Mix of Jazz and classic music in Beit Ticho Jerusalem.
Plays Konstantin Vilensky

Jul Massne
18/09/2011

Salle Pleyel Residency
22 Jun 2010 8:00 PM
Salle Pleyel, Paris, France
Peter Eötvös conducts Maurizio Pollini in Brahms’s First Piano Concerto, Helmut Lachenmann’s Double (Grido II) and Bach’s Fugue in Six Voices arranged by Webern.

LSO Discovery Day: Haydn
27 Jun 2010 10:00 AM
LSO Discovery Event Barbican & LSO St Luke’s
Find out more about Haydn. The day begins with access to an LSO rehearsal in the morning at the Barbican. We then move to LSO St Luke’s in the afternoon for a discussion between leading Haydn experts Lindsay Kemp and Denis McCaldin, and a chamber music session with LSO players – your chance to meet LSO players and have your questions answered.

LSO Discovery Day: Haydn
27 Jun 2010 10:00 AM
LSO Discovery Event Barbican & LSO St Luke’s
Find out more about Haydn. The day begins with access to an LSO rehearsal in the morning at the Barbican. We then move to LSO St Luke’s in the afternoon for a discussion between leading Haydn experts Lindsay Kemp and Denis McCaldin, and a chamber music session with LSO players – your chance to meet LSO players and have your questions answered.

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All classic music lovers have not miss concert of La Scala Chamber Orchestra. Founded in 1982, La Scala Chamber Orchestra is an ensemble with a rich history. Its musicians are selected from Milan’s renowned La Scala Orchestras: the Filarmonica della Scala and the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala.

La Scala Chamber Orchestra has performed in the most prestigious theatres and concert halls of the world and collaborated with internationally known conductors and soloists. In July 2007 at Piazza del Duomo in Milan, before an audience of more than 10,000 people, La Scala Chamber Orchestra performed the four seasons of Antonio Vivaldi and Astor Piazzolla, with Francesco Manara as a soloist. The concert received rave reviews, and was so well received that it was performed again in Paris, at the Opera theatre in Warsaw, in Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia and in Moscow at the Ciaikovskij hall.

At the annual concert at Piazza del Duomo in 2008, audiences were thrilled by a performance by La Scala Chamber Orchestra of an original composition by composer Carlo Galante, specially dedicated to Milan’s Cathedral. Continuing this great tradition, in 2009 La Scala Chamber Orchestra was excited and honored to present an original composition of the famous composer and cellist Giovanni Sollima.

La Scala Chamber Orchestra’s repertoire includes the most important compositions for chamber orchestras from the 18th century to the present day, with particular attention paid to little-played works by 19th century Italian composers. Many of these pieces are unpublished and are characterized by highly virtuosic solo parts which are well suited to display the extraordinary talents of La Scala Chamber Orchestra’s soloists, all principles in the

Filarmonica della Scala and well known concert artists on the international scene. The musicians of La Scala Chamber Orchestra have consistently worked with the greatest conductors of the world who routinely make guest appearances at Teatro alla Scala, such as Riccardo Muti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Daniel Barenboim.

These coveted experiences have influenced their sound, bringing out musical characteristics of timbre and phrasing which are certainly unique in the Italian and international panorama of chamber groups.Mosca, Tchaikovsky hall

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Georg Friedrich Händel was born Halle (Germany), 23 February 1685, in the family of a barber-surgeon who intended him for the law. He started to practise music clandestinely, but his father was encouraged to allow him to study and he became a pupil of Zachow, the principal organist in Halle. When he was 18 he left for Hamburg. There he played the violin and harpsichord in the opera house, where his Almira was given at the beginning of 1705, soon followed by his Nero. The next year he accepted an invitation to Italy, where he spent more than three years, in Florence, Rome, Naples and Venice. He had operas or other dramatic works given in all these cities (oratorios in Rome, including La resurrezione) and, writing many Italian cantatas, perfected his technique in setting Italian words for the human voice. In Rome he also composed some Latin church music.

In 1718-19 a group of noblemen tried to put Italian opera in London on a firmer footing, and launched a company with royal patronage, the Royal Academy of Music; Handel, appointed musical director, went to Germany, visiting Dresden and poaching several singers for the Academy, which opened in April 1720. Handel’s Radamisto was the second opera and it inaugurated a noble series over the ensuing years including Ottone, Giulio Cesare, Rodelinda, Tamerlano and Admeto. Works by Bononcini (seen by some as a rival to Handel) and others were given too, with success at least equal to Handel’s, by a company with some of the finest singers in Europe, notably the castrato Senesino and the soprano Cuzzoni. But public support was variable and the financial basis insecure, and in 1728 the venture collapsed. The previous year Handel, who had been appointed a composer to the Chapel Royal in 1723, had composed four anthems for the coronation of George II and had taken British naturalization.

