News - Rachel Barton Pine

Barton Pine and Vinikour team up for intimate Bach at National Gallery

October 9, 2019

When two gifted solo performers collaborate, the results can vary. Happily the results were positive when violinist Rachel Barton Pine and harpsichordist Jory Vinikour came together to make a fine recording, released last year, of J. S. Bach’s six sonatas for their combined instruments. The pairing sounded even better in person than on disc, when they performed two of these sonatas on the free concert series of the National Gallery of Art Sunday afternoon.

As Barton Pine explained in her informative commentary between pieces, she was playing on a violin Nicolò Gagliano made in 1770. This instrument has remained in its original state, with no alteration to the fingerboard and string tension. With gut strings and a Baroque style bow, it is capable of an extremely delicate tone.

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A Chausson Concerto Is the Hit in Valley of the Moon’s “Visionary’s Salon” Concert

July 22, 2019

San Francisco Classical Voice

Ernest Chausson’s four-movement Concerto in D Major for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet (1891) is neither concerto nor sonata nor symphony, but it somehow manages to be all three, especially when played with fire and conviction by an accomplished soloist.

Those incendiary and emotional elements were on vivid display at the Valley of the Moon Festival on Sunday afternoon. Playing in the surprisingly good acoustics of the Hanna Boys Center auditorium in the town of Sonoma, soloist Rachel Barton Pine and five colleagues brought down the house with an inspired performance of Chausson’s rarely heard masterpiece.

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Rachel Barton Pine Appears on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered

January 3, 2019

View the interview at the NPR website.

National Public Radio interviewed Rachel about her latest album, Blues Dialogues, as well as The Rachel Barton Pine’s Foundation Music by Black Composers Violin Volume I sheet music book and The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation Coloring Book of Black Composers. The piece airs on “All Things Considered” on Friday, December 28.

The Favourite

January 1, 2019

Music from Rachel’s Cedille Records album Vivaldi: The Complete Viola d’amore Concertos recorded with Ars Antigua may be heard in the Oscar-contending film “The Favourite.”

Click here to watch the film’s trailer which features “Violia d’amore Concerto in A minor, I. Vivace,” this piece and the Largo movement appear in the movie.

Strings Magazine Features the Rachel Barton Pine Foundation’s Music by Black Composers Inititiative

November 5, 2018

“Under the banner ‘Music by Black Composers,’ Pine plans to highlight more than three centuries of music by composers of African descent that has been largely forgotten or sidelined from modern concert stages.”

Rachel goes in depth about Music by Black Composers and also Blues Dialogues in a four page feature in Strings November feature.

Read the feature here (.pdf).

Rachel Barton Pine and Matthew Hagle Appear on Performance Today – with a Very Special Guest

October 18, 2018

Rachel and Matthew Hagle were delighted to return to Performance Today to play music from their new album Blues Dialogues on Cedille Records.

Then Rachel and her six-year-old daughter, Sylvia, performed a selection from “Balada” by Francesca “Chiquinha” Gonzaga featured in The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation’s Music by Black Composers Violin Volume I sheet music book. It was Sylvia’s radio debut!

Pine also spoke with Fred about The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation Coloring Book of Black Composers, featuring 40 prominent Black composers throughout history, drawn by Sho-mei Pelletier.

Print-at-home pages are available here.

The Rachel Barton Pine Foundation’s Music by Black Composers sheet music book Violin Volume I features 22 works for violin and piano or violin duet by 17 Black composers spanning from 1767 to 2014 representing the United States, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Jamaica, Ghana, Nigeria, Switzerland, France, and England. Violin Volume I is the equivalent skill set of a Suzuki book one or two.

The full series will enable everyone from beginners through Mendelssohn-Concerto level to include works by Black composers in their studies. Additional orchestral instruments will be covered in future volumes.

Performance Today, is the most listened-to daily classical music radio program in the United States, with 1.2 million listeners on 237 stations.

Rachel Barton Pine and Jory Vinikour Play J.S. Bach’s Complete Violin and Harpsichord Sonatas on New Cedille Records Album

June 1, 2018

J.S. Bach: The Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord with Rachel Barton Pine and Jory Vinikour was released May 11, 2018, on Cedille Records. Most people are aware of the six sonatas and partitas for violin alone, here Vinikour and Pine record Bach’s other “big set of six.” The Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord are a cornerstone of both the violin repertoire and Bach’s keyboard literature.

Landmark Rachel Barton Pine Foundation Projects Celebrate the Discovery of More Than 350 Black Classical Composers and Their 900+ Works

February 1, 2018

Can you name three Black classical composers? Violinist Rachel Barton Pine can name 350 who have composed more than 900 works.

This October 19, her Rachel Barton Pine Foundation’s “Music by Black Composers” shows the world #BlackisClassical through the release of three landmark projects:

MBC Violin Volume I, the first in a series of pedagogical books of sheet music exclusively by Black classical composers featuring 22 works for violin from 1767 to 2014. The series enables everyone from beginners through Mendelssohn-Concerto level to include works by Black composers in their studies. Additional orchestral instruments will be covered in future volumes.

Elgar & Bruch Violin Concertos on Avie Records

January 4, 2018

Just released January 5, 2018 is Elgar & Bruch Violin Concertos on Avie Records featuring Rachel with Maestro Andrew Litton and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, dedicated to the memory of Sir Neville Marriner who was originally scheduled to record it with Rachel.

Rachel Barton Pine talks about Mozart

March 3, 2017

Virtuoso violinist Rachel Barton Pine will perform Mozart’s “Turkish Violin Concerto No. 5” with the Pasadena Symphony on March 18. She answers questions about the piece.

Click here to read the entire review in the Pasadena Star News.

Guest violinist joins MSO to perform Shostakovich’s mournful strains

November 13, 2016

Herald Mail Media

Taking the stage in a sparkling, long, flowing gold dress, Rachel Barton Pine brought a different feel to The Maryland Theatre on Sunday.

Pine, a world-renowned violinist who was performing with the Maryland Symphony Orchestra, was exposing the crowd to Dmitri Shostakovich, a Russian-born, 20th-century composer and pianist who led a difficult life under the Soviet government and was accused of writing inappropriate music.

Click here to read the entire article.

Daily Contests Begin July 5 to Celebrate Rachel’s Upcoming Millennium Park Appearance

July 4, 2016

On Wednesday, July 13, 2016 Rachel will be returning to Millennium Park to perform Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Michal Nesterowicz. Lawn seating is free. Pavilion seats start at $25.