Aug/090
Instrumental programme now complete
With this afternoon’s concert from UCH, Limerick, the instrumental programme came to an end. It was streamed on the web to the world. Everyone is beyond jaded – out on their feet for the past couple of days. I’m off to bed now for a hopefully long sleep.
I felt sorry for the musicians who had to board the SMS “yellow submarine” straight after this afternoon’s concert and go to Kilrush to play for Carl Davis’ two Charlie Chaplin films tonight.
Many thanks to Paul O’Mahony for an intriguing tweet marathon throughout the concert.
I’m off to bed now.
Aug/090
John Perry & Mina Perry after their duet
They played “Petite Suite” by Claude Debussy… delightfully.
Aug/090
Photographs of “The Music Man” concert on 1 August 2009
From left: Ana Marques, Mina Perry, John Perry, Paule Prefontaine, David Stewart, David Bucknall, David Gaudry
See all the photographs I took here…
You may see yourself.
This one was taken in a dressing room backstage after the concert. I stood on a table. I think they all though I’d fall off.
Thanks to Ana Marques (first left) I got to meet all these wonderful people, and others too. It was my first time backstage after a concert. I felt privileged and nervous watching them celebrate. [It was a fairly restrained celebration I must say: if it was me who'd performed I'd have been been letting off a lot more steam.]
The reason I stood on the table is that I’ve often noticed professional photographers do that at weddings. Usually I take photographs from low down around waist height.
Aug/092
Fantastic concert last night
Last night’s concert was really outstanding, as everyone from the large crowd will attest. And the live streaming worked really well also I’m told. So a second live-streaming event is looking likely in the next couple of weeks, though no decision has been made yet. I’m looking forward to seeing Paul O’Mahony’s posts on it – and the many photographs he took afterward of the musicians.
John Perry has just left with the SMS Director of Transportation, Colie Tubridy, for Dublin from where he catches his flight back to the US at 4 this afternoon. Mina Perry is missing him already.
Colie will arrive back later this evening with Josef Calef the Cellist. Josef has been coming to SMS for many years now and is an esteemed and very well liked member of the faculty.
Aug/090
More instrumentalists arrive
Today sees the arrival of Sharon Nye, cellist, who is on the faculty of the Clare Music Makers in Ennis, Co. Clare. Sharon has been busy organizing the music the SMS Senior Orchestra will need for the start of the Instrumental Programme proper on Tuesday 4th August. She’s been helped by Deirdre Stack-Marques who counts photocopying among her duties in the SMS Office. Being very organized, as Sharon is, means that much less stress for everybody on the first day.
Also arriving this evening are flautists Tanja Fritschi who is also a faculty member of Clare Music Makers, and Chris Lacey who lives and works in London and has been an esteemed SMS faculty member for many years.
They are, of course, going to tonight’s concert by John Perry and friends which is also being streamed live over the web from the University Concert Hall with the much appreciated support of HEAnet, UL ITD, and LIT. More information on tonight’s web stream can be had on the Summer Music on the Shannon site.
Aug/090
Setting out from Lahinch, Co Clare, to SMS concert
Paul O’Mahony is on his way to UCH @ UL @ Limerick from the Atlantic.
He’s been relaxing in Lahinch, feeling the sun shine and surf roll.
His intention is to meet SMS people, record a few short interviews on his mobile phone, take photographs and enjoy the music made by John Perry.
He’ll also be taking his laptop, so that he can see how the live streaming on the internet goes.
This is a big occasion for Irish universities. UL’s first live broadcast from UCH.
Paul says:
“This is the way forward.
We all need to open up artisitic expression to wider audiences.
We need to break through the barriers of place – so that people in Australia, Japan, USA & Belfast can tune in to what’s being performed in Limerick.
We need to get round the barriers of wealth, or the lack of it – so that those who can’t afford to be at the concert can tune into it.
It’s important that live streaming makes artistic effort accessible to people who can’t leave their homes – the internet, which some of us take forgranted now, is a line of communication that transforms the quality of people’s lives.”
Paul O’Mahony is exited at the prospect.
Aug/090
The live broadcast of music on the internet
Here are some links if you’d like to know more about the current state of play on live streaming of classical music on the internet…
Atanar.com - This is a company dedicated to the area of Internet performances, CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) & Video streaming over the Net.
