Related News
British conductor leads US Independence Day concert
Source: Agencies |
July 1, 2010, Thursday
|
Online Edition
Online Edition
BRAMWELL Tovey, the conductor leading the popular Summertime Classics series at the New York Philharmonic this month, finds it amusing that a British musician is heading a concert to celebrate US Independence Day.
"I feel as if I should apologize," joked the Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer.
In a concert that Tovey will conduct to mark Independence Day on July 4, the New York Philharmonic will join forces with United States Military Academy Band.
When the West Point band performs the Armed Forces Service Medley, Philharmonic players who have served in the military will stand as the music representing the branch of the military where they served is played.
Tovey has no military background but he is descended from an army of another sort -- The Salvation Army. His grandfather was a Salvation Army preacher and secretarial assistant to Bramwell Booth, the son of the Salvation Army's founder William Booth.
It was in the Salvation Army that Tovey learned to play all the brass instruments.
Tovery, a pianist and a composer who studied at London University and the Royal Academy of Music, said he had wanted to learn as many instruments as possible because he realized early on that he wanted to become a conductor.
Since then Tovey, 56, has compiled an enviable collection of conducting posts.
Music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since September 2000, he is also principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic's Summertime Classics series since it was founded in 2004.
Unlike the Boston Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles, the New York Philharmonic does not program "Pops" concerts but the Summertime Classics series was designed to showcase programs of favorites drawn from the mainstream classical repertory.
Tovey's engaging, humorous commentary on the music about to be performed helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere.
After concluding its subscription season this June with a performance of Beethoven's monumental Missa Solemnis, the Summertime Classics series began with a program of works by Russian composers, including Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave," which the Philharmonic hadn't played for 25 years.
"We decided to program popular classical works that the orchestra had never played, or hadn't played in years," Tovey told Reuters. "That idea formed the backbone of Summertime Classics."
"I feel as if I should apologize," joked the Grammy Award-winning conductor and composer.
In a concert that Tovey will conduct to mark Independence Day on July 4, the New York Philharmonic will join forces with United States Military Academy Band.
When the West Point band performs the Armed Forces Service Medley, Philharmonic players who have served in the military will stand as the music representing the branch of the military where they served is played.
Tovey has no military background but he is descended from an army of another sort -- The Salvation Army. His grandfather was a Salvation Army preacher and secretarial assistant to Bramwell Booth, the son of the Salvation Army's founder William Booth.
It was in the Salvation Army that Tovey learned to play all the brass instruments.
Tovery, a pianist and a composer who studied at London University and the Royal Academy of Music, said he had wanted to learn as many instruments as possible because he realized early on that he wanted to become a conductor.
Since then Tovey, 56, has compiled an enviable collection of conducting posts.
Music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra since September 2000, he is also principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and host and conductor of the New York Philharmonic's Summertime Classics series since it was founded in 2004.
Unlike the Boston Symphony Orchestra and other ensembles, the New York Philharmonic does not program "Pops" concerts but the Summertime Classics series was designed to showcase programs of favorites drawn from the mainstream classical repertory.
Tovey's engaging, humorous commentary on the music about to be performed helps to create a more relaxed atmosphere.
After concluding its subscription season this June with a performance of Beethoven's monumental Missa Solemnis, the Summertime Classics series began with a program of works by Russian composers, including Tchaikovsky's "Marche Slave," which the Philharmonic hadn't played for 25 years.
"We decided to program popular classical works that the orchestra had never played, or hadn't played in years," Tovey told Reuters. "That idea formed the backbone of Summertime Classics."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
