Crossover treats for American TVs: Jackie Evancho.

Well, in terms of my loving of crossover over music, I can recall that Americans are really lucky. This past few weeks, a new comer in classical crossover world has just invaded all day time TV program in the States. The 11 years-old American Got Talent runner Jackie Evancho is making herself busy this week by appearing some of the noted TV program obviously to promote her debut album.

Jackie Evancho, who was just released her debut album "Dream with Me" under the TV mogul Simon Cowell's label, is doing the tv tour in the US. From the east coast to west coast, she started with an appearence in NBC's Today Show, then singing outside FOX studios during FOX & Friends Live, when to The View afterwards. Later on she will head to west coast, meeting with buddy Jay Leno, The Talk, then interviewed by Piers Morgan on CNN. with an additional treat for the viewer, some of the music performance were backed by the hitman himself, David Foster (He's the producer of Jackie's latest album).

One thing I like about Jackie is that her lil-kid attitude. Despite of she is an intention of people, this girl is keeping her self down to earth. classy. Innocent girl she is. Take a look of how she responds to Today Show host's question, asking about her feeling to be at the number 1 spot on Amazon.com, beating Lady Gaga and Adele. Jackie responds: "It feels amazing and I kinda feel sad because I'm kicking out from their spot". arrghh.. I wanna take this girl home.

 I really looking forward to see her interview on Piers Morgan Tonight, since the program will be aired here in my country too, Indonesia. However, I haven't got any information whether the show will go live or not.

All songs she performed are in her new album "Dreams with Me". Have guys listened to it? My favorite is her duet with Barbra Streisand, singing 'Somewhere'. The music sounds magical to me. really love it. 

With all of those tv appearence, I hope Jackie will get wider audiences. I think she will go shiner as she keeps herself down to earth. Good luck Jackie!

Good Friday Playlist

Playlist di Jumat Agung kali ini:

Panis Angelicus (Cesar Frank) oleh Charlotte Church | album : Prelude, The Best of Charlotte Church
dalam bahasa Inggris lagu ini dikenal dengan judul 'The Angelic Bread' (Roti Surgawi), pas dengan momentum perjamuan kudus yang kerap dilaksanakan saat Jumat Agung.



Calvary/They Crucified My Lord  (Spiritual) oleh Kathleen Battle & Jessye Norman | album : The Spiritual Concert
Calvary atau golgota, ikon dari peristiwa penyaliban.

 Miserere (Allegri) oleh The Tallis Scholars |  album : Sacred Music in The Renaissance
"Miserere Mei Deus" atau "Kasihani Aku ya Tuhan..". Berdasarkan kitab Mazmur 51 dan beraliran renaissance polyphony digubah oleh  Allegri sekitar 1630an...

Agnus Dei (Barber) oleh All Angels | album : All Angels
Awalnya karya ini dibuat oleh Samuel Barber untuk string orchestra dengan judul Adagio For Strings.

Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen) oleh Il Divo | album : The Promise
Salah satu karya pop yang menyertakan kata Hallelujah sebagai judul lagu.


Amazing Grace (Newton) oleh Lesley Garret | album : Amazing Grace




Ave Verum (Mozart) oleh King's College Choir | album : King's College Choir

Virtual Choir : Paduan Suara YouTube

Selain Justin Bieber, Susan Boyle, Greyson Chance sensasi apa lagi yang bakal dilahirkan oleh web yang bernama "YouTube" ini?

.

Musik Pop tidak asing lagi dalam dunia YouTube. Sudah banyak musisi popular menghiasi dan melanglang buana di web sosial media ini. Namun bakal lain cerita kalau musik klasik turut memanfaatkan kecanggihan YouTube dalam membuat terobosan baru. 

Yes, perkenalkan Virtual Choir!

Satu kata "Takjub".

Virtual Choir adalah paduan suara yang para anggotanya ditemukan di dalam dunia maya. Mereka menyanyikan sebuah lagu yang sudah ditentukan sesuai dengan jenis suara, merekamnya, lalu meng-upload-nya di YouTube. Sang konduktor sendiri memberikan arahan dan memimpin paduan suara tersebut via YouTube. Setelah itu dikombinasikan menjadi satu kesatuan.

Perkenalkan pioner proyek ini: Eric Whitacre. Eric adalah seorang komposer dan dirigen muda yang berada di belakang proyek ini. Terinspirasi oleh acara "Lollipop" di MTV, Eric ingin membuat suatu terobosan baru dalam berpaduan suara. Munculah ide "Virtual Choir".

Virtual Choir yang pertama menampilkan 158 "anggota paduan suara" terbagi atas 8 jenis suara dari 12 negara menyanyikan lagu 'Lux Aurumque' (Light & Gold) gubahan Eric Whitacre sendiri. Tak disangka, video ini sudah memiliki 1,9 juta hit (view) di YouTube.