Medici.tv – huge resource of concerts to listen to…
Communications Breakdown – a blog post I found
Classical live on-line radio – not live video streaming, but useful link for music lovers
Jul/091
First LIVE Concert Streaming from University Concert Hall & UL
An exiting press release… (Thanks to David Collopy)
On Saturday 1st August people from all over the world can zone in on University Concert Hall and watch, listen to and enjoy musicians –also from all over the world – perform Live!
“The PianoMan” is the inaugural concert of this year’s Summer Music on the Shannon International Festival and will be the first ever concert streamed Live from the UL campus.
Over three hundred classical music and opera students and faculty have gathered in University Concert Hall from countries including the US, Canada, France, Italy and even Zambia, for Summer Music on the Shannon 2009.
UCH & UL are therefore delighted to announce this innovation whereby parents, friends and family of these young pupils can now log on and enjoy the first performance of the Festival!
Hosted by the HEA (Highter Education Authority) Net and facilitated by the University of Limerick ITD department, this will be the first of many concerts streamed live from UCH for the benefit and enjoyment of music fans the world over!
“The PianoMan” will feature John Perry, Professor of Music at the University of Southern California, and friends perform a delightful programme of music including Schubert’s Fantasia (Piano for Four Hands), Beethoven’s Piano Sonata In D and Terzetto in C by Dvorak. The concert is Free to the public and is sure to set the scene for a wonderful 16th SMS season!
For those of you who cannot get to UCH next Saturday night, be sure to log onto http://flashhost.heanet.ie/sms/live.html and enjoy!
Jul/090
John Perry has arrived
Pianist extraordinaire, John Perry, arrived into Shannon at 6.15am this morning and is due shorty on the main stage at the University Concert Hall for rehearsals.
John performs a free concert this coming Saturday night 1st August at UCH.
The programme is as follows:
- Fantasia in F minor’, Op.103 (piano, four hands) – Franz Schubert, performed by John Perry and Mina Perry
- ‘Terzetto in C major’, Opus 74, (two violins & cello) – Anton Dvorak, performed by David Stewart, Violin, Paule Préfontaine, Violin; David Gaudry, Viola; and David Bucknall, Cello.
- ‘Piano Sonata in D’, Op. 10, No.3 – Ludwig van Beethoven
- ‘Piano Quartet in A major’, Op. 26 – Jonhannes Brahms
- Also starring on Viola is David Gaudry
The concert promises to be terrific, and if you’re unlucky enough not to be able to attend, do not fret as it is being live-streamed on the web, through the auspices of UL IT Dept., UCH, HEAnet and LIT. I’ll post a link to the live stream nearer the time.
Jul/092
Great news: live video streaming of SMS concert coming soon
At a meeting yesterday at University of Limerick (UL), it was decided by UL, HEA & SMS, to live stream (video live-broadcast) the SMS concert on 1 August.
[Special praise is due to HEA for backing this initiative & collaboration, and to Gordon Young, director of IT @UL.]
This means that John Perry’s piano performance programme of Schubert, Dvorak & Brahms will go out live to the whole world via the internet.
This will be a first for UL & University Concert Hall (UCH): a live trial of the technology.
You can imagine the long term potential of this initiative.
The university has fantastic broadcast capacity. How many things could the university live stream in future? What could such activity do to the reach of UL? Strategically this ‘trial’ could be a very important part of how UL does its business in future.
UL is a special place.
I suppose all universities are. But UL has UCH on campus and UCH adds dimensions to the university, including artistic endeavour. Broadcasting from UCH, a ‘free’ concert by such a wonderful pianist as John Perry, gives UL an edge.
If the live stream works, if the audience enjoy the performance without technical distraction, if this is a success, there is the potential to broadcast lots more of SMS this year.
If it works, let’s do as much as possible, let’s show our programme off to people who can’t make it to Limerick.
Let’s make SMS as accessible as possible.
Live streaming is a way of the future. It’ll never take the place of the experience of being there, in the auditorium, live on the night. But it enables the riches of John Perry’s performance, and the riches of all SMS performances on campus, to be seen and heard later by so many more people.
I’ve done a bit of research on how widespread live streaming of music making is already. I’ll let you know about that later.
Meanwhile the issue is:
How do we spread the word that the performance is coming live on the internet? How do we gain an audience?