Japanese translation of Boris Berman’s book released
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…)
Chamber Music Society at Yale presents Bach’s Six Brandenburg Concertos in one evening
Fifth concerto will be played on period instruments
The Yale School of Music will present the complete set of J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, performed by a conductor-less chamber orchestra led by renowned faculty performers. The set of Brandenburg Concertos, first performed in 1721, is regarded by many as the pinnacle of Baroque instrumental composition. Each concerto is scored differently and inventively, and features different instruments or sets of instruments. The impressive cast of faculty performers who will bring these masterpieces to life includes violinists Ani Kavafian, Syoko Aki, Robert Mealy, and Wendy Sharp; violist Ettore Cause, flutist Ransom Wilson, clarinetist David Shifrin, oboist Stephen Taylor, bassoonist Frank Morelli, hornist William Purvis, and harpsichordists Avi Stein and Ilya Poletaev. The fifth concerto will be performed on period instruments with baroque bows, featuring performers from the Yale Baroque Ensemble.
The concert will take place on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 8 pm in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall (470 College Street, New Haven) and is part of the Chamber Music Society at Yale’s concert series, directed by David Shifrin. The series occasionally expands its programming to present small chamber orchestras that play without a conductor. (more…)
Paintings by music professor Richard Lalli and other faculty
Richard Lalli, a professor of vocal performance in the Department of Music, is among the painters highlighted in a new exhibit at the Whitney Humanities Center. Called Who Knew?, the exhibit brings together paintings by Yale faculty who are better known for their work in areas outside the visual arts. The works, in oils, acrylic, or watercolor, display each artist’s compelling vision. Yet as different as their approaches are, the artists share an interest in light, color, frames of vision, and how we see nature, giving the exhibit the air of a lively conversation on these themes.
According to the Whitney, the artists – though each approaches painting differently – share an interest in light, color, frames of vision, and how we see nature, giving the exhibit the air of a lively conversation on these themes.
Who Knew? inaugurates what the Gallery at the Whitney hopes will be an ongoing occasional series of exhibits highlighting the unsung talents of Yale faculty. The exhibit runs October 28-March 5 at the Gallery at the Whitney, Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall Street. Gallery hours are Mondays and Wednesdays, 3—5 pm, or by appointment at (203) 432-0670. (more…)
Wendy Sharp in Sunday afternoon recital Nov. 15
Violinist Wendy Sharp will join with pianist Julie Nishmura in a Faculty Artist Recital featuring a broad range of music from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first. Several pieces on the program are based on earlier music, including the opening work: Stravinsky’s Suite Italienne, based on his ballet Pulcinella, which in turn reworked music of the Italian baroque. Flow, my tears, by Yale faculty composer Christopher Theofanidis, references John Dowland’s 1596 air of the same name. Dvorak’s Four Romantic Pieces for violin and piano are arranged from his own Miniatures for two violins and viola. Mozart’s Sonata in A major, K. 526, provides a classical anchor. The program will conclude with Jennifer Higdon’s String Poetic, a piece praised by the New York Times as “striking.” The San Francisco Chronicle noted its “rhetorical clarity and dexterous interplay between the two instruments.” The recital will take place on Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 4 pm in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Hall (470 College Street, New Haven).
Admission to the recital is free. For more information, visit the School of Music’s website or call the Yale School of Music concert office at 203 432-4158. (more…)
Paul Hawkshaw appointed deputy dean
Dean Robert Blocker announced today the appointment of Paul Hawkshaw as Deputy Dean of the School of Music. Professor Hawkshaw has served the School and University with distinction for twenty-five years, a tenure that has included eleven years as Associate Dean and two years as Acting Dean. He will continue his responsibilities as Director of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Yale Summer School of Music, a position he has held since 2003.
Paul Hawkshaw received his Ph.D from Columbia University and his faculty appointment at the School of Music in 1984. He is now Professor in the Practice of Music History and in this role has guided many YSM students through their MMA programs. His experience and institutional memory will be instrumental in the discussions and implementation of Beyond Boundaries, the School’s strategic plan.
Recognized throughout the world as a leading authority on the music of Anton Bruckner, Professor Hawkshaw’s publications include seven volumes of the composer’s Collected Works Edition (Vienna), most recently a new score and critical study of the composer’s Mass in F Minor. He served as co-author of Bruckner Studies (Cambridge University Press, 1997), Perspectives on Anton Bruckner (Ashgate, 2001), and he wrote the Bruckner biography for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. (more…)
Violist Ettore Causa appointed to YSM faculty
The Yale School of Music announces with pleasure the appointment of Ettore Causa as Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Viola. Mr. Causa will join the faculty in September.
