All-Russian program for two pianos by the world-class musicians at an elegant Arts Center in picturesque Sparkill, NY opens this year Concert Series on October 21, 2018
Vassily Primakov, Oxana Mikhailoff and Natalia Lavrova, acclaimed classical pianists and the regulars on the music scene in and around New York City, are teaming up to perform a delightful all-Russian music program for two pianos and six (6)!!!! hands featuring Two Suites by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony “Pathetique” transcribed for two-pianos. This one-of-a-kind concert brings together Vassily Primakov, a passionate interpreter of Chopin, Oxana Mikhailoff, a poetic pianist as well as a sought-after music educator, and Natalia Lavrova, a pianist known for her sincerity in playing in solo recitals and concerts and a formidable art administrator.
The Opening Concert program on Sunday, October 21 starts with Reception at 3 pm followed by a concert at 3.30 pm and will conclude with Gala dinner at 6 pm. The seats are limited so reserve your tickets ahead of time here.
As the world celebrates a centennial of Auguste Rodin death this year, its a good occasion for a visit to Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. The museum opened in 1929, has more than 140 pieces covering all stages of artist’s oeuvre.
Walking through the formal French garden where 8 sculptures are installed including The Thinker, The Burghers of Calais and The Gates of Hell, the visitors enter an elegant Beaux-Arts building. Inside the airy main hall and the more intimate side rooms, you will have a chance to see the famous sculptures up close and find insightful details about each piece of work with historical parallels and the stories that served as inspiration for the works.
If you are so moved by seeing the sculptures and want to sketch them for better understanding of artist’s vision, there are sketch albums and pencils on hand in every room. Follow your heart and draw what you see – after all the art is only alive when it moves us. The museum also offers a very well designed family guide to sharpen young eyes and encourage them to see the artist’s shapes.
Read the notes, observe the sculptures, try to sketch and follow the lines to fully appreciate the artist’s ideas and the forms.
Songs from the new album French Touch performing in Alexandria, VA, Boston, MA and Los Angeles, CA
Carla Bruni / Image courtesy of Metropolitan Entertainment
Carla Bruni, a French singer-songwriter and a former first lady and ex-supermodel is bringing her latest collection of songs to concert halls in the US in February 2018. Her dreamy yet sultry singing style of the love chansons accompanied on guitar playing by Bruni herself is guaranteed to give a terrific music night for the concertgoers.
Carla Bruni Sarkozy (née Carla Gilberta Bruni Tedeschi) was born in 1967 in Turin, Italy and moved to France at the age of 7. Starting with the piano in school, she discovered a guitar when she was about 11 years old. Right there at the first group lesson, she realized that this is her instrument. Singing and playing guitar became her purpose in life.
She started her music career in 1997 before successfully modeling for the top couture houses in France. Her success in songwriting began when in 1999 she sent her lyrics to Julien Clerc. The songs were later included in his album Si j’étais elle . Bruni’sfirst personal disc Quelqu’un m’a ditwas released in 2002. That followed by No Promises in 2007. She continued to record after her marriage to Nicolas Sarkozy, President of France in 2007-2012.
Bruni’s third album Comme si de rien n’état was published in 2008 and Little French Songs in 2012. A 4-year interval between the releases did not mean that she stopped her career in light of becoming the first lady of France. But even though she finished the work on the songs and the recordings by 2011, “it wasn’t considered appropriate to release it while she was First Lady” according to 2013 expose in Vanity Fair.
The latest album French Touch, released by Verve in October 2017, is her fifth. She regained the pace of her performing and recording music career when her husband had lost the reelection in 2012 and the family had fully relocated from the Élysées Palace to a private residence on Right Bank. The songs included in this album are all her favorites from when “I was a teenager” as she confided in the interview to NPR’s Scott Simon.
An idea for Bruni to record English language pop and country classics was David Foster’s, an acclaimed music producer and a former chairman of Verve. The collection includes the covers that she knew by heart, so the whole project felt like a smooth sailing full of distant memories and charming reveries. In the interview with The New York Times, she reveals that its “her secret passion: singing classic rock, country and jazz standards in English”.
She has been including classic rock in her latest concert programs in Paris and on tours in Europe. However, her program at the NYC appearance in 2013 has featured primarily the songs from the newly released at that time Quelqu’un m’a dit album. All were in French or Italian delivered with the mastery, elegance, and simplicity.
Carla Bruni / Image courtesy of Metropolitan Entertainment
The upcoming concerts in February including one in New York City at The Town Hall will give her fans a chance to enjoy an unbelievable mix of familiar classics performed in subtly sexy voice making it even more chic with a hint of French accent.
