Nov 19 "Let's Talk Classical Music" with Aelthing Aeon

Let's Talk Classical Music
November 19 @ 11 am SLT
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

Like to listen and learn about classical music? Aelthing Aeon, a guest lecturer with the National Federation of Recorded Music Societies (UK) will present an informative talk on selected classical recordings. This month's topic "Innovation and Conservation in Early Music".

The format for this series is selected recordings on the SL music stream accompanied by informative text chat by the host. Questions and comments from the audience in text are welcome during the presentation.

Nov. 20 Atheene Dodonpa: Songs of the Anunciation & Advent Season

Atheene Dodonpa, soprano
Early Songs of the Anunciation & Advent Season
(live concert in 3D virtual reality)
Sunday November 20, 2011
12 noon SLT (Pacific Time)
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

Atheene Dodonpa is the pre-eminent wandering minstrel of Second Life, entertaining townsfolk and castle dwellers alike with authentic music from many cultures delivered in her thrilling soprano, accompanying herself on period instruments and illuminating the audience with warm, engaging, explanatory chat.

PROGRAM:

Songs of the Annunciation and the Advent Season

4 Early Syrian hymns

• Yawnu Tlitu (Little Dove, Birth of Christ)
• Qurbone Qarebun (Prayer of the Priests)
• Enono nuhro shariro (I´m the true Light)
• Ayn Qai (People died in faith)

6 songs from the Laudario di Firenze

• Laude novella (Virgin Mary)
• Voi ch´amate lo criatore (Virgin Mary´s lament)
• Novel canto dolce sancto (Apostle Thomas)
• Peccatrice nominata (Mary Magdalene)
• Sancto Marco glorioso (Evangelist Mark)
• Sancto Symeom beato (Simeon who saw the baby Jesus)

3 songs by Hildegard von Bingen

• O quam preciosa (Virgin Mary)
• O nobilissima viriditas (Praising the virginity)
• Mathias sanctus (Evangelist Matthew)

The Florence Laudario is a collection of monophonic hymns dating from the 14th century, and is only one of two extant that include the written music, the other being the Cortona Laudario from the 13th century. The Florence Laudario belonged to the Company of Santo Spirito, an ensemble of “laudesi” (much like a group of cantors, or even a schola), which sung the compline service every evening for the Church of Santo Spirito. A church of any renown had its company of laudesi whose chief job it was to help the congregation sing the hymns, the way we still use cantors today. Hymns were composed with a ritornello (“refrain”) that was easy enough for the congregation to learn. All text, notably, was in the vernacular, not in Latin, again providing the congregation with access to the language. This is probably why these hymns are still around in some version or another. Unlike the Cortonese who kept their laude simple, the laudesi of Florence, being Florentine, of course refined and ornamented their laude such that only trained singers could successfully sing the complex bits. However, the ritornello was always there to return to, and the congregations could, and would, join in.
- Amelia LeClair

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN, (1098-1179), was a remarkable woman, a "first" in many fields. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard, known as "Sybil of the Rhine", produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were accorded respect, she was consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first composer whose biography is known. Clearly a force to
contend with, she wrote books and letters on all of the above topics, traveled widely, and penned what is arguably the first opera in western music, the “Ordo Virtutem”. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed. Her music is radically different from the chant that surrounded her: she takes great leaps of fifths followed by fourths frequently (thus spanning an octave), and the expressive writing is not meant for the faint of heart. She obviously had very well trained singers at her disposal. Her poetry is raw and wonderful, and has no known precedent.

Although not yet canonized, Hildegard has been beatified, and is frequently referred to as St. Hildegard. Revival of interest in this extraordinary woman of the middle ages was initiated by musicologists and historians of science and religion. More controversially, Hildegard's music had been adapted and interpreted by the New Age movement, whose music bears some resemblance to Hildegard's ethereal airs.

Her story is important to all students of medieval history and culture and an inspirational account of an irresistible spirit and vibrant intellect overcoming social, physical, cultural, gender barriers to achieve timeless transcendence. For her, Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a frequent artistic theme.

