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| | Arts Calendar / December 1 / Concerts |
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 The members of space pop innovators Mew first met in the seventh grade in Hellerup, Denmark. Before they could even play instruments, the ambitious youths - singer Jonas Bjerre, guitarist Bo Madsen, bassist Johan Wohlert, and drummer Silas Graae - were ready to make music together, although they initially failed as a band called Orange Dog. Madsen briefly spent time in the United States before the guys came back together in their late teens as Mew. Inspired by My Bloody Valentine, the Pixies, Dinosaur Jr., the Pet Shop Boys, and Prince, the Danish quartet's first gig impressed a book-publishing agent in the audience so much that he promptly convinced his company to change their business plan and release Mew's debut album. Triumph for Man Limited to only 2,000 copies, A Triumph for Man was issued in 1997 to critical acclaim. Making things even more dramatic for their gigs, the Mew live experience came to incorporate background animations created by Bjerre. The band followed up three years later with Half the World Is Watching Me, released on their own newly created label, Evil Office. The album saw a limited release in Sweden before the band hooked up with Sony for an international deal. As a result of the deal, the album was ultimately pulled so that they could re-record their best work to date for a world-wide release. The resulting well-received Frengers appeared in 2003. That same year, the band picked up Album of the Year and Band of the Year honors at the Danish Music Critics Awards. Mew's expansive pop dramatics, intricate passages, and shimmering atmospheric sound were further elaborated on for album number four, And the Glass Handed Kites. The record was issued in Europe and the U.K. in September 2005; an American release followed in July 2006. Wohlert had exited the group that spring to be with his growing family, though Mew continued touring during the summer on U.S. dates with Bloc Party. The band's fifth full-length album, No More Stories Are Told Today..., arrived in 2009. The year 2010 saw Eggs Are Funny. It's hard to imagine this set as anything more than reinforcement for fans already on board, but a justification for the existence of Eggs Are Funny may be that it serves as an excellent one-disc testament to Mew's immutably novel foothold. The band has joined the collective of eminent Scandinavian pop masterminds who - from Max Martin to Annie to Dungen - contribute to one of the most consistently engaging musical palettes found in 21st century music.
Izvestiya Hall  |
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19:00 | To the 140th Anniversary of Sergey Rachmaninoff |
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Performer - Moscow City Symphony - Russian Philharmonic. Soloist - Alexander Sinchuk, piano. Conducted by Dmitri Jurowski. In program: Symphony # 2 and Concerto # 3 for piano and orchestra by S. Rachmaninoff. Sergey Rachmaninoff is a composer of bright original gift, a pianist of genius who had no equal among contemporaries, outstanding conductor - "tripersonal divine being". "I could never decide what my real mission is - composer, pianist, or conductor. There are moments when it seems to me that I should be only a composer, sometimes I suppose I'm a pianist only" , - Rachmaninoff wrote late in life. As a pianist Rachmaninoff was unanimously recognized as one of the greatest performers of piano art. His name was ranged with the names of F. Liszt and A. Rubenstein. His virtuoso skill was boundless, but he never put it to the foreground and entirely dedicated it to content artistic plot. Concerto is favourite genre to which the composer appealed during his lifetime. Creation of 4 piano concertos and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini which is often called the Fifth Concerto, covered 51-year period of composer’s life. The First Concerto was written in 1891, the Second - in 1901, the Third - in 1909, the Fourth - in 1926 (the second edition of this concerto dates back to 1928, the third one was finished in 1941), Rhapsody - in 1943. The Second Symphony has one of special places in his creative work. The composer devoted the symphony to S. Taneev, his Professor whom he loved and respected. Alexander Sinchuk - laureate of prestigious international competitions. He graduated with honours from Moscow Conservatory in 2011. From 2012 he studies at Thornton School of Music - University of Southern California (Los Angeles, USA) according to one of the most prestigious programs for outstanding young performers "Artist Diploma" in the class of world-famous pianist, laureate of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1958, Professor Daniel Pollack.
MMDM Svetlanov Hall |
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