Mengingat besarnya antusiasme di Virtual Choir pertama, Eric pun ingin melanjutkan kesuksesan terobosan baru ini, dengan membuat Virtual Choir 2.0. Ingin berpartisipasi? sayang sekali karena batas pengumpulan videonya sudah ditutup beberapa bulan lalu. Di Virtual Choir 2.0 ini, para "anggota paduan suara" membawakan lagu 'Sleep', masih hasil karya Eric sendiri. Virtual Choir 2.0 sendiri akan ditayangkan perdana di New York tanggal 7 April mendatang dan dapat disaksikan juga via live stream. So, mark your calender please! :)


related videos:

Eric Whitacre bicara tentang Virtual Choir

Eric pada saat memimpin "Virtual Choir" via YouTube

Cuplikan lagu 'Sleep' yang akan dinyanyikan di Virtual Choir 2.0 Dalam video ini, dibawakan oleh paduan suara Polyphony.

*Sekarang Eric sedang merampungkan karyanya untuk latar belakang musik di film "Pirates of the Caribbien : On Stranger Tide" Hasil kolaborasinya bersama Hans Zimmer.

connect with Eric Whitacre
via twitter
via Facebook
www.ericwhitacre.com

My First Packages mailed from London (with Fancy Things Inside)

Two days ago, I was very thrilled. The mail that I had been waiting for had finally arrived. It was packages sent exclusively for me from London as the privilege for a winner of an ‘easy’ competition held by a major label company.

 As the delivery man stopped by then he made sure it was the correct address by calling out my name, my blood felt rushing to my head. It was an excitement. Besides that it was a long waited time, the thing made me very excited that the mail addressee is me, with letters combining my own full name written right under the label company’s, DECCA RECORDS, address. It sounded very exclusive to me. Suddenly I felt like a newcomer singer who gets the first copy of his own album a day before its worldwide launch.

The surreal moment got real as I (extra-carefully -- hoping not to leave any ‘scars’ even in the wrapping paper) opened the two separated packages. Inside these two, there were five exclusive booklets, enclosed with CD and DVD, from different five major classical musicians (obviously, because DECCA is one of the major record label that signed up musicians like Andrea Bocelli or Jamie Cullum which most of them come from classical and jazz genre). The artists were the two famous Chinese-native pianists, Lang Lang and Yuja Wang, the world- celebrated mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Bartoli, and two German-native tenor and violist, Jonas Kaufmann and Anne-Sophie Mutter. Each of the artists’ booklets are originally a press kit that made for promotional used only. So, the content of the DVD were basically just a short-preview/behind the scene and the artist interview talking about their album. Far from my expectation, I thought the DVD was a full concert. Despite of my ‘little’ disappointment, I still enjoy the freebies though. The music inside the CD were a full (not a preview) track and the graphic and design of the booklet are very delightful yet catchy. All lovely fancy things. ( I can say the price of the giveaway can be worth at least one or two million Rupiah).

Until this moment, I’m still wondering: “how lucky I am?”. Considering it was just a RT-this-tweet quiz, which it could be hundreds of twitter followers RT-ed the message, and they announced me as the winner, also regarding that they yearned to sent the prizes over the distances, from London to Jakarta, within nine days. I couldn’t be more thrilled.

Massive thanks to DECCA RECORDS xx

( www.decca.com )

*details about the booklet later ;)

The 1st Classical Band Aid

25 years Ago, 'We Are The World' was recorded for fighting African hunger.
year before Bob Geldof motorized the infamous UK 'Band Aid'.

and now, yes there is the new 'We Are The World' (Which is not I'am going to talk about :)) but what I'm up to is the first classical 'band aid': Classical Relief for Haiti.

The relief is joined by 23 classical performers, including Britain's Got Talent winner Faryl Smith, Paul Potts, Rhydian. Not to mention British success group Libera, Blake, All Angels, Bond and soloists like Cammila Kerslake and Darius. the gorgeous 'The Prayer'(writen by David Foster, famously performed by Dion and Bocelli)is selected in marking the first classical band aid.

The Track is now available. Download the track in www.mailonsunday.co.uk/haiticd. the profits will be 100% donated to the Disasters Emergency Committee

Well, if you can't download because of any 'understandable' circumstances :), you can still watch the footage of course. Just insert 'haiti classical relief' in your youtube key-search.



The full list of artists taking part are as follows (in alphabetical order): Aled Jones, All Angels, Blake, Bond, Camilla Kerslake, Charlie Siem, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Darius Campbell, Elysium, Faryl Smith, Gardar Thor Cortez, Julian Lloyd Webber, Julian Smith, Libera, Natasha Marsh, Only Men Aloud, Operababes, Paul Potts, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Rhydian, Sara Kempe, The Priests, Wynne Evans.

the list is still damn good, but it's a pity other big names, like Charlotte Church (making a good come-back I thought), Hayley Westenra, Katherine Jenkins, to Josh Groban, couldn't join this gang..

