A Note from David Yang, Artistic Director
David Yang
Artistic Director
I'm in Great Britain for a month preparing for recording the two Hans Gal and Hans Krasa string trios for AVIE Records. That was quite a concert at the Maritime Museum last month! I've never seen such a bunch of glitterati in Newburyport and it was nice to look out and see the audience all dressed up in their finest. I received a lot of comments in particular about the Schnittke trio. I'm not surprised that the it hit people so hard; it is such powerful music, like witnessing some kind of harrowing live-action life-and-death struggle. I think part of what art does is to make explicit that which our that spoken languages are inadequate to express.
Anyway, Ken, Caroline, and I are having a terrific time rehearsing over here. Oh, sure, there is the usual crankiness - I'd hardly expect different as the last few days we have averaged nine hours of rehearsal a day - but there is nothing as satisfying as this work (to me). We are like surgeons going in note by note, taking the piece apart, putting it back together, examining every articulation, harmony, dynamic and issues of balance and expression. Sometimes it is a challenge to keep the broad picture in perspective but when one person gets a bit too myopic there is always someone else ready to take a few steps back.
We have another winter concert coming up Saturday, 24 March 2012. Walter and Julia will host a concert at the gorgeous Farwell-Clay Carriage House on High Street. The Peruvian pianist Myriam Avalos will be performing music inspired by or from Spain, the idea being to give a little Mediterranean sun to warm up these gray wintry months. Please sign up soon as seating is limited. Past concerts at the Carriage House have sold out. There will be works of Granados and Albeniz and others like "An Evening in Granada" by Claude Debussy. The event will also have a reception following the concert with Tapas and Spanish wines to fortify one against the cold.
As for next summer, in 2012 we will have our first all-percussion recital with the red-hot MP Duo, playing everything from vibes and marimba to drums and flower pots. We'llalso have a concert featuring a World Premiere by eminent Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield for string quartet and chorus with a Newburyport-leaning text by beloved local poet Rhina Espaillat, Prokofiev's other-wordly Duo for two violins and Debussy's beloved string quartet. We'll end the summer with string sextets including Arnold Schoenberg's great early work, the hyper-romantic and transcendent Transfigured Night. This piece is one of my top 5 "desert island" works and is also a virtuoso work for chamber ensemble.
See you all soon!
David Yang
Artistic Director
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NCMF is supported in part by grants from the local Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
