Friday night at the Perelman Theatre of the Kimmel Center the PCMS offered the Ying String Quartet and Menachem Pressler minus one of the Yings who's retired from the group replaced at first by a crackerjack non-Ying fiddler. They played to an under-attended crowd which was a shame as far as I'm concerned. Artists want to play to a full house as they feed off the energy in the room. The Yings were one of the two best groups I heard come through here last year, the other being the Johannes…

Last night the Curtis Institute of Music offered the seventh student recital of its 2011-2012 season. Hindemith, Schumann, two pieces by Listzt, and Jean Francaix's Quintet No. 1 were on the program. It did not disappoint.

These kids are so terrifically talented and so musical that it's hard not to like whatever they play even though you're not so hot on particular composer's work. That was true for me. I even liked the Hindemith 1939 Sonata for Horn and Piano. Maureen Young…

I did not attend this weekend's Curtis Orchestra concert. The program seemed ideal but I had to pass. Too bad, too, because Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto is my favorite of the 5. But I will add ditto Sharon's message about the quality of the orchestra. It is the best orchestra in Philadelphia (yes, better than the Philadelphia Orchestra). It's first rate from front to back, every chair laden with talent.

Now the Philadelphia Orchestra is good. As good or better than any of…

There is a lot of free publicity available to musicians, but you need to meet a couple of deadlines to make sure your listings are effective.  Here are some rough deadlines for the tools used by LocalArtsLive.  Of course all of these activities could be completed earlier:

1 month:  …

This week I did a bit of traveling. While at Logan Airport in Boston spacing out at the gate waiting for them to call my row I suddenly perked up to the fine sound of J. S. Bach's Suite #1 for unaccompanied cello. Looking around quickly determined that I was hearing the audio to a story on the Airport TV network about a young cellist who, determined to show the world that classical music is not dead, made it a habit of playing his cello on the street, in bus stations, subways, train station,…

 The Philadelphia Fans of Classical Music consistently present interesting and informative meetings, but the latest two that I attended raised the bar even higher.  The goal of this group is to hold a series of meetings this year to introduce 20th century music and then meet at a variety of…

On Wednesday night the Perelman Theater of the Kimmel Center hosted the local premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Quintet for strings and piano, presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, one of the co-commissioners of this new work. It has the same instrumentation as Schubert's "Trout" Quintet, violin, viola, 'cello, double bass, and piano, and was played by the Joseph Kalichstein, Jaime Laredo, Sharon Robinson piano trio, joined by violist Michael Tree and Philadelphia Orchestra…

The Philadelphia Orchestra has been all over the news this week with word of a labor agreement, a move of their grand opening gala to the University of Pennsylvania due to a possible strike at the Kimmel Center, and the opening of their 2011/2012 season.  All seemed to go well, but the there is still much at stake in the…

I had the distinct pleasure of attending Andrea Clearfield's 25th anniversary afternoon salon last month.  Based on this wonderful experience, I highly recommend this event.  Andrea produces her private salons from an extensive list of talented individuals and ensembles.  Now she's using that terrific asset to bring…

source:  Beta Test

Moonstone Arts Center -

110A S. 13th Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

We've put together an awesome evening of music for all of you around the theme of MONSTERS. Yeah, that's right: music about vampires, demons, gigantic aliens that bring on apocalypse, the usual. We've even enlisted some of our friends to play and sing along with us the…

Last night a nearly-full house witnessed another terrific student recital. This was the second in the 2011-2012 series, more typical of their recitals, and more to my taste than the one Monday night. With these recitals you get a concert, a style show, and a beauty pageant all rolled into one.

First up was Sun Jin Lee, a second-year Korean violist played Georges Enesco's Concertstueck. The piece is a perfect vehicle for the viola with lots of great stuff on the C and G…

Last night, October 10, in Field Concert Hall of the Curtis Institute of Music we heard the opening salvo of their 2011-2012 season. Students and faculty have been giving recitals there since the place opened in 1924. Some of biggest stars in the classical music heavens have graced its stage, starting with Josef Hoffman, one-time director of the institute and Efrem Zimbalist, Hoffman's successor. The Curtis String Quartet got its start there as all members were at one time students at…

Last evening in the Academy of Vocal Arts' baroque yet intimate theatre on Spruce Street, I was privileged to hear a wonderful performance of Sir Arthur Bliss' rarely played Quintet for oboe and four strings. The Philadelphia Orchestra's principal oboist Richard Woodhams was joined by the Wister Quartet, which is the core of the presenting organization, 1807 and Friends, the now 30-year-old chamber music series. The audience members were primarily well-seasoned music lovers, joined by a…

If you are young, or young at heart, and passionate about the state of the arts in Philadelphia, don't miss the chance to participated in Young Involved Philadelphia's Creative Economy session on Wednesday night.  Though I'm…

A bit tired from weekend chores, I was reluctant to trek into the city again - even for a free concert by the Philadelphia Orchestra.  Boy am I glad I found the energy to do so!  Here's a little hint for drivers heading to Penn's Landing:  Park in Old City and walk to Penn's Landing.  Even…

I've been reading a lot about the history of recorded sound. The Curtis String Quartet did some recording over a special program through the Curtis Institute's regular broadcast.

What would Edison think upon visiting me here in my studio? Depending on when he came, he would see me (1) writing on my laptop, saving my prose in Google documents, listening to the Vermeer quartet play Beethoven on my laptop's CD player or over Pandora if I don't mind snippets I don't have in my CD…

The Curtis String Quartet is one of the best kept secrets in Philadelphia. If you chose someone at random on the street and asked about them they may shake their head and keep on walking, or they may say say they remember the name but don't know much about them. Well, look for that to change over the coming months. 

The Quartet is a difficult thing to get your mind around. It involves 4 members, two playing violin, one violist, and one violoncellist. Cynical professionals…

"New ears for new music, new eyes for a distant horizon".



 ---From The Antichristian, Friedrich Nietzsche



Twentieth century classical music --- to many concert-goers it is a term uttered…