You spoke and we listened.
Our Pinehurst Pops Series enjoyed another full house in November.
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Now I can relax and let my brother Joshua and his trio take over with guest vocalist Whitney James, also in from The Big Apple, for an afternoon of cool, Christmasy jazz and beloved standards. Relax after shopping, or avoid black shopping altogether and get in the mood for the holidays. It's going to be a marvelous cabaret concert. Come early, get a good seat, and enjoy the cash bar.
As you do shop over the holidays for all those marvelous made-in-China toys and devices we all use and love, consider giving the gift of exceptional music. If your life has been enriched by your local Philharmonic, consider sharing that experience with others.
I wish all of you and yours a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend!
David Michael Wolff
Nov. 19, 2011
It's the season to give thanks and there's much to be grateful for. We thank you all for embracing the Philharmonic as your local orchestra. We began a new tradition in Pinehurst in July with the Pinehurst Pops Series, featuring 40 members of the Carolina Philharmonic in repertoire ranging from Phantom of the Opera, E.T., The Mission and Star Wars to classical favorites from Madame Butterfly, The Marriage of Figaro and Porgy and Bess. An audience of 1,000 at Robert E. Lee inspired us to present a full series of Orchestra Pops programming. Our second effort is this coming Wednesday night: Holiday Pops at The Carolina, in the Grand Ballroom. Thanks to your support, we're 150 seats away from selling out.
If you have plans to join us for this wonderful Pops program and have yet to get tickets, you may consider doing so soon as we may or may not have tickets left at the door.
Likewise, we have about 125 tickets left for our day-after-Thanksgiving Jazz Cabaret: The Joshua Wolff Trio at The Carolina: Christmas in New York, with guest vocalist, Whitney James. I'm excited to welcome my brother back to Pinehurst from The Big Apple for a heartwarming program of holiday classics and jazz standards with one of the rising stars of the jazz scene, Whitney James.
To all of our loyal patrons who are spending the Thanksgiving Holidays out of town, a blessed holiday and safe travels! I'll see you on Dec. 18th for Handel's Messiah!
David Michael Wolff
ps If you missed my last blog about these two Thanksgiving programs, continue reading below for more details.
Nov. 15, 2011
“…And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: Tradition!” The Resort has a long-standing tradition of kicking off the Holiday Season on the Eve of Thanksgiving with a Holiday Pops concert, and we’re honored to take part this year. I’ll lead 40 musicians from the Philharmonic in a thrilling concert of Pops standards and holiday favorites, opening with the melody that follows that unforgettable quote. The Symphonic Dances from Fiddler on the Roof revisits many of the great tunes from the musical, including Tradition!
The first time I experienced Fiddler, oddly enough, was in the middle of Mexico. I was 16 spending the summer there trying out my newly acquired Spanish, which I’d studied feverishly all year. One day I decided to strike out on my own across the country and came down with the flu under torrential rains in the spanish colonial pueblo of San Miguel de Allende. While spending a week bedridden, I happened upon Fiddler and was immediately enamored.
Next on the program is Peter and the Wolf. I wanted to put together a program that would be family-friendly while also appealing to everyone. Most of the musicians of the Philharmonic have performed Prokofieff’s timeless classic many times and are thrilled to revisit it. Even though it’s intended for children, the genius of the orchestration and the lushness of the colors and melodies draw young hearts of all ages into the quaint narrated tale. All of Prokofiev’s music – even the darkest of the war Sonatas – is full of magical, vivid imagery and a nostalgia for yesteryear, while occasionally revealing biting, sardonic wit. Walt Disney decided to sweeten up the tale, but we keep to the slightly grimmer original Russian version.
After intermission, we begin with a medley of Christmas favorites sure to delight, followed by soprano Young Mee Jun’s rendition of O Holy Night. And ending our program, we return to film music with John William’sOrchestral Suite from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, showing off the full scope of what the orchestra can do.
If you’ve got young kids or grandkids in town, be sure to let them know that Santa plans a visit at the end of our concert and will host a reception with cookies and hot chocolate. Also, for those coming early for dinner, a Brass Quintet will give a 15-minute performance of holiday fare in the lobby at 5:30pm
The day after Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, 3pm, we’re presenting a very different invitation to the holiday spirit in the form of a Jazz Cabaret – Christmas in New York - also at The Carolina, in the Cardinal Ballroom. Joshua Wolff returns from the Big Apple and leads his Jazz Trio with guest vocalist Whitney James. Enjoy many of your holiday favorites with a jazzy twist, accompanied by the spirit of your choice.
