Where does pianist Ethan Uslan find these gems? Another goody from our evening in the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio called “Downton Abbey Meets The Jazz Age.” exploring some music of the era, and featuring soprano Melinda Whittington.
His is a great – and surprinsingly risque! – tune from 1925 by MR. Vivian Ellis, a beloved Brit composer of the musical stage who’s barely known stateside. Save for this tune, thanks to it being in the repertoire of the “Last of the Red Hot Mamas” Sophie Tucker…
A celebration of Harry Belafonte’s life and music at Berklee.
Great love fest and concert last night for the ever-dignified and charismatic Harry Belafonte, the “High School drop out getting an Honorary Degree from Berklee.” At the age of 87, Belafonte stopped singing in public a few years ago,though you could spot him in the finale at least mouthing the words to “We Are the World,” the 1980s megahit for African famine relief that Belafonte brought in to being.
Moments before awarded Harry Belafonte his honorary doctorate, Berklee President Roger Brown speaks about his remarkable career.
That’s just one of an incredible list of accomplishments recited by Berklee president Roger Brown before conferring an honorary Doctor of Music to the singer, songwriter, and activist, who noted that “Belafonte” literally translates as “fountain of beautiful things.” The tone and feel-good vibe of the event (not to mention some incredible performances by Berklee students) is nicely summarized in today’s Boston Globe:
No artist has worked harder on behalf of truth and social justice than Belafonte. He bailed out Martin Luther King Jr. from a Birmingham, Ala., jail; was John F. Kennedy’s cultural ambassador to the Peace Corps; and helped raise more than $50 million for humanitarian aid in Africa by organizing the recording of “We Are the World.”
That is how the current generation of Berklee College of Music students knows the singer, said Larry Watson, the professor who produced the show, introducing a rousing encore of the song. But to an earlier generation — long before Michael Jackson crowned himself the King of Pop — Belafonte was the “King of Calypso.” He was the first recording artist to sell a million copies of a single album, and he had enduring hits with “Matilda” and “The Banana Boat Song” (that’s “Day O” to fans of “Beetlejuice” or “The Muppet Show”), both of which were part of the program presented by four dozen or so colorfully attired students.
When it came time for Belafonte to speak, he was his usual poignant, gripping, and humorous self, recalling the first time he went onstage to sing at a jazz club in New York. The great jazz pianist Al Haig had agreed to let him work up a short set of standards, beginning with “Pennies from Heaven.” But, when the moment came, Belafonte recalled, “Up jumped Max Roach to sit behind the drums. And then Tommy Potter picked up a bass. Charlie Parker sat down with his sax. So I looked around at my backup band. And I haven’t looked back since.”
Parting shot from Belafonte: “After this, I’m going home and smoking a joint.”
Video from our “Evening Inspired By Downton Abbey” in our WGBH Fraser Performance Studio. Melinda Whittington is the soprano giving a great reading of this bluesy Noël Coward number, with the ever-amazing Ethan Uslan as the pianist.
Still buzzing from the terrific performance at last night’s “Evening Inspired by Downton Abbey,” featuring soprano Melinda Whittington and pianist Ethan Uslan, playing classical, “jazz,” and other standards from the 1920’s in the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio.
And for an encore, since it was, after all, Chopin’s birthday and all, Ethan had to play one of his signature compositions. I explained to the Downton fans the title was inspired by what happened when poor Moseley the bumbling butler-turned-footman backs into an object d’art in the Crawley household….
Melinda & Ethan getting their Downton on…
Celebrating Fryderyk Chopin’s birthday today with a gripping performance by pianist Hung-Kuan Chen, of the two Op. 62 Nocturnes. Chen played them in the WGBH Fraser Performance Studio for a special live broadcast marking the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Hung-Kuan Chen, one of the most respected pianists and teachers in the Boston area, is about to decamp for New York: He was one of three faculty appointments announced by the Juilliard School just a couple of days ago, joining pianist Sergei Babayan and Juilliard Alumnus (and MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner) Stephen Hough on the school’s piano faculty beginning in the Fall of 2014. Nice line in the press release too:
“Raised in Germany, Hung-Kuan Chen’s early studies fostered strong roots in Germanic Classicism, which is tempered with the sensibility of Chinese philosophy, earning him a reputation as a dynamic and imaginative artist.”
Watch the video to witness some of those sensibilities at play. These two late Chopin Nocturnes are favorites of mine, for reasons beautifully articulated by pianist Bruce Murray in our Radio Chopin series for WDAV. Take a couple of minutes and listen to the episode here.
Nice to see 29-year old Courtney Lewis of the terrific Boston chamber orchestra Discovery Ensemble get an appointment as the Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic. Seeing the Belfast-born Courtney in action – in our WGBH Fraser Performance Studio, in live concerts, and in interviews – I’m convinced he’s a great talent, and a genuine Good Guy to boot. It seems the NY Phil Music Director Alan Gilbert
Bravo, Courtney, and good luck in New York! You can read the entire press release here.
And click here to hear Courtney lead the band in their season-opening live broadcast concert from October 2012.
A 329th birthday nod to Georg Friedrich from our WGBH Fraser Performance Studio, featuring the baroque ensembles Sarasa and Les Sirènes performing “Per abbattere il rigore,” from the two-soprano cantata Aminta e Fillide, HWV 83. Be amazed at the matched voices of sopranos Kristen Watson and Kathryn Mueller!
Other performers:
Beth Wenstrom – violin
Adriane Post – violin
Timothy Merton – cello
Charles Sherman — harpsichord
The whole – excellent – studio session with Cathy Fuller can be found here.
…..the world heard the premiere of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” I had the pleasure of sitting in an audience to hear the remarkable Gilmore Keyboard artist (and Berklee alum) Kirill Gerstein play the original 1924 version for jazz band with an all-star casts of Berklee students, alums, and faculty. Yes, that’s the amazing Israeli artist Anat Cohen playing the opening clarinet lick…
Quote of the day from Gershwin: “True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time. My people are Americans and my time is today.”
As January snows give way to February rain, and as I start to think about an upcoming Concert Preview I’m doing at the La Jolla Music Society before a two-piano extravaganza with members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, time to feature my favorite piano duo: Greg Anderson and my “distant Korean cousin” Elizabeth Joy Roe. Three stars in this video…you can also check out the stunning backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean that is part and parcel of every performance of the Shalin Liu Performance Center at Rockport Music. Enjoy!
PS – there’s also a great Fraser Performance Studio session with Anderson & Roe hosted by WCRB’s Cathy Fuller. Check it out here.
Happy Birthday, Mozart! Check out this compendium of audio, video, and even a few downloads from WCRB Classical New England….
‘Course, my vote for favorite video is this one, featuring Mozart’s own instruments, that we brought into our Fraser Performance Studio at WGBH last summer…Wonderful performance by violinist Dan Stepner and violist Anne Black…
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