“The Heifetz of the flute.” – GRAMOPHONE Hailed by Gramophone as “the Heifetz of the flute,” MARINA PICCININI is widely recognized across the world as a daring, dynamic artist with varied musical interests. She is internationally-acclaimed for her interpretive skills, intensely communicative performances, technical command, and powerfully magnetic stage presence, with a distinct and global perspective that informs her work as one of the most compelling advocates of both traditional and new works. Much sought after as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, she has garnered special attention for her commitment to the music of our time and for expanding the repertoire of her instrument. Growing up in a multi-national, multi-lingual household brimming with Italian, Brazilian, and Swiss cultural ties, and having resided in the far-flung locations of Sao Paulo, Zurich, Newfoundland, Toronto, New York City, and Vienna, the flutist brings the vibrant spirit of her rich heritage to all of her arti stic endeavors. Ms. Piccinini’s artistic tapestry is also woven with threads both musical and non-musical, ranging from her love of Bachian intricacies and her talents in the visual arts, to her dedication to kung fu and Buddhist thought. As a 36th- generation Shaolin Fighting Monk, she relishes an ideology that inspires self-discovery, discipline, finding joy, and having no limits – all of which she brings to her instrumental artistry. Ms. Piccinini’s repertoire is among the most diverse of today’s preeminent artists. Collaborating with some of the foremost living composers, she has commissioned and premiered works by John Harbison, Lukas Foss, Michael Colgrass, Paquito D’Rivera, Matthew Hindson, Michael Torke, David Ludwig, and Roberto Sierra, among many others. These projects have taken her across multiple continents, including a tour of her most recently commissioned work, a flute concerto written for her by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis, which she premiered with the London and Rochester Philharmonics, Chautauqua Symphony, and Detroit Symphony, and recorded for Naxos with the Peabody Institute Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Recent and upcoming season highlights include a return engagement with the London Philharmonic conducted by Dennis Russell Davies for a recording of Miguel Kertsman’s Flute Concerto; the World Premiere of Kernis’ Air for flute and orchestra with the Korean Chamber Orchestra conducted by Patrick Gallois at Seoul Arts Center; tours with Musicians from Marlboro, including concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, The Smithsonian in DC, and Boston’s Gardner Museum; collaborations with the Brentano Quartet, the Beijing Guitar Duo, and with Vienna Philharmonic Principal Harpist Anneleen Lenaerts at the Aspen Music Festival and for Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with conductor Bruno Weil and The Bruckner Orchester Linz, Austria and at the Moritzburg Festival in Dresden; a North American recital tour with pianist Andreas Haefliger at the Kennedy Center, Rockefeller University, Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center, and in Akron, Ohio; and appearances with guitarist Meng Su in San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. Her trio, Tre Voci, appears at London’s Wigmore Hall, premiering a new work written for it by Toshio Hosokawa, and in Mexico City, Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and beyond.
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“The Heifetz of the flute.” – GRAMOPHONE
Hailed by Gramophone as “the Heifetz of the flute,” MARINA PICCININI is widely recognized across the world
as a daring, dynamic artist with varied musical interests. She is internationally-acclaimed for her interpretive
skills, intensely communicative performances, technical command, and powerfully magnetic stage presence,
with a distinct and global perspective that informs her work as one of the most compelling advocates of both
traditional and new works. Much sought after as a soloist, chamber musician, and recording artist, she has
garnered special attention for her commitment to the music of our time and for expanding the repertoire of her
instrument.
Growing up in a multi-national, multi-lingual household brimming with Italian, Brazilian, and Swiss cultural ties,
and having resided in the far-flung locations of Sao Paulo, Zurich, Newfoundland, Toronto, New York City, and
Vienna, the flutist brings the vibrant spirit of her rich heritage to all of her artistic endeavors. Ms. Piccinini’s
artistic tapestry is also woven with threads both musical and non-musical, ranging from her love of Bachian
intricacies and her talents in the visual arts, to her dedication to kung fu and Buddhist thought. As a 36th-
generation Shaolin Fighting Monk, she relishes an ideology that inspires self-discovery, discipline, finding joy,
and having no limits – all of which she brings to her instrumental artistry.
Ms. Piccinini’s repertoire is among the most diverse of today’s preeminent artists. Collaborating with some of
the foremost living composers, she has commissioned and premiered works by John Harbison, Lukas Foss,
Michael Colgrass, Paquito D’Rivera, Matthew Hindson, Michael Torke, David Ludwig, and Roberto Sierra,
among many others. These projects have taken her across multiple continents, including a tour of her most
recently commissioned work, a flute concerto written for her by Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Aaron Jay
Kernis, which she premiered with the London and Rochester Philharmonics, Chautauqua Symphony, and
Detroit Symphony, and recorded for Naxos with the Peabody Institute Orchestra conducted by Leonard Slatkin.
