Holocaust victims' violins heard again in Jerusalem

An emotional concert took place last week in Jerusalem in which 16 violins used by Jewish Holocaust victims were played. The Telegraph (U.K.) had the story, but I was just made aware of it:

Weinstein, a violin maker, said he received the instruments in various states of disrepair, many of them decorated with stars of David, a testimony to their former Jewish owners.

"By restoring their violins, their legacy is born again," said Weinstein, who lost most of his family in the Holocaust.

They were played together for the first time in a concert titled "Violins of Hope" by members of Israel's Raanana Symphonette and the Philharmonia Istanbul Orchestra.

More here in the Telegraph's feature on it.

And there is also footage of the concert on YouTube.

A compelling case for classical music's power from Philly

From a Philly Inquirer piece about the events in that city this past week:

By Peter Dobrin

Inquirer Classical Music Critic

The moment at which the Philadelphia Orchestra's purpose in life achieved greatest clarity came at 8 p.m.

That's the time the ensemble starts most of its concerts, but not on this late-September Tuesday. This one had started at 6 p.m., not in a concert hall but at City Hall. And six hours earlier, a city police officer had been killed.

"Assassinated," Mayor Nutter had told the crowd of about 3,000 who had come to hear the long-planned outdoor performance

Instead of being sealed in at Verizon Hall, apart from the city, the orchestra on this night was the city. By 8 p.m., as the last moments of Gershwin's "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" from Porgy and Bess were being sweetly laid to rest, the bells from the old PNB tower rang out. An ambulance sounding its siren passed Dilworth Plaza, opening the imagination to some family's unfolding tragedy. Fountains filled in little cracks of silence in the music.

Here was the city, its magnificence and precariousness commingling without either offering explanation to the other, the way it happens in life for so many people."

The whole article here.

Philip Glass goes Mickey Mouse on us

OK, sorry, but this story just cried out for that headline:

NEW YORK (AP) - Philip Glass has been commissioned by the New York City Opera to compose an opera that imagines the final months in the life of Walt Disney.

The announcement was made Monday by the opera's incoming General Manager Gerard Mortier.

The opera, "The Perfect American," is based on a recent novel by the American-born writer Peter Stephan Jungk. It will open City Opera's 2012-2013 season and honor the composer's 75th birthday.

Mortier scrapped the traditional 2008-09 season while the company's home at Lincoln Center undergoes a $200 million renovation. Instead of staged operas, the company is presenting concert performances around the city.

As part of the 2009-10 season, City Opera will present Glass' "Einstein on the Beach," which was first staged in New York in 1992. The season will focus on 20th-century works.

The story of Disney in "The Perfect American" is told by a fictional Austrian cartoonist who worked for Disney in the 1940s-50s.

Manfred Honeck in four movements

 If you haven't seen it yet, today we ran my story gauging PSO music director Manfred Honeck's potential with and for the PSO, complete with a video giving a glimpse of how he delves into pieces.

Can Honeck take PSO to loftier heights? 

This article is the fourth in a four-part look at Honeck that developed over the last year and a half since he was named music director. I first visited his childhood home in Western Austria to talk with those who knew him then, to see how he was raised and what comprised his musical background, and to look at some events that helped shape his character later in his life:

An illuminating visit with the new PSO conductor, at home in western Austria

I then went to Vienna to see what his life was like as a teenager in the conservatory and later as a young husband struggling to support his family, which culminated with a position in the Vienna Philharmonic:

Pittsburgh Symphony's Honeck revisits his musical home in Vienna

And then, last week, I examined what Honeck did and what repertoire he focused on when he made the move to conductor, leaving the Vienna Phil:

 Pittsburgh Symphony's Manfred Honeck arrives with a sound approach

Some of you no doubt have thought we had done too much coverage on Honeck, but there was a rhyme and reason to it: three periods of his past and then a look to the future. I wanted to give a full picture of this man who will be leading the biggest performing arts organization in Western Pa. at a time when it is a hard go economically to make an orchestra flourish. It is an important time for the PSO. Plus, Honeck is rather unknown -- I might not have written as much about his biography had he been as famous as Maazel when he came, or as Dutoit, who is now leading Philly (or even as Eschenbach, who today it was announced, will lead National SO). But much of Honeck's story is simply great stuff and a compelling read, so I am glad I went in such depth.

It is true that I have appreciated Honeck as a conductor so far, and I am looking forward to his concerts, but I am sure we will have some disagreements over interpretations or programming in the future. But as a person, he has already deeply impressed me and I think will really help the PSO, as they will help him with his career (not unlike what happened with Mariss Jansons). I look forward to adding "movements" to Honeck's "symphony" as time goes on.

Andre Previn keeps on rolling

Gramophone magazine just gave Andre Previn its Lifetime Achievement Award.

That's an honor (past awardees include Leontyne Price, Isaac Stern and Charles Mackerras), but media outlets are always heaping awards on famous musicians and composers as they get older (full disclosure, I also write for Gramophone, reviewing CDs). But often, those musicians are not that active any more.

