Blog

“...striking imagination and creativity.”

- Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times

Beethoven Video :: 11.24.2011

Cick HERE to watch the video from last weekend's Beethoven Sonata Marathon on WQXR, with my performance of the Sonata Op. 27 no. 1 in E-flat, as well 31 others! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! and enjoy...

(or, copy and paste the link below)

http://www.wqxr.org/#/articles/wqxr-features/2011/nov/21/beethoven-piano-sonata-videos/

and also for your enjoyment, a somewhat dark Thanksgiving cartoon...!

"Light meat or dark, honey?"


0 comments

My drawing featured on WKN Trio's new CD! :: 11.11.2011


Despite wild allegations of nepotism, I'm proud that my drawing is being used on my father Mark Kaplan's trio's new CD, which sounds fantastic by the way!

0 comments

Performance with Ithzak Perlman, Beethoven on WQXR, Carnegie Hall, and more! ::

I'm currently savoring rehearsals of Schumann's Piano Quintet with an extraordinary group of string players, including none other than Itzhak Perlman! We're going to be performing it next week in Miami, at the beautiful Arsht Center (Thursday, November 17, 8pm). Something tells me the musical experience will compensate for not having time to visit an actual beach while in Florida. If you happen to be in Miami, I hope you can come hear us!

Continuing my work with Ensemble ACJW, we are performing a program featuring the Loeffler Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano, a new oboe quartet by Ryan Gallagher, and the Mozart g minor Viola Quintet. We're first bringing this show to Lyrica Chamber Music in Chatham, NJ, the 25 year-old concert series of which I became Co-Artistic Director in June (Sunday, November 20, 3pm). There still should be a few tickets left for the performance at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall (Thursday, December 1, 7:30pm), but if that's sold out, one can also hear the program in one of our "Neighborhood Concerts," at Our Savior's Atonement Lutheran Church in Washington Heights (Sunday, December 4, 5pm).

Last but not least, I've been asked to participate in WQXR's Beethoven Sonatas Marathon on Sunday, November 20th! If you're in New York, consider getting tickets to hear it live at the Green Space. I'm honored to join a truly extraordinary line-up of pianists: my segment at 9pm includes Jonathan Biss performing Op. 10 no. 1 and Jeremy Denk performing Op. 111!! I will be contributing the incredible Op. 27 No. 1 in E-flat Major, "quasi una fantasia," which happens to be one of my absolute favorite sonatas in the cycle (Sunday, November 20, 9pm).

0 comments

Tommasini writes about what happens when I find an outdoor piano :: 7.08.2011

I would write about this myself, but I couldn't tell the story better than Anthony Tommasini:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/arts/music/sing-for-hopes-pop-up-pianos.html?_r=1&emc=eta1


Enjoy!!

0 comments

Recent news! :: 5.08.2011

Just a quick summary of what's happening in this busy and exciting time. I hope this note finds you well!!

First off, I am happy to share a jubilant review from the most recent concert by Ensemble ACJW, Carnegie's troupe of resident young artists. Performing at Greenwich Village's Le Poisson Rouge, fellow pianist Marina Radiushina and I contributed four-hand works by Mozart (Andante and Variations) and Kurtag (Bach transcriptions)... hope you enjoy reading some nice words about our performance.

To kick off April, I will again share a piano bench, this time with long time cohort Timothy Andres. We will be playing some of theOwen's Songs by Gregory Spears as part of the "21c Liederabend" at The Kitchen, (Thursday, April 7, 8pm). For more information on the vibrant lineup of the three day festival (from April 7-9), check out the web site here.

The following week, I join Keats Dieffenbach (violin) and Paul Cho (clarinet) in Bartok's Contrasts in Carnegie's Weill Hall (Thursday, April 14, 7:30pm). The program also features Mozart's Serenade for Winds, K. 375, and Dvorak's String Quintet Op. 77. For tickets and more information, see the event details on the Carnegie website.
As it seems poised to sell out, you could also catch this program in our "Neighborhood Concerts" series: Music at Our Savior's Atonement, 178 Bennett Avenue, Manhattan (Sunday, April 10, 5pm).

On Sunday, April 17 at 3pm in Chatham, NJ, I conduct and play with the Lyrica Chamber Orchestra in Mozart's Concerto in A, K. 414 as a prelude to a performance of the Requiem, K.626, conducted by series director, Adam Waite. If you happen to be in New Jersey, I would love to see you there!!

I will round out April in beautiful Montreal, where artist Patrick Bernatchez and I will collaborate on yet another multimedia project (see some materials about our prepared piano Goldberg Variations project from Berlin here). This time, we are producing a video involving the Musica Ricercata XI of Ligeti and the g minor Sonata by Guillaume Lekeu. I look forward to sharing with you how this project turns out: working with Patrick always begins with a giant question mark and ends with something rewarding and unexpected!

0 comments

Goldberg, Variation 16 :: 4.26.2010

Variation 16, Goldberg Variations.mp3

Here's an example of the work we're doing on the Goldberg Variations. In this case, for the french overture that promenades right down the middle of the work, we pushed brass tacks into the hammers. This combined with a fast speed of attack and limited dynamic range manage to evoke the sound of a harpsichord.

Enjoy!

0 comments

Two Recordings: Goldberg, and Andres' Shy and Mighty :: 3.30.2010

I'm very happy to tell you about two exciting recording projects:

The first involves recording the Goldberg Variations of Bach on a 100 year old German salon piano, with some creative preparations to the instrument deployed in the repeat sections. The idea for the project comes from the artist Patrick Bernatchez of Montreal, and we've been working intensively on developing ideas and experimenting with the charming piano we procured... it has a lavishly beautiful tone, and we are having fun making it sound like a harpsichord, an organ, and even like an electric guitar, using a specially built amplification system. Eventually, my recording will be used as part of a complex multi-media art work, but as far as I'm concerned, it's a chance to explore the question: at what point does Bach's music stop being Bach? Bach wrote his keyboard music understanding that it would be realized on many different instruments... the specific sound was necessarily an abstract concern to him, and so the experiment is actually implicit in the music.
Then, next month is an event I'm really looking forward to. My good friend and fellow ivory pounder Timo Andres will give a concert in New York (May 17 at Le Poisson Rouge) to kick off the release of the CD we recorded together last year, which introduces his hour-long "album" for two pianos, called Shy and Mighty. This is very exciting for us both, as the company is none other than Nonesuch Records, and they've done a wonderful job making it sound shy when it needs to be shy and mighty when it needs to be mighty. They've put up a press release for the disc here.

0 comments