Evelyn Glennie, percussion soloist Albany Symphony Orchestra David Alan Miller When a composer and soloist, conductor and orchestra are all at the top of their game, the only result is that audiences rise to their feet. That’s just what happened during Saturday night’s concert of the Albany Symphony Orchestra at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. An immediate standing ovation and five solid minutes of applause followed...

The melody had to come first.  Until he had it, composer John Corigliano waited — about 12 years — before accepting percussionist Evelyn Glennie’s commission for a new concerto. Corigliano admits that he’s a slow writer and that coming up with a fresh new tune isn’t easy.  But it didn’t really take him that all that time to string the notes together. The real challenge was whether or not a lyric, sustained...

Canadian composer Rodney Sharman has three new works debuting this month… First up is the world premiere of his new Violin Concerto on March 6 and 7 with soloist Jonathan Crow and the Victoria Symphony, conducted by music director Tania Miller.  Then on March 26 and 27, the same orchestra with guest conductor Alain Trudel premieres “Romantic Ideals.”  The pieces are the culmination of Sharman’s three-year...

The filmmaker, music producer and dancer Eva Soltes has been at work on a documentary about the late Lou Harrison for at least a decade (and it probably feels even longer to her).  The long awaited debut of “Lou Harrison: A World of Music” has finally been announced for Saturday, February 26 at the National Gallery in Washington DC.  A DVD release of the film is eventually planned. The premiere of “A World...

Jennifer Koh, violin, & Shai Wosner, piano presented by the Friends of Chamber Music, Troy NY Saturday February 5, 2011 Most of the titles down the list of works read “Sonata.” But that hardly indicated the broad range of styles, colors and flavors that come from the fine violinist Jennifer Koh on Saturday night. Her recital with pianist Shai Wosner was presented by the Friends of Chamber Music at Emma Willard School. The...

Jennifer Higdon’s former student has become one of her latest and biggest champion.  The 31-year old violinist Hilary Hahn commissioned, premiered and recorded Higdon’s Violin Concerto, which won last year’s Pulitzer Prize for Music.  This month Hahn performs the work in Philadelphia and New York, with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra, Juanjo Mena, conductor: Monday, February 14 Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center Tuesday,...

Clint Borzoni began studying music at age seven and wrote his first composition at age eleven. Now 29 years old, he’s composed more than 40 pieces, including a piano concerto, percussion quartet, a couple of sting quartets and chamber orchestra works and loads of songs. A New York City resident, he received his bachelors and masters degrees at CUNY.  His musical theater work “My Life as a Bald Soprano”...

December 30, 2010 marked the centennial of Paul Bowles, who died in 1999. Conferences and celebrations have already happened in Seville, Cologne, Lisbon, Boston and Tangier – where Bowles spent his last decades. A three-day “Celebration of Multi-Artistry” will take place in February at the University of California Santa Cruz. Best known as an author (“The Sheltering Sky”), Bowles was also a composer...

Lou Harrison Scenes from Cavafy: Music for Gamelan (New World) I was lucky enough to spend some time with Lou Harrison in the year or two leading up to the premiere of “Rhythms with Silver,” the score he wrote for Mark Morris. Two of the gayest artists I’ve ever known, they had a natural affinity. Though he’s one of the most musically smart and sensitive choreographers out there, Morris seldom commissions new scores...

I’m down with the dude, conductor Gustovo Dudamel. Got a big dose of him and I’m now under his spell. Or at least I was for two full hours Sunday (1/8/11) afternoon at Disney Hall.  A week-long trip to California for otherwise non-music purposes happily coincided with the opportunity to hear Dudamel lead the Los Angeles Philharmonic in an attractive, high-energy program – Adams, Bernstein, Beethoven – that they’re...