Timothy Judd

A native of Upstate New York, Timothy Judd has been a member of the Richmond Symphony violin section since 2001. He is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music where he earned the degrees Bachelor of Music and Master of Music, studying with world renowned Ukrainian-American violinist Oleh Krysa. The son of public school music educators, Timothy Judd began violin lessons at the age of four through Eastman’s Community Education Division. He was a student of Anastasia Jempelis, one of the earliest champions of the Suzuki method in the United States. A passionate teacher, Mr. Judd has maintained a private violin studio in the Richmond area since 2002 and has been active coaching chamber music and numerous youth orchestra sectionals. In his free time, Timothy Judd enjoys working out with Richmond’s popular SEAL Team Physical Training program.

Oscar Peterson at 100

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Today marks the centennial of the birth of Canadian jazz virtuoso pianist and composer Oscar Peterson (1925-2007). Herbie Hancock commented, Oscar Peterson redefined swing for modern jazz pianists for the latter half of the 20th century up until today. I consider him the major influence that formed my roots in jazz piano playing. He mastered (brilliantly) the balance between technique, hard blues grooving… and tenderness. C Jam Blues On this recording, Peterson …

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Nico Muhly’s “Gait”: Life in Motion

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The rhythmic pattern of animal and human movement formed the inspiration for Gait, a 2012 orchestral tone poem by American composer Nico Muhly (b. 1981). Muhly studied the five speeds, or gaits, of horses, documented by the 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, and then moved on to the locomotion of insects and humans. People move in distinct ways which include “a running trot” and “a lateral sequence walk.” The first steps of …

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Verdi’s “Luisa Miller”: Five Excerpts from an Opera Involving Love, Intrigue, and Poison

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Giuseppe Verdi’s 1849 opera, Luisa Miller, broke new ground. With a tragic, convoluted story centering around love, betrayal, class struggle, jealous rivalry, and violence, it displayed an increased psychological depth. The orchestra played a greater dramatic role. The last of Verdi’s “middle period” operas, Luisa Miller set the stage for the composer’s celebrated later works, such as La traviata, Rigoletto, and Aida. The Lyric Opera of Chicago provides the following brief summery: Verdi’s sumptuously …

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Beethoven’s Piano Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11, “Gassenhauer”: A Clarinet and a Catchy Tune

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Composed in 1797, the Trio in B-flat Major, Op. 11 is spirited, fun-loving music of the 26 year old Beethoven. It is scored for clarinet, cello, and piano. At the time, the still-emerging clarinet was a novelty. Beethoven was impressed with the sound of Viennese clarinetist Franz Josef Bähr (1770-1819). The Trio was written for Bähr, and dedicated to Countess Wilhelmine von Thun, a prominent patron of both Beethoven and Mozart. With …

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Remembering Eddie Palmieri

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Eddie Palmieri, the pianist, composer, band leader, and innovator of Latin music, passed away last Wednesday, August 6 at his home in New Jersey. He was 88. Born in East Harlem to a Puerto Rican immigrant family and raised in the South Bronx, Palmieri was exposed to jazz in the New York City public school system. As a child, he frequently accompanied his brother, Charlie Palmieri, who became a prominent jazz musician …

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Handel’s “Gloria”: A Musical Treasure, Lost and Found

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In 2001, a long lost work by Handel was miraculously discovered. The manuscript for Handel’s Gloria in excelsis Deo had been hiding in plain sight in the library of London’s Royal Academy of Music. Bound in a collection of Handel arias that had been owned by singer William Savage (1720-1789), the manuscript was not in the composer’s hand. It was authenticated by Hamburg University professor Hans Joachim Marx. The Academy’s principal, Curtis Price, …

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Schumann’s Second Symphony: Juraj Valčuha and the Houston Symphony

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Last February, we explored Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2 in C Major, a work unified by a single motivic thread which runs through its four movements. Emerging as a mystical trumpet call in the Symphony’s opening, this motto (an ascending fifth) rings out as a triumphant statement in the Symphony’s concluding moments. For Schumann, a composer who faced inner demons, this majestic, life-affirming work can be heard as the musical equivalent of …

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