For all you fans of Salomé who can’t make our May 30th extravaganza, you can share in the joy of the Clarins Million Meals Concert via Livestream! The event will be at 8PM on Wednesday, May 30th and see us perform with John Legend, Natasha Bedingfield, Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert and David Aaron Carpenter!
SALOME NEWS
Salomé Performs on MET Museum’s Instrument Collection
Members of Salomé, solo violist David Aaron Carpenter, violinist Sean Avram Carpenter, cellist Mihai Marica, and pianist Gabby Martinez recently performed on the Metropolitan Museum’s Instrument Collection! This honor, so rarely bestowed upon instrumentalists, precedes Salomé’s residency at the MET during the 2012-2013 Season.
Here’s a sample of video footage of the momentous occasion!
David performing on the Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza Viola, Milan 1767
Sean performing on the “The Antonius” Stradivari Violin, Cremona 1711
Mihai performing Solo Bach on the Jean Baptiste Vuillaume Cello, Paris
Sean performing on “The Francesca” Antonio Stradivari Violin, Cremona 1694
Sean on “The Gould” Antonio Stradivari Baroque Violin, Cremona 1693
For all the videos, check out Salomé’s YouTube Channel!
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
An Appraisal of Our Opening Concert by John Fleming
OCTOBER 11, 2011
by John F. Fleming
Professor Emeritus, Princeton University
“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” You know the old joke question; you know also the answer: “Practice, practice, practice!” I have found that in practice, however, for the talentless the N, Q, and R lines are a better bet. So it was the Subway Route that took me there on Monday night for the Carnegie Hall début of the new Salomé Chamber Orchestra.
Among the pleasures of association with a great university are the opportunities to bask in the reflected glory of distinguished colleagues and to enjoy the varied and infinitely surprising talents of brilliant young people. During the last decade of my active service at Princeton the University Orchestra under the leadership of Michael Pratt–a teacher-musician of great talent–reached a very high level of excellence. I became a loyal fan, and all the more so since several of my own students played in it over the years. About the time I was retiring there were three siblings named Carpenter, each of genius quality, among the string players. Their pleasingly ecumenical given names were Sean Avram, Lauren Sarah, and David Aaron. I never taught any of them in class, but I made the slight acquaintance of the latter two simply by being a groupie. On a trip to Philadelphia to hear David Carpenter play the Walton viola concerto with the Philharmonic there I also met the young musicians’ charming mother.
A couple of subsequent pleasant experiences kept them in my mind; and my ears naturally pricked up when I heard that the three siblings, along with a group of other beautiful young people, were forming a chamber orchestra called Salomé, with David Aaron Carpenter as artistic director. Naturally I showed up for opening night at Carnegie Hall.
When I got to the Weill Recital Room and examined the playbill, I noted with some interest that the program was divided more or less evenly between W. A. Mozart and Joseph Martin Kraus. I should amend the narrative to say that I noticed this fact with interest and some alarm. “Who,” I found myself blurting out to my neighbor, “Who is Kraus”? My neighbor was an Asian-American woman of striking, mature beauty, and I immediately sensed that she was not particularly happy to be blurted out to by strange men. But she answered quite civilly: “Kraus is the Finnish Mozart. It says so right here.” What the musical notes actually said, when I tardily read them, was this: “Very little is known about the music of Joseph Martin Kraus, a composer referred to as the ‘Swedish Mozart’ as he lived almost the exact same dates as his contemporary.
Ordinarily I don’t like this mode (“the gorgonzola of wines,” “the Ghengis Kahn of Shakespeare Scholars”) of comparison, because one is never sure what is actually meant. And it can be worse. Recently someone assured me with a straight face that “the Alfa Romeo is the Rolls Royce of cars”. If you insist on using such comparisons, they should be reversible, and they rarely are. I attended a small liberal arts college in Tennessee, Sewanee. It was a good place, but its aspirations to excellence had seduced its more enthusiastic admirers to an uncautious bumper-sticker: “Sewanee: the Harvard of the South.” Then, over the years, I began to have commerce with people at or associated with Harvard University. Great was my disappointment to discover that not a single one of them thought of that institution as “the Sewanee of the North”. Even the movie Amadeus, which did everything in its power to turn Mozart into a twit, stopped short of turning him into “the Austrian Joseph Martin Kraus”.
