Symphonic flashmob in Copenhagen station

~posted by Alison @ KMFA

Copenhagen Phil (Sjællands Symfoniorkester) did a flash mob at Copenhagen Central Station on May 2nd 2011, playing Ravel’s Bolero. Conductor is Jesper Nordin. It’s fun to watch the the folks who are lucky enough to happen upon this scene! 

Our KMFA arts partners score big at the 2011 Austin Critics’ Table Awards!

~posted by Sara Hessel, KMFA Music Director

KMFA congratulates our cultural partners who were honored at the 2010-2011 Austin Critics’ Table Awards:

Ballet Austin (Best Ensemble for Kai)

Austin Symphony Orchestra (Best Symphonic Performance for Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with Pepe Romero)

Adam Holzman, guitar with the Miro Quartet (Best Chamber Performance for Austin Goes Classical)

Texas Early Music Project (Best Chamber Performance for Convivencia)

Conspirare (Best Choral Performance for Renaissance and Response: Polyphony Then and Now)

Austin Lyric Opera/Austin Chamber Music Center (Best Opera for The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat)

Anne Akiko Meyers, violin (Best Instrumentalist for Anne Akiko Meyers with the Austin Symphony)

Miro Quartet (Special citation: Inimitable FourPlay Award for 15 years with Sandy Yamamoto)

Texas Performing Arts (Special citation: Ears Wide Open Award for adventurous bookings of classical music)

Congratulations, and thank you for all of your efforts in making Austin such a rich artistic environment to live in!

 See the full list of winners here.

Playing Piano…in the Park!

World-famous pianist, Anton Nel, encountered one of the pianos on a hike around Lady Bird Lake

If you’re a fan of the parks and trails around downtown Austin, then you might have noticed random pianos popping up all over… available for anyone to play, at any time of day!

It’s all a part of a delightful conspiracy to provide music where you least expect it, featuring any artist who decides to play. Located throughout downtown in public parks, streets and squares, the pianos are for any member of the public to play. The pianos are also for the public to decorate and personalize.

Well, this is the last weekend to enjoy the pianos, so a few of us from KMFA decided to visit the one in Butler Park. It was such a beautiful day on Thursday!

Sarah playing piano in front of the Austin skyline

We climbed to the top of Doug Sahm Hill (I think Doug would have been pleased with the psychedelic painted dinosaurs on the side of the piano) and Sarah Addison, who is our resident expert in piano playing, gave her best attempt on this funky, outdoors piano, while we all got to admire the fabulous skyline and listen to a Beethoven backdrop.

Claire and Kelsey wish they'd paid better attention in piano classes when they were kids

one cheerfully painted piano

You can read more about this effort, as well as see some adorable photos and videos, at the website “Play Me I’m Yours.” They also have a map where each of the pianos is located. Go find one this weekend! You’ll be surprised how nice a piano sounds outdoors in Austin’s wonderful springtime weather.

Another favorite Austin piano player, Marcia Ball, tries out a street piano

~ posted by Alison @ KMFA  :-)

KMFA in the news

Last Friday, KVUE’s Martin Bartlett stopped by the radio station, with a specific question in mind: how are local public media stations coping with the threat of federal de-funding, now that the House of Representatives has passed a bill doing just that?

KMFA’s General Manager, Joan Kobayashi, spoke with Bartlett about the different needs of public radio stations, such as rural vs. metro stations, and university licensees compared to community licensees. You can see the resulting broadcast here:

~posted by Alison @ KMFA

KMFA Music Director Sara Hessel wins prestigious Gracie Award®!

photo credit: Todd V. Wolfson

The Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) has announced the 2011 winners of the annual Gracie Awards^®, and Classical 89.5, KMFA’s own Sara Hessel is among them! Ms. Hessel is a 2011 Gracie Award winner for her program, Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, produced and broadcast from the studios of KMFA. [You might remember the blog entry with links to hear the interview portion of the program.]

“In producing Michael Nyman: Motion and Emotion, I hoped to draw attention to the full scope of his activities as a composer, beyond his famous score for The Piano. His music is so immediately appealing, and his musical language manages to be contemporary and timeless all at once,” says Ms. Hessel. “It’s an incredible honor that this program was chosen by the Alliance for Women in Media to be the recipient of a Gracie Award!”

The Gracie Award promotes programming created for women, by women and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the industry. Ms. Hessel won in the Outstanding Portrait/Biography category, and will accept her award at the annual Gracies Luncheon on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011 at Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Sara Hessel earned her master’s degree in historical musicology from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1999. She has been employed as Music Director of KMFA-FM, Classical 89.5 in Austin, Texas since 2005. As producer and host of KMFA’s Ancient Voices, she has interviewed numerous early-music superstars, including Dame Emma Kirkby, Ton Koopman, Gustav Leonhardt, Jordi Savall and Anonymous 4. Ancient Voices was named a Critics Pick in the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” issue in 2010.