During his last decade he gave regular performances of Messiah, usually with about 16 singers and an orchestra of about 40, in aid of the Foundling Hospital. In 1749 he wrote a suite for wind instruments (with optional strings) for performance in Green Park to accompany the Royal Fireworks celebrating the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. His last oratorio, composed as he grew blind, was Jephtha (1752); The Triumph of Time and Truth (1757) is largely composed of earlier material. Handel was very economical in the re-use of his ideas; at many times in his life he also drew heavily on the music of others (though generally avoiding detection) – such ‘borrowings’ may be of anything from a brief motif to entire movements, sometimes as they stood but more often accommodated to his own style.

Handel died in 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, recognized in England and by many in Germany as the greatest composer of his day. The wide range of expression at his command is shown not only in the operas, with their rich and varied arias, but also in the form he created, the English oratorio, where it is applied to the fates of nations as well as individuals. He had a vivid sense of drama. But above all he had a resource and originality of invention, to be seen in the extraordinary variety of music in the op.6 concertos, for example, in which melodic beauty, boldness and humour all play a part, that place him and J.S. Bach as the supreme masters of the Baroque era in music.

Ave Maria of Schubert is probably the most beautiful one. It was composed in about 1825 by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) when he was twenty-eight years old and filled with devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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It was written for voice and piano and first Published in 1826 as Op 52 no 6. The words most commonly used with Schubert’s music are not the words that the composer originally set to music. Franz Schubert actually wrote the music for an excerpt from the poem “The Lady of the Lake” by Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), which was translated into German by Adam Storck. Schubert called his piece Ellens dritter Gesang (Ellen’s third song). In this particular excerpt from the poem the heroine, Ellen Douglas, is in hiding and prays to the Virgin Mary. A letter from Schubert to his father and step-mother refers to his music to Ave Maria:

“My new songs from Scott’s Lady of the Lake especially had much success. They also wondered greatly at my piety, which I expressed in a hymn to the Holy Virgin and which, it appears, grips every soul and turns it to devotion.”

Musical genius Mozart wrote his name in the history of music, he was a musical maestro created his own unique style of composing music and presenting to the world. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria to Leopold Mozart, a business-minded composer, violinist and an assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court and Anna Maria Pertl. He was named Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Gottlieb Mozart in honor of his grandfather (maternal) and a Saint Johannes Chrysostomus with whom he shared his birth date.

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It took all of thirty minutes for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to master his first musical composition.
The work, a scherzo by Georg Christoph Wagenseil, had been copied by his father into Nannerl’s notebook. Below it Leopold jotted: “This piece was learnt by Wolfgangerl on 24 January 1761, 3 days before his 5th birthday, between 9 and 9:30 in the evening.”

Wolfgang’s achievement was followed in rapid succession by others: a minuet and trio “learned within a half an hour” on January 26, a march learned on February 4, another scherzo on February 6. It wasn’t long before the little boy entered a composition of his own into the notebook. At six measures, this andante in C major (K. 1a) is a mere wisp of a work. Other small compositions would follow. Inconsequential as they were, these bits and pieces were tokens of greater things to come.

No doubt, the boy held great promise as a composer. But Leopold, who could clearly see and hear his children’s daily progress as keyboard performers, had more immediate aims. He began to neglect his court career and devote more time to Wolfgang and Nannerl’s musical instruction. Ambitious plans began to take shape in his mind. Partly out of parental pride, partly out of a sense of duty, he determined to take his two musical prodigies on tour to the courts of Europe.

The first trip was a brief one. In January 1762, Leopold and the two children traveled to the nearby Munich court of Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria. Very little is known about this trip. Nannerl, as an adult, simply noted that she and her brother had “played before the Elector.” After three weeks, they returned to Salzburg.

