March 13 Opera 101 @ DPL

On Tuesday, March 13, the Opera 101 program will focus on La Traviata (Central City Opera) and Un Ballo in Maschera (Opera Colorado), both by Verdi. As always, there will be excerpts performed live. Go if only for the Traviata excerpts -- it's a fabulous opera.

March 11 Kids for Bach concert @ BPL

From the Boulder Bach Fest website:

Sunday, March 11, 2007 — 2:00 & 4:00 PM
Kids for Bach — A Concert for Children, by Children
Boulder Public Library
FREE!

“Kids for Bach” gives students of all ages an opportunity to perform in an excellent small concert hall, the auditorium at the Boulder Public Library. The two concerts, free and open to the public, take place Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 2:00 and 4:00 pm at the Boulder Public Library Auditorium, 1000 Canyon Boulevard. Student performers are selected from taped auditions submitted in January.
Each program includes a mix of ages from 6-18 years old, with some 30 soloists and small ensembles performing on a variety of instruments, such as piano, violin, cello, guitar, voice and recorders. Children’s choirs and string groups often appear as well. All the pieces performed are works of J.S. Bach or one of his sons, most in the range of 2-4 minutes. The student participants are residents of Boulder County.

Feb. 27 Cendrillon Opera 101 @ DPL

The spring season of Opera 101, a joint effort from Opera Colorado and Denver Public Library, will begin on Tuesday, Feb. 27 with a discussion of Central City's upcoming production of Cendrillon. This French opera by Jules Massenet is a late 19th century version of the well-known fairy tale of Cinderella, so even if you're afraid of opera, at least you'd know the story going in. The lecture starts at 6:00 p.m. at the Central Branch library, and will feature excerpts performed live.

Feb. 25 Charles Eakin concert @ CU Boulder

CU Boulder Music Faculty Series

Sunday, February 25, 4:30 p.m.

The Music of Charles Eakin – 80th Birthday Celebration

Every 5 years friends gather to celebrate Professor Emeritus of Composition Charles Eakin’s legacy by performing his music. The first half of this year’s event features Eakin’s Unaccompanied Violin Sonata performed by Professor Oswald Lehnert and his String Quartet No. 4 performed by the Veronika Quartet. The second half of the program features selected jazz compositions by Professor Eakin. Please join Professor Eakin, faculty and other friends for this special musical celebration!

Faculty Series recitals showcase CU-Boulder College of Music faculty performances. Faculty Series recitals are held in Grusin Music Hall in the Imig Music Building. Recitals are free and open to the public.

Feb. 25 Chamber ensembles @ DU

From the DU website:

String and Wind Chamber Ensembles.
Lamont Ensemble Concert Series
Sunday, February 25, 2007
7:30 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Contact: Victoria Brandys


Lamont String and Wind Chamber Ensembles. Richard Slavich and Joseph Martin, directors. Lamont Ensemble Concert Series. Free admission. Hamilton Recital Hall, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Lamont Concert Line (303) 871 6412

Feb. 25 String Quartet family concert @ BPL

From the Boulder Public Library website:

Sunday, February 25, 4 p.m.
The Boulder Philharmonic String Quartet Family Concert

Children, grandchildren (and grownups) can learn about music and the instruments of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra’s string section in this free Boulder Philharmonic Family Concert.

The showcase, a part of the orchestra’s ongoing youth and education outreach, is designed to appeal especially to children.

Visit the Boulder Philharmonic Web site.

Feb. 13 Rachmaninoff recital @ CU Boulder

CU Boulder Music Faculty Series
Tuesday, February 13, 7:30 p.m.

Big Hands to Fill: The Music of Rachmaninoff
Margaret McDonald, piano and Friends

Get yourself into a romantic mood just in time for Valentine’s Day. Margaret McDonald will be joined by CU faculty members Judith Glyde, Margaret Lattimore, and Christopher Zemliauskas for an evening of works by Rachmaninoff. The program will include his famous Vocalise, Suite No. 2 for Two Pianos, and Sonata Op. 19 for Cello and Piano.

Visit the CU Boulder Music Faculty Series webpage for details on location, free admission, etc.

Feb. 6 Patrick Mason recital @ CU Boulder

Tuesday, February 6, 7:30 p.m.

Crossing the Pond
Patrick Mason, baritone

When Associate Professor of Voice Patrick Mason was nominated for a Grammy this December, the honor came as no surprise to his many Colorado fans. In the past he has been a soloist with the Waverly Consort, the Boston Camarata and Schola Antiqua. As a recitalist he has appeared in London’s Wigmore Hall, the Cairo Opera House, at festivals in Luxembourg, Holland and throughout the United States. Crossing the Pond features British and American songs by Roger Quilter, Noel Coward, John Harbison and John Musto. Pianists Mutsumi Moteki, Robert Spillman, Margaret McDonald and Charles Koslowske will also be featured on the program. Please join us in cheering Patrick Mason on before the Grammy Award ceremony!