Since 2001, Mr. Causa has served as professor of viola and chamber music at the International Menuhin Music Academy in Switzerland, and he regularly presents master classes throughout Europe and South America. Additionally, he is a member of the Aria Quartet, with whom he performs throughout the world. Mr. Causa studied at the International Menuhin Academy with Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Johannes Eskar, and Alberto Lysy. His advanced studies were with Michael Tree at the Manhattan School of Music.
Immediately following his studies, Mr. Causa was appointed as the First Solo Viola of the Carl Nielsen Philharmonic in Denmark and was also leader of the Copenhagen Chamber Soloists. In 2000, he was awarded both the Schidlof Prize and the J. Barbirolli Prize at the prestigious Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition in England. (more…)
Toshi Shimada appointed music director of Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra
The Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra in New London, CT., is thrilled to announce the appointment of Toshiyuki (Toshi) Shimada as its new music director. Shimada, currently the music director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra (the university’s undergraduate orchestra), will be the fifth music director in the ECSO’s 63-year history.
Toshiyuki Shimada has been music director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra of Yale University since 2005. He is also music director laureate of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, in Portland, Maine, where he served as music director from 1986 to 2006. Prior to his Portland engagement, he was associate conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra for six years, beginning in 1981. Since 1998, he has also served as principal conductor of the Vienna Modern Masters record label in Austria. In addition, he is music director and chief creative officer of the Trinity Music Partners, LLC, which holds the worldwide rights to the Vatican Library Music Collection, and he has been serving as artistic adviser of the Tulare County Symphony Orchestra in California since 2007. (more…)
Yale Cellos Gallery
View photographs of two sold-out concerts by the Yale Cellos with director and founder Aldo Parisot. The concerts, which took place at Yale and in Carnegie Hall, honored Aldo Parisot’s 50th year on the Yale School of Music faculty.
All photos by Vincent Oneppo.
Berman offers poetic recital on April 23
The Yale School of Music presents a Horowitz Piano Series recital by pianist Boris Berman at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, April 23 in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall. Praised by the New York Times for his “poetical refinement and intense musicality,” Berman will perform music by two composers who lived and worked in Paris: Claude Debussy and the Polish-born Frederic Chopin. The program features Chopin’s Barcarolle in F-sharp major, Op. 60, the Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat major, Op. 61, and selected Nocturnes from Opp. 15 and 27, as well as Debussy’s Images (Books 1 and 2) and Estampes. Both Debussy pieces are linked to visual artists: “Cloches à travers les feuilles” from Images is dedicated to the sculptor Alexandre Charpentier, and Estampes is dedicated to the painter Jacques-Émile Blanche.
Tickets are $10-$18, students $5. For more information, visit the Yale School of Music’s new website, music.yale.edu, or call 203 432-4158. (more…)
Tirro’s The Birth of the Cool published
Frank Tirro’s new book, The Birth of the Cool of Miles Davis and His Associates, has been nominated for a 2009 Association for Recorded Sound Collections Award. Recently published by the College Music Society and Pendragon Press, The Birth of Cool is accompanied by an audio CD of related music. The ARSC award recognizes excellence in historical recorded sound research. (more…)
Syoko Aki appointed Coordinator of Strings
The Yale School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of faculty violinist Syoko Aki as Coordinator of Strings.
Upon joining the Yale faculty in 1968, Aki became a member of the Yale Quartet, which earned international praise for its performances and many fine recordings. She has also recorded music by faculty composer Martin Bresnick on Composers Records label, and has recently recorded a disc of works by Schumann, Schubert, Debussy, and Gershwin with her long-time faculty colleague, pianist Joan Panetti, on the Epson label. Another highlight of her collaboration with Panetti was a complete performance of Mozart’s violin sonatas over two seasons as part of Yale’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Syoko Aki appears regularly in Yale concerts, both in New Haven and at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She was also the concertmaster and soloist with the New York Chamber Symphony and a founding member of the Saito Kinen Orchestra and Mito Chamber Orchestra in Japan. (more…)
Emanuel Ax to serve as Visiting Professor of Piano
The Yale School of Music is pleased to announce the appointment of Emanuel Ax as Visiting Professor of Piano for the 2009-2010 academic year. One of the world’s leading pianists, Ax has longstanding ties to Yale and to the School of Music, including an honorary doctorate from the university.
