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Follow us to Facebook

2009-08-10T10:22:00.002-04:00

We're moving the blog over to Facebook. Come check it out! You don't need to have a Facebook account to read news, browse photos, or learn about upcoming events, though if you create a free Facebook account and become a fan, you'll be notified via email when we have something exciting to share. Hope to see you there!

Free family concert photos

2009-05-18T16:31:00.002-04:00

The free family concert this past Saturday was fabulous! Lots of kids and parents turned out - more than 75! - and enjoyed songs about animals, including Peter and the Wolf. The best part was when the kids played along with us on kazoos and hand percussion. Enjoy the photos!

May podcast

2009-05-11T14:51:00.004-04:00

In the 1910s, having achieved great eminence in his home country, Debussy worked on his opera The Fall of the House of Usher, which remained unfinished at his death, the cantata Ode à la France, also unfinished, and other large-scale works. He also projected a series of six “sonatas” for various instrumental combinations, only three of which he completed. The first was the Cello Sonata (1915), followed by the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp, and the Violin Sonata. A fourth was to have been for oboe, horn, and harpsichord, which like the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp suggests that the composer was comparing musically the potential of the traditional versus the non-traditional ensemble. (From the program note by Robert Kirzinger)

DEBUSSY Sonata for flute, viola, and harp (recorded live 5/2/09)
Sarah Brady, flute
Sergey Tarashchansky, viola
Ina Zdorovetchi, harp
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Where is Killian Hall?

2009-04-28T12:55:00.004-04:00

Killian Hall can be tricky to find. After a request to add a photo of Killian Hall from the exterior to our site, we decided to take it a step further and give you turn-by-turn pictorial directions from 77 Mass Ave and from Memorial Drive. Check out our new Flickr photostream here. Enjoy!

Directions from Mass Ave

Directions from Memorial Drive

Special thanks to our intern extraordinaire Liz for taking these great snapshots.

March podcast

2009-03-15T13:50:00.003-04:00

Brahms’s String Quintet No. 1 in F, Opus 88, is a relatively late piece. He wrote it in spring 1882, immediately after completing his Piano Trio in C, Opus 87; the two pieces were premiered together in Frankfurt on December 29, 1882. Why did Brahms turn to the genre of the quintet of two violins, two violas, and cello, having in his youth (pre-Symphony No. 1) written two masterful works for string sextet along with three string quartets? It may be that Mozart’s great works for string quintet suggested the choice; like Mozart, Brahms seemed to have a fondness for the added inner voice and the richness of texture that that provided. (From the program note by Robert Kirzinger)

BRAHMS String quintet in F, Op. 88 (recorded live 3/7/09)
Jae Young Cosmos Lee, violin
Jesse Irons, violin
Stephanie Fong, viola
Marcus Thompson, viola
Miriam Bolkosky, cello
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Two nice reviews

2009-03-09T21:55:00.001-04:00

We received two nice reviews today, one from the new online magazine the Boston Music Intelligencer, and one from the Boston Globe.

Let the bidding begin!

2009-02-27T12:50:00.001-05:00

Radius's 2009 Benefit Auction is now LIVE!

More auction info

2009-02-20T10:15:00.003-05:00

We're almost ready to publish our online auction, starting a week from today on Ebay. Thanks to Ebay and their charitable partner, Mission Fish, we'll earn 100% of each item's final sale price - Ebay donates back all listing fees and commissions.

Here's a preview to whet your appetite...

Rock Band 2 Special Edition Bundle for Xbox 360. AUTOGRAPHED by the game’s creators at Harmonix Music Systems. Bundle includes guitar, drums, microphone, and game.

WICKED - First edition hardcover, autographed by Gregory Maguire.

Inman Oasis gift certificate: 45 minute soak for two in private hot tub

Auction

2009-01-27T13:02:00.002-05:00

In celebration of our tenth anniversary (and in light of our lousy economy), we're conducting an online auction in March. We've got some tremendous items already, including autographed Yo-Yo Ma CDs, a signed copy of Rock Band, and a gift certificate to the wonderful Elephant Walk restaurant. We'll be announcing the auction formally in the coming weeks, but if you have anything to contribute or would like to volunteer your time, please contact us at radius@radiusensemble.org. Thanks and stay tuned!

Happy new year!

2008-12-31T10:36:00.004-05:00

I took some time to clean out a closet this week and found this great photo from our first season. This shot was taken in the lobby of Pickman Hall at Longy in late 1999 or early 2000. Most of our original members have moved on (and we miss them!) but you'll see Anne Howarth (horn), Sarah Bob (piano) and yours truly below. It's fun to see where we've been as I think about where we'll go in the next decade.

Happy new year!

