Recent Posts
| • | Our Oscar-winning friend |
| • | Mark O'Connor on Americana Symphony, Part 2 |
| • | Mark O'Connor on "Americana Symphony," Part 1 |
| • | Calling all cans! |
| • | Bootleg! Secret marimba rehearsal video |
| • | Video: Kimbo & the marimba |
| • | Previewing the extraordinary |
| • | One less reason to call in sick |
| • | Christmas is here! |
| • | Kimbo on "Tom & Jerry" and Bartok |
| • | Man on the run |
| • | Classical thieves |
| • | Symphony Kids in the news |
| • | In honor of the World Series |
| • | Speaking of the piano... |
| • | Looking ahead to November |
| • | Video preview |
| • | No viola jokes here |
| • | In the news |
| • | Happy Friday! |
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Our Oscar-winning friend
So there I was, watching the Oscars with a group of friends, when the winner for sound effects was announced.
Hmm, I thought. He looks kinda familiar.
Then, the screen cut to the audience, specifically to his overjoyed wife.
Hmm, I thought. She looks really familiar.
Then it hit me: I know them!
Paul Ottosson, winner of two Oscars last night, is the husband of erhu player extraordinaire Karen Han, our guest artist in January 2009. Paul accompanied Karen and their young son to Amarillo for concert week, and they couldn't have been more delightful. Paul struck us all as a very kind and soft-spoken man, and though I knew he worked in the film industry, I'm kicking myself now for not finding time to talk with him more about his career. If I'm right, he'd most likely already finis
Mark O'Connor on "Americana Symphony," Part 1
The Amarillo Symphony is proud to be among the first orchestras in the country to perform Mark O'Connor's "Americana Symphony."
Completed in 2006 and first recorded by the Baltimore Symphony in 2009, the "Americana Symphony" draws inspiration not only from one of O'Connor's best-loved works ("Appalachia Waltz," which he recorded with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer), but also from settlers' historic drive west across America in the 19th century. It also was influenced by music very close to our hearts - Western swing, invented by the great Bob Wills.
Here's part 1 of Mark O'Connor talking about his phenomenal "Americana Symphony," which will open this weekend's concerts:
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Calling all cans!
More people in our area than ever are going hungry – 15 percent more, in fact, in just the last four years. Since last year, the number of people seeking weekly assistance from the High Plains Food Bank has jumped 20 percent.
Our neighbors need our help. And once again, we are asking the Amarillo Symphony family to give.
The Symphony will collect nonperishable food for the Food Bank at the February 19-20 concerts at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts. If you cannot attend, donations can be dropped off between now and 19 at the Symphony office, 1000 S. Polk St.
Last year, more than 250 orchestras across the country collected 200,000 pounds of food for Orchestras Feeding America. The Amarillo Symphony and its patrons collected more than 1,500 pounds of fo
Bootleg! Secret marimba rehearsal video
Shh! Here's some secret video recorded last night during the rehearsal of the Sejourne Concerto for Marimba and Strings. How could anyone want to miss this concert?
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Amarillo Symphony Dress Rehearsal 1-21-10 from Chip Chandler on Vimeo.
Video: Kimbo & the marimba
In this video interview, Kimbo discusses how he fell in love with the marimba and what sounds the audience can expect this weekend from a master player like Eriko Daimo.
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Kimbo & the marimba from Chip Chandler on Vimeo.
Previewing the extraordinary
Welcome back! We've been on a bit of a hiatus around here, but the 2009-10 season is back into full swing this week with our fourth subscription concert, "Discover the Extraordinary."
You're in for a rare treat at these concerts. We believe this is the first time the marimba has been featured as a solo instrument in an Amarillo Symphony concert. And we've found a terrific pioneer in Eriko Daimo.
Eriko has won scores of international competitions and has performed all around the world, from Mexico to Belgium to Japan. And she's here because Kimbo saw her on YouTube.
Actually, Kimbo was guest-conducting for a community orchestra in his hometown in Japan a few years ago, where he ran into
One less reason to call in sick
Turns out, there's not really an ailment known as "cello scrotum."
Time Magazine's No. 2 "oddball news story" for 2009 pointed us to this debunking of an ailment that, frankly, we'd never heard of ... but it's good for a giggle on this blustery day:
The term referred to an unfortunate chafing injury incurred by players of a certain string instrument. But it turned out that "cello scrotum" was a hoax. Baroness Elaine Murphy, a doctor and member of Britain's House of Lords, admitted to fabricating the ailment when she submitted a paper about it to the British Medical Journal
Christmas is here!
Look at that rock star!
Kimbo had a blast conducting his inaugural KinderKonzerts, and judging by the roar of the crowd, the kids had a swell time, too. It's always a joy to see the young students' faces as they enter the hall for the first time and to hear the delight in their voices when Santa makes his appearance. And it was no different this year with all 6,000 or so kids who joined us.
Thanks as always to the Symphony Guild for their hard work on this fantastically rewarding project, as well as to the theater kids from Palo Duro High School and their sponsor, Shannon Mashburn.