Recent and upcoming season highlights include a return engagement with the London Philharmonic conducted
by Dennis Russell Davies for a recording of Miguel Kertsman’s Flute Concerto; the World Premiere of Kernis’
Air for flute and orchestra with the Korean Chamber Orchestra conducted by Patrick Gallois at Seoul Arts
Center; tours with Musicians from Marlboro, including concerts at Carnegie Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center,
The Smithsonian in DC, and Boston’s Gardner Museum; collaborations with the Brentano Quartet, the Beijing
Guitar Duo, and with Vienna Philharmonic Principal Harpist Anneleen Lenaerts at the Aspen Music Festival
and for Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto with conductor Bruno Weil and The Bruckner Orchester Linz, Austria
and at the Moritzburg Festival in Dresden; a North American recital tour with pianist Andreas Haefliger at the
Kennedy Center, Rockefeller University, Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center, and in Akron, Ohio; and
appearances with guitarist Meng Su in San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre. Her trio, Tre Voci, appears at London’s
Wigmore Hall, premiering a new work written for it by Toshio Hosokawa, and in Mexico City, Philadelphia,
Boston, Los Angeles and beyond.
Acclaimed for her “intent, glittering musicianship” (Sunday Times [London]), she is a familiar and much-
admired figure at the world’s foremost concert venues. She has appeared as soloist with the Boston, Hong
Kong, Vienna, Vancouver, Tokyo, Saint Louis, Montreal, Toronto and National Symphonies, London and
Rotterdam Philharmonics, and Ravenna Chamber Orchestra, and has worked with some of the world’s most
celebrated conductors, including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur, Pierre Boulez, Myung-whun
Chung, Gianandrea Noseda, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, and Alan Gilbert. She has also performed with the Tokyo,
Mendelssohn, and Takács Quartets, NEXUS percussion ensemble, and the Beijing and Brasil Guitar Duos. A
regular partner of pianists Andreas Haefliger and Mitsuko Uchida, she is a longtime Resident Artist at the
Marlboro Festival, and performed at Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival at Ozawa’s personal invitation.
A prodigious recording artist, she can be heard on the Avie, Claves, and ECM labels, including Tre Voci’s
debut CD of works by Tōru Takemitsu, Claude Debussy, and Sofia Gubaidulina; a DVD of Schoenberg’s
Pierrot Lunaire from the Salzburg Festival, along with an accompanying documentary entitled Solar Plexus of
Modernism; Bach’s complete flute sonatas and solo partitas with the Brasil Guitar Duo; the flute sonatas of
Prokofiev and Franck with pianist Andreas Haefliger; and Belle Époque, with pianist Anne Epperson; sonatas
by Bartók, Martinů, Schulhoff, Dohnányi, and Taktakishvili; and an acclaimed recording of her dazzling new
arrangement of the Paganini Caprices (published by Schott Music).
Her intense commitment to education inspired her to create the Marina Piccinini International Masterclasses
(MPIMC), which, after a decade at Baltimore’s Peabody Institute, has recently moved to the New World Center
in Miami, launching an exciting new partnership with the New World Symphony. She is currently on the faculty
of the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and was formerly Professor at the
Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien in Hannover, Germany. She also regularly gives masterclasses
worldwide in conjunction with her performances.
Ms. Piccinini was the first flutist to win the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. Her career was launched when
she won First Prizes in the CBC Young Performers Competition in Canada and the Concert Artists Guild
International Competition in New York City.
Marina Piccinini was born into a family of distinguished scientists. She studied with Jeanne Baxtresser and
Aurèle Nicolet, and received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she worked
with the legendary Julius Baker. She lives with her family in Vienna, Switzerland and the US.
Photo: Marco Borggreve
PRESS THE WASHINGTON POST “a flutist whose technique and musical intelligence deserve mention in the same breath with Galway and
Rampal…effortless skill and impressive stylistic versatility.”
THE NEW YORK TIMES
“…an absolutely first-rate player…power and exuberance…a musician who hears and understands with great
intelligence.”
THE SUNDAY TIMES [LONDON]
“[Aaron Jay Kernis’ Flute Concerto] was a virtuoso vehicle for soloist Marina Piccinini, whose intent, glittering
musicianship made it even more streamlined.” (Kernis Flute Concerto, UK Premiere, London Philharmonic
Orchestra)
FINANCIAL TIMES
“The flute part [for Kernis’ Flute Concerto] is a virtuoso challenge and Marina Piccinini was the expert soloist.”
