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Japanese translation of Boris Berman’s book released

berman_notes

The Japanese translation of Professor Boris Berman’s book Notes from the Pianist’s Bench has been released by Ongaku no Tomo in Tokyo. The book has already been published in Chinese (traditional characters) and Korean.

Notes from the Pianist’s Bench, selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title upon its publication in 2001, draws on Berman’s vast experience as a Russian-trained concert pianist and highly respected educator to explore issues of piano technique and music interpretation. Combining explanations and advice with anecdotes about his students, colleagues, and former teachers, Berman also provides many insights into the psychological aspects of musical performance and the teaching of music.

The book examines such practical matters in piano playing as sound and touch, technique, pedaling, and articulation. He gives tips on choosing editions, selecting the best fingering, memorizing, and making the most efficient use of practice time. He gives equal emphasis to issues of interpretation, discussing ways to decipher the inner content of a piece of music. And he offers suggestions about how to prepare emotionally for a performance, how to confront stage anxiety, and how to adapt teaching approaches to the individual students. Informative and entertaining, this book will be welcomed by piano students, teachers, and anyone else interested in the art of piano playing. (more…)

Four Yale Opera singers join Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

beethoven_paintingFour singers from Yale Opera will be the featured soloists in the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra’s performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony this Sunday, November 22 at 3:00 pm. The Waterbury Symphony will present an all-Beethoven program in the Fine Arts Center at Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC). Maestro Leif Bjaland, WSO Music Director and Conductor who was previously the director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra, will lead the orchestra in the composer’s first and last symphonies.

The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra will be joined by the NVCC College Choir, under the direction of Dr. Richard Gard, with guest soloists Amanda Hall, soprano; Gala El Hadidi, mezzo-soprano; Michael Paul Krubitzer, tenor; and Tyler Simpson, baritone. The program opens with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 and is followed by the Symphony No. 9, op. 21 in C major.

A free pre-concert lecture will be held at 2:10 in the Mainstage Theater at NVCC. The Waterbury Symphony Orchestra invites attendees to a post-concert reception (tickets $20) where they can meet Maestro Bjaland, NVCC College Choir conductor, Richard Gard, and the guest soloists. For more information, please contact the WSO office at 203 574-4283 or visit www.waterburysymphony.org.

Stephen Adams ’59 awarded Yale Medal

medalAmong the recipients of this year’s Yale Medal is Stephen Adams ’59, a member of the School of Music’s Board of Visitors and a donor whose generosity has transformed the School. The medal will be awarded tonight at the annual Yale Medal dinner.

Inaugurated in 1952, the Yale Medal is the highest award presented by the Association of Yale Alumni and is conferred solely to recognize and honor outstanding individual service to the University. Since its inception, the Yale Medal has been presented to 272 individuals, all of whom not only showed extraordinary devotion to the ideals of the University, but also were conspicuous in demonstrating their support of Yale through extensive, exemplary service on behalf of Yale as a whole or one of its many schools, institutes, or programs. (more…)

New Music for Orchestra Dec. 11 features music by David Lang

Lang_D_teaching(BH)09_emailThe Yale School of Music presents a concert of new music for orchestra, performed by the Yale Philharmonia under the direction of Shinik Hahm, on Friday, December 11 at 8 pm in Woolsey Hall. The concert highlights two works by David Lang: International Business Machine and Grind to a Halt.

International Business Machine, subtitled “an overture for Tanglewood,” was written for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The Boston Globe called the piece “a brisk, elegantly-fashioned work depicting today’s post-industrial computer age.” Grind to a Halt is dedicated to the memory of Jacob Druckman, Lang’s composition teacher and a longtime member of the Yale School of Music faculty. According to Lang, “One of the things that interests me very much is how certain mechanical musical tasks force players – and listeners – into a kind of concentration that can be spellbinding. The intense concentration necessary to coordinate the ensemble in Grind to a Halt is a kind of virtuosity in itself.”

Lang, who won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize in Music, has said: “The world needs happy tunes. But for me, the interesting ideas are where those happy tunes aren’t. The interesting things are in the dark places, or in the ugliness, or in the noise or the grit.” (more…)


concerts

New Music for Orchestra Dec. 11 features music by David Lang

The Yale School of Music presents a concert of new music for orchestra, performed by the Yale Philha

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spotlight

Stephen Adams ’59 awarded Yale Medal

Among the recipients of this year’s Yale Medal is Stephen Adams ’59, a member of the School of M

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music in schools

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students & alumni

Four Yale Opera singers join Waterbury Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Four singers from Yale Opera will be the featured soloists in the Waterbury Symphony Orchestra’

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