Tagoriana CD reviewed in Italy

tagoriana
The September issue of La Tenda, a monthly cultural magazine based in Teramo, Italy, reviewed Tagoriana, a CD on Albany Records that includes my Tagore Love Songs. The recording features mezzo-soprano Aidan Soder, baritone Paul Busselberg and pianist Calogero Di Liberto.

…Al-Zand chiude la Tagoriana con la sua giovanile immediatezza e la sua inventiva melodica che non rinuncia alla tradizione liederistica e si compenetra perfettamente con i testi da lui scelti.

…Al-Zand closes out Tagoriana with a youthful immediacy and melodic invention that does not reject the lieder tradition and perfectly interprets his chosen texts.

SOLI perform Swimmy on Musiqa’s Opening Night at MATCH

swimmySan Antonio’s SOLI Chamber Ensemble performs Swimmy on Musiqa‘s October 10th concert at the new Midtown Arts and Theatre Center (MATCH). A preview feature appears in the Houston Chronicle. The narrator will be actor Seán Patrick Judge. Other pieces on the program include works by Anthony Brandt, Pierre Jalbert, Marcus Maroney and Carl Schimmel. Performances of this same program will also take place in San Antonio on October 6th and 7th with narrator Nathan Cone.

New CD by Museaux Trio

The Museaux Trio (Syndey Carlson, flute; Denise Fujikawa, harp; and Brian Quincey, viola) have just released their debut CD, which includes a recording of Studies in Nature, a work commissioned for them. The piece is inspired by the illustrations of biologist and artist Ernst Haeckel (1834–1919). His seminal Kunstformen der Natur (1899–1904) features beautiful, elegant renderings of newly discovered sea organisms. A species of radiolaria appears on the CD cover (below). The recording is released on Albany Records and is available for download at iTunes and Amazon.

Museaux

Review of Paganimania in Fanfare

 


A new review of Christopher Janwong McKiggan‘s CD Paganimania appeared in the recent Fanfare online blog. The CD features the premiere recording of Paganini Reverie.

Article in Symphony Magazine

The Summer 2015 edition of SYMPHONY, the quarterly magazine published by the League of American Orchestras, features an article by Thomas May entitled A New East-West Polyphony, which highlights composers who are “drawing on their Arabic, Turkish, and Iranian roots to enrich America’s orchestral life.” The Houston Symphony’s performance of my City Scenes is mentioned, as is the work of Mohammed Fairouz, Fawzi Haimor, Mariam Adam, Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, Kinan Azmeh, Kareem Roustom, Malek Jandali, and Reza Vali.

Paganini Reverie Film

Richie Hawley of Little Frenchie Filmhouse has just released a new film featuring pianist Christopher Janwong McKiggan playing my Paganini Reverie. The film’s visual style is an homage to Alfred Hitchcock, specifically his 1959 film North by Northwest. Hawley is the former principal clarinetist of the Cincinnati Symphony and a current faculty colleague at the Shepherd School of Music. His films are always lively and kinetic, elegantly filmed, produced and—most significantly—eminently musical. Chris McKiggan is a virtuosic young pianist whose musical versatility and innovative programming of new works are hallmarks of his artistic style. His recording of Paganini Reverie can be found on his CD Paganimania.

Paganini_Chris

Edmonton Symphony Orchestra plays Visions

macelaruThe Edmonton Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2015–2016 season, which will include an April 30th, 2016 performance of Visions from Another World, under the direction of Cristian Macelaru, Associate Conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. An announcement of the season appears in the Edmonton Journal. Also on the program is Brahms’s Symphony No. 3 and Elmer Bernstein’s Guitar Concerto.

Contact Info:

alzand@rice.edu
Rice University
Shepherd School of Music
MS 532
6100 Main St.
Houston TX 77005-1892
(713) 348-3740
www.alzand.com

Links:

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© 2015 KARIM AL-ZAND