BACHTRACK
“Soloist Piccinini, played [Kernis’ flute concerto] with assurance throughout and, in two technically demanding
cadenzas, amply demonstrated why Kernis wrote this work specifically for her…in the rousing Finale, a
“virtuoso romp” inspired by 70s rock legend Jethro Tull, Piccinini stormed through its challenges and brought
off this UK premiere with aplomb.”
THE WASHINGTON POST
“There is something deeply satisfying, awe inspiring, almost sacred in hearing a long-standing collaboration
between two master musicians. The incomparable flutist Marina Piccinini and her no less talented husband,
pianist Andreas Haefliger, offered up such an experience at the Kennedy Center. When Piccinini plays the
flute, you’re left wondering how there can be so many ways for a human being to breathe. They share an
intelligence, intensity of focus and a no-nonsense demeanor that directs all energy toward the music’s fullest
realization.”
AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE
“…absolutely breathtaking virtuosity…she clearly relished the huge, expressive range the work allowed her to
explore” (Kernis Flute Concerto, World Premiere, Detroit Symphony Orchestra)
THE BALTMORE SUN
“The flute is both protagonist and commentator [in Kernis’ concerto]…it generates a manic, jazzy edge, only to
dissipate in a questioning wisp. Piccinini met the work’s technical demands with her usual aplomb.”
DALLAS OBSERVER
“Piccinini and Haefliger performed with tangible and remarkable devotion and virtuosity throughout the
monumental program.”
LOS ANGELES TIMES
“Piccinini, produces an equally active and outgoing quality in her music…a distinct and engaging personality.”
TIME OUT HONG KONG
“The dynamic nuances and tonal coloring from Piccinini’s flute lifted every turn and phrase.”
There is something deeply satisfying, awe inspiring, almost sacred in hearing a long-standing collaboration between two
master musicians. The incomparable flutist Marina Piccinini and her no less talented husband, pianist Andreas Haefliger,
offered up such an experience Thursday night at the Kennedy Center, thanks to Washington Performing Arts. When
Piccinini plays the flute, you’re left wondering how there can be so many ways for a human being to breathe. As for
Haefliger, each keystroke is a poetic act. They share an intelligence, intensity of focus and no-nonsense demeanor that
directs all energy toward the music’s fullest realization.
First was a hauntingly atmospheric “Nocturne,” written for the pair in 2012 by the French composer Marc-André
Dalbavie, a pupil of Boulez. The Prokofiev Sonata in D unfolded with a calm, articulate eloquence, and Piccinini spun out
its lyrical passages with delicate simplicity.
Thomas Adès’s solo piano homage to John Dowland, “Darknesse Visible,” was played with a subtlety that belied the
richness of touch and nuance in Haefliger’s performance. It segued into an ecstatic performance of that most ecstatic of
sonatas, César Franck’s for violin and piano, heard here in Piccinini’s adroit transcription for her instrument. As with the
best transcriptions, this one brought out structural and textural aspects often concealed in the original.
The concert, which began with music by a student of Boulez’s, ended with the master himself, the “Sonatine” Op. 1 from
1946. This famously thorny, difficult music emerged as a virtuoso tour de force that had the audience on its feet at the last
note.
Virtual concert offers performances that would’ve
been impossible to achieve live
July 30, 2020
Marina Piccinini recorded eight parts for flute and one for piccolo for the world premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ “Siren for Solo Flute, 7 Flutes and Piccolo.” Shown is a still shot from the performance, presented by Seattle Chamber Music Society as part of its Virtual Summer Festival. (Courtesy of Seattle Chamber Music Society)
Melinda Bargreen
Music lovers wait all year for those electric moments in the Nordstrom Recital Hall, when small ensembles of
some of the world’s finest musicians gather onstage for the Seattle Chamber Music Society’s summer festival of
great classics and bold new works.
This year, the coronavirus pandemic has forced the Society, like most other festival presenters, into uncharted
territory: “virtual” concerts, streamed online. They’re recorded in the SCMS’ Center for Chamber Music in
Seattle and in other sites, and accessed online by patrons who listen and watch from afar on their computers or
other devices. So how’s that working out?
First, it is futile to imagine that virtual concerts can replace the galvanic energy of being in the same room with
musicians whose spontaneous intensity and virtuosity can make music lovers forget to breathe. Sharing in the
moment that force field of live music is not something you can duplicate on a screen.
And yet: it can come pretty darned close, as you learn to immerse yourself in that online world. Today we
experience so much on screens that many music lovers are accustomed to hearing and watching performances
online. A “virtual festival” also offers the chance to experience performances that would be impossible to
achieve live — like Aaron Jay Kernis’ “Siren for Solo Flute, 7 Flutes and Piccolo.” The incredibly nimble
flutist Marina Piccinini played all the parts, recorded and captured simultaneously on the screen as if in a
Detroit Symphony Although Music Director Leonard Slatkin deserves huge credit for
leading the Detroit Symphony through a difficult 2010 strike and
rebuilding the ensemble from the ground up, one really has to wonder
if he’s still enjoying himself. Now 71, Slatkin was (and remains) an
exceptional talent from a proud musical family. However, his recent
work in Detroit has been uninspired and his programming has been
erratic. But on January 21 he created a program that appeared to play
to the orchestra’s strengths and proved largely satisfying.
