Tomorrow we have our first Union First Market Bank LolliPops concert, Phantoms of the Orchestra. Appropriately themed since it's going to be on the day before Halloween. Last year, the LolliPops series debuted with The Composer is Dead at Halloween time. Before all LolliPops concerts, we have a pre-concert festival with educational games and activities, including the instrument petting zoo, where kids can try out different musical instruments. For Halloween, the staff and musicians dress in costume and the kids participate in a costume contest and parade.
It's Hermione from the Harry Potter books!
Oh wait...maybe not...
Who is it?
...
...
If you guessed, Erin R. Freeman, the Richmond Symphony's Associate Conductor, you are absolutely correct!
Harry Potter himself also made an appearance. Check him out giving the violin a test run.
Here is principal cellist Neal Cary playing the triangle, dressed like the DEVIL!
Neal Cary will be one of the featured soloist for our third Altria Masterworks series concert in two weeks, playing Saint-Saens' Cello Concerto No. 2.
I bet we probably couldn't convince him to wear this costume for his cello solo THAT weekend! :)
Here are some other fun costumes from last year's Halloween pre-concert festival! Hope to see you tomorrow in your best costume!
Friday, October 29, 2010
Halloween's a-Brewing!
Ready to see the Richmond Symphony musicians in costume? First, here's a little context...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Composer-In-Residence? What's that?
Meet D.J. Sparr, the Richmond Symphony's Composer-in-Residence
What does the composer-in-residence do for an orchestra?
Most composers’ residences are not in the city where they live, so for my work with the RSO Education and Community Engagement department, this means I write music for some of their ensembles as well as teach a class called “Creative Composition” where students from the youth orchestra program write and perform original works.
I see myself as a liaison between living composers and the Richmond community. Hopefully, working with a composer will become a normal part of the performers’ musical lives…or perhaps the members of the youth orchestras will grow up to become entrepreneurs who will support the creation of new works of art.
A new trend has started where composers also work with the orchestra to do outreach, help program modern works, and even curate a new music series. For instance, our own homegrown phenomenon Mason Bates will be in residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony where he will write two new works for them as well as assist in creating a non-traditional concert series. I hope to move in a direction with future residencies where I can incorporate my background managing an indie record label in Los Angeles as well my experience being-in and running various rock-n-roll bands.
What made you want to be a composer?
Ever since I started playing guitar at age five, I wrote songs. Each
week that I learned a new chord, I would write a new song using that chord. (Topical to the month of October, one of my first songs was about a haunted house...) I wrote country music songs from first to fourth grade and in a Beach Boys style from fifth or so through eighth. It all went haywire when I was introduced to the craziness of rock guitar through Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Frank Zappa. Though those influences lay dormant, the glam still flares up here and there in my own music to this very day.
I went to the Baltimore School for the Arts High School where I studied Jazz (pick-style) guitar and classical music. My parents bought me a Fostex X-26 four track recorder and I spent hours and hours a week writing and recording songs in my room, such as “The Martians are Coming” and “Pretzels on the Floor” which guest starred my sister. (The influence for the latter song was about pretzels which had fallen on the floor of my basement, but I do not have a recollection of greeting any Martians at that time.)
During the summers, I attended The Walden School and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. This was integral in becoming a composer because they were the first places that I wrote and heard music I wrote for instruments other than the guitar.
I had always wanted to go to college for music, and over the course of high school, I made the decision to apply for music school for composition rather than guitar. This led to the Eastman School of Music and graduate school at the University of Michigan.
All of this can be summed up by saying that I always loved to create and perform music with whatever I was learning at the time. I even tried a 12-tone piece once…lucky for all of us that I was no good with that material.
How would you describe your music?
I try to write music that has a lot of beauty and melody… but sometimes it has a bit of an edge. At times, the instruments work like parts of a clock which create an overall texture. At other times, there are long sheen-like sonorities. My favorite music, and I suppose what influences my writing, is baroque music, minimalist (both real and post), the neo-classical works of Stravinsky, and any great song from any musical genre.
I try very hard to write music that will be engaging for the audience of the performers for whom I am writing. A lot of composers have “imaginary listeners” with whom they “consult” while they are composing. (This is similar to Stephen King, who has what he calls the “constant reader.”) I imagine myself sitting in the audience listening to the piece with the audience. If I write something that I think will make people cringe for too long, or be bored… then I cringe and I am bored. If I write something they like, then I will probably like being there with them to hear it! I am not a big fan of working for months and months on something only to sit in a concert-hall full of discomforted people.
