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Russian concertos inspire American Piano Awards finalists

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The dash and lyricism of Russian mastery dominates the repertoire choices in the concerto round of the 2025 American Piano Awards at Hilbert Circle Theatre. Guest conductor JoAnn Falletta seemed happy to be there.  Three of the five finalists played on opening night of the finals Friday, and the program was neatly divided between Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev. Accompanied by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of JoAnn Falletta, Angie Zhang, Elliot Wuu, and Michael Davidman displayed their fitness for  the last stage of an abundantly rewarded competition that has covered the whole 2024-25 musical season. Once Avery Gagliano and Sasha Kasman Laude have revealed their concerto interpretations this evening, the jury will announce the latest winner of the Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship. The prize has an estimated value of more than $200,000, including a debut recording, a recital tour, and career support. Long ago, a patron at the city's other major class...
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'You can always work in a piano bar': Finalist recalls teacher's taunt in an APA Jazz Kitchen tease

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Good teachers sometimes have a stock way of bringing errant pupils up short. For Michael Davidman , he  told a capacity audience at the  Jazz Kitchen  Wednesday night, when he ran athwart a particular teacher's expectations at a lesson, it ran like this: "You can always work in a piano bar." The finalist (for the seccond time) in the American Piano Awards was kidding about the venue, of course. Like his four colleagues, he seemed happy to be there playing short pieces from their repertoires as the 2025 competition approaches its conclusion this weekend.  Michael Davidman was also a 2021 finalist That applied even to Sasha Kasman Laude , the next-to-last pianist whose set was marred by tornado warnings on dozens of i-Phones, though she gamely finished her program of excerpts from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet." Also inconvenienced by the prudent interruption of the concert was the final player, Angie Zhang , whose i-Pad was missing for a while before she brou...
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Honoring Indianapolis, Resonance Records issues another rescue of long-ago jazz glory

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 "Freddie Hubbard On Fire: Live from the Blue Morocco" (Resonance Records) marks a significant addition to the Indianapolis jazz legacy, honoring the one eminent Hoosier player Freddie Hubbard in the time of his early glory who lost no time making a splash on the big scene as a young man. Freddie Hubbard had the confidence and ambition to forge a reputation in New York City in the first stage of his mastery. Within a few years of his ascent into early stardom, in 1967 he brought his group into a short-lived Bronx night spot for a dazzling set that will be made publicly available for the first time April 18 in a two-disc set (a three-LP Record Store Day release emerges April 12).  Of the triumvirate of internationally significant jazzmen from Indianapolis, trombonist J.J. Johnson was engaged with major traveling bands (chiefly Benny Carter) at first; guitarist Wes Montgomery put in lots of quality time on Indiana Avenue before he was famously discovered by the touring Cannon...
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'Swan Lake' furthers fruitful collaboration of Indianapalis Ballet and Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra

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Continuing the young tradition of working together once a year, the Indianapolis Ballet and the The iconic swans in this weekend's production of "Swan Lake" Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra joined forces for a production of a major work in Clowes Hall. This time it is "Swan Lake," which survives at the pinnacle of its art form, isolated in appearance and virtuosity from other works of its era and the source of the image of the tutu by which ballet is known to the masses.  Last year's ISO/IB "Romeo and Juliet," set for dance purposes by Sergei Prokofiev, has its own stature, but carries echoes of a well-known Shakespeare play familiar to many from stage and screen versions. Its enduring modern adaptation, "West Side Story," has become emblematic of the theme of tribal and family loyalty overmastering the urgency of romantic love. No magic guides that scenario, but in "Swan Lake," the supernatural is  a core element. Without  en...
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Tricks and trauma: IRT's 'The Glass Menagerie' feels the burn of memory

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We have seen productions of "The Glass Menagerie" in which Tom Wingfield as Tom regales his mother and sister with made-up tales of his dissolute ways character/narrator presents himself in the reflective manner of the Stage Manager in "Our Town." He looks back at familiar events and people in a sharing, confiding  mode. He knows everything. That can be effective, as long as the right sparks are struck in scenes where Tom is fully a character, embedded in the pain of a three-member family and desperate to escape that pain. Indiana Repertory Theatre 's current production, directed by James Still, goes in a fiercer direction. At  his first appearance, Felipe Carrasco makes Tom's declaration that "the play is memory" electrifying, bitter and insistent, far from a soft-spoken guide to what the audience is about to witness.  What happened long ago is still at issue for him, because Tom's memories themselves are still an unsettled issue. The audienc...
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Jim Snidero returns to a favorite place to play, heading a quartet

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  The predecessor to the Jazz Kitchen was aptly named in the case of alto saxophonist Jim Snidero : The Place to Start was where he appeared with organist Brother Jack McDuff 43 years ago, he told the audience at his latest return visit Sunday night. Steve Allee, Peter Washington, Jim Snidero, and Jason Tiemann in action Sunday evening. It was indeed close to the start of his durable career, shortly after he established himself in New York. Being in McDuff's band vaulted him to familiarity among jazz fans when he was starting out. "I was 12," he added drolly. Now in his mid-60s, Snidero has had a number of illustrious associations over the years, and is well-represented in recordings. His latest, "Bird Feathers," lies behind his current tour, which takes him around the Midwest with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Jason Tiemann. Indianapolis stalwart pianist Steve Allee completed the group at the Jazz Kitchen stop. The tribute focus to Charlie "Bird...
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Sean Imboden Large Ensemble delivers further evidence of mastery

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Master of intricate but clarifying arrangements for big band, tenor saxophonist-composer   Sean Imboden ranges over a wide emotional and sonic landscape in "Communal Heart." Scheduled for release on April 26, the new recording is hard to summarize briefly, but two neighboring tracks in the middle can be described to give some idea of the music's expanse, and the outstanding quality of the Sean Imboden Large Ensemble (SILE).  Sean Imboden builds his band's fine book. "Certified Organic," whose title suggests both authenticity and unabashed virtue-signaling, moves quickly into attitude with trombone-section moans and edgy, repeated notes. Joel Tucker lays down a scorched-earth guitar solo, and with a key change, the kind of shift Imboden is fond of; John Raymond remains pesticide-free and nurturing in his trumpet solo, yielding finally to an ensemble climax that's lent extra energy by Cassius Goens' drums. Imboden steers clear of sentimentality in the ...
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