Latest news with #PianoConcertoNo.2
Otago Daily Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
DSO - Brahms and Mataatua: A Journey in Music
Brahms's monumental Piano Concerto No. 2 was written when his compositional powers were at their peak. From a deceptively benign opening with a lone horn melody, the movements in turn evoke grace and turmoil, leading to an exhilarating climax. Acclaimed Wellington pianist Jian Liu returns to deliver the dazzling technique and musical depth this great work calls for. We celebrate Matariki with The Journey of Mataatua Whare, a newly commissioned work by Dame Gillian Whitehead which commemorates 100 years since the Mataatua Wharenui returned to NZ. The work tells the Wharenui's story: from the carved meeting house's creation in Whakatāne, the loss of Ngāti Awa control over it, its travels and mistreatment, its return to NZ for Dunedin/Ōtepoti's 1925 Great Exhibition and then Tūhura Otago Museum, and its final return to Ngāti Awa in Whakatāne. Three distinguished NZ singers and a selected chorus will join DSO's Principal Guest Conductor James Judd on stage for this very special event. For more information please visit | Brahms and Mataatua a Journey in Music
Los Angeles Times
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
In Netflix's ‘Ransom Canyon,' handsome men, horses and high drama run free
Now streaming on Netflix, the home of 'Virgin River' (six seasons, seven on the way), is 'Ransom Canyon.' Like 'Virgin River,' it adapts the work of a best-selling romance novelist — Jodi Thomas, who sets her books in her home state of Texas — putting pretty people against a magnificent landscape and complicating their lives with love, hate, calamity and a little sex. Feels like a sure bet, in other words. As in most every such show, there is at its center a couple — quantum entangled, their spooky action expressed sometimes at a distance, sometimes clinch-close. But wherever the story leads them, wherever else their attention turns, however long it takes them to get together in the first place, it's a given they'll find their way to or back to each other, at least until one of them leaves the show. I'm not delivering a spoiler here; it's in the manual. In my mind 'Ransom Canyon,' developed by April Blair ('Jane by Design'), keeps coming out 'Handsome Canyon,' and no one here is handsomer than Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel), a big-time rancher with moody hair and a peppery beard. His cosmically intended partner, if he would only admit it, is Quinn O'Grady (Minka Kelly), once a classical pianist of great note — 'Leonard's adamant about doing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 and, you, my dear are the only pianist I've heard to do it justice,' says her manager (Kate Hudson), trying to coax her back to Manhattan — though we'll hear nothing more from her than a few pensive arpeggios. Walking away from her keyboard career like Jack Nicholson in 'Five Easy Pieces,' Quinn hied home from New York when Staten's wife, her best friend, took ill; she stuck around after she died, then stuck around after Staten's son died in a car crash. Waiting for Staten to lift his head from mourning and see her for the catch she is, she farms lavender and runs a bar — excuse me, a 'dance hall' — with bartender Ellie (Marianly Tejada). As can happen in fiction and in life, Staten's brother-in-law, Davis (Eoin Macken), has been carrying his own torch for Quinn; though a man of ulterior motives, he does seem sincere in this, which makes trouble all the more likely, and sad. Davis' bellicose football hero son, Reid (Andrew Liner), has just been dumped by sad-eyed cheerleader Lauren (Lizzy Greene), daughter of the sheriff Dan Brigman (Philip Winchester) and occasionally recovering alcoholic mother Margaret (Sarah Minnich). Her new squeeze is Lucas (Garrett Wareing), sensitive and blonde and essentially an orphan — dad has gone off — and tied to his troublesome brother, Kit (Casey W. Johnson). This is all just setting the stage. You have guessed by now that this is a show full of confrontation and secrets and characters generally out of sorts; any happy interlude is liable to lead to an argument, any gathering to a fistfight or someone who should know better shooting their mouth off. I had to keep writing down names and connections to keep everyone straight — who was whose son or grandson, etc. It seemed at times they all were one family. For a while I thought that one character and her sister were the same person. Meanwhile, a company called Austin Water & Power wants to run a pipeline into Ransom Canyon's ginormous aquifer. It has been tossing money around like confetti but has come upon a pair of immovable objects in the persons of cantankerous old rancher Cap Fuller (James Brolin), to whom the thing just smells bad (he has a dead son too), and Staten, who wants nothing to come between him and his '60,000 acres of unspoiled Texas grassland' and the 30,000 head of cattle that graze upon it. (We are shown a representative few.) 'The world's drying up,' Staten says. 'That aquifer feeds wells, our crops and our cattle, and I'm not going to let them run it dry.' Into this cozy community comes darkly handsome Yancy Grey (Jack Schumacher), possibly dangerous Yancy Grey — it's a dangerous name, anyway — who reads poetry and slides into a job with Cap and a flirtation with Ellie. Eventually, after she sows up his cut hand — she was a nurse before she worked a bar, and aren't they kind of the same thing? — he will explain his scars, like Indy to Marion at the end of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark.' There is a certain type of character in such stories whom love will improve, and you can see in his eyes he might be one. There is no reason on Earth not to enjoy this well-made, nicely acted, soapy, soap-bubble show, whose 10 episodes have been laid out whole for you to binge. Come for the messy lives, the promise of love, the old-fashioned values. Come for the hats, the boots, the horses, the ruggedness once used to sell cigarettes. Stay for the country music cameo. It's not everywhere you'll hear a line like 'Tell the boys to saddle up.' But you'll hear it here.
