Member of Needham's Honors Ensemble after a Year

Congratulations to my student Luke Zhang, a third grader from Needham! After studying violin for just one year, he has been accepted into the Needham Elementary String Orchestra (NESO)! NESO is a town-wide Honors ensemble for talented young musicians in grades four and five, by audition only. Luke is looking forward to playing with NESO next year.

Here is a photo of Luke performing at my studio's recital earlier this month. I am so proud of him!

Happy New Year from Antonevich & Katz

Happy New Year to everyone! I had a delightful time celebrating the New Year on Cape Cod, where Leo Katz and I played at the Chatham First Night event. Our concert included many of the songs from our CD.

The Town of Chatham TV Station has released a video about the event, featuring our performance of Limehouse Blues. Here is a shot from the video. 

This was the first time we played at Chatham First Night, which we were told is the largest New Year festival in Massachusetts outside of the City of Boston. We truly enjoyed it. And I was so touched to receive beautiful comments from the organizers afterwards: "We thought you guys were sensational... Bravo! Looking forward to a repeat performance next year". We certainly hope to be back!

Our CD is Finally Here

Great news in time for the holiday season -- our CD has finally been published! It's a professionally made live recording from our August 2013 concert in Manchester, MA, containing ten of our favorite pieces.  Here is what the front and back covers look like:

To order the CD, please go to www.antonevichkatz.com and click on the CD link on top.

ANTONEVICH & KATZ Going "Viral"

This morning, the viewer count for one of the YouTube videos of my Gypsy Jazz duet ANTONEVICH & KATZ has reached 1000 viewers.  This video was posted less than 3 months ago, so this is practically viral!

The song on the video, "Minor Swing" will also be performed at our upcoming concert, this Thursday May 16 at Cafe Vernissage in Brookline Massachusetts. This is an encore performance, after a sold-out event there on April 11. Here is the Facebook event page for this concert, we hope to see you there!

Bringing Music Back to Life

This is about "Serenade" by Victor Pergament, a very special piece from my last concert. The score used in that performance was published in pre-revolutionary Russia. It was given to me by Maria Seletskaya. Maria's father, violinist Myron Seletsky, was known for his exquisite rendition of this piece before being executed by Stalin in 1937. Here is a photo of Myron Seletsky, circa 1936.

This piece is now on YouTube, and the description there says:
Maria was only 8 years old when she lost her parents to Stalin's terror, and she did not get to hear her father play it. She has asked Stanislav to bring back the beauty of her father's music. This is arguably the Serenade's first concert performance in the USA; it is dedicated to all musicians who were victims of Stalin's terror. Let their music come back to life!

I have just heard from Boris Rivchun, a pianist/composer who lives in Moscow. His grandfather, David Geigner, was a close colleague of Myron Seletsky; he too was executed by Stalin. Boris had a chance to hear this piece, and he wrote:

Great music, performed with such artistry and skill! How wonderful that you were able to give a "new beautiful life" to this work, this is the best possible tribute to Myron Seletsky! My mom and I were hugely delighted, thank you! 

With pleasure and gratitude,
Boris Rivchun, Moscow

I am grateful to Maria for giving me the opportunity to bring this beautiful piece back to life, and I am happy that my work brings pleasure to others whose relatives had shared Myron Seletsky's tragic fate.

Antonevich & Katz: YouTube Videos and Photos

YouTube now has five videos from the jazz half of my last concert, with jazz pianist Leo Loginov Katz. You can find them all by searching on YouTube for "Antonevich & Katz". My personal favorites are Nuages and Minor Swing, I hope you like them too! 

I am posting here a couple of photos where we are jazzing it up with Leo; this website has many photos of me in a tuxedo and bowtie, so here is something different for a change. It is a true pleasure to work with Leo. In these photos, we look like we were having a lot of fun working together, and we really were!!  I can't wait till the two of us perform together again.

Thank You to my Fans & Supporters

My January 26 concert "FROM EUROPE WITH PASSION" went better than anyone expected! It was standing room only and the energy was amazing! My pianists Sergey Khanukaev and Leo Loginov Katz were fantastic. The recording engineer (who is also President of the New England Professional Videographers Association) said afterwards that in his 30 year career, this was the best violin music he ever heard; you can find his words on the TESIMONIALS page of my website.

