At one point during a recent performance of Simon Steen-Andersen’s Piano Concerto in Berlin, percussion sounds seemed to rise and concentrate near the ceiling of the concert hall, like hot air, and it sounded like the Pierre Boulez Saal might come crashing down. I met the Danish composer several weeks later at his apartment, a […]
Author Archives: VAN Magazine
Posted inPlaylist
A Mike Svoboda Playlist
I listen to a lot of music, but mostly live—either while playing myself, coaching chamber music, or in my head while composing. Putting together this playlist was a chance to remember some musical moments of my youth, the “formative years,” that left a particularly strong impression on me. Con Conrad/Herb Madison, “The Continental” – The […]
Posted inRankings & Roundups
New Year’s Preoccupations
brin solomon, Staff Writer Let people clap between movements. I want the atmosphere of concert halls to open up, to make room for the joy that pulses at the heart of so much of this music, to welcome strangers and stalwarts alike into a space made for feeling deeply. I want classical institutions to abandon […]
Posted inReview
The Architecture of Experience
Attendees of the Ultima Oslo festival took cover from the rainy September weather at venues that ranged from a railway underpass to a waste water purification plant to a mausoleum in the woods. These soundscapes often provided a physical refuge from the gloomy dampness, but simultaneously unsettled and destabilized aesthetic norms. Wading around town in […]
Posted inInterview
The Main Focus
The classical music educator Andrés Andrade has spent most of his 30-year teaching career thinking about the voices of teenagers. Originally from Tampa, Florida, Andrade currently operates a private voice studio in Manhattan. He has taught at the Queens College’s Aaron Copland School of Music, New York’s LaGuardia Arts High School (better known as the […]
Posted inRankings & Roundups
June 2017 Bagatelles
Steven Isserlis The cellist finds some tactful words for the Brutalist Barbican Centre’s bathrooms. Millenium Falcon Piano “Looks like a giant pendrive [sic],” writes one commenter. We agree. Thibaudet is known for his fashion sense, but we doubt his taste in instruments is quite this avant-garde. #DanielMullerSchott I No offense, but this got us thinking […]
Posted inPlaylist
A Daniel Grossmann Klezmer Playlist
Daniel Grossmann is the conductor and music director of the Jakobsplatz Orchestra in Munich, which focuses on Jewish music. In this playlist, he tells us the brief story of his relationship with the frequently underestimated—particularly in his home country—genre of klezmer. I hate klezmer. Or do I? Right now, it seems to me, Germany is […]
Posted inPlaylist
A French Election Playlist
The tension among French people in Berlin on May 7, when the final runoff between Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron took place, was palpable. Musicians in particular were worried: Would visas and work permits soon be real bureaucratic problems they had to deal with? We asked artists to tell us what music they were […]
Posted inPlaylist
A Sung Jin Hong Playlist
Sung Jin Hong is the artistic director and conductor of the New York ensemble One World Symphony. In this playlist, he explores identity and idealism in music. Here is his introduction to the selection. “What is it about Mignon that has captivated composers for over two centuries? More than 70 different composers have given voice […]
Posted inPlaylist
Phyllis Chen’s Unusual Instruments Playlist
A few years ago, the pianist and toy piano virtuoso Phyllis Chen performed a piece of mine that included an invented instrument. We didn’t have time to meet before the concert. When she began to play, she twirled the instrument—which had once broken and flown into an audience—enthusiastically above her head. I like to think […]