Munich, Germany, Nationaltheater: Tchaikovsky/Stolze: Onegin: April 13

 

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