Dicey Topics for Singers

Elizabeth Prescott's website offers some fascinating articles about singing, on topics that are generally difficult to answer. Here are some of them:

What do I do with my hands?
Voice Teacher vs. Vocal Coach
How young is too young to study?
How long does it take?
What to take and not take when ill

But the most useful article I found was What they didn't tell you about your singing audition..., difficult advice, and useful for both musical theater and opera singers, who must brave much more rejection than acceptance before getting hired. Also take a look at breakdowns of several musicals for role and skill info.

Leslie Kinton w/ The Madawaska Quartet August 2nd at Festival of the Sound

Those of you able to get to Parry Sound this week might be interested in seeing pianist Leslie Kinton perform the Dvorak Piano Quintet with the Madawaska Quartet noon Thursday in the Charles W. Stockey Centre for the Performing Arts as part of this summer's Festival of the Sound. The Madawaska Quartet are: Sarah Fraser Raff, violin, Rebecca van der Post, violin, Anna Redekop, viola, and Amy Laing, cello. Also on the noon program is the Martinu Trio in F major with Suzanne Shulman, flute, Anssi Karttunen, cello, and Glen Montgomery, piano. Tickets are $19/16.

And that's not even Leslie Kinton's first performance of the day--at 10:30am he appears with fellow pianist James Anagnoson in a program of duo piano works by Dvorak and Martinu. Tickets are $15/12.

Kinton and the Madawaska Quartet will also be performing the Dvorak Quintet in Toronto at the RCM Great Artists series on Sept. 28.

More upcoming Madawaska Quartet events:

Aug. 11
Children's concert at Franklin Children's Garden, Toronto Centre Island.
11a.m. Free

Aug. 17
Summer concert series at St.Andrew-by-the-lake, Toronto Island.
7p.m. $15/$13 Janacek, Ives, Linda Smith

Gyorgy Kurtag's Glissando-only Perpetuum Mobile

Gyorgy Kurtag's Perpetuum Mobile from his Games for Piano series (played by the composer on this video) initially looks simple, but in fact requires a great deal of accuracy in finding the top and bottom of each glissando, as well as a sensitivity to hand distribution, velocity, and pedal sonorities. What many pianists would find most difficult about playing this piece is not the start and end note accuracy, but the wear and tear on the backs of the fingers, which could end up torn and bleeding without proper glissando techniques. Take a careful look at Kurtag's playing and you'll find that he uses several contact points that enable him to get through unscathed:

1) fingernails, but only on the nail and not as far as the tender cuticle skin
2) the side of the 5th finger, including the outer side of the hand
3) the fronts of the fingers on the opposite side to the fingernail

Make sure you watch the ending!

Speedlinking - 29 July 2007

Want to do some genuine good in the blogosphere? Support Glenda Watson Hyatt, activist for the disabled and author of the Do it Myself Blog in her quest to Blog for a Year and spread awareness of resources and options for the disabled, their parents, and caregivers.

Today's Star takes a look at what Toronto might look like 500 years after humans disappear.

Michelle Bennett and her colleagues in Zwingenberg come up with a list of just how complex a profession classical singing is.

Fans of David Allen's Getting Things Done might be interested in Keith Robinson's article on how to apply GTD to the creative process.

And in the intense world of the arts, Patty offers some wisdom on how you are not what you do.

YouTube of Amy Briggs Dissanayake Playing David Rakowski's Schnozzage

This video filmed in Brandeis University's Slosberg Hall features Amy Briggs Dissanayake playing David Rakowski's 23rd Etude, "Schnozzage". A lot of us may have at one time tried playing with the nose as a "third hand" (I once tried it for adding voices to orchestral reductions but got a sore schnozz), but David Rakowski integrates the technique seamlessly and with eloquence into this meditative etude, played without a hint of irony by Dissanayake.

Piano Events at the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival

For those of you in the Toronto area looking for some chamber music and art song without leaving the city, the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music is hosting the Toronto Summer Music Academy and Festival, running from July 23-August 19.

Here is a brief run-down of some of the piano events coming up in the next few weeks:

Passionate String Music
Leipzig String Quartet with Menacham Pressler, piano

L. van Beethoven: Quartet in F minor, op.95
F. Mendelssohn: Quartet in A minor, op.13J.
Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, op.34

Saturday, July 28
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm, MacMillan Theatre
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

German Songs and Letters Lorna Macdonald, soprano, Cameron Stowe, piano, with Barry Macgregor, narrator

Songs of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss

Tuesday, July 31 at 8:00pm
Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

In a French Atmosphere Karina Gauvin, soprano, Michael McMahon, piano

Songs by Fauré, Debussy, Duparc, and Poulenc

Thursday, August 2
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm, Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

A Celebration of Pianistic Masterpieces Andre Laplante, piano

J.S. Bach: Adagio in A minor, BWV 564
J. Haydn: Variations in F minor
L. van Beethoven: Sonata in C major, op.53 “Waldstein”
F. Schubert: Three Moments musicaux D.780
F. Chopin: Sonata in B-flat minor, op. 35 “Funeral March”

Thursday, August 9 at 8:00pm
MacMillan Theatre
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

Bohemian Treasures The Gryphon Trio (Annalee Patipatanakoon, violin, Roman Boris, cello, James Parker, piano)

A. Dvorak: Piano Trio in E minor, op. 90 “Dumky”
B. Smetana: Piano Trio in G minor, B.104, op. 15

Tuesday, August 14
Lecture 6:45pm, Room 330, Edward Johnson Building
Concert 8:00pm Walter Hall
Adults $35, Seniors/Students $25

The festival's finale will be two performances of Rossini's The Barber of Seville, directed by Michael Albano with musical director (and festival artistic director) Agnes Grossman.

Thursday, August 16 - Saturday, August 18 at 7:30 pm
Sunday, August 19 at 2:00 pm
MacMillan Theatre
Adults $50, Seniors/Students $30


Update 3:33pm

Ken Winters reviews Anton Kuerti's Tuesday night recital in today's Globe and Mail.

The Canada Council's 50 for 50 Arts Challenge

How many arts-related activities can you do in one year? The Canada Council's 50 for 50 Arts Challenge is a bilingual social networking site built for the Canada Council for the Arts' 50th anniversary where you can track and share your arts-related activities over the course of the year. The project is "an opportunity for you to tell other Canadians about your 50 arts adventures in 2007. Serious, extraordinary, official, underground, ridiculous and sublime, your arts have a space online. Seek out arts experiences this year that will put you in closer touch with the life of your community."