In the article, he discusses his recovery, his limited conducting schedule this year, and, obliquely, what this brush with death has taught him:

Language difficulties aside, Mr. Ozawa has always tended to discount the value of speech. “My one rule,” he has said of conducting, “is to avoid words.” In their place, he has developed a most eloquent language of full-body communication (but one that makes, say, back problems all the more troubling).

Ozawa is a friend and mentor to Kimbo Ishii-Eto, our Music Director & Conductor, so good news of his recovery is welcome indeed.

The 86th season starts tonight with our first official rehearsal for next week's Opening Night concerts! Above is the Adagietto from Mahler's Fifth Symphony - something the players will definitely be tackling tonight!

Mulcahy has a fascination with old etiquette books and, for a two-part post this summer, she scoured them to find the evolution of concert etiquette. (Part 1 / Part 2)

I actually guffawed when I read this passage from Emily S. Bouton's Social Etiquette:

Many of you, doubtless, remember the story of two women who were entertaining each other during a concert by a busy conversation, unheeding the angry looks of those around, when suddenly the music ceased, leaving a piping voice in the midst of the unique announcement that she "liked them better fried in lard." Imagine her mortification when a roar of laughter followed her words. But it served her right, for she and her companion were guilty of a gross disregard of the first principles of justice and courtesy. Because they were not interested, they deliberately ignored the fact that others were, and did not hesitate to interfere with the enjoyment of all in their immediate vicinity.

I've been to many, many, many concerts and other stage events in my time, and I've never heard anyone talking about lard between movements.

She moves into the 20th century in Part 2, showing how "the general mood toward concert etiquette shifted from politeness so enjoyment wasn't squashed, to politeness so one could come across as upper class. It was all to keep up appearances it seemed."

My favorite, from Vogue's Book of Etiquette in 1929:

"What is the etiquette of visiting boxes at the opera?" Men do not all leave the box at the same time. They see that their own party has at least one masculine attendant. Men visiting other boxes during entr'actes usually make the move to return to their own when the lowering of the lights shows that the curtain is about to go up. Women visit each other in their boxes only at matinees.

Then, she notes that etiquette books dropped concert matters in the 1990s (thankfully, the Symphony has the basic questions answered here for you). But Freakin' Fabulous, a 2008 book by Clinton Kelly, has a few sassy answers such as this:

When entering a row in which people are already sitting, shimmy in facing the stage. It's better to put your buttocks in someone's face than your reproductive organs.

So what's our view? Simply put, be kind to your neighbors and to the musicians. Remember that the acoustics in the Globe-News Center are so good that you can hear not only every note from the stage, but also every conversation 20 rows behind you. And enjoy the show!

The package is the music with Tristan Perich’s “1-Bit Symphony,” a battery-operated microchip sound generator and headphone jack assembled into a CD jewel box, something like a marathon version of a musical greeting card. The microchip executes its built-in program when the unit is switched on; whether that is a performance or a recording is for metaphysicians to ponder, even as it makes the music resistant to downloading. It’s an elegant gizmo, and the music lives up to it. The symphony’s five movements use reedy synthetic tones in fast, jittery, nearly nonstop pulsations, repeating and arpeggiating, coalescing into sustained chords or ricocheting from ear to ear, with melodies emerging to defy the surrounding hyperactivity. The prismatic, looping electronic tones hark back to Terry Riley’s 1967 “Rainbow in Curved Air,” but Mr. Perich’s music sounds miniaturized and far more hectic.

The free recital will be given at the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Center Recital Hall at West Texas A&M University.

Redpath will be joined by violinist Kirsten Yon, who performed with HSQ in April.

The duo will perform four works: Sonata No. 5 for Two Violins in E minor by Jean-Marie Leclair, Sonate pour deux violins seuls, Opus Posthume by Eugène Ysaye, Sonata for Two Violins, Opus 56 by Sergei Prokofiev, and Navarra for two violins and piano, Opus 33 by Pablo de Sarasate.

