I CARE IF YOU LISTEN

This week: concerts in New York (April 15 – April 21, 2013)

Music of Chinary Ung | New York New Music Ensemble

Chinary Ung – Photo Larry Dunn

The New York New Music Ensemble performs the music of Chinary Ung at (le) poisson rouge.
Tuesday, April 16 at 7:30 PM
Tickets $15 advance, $20 day of show
(le) poisson rouge, 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY
..:: Website

Contrasts #1

Violinist Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Alexander Lonquich return to 92Y with composer-clarinetist Jörg Widmann, cellist Tanja Tetzlaff and pianist Cristina Barbuti for three nights of boldly contrasting chamber music. This concert features music by Widmann, Mozart, and Bartok.
Tuesday, April 16 at 7:30 PM
Tickets from $36
92nd Street Y, Lexington Avenue at 92nd St, New York, NY
..:: Website

MATA Festival | MATA’s Quinceanera Celebration

Ensemble Meitar – Photo by Noa Dolberg

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Switchboard Music Festival 2012 at Brava Theater

Sunday April first (no joke!) was the fifth annual Switchboard Music Festival. One of several new music festivals/marathon concerts in San Francisco, Switchboard features eight hours of mostly modern music. I had been really looking forward to hearing the first set with Danny Holt (piano and percussion at the same time), but due to the ever-present “my muni bus didn’t show up when nextbus said it would” problem in San Francisco, I did not arrive at the Brava Theater until his set was nearly over. This year is the second year in a row Switchboard has been held at the Brava Theater, which is located in the middle of the Mission District. It’s a wonderful place to hold a marathon concert, because between sets the audience can literally walk half a block out the door and find several options for good Mexican food. If by chance you didn’t like Mexican food, the festival had hired a food truck, which was parked nearby selling Indian food (the samosas were amazing!).

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Jean-Guihen Queyras and Ensemble Resonanz, reconciling the classical and modern in Amsterdam

Jean-Guihen Queyras and Ensemble Resonanz lit up the Ij Haven last night in Amsterdam’s Muzikgebouw aan’t Ij. There was a twinkling view of the harbor through this great glass house, and the Ensemble matched this crystalline vision with a lush dynamic ebb and flow in the treatment of the four pieces programmed. With floors of naked cedarwood, red plush seats, blue light glowing through the latticed walls, and lighting and tech equipment exposed at the ceiling, the concert hall has the feel of Zankel (at Carnegie Hall, Ed.), but more spacious. Throughout the evening, the respect of the audience was astonishing; not a cough was to be heard until the general applause, so that diminuendos in the music and the space between movements enjoyed a profound and utter silence.

Jean-Guihen Queyras - Photo by Marco Borggreve

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