It does not quite fit the current season, but anyway, I’ll be performing the premiere of my piano piece November Lament next Friday, 7:30 pm, in my university‘s recital hall, as part of an amazing concert programmed by our music theory classes. If you can manage a mournful, sombre, and autumnous facial expression, please come around and help me getting into the mood!
Limitations of Vocal Repertoire
This has been an issue to me ever since I started observing classical music: Singers tend to ignore a large portion of the repertoire composed for them. While common practice of vocalists seems to be limited to music from a period of some 250 years, most Renaissance, early Baroque, and 20th-century music is neglected. Read my full complaint on the Hello Stage blog.
Letter to Music Educators
To all Berlin-based musicians and music teachers: Please take notice of an extended article co-authored by Helge Harding and me, published on the website of the Tonkünstlerverband Berlin (DTKV). The essay is concerned with the current state of freelance musicianship and music education in Berlin, pleading for more professionalized activity and engagement. Feel free to read, share, and comment. We’d also appreciate you to get involved yourselves!
PhD Symposium in Vienna
Who was that fabulous Russian composer-pianist of German ancestry named Nikolai Medtner, and what made him so noteworthy as a creator of piano sonatas? Dear Vienna residents, come and learn more this Thursday, May 19, 2 pm, at Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst‘s Fanny Hensel hall. I’ll be presenting part of my PhD work in an one-hour talk on Medtner‘s Sonata Triad, Op. 11, and G minor Sonata, Op. 22. Would be fantastic to have your company. Entrance to the PhD symposium is free.
Fruits of the Semester Break
The last few weeks have been busy and productive. Wordy Medtner analyses are growing, a fresh wind quintet is currently emerging, and more of my granduncle Günther Bitzan’s music will soon be edited and published. Now awaiting a new challenge in teaching music theory at Hanns Eisler School of Music from next week on.