Visit the CU Boulder Music Faculty Series webpage for details on location, free admission, etc.

Jan. 27 Master Class with Evelyn Glennie @ DU

Just as the Thomas Hampson master class earlier this month was a big deal for singers, I have to imagine that Evelyn Glennie's master class this Saturday is a big deal for percussionists. She is perhaps the world's pre-eminent solo percussionist, and one of the only ones to do it full-time. This master class is in conjunction with concerts she is performing this weekend with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Title: Evelyn Glennie, percussion. Master-Class.
Date: Saturday, January 27, 2007
Time: 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Calendar: Lamont Music Events
Contact: Victoria Brandys

Complete Description
Room #130. Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. Iliff Ave., Denver. Free and open to the general public (to observe the class only.) Lamont Master-Classes and Worksop Series. Lamont Concert Line (303) 871 6412

Jan. 23 Concert: Mostly Douglas @ CU Boulder

Tuesday, January 23, 7:30 p.m.
Mostly Douglas: A Musical Feast
Clarinetist Daniel Silver joins Boulder’s own pianist/composer/master-musician Bill Douglas, with colleagues Yoshiyuki Ishikawa, bassoon, and Christina Jennings, flute. Bill Douglas has continued to enrich the chamber music literature with works for winds and piano, lending his distinctive jazz and world music influenced voice to the genre. Some of his signature tunes (Feast and Begin Sweet World) are mixed in with some Schumann, Mozart and Debussy.

Faculty Series recitals showcase CU-Boulder College of Music faculty performances. Faculty Series recitals are held at 7:30 p.m. on most Tuesdays and at 4 p.m. on selected Sundays in Grusin Music Hall in the Imig Music Building. Recitals are free and open to the public.

recap of Jan. 12 Thomas Hampson master class

There's a part of me that really wants to title this post "Why Thomas Hampson Is My New Boyfriend." But I'll refrain from such schoolgirlish claims and try to be a grown-up (even though he really is my new boyfriend).

First of all, mad props to my supervisor who, when told on Thursday afternoon of the master class, said, "Oh, well you have to go," and I don't think she even follows classical music (nor do I think she knows about this blog, unless she's secretly tracking my internet history, in which case -- 'sup?). So I did end up taking Friday off, one of the best decisions I made all week.

When I walked into the recital hall at CU at 12:45, my first and recurring thought was, "I can't believe this place isn't already packed." And although more people came in before the class began, I still don't think there were more than 150 people in attendance: students (although certainly not every student in the CU voice program), faculty, a contingent of Ladies Who Lunch who were probably attending every MahlerFest event, and scattered "independents" like me. Mr. Hampson unassumingly entered the hall from the back of the house to no ovation, though he was greeted by long and enthusiastic applause after being introduced that he good-naturedly cut off with a gesture. We, being the good little musicians that we are, obliged subito.

I'm trying really hard to be mature as I write about this, but the giddy voice student in me is waving her hand for attention like Horshack on Red Bull and just needs to say this: Thomas Hampson is so my new boyfriend. OK, girl, just shake it off.

I was hoping that he'd open the master class with a solo of his own, much like my alma mater's most famous alumna did at the master class she gave when I was still a student (after the applause died down, she just said, "Next!" with a gleam in her eye only a spinto would dare). Alas, he didn't sing, only spoke. Well, that's not exactly true, since he sang along with some students or offered up a phrase here or there to illustrate a point.

But what a speaker he is. A couple of times he said, Don't get me started on the Kindertotenlieder or I'll be here all week. To which my response is, Just name the date and I'll be there. Thomas Hampson posesses all of the qualities a modern American opera singer should have. He carries himself as the trained stage actor he is while being completely accessible and bien dans sa peau. He can swoon when describing the poety in one measure of Mahler's orchestrations one minute and later coach the pianist to bring out more inner harmonies because "that's where the sex is." He can go off on a tangent by saying, "I'm sorry, but this currently accepted interpretation we have of 'Ich grolle nicht' is bullshit!" and go on to explain why without feeling he has to apologize for either assuming that everyone in the room is familiar with the song or for the vulgarity. (He had warned us early on that he has the mouth of a sailor at times, yet another reason he's my... well, you know.) Put together with his intelligence, good looks, and beautiful instrument, he is quite simply the Complete Package.

But what about the class, you ask? Well, there is no way that I can adequately relate all that happened or was said, so rather than continue in paragraph form, I'm switching to bullet copy, roughly organized according to the song under discussion. (All songs composed by Mahler, natch, and all singers and pianists were CU students.)