(photos are taken from classicfm.co.uk and zimbio.com)

What do I YouTube recently?

I YouTube “Pop-star to Opera-star”.

It is an uncommon singing competition, aired weekly in UK’s ITV, which features pop-stars competing to be an opera performer. the 2010 show begins with eight then-now pop-stars, they are Jimmy Osmond, Mcfly’s Danny Jones, 2002 Popidol winner Darius Campbell, Bernie Nolan, The Saturdays’ Vanessa White, Kym Marsh, Marcella Detroit and Alex James of The Blur. The show becomes really famously hilarious when the opera-stars-to-be find difficulty in different style of they every-time singing. To be a professional in this classical-style of singing, the competitors get a train from today’s famous opera-star, the mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins and tenor Rolando Villazon, who also both appearing as commentator in the live-show. Each singer will be given different arias every-week, from Mozart’s Figgaro Marriage to Porgy and Bess.


Since I dreamt to be an opera-star (look-a-like), I think this show is not only offering some ‘entertainment’, but also a chance of learning how to be a good singer according to classical-style of singing.

Interesting part:
- First week, when Blur’ Alex James showed up with different style of singing “Largo al Factotum”
- Trainer and singers always act ridiculously. They got different ‘interpretation’ of songs.

About Globe to Oscars: Ladies, SIZE DOES MATTER

(Gabbie-Mo'Nique-Amber)


Looking out this 2010 Awards season, I notice that there are some differences from the past few years’ tradition. Check out the Globe, SAG, to BAFTA and Oscars’ nominees, doubled-size women are taking the center-stage.

Meet Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe. Making her debut in the “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” movie, she is playing Claireece Jones character, a sixteen year-old girl who is pregnant for the second time after being raped by her father and is also on the receiving end of constant physical abuse by her mother. Raised in the wild New York’s Harlem, Gabby had no confidence in the acting-world. However, she changed her mind after-all by doing “Precious”, directed by Lee Daniels. She went to the casting after her friend encouraged her to do so. Her confidence and, also, role get a warm-welcome by critics. And it’s all paid off. Gabby get Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Oscar nomination, each for ‘Actress in Leading Role’.

Her co-star Mo'Nique, has made her appearance in screen world long ago before Gabby. Monique Imes is well-known for her comedy carrier. She’s doing her own show, once a host in BET awards, and guest-staring in ‘Ugly Betty’. Far beyond from her comedy carrier, Mo’Nique has received her first Golden Globe and SAGs for her drama supporting role in “Precious” and maybe waiting for other winnings in BAFTA and Oscars.
“Precious” itself got 58 nominations in 2009-2010 awards ceremony, and already got 44 of them.

In TV-screen, we've seen Amber Riley, one of the super-talented casts of musical series ‘Glee’. She’s 23 years old now, and when she was 16, she did an American-Idol audition, but she didn’t make it. Well, considering her big success in Glee, I think American Idol would regret her decision of dumping Riley. Already got Globes and SAG trophy with her ‘Glee’ entourage, this always-catchy-fashionista big girl keep her focus on as “Gleeks”, that support her both in acting and singing carrier.

Talking about the Vanity Fair’s March cover, well I think these ‘big girls’ should be consider as "the fresh faces of 2010” on VF March cover, instead of ‘old’ young slim actress. 2010 is all about BIG talent, BIG winning , and BIG size. Yes, SIZE DOES MATTER! ;)

Grammy on the way.. (eye on Gaga and Beyonce)
The most prestigious music award in the universe is on the way. The 2010 Grammy Awards will be held this weekend in LA. Gaga and Beyonce are battling down with their multiple nominations, including record of the year and album of the year. Many critics are predicting the always-fab Gaga will make this Grammy as her ‘year’ after Gaga’s success both in her album-sell and recent tours. However, Beyonce, with her 2009 party anthem “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” is possibly to win record of the year, after its satisfying record in single sells and receiving a great feedback from music critics.

be GLEE-ks now!!

Be GLEE-ks now!!!

Finally, after million years of long-waiting, GLEE, the American phenomenal show has arrived in Indonesia. The story of Glee outlines the life of high-school pupils who love to music sing and dance, and their struggle to be accepted in school community by acting some creativity. Casted by talented new comers, Glee has become a 2009’s most-watched comedy series in the states.

What do I love about this show?

- its MUSIC. They sing all kinds of music. Blues, musical, old songs to recent muse. Some songs remain originally-arranged and others really catchy-arranged. Not-boring.

- Its cast. Multi-multi-multi talented. They can act, sing, and dance. Genius!

- Its story. Inspiring, self-confidence booster!

Some of the Glee cast: Cory Monteith, Mark Salling, Amber Riley. Glee has inspired American teenager to have a firm self-confidence in following their dreams. They are Gleeks. So wanna be the new Gleeks now??

Glee starts tonight on Star World @ 8p.m. right after American Idol season 9