|
|
|
| | Arts Calendar / December 13 / Concerts |
|
|
|
19:00 | Enrique Iglesias (USA) |
|
|
|
|
 At the dawn of the new millennium, Enrique Iglesias was the best-selling Latin recording artist in the world. The son of multi-million-selling singer Julio Iglesias, Enrique was born in Madrid, Spain, where he lived with his mother, his brother Julio, and his sister Chabeli. In 1982, his mother sent them to live in Miami with their father. While there, Enrique was exposed to three different cultures and musical influences: Hispanic, European, and American. Iglesias' own career started when he was still attending Gulliver Private School, a very prestigious school in Miami. He made his singing debut in a production of Hello, Dolly, after which he began practicing his singing without his parents knowing. After a year studying business at the University of Miami, he decided to follow his passion for music. In 1995, he sang in person for his soon-to-be manager, who at Iglesias' insistence of not wanting to use his family name, first shopped his demos as an unknown Central American singer named Enrique Martinez. It wasn't until he earned a record deal with Fonovisa that Enrique told his father and mother of his aspirations. Then he flew to Toronto, where no one knew him and he could concentrate just on music, to record for five months. That first album, Enrique Iglesias (1995), sold more than a million copies in three months (it earned him his first gold record in Portugal in a mere seven days) and to date has sold more than six million worldwide. The second album, Vivir (1997), enjoyed global sales of more than five million discs and launched his first world tour, backed by sidemen for Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, and Billy Joel. In a mere three years, Iglesias had sold more than 17 million Spanish-language albums, more than anyone else during that period. (The U.S. was his biggest market.) He also won the 1996 Grammy for Best Latin Performer, 1996's Billboard Artist of the Year, Billboard's Album of the Year for Vivir, two American Music Awards, a World Music Award, eight Premio Lo Nuestro awards, two ACE Performer of the Year awards, and ASCAP prizes for Best Composer of 1996 and 1997, in addition to countless accolades around the world. With 1998's Cosas del Amor, Iglesias moved to more mature content; his earlier material had been written when he was 17 years old. Then came Enrique, his first Interscope album and first in English. It achieved gold or platinum status in 32 countries and brought his global album sales to a total of more than 23 million. In 2001 he released the follow-up, Escape. Iglesias alternated Spanish- and English-language albums during the next two years, first offering the ballad collection Quizás in 2002, then the mainstream English record 7 in 2003. Four years later the single "Do You Know (The Ping Pong Song)" announced the coming of his 2007 album, Insomniac. After a Spanish compilation in 2008, Enrique released Euphoria in 2010, which gained attention on the strength of the singles "I Like It" and "Heartbeat." Besides touring, he released three non-album singles in 2012. In 2013 he began to issue pre-release singles for his next full-length. There were four in all, three in collaboration with other artists - "Loco" (featuring Romeo Santos), "Heart Attack" and "El Perdedor" (featuring Marc Antonio Solis), and "I'm a Freak" (featuring Pitbull) - all of which charted. The album, Sex and Love, was released in March of 2014. The album's three Spanish singles: "Loco", "El Perdedor" and "Bailando" reached # 1 on the Billboard Hot Latin Songs chart. The album features guest vocals from Jennifer Lopez, Kylie Minogue, Pitbull, Flo Rida, Romeo Santos, Marco Antonio Solis, Yandel, Gente de Zona and India Martinez. Though Sex and Love tries hard to walk the tightrope between the personas displayed on Iglesias' two previous outings, he leans more to the club side here. Your feelings about the album will depend on which side of the divide you lean toward. More info
Crocus City Hall  |
|
|
|
|
19:00 | Joshua Bell (USA), Alessio Bax (Italy) |
|
|
|
|
 America's best violinist, Oscar and Grammy Award Winner, Joshua Bell will perform sonatas by Schubert, Grieg and Prokofiev accompanied by Alessio Bax on piano (Italy). For more than two decades, Joshua Bell has enchanted audiences worldwide with his breathtaking virtuosity and tone of rare beauty. He came to national attention at the age of 14 in a highly acclaimed orchestral debut with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. A Carnegie Hall debut, the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, and a recording contract further confirmed his presence in the music world. Today he is equally at home as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra leader. His restless curiosity and multifaceted musical interests have taken him in exciting new directions that have earned him the rare title of “classical music superstar.” “Bell,” Gramophone stated simply, “is dazzling.” Joshua Bell will perform for the first time in Russia with a chamber program. One of the most extraordinary figures in the current classical music scene, Joshua Bell effortlessly combines the seemingly incongruous - a brilliant academic career, recording soundtracks for Hollywood films and a penchant for mass-media experiments. With more than 35 CDs recorded, Sony Classical film soundtracks also include "The Red Violin," which won the Oscar for Best Original Score, the Classical Brit-nominated "Ladies in Lavender" and Academy Award-winning film "Iris" featuring an original score by James Horner, Bell also appeared as himself in the film "Music of the Heart" starring Meryl Streep. Bell performs on the 1713 Gibson ex Huberman Stradivarius violin and uses a late 18th century French bow by Francois Tourte. Pianist Alessio Bax creates "a ravishing listening experience" with his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. "His playing quivers with an almost hypnotic intensity," says Gramophone magazine, leading to what Dallas Morning News calls "an out-of-body experience." First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions - and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient - he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the Dallas and Houston symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. More info
Moscow Conservatory Great Hall |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The virtual community for English-speaking expats and Russians
