The blog for the Celebrity Series of Boston- a Boston based arts organization which presents an annual concert series. Here you can find news about our season, local and international arts, and much more! www.celebrityseries.org
Find a piano, upload and image or a movie, read about Play Me, I'm Yours: www.streetpianosboston.com
Check out our 75th Anniversary Season: www.celebrityseries.org.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Artistic Director, Robert Battle, was kind enough to tape some personal thoughts before tonight's performance on the Celebrity Series of Boston's 75th Anniversary.
The renowned dancer and ballet master Frederic Franklin died on May 4 at age 98.
Mr. Franklin made his Boston debut in November 1938 with Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo during the first season of the Celebrity Series of Boston. In addition to multiple Celebrity Series performances in Boston with Ballet Russe, his work was also seen by Bostonian's in Celebrity Series presentations of Dance Theatre of Harlem.
The Guardian
Dance/USA Franklin Bio (video)
Gustavo Dudamel of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, March 23, 2014
Subscription sales are now live on celebrityseries.org.
Check out our complete 13-14 Calendar!
Spellbound Dance Company dancers Maria Cosso (center) and Giacomo Todeschi (left) lead a masterclass at Rindge & Latin High School in Cambridge on April 4, 2013. The class was part of Celebrity Series' Arts for All! program.
Complete 2013-14 season is now on sale at www.celebrityseries.org - take a look!
Broadway and cabaret star Barbara Cook did an interview with Vanity Fair's Patrick Monahan back in November. Here's a snippet:
"Is there a standard you feel differently about singing now than when you first heard it?
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin”—I’ve heard that, of course, all my life. Then a few years ago, I heard Katharine McPhee [of American Idol and Smash]
do that on television, and I thought, You know, I think I can do
something with that. So I took my ideas to Lee [Musiker, Ms. Cook’s
musical director and pianist] and we worked it out together." Read the full interview.
Barbara Cook and John Pizzarelli return to the Celebrity Series and Symphony Hall on April 6. Good seats are still available! Get your tickets.
Musings on Van Cliburn
He was a phenomenon. He was a larger
than life personality. He was a genuine American hero. He was a gifted pianist
who brought world attention to American classical music. He was the
quintessential Southern gentleman -- a tall Texan who conquered the hearts of
the Soviet and American public when both nations stared at each other grimly
across a political divide.
He was the first musician to receive a
New York ticker tape parade when he returned to the US following his winning
the prestigious International Tchaikowsky Competition in Moscow in 1958.
And yet, many musicians and critics felt
he never lived to fulfill the potential that lay before him.
He was a gracious, giving personality
who easily won the hearts of everyone he met.
He had his quirks: he hated being early for
his own concerts, preferring to arrive a few minutes past concert time, doff
his coat, stride on stage, sit down at the piano and begin playing the National
Anthem. When everyone resumed their seats, he began the concert.
I recall being invited with my mentor,
Aaron Richmond, by Van Ciburn's then American concert manager, William Judd of
Columbia Artists, to his apartment to hear a young pianist they had signed with
the hopes that we might book him in recital. This was in the period just before
he left for the Moscow competition. Little did I know what would follow in the
next few months.
Within a year or so, we were presenting
Van Cliburn in recital in Boston to an adoring public which filled every seat
in Symphony Hall with an overflow on the stage, while hundreds of would-be
ticket buyers were turned away.
I feel blessed indeed to have had the
opportunity to share in presenting Van Cliburn in recital in Boston on over a
dozen occasions.
Au revoir, Van -- we loved you dearly.
Pianist Van Cliburn in Tel Aviv, 1962
Pianist Van Cliburn has died at age 78. The Shreveport, Louisiana native's triumph at the 1958 Tchaikovsky International Competition in Moscow made him a household name.
Van Cliburn made his Celebrity Series debut in 1960 and performed on the Series a total of 13 times - all in recital and all at Symphony Hall - most recently in 2001.
Numerous winners of The Van Cliburn International Piano Competition have also appeared on the Celebrity Series over the years, including Jose Feghali, Jon Nakamatsu, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Alexander Kobrin, Olga Kern, and Hoachen Zhang.
Coverage of Van Cliburn's death:
New York Times
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
Los Angeles Times
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
BBC News
Chicago Tribune
Videos:
Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 in Moscow (1962)
Christie's Auction Interview (includes clip of 1958 competition)
At The Kennedy Center Honors (2001)
Vishnevskaya with husband, cellist Mistislav Rostropovich
Russian soprano and political dissident Galina Vishnevskaya died yesterday in Moscow.
Ms. Vishnevskaya appeared twice on the Celebrity Series, in her first American recital in 1960 and again in 1961. Boston Globe critic Kevin Kelly reviewed her second Celebrity Series performance, "Galina Vishnevskaya ... is the kind of singer who ruffles the cool detachment of a supposedly objective critic. I would have voted for her before she opened her mouth."
New York Times
Vishnevskaya sings Tchaikovsky, "Why are the Roses so Pale?" w Rostropovich, piano (video)
Pioneering jazz composer and pianist Dave Brubeck has died of heart failure at the age of 91.
Brubeck was presented 11 times by Celebrity Series of Boston between 1971 and 1984, including appearances with his quartet and alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, with his son, Darius and baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan.
Dave Brubeck Quartet playing In Your Own Sweet Wa (video)
Dave Brubeck Quartet playing These Foolish Things (video)
Dave Brubeck Quartet playing Take Five (video)
Metropolitan Opera principal clarinetist Anthony McGill demonstrates creating an embouchure & first note. McGill performs a sold out Celebrity Series concert with the Pacifica Quartet at Pickman Hall at the Longy School of Music of Bard College on October 24. This video is part of series of shorts from MusicInReach.com.
