Stayed up late watching the men’s figure skating on TV last night.  Had to switch away when the performances were too heart-breaking to watch.  Some of these guys chose to skate to classical music.  Did you hear the Concierto de Aranjuez, The Firebird, and the William Tell Overture?  Fun stuff although the Jimi Hendrix wasn’t half bad!

Johnny Weir

Reading the New York Times’ description of Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andnes’ recent performance at New York’s big Apple Store at Lincoln Center, I couldn’t help but think of our KDFC Casual Concerts.  Leif played for about 50 minutes, chatting between pieces with a small but appreciative audience. That’s exactly the format for our in-lobby concerts with some of the world’s finest musicians.  The setting was the very cool glass-enclosed store in the city’s performing arts nexus.  A classical concert in an unexpected venue?  Again, sounds like us!  See KDFC at Yoshi’s concert series news below.

How does a child hear music?  Through her ears, I know.  What I mean is, do children hear music without pre-conceived ideas about it?  I think they do and it’s a delight to see them embrace classical music with their whole minds and bodies.  My real introduction to classical music was a set of LPs that I bought with my own money after seeing them advertised on TV by the old-time conductor of the Boston Pops, Arthur Fielder.  Something like “The World’s Greatest Music of All Time”.  Anyway, I spent hours as a kid listening to them and can still remember that my favorites included Scheherazade and The Swan by Saint-Saens.  (I even remember listening to KDFC when I was young.)   What are your kids’ favorites? Here’s a list compiled by the BBC:

Kids’ top 10 classical music

1 John Williams Harry Potter

2 Howard Blake Walking in the Air (The Snowman)

3 Sergei Prokofiev Peter’s Theme (Peter and the Wolf)

4 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (The Nutcracker)

5 Sergei Prokofiev The Duck Scene (Peter and the Wolf)

6 Paul Dukas The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (Fantasia)

7 Edward Elgar Pomp and Circumstance Op. 39, No. 4 (Fantasia)

8 Johann Pachelbel Canon

9 Sergei Prokofiev Romeo and Juliet

10 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Flight of the Bumblebee

If Peter and the Wolf is a big favorite with your kids too, listen for my Prize @ 5 trivia this week to win tickets to hear Linda Ronstadt narrate it with the SFS Youth Orchestra on December 13th.

The wonderful pianist Yefim Bronfman joins the SFS this Tuesday on KDFC performing the Brahms Piano Concerto #1.  But who knew that the classical star is a foodie extradinaire?  He will be judging an episode of Iron Chef this Sunday night on the Food Network.  “Fima”, who hails from Uzbekistan originally, says that food and wine have become a hobby for him as he travels around the world performing.

It was news to me too when I heard that this organization had been around for nearly 100 years, supporting young musicians through scholarships and by providing opportunities for them to compete and perform. Read more.  Last Sunday afternoon, I got a chance to hear 4 wonderful young musicians who give new meaning to the expression “the promise of youth”.  They were soprano Ashley Knight, 9 year-old pianist, Anna Boonyanit, 12 year-old cellist, Travis Chen and harpist, Noel Wan.  Noel sent me this photo of  her, her sister and myself at the event.

Chanticleer’s beloved Joseph Jennings has announced his retirement from the organization effective June 30. From then on, Jennings will be known as Music Director Emeritus.  Joe was instrumental in the founding of Chanticleer along with the late Louis Botto some 26 years ago.  Thank you Joe for an amazing legacy of great music-making.  Read the press release.

Two of the Bay Area’s finest arts institutions announced the names of their new (fearless?) leaders this week.  Filling the large shoes of Robert Cole at Cal Performances is Matias Tarnopolsky, currently in artistic planning at the New York Phil and formerly with the BBC and the Chicago Symphonies.  Tarnopolsky, like Cole before him, has been known to wield a baton now and then. And at Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, a familiar name to lead the ensemble beginning June 1st, former SF Symphony Executive Director, Peter Pastreich.  Here’s wishing the best of luck to both men,  helming two of our favorite partners in music!

The KDFC Classical Star Search finals were last night and it was a memorable evening full of highlights and heartbreak. I was way out of my league as one of 3 judges, with cellist Zuill Bailey and SFO music director Donald Runnicles. But let me tell you what these guys were doing before the show. Killing time in the green room, demonstrating the latest “apps” on their iPhones! Zuill was very proud of having downloaded an app. that allows you to wield your iPhone like a light saber, Star Wars sound effects and all. Donald showed us one called iSteam in which the iPhone screen appears to be covered in condensation. Use your thumb to rub it off and listen to the squeaky sounds! I must say I was amazed to see these two world-class classical musicians totally smitten by something so mundane as an iPhone app. Or is it just a guy thing?

A recent New York Times article describes new inroads in the idea of music as medicine.  One study cited proffers the claim that listening to classical music and attending classical concerts will shave four years off your physical age! And it may sound a little goofy but a doctor in Austria has proclaimed herself the first musical pharmacologist.  I think it’s safe to say that most people agree that music can change one’s mood, calm you down or rev you up but she has taken the concept to new places.  Vera Brandes and her team have developed a line of musical prescriptions for patients based on their specific ailments. Patients are sent home with an iPod-like device filled with original music that is chosen and arranged in such a way as to be healthful.  Interestingly, Brandes is also the CEO of a company that provides a kind of Muzak for hospitals.  More reasons to listen constantly to KDFC!

And what fine hair it is.  A lock of light brown hair streaked with gray and encased in a locket of glass is the highlight of San Jose’s Beethoven Center but there are countless other fascinating reasons to check out this unique place located in the Martin Luther King Jr. Library of  San Jose State University.  Hoyt Smith and I visited the Center on Saturday and were treated to a VIP tour from Center Director Bill Meredith.  Bill is one of those desert island guys.  By that I mean someone who can regale you with stories of Beethoven and his times for, I’m guessing, weeks on end or at least until you’re rescued.  He started by demonstrating the four beautiful keyboard instruments on display.  A clavichord, a harpsichord, and 2 early pianos, exact matches to those that Beethoven would have known and played.  Next we saw the only extant life mask of Beethoven.  The bronze mask pictures Beethoven frowning but, as Bill points out, you would frown too if you had plaster all over your face!  But the thing is that this image became the basis for just about every painting or sketch of Beethoven from then on.  Thus a scowling Beethoven lives forever in our imaginations.  The Beethoven Center was founded by Ira Brilliant based on his remarkable collection of Beethoven first editions.  Worth a trip to San Jose State anytime. Check the hours and more here.