The major attractions on this program were clearly two concertos.
John Williams’s Trumpet Concerto (1996) has some terrific solo
writing for the instrument, and Hunter Eberly played with
tremendous confidence and a full, appealing tone. As principal trum-
pet, his rapport with the conductor and orchestra was never in doubt.
This performance, recorded as part of the Detroit Symphony’s
partnership with Naxos, was played with great energy. Unfortunately,
the work itself is a flawed one. John Williams is still an outstanding
and creative composer, but his best work is in the movie theatre.
Certainly there’s no questioning his mastery of orchestration; but,
aside from the solo line, there’s not much that’s memorable. Of
course, it was fun to hear echoes of the great Williams film scores;
but, in an effort to distance himself from the cinema, the composer
simply appeared
uninspired.
On the other hand, Aaron
Jay Kernis’s work is
almost always interesting,
and his new Flute
Concerto is no exception.
(He can be a quirky
composer; he once wrote
a concerto for toy piano
and orchestra and has a
number of varied musical
influences.) This was
written for flutist Marina
Piccinini, and she played
it with absolutely breath-
taking virtuosity. Not only does Kernis under-
stand fully her interpretive capabilities (she
made sounds on the instrument I didn’t know
were possible, and certainly didn’t know I
would like), but she clearly relished the huge
expressive range the work allowed her to
explore.
Kernis’s notes on the piece split the work into
light and dark, and, while I’m not a huge fan of modern program
music, I have to admit this worked very well. This was partly because
of the nature of the flute. A concerto with nothing but pretty sounds
and rapid runs tires the ear quickly, but I give Kernis credit for
engaging me for nearly 25 minutes. Aside from a few moments when
the orchestra swamped the flute, the Detroit players captured the
moods and flavors of the piece very well.
The program also had two popular French orchestral works. Nothing
about the “greatest hits” hodgepodge from Bizet’s Carmen was
particularly special. The woodwinds and strings did make some
memorable solo turns, but the big moments fell a little flat. Ravel’s
Bolero made a stronger impression with Slatkin building the piece
impressively and the soloists showing off. Audience response was
enthusiastic at the close, though neither concerto was universally
applauded earlier. Nonetheless, the concertos were the real heart of a
rather odd program.
“This was written for flutist Marina
Piccinini, and she played it with
absolutely breathtaking virtuosity. Not
only does Kernis understand fully her
interpretive capabilities (she made sounds
on the instrument I didn’t know were
possible, and
certainly didn’t know I would like), but
she clearly relished the huge expressive
range the work allowed her to explore.”
Hunter Eberly
Leonard Slatkin conducts the Peabody Symphony Orchestra – Russian Easter
Festival & Enigma Variations – Marina Piccinini plays Aaron Jay Kernis’s Flute
Concerto [live webcast]
Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University
Reviewed by Colin Anderson
Leonard Slatkin completed his week at the Peabody Institute – including masterclasses and recording sessions – with this concert of similarly opus-numbered standards bookending a recent Flute Concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis written for Marina Piccinini. In the first movement, ‘Portrait’, the flute starts an incantation; there was some enchantment, the music becoming quicker and texturally busier, if not for long, although the faster stuff soon returns. This is volatile music that paints pictures ... but of what or whom? ‘Pastorale-Barcarolle’ continues the restless mood, whimsically so given the title, and, like the first movement, the contrasts proved jarring. ‘Pavan’ promises something intimate, and was for a few seconds, but it never quite goes beyond the basics and is soon fidgety – again – with an intensity and rapidity that arrives from nowhere. To end is the
quicksilver ‘Taran-Tulla’, the most engaging movement.
Overall, though, whatever the ear-catching moments there were too few to sustain half-an-hour. No praise is too great for
Piccinini, however, playing with poise and alacrity, every challenge conquered, and a word too for the assured principal
double bassist; he had a party.