Redpath joined WT’s Department of Music faculty in 2003 as a member of the Harrington String Quartet. At the same time he joined the Amarillo Symphony as principal Violin 2. He received a doctor of musical arts degree from the University of Minnesota in 2002, a master’s degree in music from Wichita State University in 1995 and a bachelor’s degree in music from The Eastman School of Music in 1993. 

Yon has been a soloist, concertmaster and performer with numerous professional orchestras across the United States and South America. Currently the concertmaster of the Caprock Pro Musica Sinfonietta, Yon also performs with the Botticelli String Quartet.  She is currently in residence at Texas Tech University where she serves as an Artist-Performer and Assistant Professor of Violin.  A sought-after teacher, performer, and clinician, she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and the Cleveland Institute of Music before pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

The Harrington String Quartet was created in 1981 through a generous endowment from The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation.  Quartet members are also principal players with the Amarillo Symphony and members of the string faculty at West Texas A&M University in Canyon.

For more information, contact Redpath at 651-2823.

A panel of Symphony musicians and conductors heard 54 candidates in an all-day marathon of blind auditions.

Musicians winning seats include:

Lynsi Porterfield – Violin 1, Chair 3
Susie Lopez – Violin 1, Chair 8

Thomas Lovett – Violin 1, Chair 12

Danielle Kupresanin – Violin 2, Chair 9

Caitlin Schmidt – Cello, Chair 8
Mark Trimble – Flute 1

Ashleigh Leas – Flute 3

Amy Goeser Kolb – Oboe 1
Karen Takacs – Oboe 2/English Horn
Luis de la Garza – Bassoon 4
Guglielmo Manfredi – Horn 1
David Potter – Horn 4

Rai Morales – Trombone 1

Congratulations, and thanks to all who auditioned!

A recent article in an academic journal points to at least 118 causes of death for the genius composer.

But without direct evidence, an autopsy, medical records or even a verifiable corpse, we may never know exactly what felled Mozart.

The outline of Mozart’s final illness is clear. He took to his bed on Nov. 20. 1791, after an intense period that produced “The Magic Flute,” “La Clemenza di Tito,” the Clarinet Concerto, a Masonic cantata and parts of his Requiem. His hands and feet swelled. He grew listless, suffered vomiting fits and ran a fever.

 

On Dec. 4 several friends apparently went to his bedside to sing parts of the Requiem. In the evening Mozart took a turn for the worse, and his doctor, Thomas Closset, was summoned from the theater but sent word that he would come once the show was over. When he arrived, he ordered cold compresses applied to Mozart’s head, which witnesses said caused the patient to shudder. An hour past midnight on Dec. 5, Mozart was dead, at 35.

 One thing's fairly certain: The movie and play Amadeus got it wrong.

The poisoning theory — whether by Mozart’s colleague Antonio Salieri or by Mozart himself to treat syphilis (an illness long since discounted) — was knocked down fairly summarily after a round of early-19th-century gossip. Mozart himself was said to have suspected poisoning, then changed his mind in his final months.

Tristan Perich: 1-Bit Symphony (Part 1: Overview) from Tristan Perich on Vimeo.

Hundreds of people showed up to get a preview of local arts groups' 2010-11 seasons, visiting nearly two dozen booths and watching special performances inside the performance hall.

We had a great time talking about this year's amazing concert line-up and meeting tons of new people. Word on the street is that this could become an annual event, so if you didn't make it this year, don't miss out again!

The Amarillo Globe-News' Shop Smart Shop Local campaign and Civic Amarillo are co-sponsoring a free (there's that word again) showcase of the city's arts groups -- including the Symphony, naturally.

We'll have a booth where you can come learn more about the upcoming season, and you can enter a drawing for a pair of season tickets. You can also get exclusive backstage tours of the Globe-News Center and check out what the rest of our arts groups will be offering this season.

Then, stick around for free performances from a host of Amarillo's performing arts groups, including a special number by the Symphony's own Emmanuel Lopez.

It all starts at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the GNC. For more info, check out this article in Sunday's Globe-News.