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.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with André "King of the Waltz" Rieu >>
By now, we all know André Rieu. That exceptional Dutch violinist and impresario who has made a name for himself, near literally, as the, quote, "King of the Waltz." However, if you've somehow not yet had the pleasure to take in all that maestro Rieu and his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra (founded 1987) are about, you're in luck, indeed. This Tuesday, October 20, all that musicianship and magic that was on stage for Rieu and band's one-night-only "2015 Maastricht Concert" is coming to movie theaters all across this country.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with A Far Cry's Megumi Stohs Lewis, Loewi Lin and Robyn Bollinger >>
As A Far Cry founding member Megumi Stohs Lewis tells it, when the orchestra was created in 2007, several members were finishing up graduate degree programs at the New England Conservatory. Not all of the “Criers” are NEC alums, but the conservatory grounds proved to be a thoughtful gathering spot for most of the original members. Everyone, though, was interested in exploring chamber music, with many having played under Donald Palma in NEC's finely tuned chamber orchestra.
PREMIERE: Listen to wild Up feat. Jodie Landau's "as I wait for the lion" (Bedroom Community) >>
Premiering here on Classicalite, by their numbers anyways, you'll hear a mix as open and as carefree as Highway 101. Whereas, simultaneously, as intimate, as huddled as the mass of hybrids piled bumper-to-bumper on the 110. Settle in, then, as wild Up founder Christopher Rountree leads the shimmering, beguiling "as I wait for the lion," the eighth track off of you of all things, out today from Valgeir Sigurðsson's Bedroom Community.
EXCLUSIVE: John Luther Adams on ‘Sila: The Breath of the World' with La Jolla Symphony >>
Interview with John Luther Adams about 'Sila: The Breath of the World,' a site-determined piece to be performed by the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus in San Diego on September 27. The free concert will take place at 3:00 p.m. in the Japanese Friendship Garden of Balboa Park, in celebration of the park's 100th anniversary.
EXCLUSIVE: Blogarrhea Q&A with Bass Legend Stanley Clarke >>
Today, bassist Stanley Clarke is known as the "Liberator Of The Electric And Acoustic Basses." Mike Greenblatt sits down with the legend for an exclusive Blogarrhea Q&A.
PREMIERE: Watch Lang Lang's "Making Of" Video of Chopin, Tchaik for 'In Paris' Album >>
For us Classicalites, the intimate splendor of Chopin and Tchaikovsky's solo piano music still resonates well across the centuries. And the transcriptions. There's a kind of beauty, even a turmoil, inside its sounding realm, as well as outside of it.
PREMIERE: Watch Nigel Kennedy's Updated Summer of Vivaldi (Sony Classical) >>
Here in the dog days of summer, two and a half decades removed from his record-selling album of Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' (EMI), Classicalite premieres the first video for violinist Nigel Kennedy's exciting new "rewrite" on Sony.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Cellist Miguel Vásquez >>
At the age of nine, Miguel Vásquez was an aspiring classical violinist/cellist in Panama. There on the isthmus, though, getting proper musical education proved difficult--especially as his skills improved. His grandfather, Luis Vásquez--a professional double bassist, guitarist and English horn player--first inspired the would-be musician. And years later, the younger Vásquez still remains thankful for the dutiful instruction provided by his elder.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Andrea Bocelli >>
Wagner had Bayreuth in northern Bavaria. Years later, Pierre Boulez would get his IRCAM under the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. And on Thursday, July 27, 2006, on the outskirts of a frazione in the province of Pisa, finally, a lawyer-cum-tenor from nearby Lajatico christened his own grand edificio d'arte: Andrea Bocelli's Teatro del Silenzio.
PREMIERE: Jonas Kaufmann's 'Making Of' Video for Upcoming Puccini Album on Sony Classical >>
Such is the case with his forthcoming homage to the ever-famous Giacomo Puccini. The world's greatest living tenor, he sings "Nessun Dorma," the highlight of Puccini's Turandot, among other selections from Manon Lescaut, Tosca, La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and more.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Sarah Jarosz >>
Sarah Jarosz grew up in Wimberley, Texas, a town just outside of Austin. At a very early age, she earned credibility in the space where roots, Americana and contemporary folk intersect. Ever since, Jarosz's sterling reputation has been built on three fronts: gifted multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, banjo), expressive and distinctive vocalist, accomplished songwriter. It's not just her peers who are taking notice.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Xiang “Angelo” Yu >>
Violinist Xiang “Angelo” Yu was born in Inner Mongolia, an area he calls, simultaneously, “one of the least modernized” yet "one of the simplest and most beautiful places in the world.” At the tender age 11, he moved with his family to the bustling central coast city of Shanghai. A stark contrast in locale, indeed.
EXCLUSIVE: Classicalite Q&A with Lisa Lampanelli >>
How do you prepare for an interview with an insult comic? Do you find the thickest hard hat and flak jacket available and, well, just hope for the best? More importantly, how should you prep to interview the ultimate insult comic, the "Queen of Mean" herself, Lisa Lampanelli? Turns out, ya just chat.
EXCLUSIVE: Matana Roberts Part Two: Living on a Boat, Surfing the Rockaways and the NYC Waterways Code of Honor >>
Living on a boat in the southern tip of Brooklyn has certainly afforded Matana Roberts lifestyle choices she may not have either had access to or the mindset to take advantage of. The mystical surroundings of the NYC waterways and the inhabitants therein have found a special place in Matana’s heart and creative force. Here, then, for our last interview segment we paddle out into the post-Sandy Rockaways and explore Matana’s solitary water life directive.
