This Week in Classical Music-August 24, 2008

by: Randy Kinkel

August 24, 2008

Peter Breiner

( Phoenix, AZ )
•Met Offers free concert to honor Pavarotti
•Breiner charges music theft at Olympics
•Amram named Dems Composer in residence in Denver

This Week in Classical Music 8/24/08

It’s This Week in Classical Music, an update on what’s happening in the classical music world, I’m Randy Kinkel.

The Metropolitan Opera is offering a free concert of Verdi’s “Requiem” on September 18th to honor the memory of the late Luciano Pavarotti, who died last year of pancreatic Cancer. James Levine will lead the Met orchestra, with Tenor Marcello Giordani, Soprano Barbara Frittoli, Mezzo soprano Olga Borodina and Bass James Morris. In a statement, Met Opera GM Peter Gelb said, `Pavarotti captivated millions with his performances at the Met and elsewhere, and his golden voice will resonate in this opera house for as long as it stands,'' ticket recipients for ``Verdi Requiem: A Tribute to Luciano Pavarotti'' will be chosen by a random drawing. Fans have until 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 3, to enter the lottery for two tickets at the Met's website The public also can enter the drawing by calling the Met's ticket service center at +1-212-362-6000Winners will be announced on the Met's website on Sept. 8 and also will be notified by e-mail and first-class mail. Tickets must be picked up at the Met box office by 6 p.m. on Sept. 15. The 5 p.m. Pavarotti tribute concert will be broadcast live on Sirius Satellite Radio (Channel 78) and also will be streamed live on the Met's website.

There’s a little brew-ha-ha brewing over national anthems at the Beijing Olympics. Composer Peter Breiner is accusing the Beijing Olympic Committee of using his arrangements of national anthems (that he wrote for the 2004 Olympics) for these years games. Breiner wasn’t watching the Olympics, but was alerted to the apparent theft by his daughter and friends who were watching the games and thought the Anthems sounded a little bit familiar. Breiner says he is “100% sure” that the Olympic Committee is using his arrangements without his attribution, permission, or compensation. Breiner’s publisher, Naxos International, has tried to discuss the matter with officials but hasn’t gotten very far. In an e-mail, Sun Weide, deputy director for communications for the Beijing Olympics, said: "We have not heard of Naxos. All the anthems and songs used at the Beijing Games were orchestrated by Chinese musicians."

You’ve heard of composers-in-residence at Colleges and Universities, and music festivals and Music schools, but a political convention? Well, yes. The Democratic Convention in Denver this month will have a composer in residence, 77-year-old David Amram. His musical contributions will include `Three Songs for America,' settings of speeches by John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy for bass voice and orchestra,''. The convention festivities also include the Colorado Children's Chorale performing his piece based on sentences by people of Denver, who were interviewed on the street by sociologist Dr. Audrey Sprenger for a film she created for the convention …``These statements will be sung and chanted, with audience participation, accompanied by jazz trio,'' Amram said. ``We will also perform three pieces for children's chorus for which I composed both the words and the music, dedicated to three great musicians. They are Native American musician and actor Floyd Red Crow Westerman, jazz innovator Thelonious Monk and ambassador of Afro-Cuban music, band leader Machito.'' Amram also promises a musical surprise at the end of Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time” that will include Barak Obama’s name.

For more on these and other items and events, go to the website, kbaq.org, be listening each week at this time for another update, and join me each weekday at noon for The Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries; I’m Randy Kinkel fop This Week in Classical Music, on 89-5 KBAQ Phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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