The concert opened with a postcard from Russia. From solemn chorale to celebratory ending, Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Russian Easter Festival Overture works on an expansive scale, with much beguiling scene-setting, then exuberance, the
suggestion of a populace engaged in a ceremony of chant, and the approximation of bells. It was an excellent choice, as
something seasonal and to display the solo (cello, violin, trombone) and corporate skills of the Peabody Symphony
Orchestra, a very talented crew.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations is a masterpiece of musical portraiture and musical substance; immortal. Slatkin, an Elgarian to his fingertips, led a wise account on young shoulders, freshly seasoned and perfectly attuned to each character, whether eloquent, tender, intimate, wild or (the composer himself) grandiose. Slatkin avoided false sentiment, Boult-like in the overall architecture. ‘Nimrod’, hushed, deeply-felt and noble, emerged as part of the plan, with a thoughtful pause in its wake. ‘Dorabella’ stammered less than usual and Dan was a japing bulldog. Whether it’s Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage that is quoted from on clarinet in Variation XIII (‘***’) or Schumann’s Piano Concerto, there can be little doubt that the latter was advocated here. Another enigma! As for the pomp of ‘E.D.U’, this was done without show and the end (unnatural-sounding organ aside) was suitably rounded. Following which Slatkin made a touching address reminding that music is a no-barrier art-form and also that young musicians, such as those of Peabody, face competition ahead and will need much support and that we should help spread the word.
Overall, though, whatever the ear-catching moments there were too few to sustain half-an-hour. No praise is too great for
Piccinini, however, playing with poise and alacrity, every challenge conquered, and a word too for the assured principal
double bassist; he had a party.
The concert opened with a postcard from Russia. From solemn chorale to celebratory ending, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Russian Easter Festival Overture works on an expansive scale, with much beguiling scene-setting, then exuberance, the suggestion of a populace engaged in a ceremony of chant, and the approximation of bells. It was an excellent choice, as something seasonal and to display the solo (cello, violin, trombone) and corporate skills of the Peabody Symphony Orchestra, a very talented crew.
Elgar’s Enigma Variations is a masterpiece of musical portraiture and musical substance; immortal. Slatkin, an Elgarian to his fingertips, led a wise account on young shoulders, freshly seasoned and perfectly attuned to each character, whether eloquent, tender, intimate, wild or (the composer himself) grandiose. Slatkin avoided false sentiment, Boult-like in the overall architecture. ‘Nimrod’, hushed, deeply-felt and noble, emerged as part of the plan, with a thoughtful pause in its wake. ‘Dorabella’ stammered less than usual and Dan was a japing bulldog. Whether it’s Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage that is quoted from on clarinet in Variation XIII (‘***’) or Schumann’s Piano Concerto, there can be little doubt that the latter was advocated here. Another enigma! As for the pomp of ‘E.D.U’, this was done without show and the end (unnatural-sounding organ aside) was suitably rounded. Following which Slatkin made a touching address reminding that music is a no-barrier art-form and also that young musicians, such as those of Peabody, face competition ahead and will need much support and that we should help spread the word.
Intriguing exploration of American adventurers from the London Philharmonic Orchestra By David Truslove, 13 February 2017
This exploration of American music made an uninterrupted journey from the eccentricities of Charles Ives to the minimalism of Philip Glass. To this was added the symphonic distillation of John Adams’ opera Dr Atomic and the UK première of a Flute Concerto by the contemporary composer Aaron Jay Kernis. It was certainly a programme representative of American Adventurers, strong-willed individuals, mavericks unafraid to push boundaries and their juxtapositions bound by the Southbank Centre’s Belief and Beyond Belief series investigating music expressing both the divine and the human spirit.
Under its Principal Guest Conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada, the London Philharmonic Orchestra began the evening with twenty minutes of pulsing rhythms in the shape of The Light – Philip Glass’ response to a commission from Cape Western Reserve University
in 1987, and on which site the speed of light was discovered a century earlier by physicists Michelson and Morley. Glass’ trademark arpeggios, abrupt tonal shifts and metrical displacements were all there and handled with superb control. The eventual arrival of brass and percussion to its throbbing soundscape made for more compelling listening but, despite additional instrumental layers and subsequent colouring, I was unmoved by its relentless repetitions – more mechanical than musical.
The Flute Concerto by Aaron Jay Kernis, for medium-sized orchestra (including a mandolin), could not have been more dissimilar. No musical idea in its four-movements ever outstayed its welcome, this musical journey seemingly transformed itself before any one mood or tempo could settle. Its eclectic style, veering somewhere between an expressive lyricism (notably the Pavan) and a restless hedonism (TaranTulla) was underpinned by a largely conservative harmonic idiom, its opening Portrait also referencing the Second
Viennese School. Soloist Marina Piccinini played with assurance throughout and, in two technically demanding cadenzas, amply demonstrated why Kernis wrote this work specifically for her. In the more extravagantly scored sections of the work the orchestra threatened to overwhelm her, but in the rousing Finale, a “virtuoso romp” inspired by 70s rock legend Jethro Tull, Piccinini stormed through its challenges and brought off this UK première with aplomb.