November podcast

2008-12-06T20:46:00.008-05:00

The busiest and most successful period in the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the five-year span following his permanent move from Salzburg to Vienna in March 1781. Mozart’s fame reached its height during the next few years. His piano concertos, in particular, were popular, and there were many subscribers willing to pay to hear the young man perform these brilliant, elegant works. Most of his concerts took place during Lent, when theatrical productions were forbidden. One of the peaks of Mozart’s activity came in the Lenten season of 1784, when he gave concerts on three successive Wednesdays beginning March 17. The Quintet in E-flat, K.452 was first performed on April 1, along with two Piano Concertos: No. 15 in B-flat, K.450, and No. 16 in D, K.451. At the time he considered these “the best work he ever composed.” (From the program note by Robert Kirzinger)

MOZART Quintet in E-flat for piano and winds, K.452 (recorded live 11/15/08)
Jennifer Montbach, oboe
Eran Egozy, clarinet
Gregory Newton, bassoon
Anne Howarth, horn
Robert Levin, piano
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Radius on WGBH

2008-11-08T19:51:00.006-05:00

This Friday (November 14), Radius Ensemble's clarinetist Eran Egozy, creator of Rock Band and the original Guitar Hero, discusses his passion for classical music on WGBH's weekly radio program, Classical Connections.

The segment will air at 8:34 am (Morning Edition) and 5:44 pm (All Things Considered) on WGBH 89.7FM. The segment will also be streamed and archived at the Classical Connections website.

Don't miss it!

Sarah

2008-10-28T14:58:00.005-04:00

Flutist Sarah Brady is Radius Ensemble’s newest member. On November 15, she will be featured on two pieces, Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasiliaras No. 6 for flute and bassoon, and Radius’s fifth world premiere commission, Tone Grafting for flute and strings by Jonathan Bailey Holland, the Ensemble’s 2008-2009 composer in residence. She praises her friend Jonathan Holland for writing “beautiful music” that is “new but accessible.” Sarah had a significant part in the piece’s composition, demonstrating for Holland the timbres and techniques of the flute, alto flute, and piccolo. She is modest about her role though, saying that she just provided a “box of crayon colors.” 

Sarah didn’t start off playing the flute. In the fourth grade, she played viola because it was “so easy.” Later on in band class, she chose the flute to avoid brass. By middle school, Sarah knew  she would be making music for a long time. In her undergraduate years she double-majored in flute and voice. While she never finished her voice degree, she “lives vicariously” through singers from the orchestra pit of the Opera Boston.   A large percentage of Sarah’s impressive career has been spent playing contemporary music in ensembles such as Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and several others. She says that Radius, with whom she’s appeared several times in the past, gives her the opportunity to play a more diverse repertoire of music that spans more time periods, as well as a connection with old colleagues like pianist Sarah Bob.

What’s on Sarah’s ipod? She says rock, jazz, alternative and folk music, are all good to listen to while running; she does not listen to much classical music in her free time, finding it overwhelming to listen to casually. Instead, she recharges her intellectual battery with groups such as Vampire Weekend, Muse, Radiohead, and a Mexican guitar duo called Rodrigo y Gabriela. 

Meet Sarah on November 15!

September podcast

2008-10-06T13:03:00.005-04:00

Janáček loved the music of speech, sometimes stopping a friend or colleague mid-sentence to jot down the pitches and rhythm of a particular turn of phrase. His rollicking Mládi opens with just such a phrase, which translates as "Youth, golden youth." He wrote this sextet (wind quintet plus bass clarinet in 1924 for his own 70th birthday. In addition to "speech-melodies," you'll also hear Moravian polkas and folksongs.

JANÁČEK Mládi (Youth) (recorded live 9/27/08)
Joanna Goldstein, flute
Jennifer Montbach, oboe
Eran Egozy, clarinet
Rane Moore, bass clarinet
Carlos Arias, bassoon
Anne Howarth, horn
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider a contribution. Gifts of all sizes are appreciated!

Review in today's Globe

2008-09-29T10:26:00.003-04:00

We got a nice review in today's Boston Globe. Check it out!

Stay tuned for the podcast later this week.

Jae

2008-09-19T11:18:00.001-04:00

Jae Young Cosmos Lee, Radius Ensemble’s newest member on violin, loves hip-hop, lactose-free orange sherbet at JP Licks, and listening to Vivaldi in the morning. (Vivaldi’s combination of strings and harpsichord go perfectly with a cup of coffee, he says.) Jae was three and a half when he was handed a violin. If given a choice, he said, he would have played piano or timpani, mainly so that intonation difficulties would no longer exist. Even so, the violin has made his life “very rich,” giving him the versatility to use it in many genres and settings.

In a classical music world that increasingly offers fewer opportunities to play music regularly, Radius has been a positive outlet for Jae. The kind of concerts Radius presents and the unique “pizazz” of the group are among the drawing factors for him. (And, pianist Sarah Bob and cellist Miriam Bolkosky are longtime colleagues.)

On Radius Ensemble's September 27 season opener, Jae will be playing Augusta Read Thomas’s “Pulsar” for solo violin. The title, he says, is embedded throughout the piece. It is the first of Thomas’s pieces he has played. “Motor-like,” “on the edge,” and “jarring,” are descriptions Jae uses. He compares the piece to an ab workout or a Jackie Chan sprawling session because of its perpetual intensity, large leaps between registers, and constantly changing meter. However, within the piece’s intensity are moments of reflection, and it is in these moments that there is a human quality to the work.