And Concerts for Young People is in just one month!
For more on KinderKonzerts (and another sweet picture of
Kimbo on "Tom & Jerry" and Bartok
Here's a little clip of a conversation I had with Kimbo last winter about this season. In this installment, Kimbo talks a little about the wildly varied influences on and characteristics of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra. Enjoy!
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Kimbo discusses Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra from Chip Chandler on Vimeo.
Man on the run
I'm not sure if Ian Parker, our guest piano soloist for this weekend's concerts, is a fan of Willie Nelson. But to hear him talk, Ian sure lives up to the spirit of Willie's signature "On the Road Again."
"I'm on the road about nine months a year. I'm much more comfortable living out of my suitcase," Ian told me a couple of weeks ago. "When I'm back in my apartment in New York, I don't ever take the clothes out and put them in the drawer.
"I love always being on the run. I love the fact that I don't have anything stable, no 9-to-5 position. I get to be running around and watching how the world goes," he said.
"Maybe there's a bit of me that's lost because I don't hav
Classical thieves
Here's our November guest artist Ian Parker on the show "The Classical Now," discussing how composers, ahem, "borrow" tunes quite often. Ian's going to make a great guest at Lunch & Listening on Friday.
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Symphony Kids in the news
In case you missed Sunday's fantastic Amarillo Youth Orchestras concert, here's a taste of what you didn't see.
The Globe-News had a great feature on the program and ran this beautiful picture of the Youth Philharmonic. Read their story here.
And Nastassia Tamari had a nice wrap-up on KVII last night. Read that story here (unfortunately, I can't find the video).
And just a reminder: The Youth Symphony will perform at 7 p.m. Nov. 15 with child prodigy organist Samuel Gaskin on the Friends of Aeolian Skinner
In honor of the World Series
While the eyes of the nation are watching the Yankees and the Phillies (and I didn't even have to look that up, folks), here's a fun connection between the orchestral and the baseball world.
Violinist Glenn Donnellan of the National Symphony Orchestra could soon be the next Internet sensation thanks to his stinkin' cool electric violin, made from a Louisville Slugger.
No, really.
"I just decided, 'Well, let's see if I can make one,' " says Glenn Donnellan, a violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra. "I thought it would be cool to say to the kids, 'Hey, you can make your own.' "
The object in question is an electric violin made out of a baseball bat. And the answer is, Yes, he could.
That's from the Washi
Speaking of the piano...
Ran across this article today on Slate on Yamaha's fancy new electronic keyboard (which really beats the heck out of my old Casio keyboard):
http://www.slate.com/id/2233839/pagenum/all/
Keyboard-playing readers, what do you think?
Looking ahead to November
I just got off the phone with Ian Parker, the phenomenal pianist who'll join us for our Nov. 20-21 concerts. He's fantastically personable and, as the video below attests, amazingly talented.
After the jump, you'll see a behind-the-scenes peek at his latest recording project. He spent a week in July at Abbey Road with the London Symphony and conductor Michael Frances, recording Ravel's Concerto in G, Stravinsky's "Capriccio" and Gershwin's Concerto in F. The release date is expected to be sometime in the late fall.
Ian told me this a project he's been dreaming up for a while. Each of these concertos was written around the same time, though in all parts of the world. And each has some jazz or ragtime element that ties them together.
The jazziest part of the project, though, was to r
Video preview
"Discover Heroism," the Symphony's second concert weekend of our 85th season, kicks off tonight. Here's a few hints of what you'll miss if you don't call today to get your tickets.
Here's guest viola soloist Hsin-Yun Huang and her Brentano Quartet performing a movement from Mendelssohn's Quartet for Strings No. 6 in F minor:
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Here's part 1 of a 9-part BBC production about Beethoven's "Eroica," subtitled (with only a touch of hyperbole) "the day music changed forever":
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No viola jokes here
The viola, so often a punchline among orchestra musicians, gets a well-deserved spotlight at this weekend's concerts, and we've found one of the best players in the world to help us put it front and center.
Hsin-Yun Huang (full bio) said she decided early on that she wanted to play the viola precisely because it wasn't the popular choice.
"I did not want to play the violin like everyone else so I said is there something nobody plays," she told NewsChannel 10's Larry Lemmons in a story that aired last night (read Larry's story here).
But there's just not much call for a solo violist.
In the news
Plenty of great arts coverage in Sunday's Globe-News, starting with that gorgeous picture of Joan Kwuon and the Symphony during our September concert:
Brad Newman gave a good overview on our performance home, the Globe-News Center, and quoted some people making some great, too typically overlooked, points: The Center is for everyone, not just the alleged "elites." Check out the story (and some more photos of our September concert) here.
Brad also talked with Hsin-Yun Huang, this weekend's guest artist, about the challenges of being a solo violist, particularly because there's so little repe
Happy Friday!
Just one week away from Beethoven's "Eroica" and Walton's Viola Concerto. See how happy our bass section is?
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(No, that's not Lori Scales. But maybe if we all encourage her, she'll work up a routine like this.)