To all my fans and supporters -- thank you so much for your spirit, the concert would not have been the same without it!

Composing & Performing Music for Moufy's Video

Recently, I had the opportunity to compose and perform background music for a short promotional video for pop artist Moufy. I just learned that our video is now out on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKkrv3QfooU

It was a fun experience working with Moufy and his team. My special thanks go to director Frank Kelleher, for inviting me to be part of this project. It's quite amazing that this video has already had over 15,000 views in less than two weeks!

9/22: Principal 2nd violin in Needham

On Saturday September 22, the Needham Concert Society is having a concert to celebrate Needham's 300th anniversary. It will be held in the newly renovated Great Hall of Needham Town Hall at 8PM, presented jointly with Needham Bank Great Hall Concert Series.

I have been invited to participate in this concert as the principal second violin in Tchaikovsky's Serenade in C-major for Strings (1st movement). This is a special piece, where professional musicians will play side by side with violin students. As part of Needham's music community, I am always happy to help out with community events like this. Other Needham musicians include Peter Zazovsky and Robert Miskey, violins; Lila Brown, viola; Ronald Lowry and Timothy Roberts, cello; Carolyn Fryer, bass. More information can be found here.

The concert will be recorded for local TV. I am told that tickets are expected to sell out, so please order in advance if you plan to go.

Feedback and Clips from Recent Jazz Concert

I have been forwarded a description of my 1/12 Jazz concert, here it is: <<Last night with Stanislav was amazing! So was his piano man Joe Reid. Together they improvished away thru Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, George Gershwin, Antonio Carlos Jobim and more. Stanislav was animated, full of surprises, always great violinist. Everything was first rate musical performance. Standing ovation at the end.>>  I am so glad that people had a good time!  Also, three of the pieces from the concert have just been added to YouTube: Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael, Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington, and In a Sentimental Mood by Duke Ellington. I hope you enjoy them!

Beautiful Clip of New Music Added to my Website

I have always liked performing new music. It is inspiring to have a chance to discover various images and colors in a new piece, where "standard" interpretations have not been established yet. This fall, I've had two opportunities to perform new music: "Wiegala" by Julia Scott Carey, performed in September at the Harvard Club, and two chamber pieces by Paul Gay, performed in November at the St. Botolph Club.

 

I have just received a copy of the video from the September performance, where I am soloing with an ensemble; I would like to share it with everyone - PLEASE CLICK HERE.

My thanks to Julia Scott Carey, a great musician and composer, for inviting me to perform her arresting work. I last had a chance to work with Julia in April 2011, when she played harpsicord in the comic opera "La Serva Padrona" by Pergolesi, where I was concertmaster. I would also like to thank Elena Coyne of INFOCUS VIDEO & PHOTO for making the video.

Our Hans Gal Recording Has Been Released

Last September, while on tour in Austria with the Israel Chamber Orchestra under conductor Roberto Paternostro, I blogged how we were recording a concerto by Hans Gal for the Gramola label. It was Gal's "Concerto for Violin and Small Orchestra", Op. 39 (1932). (I also posted a photo of our recording gymnasium cum studio, with myself and Maestro Paternostro.) I have just learned that this recording has been released.  Here is the announcement about it on the Hans Gal website. That site also has a link to a 7-minute audio clip of our music, here it is. The soloist, Thomas Irnberger, is a local musician from Vienna.

Zigeunerweisen Finally Added to Music Clips

In March 2010, I mentioned in this blog how sorry I was that the video of "Zigeunerweisen" (a.k.a. Gypsy Airs) from a recent performance did not come out.  It is one of my favorite pieces, I find it quite arresting. Well, it's finally here, recorded in Ottawa in May of 2011!!  I just added it to my MUSIC CLIPS page.  Janice Tucker Rhoda, a violinist and author of "ABCs of Strings", was one of the first people to listen to it, and she shared it on Facebook with the following comment:

This is a WONDERFUL rendition of Zigeunerweisen just posted to YouTube! Excellent Violinist Stanislav Antonevich is on Facebook and living in the Boston Massachusetts, USA area. A must-listen!!

