What a crazy time. Even while some segments of our society are able to restore their equilibrium and restart their activities, music is really taking it on the chin. How can we even imagine concerts in a world where people can’t gather? It’s going to be a long time before we get back to normal. We have to create our own normal, a musical world we can inhabit in the meantime. Hooray for the new tools that allow us…
Amateur Music Network’s Lolly Lewis spoke with SF Chamber Orchestra Music Director Benjamin Simon about AMN’S Third Annual Side by Side partnership with the SFCO: what drew him to this music and why he keeps coming back to working with amateurs. Ben Simon has successfully made the transition to conductor following twenty-five years as a violist performing in several of the United States’ most elite ensembles, including the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Naumburg award-winning New World String…
Medieval Singing Workshop mentor Phoebe Jevtović Rosquist AMN’s Lolly Lewis asked mentor Phoebe Jevtović Rosquist about what drew her to Medieval music and how she approaches this repertoire, music that can sound so alien to modern ears. Here is a sample of her thinking. Amateur Music Network (AMN): I’ve always been really fascinated by the rhythms in medieval music. How is the meter structured, and why does it sound so different from music we’re used to? Phoebe (PRJ): There is so…