David Michael Wolff
ps In case you’ve now got the lyrics from “Tradition” going over and over in your ears, click here to relive the opening scene of the film version on youtube :)
Nov. 8, 2011
Post-election Beethoven and Brahms...
Join us tonight after voting for a refreshing, meaningful evening of Beethoven, Brahms and Verdi at SCC’s Owens Auditorium, 7pm. Tickets available at the door. I gave the concert two days ago in Fayetteville and it was one of the most satisfying programs of my life. This despite also being the longest concert day of my career – I conducted Miss Saigon around the corner at Cape Fear Regional Theatre at 1pm, which ended at 3:37pm, then made it over to Holy Trinity Episcopal Church just in time to put on a tie and begin Beethoven’s Ghost Trio with Nate and Megan. After Verdi, the Brahms Trio and a brief reception, I had an hour to rest before starting up Miss Saigon again for the 7pm show…
Beethoven believed more than anything in the voice of the people, both as a mass and as individuals. He often used his music to voice his political beliefs. For example, he had placed great hope in Napoleon until the liberator turned into a worse dictator than the monarchy he had pledged to overthrow, which made Beethoven revoke his dedication to him of his 3rd Symphony, the “Eroica.” Talk about voting and speaking your mind…! Beethoven stood by his ideals fearlessly. He also refused to submit his will to the established hierarchies and become a court composer subject to the whim of his sponsors. And this is part of what ironically makes this apotheosis of classicism at once the first composer of the romantic era and the first great “modern” composer.
Following Beethoven’s Ghost is Brahms’ 1st Piano Trio in B major, widely regarded by many performers and audiences alike as THE great work of chamber music. It’s a Symphony for Trio, full of hope, warmth, drama, adventure, and violent contrasts, while maintaining a classical underpinning that would have made his idol, Beethoven, proud, or perhaps jealous...
I hope you’ll join us after voting for a very special evening.
David Michael Wolff
Nov. 5, 2011
Beethoven's Shadow...
Beethoven cast a greater shadow than any composer in history, both during his lifetime and after. Curiously, Schubert composed many of his greatest masterpieces within a year of Beethoven's death, presumably freed from the weight of his immediate proximity. A younger generation of composers born in 1810/11 - Chopin, Schumann and Liszt - grew up revering and idolizing this first of modern composers, modern in that he dared to compose not for nobles or patrons, but for his own pleasure. He answered to no one.
Beethoven built up and then systematically destroyed many of the great classical forms, like the Sonata and its related forms: duos, trios, even the Symphony itself. The following generation was at a loss as to how to proceed. Rather than confront the master on his own terms, they turned largely to smaller forms, so-called character pieces, which came to predominate much of the Romantic era in music. Think of Chopin alone: the Preludes, Mazurkas, Waltzes, Ballades, Scherzos. All of these younger composers also wrote Sonatas, but with rare and important exceptions (Liszt's Sonata, for example), they were generally stifled by the forms they'd inherited through Beethoven.
Twenty years after Chopin, Schumann and Liszt were born, and six years after Beethoven's death, Brahms was born. He grew up with the legend of Beethoven rather his actual presence, and he would become Beethoven's greatest disciple. From his earliest years he immersed himself in Beethoven's opus, absorbing all that he could. With few exceptions, his compositional output would bathe Beethovenian forms and Classicism itself in a new, warm, soothing yet passionate light.
Both Beethoven and Brahms held J. S. Bach in the highest of regards, and it's not lightly that historians began speaking of the three B's: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, perhaps the subject of another blog...
Tomorrow (Sun, Nov. 6, 4pm) in Fayetteville, and Tues. (Nov. 8, 7pm) at Owens Auditorium, SCC, I'll be performing the greatest Trios for Piano, Violin and Cello of Beethoven and Brahms, with cellist Nate Leyland and violinist Megan Kenny. Young Mee Jun will also offer an aria from Verdi's Forza del Destino.
I hope you'll join us for a concert of some of the most glorious music ever composed.
David Michael Wolff
Oct. 21, 2011
Beethovenian Immersion
The summer I turned 21, I was ready to leave Manhattan and cross the Atlantic, Italy-bound. The small island's frenetic, future-driven pace had lost its allure, filling me instead with a longing for Michelangelo, DaVinci, open piazzas and picturesque canals. I even sold my concert grand.
But then I changed my mind, bought a couple new pianos, starting taking them apart into thousands of pieces, scattered about my Manhattan apartment. Once I'd managed to piece one of the instruments back together, I was filled with renewed wonder and awe at how these lifeless bits and pieces, properly aligned, somehow respond to the touch of one's fingertips like a mirror into the depths of the human soul. I delved into Beethoven.
