Orchestra audition results are now online

Hi everyone,
After a grueling week of auditions (August 21 to August 26), we have now the results online and also on the Orchestra Board in Lincoln Hall.
For the Chamber Orchestra membership point your browsers to;
www.arts.cornell.edu/orchestra/ccomembers.htm
For Symphony Orchestra membership go to;
www.arts.cornell.edu/orchestra/join.html

Rehearsals begin this week.
CSO
Monday 630 -815 pm in Bailey Hall
CCO
Tuesday 445-615 pm in Barnes Hall

See you at rehearsal.

Auditions

Auditions start today with Violas and woodwinds.
Tomorrow is for Brass and percussion. Wednesday is for cello and bass. Thursday and Friday will be for violins.

Be sure to fill out the audition form.
If you'd like an audition time email me.
Here is the info on our website;
http://www.arts.cornell.edu/orchestra/join.html

Student tickets at Carnegie Hall

Here is a link to student subscriptions at Carnegie Hall. The Promo code is MSSU
Here is the info. They also have $10 rush tickets for many events.
There are some great concerts.

NEW! Student Subscription Series

New in the 2006-2007 season! Get an affordable Student Subscription and plan ahead at just $15 a seat.

International Festival of Orchestras I
5 Concerts for $75
October 23, 2006 • NHK Symphony Orchestra
November 4, 2006 • Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
November 27, 2006 • London Philharmonic Orchestra
March 2, 2007 • Vienna Philharmonic
March 27, 2007 • NDR Symphony Orchestra

International Festival of Orchestras III
4 Concerts for $60
November 3, 2006 • Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
December 7, 2006 • Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra
March 3, 2007 • Vienna Philharmonic
March 26, 2007 • NDR Symphony Orchestra

Great American Orchestras II
4 Concerts for $60
October 5, 2006 • The Cleveland Orchestra
December 8, 2006 • Chicago Symphony Orchestra
February 14, 2007 • Minnesota Orchestra
May 18, 2007 • San Francisco Symphony

Carnegie Hall Classics
3 Concerts for $45
December 5, 2006 • Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
January 13, 2007 • Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus
March 6, 2007 • Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra

Violin Virtuosos
4 Concerts for $60
October 14, 2006 • Maxim Vengerov / Alisa Weilerstein / Lilya Zilberstein
November 1, 2006 • Gidon Kremer / Krystian Zimerman
November 15, 2006 • Anne-Sophie Mutter / Lambert Orkis
April 10, 2007 • Sarah Chang / Ashley Wass

T shirt candidate

Here is another design for the CSO t shirt design.
If you'd like to submit a T shirt design please send them to me.

Tighter Security Is Jeopardizing Orchestra Tours

Here is a NYtimes article Daniel found which may concern us.
Hopefully it will get better by January.

CSO and CCO's first concert

The first concert of the fall semester for both orchestras is a joint concert on October 1.
It is much earlier than usual. Usually the first concert of the semester is the second week of October. But this fall we will have the first concert on October 1.
Program will be;
Mozart Magic Flute Overture [CSO]
Mozart Piano concerto K. 453 with Frederic LaCroix [CCO]
Bernstein Divertimento for Orchestra [CSO]

Past concerts on CD and not Cassette

You can create your own picture of a cassette from the above site.
CCO's performance of Nicholas Walkers pop bass concerto is available on CD with a $10 donation to the orchestra.

audition info update

Hi everyone,
Here are the updated audition info for the orchestra auditions next week.

Audition info for 2006-2007 Season

University Symphony Orchestra, University Chamber Orchestra,
Audition Dates: Monday, August 21 - Sunday, August 27, 2006
Audition Location: Lincoln Hall Room 332

Monday, August 21, 2006
- Rm 332 viola only 1-5 PM [with Andrew Justice]
- Rm 332 winds only 7-10 PM[with Chris Gendall]
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
- Rm 332 brass only 1-5 PM [with Ryan Zawel]
- Rm 332 percussion only 7-9 PM [with Jim Armstrong]
Wednesday, August 23 2006
- Rm 332 cello only 1-5 PM [with John Haines Eitzen]
- Rm 332 bass only 7-10 PM [with Nicholas Walker]
Thursday, August 24, 2006
- Rm 332 violin only 1-5 PM [with Steve Miahky]
- Rm 332 violin only 7-9 PM [with Steve Miahky]
Friday, August 25, 2006
- Rm 332 violin only 1-5 PM [with Steve Miahky]
- Rm 332 violin only 7-10 PM [with Steve Miahky]
Saturday, August 26, 2006
-Rm 332 by appointment only
Sunday, August 27, 2006
- Rm 332 by appointment only


All new and current members of both Chamber Orchestra and Symphony must reaudition each fall.