When asked what's on his own iPod, Jae reveals with enthusiasm his diverse tastes in music. He grew up listening to indie rock, including groups like the Pixies, and these days is a fan of Minneapolis hip-hop group called Atmosphere, who combine old school hip-hop with other types of flavors like jazz.

As for where he gets his lactose-free orange sherbet, his favorite local ice cream haunt is JP Licks (located in several of Boston area’s popular hot spots) because they offer lactose-free flavors. Being a lover of dairy but unable to eat it, having JP Licks "makes me really happy,” he says. Sounds to me like he'll evoke that happiness for the fans of Radius. Join us on September 27 at Killian Hall to hear Jae and Radius Ensemble open their tenth season.

To clap or not to clap

2008-09-16T14:24:00.005-04:00

Way back when we started this venture, we thought it would be cool if we encouraged our audience to clap between movements if they so chose. It worked... for awhile at least (how could you not clap - or laugh out loud! - at the end of the first movement of Berio's Opus Number Zoo, when the flutist says wryly, "That's all folks!"?).

But as our audience came to be filled more with strangers and less with our parents and roommates (huzzah!), the spontaneous clapping stopped. I miss it.

I googled "classical clapping" and found this guide to concert etiquette, which frankly makes me (and my colleagues) cringe:

When you read your program, you will probably notice between two and five major compositions of music, with several movements listed as subcategories of each. It is best not to clap between movements of a larger composition. Certainly, though, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between movements and keep track of where the performers are in the course of the program, particularly if you are unfamiliar with classical music. Therefore, if you are unsure of whether or not clapping is appropriate, follow the lead of the experienced audience members around you.

...

Although you don’t need to dress as if you were attending a state dinner at the White House or a royal wedding, you will probably feel more comfortable at a classical concert if you dress in a respectful manner. Different audience members will interpret this in different ways, but you should generally avoid clothing with holes, rips, or tears; very casual shorts, skirts, or jeans; and very casual t-shirts or tank tops.

A safe outfit for a female would be a nice dress or suit, and for a male, nice pants and a jacket and tie. Less formal dress may be acceptable, as may more formal dress, but a good rule of thumb might be to dress as if you were going to attend your church, synagogue, or other house of worship, visit the bank for a loan, or make an appearance to defend yourself in court.

Emphasis mine. :)

But I also found this, more encouraging article:

While the attitude toward clapping often appears to novice concert-goers as a secret code developed in ancient times, there's actually no historical precedent for it.

...

There is ample historic proof of the expectation of applause. Mozart famously wrote to his family with pride in 1778 when one of his pieces was so well-received it needed to be encored. "At the premiere of Beethoven's Seventh, they applauded so vociferously they had to repeat it, right then," says [Leonard] Slatkin.

...

"All of us love applause ... it means that the listener LIKES us!" writes [Emmanuel] Ax. "I really hope we can go back to the feeling that applause should be an emotional response to the music rather than a regulated social duty."

So, what do you think?

Where's the podcast?

2008-08-21T09:40:00.013-04:00

As I mentioned in Monday's post, we've decided to integrate our podcast into this blog. That way, you'll be able to subscribe to the RSS feed and download audio tracks as soon as they are available. Only works in the public domain are podcast, though we are looking into licensing for contemporary works.

Below is an archive of audio tracks from previous seasons. Enjoy!

-------

SCHUMANN Piano Quartet, Op. 47 (recorded live 5/3/08)
Gabriela Diaz, violin
Wendy Richman, viola
Rebecca Thornblade, cello
Sarah Bob, piano
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4

SCHUBERT Piano Trio No. 2 in E-flat, D929 (recorded live 9/29/07)
Gabriela Diaz, violin
Miriam Bolkosky, cello
Sarah Bob, piano
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4

BEETHOVEN Quintet for piano and winds, Op. 16 (recorded live 5/5/07)
Jennifer Montbach, oboe
Eran Egozy, clarinet
Susannah Telsey, bassoon
Anne Howarth, horn
Alison d'Amato, piano
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

MOZART Quintet for clarinet and strings (recorded live 3/3/07)
Eran Egozy, clarinet
John Holland and Angelia Cho, violins
Wendy Richman, viola
Miriam Bolkosky, cello
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3
Movement 4

ROUSSEL Trio for flute, viola and cello (recorded live 9/30/06)
Alicia DiDonato, flute
Wendy Richman, viola
Miriam Bolkosky, cello
Movement 1
Movement 2
Movement 3

Welcome to the new Radius Blog!

2008-08-18T13:17:00.004-04:00

Over the next year, we look forward to bringing you not only concert news, but profiles of our members and guest artists and general musings about music and the cultural life of Boston.

Joining me in posting here will be our new PR Intern, Elizabeth Erenberg, a flutist and recent graduate of University of Oregon and other guests.

Finally, if you're wondering where the podcast has gone to, fear not. In the next few days, I'll be linking to past performances, and will tag those posts accordingly. We'll also be appending links to mp3s of live performances in future posts. If you subscribe, you'll have access to recordings as soon as they're available.

If you haven't done so already, join the email list, add our blog feed to your inbox, leave your comments, and join us at an upcoming concert!