I started with his Piano Sonata, Op. 2 #1, the first of 32, which make up the most significant single contribution to the piano repertoire. The opening eight bars alone - driving energy and passion underpinned by a classical precision turned on its head -nod to Mozart and Beethoven's own teacher, Haydn, while claiming his place as the new king of musical invention. Pure genius of the highest order! I devoured the Sonata, taking it apart and piecing it back together in a dozen different ways, memorizing as much as I could as I went along, and then proceeded to the 2nd Sonata, then the 3rd. A couple weeks later I discovered that it takes about 12 hours to play through all 32 Sonatas in one sitting, and I began doing so often. Sacrilegiously, I changed notes that didn't convince me fully, even rewriting entire passages and "re-orchestrating" many pianistic textures in light of later virtuoso developments from the likes of Liszt, Chopin and Rachmaninoff. Beethoven entered the now for me, completely free of reverence or dust, but still full of wonder and grandeur.
All through the summer and early fall, I dissected pianos and Beethoven with equal excitement and intensity. I felt like the young Michelangelo secretly at work in the morgue, uncovering forbidden secrets about form and movement. I resold a few pianos that I'd worked on, including a couple vintage Steinways that I probably should have left to professionals, and ended up with three grands in my small apartment. I memorized all 32 Sonatas.
One morning though, I woke up and suddenly realized I was through with both hobbies, beginning a long vacation from Beethoven and the innards of pianos. I sold off my excess pianos and moved on to other composers.
But I continue to return to Beethoven often, privately and publically, with ever-increasing reverence and love. There are certain composers that I need, who form my intellectual and emotional oxygen, challenging all my senses and faculties in unique ways. I need Beethoven most, and it's ever clearer to me why scholars proclaim him as the peak of musical achievement.
So as I now delve into the master's immortal Ghost Trio, which I'll be performing in a couple short weeks with violinist Megan Kenny and cellist Nate Leyland, I'm home again. Paired with Beethoven is one of my favorite compositions, the soaring and searingly lyrical Trio in B major of Johannes Brahms. How Brahms and others born in the intense shadow of Beethoven's triumphs managed to overcome and reinvent music once again may be topic of my next blog...
I hope you'll join us in Fayetteville on Sunday Nov. 6, 4pm at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, or two days later in Pinehurst, at SCC's Owens Auditorium, Tues, Nov. 8, 7pm.
David Michael Wolff
Oct. 8, 2011
I suppose I play the piano because I can't sing like The Four Freshmen. I try to make my fingers sing when I play, and I try to make the orchestra sing when I conduct, but the sound of a single voice makes all our efforts seem vain. I suppose God created us to respond most sympathetically to the sound of other human beings. Still, I'll keep trying.
In the meantime, you'll find me quite contented listening to The Four Freshmen in concert tomorrow (Sun) evening, 7pm, for not one, but four voices alternately singing and playing instruments in a unique blend of song that has been charming audiences for decades. I've had their newest CD on in my car for the last several weeks, one of those rare albums that's instantly likable but also continues to bring joy on repeated listenings.
Join me tomorrow at Pinecrest - tickets will be available at the door.
For those of you looking forward to Classical music, I've begun preparing with great satisifaction Beethoven's "Ghost" Trio and Brahms' B-major Trio, two of my favorite works for chamber music, for performances in Fayetteville and Pinehurst, Nov. 6 and 8, respectively.
Finally, we are again calling all choristers for Handel's Messiah. Rehearsals begin the last Thurs. of Oct.
David Michael Wolff
Me
and
Misha...
Sept. 30, 2011
Many of you have asked about my experience working with Baryshnikov, and it's not easy to put into words.
It was at a private showing of a modern dance company in NYC that I first met Baryshinikov. At the time I may have been even more interested in the relationship between music and dance than in music itself. I wondered if a language of eternal gestures could translate one artform to another with the simplicity of an elegant mathematical equation. I even dreamed music in dance sometimes, although to this day you'll find no more ackward dancer on the floor (!).
That night the piano music being danced to crossed beyond the edge of common virtuosity (Ravel's dreamy but mercilessGaspard de la nuit), and it was all that I could do to play it with my eyes trying to follow, anticipate and lead every gesture of the intricate dance.
