“Savannah composer Richard Sortomme teaches world how to compose music through new YouTube series”
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“What a splendid way to start a new season.
The Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus will open its eighth season at the Lucas Theatre with the world premiere of a violin concerto composed by Richard Sortomme. It will be performed by Elmar Oliveira, the only American violinist to win the Gold Medal at Moscow’s Tchaikovsky International Competition.
It was Oliveira who commissioned the concerto…”
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“Never mind that two thousand people will witness it each night. The moment about to transpire on stage at Severance Hall this week will be deeply personal. More than just another world premiere, the new Concerto for Two Violas being presented this week by the Cleveland Orchestra and music director laureate Christoph von Dohnanyi signifies the culmination of a long musical bond. Even as it serves as an early chance for the public to honor retiring principal violist Robert Vernon, the concerto for its composer and Vernon amounts to an intimate commemoration, a milestone on a path they’ve strolled together…”
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“When Richard Sortomme learned his Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra would receive its regional premiere at this year’s Sarasota Music Festival, the news did not feel much like a professional coup. It felt more like a homecoming. An alumnus of the three-week festival, which kicks off its 43th anniversary season Monday, the New York composer first experienced Sarasota’s white sands in 1968, when he was still a violin student at Juilliard and the festival was still under the aegis of Paul Wolfe and New College of Florida…”
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“As fellow violinists four decades ago, Robert Vernon and Richard Sortomme shared learning and performance experiences at legendary teacher Ivan Galamian’s Meadowmount School of Music and at the Juilliard School. Now they’re playing collaborative roles they once couldn’t have imagined: soloist and composer…”
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