Being born and brought up in a family where music was in air, in life and in dreams of everyone, Mozart was naturally attracted towards music. From his childhood, Wolffanfus learned and developed immense interest in music. When he was just 5 years old, Mozart started composing small and beautiful melodious numbers. Looking at his children’s musical talent, Mozart’s father decided to use this opportunity to showcase the talent of his children (Wolfgangus and elder daughter Maria Anna “Nannerl”) in front of the world. At the age of six (in mid 1763), Mozart and his elder sister performed in many concerts in European Courts (In Paris and London); they also gave performances at major cities where they met many music lovers. They also performed in front of the Bavarian elector, royal families and the Austrian empress. Wolfgangus and his sister played piano and violin and were more than successful to tie their audiences to the chairs.

Wolfgangus was very ambitious and wanted to attain a very high position in the world of music, he knew that staying in Salzburg it was never possible to achieve what he wanted; in 1777 Mozart left Salzburg with his mother and set for Munich and Mannheim. There he tried his best to find a good post for himself but was never offered one, he then moved to Paris in search of the same. In Paris, Anna Maria (Wolfgangus’s mother) died and Wolfgangus became very lonely, here also Wolfgangus could not get any suitable post for himself. After Wolfgangus’s all the unsuccessful trials, Leopold called him back to Salzburg, where he managed to arrange a high level post for his son. For next two years, Wolfgangus, worked at Court and played concerts at Courts and Cathedrals. He actively participated in concerts, serenades and also composed music for dramas. He also continued composing and creating symphonies. In 1780 he received the most awaited opportunity to perform in an opera at Munich.

Along with many concerts, operas and music composition for dramas, Mozart also wrote beautiful music compositions, which have become masterpiece of his artwork. Mozart was sent to the court at Vienna where he was not allowed to work for the post he wanted the most, he finally gave up trying to perform at the court in Vienna and got out of the job around 1781. After that period, Mozart received many golden opportunities to make fortune when he created music while he was not at any post. Soon, Mozart started going in public, he played music in public functions, published his work and also started teaching music. Further in 1787, Mozart was offered a minor court post as Kammermusicus, where he wrote dance music for court balls. In year 1782, Mozart married Constanze Weber (younger sister of Aloysia Weber, Mozart’s former lover).

Mozart gained a reasonable popularity by publishing some beautiful sonatas (for violin and piano), music compositions, and by performing in concerts and Operas like ‘Die Entfuhrun aus dem Serail’ (in 1782, which was one of his most successful operas with many songs in it. NOTE: Mozart wrote serious as well as comic operas (he wrote three comic operas in his life)), he also wrote some quartets, which he had dedicated to his Haydn who appreciated Mozart for his knowledge of music and composition talent. Mozart also gained popularity by managing concerts on his own, without any assistance he not only composed music for the concert but he also managed the orchestra. Mozart earned enough to live a comfortable life, but because of his improper management of money and expenses, he was never able to save money for future and always had to borrow from others when was in need of money.

Mozart spent rest of his life in Vienna; during this period he also visited various places such as Salzburg, Berlin etc. to perform in operas, dramas and concerts. Mozart died on 5 December 1791 in Vienna. (There are different stories regarding the death of musical genius, according to one story he died of the feverish illness (Rheumatic Fever) and according to another he died of poisoning).

Mozart composed hundreds of beautiful and unique music works which include over 20 operas, about 14-15 Masses, 30-40 concerts (piano and violin), 50-60 symphonies, and 20 sonatas etc. Even after his death, Mozart remained and will remain one of the most favorite musicians for millions of his fans.
via www.buzzle.com/ and free encyclopedia

Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750)
For the glory of the most high God alone,
And for my neighbour to learn from.
Johann Sebastian Bach, epigraph to Little Organ Book, 1717

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The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul.
Johann Sebastian Bach

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There’s nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself.
Johann Sebastian Bach

Since the best man could not be obtained, mediocre ones would have to be accepted.
Leipzig mayor Abraham Platz, 1723, commenting on appointing Bach as the Cantor of St Thomas School, Leipzig, when Graupner refused the post (Graupner is a now long-forgotten minor musician); quoted in Werner Neuman, Bach (1961)

The immortal god of harmony.
Ludwig van Beethoven, 1801

Too much counterpoint; what is worse, Protestant counterpoint.
Thomas Beecham, quoted by Neville Cardus in the Guardian, 1971

Bach almost persuades me to be a Christian.
Roger Fry, quoted in Virginia Woolf, Roger Fry (1940)

You play Bach your way and I’ll play him his way.
Wanda Landowska

Why waste money on psychotherapy when you can listen to the B Minor Mass?
Michael Torke