At the end of the program a somewhat height-challenged but distinguished gentlemen comes over to me and we begin discussing Ravel and dance and Paris and Diaghilev. For the first minute, I didn't think it could actually be him, but it was - the legendary Mikhail Baryshnikov. And he wanted to work with me, then a wide-eyed 25-year-old. I walked all the way up Broadway afterwards, floating on air. Sure enough, he contacted the choreographer and asked her to choreograph something for the two of us to perform. About a year or so later I flew in from Rome, where I was living, and we all met to rehearse in a Manhattan dance studio for a few days.
To my amazement, he wanted to collaborate with me on the interpretation as if it were chamber music. We were doing three movements of Schumann's Fantasiestucke, which he had chosen. I would play, he would dance, stopping and starting. We discussed the phrasing, the movement of energy, the points of climax and repose, the mood shifts, each of us gesturing and singing to each other and to the choreographer, occasionally arguing and jesting. Then I would play and he would dance again, each gesture eternal and breathtakingly beautiful. And his command of the space! He seemed a giant to me, like Michelangelo's David, living, breathing, dancing marble.
I've had the privilege of working with countless amazing artists, but if there's one that inspires me to greater humility and to a tireless pursuit of perfection and beauty, it's Misha.
As many of you know, I'm terribly fearful of releasing recordings, but today I came home to find my mancave reorganized and beautified, which sent me into my closet to look for what I might have forever lost. Instead I found these pictures of Baryshinikov and several old live recordings of mine from the late 90's in NYC. You'll find below a link to recordings, for example, of the Ravel Ondine from Gaspard mentioned above, Gershwin's first of Three Preludes, and the first movement of Beethoven's Sonata "Appassionata," the latter two of which I'm performing this Sunday, Oct. 2, 4pm at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church (1601 Raeford Road, Fayetteville). Join me for a solo piano recital.
Also on the program is Liszt'sMephisto Waltz, in honor the 200th Anniversary of his birth-month, Oct. 1811.
David Michael Wolff
Pops Extravaganza
Aug. 5, 2011
What an incredible night! With over 1,000 in attendance, an orchestra of over 40 musicians, a chorus of 25, and instrumental and vocal soloists performing some of the greatest Pops music ever written, it was so much fun! The overwhelming response from both the audience and the musicians onstage has helped shape the Pinehurst Pops Series 2011/12 we're launching today.
I used to be afraid to tell my piano professors that I enjoyed Andrew Lloyd Webber as much as Bach (God forbid !), but the secret's out. I would repeatedly listen to Les Mis long before I cared much for La Boheme. Now it brings me most pleasure to hear them side-by-side. This season I look forward to presenting the finale of the Pines of Rome next to a marvelous suite from Miss Saigon, of placing Fiddler on the Roof next to Prokofieff's classic Peter and the Wolf. And I promised to repeat last year's standing room only performance of Handel's Messiah (Sunday, Dec. 18, 4pm, Robert E. Lee Auditorium), which will be a purifying, joyful experience for all.
But before I even start thinking about our pre-season Gala at the Fair Barn on Sept. 23, I'm going to enjoy a few weeks of vacation with my family. Greetings from Korea!
~ David Michael Wolff
July 23, 2011
This Friday night at 7pm, I'll be leading 40 musicians from the Carolina Philharmonic together with the Philharmonic Chorus in a Pops Extravaganza at Robert E. Lee Auditorium. Thanks to your support, we're growing the Philharmonic into a full, first-rate symphony orchestra.
What's the difference between "pops" and "classical"? Most of my conductor colleagues deride the one and revere the other, but I prefer not to put up artificial barriers. If it's great music, whether rock, gospel, jazz, classical, movie music,world music, banjo, or whatever, I want to experience it and share it. I only care about quality - the quality of the music and of how it's performed. I put some of the great Italian film composer Ennio Morricone's music, for example, on a par with Puccini or Verdi. Is there a more eternal melody than Gabriel's Oboe, from The Mission?
This concert is jam-packed with timeless scores, from My Fair Lady to Star Wars, Porgy and Bess to Phantom of the Opera, Gabriel's Oboe (as well as Nella Fantasia) and much more. And I'm looking forward to sneaking in a few classical bonbons, like the Overture to Marriage of Figaro, the Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana, and Puccini's Humming Chorus, from Madama Butterfly. Great melody is really the theme that draws the concert together.
After this grand finale, I'm looking forward to escaping to Korea with my family for a few weeks of vacation.
David Michael Wolff
Sept. 17, 2010
(SCROLL DOWN FOR GALA PICS!)