This all started with a piece I wrote called “Wrought Hocket.” A lot of the piece involved orchestral blasts followed by long silences. In one performance I attended, an older gentleman in front of me would lean over to his wife and make flatulent noises during the pauses after the tuba played its very loud low notes. I was laughing too, because he was a very funny guy and I still have a child-like sense of humor about many things. I’ll never forget his face when he saw me sit down behind him after I took a bow on stage! It was in that moment in Los Angeles in 1998 that I changed my approach to considering the audience when I write music. It’s not a premise that goes over very well when you talk to some other composers, but…each to his own I suppose.
What are you working on now?
For the RSO, I am in the very last stages (the worst part…proofreading!) of a new work for the Come & Play concert, “St. John’s on Church Hill” which will be performed with upwards of four-hundred amateur musicians performing alongside the symphony on the floor of the VCU basketball stadium on November 21st. Of course, the work is inspired by the famous landmark in Richmond which is near where we just bought our house. I am also working on a piece which will combine the Camerata Strings and the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra. It is based on ideas from parallel universes and weirdly, extra terrestrials. I would write a piece about pretzels again, but since we have two dogs, when they are dropped, they disappear very quickly!
In the electric guitar department, I am playing with Eighth Blackbird at University of Richmond’s Third Practice Festival on November 5th and Steve Mackey’s electric guitar concerto “Deal” in Washington, DC in December. I have two new works being premiered by the Williamsburg Symphonia and the Dayton Philharmonic in the second half of this season. It’s very busy, but busy is good.
On a side note, I’ve never been happier with any collaboration with performers as I am with the Richmond Symphony’s education and community engagement department. I have all of these wild ideas, and they keep helping me figure out how to make them happen.
Thanks for reading this long blog… I am looking forward to sitting with everyone at the concerts.
As an extra treat, here are some audio clips of some of D.J.'s work!
www.djsparr.com/mp3/Sparr_GreenDolphinStreet_BSFA.mp3 (Excerpt from Recital at Baltimore School for the Arts)
www.djsparr.com/mp3/GtrExpt_HDYD_Solo.mp3 (Excerpt of guitar solo from old band)
www.djsparr.com/daccadeccagaffa.htm (DACCA:DECCA:GaFfA)
What does the composer-in-residence do for an orchestra?Most composers’ residences are not in the city where they live, so for my work with the RSO Education and Community Engagement department, this means I write music for some of their ensembles as well as teach a class called “Creative Composition” where students from the youth orchestra program write and perform original works.
I see myself as a liaison between living composers and the Richmond community. Hopefully, working with a composer will become a normal part of the performers’ musical lives…or perhaps the members of the youth orchestras will grow up to become entrepreneurs who will support the creation of new works of art.
A new trend has started where composers also work with the orchestra to do outreach, help program modern works, and even curate a new music series. For instance, our own homegrown phenomenon Mason Bates will be in residence with the Pittsburgh Symphony where he will write two new works for them as well as assist in creating a non-traditional concert series. I hope to move in a direction with future residencies where I can incorporate my background managing an indie record label in Los Angeles as well my experience being-in and running various rock-n-roll bands.
What made you want to be a composer?
Ever since I started playing guitar at age five, I wrote songs. Each
week that I learned a new chord, I would write a new song using that chord. (Topical to the month of October, one of my first songs was about a haunted house...) I wrote country music songs from first to fourth grade and in a Beach Boys style from fifth or so through eighth. It all went haywire when I was introduced to the craziness of rock guitar through Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, and Frank Zappa. Though those influences lay dormant, the glam still flares up here and there in my own music to this very day.I went to the Baltimore School for the Arts High School where I studied Jazz (pick-style) guitar and classical music. My parents bought me a Fostex X-26 four track recorder and I spent hours and hours a week writing and recording songs in my room, such as “The Martians are Coming” and “Pretzels on the Floor” which guest starred my sister. (The influence for the latter song was about pretzels which had fallen on the floor of my basement, but I do not have a recollection of greeting any Martians at that time.)
