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Music man: Conductor David Alan Miller. — File Photo |
HA NOI — American pianist Kevin Cole will share the stage with Vietnamese musicians for a two-night concert at the Ha Noi Opera House on the weekend. The concert will feature compositions by American composer and pianist George Gershwin (1898-1937), which span both popular and classical genres.
Gershwin collaborated with his elder brother lyricist Ira Gershwin on most of his work, which included more than a dozen Broadway hits. He composed music for both Broadway and classical concert halls, as well as popular songs that brought his work to an even wider audience. His compositions have been used in numerous cinema films and television programmes.
The concerts will be led by conductor David Alan Miller from New York's Albany Symphony Orchestra.
Miller, who is the former associate conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was appointed music director and conductor of the Albany Symphony Orchestra in 1992. He has built a reputation as one of the leading American conductors of his generation. Through exploration of unusual repertoire, educational programmes, community outreach and recording initiatives he has reaffirmed the Albany Symphony's reputation as the US's leading and most innovative orchestra.
Chicago Tribune art critic Howard Reich described Cole as the "best Gershwin pianist in America today".
His performances, especially Gershwin interpretations, have won accolades from some of the foremost critics in the US.
Cole has appeared in several performances by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also shared the concert stage with notables from opera such as William Warfield, Sylvia McNair and Broadway legends Barbara Cook and Marvin Hamlisch.
He has taught musical theatre and vocal performance at the Interlochen Centre for the Arts and the North Carolina School of the Arts. He has also served as music director for the Pasadena Playhouse, the Michigan Ensemble Theatre and the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.
Cole's discography includes Gramophone Musical Album of the Year 1995, Gershwin's Oh, Kay! with soprano Dawn Upshaw, his critical-acclaimed solo piano disc The Song Is You, and his vocal debut album In the Words of Ira – The Songs of Ira Gershwin.
The event is hosted by the US Embassy in Ha Noi and the Viet Nam National Symphony Orchestra to mark 15 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The concerts start at 8pm on Saturday and Sunday. — VNS