Summer Arts Preview 2012: Classical
Colin Currie, Ingrid Fliter, and a Stravinsky Opera
Ingrid Fliter at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall
This Argentine pianist burst on the scene with a pair of highly regarded recordings for EMI Classics of the music of Frédéric Chopin. Fliter then moved on to become a distinguished interpreter of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, as evidenced by her exemplary 2011 recording, also for EMI, of the sonatas Op. 8, 17, and 23. It’s unusual for one musician to excel to this degree in playing the music of both of these composers. Beethoven’s piano music requires a strong sense of structure and strict adherence to the composer’s markings of the score, while Chopin often invites nuanced modulations by the performer to be invested in every phrase. When Fliter appeared at the Lobero in 2007, she wowed the CAMA Masterseries audience with a program that stretched from Haydn to Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin. Her Music Academy recital is part of a Mosher guest artist residency. Wednesday, July 18, 8 p.m. Call 969-8787 or visit musicacademy.org.
Academy Percussion Ensemble in concert with Colin Currie at the Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall
Colin Currie heralds the dawning of a golden age for percussionists, who have been experiencing increased attention and respect from composers at least since the 1960s, but who are just now coming into a similar level of appreciation from audiences, who thrive on their propulsive, dynamic approaches to new music. In this concert, the Music Academy’s most audience-friendly subdivision, the Percussion Ensemble, will benefit from the rock-star royalty presence of Currie, the percussionist they all want to be circa 2012. Wednesday, July 25, 7:30 p.m. Call 969-8787 or visit musicacademy.org.
Stravinsky: The Rake’s Progress at the Granada Theatre
The orchestra enjoys equal billing with the singers in what is among the most impressive English-language operas of the 20th century. Igor Stravinsky’s comedy employs a libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman to concretize the melodramatic events of William Hogarth’s satirical engravings of the same name. Tom Rakewell loses Annie Trulove to his own sense of male entitlement in this early denunciation of the sexual double standard. And Stravinsky’s score includes some of his most ravishing writing. Friday, August 3, 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, August 5, 2:30 p.m. Call 969-8787 or visit musicacademy.org.
More Classical
Academy Festival Orchestra – Granada Theatre, Saturday, June 23.
Gil Shaham – Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Saturday, July 7.
Kiri Te Kanawa – Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Thursday, July 12.
Miró Quartet – Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Tuesday, July 17.
Marilyn Horne Song Competition – Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Saturday, July 21.
Vocal Chamber Music with Warren Jones – Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall, Thursday, July 26.
Academy Chamber Orchestra with Nicholas McGegan – First Presbyterian Church, Saturday, August 4.
Academy Festival Orchestra – Granada Theatre, Saturday, August 11.
