Classical Kids… Raising the Next Generation of Audience Members
There is an ever-growing concern as to how to get people, particularly younger people, into our concert halls and opera houses. Marketing teams try everything imaginable — from updated productions… to off-beat venues… to discounted student tickets. Some ideas work, some don’t. Frustratingly, what might fly beautifully in one instance completely backfires in another. There simply is no formula that produces the desired result one hundred percent of the time. Outreach is a vital step, one I wholeheartedly embrace. It’s a step designed to ignite the imagination… whet the appetite… instill a lifelong love of the arts. But it is just a step. If a child’s interest isn’t capitalized upon by an adult who can then take her to a concert or opera, her interest and enthusiasm will surely wane. As with many things in life, efforts initiated by an outside organization that are not supported at home are likely to wither and fade. Keep reading...
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V.com weekend vote: Do you tend to stand, if there is a standing ovation for a performance?
What are your thoughts about standing ovations? Do you participate in them? Have you seen standing ovations that seemed out of place? Or do you feel that most live performances deserve a standing ovation? If you are a performer, do they bolster your spirit?
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Johanna Martzy: the Violinist Revered by Vinyl Lovers
In May 1959 I had the good fortune to be invited to a South African Broadcasting Corporation studio recital by the visiting eminent Hungarian violinist Johanna Martzy. The program included the G Major Sonata, Op 30, No 3 by Beethoven, Ravel’s Piece en Forme de Habanera, Arabesque No 1 by Martinu, Falla’s Spanish Danse, Notturno e Tarantella by Szymanowski, Brahms Sonata in D Minor (Op 108) and the A Major Sonata by César Franck. As I listened, absorbed in the playing, I could not have conceived at the time that some of these South African broadcast recital tapes would surface fifty-five years later on CD. I could not, of course, have envisioned digitized recordings of any sort, let alone versions of Martzy’s celebrated playing. Nor that they would be issued for the benefit of ardent 21st-century collectors of her recorded works – collectors hungry to supplement the meagre musical fare of a limited Martzy discography. Keep reading...
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The Week in Reviews, Op. 292: Rachel Barton Pine; Augustin Hadelich; Paul Huang
In an effort to promote the coverage of live violin performance, Violinist.com each week presents links to reviews of notable concerts and recitals around the world.
Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour performed Bach sonatas at the National Museum of Art.
- Washington Classical Review: "Both players exercised admirable rhythmic flexibility in the slow movements, which heightened the expressive effect of the music. In the peppy fourth movement, taken at a daringly fast speed not implied in the tempo marking, neither musician seemed to produce a single bead of sweat while maintaining a crisply defined pace, perfectly in step with one another."
