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World Premiere of Cindy Cox’s Patagón Tonight!
Just about to head up to Sonoma county for this evening’s World Premiere of Cindy Cox’s new quartet Patagón, we’re all looking forward to sharing this exciting event with Santa Rosa Junior College’s SOLD OUT house. I had a chance to discuss the process on “Curtain Call with Charles Sepos” to be broadcast live today… Continue Reading
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In Friendship – César Cano: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 74
In Friendship One of the most fertile conjunctions in the history of music has been the combination of the smooth sonority of the clarinet and the resonant sound of stringed instruments — that fusion of quite different textures and sounds has produced great music in completely different eras. And that combination of sonorities has at… Continue Reading
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One last look-back at the London International String Quartet Competition
Saturday’s marathon at Wigmore found the six semifinalists going toe to toe with Beethoven. What was inescapable was the admirably polished and refined niveau that prevailed. Much hair-splitting was required to distinguish between the virtues and quirks of many of the interpretations. For the most part the execution was scarily good. Divided into two programs… Continue Reading
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Guestblog: Composer Cindy Cox talks about her new string quartet “Patagón”
Tomorrow will be an exciting day for me — I’ll get my first chance to hear my new string quartet, Patagón, premiered by the Alexander String Quartet. The quartet and I go way back — they performed and recorded my first quartet, Columba aspexit, sixteen years ago — hard for me to believe! We had… Continue Reading
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The London String Quartet Competition Finalists Are Announced
This was a glorious day for lovers of the string quartet. Six almost world class ensembles gave distinctly different performances of some I’d the finest literature for the medium in possibly the best hall in the world. Each group rose to the occasion and the audiences met the performers more than halfway, as indeed they… Continue Reading
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Sandy Says it’s Heating Up at the London International String Quartet Competition
The early spring heat wave may be breaking at last but the heat is only ramping up yet hotter for the competitors at the LISQC as the weekend bears down. The last of the preliminaries were completed today with fine performances by Switzerland’s Gemeaux Quartet, the American Attacca Quartet, the UK’s Piatti Quartet, Denmark’s Nightingale… Continue Reading
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Sandy Reporting in after Preliminary Rounds of London International String Quartet
The 12th triennial London String Quartet Competition continues today, the third and penultimate day of “preliminary” rounds. The method is painstakingly fair for each of the 10 quartets and while the pace may be very tough on the jurors, it is extraordinarily compassionate for the participating ensembles. The overriding ethos at the London Competition endures,… Continue Reading
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Sandy Reporting in live from the London International String Quartet Competition
London is almost balmy in these late dry and sunny March days. Many if not most school children as well as college and university students have either already begun or are desperately anticipating their spring term break – (usually 2 to 4 weeks here) and peeling off the layers to soak up some healthy rays.… Continue Reading
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Michael Gandolfi – Winter Light: With Strings Attached
Recently featured on WNYC’s “New Sounds”, Michael Gandolfi’s Winter Light shows why this new composer is quickly becoming a star in more than just contemporary concert music. It is also another piece on the album inspired by poetry. The work consists of two movements, “Falling Snow” and “Opal,” which both come from American poet Amy… Continue Reading
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Stephen Leek – Hollow Stone: With Strings Attached
With Strings Attached features so many wonderful new works and new transcriptions, it’s hard not to be excited by them all! One of the greatest parts of having a collaborative album with as fine of an ensemble as the San Francisco Choral Artists is that it allows us to release many new compositions we wouldn’t… Continue Reading
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Veronika Krausas – language of the birds
With Strings Attached features a multitude of collaborations with new music as well as a partnership with the San Francisco Choral Artists. The first work on this recording is not only inspired by the two San Francisco ensembles, and the city itself, it is also inspired by a San Francisco art installation of the same… Continue Reading
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Sunday Dvorak Double-Header
Sunday marks another “double-header” with the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts! Following on the heels of its exploration of Beethoven’s complete string quartets, Mondavi Center mainstays the Alexander String Quartet celebrates its 30th anniversary with a focus on Czech composer Antonin Dvořák. A fixture in the major music capitals of four continents, the Quartet… Continue Reading
