US Premiere of Gubaidulina Second Violin Concerto

by | Mar 9, 2009

The San Francisco Symphony just hosted Sofia Gubaidulina in its inaugural Phyllis C. Wattis composer-in-residency. The two week residency, which ended on February 27th, was created in honor of a former SFS board member and philanthropist in the Bay Area. (More...

“Ferocious Beauty” offers Powerful Discoveries

by | Feb 8, 2009

Chamber Orchestra of Boston, directed by David Feltner, with Virginia Eskin, piano
Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, Boston February 6, 2009 It was an event of very rare importance – the first performance on the east coast of a remarkable work composed in 1939....

An Evening with Tapestry

by | Dec 9, 2008

I was lucky enough to be invited to hear a concert given by Tapestry this past weekend. My home in eastern Pennsylvania, about halfway between Philadelphia and New York City, is not known as a stopping point for touring artists. However, the undergraduate conference...
More on Diversifying the Concert Stage

More on Diversifying the Concert Stage

by | Nov 17, 2008

I recently wrote about how the lack of diversity in symphony orchestras, and the work that is being done by the Sphinx Organization to increase those numbers by encouraging the involvement of young African American and Latino musicians. Lucky for us – the New York...

Hildegard Returns to Concert Hall

by | Nov 15, 2008

The London Times reported that Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has set text by Hildegard of Bingen in a new work: Liber Pulsationis Fabulatoris (which translates to, “The Book of Pulsations of the Creator of Legends.”) The piece was commissioned as part of the celebration...

New Work from Zwilich

by | Oct 30, 2008

The New York Times reviewed the premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s Symphony No. 5. Zwilich, who has broken a lot of ground for women composers including being the first woman composer to earn a doctorate from Juilliard as well as being the first woman composer to win...