It’s been such a horrific day outside.  I woke up this morning seeing snow on the ground, but by the time I first stepped foot out of doors at 9:30, all the snow had been washed away by cold, puddly rain.  The sky was gray with no hope of letting the sun peak through.  It was a slow day filled with napping, moping, and moaning about the hundreds of pages I needed to read for class.  I had no plans for the evening, and was hoping for something interesting to happen.

Who knew there was a concert tonight at LeFrak Concert Hall?  I definitely didn’t!  Luckily, in calling a friend, I found out that a visiting school was planning on performing with our own Queen’s College Women’s Choir.  Due to the inclement weather, however, the concert was pushed to 6:00 instead of 7:30, leaving me in a rush without dinner.

As I approached the Aaron Copland School of Music, I saw young girls in black dresses rushing to the front doors with their camera phones out.  Were they excited to see someone coming to their concert?  I didn’t realize, though, that they had never seen snow before!  These children are from Florida, a place where snow never falls.  They were in a winter wonderland!

Now, what is the Gulf Coast Youth Choir?
Founded in 1992 by Dr. Lynne Gackle, the choir is a not-for-profit, choral arts organization for young people in the Tampa Bay and surrounding metropolitan area.  This community is dedicated to excellence in the performance of choral music and to the creation of an environment which fosters musical development.

Within this Youth Choir, there were various small groups – the Voce di Vita, Mannchor, Girl Choir, and Le Petit Choeur.  They each had their moment to shine, and I shall highlight one song from each group. Continue Reading »

I believe this guitar recital was last minute in every sense – as of last week, my cousin (Zeke Bardash who’s a classical guitar performance major at the Aaron Copland School of Music) wasn’t even sure there would be one!  And with regards to me, I woke up at 6:30 today after a nap and planned to regretfully skip it, but thanks to some pushy parents made it there just in time!

I realized upon seeing this recital of about eight students that I don’t listen to much guitar music.  William Anderson, presumably the guitar teacher at the Aaron Copland School of Music, even mentioned that there is not much “great” repertoire for guitarists.  By great, he was referring to music composed by the “great,” popular, or well known composers.  When it comes to classical guitar, it is a “ghetto instrument.”  For this reason, mainly, the program was filled with composers I had never heard of or at least couldn’t recall (except, of course, for the three Bach pieces). Continue Reading »

The name “Vienna Boys Choir” is somewhat of a misnomer today.  Though the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle is still based in Vienna, the boys that sing in the choir come from all over the world and are not all genuine Viennese children – one of the singers today even comes from Virginia!  That being said, I find the history of the group very interesting.  Did you know that these young boys used to be shielded away from public eye, only to perform for the imperial court?  This was the case all the way up until 1918!  Though that is almost 100 years ago, it’s relatively recent in a historical perspective.  Today, the boys are split up into groups of 25 and travel the world to perform for the general population. Continue Reading »

Quick fun fact from WQXR: Did you know that “carols” were not originally songs that people sung going from door to door on Christmas?  In the 12th century, carols weren’t even choral songs at all, but dances!  What one can learn when being softly lulled to sleep by classical radio! Continue Reading »

The Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela was founded in 1975 by economist and conductor Jose Antonio Abreu, who said, “An orchestra means joy, motivation, teamwork, [and] the aspiration to success.”  This orchestra comprises more than 200 musicians ages 18-28, representing the most polished students who learned music through El Sistema – the National System of Youth and Children’s Orchestras and Choirs of Venezuela.  Much more than a music education program, El Sistema is a visionary global movement based on Maestro Abreu’s philosophy that learning music as a collective practice can teach youth values and skills that will help them achieve their full potential in life.  The program currently serves 400,000 people across Venezuela, 75% of whom live below the poverty line.  There are a growing number of programs modeled after El Sistema in the US.

Continue Reading »

Dominant 7 is an initiative at the Aaron Copland School of Music to have undergraduate and graduate composition students have their pieces performed in front of a live audience.  There are six recitals every year featuring various student artists.  On December 7, at 7:00 PM in the LeFrak Concert Hall, Vanessa Carmela, Anthony Izzo, Michael Lofaso, Britlin Losee, Ely Moskowitz, George Weisman, and Andrew Whitbeck were spotlighted.  These students range from 19 to 27 years, showing that compositional talent has no age.  The pieces performed were extremely varied in terms of for whom they were written.  There were vocalists, violinists, flautists, pianists, and even a marimba player! Continue Reading »

It’s that time of year – the end of the semester – and everyone is getting ready for winter break.  While chemistry students are scrambling around to study last minute, and English students are writing their final papers, the students at the Aaron Copland School of Music are ready to perform great music for you!

Queens College Vocal Ensemble
James John, Conductor

Queens College Baroque String Ensemble
Dongmyung Ahn, Director

I would write out the entire program that these two amazing ensembles performed, but they played a lot.  So instead, I’ll just write a brief review and “emotional response” to the performance, and then include some links for you to listen to. Continue Reading »

No composer impacted the course of Western music like Ludwig van Beethoven. The events of his life are the stuff of Romantic legend, his works permeate concert halls and he remains a cultural icon outside of classical music, turning up in movies, TV soundtracks, commercials and pop songs. After last year’s inaugural festival, Beethoven Awareness Month is back to celebrate Beethoven’s work through concert broadcasts, an all-Beethoven stream, multimedia projects, marathons and other features. -WQXR Continue Reading »

Again, I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this post.  Being absent-minded, I forgot to take a program from the concert, and had to wait for someone to give me a list of the various pieces performed before commencing my review.  I would also like to start off saying that I am part of the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, but due to joining the group late in the semester, was not able to perform with them for this concert.  There may be a slightly heavier focus on this group, then, because of my familiarity with the repertoire.

QC String Ensemble

Preludio for String Orchestra ……… Paul Whear
Molly on the Shore ……… Percy Grainger
Bethena, A Concert Waltz ……… Scott Joplin
Concerto Polonis ……… Georg Philipp Telemann

Symphonic Wind Ensemble

Masque ……… W. Francis McBeth
Danse Bacchanale ……… Camille Saint-Saens
Pagan Dances ……… James Barnes
I. Ritual
II. Mystics
III. The Master of the Sword
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (BWV 565) ……… J.S. Bach  Continue Reading »

Probably the most widely known opera is Carmen, written by Georges Bizet (score) and Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy (libretto).  The story actually comes from a short novella written by Prosper Merimee.  Though there are other operas out there that compete for the spot of most known, I would argue that people of all ages and from all walks of life will be able to hum along to the Habañera or the Toreador’s song.  That being said, not everyone knows the story of Carmen, so let me enlighten you. Continue Reading »