Nonetheless, as interpreted through the viola of David Carpenter, Kraus really is a Scandinavian Mozart. (Actually, he was a German, but let it pass.) And he is unlikely to remain so obscure in the future. Somehow the Salomé came up with two very arresting pieces (a concerto for viola, cello, and orchestra and another simply for viola and orchestra) that so far as anyone knows had never before been played. So not merely was I privileged to be present at the début of an exciting new musical ensemble, I was hearing the world premiere performances of two major works by Joseph Martin Kraus, aka the Swedish Mozart!
Saint Augustine found the emotional experience of listening to music so intense and passionate as to be morally hazardous. I vaguely understand his concern. The experience of the listener is probably always an unstable compound wrought of the objective laws of physics and private, subjective associations. For such private and subjective reasons the viola solo, especially in its higher ranges, had for me come to be plangent, echoing with loss and regret. Salomé and Kraus between them may have rescued me.
One most encouraging feature of the evening was the age and enthusiasm of the audience. It was mainly composed of young people. I suppose many of them were personal friends of the players, come out to lend support and encouragement for such a worthy initiative. But the audience also clearly responded to a kind of “mission statement” on the group’s website: “New York City compels young adults to be at once adaptable, optimistic, multi-faceted and resourceful. At Salomé, we feel that the very survival and evolution of classical music within such a fast-paced, cosmopolitan environment requires a dynamic balance of novelty, tradition, and hard work.” The evening’s final (pre-encore) piece was “Primavera Porteño” by Astor Piazzolla, the Monarch of Tango. It was brilliant even without—dare I say especially without—the accordion! Sort of like this– only better yet.
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
Salomé’s Donor Match Challenge!
As Salomé just achieved 501c3 non-profit status last month, we just received word that an anonymous donor has agreed to match $10,000, dollar for dollar that we raise, for a kickstart fundraising campaign! We’re asking our friends and fans to consider supporting Salomé, not only because it is the fastest growing orchestra in NYC right now, but also because there are some *fantastic* benefits to joining at the various levels (in addition to your contributions being tax deductible).
We encourage everyone to check out our Support section for this exciting upcoming season–including World Premieres of works written in the 19th century at our Opening Night in Carnegie Hall, a string orchestra performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations on Bach’s birthday at St. Bart’s Church, our first annual Young Artists Competition for string players under the age of 18, and collaborations with the FEED and Trevor Projects. For all patrons under the age of 30, there’s also the Young Patrons of Salomé program which entitles you to free cocktail dance parties and private receptions. And for all of you musicians, there are various tiers of patronage that will enable you to perform at Salon concerts with the incredible members of Salomé at Steinway Hall.
Of course, we welcome any corporate gift matching programs, so please consider that to get you to the next level of sponsorship! Our goal is to create a viable artistic organization that promotes classical music to a younger demographic of audience members through collaboration with other non-profit organizations and innovative programming and your support–no matter how small or large your contribution–will help us achieve it!
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
Tagged donation, gift matching, support
Salomé enters the blogosphere!
Check out Salomé’s new blog, Clef Notes, where we delve into the world of classical music with topics ranging from our favorite wedding ceremony music, to the fine instrument market (hello, Stradivarius!), to some fabulous pre-concert eateries around NYC! We love hearing from our readers with suggestions about other topics so be sure to write us!
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
Salomé and Sharon Isbin on NPR’s Performance Today!
Tune to National Public Radio’s Performance Today or listen online from Monday, June 6th until Monday, June 13th! Hear the complete performance of Joaquin Rodrigo’s beautiful Fantasia para un Gentilhombre with Sharon Isbin and Salomé from our recent concert at the MET Museum of Art. Performance Today is broadcast on 260 public radio stations across the country and is heard by 1.3 million people each week. Happy listening!
