Next week, the Italian Duo De Stefano, Vincenzo and Francesco, arrive in Miami for two weeks of concerts in public schools. Piano Slam, Volume 3, is officially beginning.
They are bringing with them their fiancees, Olga and Natalia, who are also pianists. Which means the students will have an extra bonus of hearing 8 hands play!
Make sure to save the date for the Piano Slam event at the Adrienne Arsht Center on May 4th.
Gabriele Fiorentino |
CONTENT
| 2010/2011 DRANOFF SEASON...calendar
MUSINGS by Martin Bookspan...read PIANO SLAM 3...read read SEASON OF OUR FRIENDS...read
CONCERTS....read
NEWS..read LISTEN ....and enjoy
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2010/2011 DRANOFF SEASON
MAY 4 at 7:30pm
"Piano Slam Vol 3", Adrienne Arsht Center for Performing Arts, Miami.
This third issue of Piano Slam will bring the Duo Stephanie and Saar back to Miami, to play with DJ Brimstone, spoken word artists, dancers of the Thomas Armor Youth Ballet and public school poets in a production directed by Teo Castellanos. VIP reception following. The Artists will be present.
Purchase tickets at Dranoff
OCTOBER 23 at 7:30pm
Percussion and Two Pianos, Duo Stephanie & Saar (New York) with the New World Symphony, Lincoln Theater, Miami Beach.
NOVEMBER 4 at 7:30pm
"New Music for Hammer & Strings" with Duo Seo and Kato (Japan) with the Bergonzi Quartet, 4141 Buliding, Design District, Miami.
NOVEMBER 19 at 7:30pm
Steinway Gallery in Coral Gables presents a special concert by the Duo Smolina & Mogilevsky. Steinway Gallery, 4104 Ponce de Leon, Coral Gables.
FEBRUARY 16 at 7:30pm
"Mostly Schubert" with Duo d'Accord (Germany) and Frank Levy. University of Miami Gusmann Hall, Coral Gables.
DRANOFF 100: There will be a Salon concert at the end of April. Please contact the office for details and availability.
If you are not a Dranoff 100 member but are interested, you can find out more on our website. Specific dates, times and places are available also by calling the office at 305 572 9900. |
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MUSINGS ON SCHUBERT, LISZT AND PIAZZOLA
by Martin Bookspan
In this second decade of the 21st century one of the constants of contemporary life is the sound of music. Indeed it often seems that we are pursued by music---in shopping malls, restaurants, sports arenas, elevators, the Internet, ipods and on and on. Now, just for a few moments, let us try to contrast our experience with that of 18th and 19th century life. Where could one hear the sound of music in the 18th and 19th centuries? For the aristocracy mainly in the royal courts of Europe, particularly at ceremonial occasions; at highly touted blockbuster appearances by the likes of Mozart or Beethoven or Paganini or Chopin or Liszt; in the songs sung at home as part of a people's heritage. "Home" is the crucial word in the last statement because it was in the home that music was mostly performed and enjoyed.
It was in the 19th century that the piano as we know it today was perfected. To fill the need for more piano music composers of the time created a vast new repertory for the instrument, whether for piano solo, for piano four-hands, or for two pianos. Franz Schubert's piano music, in whatever form, is among the glories of Western civilization. The music on today's program is a representative survey of his output. Let me address your particular attention to the F Minor Fantasy for piano duet which figures on the second half of our concert. It opens with a brief rocking motif, which will remain in one form or another throughout the entire work. Very soon we hear a bittersweet theme that eventually will undergo a series of remarkable variations. Finally, after an angry interlude, we return to the original form of the theme, now in an atmosphere of resignation. If the term "exhausted heartbreak" can be applied to any music, this is it.
Liszt was mentioned above as a touring piano virtuoso, but in addition he composed a large amount of music for the piano, including transcriptions of all 9 Beethoven Symphonies (the 9th, as a matter of fact, for two pianos) as well as paraphrases for piano solo of music from some of the popular operas of his day and solo piano versions of some of the great Schubert songs. In our own time Argentina's Astor Piazzola, the great advocate on behalf of the tango, follows in the tradition of welcoming popular dance and jazz elements into the repertory of classical music, a tradition exemplified by such composers as the Frenchman Darius Milhaud, the Englishman Constant Lambert, and Americans George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and a host of others.
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PIANO SLAM Volume 3 Many kids live in a world where they have no voice. The mission of Piano Slam is to utilize music as a tool and inspiration to give our youth a voice through artistic expression. Many of you have come to the first two Piano Slams - so called, by the way, because a poetry competition is referred to as a Poetry Slam - and we hope you will not only come back, but bring your friends to support this. Here is why: This, our third Piano Slam, will involve a number of new elements and people to widen the appeal and the sustain the impact of the experience for the students. The first new part was a teacher's workshop by Glenis Redmond from the Kenndy Center in Washington, DC. Next week, the Duo De Stefano will be here for concerts for 14 public schools. Workshops guided by Mecca aka Grimo have begun in those schools where students experience the live performances. For those almost 90 other middle and high school schools who do not see the concerts, students will have access via the internet portal to videos of our artists, the music and tutorials. Already, James Jones, the All Star Miami Heat Champion, has recorded a reading of Langston Hughes poems. Marcel Bergmann is the composer of this year's focal music. He and Elizabeth Bergmann were Dranoff competition winners in 1993. They have recorded their performance of Urban Pulse. Teo Castellanos, our stage director, has begun rehearsals with the choreographer dancers of the Thomas Armor Youth Ballet. The Duo Stephanie & Saar will arrive in Miami in May for the final event at the Adrienne Arsht Center. If you have Facebook, please "like" Piano Slam!
