Enjoy!
Welcome, Globe Readers!
If you read about A Far Cry in Friday's Boston Globe, thanks for stopping by to check us out! Take a look around our website - there's much to discover. If you haven't seen the online-only slideshow (complete with narration from Margaret and Jae), check it out here. The incredible photography is by Yoon Byun - see more of his work at yooners.com. Most of all, don't be a stranger! You can leave a comment right here on the blog by clicking "audience comments" below. You can sign up to receive an occasional concert notice email by clicking "Contact Us" above and joining our mailing list. Or (I saved the best for last) you can come see A Far Cry live in concert next weekend. Tickets are available through the "Concerts" link above.
Criers welcome Roger Tapping on viola!
A Far Cry has collaborated with a handful of fabulous flute and piano soloists, but until this point, never have we worked with a string soloist from outside the band. It is such an incredible honor for me to have my mentor and teacher, Roger Tapping, joining us as viola soloist for Britten’s Lachrymae on this cycle.
Roger is one of those musicians, one of those artists, that everyone admires. Not only is he an incomparable violist, but he is also a graceful diplomat, and a true gentleman. We were reluctant to have him join us for our very first reading of the Britten on Friday afternoon, because the first rehearsal is traditionally a time when the orchestra has the opportunity to fix and expose basic issues of ensemble, dynamics, character, and transitions. We were worried about embarrassing ourselves in front of a fellow musician who we look up to so much! But, his gentle leadership from the viola carried us through the rehearsal. He demonstrated his sound world, the palate of colors he wanted to use, the tempi he preferred, discussed dynamics with us, and the whole rehearsal felt like such incredible chamber music making. I can’t wait to continue to rehearse this piece with Roger and the Criers over the next week, and especially can’t wait for the performances!
Join us for one of the performances with Roger Tapping, either Thursday April 17th at Eastern Nazarene College (North Quincy, MA), or Saturday April 19th at Pickman Hall/Longy School of Music (Cambridge, MA). He’s going to knock your socks off!
Words and the Night
Dear reader, Words and the Night is going to be absolutely amazing. Mozart opens the evening with the perfect aperitif: Divertimento #3. Beautiful operatic melodies, perfect structure and balance, and a great sense of humor provide the ideal backdrop for an elegant evening soiree. Suddenly, the mood shifts...a cloud passes in front of the moon with two songs from 16th-century master John Dowland lamenting loneliness and elusive love. These are the same songs that inspired Benjamin Britten in the early 20th century to compose Lachrymae, a haunting, gorgeous conversation with Dowland, featuring the incomparable Roger Tapping on viola. The cloud passes, though, and the party resumes with two motets from the 16th-century Italian Palestrina, who (although separated by centuries) speaks the same language as Mozart.
The second half of the concert leaves the festive gathering and explores the night in isolation. Gesualdo, the 16th-century nobleman, musician and murderer, wrote some of the most tortured, chromatic and wildly emotional music one could imagine--truly the nighttime of the soul. The concert concludes with a kindred spirit, Arnold Schoenberg, exploring from his vantage point 300 years in the future the same issues of guilt, betrayal and loneliness, but also transformation and redemption. Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) tells the story of two lovers wandering in the moonlight. She makes a shocking confession, and he grants a transcending forgiveness, in one of the most beautiful works ever written for string orchestra. Don't miss these concerts - they are going to be our best yet!
On programming...
One of the questions we are frequently asked is, "How do you choose which music you play?" The truth is that we program collaboratively, with everyone being welcome to give their input. We take into account musical compatibility, potential connections between pieces, availability of soloists, and yes even the extra costs associated with choosing certain music. Words and the Night is a great example of the kind of open-minded, thought-provoking program which can result when musicians put their heads together. In this case, Megumi suggested Shoenberg's Verklarte Nacht, a masterpiece with strong connections to poetry and the night. Next, yours truly suggested 16th-century madrigals, in particular Gesualdo to pair musically and poetically with the Schoenberg. Then Jason bounced us back to the 20th century, suggesting Britten's Lachrymae with Roger Tapping, which just so happens to be based on 16th-century songs by Dowland. Finally, Jae found the perfect opener, a wonderful divertimento by Mozart, which pairs exquisitely with 16th-century motets by Palestrina. No single person was in charge. There were many false starts and dead-end ideas, but a truly collaborative solution finally presented itself, and the whole proved to much greater than the sum of the parts. That's A Far Cry in a nutshell.
Mr. Seymour Lipkin in Beantown April 20.