During the summers, I attended The Walden School and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. This was integral in becoming a composer because they were the first places that I wrote and heard music I wrote for instruments other than the guitar.
I had always wanted to go to college for music, and over the course of high school, I made the decision to apply for music school for composition rather than guitar. This led to the Eastman School of Music and graduate school at the University of Michigan.
All of this can be summed up by saying that I always loved to create and perform music with whatever I was learning at the time. I even tried a 12-tone piece once…lucky for all of us that I was no good with that material.How would you describe your music?
I try to write music that has a lot of beauty and melody… but sometimes it has a bit of an edge. At times, the instruments work like parts of a clock which create an overall texture. At other times, there are long sheen-like sonorities. My favorite music, and I suppose what influences my writing, is baroque music, minimalist (both real and post), the neo-classical works of Stravinsky, and any great song from any musical genre.
I try very hard to write music that will be engaging for the audience of the performers for whom I am writing. A lot of composers have “imaginary listeners” with whom they “consult” while they are composing. (This is similar to Stephen King, who has what he calls the “constant reader.”) I imagine myself sitting in the audience listening to the piece with the audience. If I write something that I think will make people cringe for too long, or be bored… then I cringe and I am bored. If I write something they like, then I will probably like being there with them to hear it! I am not a big fan of working for months and months on something only to sit in a concert-hall full of discomforted people.
This all started with a piece I wrote called “Wrought Hocket.” A lot of the piece involved orchestral blasts followed by long silences. In one performance I attended, an older gentleman in front of me would lean over to his wife and make flatulent noises during the pauses after the tuba played its very loud low notes. I was laughing too, because he was a very funny guy and I still have a child-like sense of humor about many things. I’ll never forget his face when he saw me sit down behind him after I took a bow on stage! It was in that moment in Los Angeles in 1998 that I changed my approach to considering the audience when I write music. It’s not a premise that goes over very well when you talk to some other composers, but…each to his own I suppose.What are you working on now?
For the RSO, I am in the very last stages (the worst part…proofreading!) of a new work for the Come & Play concert, “St. John’s on Church Hill” which will be performed with upwards of four-hundred amateur musicians performing alongside the symphony on the floor of the VCU basketball stadium on November 21st. Of course, the work is inspired by the famous landmark in Richmond which is near where we just bought our house. I am also working on a piece which will combine the Camerata Strings and the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra. It is based on ideas from parallel universes and weirdly, extra terrestrials. I would write a piece about pretzels again, but since we have two dogs, when they are dropped, they disappear very quickly!
In the electric guitar department, I am playing with Eighth Blackbird at University of Richmond’s Third Practice Festival on November 5th and Steve Mackey’s electric guitar concerto “Deal” in Washington, DC in December. I have two new works being premiered by the Williamsburg Symphonia and the Dayton Philharmonic in the second half of this season. It’s very busy, but busy is good.On a side note, I’ve never been happier with any collaboration with performers as I am with the Richmond Symphony’s education and community engagement department. I have all of these wild ideas, and they keep helping me figure out how to make them happen.
Thanks for reading this long blog… I am looking forward to sitting with everyone at the concerts.
As an extra treat, here are some audio clips of some of D.J.'s work!
www.djsparr.com/mp3/Sparr_GreenDolphinStreet_BSFA.mp3 (Excerpt from Recital at Baltimore School for the Arts)
www.djsparr.com/mp3/GtrExpt_HDYD_Solo.mp3 (Excerpt of guitar solo from old band)
www.djsparr.com/daccadeccagaffa.htm (DACCA:DECCA:GaFfA)
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Odyssey to Staunton
Last weekend, we ha
d our second Altria Masterworks concert, Rachmaninoff & Stravinsky. In case you didn't already know, the Richmond Symphony also performs in various concerts around Virginia. So last Friday afternoon, the Richmond Symphony musicians, Operations staff, and Music Director Steven Smith were heading for such a concert in Staunton, Virginia. Here is where the mayhem begins...
