As the Camwells know, I really really want them to do this with strings sometime, but this is the next best thing! Here they are, playing it with the piano. It’s such a wonderful work, and they do a fabulous job! My only issue with posting this is that folks might not like my playing any more. Uh-oh!
Dave Camwell – Saxophone
Jillian Camwell – English Horn
Christy Eckerty – Piano
So … get that CD! iTunes link
I’m on an elist run by a neighborhood guy. I read the most ridiculous stuff. I also read some rather troubling stuff (racism is alive and well, I’m sorry but not surprised to say). I read some stupid stuff (people can complain about the silliest things). I read, too, about lots of animals that are lost or waiting to be adopted. Recently someone sent a video along with the “adopt me!” request. I normally ignore the animal posts since we don’t feel like we have the time or energy for an animal, but one with a video caught my attention.
The video was quite professionally done. I’m guessing maybe the person hired someone to do it, or a family member is a professional. It caused me to watch the entire thing (and yes, the pit bull was adorable). I wondered about the music, though. I recognized it. I’m fairly sure it was John Williams, but I don’t know if it was from a movie. At the end of the video there was a very professional, movie-like credit screen. All the typical stuff: title, starring role (the dog), editor, production design, casting, director of photography, costumes, executive producer and more. What I wanted to know, of course, was “Who was that composer?!” Guess what was on the screen?
Music by iTunes
Really?! This is what we’ve come to? Music by iTunes.
Who knew?
Composers matter. Taking a composer’s music and using it matters.
Or maybe iTunes has started composing. Dunnno.
Jillian (oboe) and Dave (saxophone) Camwell play Michael Touchi’s fantastic Tango Barroco on Dave’s new CD. It’s on iTunes!
I really recommend this. Mike’s piece alone is worth the purchase, but there’s a whole lot of great music on this. As you can hear in this sampler, you have some mighty fine musicians here!
It’s weird going from Clarinet Reeds to Oboe Reeds.
… which for me means still working! But when I retire (IF I retire before I die, and who knows if that will happen?!) will I continue to play? I hope so, and yet saying goodbye to reeds wouldn’t be very difficult to do. Hmm.
At 101, Frank Iacono still plays the violin. The concertmaster for the Providence Civic Orchestra of Senior Citizens in Rhode Island, he particularly enjoys playing polkas and jigs.
“It keeps my mind active, and it gives me a lot of pleasure,” Iacono said.
The orchestra’s executive director and co-founder, Vito Saritelli, said Iacono is extremely sharp for his age.
“Music has played a good part of his longevity,” said his wife, Mary Iacono, 94. “We’re blessed that we’re both in good health.”
As scientists race to figure out how to promote healthy aging of the brain, and prevent dementia, their preliminary advice for senior citizens has become a chorus of voices: “Stay active! Have hobbies! Be socially engaged!”
Playing music, for some people, is a natural answer to all of those recommendations. Frank Iacono, for instance, has been playing violin since he was 13 — just because he loves it.
But does music playing in particular stave off dementia? What about just listening to music? How many years do you need to engage in music before it benefits your brain?
There’s a nice long article in the Merc about Irene. Do check it out.
Toward the end is this:
“The financials aren’t healthy right now,” and $500,000 will have to be pared from an already lean budget of about $3.6 million for the season that begins next week.
“If we do that, our public will not be getting what they’ve been getting,” he admits, “but artistically it will be as it ever was. Excellence will still be on the stage. If we cut any more, then we start to compromise, and that’s where I draw the line.”
Hancock is uncertain if there will even be four operas in OSJ’s 31st season, but fully intends to produce a world premiere in his first year as company chief. The opera will be based on the E.M. Forster novel Where Angels Fear to Tread and make its debut in February 2015.
I SO curious who the composer is. There was an opera of that out over a decade ago, but this must be something new since it says it’s a world premier. Interesting!
How sad, though, that we may have to cut back on the number of operas and, from an earlier article, the number of performances of the operas we do get to do. I hope we somehow get rescued. It’s so rough these days for performing arts groups.