Back in
I hadn’t expected to slip on a piece of fruit at RDU and end up limping through three airports, but one can never predict such things. Barely able to walk, I ended up spending most of my first few days in
I didn’t know what to expect from 2,000-year -old Zhijiang, but I was blown away. This is the historic city where the Japanese surrendered to the Chinese at the end of WWII, and also the home of the famous Flying Tigers, the brave American volunteer pilots that helped fend of the Japanese aggressors and save Zhijiang from the devastating fate of other cities like
While on the plane from
I traveled back from
What an exhilarating ride it’s been so far!
I’m often asked what our long-term plans are, and they are many and bold, including a 2,200-seat Performing Arts Center as well as a Conservatory right here in Pinehurst. We'll be opening up 20 branches of Conservatory International in NC over the next 24 months, while also expanding nationally and internationally, and Pinehurst will be our international home base. I'll also be fostering an extensive cultural exchange with
The partnership between Carolina Philharmonic and Conservatory International will transform the artistic make-up of NC and bring concerts, education and outreach to every corner of the state like never before. As that happens over the next several years, Pinehurst will become synonymous with artistic innovation and transformation. Although we have enormous goals, we're tackling them very methodically, town by town (or village by village, as it were), with the greatest emphasis on Pinehurst, and expanding concentrically from Pinehurst. We're still small, but are seeing a growth rate of 30% per quarter, which we expect to continue for 10-15 years.
Continue sharing our vision and please keep coming back to our concerts and bringing your friends!
Experience the joy of exceptional music.
To
When I was seven and had decided to become a concert pianist, the life of the traveling artist seemed pretty glamorous to me. Over a thousand concerts in my career have long since made me enjoy coming home more than leaving, and home for us now is
Monday, June 28
After leading music for two Masses at Sacred Heart Sunday morning and taking our 4-year-old daughter Rachel out to see Karate Kid so she might have a better idea of what “China” means, I packed everything just before midnight, like clockwork, and went to bed, the alarm set for 3:30am. My connecting flight out of
Once on the ground again and through Chinese customs, we spotted the World Expo team waiting for us, and right next to our sign was another for Miss
Now when I hear the name Connick, I think of Harry Jr. singing “It Had to Be You” in When Harry Met Sally. And sure enough, that’s the very Connick she means. Apparently he’s also performing this coming weekend at the USA Pavilion. I wonder if I’ll have a chance to meet him! So it’s been a long day, in fact two days, since I crossed over the international dateline. 11:23pm here, 11:23am back home – I’m ready for a long rest.
Fri July 2nd
Thankfully I’ve had a couple of days to overcome jetlag and acclimate a bit. What a stunning modern city! Faster and more modern than
Practicing at the World Expo on a concert grand that took Steinway four years to prepare because of all the intricate traditional Chinese inlaid woodwork - stunningly gorgeous!
Angela is scheduled to sing the Star-Spangled Banner for the 
s of Chinese Security Guards to meet him, and we had a nice chat. Incidentally I bumped into Miss
Tues July 6th
At the airport, on my way back, my head is swirling with rich experiences and enormous opportunities. The concerts at the Shanghai Conservatory and at the World Expo were well-received and a joy to play, and the acquaintances I made among Expo sponsors – CEO’s of international billion-dollar corporations – was priceless. For one, I’m going home with a pledge of support for a proposed Cultural Exchange program between the Shanghai Conservatory and the Pinehurst-based Carolina Philharmonic. Every big business leader seems to play golf and of course knows exactly where Pinehurst is (!) and so I was encouraging international summits at the Pinehurst Resort, with great golf, great accommodations, and exceptional music.
Everywhere I go, I tell people what a gem Pinehurst is. And back home, I tell folks that one of the goals of the Philharmonic is to make Moore County the capital of the Arts in NC, an international hub, and many are at first skeptical, but once you understand our vision and see what we’re up to, you may start to realize that it’s not so far-fetched. In addition to international collaborations, we’re nearly set to announce the formation of the Conservatory International in partnership with the Carolina Philharmonic, which will offer private vocal and instrumental instruction, a Choral Program (a children’s choir and a teenage regional chorus) and an ambitious Youth Symphony program, with a full symphony and a string orchestra. (Call 910.687.4746 for info or to register.)
In the meantime, we continue our exciting Summer Chamber Music Festival (tickets still available), and save the date! – Sept 11, 2011 is our first annual International Food and Music Fest at the Fair Barn. Truly an extravagant, sumptuous night that you won’t want to miss!
Email CarolinaPhilharmonic@gmail.com for more info, or call the orchestra office at 910.687.4746. We’re actively seeking volunteers to help run this exciting new arts organization, so contact ampardy@embarqmail.com.