"En route, we found that I-64 West was a parking lot as we approached Charlottesville. The buses rerouted around Charlottesville as a lot of the rest of us made it about 2 miles in about 2 hours while others, including Steven, tried to reroute themselves (I take responsibility for making Steven drive about 2 hours out of his way). The buses arrived in Staunton about 10 minutes before the show which was slated to begin at 7:30 pm. I arrived at the school around 7:35 pm. On entering the school, the Ops team were setting the stage and on the phone consulting with musicians still en route. At about 7:40 pm, I walked on stage to begin a pre-concert (the concert was supposed to have already started!). At about 8 pm, I was told that some of our musicians were ready to give an impromptu chamber concert in the lobby. I announced this to the audience and they went into the lobby. In the meantime, we consulted with the rest of the musicians who were present and decided to perform the Debussy Sarabande unconducted. After about 15 – 20 minutes, we
were able to get those present on stage and play the Debussy. Then the Brass players agreed to play the Fanfare sans conductor. As they began, Steven walked in the door. In three minutes, Steven gathered himself, grabbed his score and walked on stage to perform a shortened version of Firebird.
We then took a break to reset the stage and allow Steven to change into concert attire and were able to perform the entire Rachmaninoff piano concerto (while the victorious Robert E. Lee football team returned and took over the locker rooms just outside the stage). At the end, there was a standing ovation and only one disgruntled patron (that I know of)."
~Laura Adams, Director of Orchestral Operations
d our second Altria Masterworks concert, Rachmaninoff & Stravinsky. In case you didn't already know, the Richmond Symphony also performs in various concerts around Virginia. So last Friday afternoon, the Richmond Symphony musicians, Operations staff, and Music Director Steven Smith were heading for such a concert in Staunton, Virginia. Here is where the mayhem begins..."En route, we found that I-64 West was a parking lot as we approached Charlottesville. The buses rerouted around Charlottesville as a lot of the rest of us made it about 2 miles in about 2 hours while others, including Steven, tried to reroute themselves (I take responsibility for making Steven drive about 2 hours out of his way). The buses arrived in Staunton about 10 minutes before the show which was slated to begin at 7:30 pm. I arrived at the school around 7:35 pm. On entering the school, the Ops team were setting the stage and on the phone consulting with musicians still en route. At about 7:40 pm, I walked on stage to begin a pre-concert (the concert was supposed to have already started!). At about 8 pm, I was told that some of our musicians were ready to give an impromptu chamber concert in the lobby. I announced this to the audience and they went into the lobby. In the meantime, we consulted with the rest of the musicians who were present and decided to perform the Debussy Sarabande unconducted. After about 15 – 20 minutes, we
were able to get those present on stage and play the Debussy. Then the Brass players agreed to play the Fanfare sans conductor. As they began, Steven walked in the door. In three minutes, Steven gathered himself, grabbed his score and walked on stage to perform a shortened version of Firebird.We then took a break to reset the stage and allow Steven to change into concert attire and were able to perform the entire Rachmaninoff piano concerto (while the victorious Robert E. Lee football team returned and took over the locker rooms just outside the stage). At the end, there was a standing ovation and only one disgruntled patron (that I know of)."
~Laura Adams, Director of Orchestral Operations
Monday, October 11, 2010
Fantasia Picks Classics, and So Do We
This weekend, we are having our second Altria Masterworks concert, Rachmaninoff & Stravinsky. To me, this concert is full of amazing symphony classics that are great for newcomers to symphonic music, especially because you've probably already heard this music without even realizing it.
The movie Fantasia was one of those great Disney movies that I remember growing up to. One of the most famous sequences in that movie is probably"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas (see below). This weekend, we are going to be performing the Fanfare from Dukas' last major work, a ballet called La Péri.
The original Fantasia included the extraordinary Igor Stravinsky piece, The Rite of Spring. But Fantasia 2000 concludes with this beautiful animation (see below) to the music of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919), which is the piece we will be performing this weekend!
Closing our program is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 - sometimes considered the hardest piece composed for piano! Eep!
This concert is going to be intense and thrilling and I can't wait to see it myself this weekend. Hope you enjoy these videos and look forward to seeing the orchestra play the strings off their instruments!
~Teka
The movie Fantasia was one of those great Disney movies that I remember growing up to. One of the most famous sequences in that movie is probably"The Sorcerer's Apprentice" by Paul Dukas (see below). This weekend, we are going to be performing the Fanfare from Dukas' last major work, a ballet called La Péri.
The original Fantasia included the extraordinary Igor Stravinsky piece, The Rite of Spring. But Fantasia 2000 concludes with this beautiful animation (see below) to the music of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite (1919), which is the piece we will be performing this weekend!
