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New CD Releases from Diller-Quaile Faculty
Steven Graff (Head of the Piano Department) has just released a new solo CD on Centaur Records titled Music from America's First and Second Cities. It is a collection of contemporary piano music by composers from New York (Barber, Gershwin, and Del Tredici) and Chicago (Muczynski, Sowerby and La Montaine). For more information, please visit www.centaurrecords.com.
In addition, Jonathan Newell (Piano Faculty) plays several of his own piano compositions, as well as works by Bach, Chopin, and Stravinsky, on his new self-titled album. Please go to www.jonathannewellmusic.com for more details.
Senior Recital Schedule for Spring 2009
The Instrumental and Vocal Department has announced the schedule of Senior Recitals featured this coming spring. They are as follows:
DQ Faculty Member's Ensemble Performs at the Library of Congress
Instrumental and Vocal (cello) faculty member Leigh Stuart's group, Fireworks Ensemble, recently gave a concert at the Library of Congress, which was reviewed by Stephen Brookes in The Washington Post (on 10/31/08):
If there's a patron saint of chamber music, it's undoubtedly Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, whose support of this neglected genre was so strong she even built the Library of Congress an auditorium to play it in. Coolidge would have turned a sprightly 144 on Thursday, and the library marked the occasion with a performance by the Fireworks Ensemble -- a young octet every bit as adventurous and ahead of the curve as the revered lady herself.
The classically trained Fireworks players say they're out to "redefine the chamber music experience for a new generation of listeners" by expanding the repertoire into new areas, and this we can only applaud. The world of chamber music can feel airless, smothered in the kind of tonier-than-thou connoisseurship that makes sensible people flee for the hills, but the Fireworks players threw open the windows and let the air in. Playing everything from electric guitars to an orange kazoo, they romped through Norwegian folk songs, a Bollywood film score, some baroque dance music and a Duke Ellington classic, even taking a stab at the dance club electronica of Aphex Twin -- cleverly reverse-engineered for acoustic instruments.
It was as fresh and fun as it sounds, and when it worked, it worked beautifully. You lose a certain authenticity when, for instance, you arrange a Haydn string quartet for electric guitar and soprano saxophone, but it's well worth hearing at least once. And there were some fine solos, particularly by violinist Kathryn Eberle. Chamber music may not have been "redefined," but it definitely got a kick in the pants -- and Coolidge herself would probably have enjoyed the party.
Diller-Quaile String Quartet to Record for Britten-Pears Library
The Diller-Quaile String Quartet has been invited to record examples of Benjamin Britten's unpublished student works for the Thematic Catalogue project underway at the Britten-Pears Library in Aldeburgh, England. DQSQ member and Head of the String Department, Phil Hough, traveled to Aldeburgh this past July to study Britten's string quartets.
DQ News
The Diller-Quaile Fall 2008 newsletter (now in full color) has been printed and mailed to all Diller-Quaile families and adult students. A PDF version of DQ News may be found here.
DQ Guitar and Theory Teacher Featured in Guitar Review
Bradley Colten, who is a member of Diller-Quaile's guitar and theory faculty (and is one half of Arc Duo), is interviewed in the summer 2008 issue of Guitar Review magazine. Read the article here.
DQ Student Featured in NY Family Magazine
DQ voice student Joshua Siegel was featured in the July 2008 issue of NY Family Magazine, where he spoke about his DQ voice lessons and love for music. Read the article here.