#fred child

[mendaxtheliar]

Having more feelings than I expected about the last Piano Puzzler today. Bruce Adolphe is amazing, and I'll miss this weekly treat.

[alanlicht]

Sound Art on New York Out Loud/Performance Today

Public radio host interviewed me in Times Square about Max Neuhaus’ sound installation there as well as my book, Sound Art Revisited, for his radio series New York Out Loud. See a video of my interview here; the radio episode is here

[flynncenter]

Young Artists

by Barbara Williams Sheperd, Burlington Writers Workshop Soovin Kim & Fred Child join Alexi Kenney, Yoo Jin Jang, Steven Laraia, and Jin Lee in FlynnSpace on Saturday, September 27 at 8 pm. Get tickets at www.flynntix.org. The words “young artist” caught my attention as I scrolled through the Flynn Theatre’s impressive Calendar of Events recently. Working thirty years in Vermont schools, most of them as a high school counselor, I’ve been delightedly entertained by thousands of talented and aspiring young people. I sat through decades of concerts and recitals, and even was the guest of one remarkable young man when he won the Jon Borowicz Memorial Scholarship and played a violin concerto at the Barre Opera House with the Vermont Philharmonic Orchestra. I often remark to friends that if one wants to see the development of a soul, one only needs to watch the freshmen in any high school performing group and see their confidence grow in the next two to three years. But, with all the raw talent around us, few have the motivation and self-discipline to put in the time, practice, and become really great. My own daughter, Sarah, did me proud. She graduated from high school, and to the surprise of both of us, went off to college and was discovered to have a talent for singing opera. She morphed into a very credible young opera mezzo and sang for ten years on the big stages throughout the country, and even in London. So, I’ve been in some grand halls and heard some beautiful music, which in no way qualifies me to say anything about a musical genius like Soovin Kim. At the risk of sounding naïve and un-informed, I admit that I first became aware of Souvin Kim this past summer when I came across a schedule for the Champlain Chamber Music Festival at the Ellie Long Center. Mr. Kim’s nine day program for instrumentalists, vocalists and composers, saturates Burlington with high quality chamber music and shines a spotlight on young performers. I made a few inquiries of artistic acquaintances in the Burlington area, and it turns out that Mr. Kim and I have mutual friends. I am told that he grew up in Plattsburgh, NY, and played with the Vermont Youth Orchestra. One friend remarked that Mr. Kim is a very nice person, a talented, humble man. Surely, using his talent to lift the careers of others speaks to the purity of his character. Soovin Kim and his colleagues, along with Fred Child from VPR, are at the Flynn on Saturday, September 27 at 8 pm. It’s sure to be an unforgettable evening.

[flynncenter]

Reflections of a Burlington Saturday Night

by Barbara Williams Sheperd, Burlington Writers Workshop Review of Soovin Kim and Fred Child with Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival musicians on September 27, 2014. I made the long drive into Burlington on Saturday to attend the Souvin Kim concert at the Flynn. It was a warm, balmy evening—unusual, but welcome weather for late September. It’s been a long time since I was on Church Street on a Saturday night. The streets were jammed. People were dining at outside tables or just milling about visiting with acquaintances. Music from several different cafes competed for attention. The windows in the clubs along Main Street near the Flynn were open to the street and happy celebrants, probably mostly college kids, filled the area with an energy that only the young truly understand. As I waited for the box office to open, I shared a stoop with a young man who had an alternative look but a good heart. Sitting there, I noticed how dirty the sidewalks appeared and wondered if the city ever asks the fire department to hose them down during the night. I had thought I was going to the Flynn theater, but found the concert instead at FlynnSpace next door, a level down and having the characteristics of a black box theater. I’ll admit that when the two young women from the quartet arrived in beautiful ball gowns, I wished to transport all of us to a lovely old opera house or cathedral, something like the Haskel Opera House in Derby Line. But what the black box lacked in ambiance it made up for in community. The space filled quickly, and the chairs were close together for the sold-out venue. Waiting for the concert to begin, people were chatting happily. There was a great sense of camaraderie and enjoyment in the air. This doesn’t often happen in a big hall. I am not qualified to critique the concert, and I won’t even try. I will say that from the moment Soovin Kim took the stage to introduce the young artists until the last note was sounded, I found the music exquisite, delightful, truly amazing. Fred Child opened his remarks with this quote, taken from a letter Mendelssohn wrote to Marc-Andre Souchay: People often complain that music is so ambiguous, and that what they are supposed to think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas words would be understood by everybody. But for me it is exactly the opposite, and not just with whole discourses, but also with individual words, which seem to me so ambiguous, so unclear, so liable to misunderstanding in comparison with good music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. On this matter, I agree with Mendelssohn. Fully satisfied, I made the long journey home to Derby.

[elizavieta]

Thanks for the explanation Harv, but due to the magic of Google I have figured it out!

See, the unicycle was an  ice unicycle. NOW IT ALL MAKES SENSE.

[classicmusic]

Bruce Adolphe (of this) has a regular gig working for NPR's Performance Today, appearing with Fred Child on the Piano Puzzler, a weekly 'game show' on the radio program that challenges a caller (and listeners) to identify a popular tune that is hidden within the musical composition style of a classical music composer. Download a couple at the above link and see if you can guess...