CATEGORY: Uncategorized
Tagged fred childs, guitarist, isbin, npr, performance today, salome, sharon isbin
“Glowing” – The New York Times on Salomé
MUSIC REVIEW
A Classical Guitarist Making Herself Heard
By ALLAN KOZINN
Published: May 15, 2011
The classical guitar is mostly a solitary instrument, partly because the greatest works written for it are in the solo repertory. So even though its concerto repertory has grown prodigiously since the late 1930s and is plentifully available on recordings, opportunities to hear guitarists play concertos in concert remain comparatively rare.
The technical problem should no longer be so daunting now that guitarists routinely use subtle amplification, as Sharon Isbin did in her performance with the Salomé Chamber Orchestra on Saturday evening at the Metropolitan Museum. Ms. Isbin uses a system that lets her be heard but preserves the poetry and warmth of the guitar’s timbre: her sound was rounded and buttery throughout the instrument’s range.
The evening was very much hers. Though the orchestra, which performs standing and without a conductor, gave a glowing account of Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro (Op. 47), it mostly collaborated with Ms. Isbin on concertos and a chamber piece.
The program opened with Vivaldi’s Concerto in D (RV 93), originally for the lute. Ms. Isbin took a relaxed, easygoing approach, even in the bright outer movements. But if her focus was on precision and directness, she sacrificed nothing in energy. As in her Virgin and Warner recordings of the work, she was generous with ornamentation in the repeated sections. In the Adagio especially, she expanded freely on Vivaldi’s slow-moving, introspective melody and adorned phrase endings with cross-string trills, which, unlike the easier and more common single variety, have the clarity and definition of a keyboard trill.
Ms. Isbin took a similarly mellow approach to Rodrigo’s “Fantasía Para un Gentilhombre,” a 1954 meditation on dances by the 17th-century Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz. Usually this fantasia is played as a straightforward dialogue between guitar and orchestra, each presenting Rodrigo’s elaborations on the Sanz pieces with equal zest. Ms. Isbin, instead, created the illusion of historical distance, as if the guitar line represented Sanz’s voice, with the orchestra providing Rodrigo’s commentary. (That said, she was at her most arresting in the very un-Sanzian harplike cadenza in the finale.)
Between the Vivaldi and Rodrigo works, Ms. Isbin and a quartet from the orchestra (a quintet if you count the castanet and tambourine player, who joined in for the Fandango finale) gave a brisk account of Boccherini’s Quintet No. 4 (G. 448). Ms. Isbin also played two solo works: a lovely account of Tárrega’s “Capricho Arabe” in which her rhythmically free reading of the introductory filigree suggested the sound of an oud, and Andrew York’s pleasant “Andecy.”
CATEGORY: Press
Tagged new york times, review, salome chamber orchestra, sharon isbin
Salomé Gala Coverage by Photographer Billy Ferrell
Check out celebrity photographer Billy Ferrell’s photo coverage of Salomé’s December Gala Concert, hosted by model Lauren Bush and featuring soloist David Aaron Carpenter. All proceeds from that evening benefited the Somaly Mam Foundation.
CATEGORY: Press
Tagged david aaron carpenter, david carpenter, four seasons, lauren bush, piazzolla, salome chamber orchestra, viola, vivaldi
“All in the Family Band” – Wall Street Journal
NY CULTURE
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
All in the Family Band
Musical Siblings Search for the Right Carnegie Hall Company
By YULIYA CHERNOVA
The dozen or so musicians who showed up to audition in the Victorian-style living room of a townhouse on Central Park West a few weeks ago were top-notch artists, but a few admitted to being nervous. They were aiming to join a young classical music ensemble called Salomé Chamber Orchestra, which, just a year after launching, is preparing to play Carnegie Hall next month.