1. Erinnerung sung by a 20-year-old baritone

• The text is about love's torment, but the kind that "hurts so good." Made me reflect on the fact that as a 20-year-old, I would've just nodded my head if asked, "Do you know what I mean when I say that?" but wouldn't have really known what I was talking about. Let's just say that 10 or 15 (or more) years later, I have gained new insight. Some songs just weren't meant for the young 'uns.
• The pianist's job is to play the heartbeat in the music, not to accompany the singer.
• Hear the phrase before you sing or play it, then make audible what you hear.
• Think upbow with the phrase, not downbow, both in terms of how you're using your body and how you're breathing.

2. Liebst du um Schonheit sung by a 24-year-old baritone

• To Hampson, this singer seemed to be getting wrapped up in the meaning of the text almost too much, and warned him against making it too personal, which pushes the audience away. Bring the audience to you instead. Our job is not to re-live emotion, but to re-create it for the audience. It reminded me some of the little bit of the Meisner acting technique that I've studied, in which your first job is to stay constantly in the moment with your partner and not get wrapped up in your own emotion. (You might describe Meisner as the "anti-Method.")
• Hampson had this singer work with his physicality through the use of gestures ("pretend you're an alte rebbe with your hands") and through taking steps backward while singing. The point of stepping backward is that it forces you to center and balance your spine, bringing everything else into alignment, and counters the tendency to hunch forward. Hampson's understanding of what he called Anatomy 101 and its impact on singing was on full display. He contends that "there's nothing 'relaxed' in singing, least of all the jaw."
• "When I need more energy or I need help, I move backward."

3. Nun will die Sonn' so hell aufgen sung by a 35-year-old baritone, an age Hampson called "the birth of a baritone's life"

• Here beginneth the Kindertotenlieder lecture series, for which Hampson apologized to the singer for taking up so much of his stage time by talking. But trust me, the audience was eating it up with a spoon.
• To the pianist: "Try not to be musical... play it as polyphony... make it more ambivalent." Hampson's point was that nature is ambivalent, nature doesn't care about humans but that we project emotion onto nature. But the sun rises each day regardless of the death of children, and the pianist must reflect that ambivalence of nature and not get too musical (read: emotional).
• To the singer: "You don't have the right to question the mysteries (of life), but you do have the right to understand them."
• "Profound things may be slow, but very rarely are slow things profound... Don't be slow."

4. Das irdische Leben sung by a 22-year-old mezzo-soprano

• Again, there was physical work with walking backward to find better balance in the body.
• As a mezzo whose technique has never been as good as this student's, I must say that I was impressed with her. But Hampson pointed out that she may eventually find herself more comfortable in a soprano fach, as her upper range was stronger than her middle and lower. He told her, "your idea of singing is stronger than your understanding of your body," and then reprimanded everyone in the audience who thought s/he could have a professional career without working out regularly.

One overriding point made with all the singers is that we must constantly strive for a balance between the physical, the emotional (including all the components in playing a role), and the spiritual. A singer is only as good as her/his weakest moment in maintaining that balance. Which reminds me -- I better start practicing again.

Oh, and one more thing: Thomas Hampson is totally my new boyfriend.

Jan. 12 Thomas Hampson Master Class @ CU Boulder

Now, see, this is when having a full-time job is unfair. Thomas Hampson, a huge star in the opera world, is in town this week to perform "Das Lied von der Erde" at Colorado MahlerFest. Tomorrow afternoon he will give a master class at CU Boulder that is free and open to the public. While I don't think he will be anywhere near as scathing as Maria Callas in Terrence McNally's Master Class, I for one would already be throwing up from terror if I knew I would be singing for him. But I would absolutely adore the opportunity to hear him coach others -- they don't call 'em "master classes" for nuthin'.

Title:Master Class - Thomas Hampson, baritone
Time:January 12, 1:00 PM
Location:Imig Music Building - Grusin Music Hall
Event Type:Master Class

One more in the name of love

A heads-up for next week:

Martin Luther King Concert Thu Jan 11 · 7:00 p.m.

Honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his achievements, the Colorado Symphony Orchestra - in collaboration with the Martin Luther King Holiday Commission and the MLK Humanitarian Awards Committee - presents the Humanitarian Awards Presentation and Concert at Boettcher Concert Hall. The annual event - recognized as one of the area's leading cultural commemorations surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - is free to the public and will feature The Spirituals Project Choir, the Greater Metropolitan Denver Ministerial Alliance and Summit Choir of the Rocky Mountain Children's Chior.

For tickets call (303) MAESTRO (303) 623-7876.
http://coloradosymphony.org/default.asp