Not Previn. He turns 80 this April, but he is as busy as ever. He has four concerts at Carnegie Hall in spring, spotlighting his diversity, from conducting the Philadelphia Orchestra to a jazz gig. He is still composes at a heady rate, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra premiering his "Owls" Oct. 2 and his second opera, "Brief Encounter," premiering at Houston Grand Opera (in May).

On top of that, Previn is guest conducting like a madman: London Symphony Orchestra (with ex-wife Anne-Sophie Mutter), Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra and Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra this year -- all in addition to more composing, I am sure.

What can you say? Previn's tenure with the Pittsburgh Symphony may not have risen to the level of Maazel, Jansons or Steinberg, and his conducting appearances here have largely been mediocre. But I find most of his compositions delightful, and it's impressive to see how much creativity Previn is displaying and how much energy he is expending these days.

Billy Joel Keeping the Faith in Philly

Billy Joel's stint with classical music may be over -- at least I haven't heard of anything new since his classical disc of 200, but he is still contributing to the field. His Philadelphia Orchestra Billy Joel Fund for Music Education begins this season. Schoolchildren from 90 Philadelphia city elementary schools will help "to expand and improve music education in schools in the School District of Philadelphia by implementing a program that will improve access to the Orchestra’s School Concerts for underserved City schoolchildren."

Say what you will about his music and attitude (I still love him), but this is cool. Joel himself got a taste of classical music at public schools. Apparently he got the idea for the fund when he performed with the Orchestra at the Academy of Music. The fund was established in January of this year.

Phillip Injeian -- Pittsburgh's violin maker

Success breeds success, and several years ago, master violin maker Phillip Injeian re-located here to help serve the musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Opera and the universities. But it's been good fortune to the rest of the musical community here and he has done well enought to necessitate a move down the street to a new location.

Generally, I don't write about shops, but this is a good exception since Injeian is part of the Pittsburgh community as much as a commercial entity. If you who play an instrument or have children who do and are looking for a higher quality instrument than you have now -- or must get yours fixed -- he has plenty of options:

Phillip Injeian Violin Shop at 821 Penn Avenue in the Cultural District

Yapping it up

Do you know about Yap Tracker? If you are new in the game of getting gigs as a freelance musician, it may be very helpful to you. It has an online audition manager that keeps you "up-to-date and in-the-know about programs, competitions, workshops and  mainstage auditions to help you get ahead in the ever competitive classical performance market."

The idea is that you don't miss a deadline or opportunity, which is really important when you are starting out, or even going strong. Check it out. 

Seeing the Met close up from afar

Robert Croan, former classical music critic for us and now a senior editor -- meaning roving critic -- went to the Metropolitan Opera's opening gala for cheap -- he saw it at Pittsburgh Mills in the live HD broadcast.

Here is his review:

By Robert Croan

Opera, once the plaything of an elite few, is quickly becoming entertainment for the masses. Thanks in large part to general manager Peter Gelb, opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's 125^th season Monday [9/22] was attended not merely by the wealthy who could afford tickets to the live performance in the house, but by a huge number who watched in outdoor venues at New York's Times Square and Fordham University Plaza, and high-definition telecasts in American and foreign movie theaters. It's notable that the Times Square viewers interviewed by emcee Deborah Voigt were young, and enthused over the prospect of attending live opera in the future. The Pittsburgh venues are Cinemark at Pittsburgh Mills and Showcase Cinemas West in Robinson.

The production was a gala for soprano Renee Fleming (above with Ramon Vargas, Reuters), featured in three of her signature operas: Act 2 of Verdi's "La Traviata," Act 3 of Massenet's "Manon" and the final scene from Strauss' "Capriccio." Movie star gorgeous in costumes by top designers and no less glamorous in voice, Fleming proved herself a true singing actress, melting the heart with the legato lines of Violetta's "Dite alla giovane," dazzling with the coloratura of Manon's gavotte, turning to Garbo-like introspection in the changing moods of "Capriccio's" Countess, who can not decide between a poet and a musician as her lover.

The next of 10 upcoming HD telecasts from the Met (live, then encored 11 days later) will be Strauss' "Salome," Oct. 11 [Sat.] at 1:30 p.m.

Bless you!

Those musicians who have sold their souls to the devil for musical talent won't want to come. But for the rest, if you are interested, Father Paul Johnston will again bless instruments and other artistic implements at 5 p.m. Wednesday (September 24) at Trinity Cathedral, Downtown (328 Sixth Ave.). It may sound like a joke, but it is heartfelt and was a success last year.

"Artists are such agents for healing," he says. "They give of themselves body, mind, and spirit. We want to minister directly to their needs for once."

You might remember Johnston's name from his time as an on-air host for WQED-FM, so he knows a thing or two about artists. Although Trinity is Episcopal, the Blessing of the Artists is "sensitive to the diversity in the arts community."

What qualifies? Basically anything artistic or that helps artistry: "instruments, paintbrushes, cameras, mouthpieces, reeds, drumsticks, ballet slippers, drama masks, laptop computers, chef's toques, etc." Fr Johnston says last year he blessed a clamp used by a movie crew. Now that is hard core.

No telling what holy water (aspersion) will do to old violins...