On this afternoon on the Upper West Side, it was not a conductor picking the musicians; this orchestra, named after the biblical character responsible for the beheading of John the Baptist, has no one person at its helm. Instead, the three founders, 20-something siblings David, Lauren and Sean Carpenter, sat in the judges’ seats.
Salomé was formed in the summer of 2009, when a group of friends—many former classmates at Juilliard and Princeton University—got together in Lauren’s West 64th Street apartment to brainstorm potential names, repertoire and logistics for a new string ensemble. Lauren, 25, and Sean, 29, both accomplished violinists, were the leaders, and 24-year-old David, a viola soloist, took a supporting role.
The Carpenters practice in the rented townhouse where they live with their mother, Grace. On this day, though, the siblings were there to reorganize the group with the aim of putting together a new version of the ensemble.
“You were just freaking fantastic!” Lauren said to one musician after an audition. Grace, who manned the door, suggested they be more formal about the process. “Hell, no,” responded Lauren, whose full-time job is in marketing at Google, Inc., “I don’t want to scare them.”
The idea behind Salomé is to attract a younger audience with a vibrant orchestra. It is also for the musicians to run the ensemble in a democratic way—that is, keeping it in the hands of the “oligarchy,” as David sarcastically refers to his siblings.
“We want to perform for people our age, and we recognize it’s a form of entertainment,” Lauren said. “It’s not just creating a concert, but creating an event.”
Soon after forming, the Carpenters performed in venues like Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District and Brooklyn’s Bargemusic. At one concert, they met Sarah M. Lowe, the granddaughter of Werner Josten, the German-American composer whose works have been performed rarely since he died in 1963. Ms. Lowe and her uncle, Peter W. Josten, are sponsoring the forthcoming Carnegie concert, where Salomé will play some of Josten’s work, along with the music of Samuel Barber and Antonin Dvořák.
During a break in the auditions, David picked up a Stradivarius violin and began to play. “You’re in the wrong key,” snapped Sean. Apparently, winning the 2006 Walter E. Naumburg Viola Competition doesn’t spare one the grousing of an older brother.
“I don’t really play the violin, but I make an exception for a Strad,” David said. He was only half-kidding. Sean collects and sells musical instruments for his company, Sean A. Carpenter Fine Violins LLC, so Salomé members get to play on some of the world’s finest instruments.
Accordingly, they’re in search of some the world’s finest musicians. Because the Carpenters have decided to re-create the original ensemble at the highest level, some of their friends won’t make the cut. “We feel bad,” David said, “it’s ruthless.” They swept aside suggestions for granting tenure to members and for holding blind auditions, where the performer sits behind a curtain, anonymous to the judges. “We’re not just listening to the sound,” Lauren said. “We care about the physicality, the performance.”
During audition breaks, Lauren reviewed the questionnaires filled out by applicants. “No one wants to volunteer with administrative tasks. That’s funny,” she said without a smile. The new group is boot-strapping as they go along, and planning to incorporate as a nonprofit in the next few months to secure grants and gifts.
After more than three hours of auditions, it was discussion time. Every now and again, Grace would peek in. “Whenever you guys want to eat something…”
Though the siblings all served as concertmasters of the orchestra at Princeton and graduated with the same politics degree— and even looked like triplets while growing up in Great Neck, Long Island—they are not of the same mind on everything.
“He was great. He is in!” said Sean of one of the performers.
“I completely disagree with you,” David shot back.
“We’re all pretty opinionated,” said Lauren. “But we’ll convince each other.”
New York, they agreed, has a remarkable pool of talent. And Sean, who has worked as an analyst at Fortress Investment Group, noted that the slow economy has led great musicians to consider less established groups like Salomé.
Lauren, Sean and David—as well as Crista Kende on viola, Mihai Marica on cello, Julia MinJeong Kang on cello, and Gabriela Martinez on piano—are set to play the Weill Recital Hall on Oct. 26.
CATEGORY: Press
Tagged carpenters, david aaron carpenter, salome, salome chamber orchestra, wall street journal