KMFA’s General Manager Joan Kobayashi says, “KMFA is proud to be part of the production and broadcast of this important programming, and congratulates Ms. Hessel for receiving this well-deserved award.”

The Gracie Awards benefits the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation, a charitable non-profit. For more information about the Gracie Awards, please visit www.thegracies.org.

~posted by Alison @ KMFA

Which Musical Works Are You Thankful for This Year?

Special thanks to Anne Akiko Meyers, who posted a link to this on her Facebook page.

As we celebrated Thanksgiving, and considered all the treasures for which we are grateful, we saw this on WQXR’s website (the classical music station in New York City):  classical artists wrote about which musical pieces they are particularly thankful for…what a lovely and diverse list of music! Here’s what Austin’s own esteemed violinist, Anne Akiko Meyers, wrote:

Anne Akiko Meyers, violinist

The Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 is one of the masterpieces written for violin and orchestra. I am so thankful that Prokofiev was in Paris and was so inspired after hearing the Szymanowski Mythes that he wrote this concerto. Impressionistic, beautiful, violent and ultra stylish, it is a great workout for me physically and emotionally when I perform this enchanting music. George Gershwin’s Summertime arranged by Jascha Heifetz is one of the most beautiful lullabies ever written… “hush little baby, don’t you cry…” Thank you George!! And Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel has such simplicity yet it’s music that makes you sit still, remember and just breathe. The music is aptly titled, “Mirror in Mirror” and is so reflective. A beauty….

Click here to visit the WQXR website and read more submissions from artists, such as Eric Whitacre, Jacques Lacombe, and all three members of the Claremont Trio!

~Submitted by Alison @ KMFA  :-)

KMFA programs score twice on the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” list!

Here’s a newsflash: KMFA was mentioned twice in the Austin Chronicle’s “Best of Austin” List of Critics Choice selections! Here’s the write up from the Austin Chronicle website:

Sara Hessel (photo credit: Todd V. Wolfson)

Best of Austin 2010; Critics Picks, Media

Best Way To Get Thee to a Nunnery: Ancient Voices on KMFA-FM

From the haunting chants of Medieval monks and nuns, sung a cappella, to the flirty madrigals of the Renaissance and measured intensity of Baroque dance music, Ancient Voices brings church to us on Sundays. On KMFA-FM 89.5, at 9am and 4pm, this show transports Austin through early Europe’s extraordinary tapestry of sound. Peace and a sense of the sacred emanate from the radio. Listeners are gently guided through history by host Sara Hessel’s timeless voice. www.ancientvoices.org.

Best of Austin 2010; Critics Picks, Arts & Entertainment

Best Free Course in Film Appreciation: Film Score Focus on KMFA-FM

Sure, movies are a feast for the eyes, but don’t forget the ears. Brian Satterwhite sure doesn’t. A respected film composer in his own right (including the score for Austin comedy Artois the Goat), Satterwhite hosts KMFA’s weekly program Film Score Focus, hitting just the right note with new and classic sounds, from spaghetti Westerns to Vegas glitz and the tunes accompanying classic Tex Avery cartoons. We’re all ears. 8pm Fridays; 7pm Sundays on KMFA-FM 89.5. www.filmscorefocus.org

We’re so proud that our local programming talent has received such kind accolades! Way to go, Sara and Brian!

~ posted by Alison @ KMFA

Jeffrey Blair asks: Are conductors really necessary?

~posted by Jeffrey Blair, KMFA morning announcer

I recently came across this article in the LA Times, pondering the need for conductors in today’s symphonies:  http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/15/entertainment/la-ca-what-conductors-do-20100815

It’s funny that this question seems to come up every couple of years or so;  heck, I even asked the same thing when I was knee-high to an armadillo. I remember I was just a young radio geek in training and I thought it must be pretty cool to be the conductor. Standing up on this little podium with your back to the audience (it must be tempting to make faces at the orchestra and try to get them to crack up), waving around this little stick, telling the orchestra what to do with the slightest crook of your little finger. And then after the performance you get to acknowledge all the applause. Yep, that’s the life for me.

 Then I started recording orchestras and going to rehearsals other than the final dress. I quickly found out that conducting is HARD WORK. The part about standing up in front and waving the baton around is actually the end of a long and grueling process that is just as demanding if not more demanding than giving a solo recital. It’s been said that violinists play the violin and pianists play the piano, but conductors play the orchestra. From what I’ve picked up from various conductors, this is absolutely true. Conductors tell the various segments of the orchestra when to get loud, when to get quiet, when to come in, when to play vigorously, and when to play with great emotion. It all has to match what they think the composer wanted, what the audience expects, and what his or her interpretation happens to be. That’s a lot of plates to keep spinning at the same time.