Saturday November 12 Champagne Rain, piano

CHAMPAGNE RAIN, piano and voice
SAT Nov 12 @ 12 PM
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/56/23/25



ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Champagne Rain is an Eastern European born Classical Pianist. She has devoted most of her life to acquiring performing skills at the Kiev Conservatory and has, in real life, performed in the world's most prestigious concert venues, including Vienna's Musikverein Golden Hall. She has recorded 6 CD's of concert and solo work.

In SL, she is also sharing her second musical talent, a lovely operatic voice, sharing some of her favorite arias and lieder.

Conservation and Innovation in Early Music

Three events over the next week will explore this theme:

Nov 13 12 noon Christine Montgomery, violin & compostion "Plugged-In Vivaldi"

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Chrissie Caulfield is a violinist and composer working principally in contemporary, ambient and rock idioms. She plays electric violin in the Progressive Rock band Catscans, has played solo at various venues including Colchester New Music and will be holding a masterclass in electric violin techniques in that city later this year. She is also a founder member of the contemporary music band ‘Midnight Llama’ based in West Yorkshire, UK. She has toured Europe with the rock band Crippled Black Phoenix and appears on the latest album “Relic” by guitarist Matt Stevens.

As a composer, Chrissie is largely self-taught, but has taken tuition and advice from Ben Oliver, John Habron, Scott McLaughlin and anyone else who will listen. Her compositional style is eclectic and takes in a number of diverse influences from the baroque masters to Schnittke, Swedish folk music, Pink Floyd, distortion pedals and the noise cats make when licking foil. She is, as Douglas Adams would have it, “a great fan of science” and frequently uses scientific and mathematical themes in her music, though is not above tweaking mathematical systems for musical effect.

She lives in Leeds with a large number of cats, some strange instruments, and possibly too many computers and/or effects pedals.

This is what happens to classical music when you remove its inhibitions, lend it to a prog-rocker and then try to play the tattered remains when it comes back two years later covered in cat pawprints

http://www.facebook.com/l/wAQGGmtt9AQEGqxUtPqsoJM_0Q4SMmCty0uRrX-KVH5-1sw/chrissieviolin.info
http://www.facebook.com/l/fAQH94bDEAQGNluN6kIaT6bP9CPC-LDYLo-YK8IsbNOPQDw/midnightllama.info
http://www.facebook.com/l/4AQGNdWpjAQEISPTEtuBssF9ZRn8ddoMiqU-4vnVdjeb7zA/catscansband.com


Nov 19 11 am Aelthing Aeon, guided listening Conservation and Innovation

Like to listen and learn about classical music? Whether you are new to classical music or an avid collector of recordings, you are always sure to learn something new at this monthly talk. Aelthing Aeon, a guest lecturer with the National Federation of Recorded Music Societies in the UK will present an informative talk on selected classical recordings, including some rare performances on CD. This month, Ael will be talking about and contrasting performances on period & modern instruments.

Nov 20 12 noon Atheene Dodonpa, Early Music

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Lady Atheene Dodonpa is the leading Lady minstrel performing medieval music in SL. She is a professional musician in both worlds, so her live medieval music moments are guaranteed to be authentic and unique.

Lady Atheene accompanies her voice with several instruments: recorders and pipes, bells, rebec, symphonie, bowed psaltery, 5-stringed kantele, organ and celtic harp. Her performances have already been a source of joy for hundreds of people in SL and she will continue to sing and tell the enchanting stories for the recidents of all regions she is invited to also in the future, of course, God willing.

Saturday August 13 Joaquin Gustav, 2 pm SLT

Joaquin Gustav, latin guitar
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island
August 13, 2 pm SLT

Joaquin is a highly trained guitarist, born and received his music education in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the birthplace of tango. Out of his fingers comes an array of string sounds that blend the colors of Latin American culture with his own elegant performing style. Inspired by tradition, he is not afraid to experiment with new styles and techniques.

His wide range playlist includes smooth jazz, rock, tango, milonga, candombe and much more.

