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: COALFIRE EDITION

Hi all!

Tonight (Tuesday) at 8p is our latest installment of "Industry Night"!  We are so lucky and excited to present COALFIRE PIZZA as our restaurant collaborator for the evening.  For those of you who don't know this place, follow the link to their website!

As a small background to this place, film director John Hughes loved its pizza so much, he modeled his own kitchen to resemble the coal fire ovens that make Coalfire's pizzas still.

Tonight, you get to eat John Hughes' favorite pizza.  We hope you're as eager as we are!

Can't wait to see you at 8p!

Sincerely,
BH

Note from Green Grocer!

Hi All!!

Here's a note from our buddy Ethan, who represented Green Grocer at our last Industry Night!  Thanks again for helping us kick off such a wonderful event!!

--BH

Thanks Team Bow & Hammer for getting us involved in your most recent evening of great music and great people.  We loved providing the spread of food and getting to show off some of what we do.  It is amazing to see friends and strangers brought together, sitting around a table of food, and sharing music.  It also felt great to see that not much food remained at the end of it all!

Come visit us at the corner of Grand and Noble for thoughtful and amazing products from small local producers and farms. 

And we also hope that everyone was able to try the pickles the that Robyn and I make.  Central Pickling, if anyone is trying to remember the name.  They happen to be available at the Green Grocer and at spots around Chicago.  Like us on Facebook (facebook.com/centralpickling) and see where they are available close to you!

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

Hello 2014-2015!

Hi everyone!

I can hardly believe fall is upon us!  It feels like we just got back from Italy last week (or at least that's what we'd like to believe).  

Check out the changes to our website, and our concert dates for this season!  

We just played a concert at First United Methodist Church in Arlington Heights, IL.  It was BEAUTIFUL, and we were so happy to bring our suburban friends a more convenient location!  

Here are some pictures from the event:

Our NEXT concert is our THANK YOU concert, with a special shout out to those donors who helped support us on our tour to OrvietoMusica this past summer.  We would be so happy for you to join us, at 1312 S. Michigan Ave, on Friday October 24 at 7:30p!  

To stay updated on our concerts and/or our bloggings via mailings (if you haven't already), please click on our "CONTACT" tab, and shoot us an email!  

See you soon,

BH

Industry Night

Hey folks,

We just had our Industry Night at E's lovely residence.  It was a blast!  With munchies, some couch, bench, floor space, and BYOB, we were able to really have an intimate but fun experience with everyone.  Below are some pictures of our experience.  Thanks to everyone who came!!!!

Our next engagement is APRIL 27 at Church of Beethoven in Oak Park, IL.  Can't wait to see you!

-BH

Chillin' under the artwork

Prepping everyone for our next piece

Our Program Checklist for the night

Pet friendly!

Thanks friends!!

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!