Korea Herald
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra to perform in Korea for first time
Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra to take stage at National Theater of Korea on Sunday The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra is set to perform in South Korea for the first time on Sunday at the Haeoreum Grand Theater of the National Theater of Korea, bringing an evening full of passion to Seoul. The orchestra's first-ever performance in Korea is expected to serve as a cultural bridge and foster stronger artistic exchange and mutual understanding between the two countries. The event is hosted by the Goyang Cultural Foundation and sponsored by the Embassy of Qatar in Seoul, with the partnership of Herald Media Group, which publish The Korea Herald. Conductor Wilson Ng from Hong Kong and acclaimed pianist Park Jae-hong will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, Op. 18. The orchestra will also perform Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" and "Slavonic Dances." Established in 2007 with the support of the Qatar Foundation, the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra has gained recognition for weaving Arab music styles with Western classical music. The Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra has since performed at prestigious concert halls in Europe and the Middle East, including the Royal Albert Hall in London, Santa Cecilia Hall in Rome and the Katara Opera House in Doha, Qatar.
Chicago Tribune
02-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Review: At the CSO, a star pianist and equally luminous Sibelius
Word to the wise: If conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali is on the podium, don't leave during intermission. The vast majority of those packing Orchestra Hall on Saturday were there to hear Seong-Jin Cho, the 2015 Chopin competition winner who courts a cult following. Playing Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 at the end of the first half, Cho's anticipation more than paid off. But the Sibelius 5 that followed proved that Rouvali — making a long-anticipated Chicago Symphony debut after impressing peer orchestras — ought to be just as fêted on CSO calendars. Prokofiev's second concerto scandalized onlookers at its 1913 premiere, who found it wild and terrifying. In 2025, it's less shocking, maybe, but remains every bit as diabolical. The best interpreters embrace that witchcraft, in their way. Cho's answer was to tackle the concerto with superhuman precision, like a meticulous assassin leaving behind no evidence. He pulled a silvery, bladelike sound from the Orchestra Hall Steinway — skillful in itself, as the piano's default tends towards the ripe and full. The orchestra was totally locked in with his hands, which were, in turn, totally locked into one another, whether in sixteenth-note whorls or slow-stretching arrivals. In the gone-in-a-flash Scherzo, they kneaded the keys so fluidly as to seem to be made of rubber. The playful sneers of the Scherzo gave way to a snarling, gnashing Intermezzo, the orchestra and especially the low brass giving it their sardonic all. Cho reciprocated with the raw physicality of a man possessed — scrunching up his body, springing up from the piano seat to attack low-register notes. That intensity snowballed into the Allegro tempestoso finale, whose madcap moments are contrasted with solo moments of deep introspection. Cho's cadenza in the movement's latter half came across like a wizened cousin of the concerto's opening statement, tying up the journey most satisfyingly. As an encore, Cho offered up the second movement (Mouvement de menuet) from Ravel's Sonatine, a nod to his recorded exploration of the composer's piano works for his 150th year. The caressing reading better showed off Cho's pianissimo palette than the brash Prokofiev. In a playful touch, Cho made the left-hand staccatos ending the first melody extra-dry, as though decisively punctuating the feather-soft phrases. Rouvali extrapolated Cho's nuance to the rest of the orchestra for a sublime Sibelius in the second half. Like so much Sibelius, this Fifth was a sonic landscape painting, a glorious mountain range jutting up from the horizon. But unlike many Sibelius interpretations, Rouvali brought bar-to-bar details into focus within the breathtaking bigger picture, without ever coming across as harrying or myopic. The Finnish conductor, 39, is a singular sight before an orchestra — bushy-haired, bony, and armed with an arsenal of gestures that put across his intentions with striking specificity. (Fellow countryman Klaus Mäkelä, set to become the CSO's music director in 2027, is also exceptionally skilled at this.) His signature, if there is one, is a whiplike flick that travels from his shoulders, through his elbows and curlicues in a roll of his wrists. It's unusual, but it gets results. Not only was the orchestra impressively in sync, but the entire Sibelius seemed to emulate that energized but organic motion. Rouvali slipped smoothly but decisively into the hurtling accelerando that ends the first movement. The third and last movement's tempo had an organic ebb and flow — it never lost momentum, yet was given plenty of room to breathe. The Fifth Symphony's final chords are some of the most distinctive, and terrifying to play, in the repertoire: six cadential chords separated by cavernous rests. Again, Rouvali made no mistake about what he wanted. For each attack, the orchestra was not only unified in length and attack — down to the timpani's exposed grace note — but even in the finer details of chord voicing. I would gladly bask in the echoes of those glorious chords for another evening, if I could. 