Art Music Recording, LLC

11/07/2024

Watching a live stream now of the wonderful National Repertory Orchestra.
They're performing Jonathan Leshnoff's violin concerto and dedicating it to the memory of the great and dearly missed violinist Chas Wehterbee. I remember producing the premiere recording of this concerto for Naxos. Chas performed with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, with Markand Thakar conducting.

Kudos to Michael Stern and the young musicians of the NRO - you sound fantastic!

ABOUT THE PROGRAMMichael Stern, conductor (bio)Sadie Hamrin, violin (bio)Carl Nielsen Helios Overture, Op. 17Jonathan Leshnoff Violin Concerto No. 1INTERMISS...

10/07/2024

This live recording was a special one.

The five performers pictured here (from left: Winston Choi, MingHuan Xu, Maria Sampen, Tim Christie, and Norbert Lewandowski) were featured in a recent (June 29) Walla Walla Chamber Music Festival performance of a piano quintet by Dave Glenn (third from right) titled Sculpture Garden.

One of the sculptures that inspired the work was created by artist Squire Broel (second from right), who has become a dear friend since I moved to Walla Walla in 2017.

The quintet was the very first work I worked on with the chamber music festival. I remember clearly making the four-hour drive over from Boise and pulling up to Chism Hall on the campus of Whitman College. The next several hours I got to know the hall, the composer, and the artists on the session. The recording turned out great, and an accompanying video was later produced.

The work struck me as sharing many of the same qualities I found in the composer—it's genial, thoughtful, warm, witty, and urbane. To record it in performance almost precisely fourteen years later, now as a resident of this miraculous little town and with folks who are now dear friends, was a beautiful experience aesthetically and emotionally.

12/02/2024

It was an honor to be a part of this wonderful project. Congratulations to Andy, Ankush, my dear friend BIll, and everyone at the Omaha Symphony for the nomination! Next time we'll take home the statues! :-)

Enriching our community through the exhilarating experience of live orchestral music.

02/07/2021

Awesome recording venue, great performances on this recording. It was a lot of fun to make!

3 track album

07/05/2021

Performing arts peeps, I read this interesting article on https://trevorodonnell.com/ today, about things to expect in the coming seasons (I won't use the silly word "post-pandemic"). I recommend it - it's mostly great. But I do want to take exception with one or two of the author's premises. First: that audiences are somehow immune to appeals to aspiration. I mean, wouldn't any luxury car or even pharmaceutical ad exec laugh at that? I saw Yo-Yo Ma on Desus and Mero today - they fawned over him like a living god. People *aspire*, and classical musicians (for worse, not better) have always been tokens of that aspiration. Second: the idea that performing-arts marketing materials are "boastful," like that's a bad thing. I don't disagree, because that tone is off-putting to me personally, and the alternative tack the author suggests is definitely sharper and more appealing. But I don't see how you could look at pop culture (let alone presidential elections) and argue that Americans don't respond to boasts and brags. Nothing is more culturally American than that. Again, to be clear: I don't think we should do it just because it works. I just think he has nary a leg to stand on claiming that audiences won't respond to it.

PS - that Desus and Mero video is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMhK9WcAdvk&ab_channel=DESUS%26MEROonSHOWTIME

We visit the legendary Yo-Yo Ma just outside of Boston at his favorite barbershop, La Flamme, to talk music, learn about cellos, and to collaborate on rendit...

30/09/2019

For your grammy voting consideration:

15/09/2019

Thanks for the shout-out, Brookings Register!

BROOKINGS – “It’s like playing in the best cathedral in Europe – except it’s this water tank.” That’s how South Dakota State University associate professor Aaron Ragsdale, a percussionist, described recording new music with associate professor Tammy Evans Yonce, a flutist, in The Tank ...

11/07/2019

Congratulations Tammy Yonce and Aaron Ragsdale for the NewMusicUSA grant! It was wonderful recording with you at the TANK. https://www.newmusicusa.org/projects/sounds-from-the-tank-and-new-music-on-the-plains-new-music-for-flute-and-percussion-from-katherine-bergman-joshual-clausen-and-everette-minchew-with-a-recording-at-the-tank/

Sounds from The Tank and New Music on the Plains: new music for flute and percussion

12/06/2019

As One is a chamber opera in which two voices—Hannah after (mezzo-soprano) and Hannah before (baritone)—share the part of a sole transgender protagonist. Fifteen songs comprise the three-part narrative; with empathy and humor, they trace Hannah’s experiences from her youth in a small town to her college years—and finally traveling alone to a different country, where she realizes some truths about herself.

Help us cross the finish line! Please make a pledge of support now for this very important project. Talk about it on your podcasts and on your radio programs. Tell your students about it, your parents, your work friends.

The first studio recording of AS ONE, a chamber opera in which two voices share the part of a sole transgender protagonist.

08/06/2019

Congratulations, Memphis Symphony!

The Memphis Symphony Orchestra has recently appointed a new assistant conductor, Kalena Bovell. Her first appearance in that role will be conducting the orchestra for...

31/05/2019

I've never been prouder of being a part of any new recording.

The first studio recording of AS ONE, a chamber opera in which two voices share the part of a sole transgender protagonist.

