ASO: Robert Spano with Jean-Yves Thibaudet

Posted on September 22, 2017 by Robbie

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra started it’s new year at the beginning of the second day of Rosh Hashana. The program had a few things about it that set it apart from previous season openers of which I’ve been aware. Particularly of interest to me was that the only piece to have been composed prior to the 20th century was the Star Spangled Banner. The Damrosch arrangement has traditionally begun each new season, as it did this year, but they also added a second, new arrangement by ASO Bassist Michael Kurth to begin the second half of the program.
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Sonic Generator at the High

Posted on September 1, 2017 by Robbie

I was so happy when, earlier in the week, I got an email from the High about their First Friday event for September that said that Sonic Generator would be performing. Their website was taken down from the GA Tech servers some time ago, the FB group for them was renamed to “Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology,” and they’ve only performed a few times since the Sherwoods left for Cleveland, so I figured that they were no more. But, yes, they are still more! I didn’t see Jason Freeman there, so I’m assuming that they’re continuing with just the remainder of the ensemble and are no longer affiliated with Tech, but I’m perfectly happy with that as long as I get to hear them play now and then. I do hope that they develop some kind of way to let people know of their concerts, though: I very nearly missed this one.
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Chamber Cartel: Simulcast with Guest Artist Margot Rood

Posted on July 29, 2017 by Robbie

This evening was the fourth of seven shows in a series by Chamber Cartel called “Don’t Look Back: Beyond the Zero” that Orpheus Brewing Company has been presenting at their brewery off of Monroe Drive near Piedmont Park. The program opened with a solo percussion piece by Anthony Donofrio entitled “Meditation on Italo Calvino’s Castle of Crossed Destinies”. It was contemplative and lovely and Caleb Herron brought a sweetness out of it that made it a wonderful way to start the show.
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ASO: Robert Spano with Some Soloists Whom I Didn’t Hear

Posted on June 3, 2017 by Robbie

I originally wasn’t going to attend the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra’s season finale because there was only a little over 20 minutes of music on the program that I wanted to hear. It took me roughly that long just to drive to Symphony Hall with all of the extra traffic in my neighborhood due to VaHi’s Summerfest. I ended up with an extra ticket to exchange, though, so I decided to come to this for three reasons. First, there was a world premier and, sadly, world premiers are often also the world finales of many wonderful works of music. Secondly, I really love the sea interludes from Britten’s “Peter Grimes” and suspected that Spano was likely to do a really good job with them. And, finally, my ticket for this evening also granted entry to the chamber concert this past Thursday.
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ASO: Donald Runnicles with Christina Smith

Posted on May 27, 2017 by Robbie

There were two concerts for which I originally had tickets but did not attend; one of them was canceled due to weather and the other I decided to skip: they had the poor taste to tack some obnoxious gimmicks onto the performance that were created by two artists who clearly would have nothing of interest to say about the music. That would have detracted too much from the music for me to be able to enjoy myself so I figured that I’d exchange the ticket for one of the concerts that I’d originally not planned to attend. As such, even though I wasn’t excited about the program, I found myself at this evening’s Atlanta Symphony Orchestra concert featuring all French composers under the baton of Donald Runnicles. Of the three pieces on the program, I really only wanted to hear one of them, but that one really made it worth it for me to bother with the trip to Symphony Hall.
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ASO: Vasily Petrenko with Stewart Goodyear

Posted on April 29, 2017 by Robbie

Although I did not think that it was particularly great overall, there was a lot to like about this evening’s concert by the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra conducted by Vasily Petrenko. It began with a good-enough performance of Richard Strauss’ symphonic poem, “Don Juan.” There’s something about Strauss’ tone poems that makes my mind wander. It’s nothing bad – I’m not bored by them – it’s just good music for fantasizing and day dreaming. That is to say, I paid enough attention to know that it was an ok performance but not enough to say how it could have been better.
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ASO: Robert Spano with Stephen Hough

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Robbie

Today was pretty bad. Today I also learned about the death last evening of an old friend of mine from college. My bursitis has returned with a vengeance this week and has been waking me up at night and I was really aching today. I have been terribly concerned about world events and domestic politics. I’ve been dealing with a horrendous commute thanks to the I-85 bridge collapse. And I could go on and on about work. Thankfully, Maestro Spano and the musicians of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra were there for me this evening.
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