I spent 7 consecutive summers at the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival in Blue Hill, Maine, and Mr. Lipkin was there as the Artistic Director for every single one (and still is). He has coached me in numerous different chamber ensembles, including a memorable Brahms Piano Quintet in the year 2000. As a teacher, he is utterly unrelenting. If he hears something which he thinks is not communicating to him, he will right away let one know that the phrase is not coming out. "Again!" as he used to say, and we'd be trying our hardest to make the music breathe a little more. ("mere mortals" applied to my status every time..)
Because he knew how to do it... Grab those moments of ecstasy, and making you believe that one should strive to live in such beauty, as he chose how to touch the hammers of the piano to sculpt the last lines of the slow movement to the Schubert B-flat Piano Trio. As a frequent member of the audience at Kneisel Hall, every time a faculty concert would happen, was already an occasion, but especially when Mr. Lipkin would be performing, there was never a question that it was going to be electric. For 7 summers and twice most weekends, I heard everything he played on that stage and soaked it in as much as possible... The meat and potatoes of the chamber music repertoire, the Mozarts, the Beethovens, and the Brahms, he just knew it more convincingly than anyone I had ever met before or since that first year. And of course, behind a great man, there's always a greater woman. Ellen Werner, who is the Executive Director of Kneisel Hall, have been our surrogate summer mom for many summers, and she makes sure he is well, and we are well. We love you Seymour & Ellen.
So it is a sincere honor to be performing with one of my truest mentors and beacons of musical spirits, as he has agreed so generously to help A Far Cry mark its first year. This upcoming Sunday, April 20th at 4pm, at St. Paul's Church in Brookline (which is the 2nd installment of our April set), he will be performing the ebullient C Major Piano Concerto, no. 13, K. 415 by W. A. Mozart. I mean he is one of those rare old-school guys who's performances are completely spell-binding, and I assure you, the Criers are going to be SO excited to play, it is going to be off the hook!! Seriously, Boston... Do not miss this one!!! (Or the night before!!)
on missing rehearsal...
The other day, A Far Cry had its first rehearsal for our April concerts: Words and the Night. I missed it. (click "Continue Reading!") Please don't feel bad for me; I was in Florida with my girlfriend, lying on the beach, spotting dolphins, and eating delectable hogfish. I can think of worse reasons to miss a rehearsal. And yet, I really did miss it, like one misses the hand-holding of a loved one or Mom's home cooking. A Far Cry is a family, and I missed the reunion.
I wonder: how did it go? At the first rehearsal for our last set of concerts, Remixed Classics, we read Grieg's Holberg Suite, and we couldn't help but whoop when it was over. It was a feeling like riding a classic convertible for the first time in the spring after it's been garaged all winter. This time, were the Palestrina Madrigals soothing and lovely? The Mozart Divertimento chipper and bright?
We have an ambitious program to perform, including a number of original transcriptions, two different concertos, and a bona fide masterpiece, Schoenberg's Verklarte Nacht. Will we rise to the challenge? Meet it? Transcend it? I'm not concerned with the concerts - A Far Cry has yet to play a lackluster concert - and I'm not concerned with my ability to plug into what the group is doing - there are 12 more rehearsals for that. I'm not concerned with anything, really, except for the fact that I missed even one minute of the A Far Cry experience. I can hardly wait for that second rehearsal to come!
501(c)(3) non-profit!
A Far Cry received amazing news last week. The IRS (how often do you get good news from the IRS?) notified us that our application for tax-exempt status has been approved! A Far Cry, Inc. is now exempt from Federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code. We are officially a non-profit corporation.We need to first thank the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts (www.vlama.org) who approved our application for reduced-cost legal assistance, and for our incredible team at Ropes and Gray (www.ropesgray.com) who have shepherded us through the complicated process of obtaining tax exemption.