Pictures from Champagne Rain Concert

Tip Corbett: Video Excerpt from July 30 concert

Benito Flores, July 24 @ 12 noon

PROGRAM:

Muzio Clementi
“Batti batti” dal Don Giovanni di Mozart

Andrea Padova
Waterscape in motion*

Ferruccio Busoni
Elegia n. 2 “All’Italia!” (in modo napoletano)

Gioachino Rossini
da “Péchés de Vieillesse” Vol. VII: Album pour les enfants dégourdis - n. 8 Barcarole

intervallo

Gioachino Rossini
da “Péchés de Vieillesse” Vol. V: Album de chaumière - n. 5 Prélude inoffensif

Marcell Dargay
Légendes no. III “Le pianiste prêche pour soi-même”*

Fryderyk Chopin
Scherzo n. 2 in si bemolle minore - re bemolle maggiore op. 31

ARTIST BIO:
Alessandro Marangoni (Benito Flores in SL)
Born in Italy in 1979, studied the piano with Maria Tipo at Scuola di Musica di Fiesole. Besides his musical studies he also graduated with honours in philosophy at the Università di Pavia with a thesis on Fernando Liuzzi’s philosophy of music. He was also a merit student of the Almo Collegio Borromeo, one of the oldest and most important European colleges. After winning several national and international awards, he has appeared in many important musical events in Europe, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician, with performances in Rome at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, in Florence for the Accademia della Crusca, in Lucca for the Associazione Musicale Lucchese, for the Walton Foundation on Ischia, the Cittadella in Assisi, and the Teatro Verdi in Trieste, as well as at the Engadiner Internationale Kammermusik-Festspiele, Sagra Musicale Umbra, the Italian Cultural Institute in London, the Teatro Dal Verme, Milan, and St John’s College, Cambridge.

As a chamber musician he has collaborated with some of the most important Italian musical personalities and groups, including Mario Ancillotti, Vittorio Ceccanti, Fanny Clamagirand, Daria Masiero, Stefano Parrino, Quirino Principe, Carlo Zardo and the Nuovo Quartetto Italiano. He won great success in Spain with the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra and in Bratislava with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the great Italian conductor Aldo Ceccato.
He has recently started artistic cooperation with the Italian actress Valentina Cortese. He is the pianist of the Trio Albatros Ensemble, with which he has won international acclaim: they recorded a cd with Nino Rota's chamber music for Stradivarius. In 2007 he made a recording for la Bottega Discantica of the piano works of Victor de Sabata, for the fortieth anniversary of the great Italian conductor’s death. In December of that year he played in a recital at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, with Daniel Barenboim, in further tribute to De Sabata. In 2007 he won the prestigious Amici di Milano International Prize for Music. He has recorded all of Rossini's piano music and "Gradus ad parnassum" by Clementi for Naxos.

For more information, please visit www.alessandromarangoni.com.

Prowess Rayna, Saturday July 16 @ 12 noon SLT

STARLIGHT PIANO

Prowess Rayna, a true artist on the piano, began playing at 3, composing at 7 & performing professionally by 14. Countless souls have been uplifted by her sensuous, passionate expression, fluid technique & beautiful melodies. Her reputation flourishes as she shares her evolving talents with live music lovers in SL.

Music Island Slurl

I am going to try to go back to posting the weekly events here on the blog. I haven't been doing that lately because the listings exist at http:/musicisland.spruz.com but some people have asked me to also post the immediately upcoming events here... I'll try.

Does dissemination trump virtual presence for artists?

Last week I read Thom Dowd's notice to the Early Music group with no surprise but with considerable sorrow and regret. The Second Life music pioneer was announcing the migration of his musical activities to Livestream & Livestream/Facebook. The rationale, he reported, was the ability to reach a larger audience. We will miss him in Second Life and at Music Island if this is--as it sounds--a final exit from virtual reality live concert events.

Almost two years ago I started to help Thom to research and develop video-streaming of his concerts into Second Life and I wondered how that might affect the magical feeling of "presence" that makes live SL concerts social occasions as opposed to the solitary experience of viewing a podcast on the web. Would it be possible to have that connection when the music was delivered via a flat screen in SL rather than avatar standins for real people? We found that having even one avatar (Thom) as MC at the video concerts connected the audience to the people on camera, and of course avatars were still gathered in one place sharing the concert in livetime, commenting and having their questions addressed. Actually the new format for sharing concerts worked better than I had imagined it would--in part because of Thom's engaging personality.

