An Emphatic TGIF!

Oh yes, I am definitely ready for Friday!.  I rested so very well on my new bed last night, I feel ready for the day!.  It will be a busy one, being Friday, truck night and all that.  I have lots to do during the day today also as I haven't as yet done the weekly shopping.  So I do have my work cut out for me.  However, I still am making time for you guys first so we can get the Weekend off on the right note.  

Speaking of, as I promised yesterday, I have two more performances from the 2015 Queen Elisabeth  International Violin Competition in Brussels.  The National Orchestra of Belgium under the baton of Marin Alsop accompanies both soloists as they did yesterday.  Down below, I have 21 year old American violinist Kenneth Renshaw performing Brahms’ ‘Concerto in D Major, Op. 77’ in the Finals of the Competition.  Over on my tumblr, 24 year old German VC ‘Young Artist’ violinist, Tobias Feldmann performs Bela Bartok’s ‘Violin Concerto No. 2’ also in the Final round.  

Now to make sure you are in the proper frame of mind to kick off the Weekend, today's collection of exquisite examples of art in the male form may be found posted down below in this edition of Fantasy Fuel for your visual appreciation.  Over on my tumblr, Your Hottie of the Day!, Judah Gavra, can't wait to get 'down and dirty' with you.  Thanks for the visit and your unflagging loyalty to one busy old man who just happens to have great taste in both Music and Men!  We will see you next for the Sunday Morning Concert, tune in to see what I come up with!  Until next time as always, Enjoy!

Sunday Morning Concert

Welcome to the Weekend and Your Sunday Morning Concert.  It is a 3 day weekend for most in the US with tomorrow being the last official day of the Summer season as we celebrate Labor Day.  Rather than feature a single composer's works in today's concert performances, we are celebrating the 'labors' of Dutch Violinist Janine Jansen.  Janine began to study the violin at age 6. Her father and both her brothers are also musicians. Her mother is a classical singer and is a sister of the bass Peter Kooy. Jansen studied with Coosje Wijzenbeek, Philippe Hirschhorn, and Boris Belkin. She is married to Swedish conductor Daniel Blendulf. 

She has eschewed tradition by recording with only five solo strings rather than an orchestra, including her brother as cellist and father playing continuo. In live concerts, she has received standing ovations from enthusiastic audiences, for example at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra 2006 concert at Berlin's Waldbühne, with a full attendance of 25,000, and in Los Angeles at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in 2008 to a sold-out audience. Jansen has performed on the 1727 Stradivari "Barrere" violin, which was on loan from the Stradivari Society of Chicago.  She currently plays on the "Baron Deurbroucq", also crafted in 1727 by Stradivari, which is owned by the Beare's International Violin Society.  She has begun her own chamber music festival in Utrecht. She has been a member of Spectrum Concerts Berlin since 1998.

Earlier this summer, the 2015  International Chamber Music Festival was held in Utrecht, Netherlands in the comfortably intimate confines of the TivoliVerendenberg Theater.  Janine is joined by a great number of her musical friends to celebrate Chamber Music in June of each year.  The Opening Concert from this year's Festival, recorded on June 24 at the TivioliVrendenberg Theater is posted below.  Janine is joined by friends Gregory Ahss [Violin], Nimrod Guez [Viola], Nicolas Alstaedt [Cello], Rick Stotijn [Double Bass], Andreas Ottensamer [Clarinet], Fredrik Ekdahl [Bassoon] and Radek Barborák [Horn] for a superb performance of Franz Shubert's Octet in F Major.  Over on my tumblr, Janine is joined by Denis Kozhukhin [Piano], Boris Brovtsyn [Violin], Amihai Grosz [Viola] and Julian Steckel [Cello] for their performance of Bela Bartók's Piano Quintet in C, Sz23 recorded on June 26.  

Finally for this Sunday morning, this week's celebration of the au natural beauty of the male form, Naked or Nearly So!, is posted down below for your visual appreciation.  Meanwhile over on my tumblr, your Hottie of the Day! is one hot 'Art Deco Adonis'.  Thanks for sharing part of your Sunday with me, see you again tomorrow as we begin another week of Music, Men & More! here on Nichevo.  Until next time as always, Enjoy!