Links We Like: Pianos for the Public

Photo by Luke Jerram

Pianos: they’re not just for inside anymore. Luke Jerram, an English artist, put 30 pianos in public places around London for the summer as part of his artwork called “Play Me, I’m Yours.” The idea is to bring people together in public places, like a train station, when they wouldn’t normally talk to one another. What an awesome idea! I always feel awkward ignoring people I sit next to on the bus for half an hour – why can’t we acknowledge each other a little more? Now, Londoners have an excuse to break the ice. It seems to be working, judging by this article in The Guardian. The best part is that the pianos are donated to community groups after the installation is over.
From Clef Notes.

In case you missed it, Violinist.com provided some great coverage of the Starling-DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at Juilliard, thanks to editor Laurie Niles’s blogging skills. That’s a picture of her above, (second from the right), along with From the Top alum Caeli Smith, that appeared on Violinist.com. There are some more good pictures, accounts of master classes with big names, (Itzhak Perlman, anyone?), and some pearls of wisdom about music education from Robert Duke, Director of the Center for Learning at the University of Texas at Austin. If you play the violin and you haven’t discovered this website yet, be sure to check out their list of summer camps for violinists.

Pocket orchestra: The New York Philharmonic launched an iPhone application last Friday! There are no reviews that I found, so iPhone users, this is a call to arms. According to this article on Apptism.com, the application is free, and provides a wealth of information, like news, upcoming concerts, a music library with all repertoire information (including program notes), podcasts, and blog posts relating to the orchestra.
From ArtsBeat, the arts blog of the New York Times.

From mangus* on Flickr

Still can’t get enough of the NY Phil? Never fear! They’ve put their entire performance history online, from 1842 to the present day. You can search by composer or title of a work to see how many times the orchestra has performed it, or search by artist to get at the specifics of a player’s track record with the group. If you’re interested in the NY Phil’s present more than its past, they’ve got you covered on their Twitter account.
From classicalnews on Twitter.