Recently I have been adding livestreaming to selected Music Island SL concerts as a way to give a keyhole into the virtual world for people without SL accounts. I use a second computer and an alt avi as "camera" and begin the broadcast live on http://www.livestream.com/musicisland as soon as the concert is set to begin. To me this is a way of drawing people into the magic of virtual reality, perhaps might help them choose to create an account and share a concert live, rather than taking the virtual presence out of the equation altogether.

At the root of the dissemination question are the limitations for attendance at SL concerts. Sim capacities are 30, 40 or 50 avatars in a sim (dependent upon server conditions and sim build & scripts). While musicians might hope to reach 100's or 1,000's via electronic dissemination, I know from coordinating live concerts that an audience of 50 or so for a new music or chamber concert by relatively unknown artists is par for the course. Research continually shows that people attend cultural events because people they know and trust recommend those events, and not because of advertising or hype. Star quality appeal is a rare and fragile phenomenon. This word-of-mouth dissemination is as true in Second Life as it is in meatspace. We tell our friends, our friends tell friends and the reputation of an artist and a musical series in Second Life grows. The commitment of those audience members to a series and the artists they follow in SL are very similar to RL subscribers. But because they are an international audience, the opportunities for new and valuable communication vectors for artists is substantial and proven by a number of international debuts and collaborations within the SL musician community.

Will the same connection and loyalties develop via Livestream only? At this point, I am a doubter. While the Livestream stations allow a chat feature during the broadcast, you need to be viewing the action on the station itself to enter text. Embedded livestream windows do not necessarily show chat and entering chat from the embedded windows did not work for me during my one attempt. Chat totally fails to engage me in the same way as SL. I have no sense of presence from knowing that others are in a chat space. Will others feel the same way? I'd like to know your thoughts.

How many online fans is enough for the purposes of the artists and music educators currently using? I know that will vary with individual goals. For the Oriscus Ensemble, it seemed enough to gaze out at 35 or 40 avatars from 15 or more nations around the globe.

What I'd like to see is parallel development of SL music with Livestream options. It is disappointing to hear some say that avatars are not necessary and an uneeded complication to offering a live musical experience. Am I just a dinosaur SL immersionist, or do others feel that there is a qualitative loss of audience experience to watching a Livestream concert on the flat web? I see it as scant improvement over live television.

One of the more difficult to tackle issues that hobbles the promotion of virtual concerts and mixed reality concerts, especially as education vehicles is the "gaming" and "adult content" reputations of Second Life. While Music Island is a PG area and our audience is very engaged and respectful, I have no ability to ensure that some avatar new to our content or new to SL will not behave or speak in an inappropriate manner before I can eject them. Just like a concert venue in RL, such disruptions happen. We toss the person and ban them in future. Why is the fear of such disruptions higher in virtual reality than in a downtown park concert where we know a crazy might disrupt with shouted obscenities? Those of us that are trying to raise the profile of Second Life artistic activity and engage RL arts organizations, sponsors and funders in supporting arts events in SL, really need the help of Linden Lab, starting with representing some of the creative uses of virtual reality on the front page. At one time the picture was balanced but now the dating and shopping aspect of SL predominates. Making new avatars aware that inappropriate behaviour in PG sims can get them ejected and banned should be an orientation station. Most avatars I eject and ban are surprised and shocked, often very angry, a situation that I expect does not aid in their retention. More education about sim appropriate behaviour would help.

Linden Lab have been keen to develop ties between Second Life and social media like Facebook. It appears that some SL musicians are saying that they can connect to social media without including the virtual audience at all. The virtual audience will be the losers in this and there will be fewer reasons to log in and stay in Second Life if this becomes a trend.

Liszt: Via Crucis April 20

HEAVEN, EARTH, METAVERSE 12 pm PDT (SLT), 3 PM EDT, 9 PM in Italy

BENITO FLORES, piano (Alessandro Marangoni in RL)

Ars Cantica, choir

Marco Berrini, conductor

To view inworld you need a Second Life account and to be at: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/57/23/22 at 12 noon Pacific Time or you can view on the old flat web via Livestream in this location.

