Pianist Lauren Zhang, 16, ran off with the BBC YM of 2018 with a daring, gravity-defying performance of Prokofiev’s 2nd concerto.
The composer could never have imagined the tough piece being played by a teenager… and with such intensity and expressiveness.
Lauren, from Birmingham, showed unimaginable assurance and understanding.
UPDATE: What we have learned since her win:
1 This was her first encounter with a professional orchestra.
2 She’s from Albuquerque, New Mexico, migrating to England in 2010 when she got a place at the Birmingham Conservatoire.
3 She’s sitting her GCSE exams this week, starting tomorrow.
4 She has won a slot at the BBC Proms.
If you are in the UK, you can watch the final here.
Columbia University music department has put up a gofundme site on behalf of the composer Mary Kouyoumdjian, who has suffered the tragic loss of her composer fiancé, Matt Marks.
In just 24 hours, the site has racked up $26,495, with donations coming in from many leading names in contemporary music.
Some more background on Matt’s life and work here.
The entreprenurial pianist Nicholas King, a man who has been running a non-profit while studying at Juilliard, is about to graduate.
To mark the achievement, he has booked Carnegie Hall for his debut and landed a job as V-P at the investment firm AllianceBernstein.
Since he won’t need to make his living at the keyboard, it’s a no-pressure debut. But Nicholas has upped the stakes. ‘The concert is a gift to my parents for their continued support throughout my performance career, and they have absolutely no idea that the concert is dedicated to them!’ he tells Slipped Disc. ‘Warning: There is a 200% percent chance that my mother will cry during the concert. It is recommended that all audience members emotionally prepare themselves before attending.’
The German weekly goes in-depth on two cases in Munich that others have been reporting for years.
It has to be the most moving story I have heard over the years as a journalist. I was told by Leonidas Kavakos himself. A short time ago, the musician came to visit the intensive care unit of the newborns at the Children’s Hospital. He has seen the heroic efforts made by doctors to help infants and the difficult conditions in which they worked. The medical equipment is obsolete and many machines need upgrading. The director of the unit, Yannis Kapetanakis, begged him to come in with his violin to play for the newborn who give a real fight to keep alive.
He did. He played Bach to the babies, alone in their ward. After a few minutes, the miracle happened. Their intense heartbeats began to fall and his music proved to be medicine. Some of the infants were hours or days old. Yet their reaction to music was immediate. “It was an experience that I will never forget,” said Leonidas Kavakos. It is therefore no accident that the proceeds from his two appearances with the Athens State Orchestra in Athens and Thessaloniki this week will go to strengthen the unit, the Intensive Care Unit of the same hospital as well as the Parents’ Association Of Children with Neoplastic Diseases of Northern Greece, “Lampsis” in Thessaloniki.
The new music scene in New York has been shocked by the death of Matt Marks, a horn-playing founder of the ensemble Alarm Will Sound and a willing participant in vocal and other roles.
No cause has yet been given.
Alarm Will Sound broke news of his death:
It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Matt Marks, founding member of Alarm Will Sound. Matt was a one-of-a-kind mix of playfulness and gravity who was integral in shaping our identity as a band. Beyond his personality, his work as a composer, performer, and new-music advocate touched many in our community. He will be deeply missed. Thank you to those who have shared your support. We appreciate your sensitivity during this difficult time.
The critic Allan Kozinn writes:
So sorry, and shocked, to hear that Matt Marks died yesterday. A brilliant young composer, one of the driving forces in Alarm Will Sound and New Music Gathering, a champion poster of sometimes wry, sometimes uproarious social media comments, and a genuinely sweet funny guy, he mixed strands of classical influence and certain currents of pop deftly and astutely in his music, and was one of the bright lights of the New Music — one of the musicians who made it the vibrant place it now is. Just a day before his death, he was among the recipients of an NEA grant to support the staging of his opera, “Mata Hari.”
His own music aside, he was also a brilliant arranger – something he did, like seemingly everything else, with seriousness and humor intertwined. One of his contributions to the Alarm Will Sound repertory was this orchestration of the Beatles’ Revolution 9 (linked below) – something I played for my music criticism class (along with the original) at NYU nearly every year. RIP, Matt Marks and deepest condolences to Mary Kouyoumdjian, another very fine composer, and Matt‘s fiancée, and to all his friends and colleagues at AWS, NMG and elsewhere.
Mary Kouyoumdjian writes:
It is with great sadness and heartbreak that I announce the death of the love of my life and best human being I have been lucky enough to know, Matt Marks. Matt passed away this morning suddenly. Thank you to those who have shared their outpouring of love and support to myself, his friends, and his incredible family. We appreciate your sensitivity during this difficult time.
The vocal contest – less prestigious than violin or piano – was won last night by the German baritone Samuel Hasselhorn, 28.
Second was the French mezzo Eva Zaïcik, third the Chinese baritone Ao Li.
Tessa Jowell, who died today of brain cancer at the age of 70, was Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in the Blair Government for six years, 2001 to 2007.
Unlike most holders of that office, she loved going out.
You would see her at concerts and theatre her eyes alight with excitement. Backstage, she would tell artists how much they are loved. A party loyalist who once said she would throw herself under a bus if it helped Tony Blair, she did not hesitate to pose with political enemies – here with David Cameron on the Beatles crossing – if its served her cause, in this case winning the Olympics for London.
Her end was swift, sad and – as so often with Tessa – geared to the public good. Stricken with brain cancer, she made a heart-rending speech to the House of Lords urging better care for patients and more effort to beat the cancer blight.
I last saw her at a mutual friend’s house a few days before the Brexit referendum. Her party had fallen into extremist hands and she feared and loathed the coming Brexit victory, but Tessa was upbeat as ever, bubbling over about her teaching post at Harvard and quizzing me about what was cooking in the music world. She bore rancour to no-one and saw hope where others saw only darkness.