After the interval it was the quiet mysticism of Charles Ives’ The Unanswered Question that left its own haunting impression. The reduced string section of the LPO produced a wonderfully velvet-smooth tone, seemingly indifferent to off-stage trumpeter Paul Beniston, whose lonely wonderings posed “the perennial question of existence”. Orozco-Estrada shaped its six minute span with fidelity and infinite care.
The platform re-filled with the large forces required for John Adams' Dr Atomic Symphony: an electrifying orchestral summary of his 2005 opera about the testing of the first atomic bomb and the moral dilemma of its creator Robert Oppenheimer. Its opening movement “Laboratory” commanded attention and the depiction of an electrical storm “Panic” brought echoes both of “Shaker Loops” and string playing of superb discipline and precision. Elsewhere, brass solos made their own distinctive impact and in the closing movement, “Trinity”, its heartfelt trumpet solo derived from Oppenheimer’s soliloquy “Batter my heart” (John Donne) brought a poignant return to Ives. Throughout, the LPO was on terrific form.
Wiener Konzerthaus. Ein idealer Nielsen mit Marina Piccinini, Jukka-Pekka Saraste und den Symphonikern.
(c) Die Presse/Michaela Seidler Die Schwierigkeit bei einem Instrumentalkonzert besteht darin, dass Solist und Orchester zur selben Zeit im selben Raum dasselbe Stück spielen sollen. Oft genug klingt das nämlich nicht so, entsteht der Eindruck, als spiele man beherzt aneinander vorbei.
Wie sich ein Instrumentalkonzert aber im Idealfall anhört, war kürzlich im Wiener Konzerthaus zu erleben, als die famose italienische Flötistin Marina Piccinini und die Wiener Symphoniker unter Jukka-Pekka Saraste Carl Nielsens nicht allzu oft zu hörendes Flötenkonzert musizierten. Nun lädt das Werk – mit seiner engen, oft kammermusikalisch anmutenden Verzahnung von Solostimme und Orchester – zwar förmlich zur Kooperation, doch Notentext und Umsetzung sind eben zwei verschiedene Dinge, und die Umsetzung durch Piccinini und ihre Mitstreiter war schlicht perfekt. Wunderbar dialogisch musizierend, etwa in Zwiegesprächen der Flöte mit dem Fagott oder der Bratsche, warf man sich lustvoll die Motive zu, agierten Solistin und Orchester mal als Mitstreiter, mal als Antipoden und fanden zu einer bezwingend geschlossenen Darstellung dieses in sich so vielgestaltigen und charakterlich abwechslungsreichen Werkes. Piccinini bestach dabei durch einen auch bei stärkerer Beanspruchung herrlich abgerundeten, anheimelnden Flötenton. Obwohl Nielsen keinen effektvollen Abschluss gewährte – großer Jubel für alle Beteiligten.
An instrumental concert was recently experienced in the Wiener Konzerthaus when the famous Italian flautist Marina Piccinini and the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under Jukka-Pekka Saraste performed Carl Nielsen's flute concerto, which is not often heard. The work - with its close, often chamber music-like interlocking of solo voice and orchestra - literally invites cooperation, but the musical text and implementation are two different things, and the implementation by Piccinini and her colleagues was simply perfect. Wonderful dialogues between the flute and the bassoon or the viola, the motifs were thrown to each other with relish, the soloist and orchestra acted sometimes as comrades-in-arms, sometimes as antipodes, and found a compellingly coherent representation of this intricately diverse and varied character Work. Piccinini impressed with a wonderfully rounded flute tone, even with heavy use - big cheers for all involved.
ARTS & CULTURE
Brentano Quartet and Marina Piccinini in Kernis premiere at the Kimmel
April 5, 2018
Peter Dobrin
MARCO BORGGREVE
Every listener has a work that makes him wince, and mine is that reliable musical patron saint of tasks dull and
dutiful, Mozart's Flute Quartet in C Major, K 285b. The lack of tension and harmonic interest in the first movement
opens up to a bit more nourishment in the second, but the best possible thing that could happen to it came
Wednesday night: the intriguing sound of its lead voice in flutist Marina Piccinini.
The main event perhaps at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society concert at the Perelman was the Philadelphia
premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis' Air for Flute and String Quartet, lovingly realized by Piccinini and the always-warm
Brentano String Quartet. The work is from 1996, two years before the Bensalem-born composer won the Pulitzer in
music for his second string quartet, and more amiable writing might not exist.
Flute is dominant (it even gets a cadenza), but the overwhelming asset is mood, and the strings lay it on like
silk. Agitation arrives toward the middle, but for the most part Kernis' Air is quietly expectant in a gentle world.