Watch live streaming video from musicisland at livestream.com

March 27/11 Steam Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Wind… and words

Sandia Beaumont (Piano) & Shprav Oodles (Organ)
Steam Organ, Piano, Harpsichord, Wind… and words.
SUNDAY MAR 27
12 NOON SLT
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/53/20/23

In First Life, as a solo pianist, Sandia Beaumont is regularly accompanied by symphonic orchestras. In Second Life, Sandia could only dream of having an orchestra to accompany her. The cost of orchestral performance is such that only a handful of full symphony concerts have been held in Second Life. Most orchestral accompaniments are synthesized or pre-recorded tracks.

But then along came Shprav Oodles, the exotic organist from Africa. Oodles made the outrageous claim that on the organ, he could accompany her and that he would out-orchestra any orchestra she cared to name. Beaumont laughed when he said this, but politely agreed to listen. Sandia stopped laughing when she heard Oodles play.

That was six months ago, and planning has been intense since then! Join us at Noon SLT (Pacific Time) on Sunday March 27, on Music Island, you can hear Oodles & Beaumont play for the very first time in Second Life or any other Life.

The Programme

A programme as hybrid (how contemporary !) as this could only be found in Second Life…

Michel Legrand – Melodies
W.A. Mozart – "Concerto in A K488" 1st & 2nd mvts, for piano and organ
G.F. Handel – "Concertino in A minor" for Harpsichord and Great Organ
Structured Improvisation – "Marzipan Mischief Boogie-Woogie"
Shprav Oodles – "Ex Machina" for piano, organ and synthesizer
Oodles & Beaumont – "Rain, Steam and Slivovitz" for piano and Steam Organ.

Full Moon Lunacy Concert Nov. 21, 6 pm SLT

Oh, thank goodness! Another Full Moon Lunacy concert, #11/12 to be precise begins tonight on Music Island...join Aldo as he presents another hour of live improv...

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Sea%20Turtle%20Island/57/23/22

Cindy Ecksol, September 19 @ 12 pm SLT

SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 19 @ 12 pm SLT
Labour Day Echoes
Cindy Ecksol, American Roots music
In this program, Cindy will wander through the songs of work and workers with her usual mixture of historical and musical context and a dash of warm humour about the absurdities of life in our own century.

Cindy Ecksol has been making and teaching music with voice, autoharp, fiddle and a variety of other instruments for as long as she can remember. She is particularly interested in traditional music of many varieties, and her repertoire includes everything from Irish tunes and Israeli dance music played on autoharp to dark Appalachian fiddle tunes from the mountains of West Virginia. But her playful side can't resist amusing modern songs about real life, which somehow co-exist with folk songs from long ago.

at: MUSIC ISLAND, SEA TURTLE ISLAND

Have you noticed the new SL "Destination Guide" ?

I think we all need to keep our eye on the changes and new content on the SL homepages.

A few days ago a Music Island audience member came to me to say that she'd tried to point a new resident in the direction of my Music Island concert series, telling her that it could be found under the Showcase tab in "Music Venues".... but... it wasn't there! She'd looked on the web and discovered that there was a new "Destination Guide" replacing showcase and that "classical" had ceased to exist as a genre so Music Island had ceased to exist as well apparently. (And yet we are still hosting concerts weekly).

I finally got around to wrestling with this yesterday morning. Indeed at that time there wasn't a single category in "Music" that I could put our series in. "Indie/Alternative" was perhaps the closest among the choices which ranged from Club/Bar, to Rock, to Blues/Jazz, Country... and so on. All the sub-sets of popular, social music were there.

