It's this week in classical Music, an update on What's happening in the classical music world; I'm Randy Kinkel.

Violinist Maxim Vengerov says he is going to stop playing for now and turn his attention to conducting. The 33-year-old vioinist had suffered from a recurring shoulder injury which forced hime to cancel winter and spring concerts in Europe and the US. According to Vengerov, one of the most talented and highly-paid soloists on the concert circuit, "From this point on, I have decided to leave my violin to rest for some time, in order to give my undivided attention to conductingThe violin is my mother tongue. I will always come back to it, but have no plans to get back on the treadmill. There comes a time when you need to stop flying all over the world. When the opportunity came for me to conduct Josh Bell at the Menuhin competition instead of playing, I was really excited by the idea."

The Next International Classical guitar sensation just might be from China.. the Beijing-born, Londan based guitarist Xuefei Yang, or "fei" as she likes to be called, is a musical pioneer on many fronts-she was the first guitarist to enter a music school in China, the first to get a degree in guitar from a Chinese Nusic school; the first guitarist of any nationality to receive an international scholarship to the Royal academy of music; the first guitarist from the Chinese mainland to launch a career as a guitarist; and the first to sign with a major label-in this case, EMI. In february, she toured the US, with a stop at ASU. A musical disciple of John Williams, who left her one of his guitars after a China Tour, She said, "'Half of all students in Chinese universities have tried the guitar,' she reports. 'I want to be a role model to that generation, the way that Lang Lang has been for the piano.' Her new album, with Chinese and Spanish music, is called "Forty Degrees North" a reference to Beijing and Madrid sharing the same latitude, will be released this week.

In a part of the country where Nascar and Monster trucks are usually a much bigger draw than classical music, a stage full of pianos attracted a record crowd at The University of Akron. Billed as "Monster Pianos", the yearly event drew a record 1600 people this year, up from 1300 last year. Onstage were eight nine-foot pianos with lids removed sitting nose to nose, pointed toward the center, where a conductor would stand. A large video screen hung above the stage to capture the faculty, students and guests who performed, two at each piano, in images from the roving video cameramen. The group played many diofferent pieces, including one of the Slavonic Dances by Dvorak and Khatchaturian's Sabre Dance.

For more on these and other items and event's go to the website, kbaq.org; be listening each week at this time for another update, and join me every weekday at noon for the Mozart Buffet, an hour of music by Mozart and his contemporaries. I'm Randy Kinkel, For KBAQ's "This Week in Classical Music", on listener-supported 89-5 kbaq phoenix, a service of Rio Salado College and Arizona State University.

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April 6, 2008 by Randy Kinkel courtesy of KBAQ.

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Title: April 6, 2008
Author: Randy Kinkel
Publisher: KBAQ 89.5 FM
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