Well, this time i came up even more empty handed in one sense - no autograph, no picture from my conductor rehearsal with violin superstar Midori. This was all i could come up with as a souvenir:
One curious moment: as i checked in with the personnel office, i met Midori face to face as she was looking for an extra towel and introduced myself as the pianist for the rehearsal. She smiled and said yes, she had already seen me. Hm?
A dear friend of mine from Curtis - Margo Drakos, cellist with the San Diego Symphony and faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music - has been busy launching an exciting new Classical Music site called InstantEncore.com with high ambitions to become THE portal for artists, audiences, and presenters - sort of the YouTube of Classical Music, according to venture capitalist William Stensrud. The site is young, but already there's an impressive roster of top artists in the field with recordings and podcasts available for download. Videos will be forthcoming soon, and you may very well start seeing episodes of Music Meets Tech there (at least, that would be neat, wouldn't it?) One really cool feature that seems to be built into the site is the ability to create your own custom 'home page' where you can keep track of your favorite artists' concert schedule, recording activities, and the like.
Here's the 'official' blurb about InstantEncore.com from Margo, but please don't take my word for it - visit the site for yourself and have a peek at the future of Classical Music marketing!
InstantEncore.com is the new digital classical music community designed to provide audiences with the resources to easily find and enjoy live classical music anywhere and anytime. InstantEncore.com makes it simple for visitors to find concert information, download music, enjoy concert video and audio streaming, and access Podcasts and pre-concert talks. Customers can customize their homepage to follow their favorite cities, venues, artists, ensembles, conductors, and composers and sign up for Inside Scoop: email alerts about new digital content from their favorites. There is no subscription fee to login and enjoy InstantEncore. For audience members, a special bonus: an Instant Encore! Take the concert home with you for free ~ Organizations may provide their concertgoers with a unique card entering your hall that allows the audience member to download the concert they attended for free! For organizations, this provides a special opportunity to obtain meaningful corporate sponsorship. A corporate sponsor logo is featured on the download card and a click-through advertisement is positioned next to the concert event listing and in the digital music store. InstantEncore.com a digital destination designed to keep the audience of today while creating the audience of tomorrow!
SPECIFICS FOR ORGANIZATIONS:
1) Increase your Ticket Sales! Add more value to your concert seats with a complimentary digital download of a concert
2) Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities: Offer valuable advertising opportunities to corporations through our services
3) Personal Thank-You Gifts to Friends! Design digital download packages of your music for donors, friends, special events and as part of education outreach
4) Expand your Brand: locally, nationally, and around the world!
Earlier today i had a conductor rehearsal with Maestro Eschenbach and violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter on the Brahms Violin Concerto in preparation for the Philadelphia Orchestra's Opening Night extravaganza for their 2007-2008 concert season. Several Philly Orchestra colleagues' eyebrows went up in puzzlement when they passed me waiting in front of the Maestro's studio - "Why in the world would she need to rehearse that piece? She already knows that one backwards and forwards!" All i could do was shrug my shoulders and smile - what did it matter? i was looking forward to working with one of the world's most renowned classical musicians!
Backwards and forwards indeed! The Brahms sounded nothing short of exquisite under Ms. Mutter's hands. Such power and comfortable command of that fearsome piece! And yet, she managed to find extraordinary moments to weave supple rubatos and highly personal statements that wonderfully complimented the towering artifices of the concerto.
i think Maestro Eschenbach likes to show off my Tablet PC whenever i show up for these conductor rehearsals - he seems to carry such a twinkle in his eye whenever guest artists ogle at my digital music setup, and Ms. Mutter was no exception to that reaction. Best moment during the rehearsal: Ms. Mutter leaning over during the exposition to ask me, "How do you turn the pages?" i replied, "With my left foot!"
We didn't get to go through the entire work, just key spots for tempi and transitions. What was worse, the Maestro and Ms. Mutter were in such a hurry at the end to get back to the main orchestra rehearsal that i didn't get a chance to snag a tourist picture with Ms. Mutter. Oh well...at least she was kind enough to give me her digital autograph...
...and i'll have to settle for this picture as proof of my short, yet extraordinary rehearsal with such a magnificent musician!
Hugh Sung
Hugh Sung
Hugh Sung
Hugh Sung
Hugh Sung
Hugh Sung
At long last - my new CD with flutist Jan Vinci is now available through Amazon.com and iTunes! Check it out!
Click the above image to place an order via Amazon.com.
The following composers and works are featured:
Der Abreiss-Kalender: Miniaturen Suite for flute and piano (1955) [Breitkopf- print to order] Heinz Benker (1921-2000)
Mei for solo flute (1962) [Suvini Zerboni] Kazuo Fukushima (b. 1930)
And Then, Things Changed for flute and piano (2003) [publ. by composer] Hsueh-Yung Shen (b. 1952)
Suite de Ballet for flute and piano (ca. 1924) [OUP] Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Passacaille, opus 35 for flute and piano (July 1924) [Durand] Rhené-Baton (1879-1940)
When I See You for flute and alto saxophone (2006) [MV Music] Mark Vinci (b. 1960)
Introduction and Variations on the Hatikvah for flute and piano (1980-2006), [publ. by composer] Norman Thibodeau (b. 1959)
Lullaby for 2 flutes and piano (1990) [Lawdon Press] Jennifer Higdon (b. 1962)
Sonatina for flute and piano (March 1920) [Bongiovanni] by Vittorio Rieti (1898-1994)
For the background story on the recording sessions for this CD, check out these blog posts.
Jan also informs me that she now has her own website at www.JanVinci.com, so be sure to visit her there!
Hugh Sung www.hughsung.com http://hughsung.com www.hughsung.com/blog http://hughsung.com Hugh Sung www.hughsung.com http://hughsung.com www.hughsung.com/blog http://hughsung.com/blog