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THE SEASON OF OUR FRIENDS
Saint Martha Concert Series All concerts take place at St. Martha in the Shores, 9301 Biscayne Blvd, Miami Shores, at 3pm.
February 12 - A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra
March 12 - The Italian Saxophone Quartet
April 19 - Alexander Markov, violin with his father, Albert Markov. Saint Martha
Friends of Chamber Music
All concerts take place at the Gusmann Hall, University of Miami, 1314 Miller Drive, Coral Gables, and start at 8pm.
March 28 - The Belcea Quartet
April 5 - Nicolai Lugansky, piano Friends of Chamber Music
Weltklassik All concerts take place in the Key Biscayne Presbyterian Church at 5pm on the last Saturday each month.
February 26 - Or Re em, Elements of Style in Bach and Chopin
March 26 - Duo Tsuyuki & Rosenboom
April 30 - Dimitriy Onyshchenko Website
Bach Society Please refer to the website for concert times and venues.
February 27 - Miami Brass, Baroque Favorites under the Stars
February 28 - Duo Recital: Paolo Pandolfo & Thomas Boysen
March 1 - Il Giardino Armonico
March 2 - Pedro Memelsdorff & Barbara Zanichelli, The Mintz Manuscripts
March 3 - Arcanum Ensemble
March 4 - Jay Bernfeld & Fuoco e Cenere, Je Suis Ton Labyrinth
March 5 - Luanda Siqueira da Silva, Songs from Provence
Miami Bach Society
Velia Yedra & Bogdan Chruszcz |
Alejandra Von Hartz Gallery
Website
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CONCERTS
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United StatesMarch 8 - Eau Claire, WI. University of Wisconsin. Recital March 11 - Madison, WI. Outreach. March 13 - Wisconsin Radio April 2 - Northeast Kingdom Concert Series, Vermont. Concert. April 15 and 19 - Madison, WI. University of Wisconsin. Recital and lecture. All by the Varshavsky Shapiro Duo. Italy April 27 - Laureano di Borrello. Chiesa de Antonio. Duo De Stefano April 28 - Milano. Universita Statale Bocconi. Duo De Stefano. Poland April 114 - Nysa. Recital 4 hands. Duo De Stefano. Czeck Republic April 12 - Sumperk. Recital 4 hands. Duo De Stefano. April 13 - Jesenik. Opening Ceremony of the XVII Schubert International Competition. Duo De Stefano. Japan
April 17 - Chiba. Katsutadai Music Room. Duo Seo & Kato.
April 28 - Tokyo. Metropolitan Festival Hall. Pieces my Akira Miyoshi and Motoharu Kawashima (premiere). Duo Seo & Kato.
RussiaMarch 16 - 28, Ivanovo Music Festival. I'M Piano DuoGermany February 5 - Schloss Koussewitz. Concert of Brahms repertoire. Duo Chipak Kushnir March 25 - Munich, presentation recital for the new CD Ritual Obsessions. Duo d'Accord. Duo d'Accord website Holland March 6 - Den Haag March 12 - Amstelveen Schouwburg Amstelveen March 13 - BredaChassé Theater March 19 - CulemborgTheater De Fransche School March 20 - Den HelderSchouwburg De Kampanje March 25 - AssenTheater De Kolk/locatie: ICO-De Schalm March 27 - Zaandam March 30 - Deventer Aprilzo 3 - LarenSinger Theater April 6 - GoudaDe Goudse Schouwburg April 10 - DrachtenSchouwburg De Lawei April 22 - ApeldoornSchouwburg Orpheus Jeroen Van Veen website
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NEWS
Japan first. There are two Dranoff duos in Japan - Duo Seo & Kato, (Shinichiro Kato and Kuni Seo); and Duo Deu'or. We got news back from Yoshie and Takashi of Duo Deu'or. live in Tokyo. They were badly shaken by the earthquake. Takashi wrote in an email to their "Miami family", the Tarjanns, that he was in a train underground and it was shaking terribly. They stayed below grounds for safety for two hours, then he walked for 4 hours to his destination through a still quaking Tokyo. I cannot imagine!
I hope to hear that everything is alright for Kuni and Shinichiro, and their families. |
Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann's recent performance with the Regina Symphony of the Poulenc 2 piano concerto was recorded for In Concert with host Bill Richardson on CBC Radio Two. It can also be heard on Concerts on Demand
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| LISTEN
From Duo d'Accord's new CD, Ritual Obsessions, of Igor Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, two pianos and percussion. Adoration of the Earth From the Canadian Broadcast Corporation "IN Concert" - listen to the
Bergmann Duo on Concerts on Demand
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About the Dranoff
The Dranoff was founded in 1987 with the mission to advance two piano music and its artists. Since then, we have contributed 11 new compositions to the literature, and have been a career stepping stone for dozens of piano duos worldwide.
We are a proud Steinway Competition | | |
Wikipedia
Join our over 2000 Facebook Friends! |
Marcel and Elizabeth Bergmann play Urban Pulse
Duo De Stefano with Olga & Natalia Tatievskaya
James Jones
reads Langston Huges
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