Showing posts with label michael tilson thomas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label michael tilson thomas. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Ryan McKinny in world premiere of Rilke Songs with SF Symphony

Ryan McKinny
Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny will be featured along with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke in the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas' composition, "Rilke Songs," a musical setting of lyric poems by German modernist poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A number of composers have set Rilke texts to music, including Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg and Peter Lieberson.

Tilson Thomas has been an active composer throughout his career  In addition to Rilke, he has set the texts of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson and Anne Frank. Other compositions include Street Song for brass instruments and Agnegram, an overture for orchestra. This will mark Michael Tilson Thomas' 25th and final season as the San Francisco Symphony’s music.

Performances run from January 9-12 and tickets and additional concert information is available online.

McKinny returns to the operatic stage on February 29 for eight performances as the title character in Mozart's Don Giovanni with the Washington National Opera. He'll be joined by fellow barihunk Kyle Ketelsen as Leporello, along with Vannessa Vasquez as Donna Anna, Keri Alkema as Donna Elvira and Alek Shrader as Don Ottavio. In April, he takes on Jokanaan in Richard Strauss' Salome at the Houston Grand Opera with Lise Lindstrom in the title role and  Susan Graham as Herodias. 

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

Ryan McKinny featured in world premiere of Rilke Songs

Ryan McKinny (Photo from artist website)
Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will mark his 25th and final season as the San Francisco Symphony’s music director with a schedule that includes newly commissioned works by John Adams, Julia Wolfe, Adam Schoenberg and the composer/conductor himself.

Bass-barihunk Ryan McKinny will be featured along with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke in the world premiere of Tilson Thomas' composition, "Rilke Songs," a musical setting of lyric poems by German modernist poet Rainer Maria Rilke. A number of composers have set Rilke texts to music, including Alban Berg, Paul Hindemith, Anton Webern, Arnold Schoenberg and Peter Lieberson.

Tilson Thomas has been an active composer throughout his career  He has set the texts of Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Anne Frank. Other compositions include Street Song for brass instruments and Agnegram, an overture for orchestra.

Performances run from January 9-12 and tickets and additional concert information is available online.

Ryan McKinny can currently be seen in the European premiere of John Adams' "Girls of the Golden West" at the Dutch National Opera

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Zachary Gordin makes SF Symphony debut with Soundbox


Zachary Gordin: Mr January in the 2015 Barihunk Calendar
Barihunks calendar model Zachary Gordin is making his San Francisco Symphony debut with SoundBox, the orchestra’s new experimental performance venue and late-night live music series taking place backstage at Davies Symphony Hall on Saturday, December 13. The program,  spans over ten centuries of music from around the world, will be led by Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas. SoundBox is a new initiative aimed at attracting culturally-adventurous listeners to evenings of eclectic musical exploration and discovery, all in a nightclub-like setting.

"I’m thrilled to be one of the guest soloists for the inaugural performance of Soundbox. It’s an exciting new venture, bringing world class musicians from the San Francisco Symphony and Symphony Chorus together in an unconventional performance space, while creating a totally immersive experience for the senses," Gordin told Barihunks. "The acoustical environment will be altered for each piece of music by the wizards at Meyer Sound Laboratories, so the audience will be able to hear each piece in the acoustical environment it was meant for. There will be changing lights and projected art on huge screen panels, as well as an interesting menu of bites and cocktails, in a rehearsal hall that’s been transformed into a swanky night club. I’m most excited that this is my first time singing with Michael Tilson Thomas, and working with SF Symphony. He’s such a generous and collaborative Maestro, and an immensely gifted artist. I’m honored to be part of this project, and have loved watching it take shape."

Zachary Gordin (left) and Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek and Ramon Balderas
At the December 13 opening, Tilson Thomas will take listeners through a “musical tasting menu” that showcases the venue’s sound system which can alter the space’s acoustics to mimic a variety of different environments. Visual components of this opening show include Steina’s 1986 video Voice Windows, featuring the voice of Joan La Barbara. Voice Windows is co-presented at SoundBox by the SF Symphony and SFMOMA. Prior to the show’s start, guests will experience a soundscape installation derived from John Cage’s Branches (music for amplified plants), accompanied by plant-based imagery from video designer Adam Larsen.

The program includes “Stella splendens in monte” from the Llibre Vermell de Montserrat by Anonymous(arranged by Mason Bates), Plainchant and Kyrie from Missa Pange lingua by Josquin des Prez, Te Deum from Play of Daniel by Anonymous, Panda Chant II by Meredith Monk, Music for Pieces of Wood by Steve Reich, Introduction and Allegro by Maurice Ravel, Voice Windows, Integrales by Varèse and Magnificat from Vespro della Beata Vergine by Monteverdi.

The concert is SOLD OUT. Click HERE for information and tickets on upcoming Soundbox events.

You can enjoy Zachary Gordin and 18 other of opera's sexiest men in our 2015 Barihunks Charity Calendar by clicking on the LULU button below. Only 3 weeks left to order.
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Thursday, March 29, 2012

Eugene Brancoveanu on PBS' "The Thomashefskys" Tonight

Eugene Brancoveanu in The Machine at The Crucible

Barihunk Eugene Brancoveanu will be on PBS tonight as part of "The Thomashefskys: Music & Memories of a Life in the Yiddish Theater," which was written, hosted and conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas of the San Francisco Symphony.

It’s the story of Boris and Bessie Thomashefsky, two kids from little shtetls of the Ukraine who came to America and became the founders and pioneers of the American Yiddish Theater. The broadcast is scheduled on the Great Performances series on PBS on Thursday, March 29 at 8:00 p.m. (check local listings). If you forget to program your DVR, don't worry because the complete show will be released on DVD and digitally on April 24.

The Thomashefskys
Recorded in April 2011 at the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center in Miami Beach, the performance of The Thomashefskys for the March 29 broadcast. In addition to Brancoveanu, the performance features Judy Blazer. Gary Halvorson, Ronit Widmann-Levy and Shuler Hensley as Boris Thomashefsky.

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