Friday at PianoForte!

Hello all!

This FRIDAY we are very excited to perform our season's program in full formal concert for the very last time!

Our program will be as follows:

Ludwig Beethoven:  Sonata for Piano and Violin Op 30, No 3
Benjamin Britten:  Three Works from Op 6 for Violin and Piano
Amy Beach:  Sonata for Violin and Piano

The PianoForte Foundation will be hosting us at their beautiful space in South Loop at 1335 South Michigan Avenue.  This is very close to the Roosevelt CTA stop, if you don't want to deal with parking.

Concert will begin at 7:00p, $20 general admission, $10 student admission.  Tickets can be bought online or at the door!

We can't wait to see you all there!

Sincerely,
BH

Saturday: Musical Offering in Evanston!

Hello All!

We are very excited to be performing our next concert tomorrow (Saturday), April 4, 2015 at 7:30p!

You can find us at Musical Offering, where we will be part of the Music on Madison series.  Tickets can be purchased online or at the door, and are $15.

Our program will include our A-List of composers whose names all begin with B:

Ludwig Beethoven
Benjamin Britten
Amy Beach

For those of you who have been following our Industry Nights, our last two popular vote winners (Benjamin and Amy) will be performed in full!  

The Musical Offering can be found in Evanston at 743 Custer Avenue.

We hope to see you there!!

--BH

Industry Night with Green Grocer

Hello all!

What a great Industry Night we had on Tuesday February 28!

Thanks so much to Green Grocer for providing our lovely cheeses, breads, dips, pickles, and wine!

BH with Ethan, who was our Green Grocer ally!

For those of you who had to leave early, the results of the popularity vote were:

2nd Runner Up:  Ludwig (Beethoven)
1st Runner Up:  Amy (Beach)

WINNER:  BENJAMIN (Britten)

Mini clip of Benjamin

Thanks for all your votes and support.  Benjamin will be back on our Sound Flight to defend his championship at our next Industry Night, which will take place on:

TUESDAY MARCH 31, 2015 at 8:00p.  Same place!  Mark your calendars!!  We can't wait to see you there!

Here are some other photos and video clips from the night!  Thanks for all the love.  See you soon!

--BH

American in Paris, by Gershwin, transcribed by Heifetz

working with Amy Beach

“After her debut, [as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra] she sought advice from Wilhelm Gericke, conductor of the Boston Symphony, about a composition teacher. He recommended that she teach herself. Such a suggestion may have been influenced by public perception that although men wrote out of their intellects, women wrote from their feelings and therefore would not respond to training.”

- from Women and Music: A History

a little about Amy Beach...

Amy Beach was first and foremost a pianist. Having studied under the tutelage of two German pianists who had studied with Liszt, her virtuosity was unquestioned as was her ever growing fame by the age of 18. She debuted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1885 and was regionally gaining popularity as an "outstanding musical talent". Of course the customs of 1885 could not be ignored. She was soon married and came to an agreement with her husband only to perform for small concerts. With the halt on performing, she focused entirely on composition. She composed many works for voice, a piano concerto, the Gaelic Symphony (the first American symphony performed from a women composer!), solo piano works, and many chamber works, including the Sonata for Violin and Piano.

what to expect on Friday...

I suspect many of you will be as blown away by this music as we are. This sonata has 4 movements (or complete sections). Each movement is completely different, having its own mood, character, and purpose in the overall progression of the sonata. It is at times tragic, sexy, hilarious, exciting, introspective, explosive, unsure, elated, extremely passionate, and overall incredibly entertaining. The copious amounts of sounds and colors that she writes for our two instruments are absolutely breathtaking.

We can't wait to share this with you!

See you Friday at 7:00pm!