Closing our program is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 - sometimes considered the hardest piece composed for piano! Eep!
This concert is going to be intense and thrilling and I can't wait to see it myself this weekend. Hope you enjoy these videos and look forward to seeing the orchestra play the strings off their instruments!
~Teka
How Do They Do That?!
On Saturday, we had the highly anticipated Cirque de la Symphonie performance, and honestly, it was a spectacular visual and auditory adventure! Even though I've seen a Cirque du Soleil show before, the opportunity to see people who can fly around, bend and twist through the air, and perform impressive feats of strength never loses its allure.I had a chance to sit and chat quickly with Ralph Skiano (clarinet), Ann Choomack (piccolo), and Gustav Highstein (oboe) to see what they thought of it from their perspective. "Cool" and "distracting [from their music in front of them]" were the two words most used by them. Gus commented as well that it was probably the most enjoyable for him as a musician, because they were still able to perform orchestral works and share that music with the audience in partnership with such a cool visual component.
Erin R. Freeman, Associate Conductor, also told me that it was awesome to see how the music was paired with the visuals. The two gold strongmen were making very slow and deliberate moves while paired to the frantic pace of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. It made you see the music in a new way!For me, Alexander Streltsov's aerial performance to the music from Star Wars was especially touching. The Red Harlequin mime/juggler (Vladimir Tsarkov) was hilarious -- though I suspect that Music Director Steven Smith was chasing him down for his wallet for quite a while after the concert!
~Teka
A few Richmond Symphony staff reactions:
Danielle Ripperton (Individual Giving Officer): "Simply AMAZING - I was on the edge of my seat the whole time with wonder, awe, amazement and even fright! How on earth does one bend like that?!"Cheryl Yancey (Richmond Symphony Foundation): "Henry [Cheryl's husband] and I thought they were awesome! Young and old alike were thrilled with the performance."
As well as a few reactions from the concert from the Richmond Symphony's Facebook and Twitter page:
@RVAREGal - Wow! Richmond Symphony Pops concert tonight Cirque de la Symphonie was amazing! Great music & terrific talent from Cirque performers! @RichmondSymph I'm still thinking about how tangled I'd be in all of that fabric if I was agile enough to attempt those moves! :)@hadarvc wrote a blog about the performance here: http://www.opticality.com/blog/2010/10/10/cirque-de-la-symphonie-at-richmond-centerstage/
@firedancerk8 - @RichmondSymph My mouth was literally hanging open for the entire duration of the Gold Guys' performance. WOW!!!!!
Mary Maupai - The performance on Saturday....It was amazing, had not idea the body could do such awe inspiring things.! A performance I will not soon forget! Thank you!
Our next Genworth Financial Symphony Pops concert is Let It Snow! on December 4 & 5. The Contours Featuring Sylvester Potts: Celebrating 50 Years of Motown will be on January 22 and the Music of James Bond will be on March 12.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Cirque is All Around Us!
Over the last few weeks, I have been noticing that I am seeing a lot of Cirque-like acts on television. It seems like this is a growing trend throughout the country to either include cirque acts in their shows or to implement cirque in their own businesses. Below are a few examples of what I'm talking about:
The Macy's: Stars of Dance segment during the Results show of Dancing with the Stars
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon, aerialists from the Wild Card Show of America's Got Talent
Aerial Bartenders on "My Fair Wedding with David Tutera"
As our first Genworth Financial Symphony Pops concert, Cirque de la Symphonie approaches, I think to myself, I can't wait to be able to actually see some aerialists fly right around in the Carpenter Theatre. Definitely an exciting performance to see and bring to Richmond. Hope to see you there on Saturday too!
~Teka
The Macy's: Stars of Dance segment during the Results show of Dancing with the Stars
Michael Lipari & Ashleigh Dejon, aerialists from the Wild Card Show of America's Got Talent
Aerial Bartenders on "My Fair Wedding with David Tutera"
As our first Genworth Financial Symphony Pops concert, Cirque de la Symphonie approaches, I think to myself, I can't wait to be able to actually see some aerialists fly right around in the Carpenter Theatre. Definitely an exciting performance to see and bring to Richmond. Hope to see you there on Saturday too!
~Teka
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)