Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893
Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35
USSR Orchestra, Conducted by Gauk & Kondraschin.
Solo violin: David Oistrach
Vox Productions Recording
Sonata in G Minor, Op. 19
1st movement: Allegro moderato
2nd movement: Canzonetta, Andante
3rd movement: Finale, Allegro vivacissimo
Interrupting the usual introspective musicking on here to spotlight a project that I’ve poured the last three weeks into: smART Magazine. It’s my collaboration with Lighthouse Immersive (the good folks behind the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit) motivated both by the need to keep the limbs moving despite the shortage of activity in the performing arts this year, and a long-standing desire to create a visually engaging digital space that approaches the arts less from a review/preview perspective and a more celebratory aperture. Issue No.2 was launched just the other day and I’m pressing all the buttons I know to get this digital magazine some much deserved eyeballs.
Alexander Neef, portrait by Kayla Ramu
It was a lot of putting this together, from myself and the brilliant collaborators in the writing and illustrating department. Special thanks to Erin Baldwin, Camilla Mikolajewska, Emily Trace, Dani Williams, Jeremy Lewis, Kalya Ramu, Olga Nabatova—and the host of folks who spared a moment to contribute to this in some way. Plus a huge thank you to Lighthouse for believing in this.
There’s been a lot of talk this week about including more diverse voices in spaces occupied by the performing/classical arts. In my experience, it’s never a good idea to wait till the invitation arrives, so my mentality has always been to build it and they will come. So here I am asking you come. Silent support and the occasional glance is very much appreciated but will not help with the growth of this platform. So I hope that as you’re seeing excerpt and spotlights from this issue over the next month, you’ll spare a moment to share/suscribe/pass it on to like-minded folks who are currently out of our small but growing reach. Initiatives like these come and go all the time, the ones that stick are the ones that ride the wave of support of the community it serves.
For Issue No.2, we welcome a diverse cast of movers and shakers in opera, contemporary dance, orchestral music, visual arts, and arts education. These are leaders and creatives in their industry who had some very interesting things to say about how their organization responded to 2020, and what they’re looking ahead to in the next year. I love the long-form interview format for the simple reason that it allows you to get a bit more of a nuanced response on questions that aren’t merely baiting for a chorus of positivity. I look forward to doing more of these in the next issue and beyond, in the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy what we’ve put together for this one.
Peace, love, and everything else.
— Michael Zarathus-Cook, chief editor of this and the above-mentioned publication.
Throwback to: YR3, WEEK18 — YR2, WEEK18
Click here for the full 2020/2021 roster of selected recordings