1 of Guest conductor Santtu-Matias Rouvali leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Capriccio italien at Symphony Center in Chicago on March 1, 2025. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune) Horns must provide a sturdy foundation for this repertoire, and the CSO's team, sounding more blended and gleaming all the time, delivered here. John Bruce Yeh, sitting principal for this program, brought a folky charm to the opening woodwind layers, and strings readily shapeshifted to meet Rouvali's demands, from the wolfy, growling, low-register lines in the first movement to an ultra-legato melody opening the second. When they played the final, considered iteration of their theme, a pulled-back tempo from Rouvali made strings sound as if they were clinging desperately to a joyous memory, for fear of letting it slip away. The orchestra did, however, need a bit of time to get those muscles warm. An ill-blended trumpet fanfare and shaggy string unisons got the curtain-opening 'Capriccio italien' off to a dodgy start. The performance matured quickly under Rouvali's precise baton. Bold entrances out of silences — maybe the only thing 'Capriccio italien' shares with Sibelius 5 — were clean and concentrated. But Rouvali wasn't afraid to let this capriccio get a little campy, inserting a hammy grand pause before the folk-tune melody returned in the Allegro moderato. From there, it was all thrills, accelerating into a tight, dazzling conclusion. The prolonged hoots and hollers that followed, so soon after the concert's start, said it all: there were two stars in the house. The program repeats at 3 p.m. March 2 at Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-294-3000 and CSO principal trumpet returns On Feb. 28, the CSO announced that principal trumpet Esteban Batallán, who has been away this season playing with the Philadelphia Orchestra, will return to the orchestra next season. In a statement provided to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Orchestra music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin called Batallán 'a wonderful artist at the highest level of orchestral music.' 'Esteban's heart is in Chicago, and we wish him a beautiful future,' Nézet-Séguin continued. Batallán will see out his one-year contract in Philadelphia but returns next month to play concerts with music-director-to-be Klaus Mäkelä (April 24-26) and guest conductor Jaap van Zweden (April 17-19 and May 8-9), the latter of whom will take the orchestra on a European tour to Amsterdam's Mahler Festival this spring. Batallán also makes his CSO solo debut this season, playing trumpet concertos by Telemann and Michael Haydn with music director emeritus Riccardo Muti (June 12-14). In Batallán's absence, assistant principal trumpet Mark Ridenour and a mix of guest principals — like Cincinnati Symphony principal trumpet Anthony Limoncelli, playing this week and on recent programs — have rotated through the principal seat. The CSO's announcement, sent to journalists on Friday afternoon, provided no further comment from Batallán or CSO leadership.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
City orchestra to thank audience with free tickets for landmark concert
The oldest professional orchestra in the city will be celebrating its diamond jubilee by offering audience members a belated new year's present. The City of Oxford Orchestra was founded in 1965 and will be playing its last concert on Thursday, February 27 at the Sheldonian Theatre. As a special treat for audiences, the orchestra's director Lindsay Sandison has decided to allow people to attend free of charge. The programme includes the popular Piano Concerto No. 2 by Rachmaninov, which features heavily in the classic film Brief Encounter. READ MORE: Odeon Oxford: Boost for fans as plans to resurrect cinema The concert will also feature Ruslan and Ludmila by Glinka and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 5. It will be conducted by Stephen Bell with Tom Poster on the piano. Mrs Sandison said: 'We had a very, very small audience at the last concert. "There's nothing more depressing for the orchestra to have a smaller audience than the orchestra. A lot of the music in Oxford is free. 'I feel privileged to have been able to look after this orchestra.' Mrs Sandison added that the annual concerto by candlelight at Exeter College Chapel will be continuing. There will also be a special event next year to mark 30 years since pianist Mr Poster first performed with the orchestra. On the orchestra's website, it said: 'The City of Oxford Orchestra was founded in 1965 with a firm commitment to provide live, classical music of the highest quality to the widest possible audience." For tickets, contact 01865 321461.