With some difficulty I found a link to a submission form for a "new" listing (for a series operating since 2007) and started to fill it in. First problem, I needed a photo with specific dimensions hosted on Flickr only. (I use Picassa). Damn... searching on my old computer for an old Flickr account user-name. Edit a photo to exact specs and upload, figure out how to get the URL for the photo in a changed Flickr interface. Next problem.... the field with "genre".... I leave it blank. Write my summary and comments. Hit submit. Submission fails. I try again picking Indie/Alternative and sending along comments about how this was just to get the bleeping submission form to load. Submission fails. I have now spent two hours trying to solve this. I do more searches on the SL site and in the wiki I find a link to an email address to send to if the Destination Guide submission form borks up on you. I pile all my information in an email ... with assorted bitching attached... and fire it off.

Later in the day I tell this story at an inworld meeting and someone searches on Music Island and surprisingly finds it on the Destination Guide. It was in fact the submission I had made earlier in the day (miracle of miracles) but it was slotted with 18 assorted others in a new "genre" category called "Live Music Spots". Hmmmm. I think a number of the rock, country, etc. venues also hold "live events" so this is confusing and a "live music spot" is not a "genre". Since Music Island is on page 3 of the category, I'm sure that we weren't the first ones to say... "hey where are we supposed to fit in this guide?" I was left wondering why in this age where "everything is miscellaneous" we weren't seeing a system based on tagging with the resultant folksonomy rather than trying to create a classification system which will always be limited by the knowledge and worldview of the classifier.... as demonstrated by his/her ignoring of classical music in SL.

Although this might seem like a somewhat happy ending to the story, no one at the meeting using the old viewer or a TPV could access all of the information on the Destination Guide intuitively. Clicking the old "Showcase" tab on search brought up a link to the new Destination Guide but only showed them up only the first few categories on the guide.

Just in case you thought "search" was getting better.

This is not a deathly blow to the Music Island series because I have built up an inworld group of 1575 members and a maillist of 900 more. Most people come to concerts through group notices or at the invitation of a group member. I also post on a few other related groups where appropriate. However, I initially built the group from people finding the venue listing in events or showcase and checking us out. I don't know how many times people have said to me that it took them weeks/months to find Music Island and once there they connected to other events, groups and individuals who led them to an enriched cultural life in SL, that in fact their attendance had been a major turning point in their participation and retention in SL. For the most part these are well-educated and affluent consumers with a lot to offer the virtual world.

So let's make it difficult for them to find the cultural activities they crave?

p.s. Since writing this post I have heard from someone else not happy with another classification of their favorite spot.

Fourth of July Weekend Concert

Bring your July 4 in with a bang!
Cindy Ecksol, American folk song
July 3 @ 6 pm SLT
Fireworks by RacerX Gullwing to follow

SL's grand wizard of Kaboom, RacerX Gullwing will president over the incendiary conclusion to this evening's concert, following our favorite lady of the American heartland, Cindy Ecksol.

June 5, 6 and 7 on Music Island

A varied program coming up on Saturday, Sunday and Monday in Second Life from experimental to traditional to world music. Whether you like staying with what you know and love or have an adventurous spirit and love expanding your listening palette, you'll find something to enjoy this week.

SATURDAY JUNE 5 @ 11 AM SLT
Enniv Zarf, pianist/composer
The MUSE-IC BOX CONCERT

Bring out your poems! Bring out your poems! Enniv will be inspired by your favorites this Saturday. Whether it is a classic poem you've always loved or your own work, send it to Kate Miranda for inclusion in the MUSE-IC box. Enniv will be drawing notecards out of the box to find inspiration for piano improvisation in the notecards you provide. Send your notecards to Kate Miranda inworld or to katemir@gmail.com by email by 5 pm SLT Friday June 4.

SUNDAY JUNE 6 @ 1:30 PM SLT
Izabela Jaworower, violin

The lovely Izabela joins us for a violin recital of all of your favorites and a few you have not heard yet in SL.

MONDAY JUNE 7 @ 12 PM (noon) SLT
Atheene Dodonpa, soprano
Songs from the gypsy campfire

The lovely Atheene Dodonpa is an early music specialist who has brought us wonderful programs in the past such as her memorable musical tour of a Crusader encampment, medieval songs, and a program focusing on the prolific compositions of Abbess Hildegarde von Bingen.