 The L.A. Times article spells it out much better than I can, with conversations with Leonard Slatkin, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Colin Davis, and others, but they all agree that a conductor brings his own interpretation to a score. Sometimes it’s good…sometimes it’s not so good, but its the conductor’s job to figure out phrasing, emotional direction and balance. Then they have to convey all of that to the musicians in such a fashion that they can bring about the desired reaction from the audience. Imagine someone translating Beowulf from Old English and then telling someone else who then tells you, but you still expect to get the full emotional impact from the original story. It’s a tough job and I’ll leave it to the professionals!

 I still want to stand with my back to the audience and wave the baton around. That part would be fun.

 
Jeffrey Blair is KMFA’s weekday morning announcer, Production Engineer, and host of the weekend show, Choral Classics. Tune in Sundays at 10am and 5pm to hear Choral Classics, right here on KMFA, 89.5

A Farewell to Mitch Miller

~ posted by Rich Upton, KMFA Operations Manager and afternoon announcer

 

Mitch Miller died Saturday, July 31.  He was 99.

The younger you are, the less likely you are to know who Mitch Miller was.  I was born in 1955, and much of the earliest music I remember hearing came to my ears courtesy of Mitch Miller.

He was a musician, a singer, a record producer, a choral director, a conductor, a television personality, a record company executive, and an Artists and Repertoire man for a major record label.  His career encompassed popular music, easy listening, classical, film music, and country music.  He abhorred rock music to the point that he passed up the opportunity to sign Elvis Presley (whose manager wanted too much money for Miller’s taste) and Buddy Holly (although he himself DID eventually record an embarrassing version of John Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance”).  He produced records for Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Marty Robbins, Rosemary Clooney, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and many others, and while many of these records were hits, Miller had plenty of critics who felt that he reduced these singers to the lowest common denominator by aiming for the charts (often with novelty songs) rather than making great records.

I remember becoming aware of Mitch Miller in the early ’60s when “Sing Along with Mitch” appeared on the NBC television network.  Each week, Miller smiled non-stop while conducting a male chorus in well-known songs, inviting the audience at home to “follow the bouncing ball” that moved along the top of superimposed lyrics, and sing along.  That’s his male chorus you hear singing Paul Anka’s “Theme from ‘The Longest Day’” under the credits for that film.

Miller was a classically trained oboist, and guest-conducted many fine American orchestras.  He appears as a conductor in the KMFA music library on a 1987 recording with pianist David Golub and the London Symphony Orchestra of George Gershwin’s works for piano and orchestra.

This photo of Mitch Miller and me was taken in the hallway at the KMFA studios in 1995.  I was 40 then, and Miller was a spry 84.  (As you can see, this was also before we painted the dark brown paneling on the walls, and, as evidenced by the cigar in Miller’s hand, before smoking was disallowed in the building.)  He came by the studios for an interview. I don’t know if it ever aired, and the fate of the recording is unknown to me.  But it was a privilege to meet such a legend, and he was a very nice man.  The smiles on our faces are genuine.

Thanks for all the music, Mitch.  You will be missed.

Rich Upton is KMFA’s weekday afternoon announcer, KMFA Operations Manager, and host of Sunday Night Symphony. You can hear Sunday Night Symphony on Sundays at 9pm.

Lang Lang honors Sir Paul McCartney at Gershwin Award Ceremony

~posted by Rich Upton, KMFA afternoon announcer and host of Sunday Night Symphony

I just finished watching “In Performance at the White House” on PBS, wherein President Obama presented the Gershwin Award for Popular Music — the highest award for popular music — to Sir Paul McCartney, for a lifetime of achievement in that field.  McCartney and his band performed, Jerry Seinfeld did a bit, and a number of pop music luminaries performed McCartney songs — from Herbie Hancock to Elvis Costello to The Jonas Brothers (the latter a little something for the Obama daughters).

One highlight of the evening was a performance by classical pianist Lang Lang, who performed a solo piano work composed by McCartney.  I recognized the melody immediately — it first appeared on a recording of Paul McCartney demos of music created for an as-yet-unproduced animated film featuring the character of Rupert the Bear, then resurfaced in 1997 — in a much more expanded and gloriously beautiful performance for chorus and orchestra — as the finale for McCartney’s most ambitious classical work to date, “Standing Stone.”  In that context, it was assigned the title “Celebration,” which is how it was announced for Lang Lang’s performance at the White House.  Having heard only the two versions — one a home recording by McCartney alone, never intended for public release, and the other this wonderful full arrangement for orchestra and voices — I was curious to hear how this melody would translate to solo piano….

Well, duh!  Combine a master of melody like Paul McCartney with a master of the piano like Lang Lang, and how could the result be anything but gorgeous? Which is exactly what it was.  Here is a video that unfortunately picks up well into Lang Lang’s performance, but you can still see how deeply he feels the music.  He doesn’t just play the music;  he IS the music. It’s a moving performance of a lovely piece. (You can catch the entire broadcast at www.PBS.org.)

Rich Upton is KMFA’s weekday afternoon announcer, and host of Sunday Night Symphony. You can hear Sunday Night Symphony on Sundays at 9pm.