Let the bidding begin!

Radius's 2009 Benefit Auction is now LIVE!

More auction info

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

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!

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

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

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

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!