In this program Atheene will turn her attention to the people of the Wagon, Europes Gypsies. Their origins are steeped in myth and mystery and their music has inspired many great classical composers. Now hear the original songs and learn about their history.

Miriam Forsythe, piano May 23 @ 12 pm SLT

"Old Friends and New Friends"
May 23 @ 12 pm SLT (PDT)
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

PROGRAM:

* Arrangements of Pentecost Sunday hymn tunes: "Spirit, I Have Heard You Calling" and "Come, O Spirit" (EBENEZER)
* Frederic Chopin - Ballade no. 3
* Erno von Dohnanyi - Postludium from Winterreigen, op. 13
* J. Russel Robinson - Sapho Rag
* Ludwig van Beethoven - Grande Sonate Pathetique, op. 13
* George Frideric Handel - Air and Variations from Suite no. 1
* Amy Beach - Scottish Legend
* Lincoln Antonio - O Pianista Invisivel (The Invisible Pianist)
* Sergei Rachmaninoff - Prelude no. 11 from Op. 32

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Miriam Forsythe is a classical pianist who performs a range of music from Bach to new music. Her style is full of emotion and energy. As a dance accompanist in real life, she has a special love for music with exciting rhythms, and gives each piece its own personality.

Miriam Forsythe (Heather W. Reichgott) is a preacher, scholar of theology, pianist, and composer. She studied piano throughout childhood and adolescence, participating in many recitals and competitions both as a pianist and as a composer. After discerning a call to ministry she pursued degrees in religion. Meanwhile, she continued to study piano for two years with Prof. Peter Takacs at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and worked as an accompanist. She presently works as a ballet accompanist at Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and Amherst Ballet School (where some of her compositions have been featured in performances).

Yuki Ukita, piano Thurs April 15 @ 7 am SLT

Yuki Ukita, piano
Thursday April 15
7 am SLT (PDT)
Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

A wave of great musicians have been arriving in Second Life from Japan and Music Island audiences are fortunate enough to be hearing from two leading lights this month. First pianist Yuki Ukita (YukithePianoPlayer Hutchison in SL) and later this month soprano Haruno Watanabe.

Yuki has planned an ambitious program sure to delight the audience.



Program:
Part I：

1 BWV 1068 Air/　--　J.S. Bach
2 Kanon　--　Johann Pachelbel
3 K.331　--　Mozart
4 Etude Op.10 No.3　--　Chopin
5 Etude Op.10 No.12--　Chopin
6 Nocturne Op.9 No.2　--　Chopin
7 Ave Maria　--　Gounod
8 La Campanella　--　Liszt
9 Liebestraume No.3　--　Liszt
10 "Un sospiro"--　Liszt
11 Lieder ohne Worte Op.30 No.6　-- Mendelssohn
12 Lieder ohne Worte Op. 62 No.6 --Mendelssohn
13 Ave Maria　--　Schubert
14 Traumerei　--　Schumann


Part II：

15 Radetzkymarsch　--　Strauss
16 Op.37b No.10　--　Tchaikovsky
17 Aufforderung zum tanz　--　Weber
18 Clair de lune　--　Debussy
19 Reverie　--　Debussy
20 Op.43 No.6　--　Grieg
21 Op.3 No.1 Elegie　--　Rachmaninoff
22 Pavane pour une infante défunte　--　Ravel
23 Gymnopedie No.1　--　Satie
24 Je te veux　--　Satie

Zachh Cale, piano Sat Apr 10 @ 12 pm SLT

Zachh Cale, piano
Saturday, April 10
12 pm SECOND LIFE TIME (Pacific Daylight Time)
at Music Island, Sea Turtle Island

Join Zachh for some standards and originals. Zachh is a Music Island favorite performer who we've not heard from since December 2009.

At Zachh's first performance, Linden Lab (in their usual lack of regard for the quality programming that makes people want to visit Second Life) decided to restart the sim that the audience was sitting in. As the stage area was in another sim, the ever calm and affable Zachh called out, "Come up and gather round the piano" and we did, weathering the re-start storm on stage for 10 minutes.

I have thought since that day that "Gather 'round the piano" is an apt description for the relaxed and intimate experience of a Zachh Cale concert.