chen agreed. 'I'm pretty useless in some areas of life without Brett,' he said. To the fans disappointed by their decision, they offered a simple response. 'Go practice,' Yang said. 'There are no excuses anymore.'