Auditions will last 10 minutes each.

Prepare 6 to 7 minutes of music to play at the audition. Contrasting excerpts from the solo or orchestral literature are best: something fast and flashy, something slow and lyrical. Select repertoire that demonstrates your technical ability and musical skill; do not choose music that is too difficult for you, or that you have not thoroughly prepared.

You will also be asked to sightread several passages from the standard orchestral repertoire, to demonstrate facility with transposition skills (if relevant), and possibly to play a specified major.

Please complete the Audition Form and bring it to your audition.
Download Audition Form [www.arts.cornell.edu/orchestra/auditionform.pdf]

Sign-up: Request an audition time starting August 1, 2006, via email by contacting Professor Chris Younghoon Kim; cyk8(at)cornell.edu

Audition Tips:

Be on time for the appointment. If you are late, you risk having a shortened audition.

Warm up thoroughly before the audition. Practice rooms on the basement floor of Lincoln Hall will be available for this purpose during the entire audition period.

Indicate a preference for an ensemble at the time of your audition, although you will be placed in a particular group according to the directors' evaluations of the audition.

Acceptance and placement lists:

Lists will be posted on the Orchestra Board in Lincoln Hall.

All musicians accepted for membership are expected to attend the organization's first rehearsal, as announced on the posted lists. Be sure to check ALL of the acceptance lists carefully, as you may not be placed in your first-choice ensemble.

All orchestra members must be available for all rehearsals and concerts. Please check the schedule of rehearsals and concert dates posted online.

Contact Prof. Chris Younghoon Kim at 255-8614 or cyk8(at)cornell.edu for additional information about upcoming auditions.

Call for guest bloggers

For all current and past members of the Cornell Orchestra I would like to ask if there is interest to serve as guest bloggers.
If you are interested in please contact me.

Another article about ban on musical instruments on planes

Here is another report on traveling with instruments.
Here are two excerpts from the comment section;

Like Ms Morneweg, I am a cellist. I am travelling to Germany tomorrow to rehearse for a premiere of a new cello concerto, written for me, at the Salzburg Festival on Tuesday. I cannot cancel, because no-one else has learnt this concerto; I cannot put my priceless 18-century Italian cello in the hold - it would not be insured in there (as far as I know) and besides, to risk the desecration of such an irreplaceable work of art would be irresponsible and wrong. So I am taking the train tomorrow - a 10-hour ride, as opposed to the one-hour flight.
Steven Isserlis CBE, London, UK

and

I am now a second year cellist at a conservatory. Due to financial limits, I cannot afford to buy a seperate seat for my cello when I travel between school and home, and often pay the consequences: on one trip, a new, $1000 cello case I had recently purchased appears to have had someone in security try to pry the two halves apart, mangling the alignment of the case. This likely continued until someone realized that the case might more easily be opened by unhooking the snaps, which I left unlocked in case the case was searched. It would seem that there has been too little policy issued or consideration taken for what to do with instruments and instrument cases. Hopefully, incidents of such blatant abuse are rare. However, with increased security searches, it appears that musicians will continue to suffer a higher incidence of instrument mistreatment.
Edward Vigneau, Huntington, USA

Flight curbs hit festival concert

Here is a link to an article about the recent terror plot's effect on orchestra of St Lukes ability to travel to the Edinburg festival.
Hopefully this will not be a factor when we go on tour in January of 2007 to Berlin.
It is getting more and more difficult to travel as musicians.

Simon Rattle quote

In the above article Simon Rattle talks about why music is to him. I look forward to making music with all of you this coming year. Please remember to email me for an audition time.

"The humour fits with the lack of grandiloquence Rattle displays when explaining what music ultimately is to him. "I always had the feeling," he says softly, pausing frequently, "that beyond the sheer pleasure principle, the job of music was to express to people that they were not alone; that someone else had felt this, or was searching for an explanation to this. I still feel that, of all the arts, it is the most visceral, has the most direct access to the emotional bloodstream."
-Simon Rattle

