Piano Man - Billy Joel (Michael Cavanaugh Cover)

Here is my live cover of "Piano Man" with an orchestra! It's been quite a while since I played in piano bars, but the piano bar is still in me. Hope you like it :)

Just The Way You Are - Billy Joel (Michael Cavanaugh Live Orchestra Cover)

My cover of "Just The Way You Are" with orchestra! Hope you like it :) www.michaelcavanaugh.com www.facebook.com/CavMusic www.instagram.com/cavanaugh_music

Fly Me to the Moon Piano & Vocal by Sangah Noona

Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) arranged and performed by Sangah Noona| Piano & Vocal

 

Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to write new work for King Charles III, as coronation music announced

18 February 2023, 22:30 | Updated: 20 February 2023, 12:03

Music at His Majesty the King’s coronation at Westminster Abbey. Picture: Getty

By Kyle Macdonald

 

Twelve new works will form the musical centrepiece of King Charles III’s coronation at Westminster Abbey, casting a spotlight on leading British composers and performers.

Buckingham Palace has revealed the music at His Majesty the King’s coronation will include a new Coronation Anthem by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and eleven other pieces personally commissioned by King Charles.

Lloyd Webber said he hopes his new anthem, which is scored for the Westminster Abbey choir and organ, and the ceremonial brass and orchestra, “reflects this joyful occasion”.

The new works for the service at London’s Westminster Abbey on Saturday 6 May 2022 are each by world-renowned British composers. They will be performed by leading classical artists of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

Westminster Abbey’s recently appointed organist and master of the choristers, Andrew Nethsingha, will direct the music of the service and oversee all musical arrangements.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and King Charles III. Picture: Getty

Joining Lloyd Webber in composing music for the historic occasion are Master of the King’s Music, Judith Weir, Sarah Class, Nigel Hess, Paul Mealor, Tarik O’Regan, Roxanna Panufnik, Shirley J. Thompson, Roderick Williams, and Classic FM’s Composer in Residence, Debbie Wiseman.

Wiseman said it was “an immense honour” to have been asked to compose music for the coronation.

“Bringing together composers, musicians and singers from every corner of our richly varied and colourful musical culture, this momentous ceremony marries the new and diverse with the established, well-loved and traditional,” she added. 

There will also be a new commission for solo organ, weaving together musical themes from countries across the Commonwealth by British organist and composer Iain Farrington.

‘God Save the King’, sung by soprano Alexandra Stevenson

Performances in the service will be led by some of the finest operatic voices of our time, with Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel, South African soprano Pretty Yende and British baritone Roderick Williams all named as soloists.

A special coronation orchestra will be conducted by Royal Opera House conductor Sir Antonio Pappano.

The official Royal Harpist Alis Huws will perform as part of the orchestra, in recognition of The King’s long-standing affection for Wales and the country’s musical traditions.

His Royal Highness and Sir Antonio Pappano at the Royal College of Music in 2020. Picture: Getty

Before the service, Sir John Eliot Gardiner will conduct The Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque soloists in a pre-service programme of choral music.

This programme is expected to feature the music of William Byrd, George Frideric Handel, Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry and Sir Karl Jenkins.

The service will be sung by The Choir of Westminster Abbey and The Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, together with girl choristers from the Chapel Choir of Methodist College, Belfast and Truro Cathedral Choir.

The Ascension Choir will sing gospel music as part of the service, which will also feature Greek Orthodox music from the Byzantine Chant Ensemble in tribute to his late father, the Duke of Edinburgh.

Fanfares will be played by the State Trumpeters of the Household Cavalry and the Fanfare Trumpeters of the Royal Air Force, and the King’s Scholars of Westminster School will proclaim the traditional ‘Vivat’ acclamations.

Berlin Phil announces first ever female concertmaster in 141-year history, Vineta Sareika-Völkner

Vineta Sareika-Völkner is the Berlin Phil’s first ever female concertmaster. Picture: Berlin Philharmonic / Alamy

By Sophia Alexandra Hall

@sophiassocials

 

The legendary German orchestra, often considered the best in the world, has announced its newest concertmaster, who for the first time is a woman. 

Latvian violinist, Vineta Sareika-Völkner, has today been announced as the new concertmaster of the acclaimed Berlin Philharmonic.

Sareika-Völkner is the first woman to have ever held the position of concertmaster in the prestigious orchestra, and she takes on the role after joining the orchestra just 10 months ago in April 2022.

In a statement released by the orchestra this afternoon, the Berlin Phil writes that Sareika-Völkner “comes from an art-loving family” and began playing the violin at the age of just five years old.

The violinist has an impressive background, having completed her training at the Paris Conservatoire National with Gérard Poulet, and at the Belgian Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel with Augustin Dumay.

Since graduating, she has performed as a soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Belgian National Orchestra, Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Lisbon Philharmonic, Latvian National Orchestra and London Chamber Orchestra.

From 2012 to 2021, Sareika-Völkner was the first violinist in the award winning Artemis Quartet. She plays on a 1683 Antonio Stradivari violin, on loan to the musician from the Ruggieri Foundation.

Despite forming in 1882, the Berlin Phil only began accepting women musicians a century later, with the hire of violinist, Madeleine Carruzzo in 1982. 

Now 41 years later, Sareika-Völkner takes on the concertmaster position, just months after the Golden Globe winner for Best Film Tár – a film which depicted a woman in the first chair position of the orchestra – was released.

This is not Sareika-Völkner first concertmaster position; from 2011 to 2013 she was the principal concertmaster of the industry leading Royal Flemish Philharmonic under the direction of Edo de Waart and Philippe Herreweghe. Over the past few years she has also taken up a number of guest concertmaster roles at the Brussels Royal Opera Orchestra and the Brussels Philharmonic.

Sareika-Völkner’s appointment is a historic moment for the great German orchestra, and we wish them all a harmonious new chapter of incredible music making.