Thank you Janice!

New Addition to Music Clips

I've just added "Tate's Freilach" to the MUSIC CLIPS page on my website.  This video was recorded two weeks ago at the Special Musical Hour hosted by You-Do-It Electronics Center in Needham, performed on electric violin. The theme of the Musical Hour was "Holiday Jazz", but this is one of my favorite Klezmer pieces so I snuck it in. The Christmas decorations in the background are quite a touch.

Soloing in Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 on Jan. 16

It's now official -- I will be performing (and conducting) Mozart Violin Concerto No. 3 on January 16.  I've always found Mozart's music to be very operatic, in the way it creates communication between various musical instruments, with questions and answers. In my opinion, this concerto is particularly bright and delightful, leaving the audience uplifed and energized. The program also includes Pergolesi's short opera featuring Olga Lisovskaya, soprano, and Bradford Gleim, baritone, as well as a piece by Handel;  I will be concertmaster for the Pergolesi.

Medway Cable will be recording us for broadcast. The place has great acoustics, and it should be a wonderful concert. My sincere thanks to Jagan-Nath for organizing it!

Electric violin rocks!

I have received the video recording of a concert I did for fun at the end of August, with a rock/gospel band led by singer and guitarist Aleksandr Yantsevich. This was my first full concert using my electric violin gadget; I want to thank Frank Padellaro, Fishman's customer support manager, for helping me select it.  I've put up five clips from this concert on YouTube, you can find them by searching for "Stas Antonevich" (my non-classical stage name). Among them is an electric version of Monti's famous Czardas, backed up by the band. Enjoy!

Recording Hans Gal in Vienna

I am in Vienna for two days with the Israel Chamber Orchestra, where we are recording a concerto by Hans Gal (http://www.hansgal.com/) for the Gramola label. It should be released sometime in the first half of 2011. I've had a chance to hear some of what we've recorded so far, and it sounds fantastic!

On the photo, you can see our "recording studio". Yours truly is in the center, with our conductor Roberto Paternostro facing me.

Czardas Monti -- going from acoustic to electric

Today, I received a CD with the audio recording from our concert on August 8, 2010 with the Chamber Music Art Foundation (CMAF). I would like to thank CMAF for arranging this concert and preparing the CD. With their permission, I have added a piece from that CD to my music clips page: "Czardas", by Vittorio Monti (aka "Czardas Monti"), where I am accompanied on the piano by Tanya Kodinsky. I hope you like it!

In late August 2010, I will be performing this piece once again. This time, it will be with a band, and with a violin pickup and microphone gadget from Fishman, that converts my violin from acoustic to electric. I am very excited about it!

Announcing: the Nigun Duo, and an upcoming CD

I have started collaborating with pianist Yelena Neplok, who is the founder and artistic director of the Nigun Ensemble. We have formed a duo called "Nigun Duo", which continues the Nigun Ensemble's tradition of performing music by composers of Jewish descent, focusing on Eastern European composers and on masterpieces of classical music. This week, Yelena and I are recording two pieces for Nigun Ensemble's upcoming CD. One of the pieces is Achron's Hebrew Melody; you can find a live performance of it (a slightly different edition) in the "Music Clips" section of my web site. Watch for our upcoming concerts in the fall!

Recording with Crystal Gayle and Buddy Spicher

Today, I found an old studio recording of mine, hand-labeled as follows:

Faded Love
Crystal Gayle
Buddy Spicher
+ Great Violinist Stanislav

This recording, with Buddy Spicher's handwriting on it, reminded me of the year I lived in Nashville, performing with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and doing studio recordings on the side. I vividly remember doing this recording, with Crystal Gayle singing "Faded Love" to the accompaniment of Buddy Spicher's band and myself... her famous long hair, as she hugged and kissed me afterwards. This also reminds me that my web site should have something more about my studio work, perhaps this will happen soon!