August 29, 2011.  Boyce Lancaster interviews the pianist Simone Dinnerstein.  Simone Dinnerstein launched her career in the most unusual way: she raised funds and recorded Johann Sebastian Bach’s challenging Goldberg Variations, apiece that usually crowns a well-developed career, rather than lays its foundation.  She played the same piece at her New York recital debut in November 2005 at the Weill Recital Hal.  Her Goldberg recording became a sensation and in 2007 was picked up by Telarc and released worldwide in 2007. 

Boyce Lancaster talks to Simone as she prepares to release yet another CD, Bach: A Strange Beauty.  You can listen to snippets of Simone’s pianism: Variation XXV from the Goldberg recording here, and Sarabande, from Suite no. 5 in G Major, BWV 816 here.  The complete interview is here, and below is Boyce’s introduction to his conversation with Simone.

In the music world, much as in the world of sports, it’s the flashy ones who get most of the ink.  A case in point is Lang Lang.  He has made himself larger than life, plays the piano with flourishes and dramatic flair, and sells Rolexes, Adidas, and Audis.  His piano talent was nurtured from a very early age.  He won numerous piano competitions.  Over four billion people saw him perform before the 29^th Olympiad.  He has even accompanied world champion figure skaters, playing a piano positioned on the ice.  By contrast, Simone Dinnerstein begged for piano lessons at the age of four, but was given a recorder.  When she was 15, she wanted to travel to London to study piano, but was encouraged to go across the river to Juilliard, where she stayed for a few years, dropping out at eighteen.  (She did eventually return and finish her degree.)  She entered no competitions.  By the time she was thirty, she had a degree, lots of talent, but no manager, no recording contract, no bookings, and limited prospects for a concert career.  On top of that, she was going to have a child.

August 15, 2011.  Boyce Lancaster interviews the violinist Vadim Gluzman.  They sat down while Vadim was visiting Columbus, OH to play Mendelsshon’s Concerto in d minor for Violin and Strings with ProMusica (Mendelsshon was 13 when he composed this piece).  An Israeli violinist, Vadim was born in Russia and currently resides in Chicago (he teaches at the Roosevelt University).  Boyce and Vadim talked about Alfred Schnittke, Felix Mendelsshon’s, and the young composer Lera Auerbach.  We can offer you two samples of Vadim’s art.  Here's his performance of Brahms’s Violin Concerto with the Symphony Orchestra of Saarbrücken Radio, Günther Herbig conduction and here – an excerpt from Lera Auerbach’s Double Concerto, which he plays with his wife, the pianist Angela Yoffe, and the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, Andrei Boreyko conduction.  You can listen to the interview here, and below is Boyce’s introduction to his conversation with Vadim.

Vadim Gluzman: Music’s Fearless Champion

I recently read an interview Vadim Gluzman did with Laurie Niles for violinist.com in he told the story of how he came to play the violin.  Gluzman was six years old when he took examinations for entrance into a specialized school for musically gifted children in what was then the Soviet Union.  At one point, members of the panel examined his hands, which Gluzman said he thought was to make sure his fingernails were clean.  The following day, Vadim saw his name on a list of those accepted for study.  Next to his name, it said “Скрипка,” (roughly pronounced “Skripka”) which means violin.  Gluzman said he had a fit, because he and his father, Michael, had designs on him studying piano, which his father had described to him as the king of instruments, rather than the violin, which his father described as the queen.

Thirty years later, Gluzman concedes that, indeed, his hands are perfectly suited for the violin, though he still marvels at how they knew by examining the hands of a six-year-old boy that he was born to play the violin.

August 1, 2011.  Boyce Lancaster interviews the famous American lutenist and baroque guitarist Hopkinson Smith.  Since the early 1970s Mr. Smith has been living in Switzerland.  He was one of the founders of Hespèrion XX, an international early music ensemble.  Mr. Smith plays different plucked string instruments, including the vihuela (called viola da mano in Italy), Renaissance lute, theorbo, Renaissance and Baroque guitars and the baroque lute. During the interview he plays music of the Spanish Baroque composers Gaspar Sanz and Francisco Guerau.  Here’s Boyce:

A tall, slender gentleman with a regal bearing glides toward me, extends his hand, and says “Hello, I’m Hopkinson Smith.”  His voice is soft, not unlike the instrument he plays, but at the same time, he commands attention as he speaks.  He chooses his words carefully, describing his instruments and the music he plays as a painter describes what he sees with a brush.  His accent is unique and rests pleasantly on the ears…an amalgamation of his life in the Northeastern United States and his current home in Switzerland, where he teaches at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

In my conversation with Hopkinson Smith, I learned that he played electric guitar, horn, saxophone, and trumpet, among many other instruments.  If there was an instrument missing in the band, he would simply pick it up and figure it out on his own.  He was about 17 when he discovered the classical guitar.  After a couple of years, the lute caught his attention.  He would soon move to Europe to study with Emilio Pujol, who had once been a student of Francisco Tarrega.

In the years since, he has expanded his expertise to include many instruments, renaissance lute, vihuela, theorbo, Renaissance and baroque guitars and the baroque lute among them.  He has release 20+ solo recordings on these various instruments, as well as collaborating with many of the world’s greatest musicians.  He was involved in the founding of the ensemble Hesperion XX and collaborated for some ten years with Jordi Savall, who also teaches at Schola Cantorum Basiliensis.

I could go on, but it is far more interesting to hear in Hopkinson Smith’s own words.  Here’s the interview.

July 25, 2011. 

Our friends at GetClassical recently wrote about the talented Israeli violinist and composer Ittai Shapira. His Concierto Latino, inspired by Latin dances and based on elements of Tango and Flamenco, premiered in 2008.  You can listen to the final movement ("The Party") here, it’s performed by Ittai with London Serenata, Krzysztof Chorzelski, conductor.  You can also listen to Frédéric Chopin’s Polonaise Brilliante arrange by Ittai for violin and piano, performed by him and the pianist Jeremy Denk (here).  And here you can listen to the 3^rd movement of the violin concerto by the brilliant Israeli composer Avner Dorman.  Here is what GetClassical wrote about Ittai.

Violinist Ittai Shapira: how everyone can relate, when personal events transpire into musical compositions

So far, 14 compositions by different contemporary composers have been dedicated to violinist Ittai Shapira. Belonging to the now thirty something generation of performers  of the New York classical music scene – he and pianist Jeremy Denk were roommates in college- he is now renowned as a versatile performer of an enormous classical violin repertoire, incorporating past and present, traditional as well as contemporary.

One of these premieres included the violin concerto written for him by Israeli compatriot and Pulitzer Prize winner, Shulamit Ran. It was performed at Shapira’s acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut in 2003 with the Orchestra of St.Luke’s.  In 2007, it was incorporated into Ran’s compilation of works performed by Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Shapira’s international performances as a fine soloist with many leading orchestras as well as chamber groups, coupled with his varied recordings, show his widespread interest in standard and unusual repertoire, explaining why so many composers dedicate  works for his performance.

Another Israeli compatriot, a composer who lately enjoys great international demand, Avner Dorman, wrote a violin concerto for Shapira as well, in 2006. It was performed with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

Dorman was, as was Shapira, trained at Juilliard after leaving Israel for New York. While Dorman studied composition with John Corigliano, Shapira studied violin with Dorothy DeLay and Robert Mann and privately coached with Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman.