Young Zeid, violin @ Music Island Mar 28, 2010 12: 30 pm SLT

Young Zeid, violin/Viola Music Island, Sea Turtle Island
March 28, 2010
12: 30 pm SLT (Pacific Daylight Time)

Program:

Bee F. Schubert ( 1808-1878)
From a set of bagatelles, published in 1856 by the German composer and violinist Franz Anton Schubert. (not to be confused with the earlier and much more famous Austrian composer Franz Schubert. )

Meditation" from Thais J. Massenet(1842-1912)
Though the 3 act opera by Massenet is seldom performed, the intermezzo that opens the third Act remains a popular work for violin.

Romanza Andaluza P. Sarasate (1844-1908),
One of the leading violinists of his era Spanish-born, Pablo de Sarasate was well-known for composing stunning showpieces for the violin that would leave his audiences gasping.

Czardas v. Monti (1868-1922)
A popular rhapsody inspired by a Hungarian gypsy dance, composed for violin and piano is the only famous work by Monti. It has been re-arranged for just about every instrument and also for orchestra.

Milonga en Re A. Piazzolla (1921-1992)
A popular tango from the Argentinian composer.

Entertainer Joplin (1868-1917) arr. J. Heifetz
A member of the first generation of American black citizens after slavery, Scott Joplin was a successful composer of ragtime pieces for the piano. His work has never entirely disappeared from American music but had a popular revival due to being featured prominently on the score of the popular 1970's film, "The Sting". Jascha Heifetz arranged "The Entertainer" for violin to serve as a crowd-pleasing encore for his own concerts.

Kol Nidrei M. Bruch (1838-1920)
Bruch was not Jewish but was struck by the beauty of a traditional Jewish hymn Kol Nidre that forms a part of the Yom Kippur service. The melody was inspiration for a work originally composed for cello and orchestra.

Violin concerto in e minor F. Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
One of the most popular violin concerti, this work was Mendelssohn's first major work and is a staple of the violin repertoire. In three movements.

1. Allegro, molto appassionato (E minor)
2. Andante (C major)
3. Allegretto non troppo – Allegro molto vivace (E major)


About the Artist:

Young Zeid (SL)/Xi Yang (RL), violin/viola
BIO

Xi Yang began his distinguished music career when he was a student at the Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China where he studied both violin and viola Performance. He had his first solo debut when he was 9 years old. By the age of 12 he made an average of 200 solo appearances a year in China. He won the National Violin Competition in Shanghai and made his solo debut with the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra. He then, toured China with the Beijing Youth Symphony as a soloist and concertmaster. At the age of 17, he was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Jacques Tibaud International Violin Competition in Paris, France. The youngest violinist entered the competition for that year which earned him a place in the Encyclopedia of Chinese History.

Arriving in the United States, Mr. Yang won a National Strings Competition in Arkansas and has performed numerous solo recitals, chamber music concerts and gave master classes to young string players from many public schools and colleges. A graduate of Indiana University School of Music, he studied violin and chamber music ensemble, from baroque style to modern composers, under the guidance of James Buswell, Nelli Shkolnikova, Josef Gingold and Rostislav Dubinsky. "Mr. Yang has all the ability and potential to become one of the greatest solo violinists in the world today..." ( Isaac Stern 1987, Indiana University )

Mr. Yang was the Principal Violist for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera and the Principal Viola with the Symphony of the Americas. He is also the Assistant Concertmaster and a guest conductor, soloist with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra. He has performed for Two Presidents of the United States, President Clinton and President Bush Snr. and been requested to perform by celebrities such as Donald Trump and Sylvester Stallone. He has collaborated with highly regarded classical artists such as Isaac Stern, Placido Domingo,Luciano Pavarotti, Leonard Bernstein, Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, as well as some of the great pop stars such as Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Tony Bennett, Michael Jackson, Bary Manilow...among others.

A well established violinist and violist in the Triangle area and beyond, his students are age from 7 years old to adults. He is a member of the Arcangelo Piano Quartet www.arcangelopianoquartet.com and Duo Appassionato. www.duoappssionato.org

Fostering the next generation of musicians is important to Xi Yang. He is the founding music director and conductor of the Youth Symphony of Florida.

Temporary Remodelling of Music Island for AOM concert

"Why is Music Island all mixed up?" said one visitor to MI this morning.

Instead of one stage and seating areas there are two. This state of affairs will persist only until after the Avatar Metaverse Orchestra concert on Sat. Mar. 27. Because of the unique nature of the performance, audience and musicians must be in the same simulation.

For streamed music having the performers across a sim line shelters them from audience lag and assures performers won't be locked out of a full sim should they be disconnected. But for AOM that uses inworld sounds, the sim line is an obstacle to the transmission of their inworld sound content.

So don't be surprised by the changes. Also, get there early as the one sim format means lower capacity! Come early to avoid disappointment.

Avatar Metaverse Orchestra Mar 27 @ 1 pm SLT

Unlike most musicians and musical ensembles in Second Life who perform in the real world and stream their sound (and sometimes video) livetime into the virtual world, the Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM) performances feature virtual instruments designed for each composition within the Second Life platform. The instruments are played using Heads Up Displays (HUD) on the computer screens of artists from around the world making this unique live music together in real time.

Performances are visually as well as musically interesting with the virtual instruments being abstract wearable art sculptures. It is truly a new form of art not possible in real life.

The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a global collaboration of artists that approaches the virtual reality platform Second Life as an instrument itself. The Orchestra conceives, designs and builds its own virtual instruments, making it possible for each individual performer in the Orchestra to trigger sounds independent from one another and to play together in real time. These instruments feature sound, visuals, and animations. A performance of a jumping, hovering, floating, dancing, and twirling Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a truly spectacular event.

Avatar Orchestra performs regularly in Second Life and in mixed reality events at new media, music and visual arts centres in North America, Europe and Asia.

Visit AOM on the web: http://avatarorchestra.blogspot.com/

Zen Qork Sat Mar 20 8 am SLT

Zen Qork, Improvisational Piano
Saturday March 20, 8 am SLT
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/59/21/851

Zen Qork AKA Alessandro Lecce is a new classic and film music composer.

Born in 1969 in Milan, Italy, where he studied composition, piano, choral singing, clarinet and music animation. Many of his compositions have been bought by different sound libraries. He also worked as a teacher for several courses of specialisation in new music pedagogy, music therapy and musical entertainment. His conviction is that emotions are a true creative power and of course the music can be a great source of emotions. Currently his work is oriented to the composition of pieces with the hope to be helpful in creating positive emotions.

You can listen to his work at - http://www.thesixtyone.com/#/sarnatale69/ and www.musicale-online.com

Must we have sim re-starts in the middle of events?

On Thursday we had a full house when Linden Labs deleted the stage side of Music Island. Previously the start time had been delayed 10 minutes when the audience half of the venue was re-started and everyone who had arrived at the top of the concert ran over the sim line and onto the stage. Subsequent arrivers landed in the ocean or were re-routed to other sims or simply had the program crash on them so that it took awhile to gather an audience to begin the concert.

While this might be understandable during an impromptu event, this event was on the official Second Life calendar of events. How hard would it be for Linden Labs to route sim restarts around scheduled events? Or, to check for high occupancy in sims and delay re-starts in 1 hour increments perhaps 3 times before disrupting popular content.

Doesn't this just make business sense?

During the same week a colleague from virtual music let me know that he had been engaged by Blue Mars to PLAN for musical programming in that virtual world. I adore Second Life, my community and friends are here. However, hearing about a virtual world that made planning for content part of its mandate really made me realize that this is the way things should be.

Right now most of what makes Second Life worth a second visit is the varied and rich array of neat things to do that are largely created and staffed by volunteers. We get burned out. We get tired of the lack of memory in SL that eclipses our accomplishments of years when the "flavour of the day" new project duplicates our work. We get exhausted by gibes from colleagues in RL. We fund stuff from our own pockets as events in SL seem unable to scale as for-profit, nor gain sponsorship/grants for not-for-profit.

And then on top of all that Linden Lab comes along and says, "Oh you've given up two paid days of work a week to run a concert series in SL this year. Silly you. We don't have time to give any attention to your concert schedule ourselves. Now we're re-starting the sim on you because our time is more valuable than yours or the performers or any of the 50 or so avatars in your audience."

I suppose I shouldn't take it personally, shouldn't feel it as a slap in the face for all our work over the past two years. But I do.

We weathered it. We had a laugh. Some found it a bonding experience. I used to feel the same way. I was sure that this would be fixed. The value of content would be appreciated.

But these days I think more and more that I'm whistling into the wind. If RL music doesn't care and the decisionmakers in Second Life don't care, why should I be spending my time, taking a pay cut, stressing out and so on to coordinate events that are tossed aside so casually.

Beginning to be another burned out SL volunteer I'm afraid.

Duo Appassionato Mar 4 @ 8 am

Fantastic Euro-friendly time for Thursday's concert
Thursday Mar 4 @ 8 am SLT
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island


Duo Appassionato possesses exceptional virtuoso ability and musical harmony rarely found in two instrmentalists of the same genre performing together. Both active solo performers of unsurpassed spirit and flair, the duo has a refreshing stage presence and often explores a repertoire that is rarely performed because of its unusually demanding nature. They project " virtuosic devilry and imagination..." and their playing is " stunning and incredibly well matched". Their presence is a highlight to any recital or concert stage.

Violinist Izabela Spiewak began her international music career at the age of 5, and was awarded a scholarship to a music school for gifted young artists at the age of 8. She is performed chamber music concerts, recorded albums with musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Eduardo Mata, Placido Domingo and Yehudi Menuhin.

Xi Yang began his distinguished music career when he was a student at the Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China where he studied both violin and viola Performance. He had his first solo debut when he was 9 years old. By the age of 12 he made an average of 200 solo appearances a year in China. He won the National Violin Competition in Shanghai and made his solo debut with the Beijing Philharmonic Orchestra. Arriving in the United States, Mr. Yang won a National Strings Competition in Arkansas and has performed numerous solo recitals, chamber music concerts and gave master classes to young string players from many public schools and colleges . Mr. Yang was the Principal Violist for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, Florida Grand Opera and the Principal Viola with the Symphony of the Americas. He is also the Assistant Concertmaster and a guest conductor, soloist with the Raleigh Symphony Orchestra.

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