Piccinini in both Mozart and Kernis came across as a sensitive player with a deep sound that grows and
stretches to suit the specific emotional intent of the moment. Two works for string quartet alone occupied
the Brentano the rest of the program, which was dedicated to Michael Tree, the Guarneri Quartet violist who
died Friday. The Brentano's marvelous qualities shone through both the Mozart String Quartet in C Major, K
465 and Beethoven String Quartet in C Minor, Opus 18, No. 4.
Virtuoso flutist Marina Piccinini immerses students in
Peabody experience
She hosts International Flute Master Classes June 23-28
Virtuoso flutist Marina Piccinini conducts a week of master classes and performs June 23 with her Peabody students.
Bret McCabe Experience has taught Marina Piccinini that the sublime takes work. The Peabody Institute faculty member and
virtuoso flutist knows that the leap from the good performance to the one that sends chills down the spine is
attainable. Musical erudition allows a performer to understand a piece of music, the context of its creation, and
sometimes the composer's intentions. Technique gives a performer the skills to master the mechanics of a score.
And physical conditioning prepares the body to do those skills. But the line between good and great isn't
haphazard. It's the result of hard, interpretive exploration of the relationships between performer and instrument,
performer and score, performer and sound.
Piccinini works on all of those elements with students during her International Flute Master Classes at Peabody,
which take place this year from June 23 to 28. "You're searching to try to find out what the answer is, how to
present it so that it's something that communicates to the audience," Piccinini says of playing a piece, a process
she goes through with her students. How she communicates that series of actions depends on the student.
"Sometimes people come and they're physically very restricted, and you can see it's a little bit about them being
nervous. So before you can even get to that, you have to find the key that gets inside their imagination. And
when you do that, it's amazing because they relax and they smile and then they're on fire."
Speaking by phone from her home in Vienna, Piccinini explains how her summer program is different from the
usual master class setup, where a performer or composer works with students for a day onstage in front of an
audience. Her five-day master classes are an immersion in the Peabody experience. Students, who range from
undergraduate age to postgraduates, start each morning with warm-up exercises before the four-hour master
classes with Piccinini begin. Over the course of the week, each student plays three different pieces for her and
she, flute in hand, interacts with them one on one.
"It's always very entertaining because, after all, it is a performance, so there's a lot of laughing that goes on, a
lot of play acting," she says. "Sometimes I can put the flute to my lips and I play, and then they know exactly
what I mean, or they have a feeling. And that's a beautiful thing because you can bring the whole room to you.
There's a way of playing that you can feel the audience getting really quiet and listening. And that aura, that
tension in the room, because we were together during this process, they can have that in their imagination
forever. And if they have it in their imagination, they will remember that and find their own way of re-creating
that. And then, of course, that's when you've opened the door and they walk through it."
Piccinini supplements these master classes with movement and breathing workshops, lectures and presentations
from flute makers from around the world, question-and-answer sessions with guest artists, and opportunities to
work with top-notch pianists and Peabody students, creating a setting "that will promote every single aspect of
what it is to be a musician," Piccinini says.
The week kicks off with a June 23 opening gala, featuring a repertoire of five flute pieces that concludes with
Henry Brant's Angels and Devils, a 1932 composition for solo flute and flute orchestra, performed by Piccinini
and her current Peabody students. A free public recital June 28 will showcase the master class students
performing pieces they worked on during the week. It's a chance to see the results of Piccinini's work with the
musicians. And it serves as a reminder to the students that what they've been doing—all that intensive fine-
tuning to make a performance as great as it can be—that's the performer's job. The work of constantly refining
and understanding technique, score, physicality, and interpretation is the only way greatness can be achieved.
"You're always learning [as a musician], and it wouldn't be any fun if you didn't," Piccinini says. "What I'm
doing, what [the students are] doing, it's all the same. And for them to see that, I think, is also hugely important.
It's not a magic trick. It's a part of the process. Every famous musician they know, that's the way they live their
lives."
Tre Voci. Takemitsu: And then I knew ’twas wind.
Debussy: Sonata for flute, viola and harp. Gubaidulina:
Garten von Freuden und Traurigkeiten
The Strad Issue: May 2015 Description: Three become one in works for Debussy’s classic combination Musicians: Kim Kashkashian (viola) Marina Piccinini (flute) Sivan Magen (harp) Composer: Takemitsu, Debussy, Gubaidulina
Many good things have come out of the Marlboro Music Festival over the years and the meeting of musical minds on this CD is up there with the best of them. These three performances have been allowed to season over several years before being recorded in 2013. Debussy’s Sonata, the iconic composition for this particular combination of instruments, receives a definitive interpretation that reflects its mercurial nature. Its uniquely personal amalgamation of old styles and forms – Pastorale, Tempo di menuetto – with a new harmonic language is realised by the three musicians with absolute conviction, bringing to life both the music’s nostalgia and its dancing joy.
