Author Archives: maestrobarrykolman

Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra’s “Around the Symphonic World” season to open November 10

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The Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra’s “Around the Symphonic World” season is set to open with Music of Eastern Europe and Russia on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. in Wilson Concert Hall. 

Under the baton of Maestro Barry A. Kolman, the SSO will perform Shostakovich’s Ballet Suite No. 1, op. 84; Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme, op. 33, featuring Julia Goudimova, cellist; and Goldmark’s Rustic Wedding Symphony. Tickets are required and can be purchased online at http://bit.ly/ssotickets (click on the “buy tickets” button) or by calling the Lenfest Box Office at 540-458-8000.

Bye Bye Birdie–a great success!

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Bye Bye Birdie closed last Sunday in Lexington, VA.. I not only conducted the show, but also played clarinet/saxophone in the pit. The performances took place in a 250 seat “black box” making the shows very intimate. We had six sellout crowds for each show. The leads, especially Albert, Mr Macafee, and Rose, stole the show. Because of budget constraints, the pit band contained 12 very talented musicians instead of a full orchestra that the score calls for. I enjoyed the challenge of conducting and playing at the same time; my first time! Though the show itself is somewhat dated, this did not bother the most appreciative audience watching our very enthusiastic and professional cast.

Playing Jekyll and Hyde With Exotic French Flavors

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Inconsistent performances have dogged the New York Philharmonic for decades. As CORINNA da FONSECA-WOLLHEIM points out in a recent New Times reviewImage, “Two orchestras showed up on Thursday evening at Avery Fisher Hall. One featured a band of uninterested players policed by a conductor who, for the most part, seemed content to beat time. The other was a tight-knit group of musicians who offered an incandescent performance under the direction of an artist with a fine sense of line and color.”

There times, you just want to walk out during the first half of a typical concert, no matter who is at the helm only to be amazed at the playing virtuosity that inevitably occurs after intermission.

http://bit.ly/playingJekyllandHyde

 

The Conductor With an Ear for Peace

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A great article by Harvey Sachs for the New York Times commemorating what would have been Georg Solti’s 100th Birthday (please be sure to go to his website – so beautiful!). An amazing career with a strong passion for bringing musicians from around the world to perform together.  A Chicago institution, the Jewish-born Hungarian maestro mused out loud that if musicians from all walks of life can perform together (as they did often under his baton), then why couldn’t world diplomats and their respective countries live in harmony as well?

There is something in the human spirit that binds us together, whether we know it or not;  it’s our love for all that is beautiful! It is an enigma as why humanity can go to that shadow side of life, to a bizarre and ugly universe, and do such terrible things to each other.  Long-live Sir Georg Solti!

James Levine to conduct again

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James Levine to conduct again in May after two-year injury layoff.

The Met announced that James Levine’s first performance is scheduled for May 19, 2013, about a month before his 70th birthday. He is to conduct the Metropolitan Opera orchestra in a concert at Carnegie Hall. Maestro Levine will return to the podium after a two-year absence. A fall last year left him partially paralyzed. Levine is without a doubt one of the most celebrated and brilliant conductors of our time. His repertoire consists of everything because he can conduct everything. We all welcome his return and pray for his continued recovery. The music world has missed you Maestro!

Read more at LATimes.com – http://ow.ly/erj2s

Full Stream Ahead: Can Naxos Download the Future?

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On October 2, 2012, NaxosImage released its first high-definition (24-bit/96 kHz) audio download. While upgrading sound quality from CD is a step forward, the decision to release new orchestrations solely for digital download… says writer Jason Victor Serinus in his lastest article for The San Francisco Classical Voice in which he covers the “download, streaming digital future” of the 25 year old Naxos label. This one statement (included in the article) by Naxos founder Klaus says it all:  “I think in the long run, streaming will be the way people consume music — classical music and other music…in five years, 50% of our business will be in all kinds of streaming.”  With the launch of Naxos, Heymann that took the classical recording business by storm 25 years ago. I had the great pleasure to work for Klaus Heymann; he is one smart, shrewd business man. Let’s just say that he “knows of what he says.”

Read the entire article here: http://www.sfcv.org/article/full-stream-ahead-can-naxos-download-the-future.