31/05/2019

I was so happy to be a part of this! Just wait till you hear the final mixes! Tammy Tammy Evans Yonce, Aaron Ragsdale, Cable Hardini Tanksounds

Preview of performances by Aaron Ragsdale & Tammy Yonce. Recorded at The TANK Center for Sonic Arts, Rangely, Colorado, May 20, 2019. Original compositions by…

24/05/2019

It was such a great privilege to be a part of this. As One is an impressive musical work of great relevance and powerfully moving messages about the human condition. Sasha and Kelly sing with incredible verve and just heartbreaking sincerity. The Fry Street Quartet are second to none, and handle the complexities and subtleties of this music with creativity and warmth. Laura Kaminsky's score is an innovative, deeply empathic and arresting interpretation of the fantastic libretto. Steven Osgood shepherded everyone through it with grace and a million inventive ways to get fantastic results on a dime. But my absolute favorite part was getting to work, for the first time, with my idol - the person who I wanted to be when I grew up, since the first time I saw her work, when I was a student at CIM in the 90's: the one and only Judith Sherman. It was everything I had hoped it to be and so much more. I was nervous and excited in a way I hadn't felt in decades. :-)

Bright Shiny Things commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising with the release of AS ONE [BSTC-0127, 1 CD], the original-cast first recording of the highly acclaimed 75-minute chamber opera for mezzo-soprano, baritone, and string quartet.

27/03/2019

Seeking applicants for the position of Audio Intern for Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, CO. June 21-August 10. If you or someone you know is interested please contact me.

15/01/2019

Check out my dear friends of the fry street quartet!

Bartok Quartet No. 2 II. Allegro molto capriccioso Performed by the Fry Street Quartet http://frystreetquartet.com

14/12/2018

I enjoy writing these for Michael Stern and WKNO-FM in Memphis each week but until today I’ve never actually heard the finished product!

IRIS Orchestra is a professional orchestra in the Greater Memphis Area. Artistic Director, Michael Stern, narrates a weekly radio spot on WKNO called IRIS Mu...

04/12/2018

Thanks to Joe Sellmansberger, tuba, for such a lovely, unsolicited shout-out on the tuba forums!

26/10/2018

Project Trio, IRIS Orchestra, and Adam Schoenberg all in one fabulous premiere recording, featured on Monday's Performance Today -- check it out! Recording this was a great pleasure.

Conrad Tao plays Gershwin

25/09/2018

Albert Roussel's Concert pour petit orchestre, as performed by IRIS ORchestra, will appear on Performance Today this Thursday!

14/09/2018

What an incredible experience it was to be a part of the recording sessions for Laura Kaminsky's chamber opera, As One. The talent and prowess assembled in Logan, Utah this week was unbelievable. Everyone was expertly led by the legendary Judy Sherman, a person who was my inspiration in going into this field more than twenty-five years ago. Thank you to the Fry Street Quartet and American Opera Projects for the opportunity to be a part of this! And to the incredible Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf, all I can say is that your singing absolutely blows my mind. Steve Osgood's conducting, wisdom, and creativity contributed so much to the whole project. Thanks and congratulations to you all!

26/04/2018

Got a radio? Or, uh, interwebs? Then you can tune in on Monday, April 30th to check out a funky jam from Ravel on American Public Media's long-running live classical music program, Performance Today. I am proud to have made the recording of this stellar performance - details:

Maurice Ravel: Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet
Courtney Hershey Bress, harp; Claude Sim, violin; Monique Mead, violin; Karen Dirks, viola; David Hardy, cello; Demarre McGill, flute
Strings Music Festival, Strings Music Pavillion, Steamboat Springs, CO
Concert Record Date: 7/23/2014

02/03/2018

If you are lucky enough to get the very fine radio program Performance Today in your area, be sure to tune in to hour one on March 6 when they'll be using a recording I made of the stellar Van Cliburn winner Sean Chen, performing a Mozart sonata at Strings Festival in 2014.

28/02/2018

Listen to IRIS Orchestra on Performance Today this Friday, March 2 to hear the wonderful Concert pour petit Orchestra by Albert Roussel!

09/02/2018

Listen now to IRIS on WKNO!

“Listen now to Friday Live Lunch for playing Beethoven IV live in rehearsal with Michael Stern https://t.co/H7tjVdLsrc”

29/01/2018

And again - proud to be a part of the Performance Today lineup for Wednesday , January 31. IRIS Orchestra performing Pelleas and Melisande. Tune in and enjoy!

24/01/2018

Proud to be featured on APM's Performance Today again on today's episode. IRIS Orchestra will be featured performing Prokofiev's first symphony!

10/01/2018

If your local public radio affiliate carries Performance Today from American Public Media, be sure to check out hour two on today's show, featuring IRIS Orchestra performing Beethoven's Egmont Overture. Engineered, edited and produced by yours truly!

19/12/2017

The Art of Art Music Recording

Ever wonder what your favorite painter looked like while at work? Now I know.

By pure luck I happened across something delightful on the Interwebs this afternoon. It's a short video of the artist Wssily Kandisnky painting, filmed back in 1926. There's even a goofy modernist soundtrack that immediately brought a smile to my face. Kandisnky's work has always been an inspiration

22/09/2017

YourClassical from American Public Media

If you get Performance Today on your local classical station, tune in tomorrow when not one but two recordings produced by ArtMusicRecording will be featured!

Maurice Ravel: Introduction and Allegro for Harp, Flute, Clarinet and String Quartet
Courtney Hershey Bress, harp; Claude Sim, violin; Monique Mead, violin; Karen Dirks, viola; David Hardy, cello; Demarre McGill, flute
Strings Music Festival, Strings Music Pavillion, Steamboat Springs, CO
Concert Date: 7/23/2014

Peter Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48
Strings Festival Orchestra; Andres Cardenes, conductor
Strings Music Festival, Strings Music Pavilion, Steamboat Springs, CO
Concert Date: 6/28/2014

30/08/2017

Middle Tennessee composer makes the Billboard Classical Music chart

Was happy to master this recording for the composer.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (OSBORNE) -- A mid-state composer has a new album out that’s reached the top of the Billboard music charts. Of course, that happens