There are lots of reasons this is an important milestone for A Far Cry. Donations made to A Far Cry are now 100% tax-deductible. A whole world of grants available only to non-profits is now open to us. Most importantly of all, A Far Cry's mission - to spread light and joy in the world through incredible performances of incredible music - has gained in stature. No longer are we a rag-tag band of musicians who play together for the sheer love of it; now we have a higher responsibility to the public and to the world to carry on. We can lift the world to a better place article card consolidation credit debtcard credit debt get ridcard credit debt reducingcredit card merchant fee,credit card merchant,first national merchant credit card advantagecredit card bank of georgiabad card credit credit peoplelowest rate credit cardcard credit discover offerdebt interest credit card consolidationlow interest credit card offer,stop credit card offer,credit card offerbank card credit orchard servicescard credit service wirelessmonogram credit card bankdebt loan to pay off credit card,credit card debt loancredit card debt counselingapplication aspire card credit,aspire credit card applicationcapital one secured credit cardbank card credit household,bank card credit household service,bank card company credit householdcard credit debt help paycard college credit debt studentaccept credit card paymentdebt reduction credit card consolodationaccept card credit online payment,accept credit card payment onlineapplication? card credit secured ?,canadian secured credit card,secured credit cardcard consolidation credit debt programcard consolidate credit debtcard consolidation credit debt keywordmajor credit card companybest cash back credit card0 balance transfer credit cardbest rate and deal credit card,best credit card rateapply bad card credit creditcard credit debt eliminate heritage,eliminate credit card debt,calculator card credit debt eliminatebalance card credit introductory transfercard consolidation credit non profitzero apr credit card,zero percent apr credit cardcard credit debt elimination informationinstant approval uk credit cardcard credit discover payment,discover credit card payment centeraccount card credit merchantamerican black card credit expresscard chase credit online paymentbuy prepaid credit cardcard credit gateway paymentcard consolidation counseling credit debt texas,card card consolidation counseling credit credit debt,credit card counseling debt consolidationfree pcs ringtones sprintfree info phone remember ringtones sprint,info phone remember ringtones,info phone remember ringtones sentdownload info real remember ringtones,download free info remember ringtones,download info remember ringtonesdownload free real ringtones for tmobile,download free motorola ringtones,free ringtonesphone ringtones sprint by simply doing what we do. Get ready, world!
Youtube feedback
As we are preparing a new round of videos from our recently-completed "Remixed Classics" concerts, I decided to check out the videos we posted already, of some of our previous concerts. There was a lot of great feedback! Here's what people are saying about our online videos: Corelli Concerto Grosso op.6 #9 (1463 views)
- Just Wonderful...............thanks for posting!
- wow, super!
- mejor imposible. SUENA A GLORIA BENDITA (Jesse: not sure what this is about!)
- Awesome!
Elgar Introduction and Allegro (part 1 1032 views, part 2 1106 views)
- All of you sound amazing. Your intonation is right on. The dynamics are so well expressed. Elgar's Intro and Allegro: probably the most beautiful way ever played.
- immaculate
- wow! this is so awesome! you guys have such a great sound!
- omg we're playing this right now in orch, it's soooooo hard!!
- OMG so am I! And yes, it's a hard piece, but it's also really awesome. Probably one of my favorite string orchestra works! These guys do a remarkable job, not counting the fact that it's without a conductor. The fact that it's without conductor is remarkable in and of itself; one of the reasons that this piece is so hard is because it's so lushly written. So, congratulations to these guys for attempting the piece and playing it incredibly well!
- Introduction and Allegro is NOT an easy piece to play, but they did VERY well. I don't even know them and I'm proud of them
- WOW WOW THIS IS TOTALLY FANTASTIC we played this and did NOT do it justice in the slightest - this is unbelievable. WOW.
Quantz Flute Concerto in G with Karen Kevra (942 views)
- holy schnizzle...you guys sound amazing! orpheus, watch out!
- Yeah, they are beautiful performers!
- Yeeah, je veux le jouer comme ça ce concerto !! bravo =P
Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings (4th movement) (1587 views)
- wow, very good!
- wish i could hear more of the bassline cause that's my favorite part, but that was very very nice (Jesse: the little camcorder microphone was clearly not worthy of Karl's awesome-ness)
- mmm...tchaikovsky wrote a note for this piece that the bigger orchestra the better...but wow you guys sounded like a whole orchestra of 60
So... our videos have been watched over 6000 times, and that's what we're all about - reaching people! To find these videos yourself, just go to youtube.com and search for "afarcry" - as of now, 5 will come up, and shortly there will be some excellent new additions!
And thanks everyone so much for being so generous with your feedback. You know how to make a musician feel good :-)
We live for this!
Wow. A Far Cry in day-to-day life is amazing: a great collection of individuals, always an exhilarating experience, always striving for bigger and better things. Then A Far Cry performs, and everything ratchets up about 10 notches. Consider an Italian sports car: no matter how comfortable it is to tool around town, no matter how cushy the leather seats or how harmonious the surround-sound, you simply won't understand the soul of the machine without taking it to the race track and pushing it to its limits. A Far Cry is the Italian sports car of ensembles. One simply forgets, in day-to-day activity, the almost terrifying potential and power that lurks in the belly of the beast.
A Far Cry lives to perform. If you haven't experienced A Far Cry's current program, "Remixed Classics," you have one more chance: in a free performance at Cochran Chapel at the Andover Academy this Friday, February 1.
If you saw A Far Cry in concert this week, thank you so much for coming to support us! We'd love to hear from you - just click "Leave a comment..."
