On the making of the virtuoso pianist: Leon Fleisher, brilliant and celebrated pianist and mentor-teacher of the last century, said of pianists: “We are athletes, but we’re athletes with small muscles.” To be a virtuoso…
To be honest, I was initially scratching my head with this title, because to me (as a pianist), it’s immediately obvious why we “should” pay musicians – it’s our work, our livelihood, it’s how we…
Hector Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique is the classical music equivalent of a modern day horror movie. It has it all: bucolic pastoral scenes, a ballroom dance, a horrific death and ending with a macabre scene of…
While compiling the program notes for QSCM’s Between Friends III concert, June 11 I came across this statement by Leonidas Kavakos upon performing the premier of Lera Auerbach’s Violin Concerto No. 4. “I have said…
Saturday June 11, QSCM’s “Between Friends III” event, live at St Paul’s United Church, Stirling ON (7 pm) celebrates connection and deep feeling. Performed by cellist Amahl Arulanandam and pianist Petya Stavreva, the program is…
For the uninitiated, “fingering” refers to the numbers written above or below notes corresponding to the fingers of the hand with thumbs being “1”. Fingering is indispensable for keyboard and string players. It is meant…
Dmitri Kabalevsky (1904-1987) was a contemporary of the notorious “Russian Five”, composers Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, and Cui. However unlike them, he was loved by the Soviet government and he enjoyed a tenured position at…
Alexander Glazunov was born in Russia in 1865. He grew up steeped in the late romantic tradition of Russian music. The music of Tchaikovski was a great influence on his compositional style. As a composer,…
This coming Saturday I will be welcoming visitors to one of my favourite places: the historic O’Hara’s Mill & Homestead just north of Madoc, Ontario. As a volunteer with both O’Hara’s and QSCM, it has…