Today I want to tell you about programming. Program change with the KBS SymphonyI had mentioned that my program in Korea has changed, and that's because the original program was for a large orchestra including brass, winds, percussion and strings.  Now, many musicians have had to isolate because of a case of Covid in the orchestra, and to be safe, the orchestra wishes to create a program that is for strings, and some woodwinds, horns and piano.  This will ensure that the concert can continue, but take precaution for everyone's safety.  Normally an orchestra programs a concert at least a year in advance of the concert.  In this case, I knew since Sept. what the program would be.  The librarian has to order music, often...

Shostakovich suffered terribly under the Stalinist regime, as did so many artists, and people of all kinds and positions. He had the ability to show two sides of himself through his music.  One was always on the surface, and the other hidden underneath. In this, his String Quartet #8 (arr. as his Chamber Symphony), he reveals his true self, even though much of the meaning is still hidden if you don't know what to look for.  It is profound to feel very close to a composer, and to understand, just in a tiny way, another life, another culture, another person's intimate emotions - and through music we can do this in a very special way. He spelled the first four letters of his name in this work, and used it as a motto.  He...

Hello everyone. I thought I’d show you a peek at the Shostakovich Chamber Symphony score. This is actually a fairly easy score to read because it's only for string instruments.  So, normally an orchestra conductor’s score has a separate line for each woodwind, brass, string and percussion which can add up to 25 or more lines to read all at once!  In this case, there are only five lines for Violin 1, Violin 2, Viola, Cello and Bass.  I’ll share a full score of a big orchestral work with you sometime.  Shostakovich has added "down bows" in two places.  You can see them in the third measure, and the ninth and they look like upside down square U’s.  You see that there is a slur (a curvy line) that connects these two bars...