haus der musik

Today I explored an intriguing museum/exhibit/space in Vienna. It is called Haus der Musik. It has over five floors of various sound installations and exhibits ranging from a floor dedicated to the Wiener Philharmoniker, a floor dedicated to composers connected with Vienna; Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Mahler, Schoenberg, Webern and so forth. Tod Machover of MIT also has a section dedicated to his Brain Opera. But by far the best part for me, since I am a conductor, was a virtual conducting program which is interactive. Der Virtuelle Dirigient, allows anyone to hold a sensor equipped baton and conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. You have a choice of four compositions to conduct from; Mozart's Little Night Music, Strauss' Blue danube Waltz, Die Fledermaus overture, and a Strauss March. They have filmed the actual Vienna Philharmonic playing these four pieces from an aerial view (quasi viewpoint of the conductor). There are some hilarious reactions if the conductor is not able to keep a steady beat. Once someone fails to keep a reasonably constant beat, someone from the orchestra stands up and protests quite vehemently. The entire orchestra than berates the conductor. If you conduct to the end of a piece without someone complaining about your unsteady tempo, than a invisible audience applaudes wildly. The program allows for quite a bit of flexibility in tempo. The program even allows for dynamic contrast. If you conduct large beats the orchestra will play loudly and if you conduct smaller beats they will play softly. Very well designed. Although I must say it is far more amusing for people watching if someone fails and a violist or a horn player in the orchestra starts to complain vigorously. There are several variations. It is not always the violist who complains.

Musikverein

This week I had a chance to visit the Musikverein in Vienna. This hall is of course most famous for their annual New Year's concert with the Vienna Philharmoniker. I was told there are actually three performances of the New Year's concert that happens each year. Only one on New Year's Day is televised across the world. There is a lottery system to get a ticket. So each year right after the concert you can request a ticket either in person or on their website. Last year they had over 60,000 requests for the tickets. Not all 1400 or so seats are available for the lottery ticket system. Some are reserved for sponsors and higher ups. The Musikverein is actually a private entity. Most of their funding comes from their actual ticket sales. 96 percent of the concerts are sold out. There are two halls, the main hall and also the Brahms Hall which present chamber music concerts and seats about 600 people. A Statue of Brahms, who was the music director of the Music society for three years overlooks the small hall. On the landing of the stair way to the two halls, there is a statue of Clara Schumann who played the very first concert of the music society. The Music society also holds a very large collection of manuscripts by Brahms and Schubert. One of the most fascinating aspect of the hall for me was the fact that the great acoustics is achieved by both design and accident. Below where the audience sits, is a very large and tall room. It was initially built to store the chairs of the hall during the Viennese ball which occur each year. However they discovered when the storage room is empty the hall sounds much better since the floor acts as a giant sounding board. In fact, all four walls, the stage floor, and the ceiling are free floating and thus act as vibrating surfaces, or sounding boards. Even the gold sculptures surrounding the hall is hallow inside to accommodate acoustics. The ceiling is hanging from the rafters so that it too can vibrate.

Alex Ross' Article on Mozart

Hi everyone,
Greetings from Vienna. To celebrate the 250th year of Mozart's birth we have a number events planned throughout the upcoming season. The chamber orchestra will devote the fall concerts to presenting four Mozart concerti (K. 453, K. 414, K. 271 and K. 456) with four students of Malcolm Bilson. And K. 271 will be played again with Malcolm Bilson at Smith College. We will finish the fall semester with a concert in Rochester, NY with all four concerti. Symphony will open the fall semester with Mozart's Magic Flute overture. CCO will finish the year with guest artists Roberto Diaz (of the Philadelphia orchestra and now the dean of the Curtis school of music) and Gabriela Diaz(his younger sister, and also a fantastic free lance violinist in Boston) in a performance of Sinfonia Concertante. (a side note- I first met Gabriela when I heard her heart pounding performance of the Ligeti's violin concerto).

Here is an essay by one of my favorite writers on new music about an experience of taking three months to listen to Mozart's entire output on his ipod.

In my favorite passage from his essay, Mr. Ross contemplates what critics might say if Mozart had lived on to old age;
"Mozart was still a young man, discovering what he could do. In the unimaginable alternate universe in which he lived to the age of seventy, an anniversary-year essay might have contained a sentence such as this: “Opera houses focus on the great works of Mozart’s maturity—‘The Tempest,’ ‘Hamlet,’ the two-part ‘Faust’—but it would be a good thing if we occasionally heard that flawed yet lively work of his youth, ‘Don Giovanni.’ ”

And about K. 271 which the CCO will play;
"...most strikingly, the Piano Concerto No. 9, which is a three-act instrumental opera of energetic play, melancholy withdrawal, and happy return."

Enjoy
p.s. picture is the quite touristy statue in the Volksgarten in Vienna I took a few days ago.