Meet the Artist in the Digital Age
In days past, if you wanted to find something out about a particular solo artist in the classical music world, it would involve contacting the orchestras they were to appear with in the near future, or contacting their management companies directly. But today, the internet has changed everything and solo classical artists are no exception.
Many of the guest artists who are appearing with The Phoenix Symphony this season have colorful, informative, and many times interactive websites which tell who they are, where they're going, where they've been and just what it is they offer to the musical world.
This week, The Phoenix Symphony will present Schumann's Violin Concerto with guest artist Jennifer Frautschi who has a very fashionable website outlining her recordings, past and future orchestra appearances and her musical background. Future string soloists for this season follow suit with a beautiful site featuring Nicola Benedetti who will arrive in Phoenix to perform Mendelssohn in April - her site has an active messageboard where fans can talk with each other and get an occasional response from Nicola - and a musical site for bassist Edgar Meyer who will appear with The Phoenix Symphony in January.
For something more interactive, check out pianist Simon Trpceski's website. Not only does it greet you with a lush recording of one of his piano performances, it also has a messageboard for fans to leave notes and even a children's area where they can learn about the the piano and follow Simon on his travels around the world. Or have a visit to clarinetist David Krakauer's fully animated site (here you can even add him as a friend on your MySpace account!).
The payoff is easy to see - artists get to inject their personality onto a page which can be accessed by fans and potential artistic partners all over the world. Fans no longer have to sit idle hoping against hope that the artist will return to their city to perform again - they can simply click along and stay connected no matter where the music-making happens.
The digital age has made the world of classical music richer and more exciting. The Phoenix Symphony enjoys the ability to anticipate an artist's arrival by getting to know them digitally even before they step off the plane at Sky Harbor airport. Get online and find your favorite artist today!
Many of the guest artists who are appearing with The Phoenix Symphony this season have colorful, informative, and many times interactive websites which tell who they are, where they're going, where they've been and just what it is they offer to the musical world.
This week, The Phoenix Symphony will present Schumann's Violin Concerto with guest artist Jennifer Frautschi who has a very fashionable website outlining her recordings, past and future orchestra appearances and her musical background. Future string soloists for this season follow suit with a beautiful site featuring Nicola Benedetti who will arrive in Phoenix to perform Mendelssohn in April - her site has an active messageboard where fans can talk with each other and get an occasional response from Nicola - and a musical site for bassist Edgar Meyer who will appear with The Phoenix Symphony in January.
For something more interactive, check out pianist Simon Trpceski's website. Not only does it greet you with a lush recording of one of his piano performances, it also has a messageboard for fans to leave notes and even a children's area where they can learn about the the piano and follow Simon on his travels around the world. Or have a visit to clarinetist David Krakauer's fully animated site (here you can even add him as a friend on your MySpace account!).
The payoff is easy to see - artists get to inject their personality onto a page which can be accessed by fans and potential artistic partners all over the world. Fans no longer have to sit idle hoping against hope that the artist will return to their city to perform again - they can simply click along and stay connected no matter where the music-making happens.
The digital age has made the world of classical music richer and more exciting. The Phoenix Symphony enjoys the ability to anticipate an artist's arrival by getting to know them digitally even before they step off the plane at Sky Harbor airport. Get online and find your favorite artist today!
5 Comments:
"Very fashionable" indeed. Why do female classical musicians have to resort to glamour photos? I'm not usually a fashion critic, but her Saturday night gown looked shabby with some reflective material missing from the right knee area.
However, her website did reveal a lot about her pros and cons in advance of the concert. Jennifer Frautschi, violinist in the Schumann concerto, is not a first-tier orchestral soloist. According to her biography and past performances, she is primarily a chamber musician. Most notably, she recently performed at the Moab Music Festival with Eric Ruske, horn, in the Brahms Trio Op.40 for violin, piano, and horn. I almost drove up to Utah for that.
Her performance of the Schumann, which is not very stimulating for the orchestra, showed her ability to play a lot of notes, but provided no special magic to make it interesting. In fact, I had a hard time distinguishing between the motionless 2nd movement and the frustratingly slow finale. Was there a communication problem between the soloist and conductor?
Too bad she didn't play the Stravinsky, Katchaturian, or a Prokofiev Concerto. This programming, in my judgment, did not do justice to either the soloist or our orchestra. I would certainly recommend that my New Yorker daughter go see Ms. Frautschi in one of her frequent chamber music appearances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Lincoln Center.
Resident Conductor Lawrence Golan does it again! For the second consecutive week, he led The Phoenix Symphony in an admirable reading of a warhorse; this week was the Brahms 4th Symphony.
From the outset. The swells. The staccato winds. The pregnant pauses. The full chords of the horn section. The fine interplay between the clarinets, flutes, oboes, and yes, bassoons. The balance between the long-awaited trombones and the solo horn. It was a very subtle, but fulfilling experience for me. Golan is never one to blast any piece in your face.
Based on the Bravos! and curtain calls, this Golan interpretation was a crowd-pleaser. My concern now is: How long is his employment contract? How about an extension? He and Maestro Christie provide such contrasting personalities, both on and off the podium. I have enjoyed this classics season so far without any other guest conductors.
We read most of the blogs, but would like it to be easier to read the most recent blogs about the most recent concert. Can you set up a new category simply titled "Most Recent Concert" so that comments can be easily found? People would find this very helpful, both in reading blogs and in writing them. Thank you!
According to Maestro Christie's website, he will be conducting the KBS Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea next week. Shostakovich Fifth.
How exciting to conduct in a country that regards classical music extremely highly. Good luck! I'll be looking for a press review on-line.
to sonny the cat, don't try to pretend that u can interpret music. less is more.
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