SEPTEMBER 2023
The year 2023 is very important to me and has many fond memories of past
history.
In 1973, I was member of a group put together by President Gunther
Schuller of students from the New England Conservatory to perform
recently discovered orchestrated ragtime. We performed two concerts at
the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C. and soon after made a
recording of these pieces. It was produced by Angel/EMI as “Scott
Joplin: The Red Back Book”, released in April of that year and was an
immediate success. This started tours in many festivals including Wolf
Trap, Joplin Festival in Missouri among others and also included
appearances at the White House and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
Eventually the album won a Grammy Award for “Best Classical Chamber
Music”. Also that year, I made my debut as piano soloist with the Boston
Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler which led to multiple appearances
with the Pops for many years and with Maestro Fiedler touring with him
until his death in 1979.
In 1983, I went to Los Angeles to record the film score for “Gorky Park”
playing cimbalom. It was great playing next to Ken Watson, a
percussionist who also played cimbalom for this score as well as playing
all of the Stravinsky recordings. Also playing under James Horner and
his wonderful score was a thrill.
During the pandemic, it was tough for all performers to survive. I had
the “honor” of conducting the last performance at the Bayerische
Staatsoper the day before the world shut down. Eventually, I was lucky
to perform in several Livestream events. I also put together an online
orchestra and recorded two pieces for an July 4th, 2020 concert with
fellow musicians from America, Germany and Australia.
This year
2023 has started off well for me. In February, I played cimbalom in a
new opera by Stephan Schwab entitled “Der Räuber Hotzenplotz”. The score
is excellent, the production is wonderful, the cast is also great and
the audiences love it. In July, I conducted some summer concerts with
the Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra in Worcester. In addition, I
applied to several online competitions as pianist and conductor and have
received many prizes as Gold, Platinum and from the Royal Music
Competition, I was awarded seven Diamond
Prizes, two Gold Prizes as well as the “Technical Marvel Special Award”.
Later this year, I return to the Bayerische Staatsoper to conduct a
revival of the production of “Alice´s Adventures in Wonderland”, an
exciting work that returns after several years pause. In October, I will
perform at the 15th annual Piano-Duo Gala Concert at Tuckerman Hall in
Worcester, Massachusetts. Also in December, I return to Stuttgart to
play cimbalom in “Der Räuber Hotzenplotz”.
I send everyone best greetings and continued health and happiness.
Yours in Music,
Myron Romanul
FEBRUARY 2019
Last
season (2017-2018) was a very good season.
Once
again I was in Perth, this time to conduct David Nixon's „The Great
Gatsby“ which had a fascinating score by Rodney Russell Bennet. The
music had many different styles including modern orchestral writting and
jazz style so I felt very much at home.
Soon
afterwards, I opened the season at the Nationaltheater in Munich with
the ballet „The Taming of the Shrew“ which is a popular, standard
repertoire piece. During the rest of the season, I conducted „Alice“, „Onegin“
and „La fille mal gardee“.
After performing at our annual „Duo-Piano Concert“ in Worcester (11th
year!), I traveled again to Perth to do a production of „Peter Pan“
which was fun to do and very successful (21 shows!)
In the summer, I was able to do all the summer concerts with the
Massachusetts Symphony in Worcester. It was great to do the traditional
4th of July concert, playing Tschaikowsky's 1812 Overture
with cannons and fireworks!
This coming season will have some interesting highlights. One of them is
a concert with the Münchener Symphoniker, Konzertchor and Oratorienchor
at the Philharmonie im Gasteig in Munich. The program will consist of
famous chorus selections from operas like Carmen, Nabucco and Tannhäuser
among others as well as symphonic selections from those operas.
In December, I will do 6 performances of a production of Nutcracker in
Metz, France. This will come on the heels of another production of
Nutcracker in Perth, a revival of the 2016 production which was met with
geat acclaim. There will be 23 performances of this show and I sure will
have my fill of Nutcracker! In addition to performances at the
Bayerische Staatstheater in Munich which includes repeat performances of
„Alice's Adventures in Wonderland“, „Onegin“ and „Taming of the Shrew“,
I will do again the sumer concerts with the Massachusetts Symphony
Orchestra. As a pianist, I will perform again our annual Duo-Piano Gala
concert in Worcester. This will be our 12th concert! I am also working
on a new piano CD that should come out next season.
I wish you all good health and happiness.
Yours in Music,
Myron Romanul
MAY
2017
The 2016/2017 season has
started off very well.
Beginning in October, I
went on quite a tour. I started in Worcester, Massachusetts to perform
with my 6 piano colleagues our annual Duo-Piano-Gala concert. This was
our 10th anniversary (it is amazing how time flies!) so we performed
pieces from previous concerts – we had a lot of fun and the always
sold-out crowd loved it.
From there, I traveled to
Seoul to work with the National Orchestra and Ballet companies as well
as with Marcia Haydee in her famous production of “Sleeping Beauty”
which we created in Stuttgart many years ago. I am always grateful to
Marcia as she supported me and my work when I first came to Stuttgart.
