This summer I’ve been writing about the music I love beyond the classical bubble. Since its release in April 2016, I’ve been mildly obsessed with one album: Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’. ‘Lemonade’ is a deeply personal testament describing Queen Bey’s discovery that her husband – the rapper Jay-Z – had been unfaithful. During its twelve songs we accompany Beyoncé on her journey … Read More
Finding inspiration in ‘A Love Supreme’
I often like to ask classical musicians what they listen to in order to relax. The answer is rarely our own music; stepping outside the classical world allows our critical facilities to switch off, which is blessed relief. My after-work tastes are hip hop, R&B, house, pop and a relatively small amount of jazz. Over the past few weeks I’ve … Read More
Maestro’s musical taste shaped by dad
I’m often asked about the music I listen to outside work. When I was announced as music director of the Jacksonville Symphony five years ago, there were plenty of embarrassing headlines such as “Conductor likes Britney and Beethoven.” People tend to think that there is something amusing or even faintly scandalous about a classical musician enjoying other music. We musicians … Read More
Film scores require a lot of ‘werk’
“Gesamtkunstwerk,” the term first coined by K. F. E. Trahndorff in 1827 and later taken up by Richard Wagner in 1849, is the word that comes to mind when our Jacksonville Symphony presents me with the opportunity to conduct the score to a film. The term is translated as “total work of art,” or “all-embracing art form” and strives to … Read More
Voice adds depth to symphony performances
Strangely enough for an orchestra, we’ve heard a lot of the human voice recently at the Jacksonville Symphony. The Christmas season began with “Messiah,” and in January we welcomed a cast from around the country for Mozart’s opera “Don Giovanni.” Last weekend we performed Maurice Ravel’s sensuous ballet, “Daphnis et Chloé,” complete with an enormous chorus that sang no words, … Read More
Mozart’s Don Giovanni: Stagecraft meets musicianship
Later this month, the Jacksonville Symphony will present one of the most ambitious concerts of the season: Mozart’s magnificent Don Giovanni. The performances, part of the Florida Blue Masterworks Series, will be Friday and Sunday, January 25 and 27. They also form the centerpiece of our innovative Midwinter Mozart Festival. Operas normally need a more theatrical venue than the Jacoby … Read More
Don Giovanni remains timeless, centuries later
Mozart described his masterpiece Don Giovanni as an opera buffa: a comedy. Yet the work bristles with the political issues of the day, see-sawing between farce and deep seriousness. The Don Juan myth first appeared in European literature in 1630, when Tirso de Molina published The Trickster of Seville, a tale of an irresistibly handsome aristocrat who spends his days … Read More
Holidays are the time for waltzes
The air is a getting crisper this week, and as we finish off the Thanksgiving turkey and begin to think about December, I’m reminded of one of my favourite holiday traditions. Every New Year’s Eve and Day the Vienna Philharmonic performs a concert of waltzes and polkas in the beautiful Grosser Saal of the Musikverein. The New Year’s Day concert … Read More
Pictures at an Exhibition: About Victor Hartmann
Victor Alexandrovitch Hartmann was born April 23rd, 1834, in St. Petersburg. Both his parents died before he was four years old, and he was brought up by an aunt, Luisa Ivanovna Gemilian, wife of a well-known St. Petersburg architect and a former lady-in-waiting to the tsarina. Through the influence of Mme. Gemilian, Hartmann was admitted at the age of twelve … Read More
Why is That Trombone So Small?
When the Jacksonville Symphony plays music from the Classical and Early Romantic periods the trombone section often scales our instruments down to better blend with a smaller orchestra. As opposed to what we usually play – two large tenor trombones with valves and a large bass trombone with two valves – we use an alto trombone, a “straight,” or, valve-less … Read More