Cypress String Quartet Releases Album of Beethoven's Early String Quartets >>
San Francisco’s Cypress String Quartet is the latest chamber music ensemble to tackle Beethoven’s revered string quartet arrangements. The group’s newest volume, 'Beethoven: The Early String Quartets,' will be available on May 6 via Avie Records.
In New Poll Beethoven Overtakes Mozart as Most Popular Composer >>
A new listener's poll conducted by Classic FM has Beethoven besting Mozart as the most popular composer. The classical music station’s annual poll results have historically had Mozart in the top position.
Elias String Quartet Pursues Beethoven’s Complete String Quartets >>
London-based chamber music ensemble the Elias String Quartet began their multi-year endeavor of performing all of Beethoven’s string quartets in 2011, dubbing the undertaking ‘The Beethoven Project’.
REVIEW: Botstein's Orchestra Now All Thumbs-Up, in 'Beethoven's Likes' at Carnegie Hall >>
The Orchestra Now (TON) is simple in its message and delivery: bringing orchestral music to new ears. These ears, though, are of a more youthful generation, or at least that was the demographic of Friday night's performance at Carnegie Hall, January 29. Real classical--heavy in its presence, unyielding in its impact--is what provides the foundation for music with substance. Apropos, Leon Botstein led a pitch-perfect program of Cherubini curio and Beethoven warhorse, buttressed by premieres of Ferdinand Ries and one Anton Reicha.
Beethoven and Basketball: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Welcomes Sports Themed Concert for Families >>
If you thought going to the orchestra meant you had to pull out the tuxedo, cufflinks, and the odd pair of Galilean binoculars for good measure, than you thought wrong. On Saturday, Feb 6 the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is inviting you to thrown on your favorite team jersey and come courtside for an evening of Beethoven and basketball. The BSO’s All About Sports event is hosted and narrated by Baltimore Orioles’ announcer Ryan Wagner with conductor Ken Lam, Nationals Organist Matthew Van Hoose on Keyboard Marching Ravens covering Sousaphone Section and Ellen Pendleton providing color commentary.
Shia Wosner Joins Jennifer Koh in New York this Spring >>
While everyone performs Beethoven, renowned violinist Jennifer Koh hopes that her Bridge to Beethoven concert series with pianist Shia Wosner will open people's minds to cultural diversity and a change in perspective. This spring Koh and Wosner will be bringing their boundary pushing show that pairs Beethoven's Complete Violin Sonatas with contemporary works by composers of diverse racial and ethnic lineage to the 92nd Street Y in New York.
Rare Beethoven Sketch Leaf of the 'King Stephan Overture' Discovered in Connecticut >>
The handwriting of Beethoven can be indentified by its furious and sloppy appearance. Hardly meant for future generations to admire, notation was an inconvenience to Beethoven---a means to capture music as quickly as it came to him. To composers and appraisers like Brendan Ryan, Beethoven's handwriting is, as he put it, "unmistakable", but for homeowners who might not know the value of their basement treasure troves, his handwriting could easily be dismissed as worthless chicken scratch. In the case of a Greenwich, Connecticut homeowner, who had originally hired Ryan to appraise furniture and miscellaneous items, fortune stumbled their way as Ryan unexpectedly glanced upon a Beethoven sketch leaf of the King Stephan Overture (König Stephan) hanging on their wall.
Watch Justin Bieber Perform Beethoven's 'Fur Elise' in a Hotel Lobby for Guests >>
While you may not think of Justin Bieber as a multi-instrumentalist, the massively popular singer is able to don many hats quite easily. However, in a recently released video of the pop phenom, playing Beethoven's Für Elise, Bieber attempts to tap at the sticks in the lobby of a hotel to some idle guests. While many outlets can be deceived, we C-lites can hear through the mess.
Are Creative Types Lonely? Boston College's Spencer Harrison Conducts Employee Survey >>
If history's our guide, one wonders: are creative types lonely? As lovers of art, we often become so infatuated with the talents and genius of creative types that we forget what they might be sacrificing in order to keep their art flowing. The Boston Globe’s Ruth Graham wrote a hard-hitting piece concerning the common shroud of loneliness shared by many creative types.
EXCLUSIVE: Israel Phil Violinist Sharon Cohen on Bringing Beethoven, Bardanashvili to Chicago >>
The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has been a welcome visitor at Symphony Center five times since 1996. On Sunday, the orchestra, celebrated as Israel’s foremost cultural ambassador, will bring a program to Chicago that includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 “Eroica,” Ravel’s La Valse and a work by contemporary Israeli composer Josef Bardanashvili. Zubin Mehta, the orchestra’s music director for life, will lead the program at Symphony Center on November 15 at 7:00 p.m.
Watch Brin Addison Perform Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on 1940s Harp Guitar >>
If you've never seen a contraguitar--more specifically a 1940s Hubert Heerbeck harp guitar--then prepare to be bewildered. In a video posted to YouTube in June, guitarist Brin Addison performs Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the epic instrument.
Fast Food Fight: Scotch Mickey D's Piping in Beethoven, Bach to Quell Public Unrest >>
If one were to scour the vast libraries of YouTube for fast food restaurant brawls, one might find a buffet of altercations taking place at Wendy's, IHOP and so on. However, for Scotland's busiest McDonalds, a new regiment of classical music is being played in order to simmer down the revolting public.
How to Buy Locks of Mozart, Beethoven Hair at Sotheby's >>
Yesterday, May 28, at Sotheby's in London, a lock of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's hair, enclosed within a gaudy 19th-century locket, went up for auction. And no one yet knows just how many of today's farthings it fetched.
NYPO Free Memorial Day Concert Returns to St. John's, Gilbert Leads Beethoven and Shostakovich >>
Once more, with feeling, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine will host the the New York Philharmonic--under the baton of outgoing music director Alan Gilbert--for its 24th annual free Memorial Day concert. Maestro Gilbert will lead the orchestra in Beethoven's Egmont Overture and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10 on Monday at 8:00 p.m.
LIVESTREAM: Vänskä and Minnesota Broadcast Beethoven, Bernstein, Alejandro García Caturla from Cuba >>
Classicalite reported back in February that Grammy-winning maestro Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra would be performing this month in Cuba at the International Cubadisco Festival. Well, it's finally here! OK, so almost... Since POTUS Barack Obama made the first steps to "normalize" America's relationship with its neighbor Cuba, the Minnesota Orchestra will indeed be the first professional U.S. band to perform in Cuba this century--make that millennium (as the last to do was the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 1999).