It was wonderful to work with her again and with Sue-Jin Kang, former
star dancer of the Stuttgart Ballet and now head of the company in
Seoul. The performances there were very successful.
As soon as this was
finished, I went to Perth to work once again with the West Australian
Ballet and Philharmonic Orchestra in a fabulous new production of “The
Nutcracker”. This piece is very special for me, musically, as the score
is so well conceived with just the right length of each section.
Together with excellent choreography, beautiful sets & costumes, great
dancers and a wonderful orchestra, it was a great, joyful experience for
me!
After the 22nd performance
in Perth, I immediately left for Metz, France, to prepare a different
production of “Sleeping Beauty” - this time with the ballet and
orchestra at the Metropole Theatre. Laurence Bolsigner, the director of
the company choreographed it for the 14 (!) dancers and I found it very
inventive and she made it work very well. I was also very proud because
this production marked the debut of my own set of orchestra material –
after putting the entire score on a computer program, editing for cuts
and order of numbers required for this version and printing out the
separate parts, the orchestra was able to read it easily so they could
concentrate more on making music.
In between this production
in Metz, I returned home to Stuttgart for a short guest appearance to
unpack, pack and play a chamber music concert with members of the
Staatsorchester Stuttgart. Together with a clarinetist and violist, we
performed Kurtags “Hommage a Schumann”. This was originally scheduled to
be performed two years ago but then, due to illness, got postponed to
the following year, then was AGAIN postponed (also illness). Although it
looked like it was my turn to get sick, I didn't and we finally
performed it and we added the “Märchenbilder” of Schumann.
As soon as Metz finished,
I went to Strasbourg to prepare the ballet by Uwe Scholz: Le Rouge et le
Noir” with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Ballet du
rhin. With music by Berlioz, it was a challenge for all, especially the
orchestra – difficult music with non-stop playing – but it turned out to
be very successful.
During this run, I
traveled to Munich where I conducted Herold's ballet “La Fille Mal
Gardée” and also prepared for the second premiere of the season,
“Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, ballet by Christopher Wheeldon with
a fabulous score by Joby Talbot. This was a special challenge as we had
a huge orchestra – the right side of the pit was filled with percussion
instruments and players – and it was difficult music to perform but the
music had many colors and was very descriptive and we all had a great
time. The premiere was a great success and all the performances are sold
out!
In March, I played another
chamber music concert in Stuttgart, this time performing the Ravel Piano
Trio. This is an exquisite piece and I had two fabulous partners from
the Staatsorchester who joined me.
So far, it has been a very
busy season for me. At one point, I had been away from home for about 4
months! I am very grateful that I can live all these great experiences
and that almost all my work with these groups have been repeat
appearances.
Yours in Music,
Myron Romanul
P.S. If anyone needs
clean, fresh orchestra materials for “Sleeping Beauty”, please get in
touch with me. I offer tailor-made score and parts with the cuts and
order of pieces that are required for your production that can be put
together. For more information, please get in touch with me (my contact
details on this site) and mention the name of the edition, Pas-de-Chat
Music.
DECEMBER 2014
This season has started out
with a lot of excitement.
One was my being
nominated for the Marie Taglioni European Award for "Best Conductor"
in Berlin. Being the only conductor nominated from
Germany
was indeed a great honor. In September I collaborated again the the West
Australian Symphony Orchestra and the West Australian Ballet in a
production of "La Fille mal Gardée". I even managed to do a
little tap dance routine in one performance for the amusement of the
orchestra. It's always a great pleasure to work in Perth. In November I participated in the Duo Piano Gala Concert in Worcester. With six other colleagues in our 8th annual event, we had much
fun and made great music together for another sold-out house with an
enthusiastic crowd. Recently I have been asked to be the 2015 Artist in
Residence at
Wesley College
in
Perth, Australia
.
This month, together with the
Bayerische Staatsorchester and Ballet, we are putting together a
production of "Paquita" by Eduardo Delvedez with choreography by
Petipa. This is quite a challenge and it also has great costumes and sets.
The premiere will be on December 13 and will broadcast over the Internet
"Livestream" on January 11, 2015. Also, I have been asked at the
last minute to perform a chamber concert with members of the orchestra of
the Staatstheater Stuttgart at the Liederhalle on December 17.
Some things to look forward
in the future: a production of "La Strada" the ballet with Nino
Rota's score (great piece!) with the orchestra in Strasbourg and the
Ballet du Rhin, performances in
Munich of Onegin, Gelber Klang with music by Frank Zappa & Mason Bates
as well as Stravinsky's Sacre du printemps and more appearances in Perth,
Australia.
I wish you all happy holidays
and, as the Germans say, a "good slide" into the New Year.
Yours
in Music,
Myron Romanul
La
Strada - Press reviews
Myron
Romanul has been nominated for the Marie Taglioni European Award for
"Best Conductor".
Myron
Romanul releases first solo CD
American
Record Guide
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