Takemitsu’s work – its title taken from a poem by Emily Dickinson – references Debussy, even discreetly quoting its beginning, but goes much further in its timbral explorations, as does Sofia Gubaidulina’s similarly poetry-inspired work. Both composers require numerous and varied special playing techniques from all three instruments in their typically detailed scores. Their instructions and the musical reasons behind them have been scrupulously internalised by the players, who perform with wonderful clarity, aided by a close but warm recording which enables one to follow their every nuance. The CD’s sound quality and sophisticated presentation are typical of ECM’s fastidious standards.
CARLOS MARIÁ SOLARE
Cupid comes to Tuesday Musical: a chat with flutist Marina Piccinini by Christine Jay
What happens when the “Heifetz of the flute” (Gramophone) and a sensational pianist “at his
peak” (International Record Review) converge to play music together? On February 9th in Akron’s
E. J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will present a “Valentine’s Day prelude” recital given by the
husbandandwife duo of flutist Marina Piccinini and pianist Andreas Haefliger. Prepare for more
than just sparks to fly — this recital should inflame even the most frozen of hearts.
Ardent? Yes, but this duo is more than just a romantic married couple who perform together ––
they function as a highprecision team. “Andreas Haefliger is just an amazing soloist,” Piccinini
said during a recent telephone conversation. “When you have a partner like him to do a recital
tour, you’re very careful to choose works that are incredible chamber pieces for both
instruments.”
The program for the Tuesday Musical recital and for the duo’s subsequent recitals across North
America, including a concert on the “Virtuoso Series” at The Kennedy Center, features Sergei
Prokofiev’s Sonata in D, MarcAndré Dalbavie’s Nocturne, César Franck’s Sonata in A, and the late
Pierre Boulez’s Sonatine. “The Prokofiev and the Franck are enormous sonatas. Boulez’s Sonatine
is an amazing piece, and the Dalbavie is a short piece that was written for us. Dalbavie was a
student of Boulez, so there’s a connection there. The program is really based on repertoire that is
fantastic and is absolutely on the same interest level and involvement for both instruments.”
Fittingly for a Valentine’s Day prelude, Piccinini and Haefliger first met through music as students at the Juilliard School. “He was
playing the Brahms dminor concerto as soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra, and I was principal flute. When I finally met him, I felt I
already had because I heard him play. It’s difficult to separate the musician and the individual –– which did I fall in love with first? I
think it was both.” Returning to the present, Piccinini said, “We’ve been working together for such a long time, but we don’t often
get to tour together because we’re both busy. So when we do, it’s like an extra perk.”
Similar to any lasting relationship or marriage, a great duo consists of phenomenal soloists who value each other’s talent to
produce an even greater music than they can create alone. Clearly Piccinini and Haefliger hold each other in high esteem. In
addition to this recital tour, the duo has recorded two albums dating from 1995 and 2006. Of their musical life together, Piccinini
said, “We both put an incredible amount of attention into our work.”
Sparks will surely fly in Akron’s E. J. Thomas Hall on Tuesday evening, but come see if the husbandandwife team of Piccinini and
Haefliger can make even Cupid swoon.
Published on ClevelandClassical.com February 1, 2016.
Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival
‘Paris and Shanghai’, at Hong Kong City Hall Theatre, cleverly balanced Chinese songs and French chamber
works by Debussy, Franck and others
Ken Smith
After two reasonably successful outings, the ambitious Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival
entered its third season last week with something of a rebranding. The first of the changes was the calendar,
with the festival shifting from its previous spot during a typically eventful spring to the traditionally dead time
between western and Chinese New Years. Then came the matter of personnel.
Under its founding artistic director, the Hong Kong-born, Juilliard-trained cellist Trey Lee, the festival had
initially assembled well-matched rosters of local players and young competition winners, some of whom were
discovering individual pieces for the first time. Violinist Cho-Liang Lin, a veteran artistic director of music
festivals in places ranging from La Jolla, California, to his native Taipei, now comes to the HKICMF with
practically the entire roster of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center on his speed dial. And yet the
underlying success of HKICMF 2.0 lay less in world-class playing by marquee names than in finding a similar
collaborative balance on a higher plateau.
That balance found its way into the repertory as well. Although Wednesday’s concert at Hong Kong City Hall
Theatre was nominally billed “Paris and Shanghai”, a mixture of Chinese songs and French chamber works
supposedly evoking a French Concession salon in the 1920s, specific works seemed programmed with more
pragmatic reasons in mind.
Saint-Saëns’ Fantaisie for Violin and Harp opened the evening, with Lin’s sweet lyrical tone in fluid contrast to
harpist Naoko Yoshino’s rhythmical solidity. The Shanghai Quartet and pianist Shai Wosner let the strains of