Welcome to my initial entry for Concerts and Conversations. I am happy you’ve joined me. For those who don’t know me, let me take a moment to introduce myself. I am a conductor and musicologist. I currently am Music Director or Conductor for The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey, New Jersey Concert Opera and Opera at Florham. I have conducted orchestra and opera performances throughout the area and in Eastern Europe with The New Jersey Symphony, The Plainfield Symphony, The Orchestral Society of Philadelphia, The Garden State Sinfonia, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Opera Constanca, The Little Opera Company of New Jersey, Harmonium Choral Society, The Masterworks Chorus, The Oratorio Society, Congress Orchestra Philharmonic Society of St Petersbug, Filarmonica “Ion Dumitrescu” de Stat Rm Valcea , Filarmonica de Stat Botosan, Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu and with the young musicians of the Skylands Youth Orchestra and Lakeland Youth Symphony. I currently teach at Montclair State University and have taught at Fairleigh Dickinson University, Drew University and Sussex County Community College as well as lecturing for the New Jersey State Council For the Humanities. I have written as a music critic for Opera News, Classical New Jersey and several New Jersey newspapers.
Concerts and Conversations is more than just the name of my blog. Much of my work is about communication. As a conductor, I am communicating with the musicians in the orchestra, the singers in the production and with the audience in the theater. As a teacher, I am communicating with students in music survey courses. Many of these students have at most a passing acquaintance with orchestral or operatic music. As a lecturer, I am communicating with those who come to share their as well as my understanding of the musical experience. I try to communicate in a way that feels like we are having a conversation. I discuss what I have learned either through my research or through my performances. Aside from all this, however, one could say that a truly successful concert is in some way a conversation between musicians and between musicians and audience.
Concerts and Conversations also refers to a series of shows I have produced with The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey for cable broadcast. These shows combine lecture with performance. I discuss a piece of music I have conducted with the orchestra, inserting appropriate video clips from the performance. The 30-40 minute talk is followed by the complete performance. So far, we have produced three of these for broadcast. The third and most recent is on Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto and features acclaimed pianist Paul Zeigler and his performance of May 4, 2008 with the orchestra. This video is available on DVD through the orchestra. Please visit the website at www.baroqueorchestra.org for further information.
Future entries to the blog will focus on specific events or works that I have conducted or researched. I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you and hearing your comments and thoughts as well.