Boris Berman, Coordinator of Piano at YSM, notes that “for many years we felt honored to present recitals and master classes of this wonderful artist to the Yale community. His addition to the roster of the piano faculty will give our talented students an invaluable opportunity to work closely with one of the greatest masters of the piano.” (more…)
Memorial Service for Fenno Heath, Jr. Yale Glee Club Director, 1953-1992
A memorial service for Fenno Heath will be held on Saturday, March 28 in Yale University’s Battell Chapel at 3:00pm. Th event is free and open to the public.
Thomas Murray, University Organist, will start the prelude 20 minutes before the 3 p.m. service begins. There will be performances by the Yale Glee Club, the Yale Alumni Chorus, the Whiffenpoofs of 2009, the SLOTss, and the University Glee Club of New Haven.
Contributions in memory of Fenno may be sent to the North Congregational Church P.O. Box 307 New Hartford CT 06057.
Condolences may be sent directly to Carol Heath or through the obituary site.
Fenno Follansbee Heath, Jr.,passed away peacefully December 5, 2008 at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, following a long illness.
Yale Announces Appointment of Conductor Masaaki Suzuki
The Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale School of Music are pleased to announce the joint appointment of eminent Bach scholar and conductor Masaaki Suzuki as Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting and conductor of Yale Schola Cantorum, the University’s renowned chamber choir. The two-year appointment will begin July 1, 2009.
Since founding Bach Collegium Japan in 1990, Suzuki has established himself as a leading authority on the works of J.S. Bach. He has remained the Collegium’s music director ever since, taking the group regularly to major venues and festivals in Europe and the United States and building up an outstanding reputation for the expressive refinement of his performances. In addition to conducting, Suzuki is also acclaimed as an organist and harpsichordist.
He is regularly invited to work with distinguished European soloists and groups, such as Collegium Vocale Gent and the Freiburger Barockorchester; he recently appeared in London with the Britten Sinfonia in a program of Britten, Mozart and Stravinsky. Forthcoming engagements with other ensembles include the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic and the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2001 Suzuki was decorated with the Federal Order of Merit from Germany.
Suzuki’s impressive discography on the BIS label includes his interpretations with Bach Collegium Japan of Bach’s major choral works and sacred cantatas. He has now completed 40 volumes. (more…)
New Music New Haven features Aaron Jay Kernis
The Yale School of Music features faculty composer Aaron Jay Kernis in a New Music New Haven concert at 8:00 pm on Thursday, March 5 in Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall. The program features Kernis’s Two Movements (with Bells), performed by violinist Wendy Sharp and pianist Julie Nishimura. Also on the program is Arcadiana, a seven-movement work by British composer Thomas Adès which will be performed by the Jasper Quartet, the graduate quartet-in-residence at the School of Music. Yale graduate composers Jordan Kuspa and Richard Harrold are also featured, with Kuspa’s Flying Solo for solo flute and a guitar duo by Harrold. New Music New Haven is under the artistic direction of Ezra Laderman.
Admission to the recital is free. For more information, visit the Yale School of Music website, music.yale.edu, or call 203 432-4158.
Among the most esteemed musical figures of his generation, Grawemeyer- and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis has been on the faculty at the Yale School of Music since 2003. He has been commissioned by sopranos Renee Fleming and Dawn Upshaw, violinists Joshua Bell and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, guitarist Sharon Isbin, and institutions including the New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Proms, Los Angeles, Walt Disney Company, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and Rose Center for Earth and Space at the Museum of Natural History. Recent recordings include song cycles by soprano Susan Narucki (Koch) and orchestral works by the Grant Park Festival Orchestra (Cedille). He has received the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Stoeger Prize, Rome Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, and multiple Grammy nominations, and was Composer-in-Residence for the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Public Radio, and American Composers Forum. He is New Music Advisor for the Minnesota Orchestra and chairman and co-director of its Composer Institute.
FOR CALENDAR EDITORS
Yale School of Music presents
New Music New Haven
Aaron Jay Kernis, featured faculty composer
Program: Kernis, Two Movements (with Bells); Thomas Adès: Arcadiana for string quartet; Jordan Kuspa: Flying Solo for solo flute; Richard Harrold: Guitar Duo. With Wendy Sharp, violin; Julie Nishimura, piano; and the Jasper String Quartet.
Date/time: Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 8:00 pm
Venue: Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall
470 College Street, New Haven
Tickets: Free
Phone/web: 203 432-4158 • music.yale.edu
