PatrickValentinoMusic.com


Home Calendar
Press
Contact
 Links



I'm happy to say that the music galleries have grown so large, I've had to split them up into
three different pages. This is the page for Musical Memories, please click below for:

People and Premieres                 Photos which Inspired Pieces



Click a photo to see a large size - some files are scans of older photos, I apologize for quality issues!


Musical Memories


Koussevitsky's Opening Speech from the first year of the Berkshire Music Festival, later Tanglewood, hangs unassumingly in one of the offices. It is as true today as it was then.

So, the first time I visited Moscow we went on a partially chaperoned tour of the Bolshoi Theatre. A few of us 'got lost' and came upon their rehearsal stage, complete with a half-stocked pit. We decided it was only appropriate to put on a performance of Swan Lake. May 02


But we weren't always causing trouble, and we cleaned up pretty well for a joint concert with the Russian Army Conductor's Academy in the big hall of the Moscow Conservatory. I'm directly under the center trumpeter on the stage left side. May 02


In 2004 I returned to Russia to study at the Conservatory in Moscow. Here I'm photographed with the poster advertising the concert which saw the world premier of Lyric Pieces (V66) and the Russian premiere of Sonata583 (V53) May 04 (yes I'm wearing a winter coat in May)

Before our final performance, in St. Petersburg, in the hall where (we were told) Shostakovich's 5th was premiered. By this time I had assimilated the Russian 'look'. May 02



After the aforementioned concert, with other visiting American students  Tricia Galvez, Carolyn Dachinger (dedicatee of Sonata583), Stephen Wu and Elona Muca, and Russian harpist Simyon Kulkov. Rachmanninov Hall, Moscow Consv June 04


During my first trip to Russia, we trumpeters got the royal treatment in Saratov where our contact was the renowned trumpet teacher Anatoly Dmitrivich Selianin. Here we are with the Saratov Conservatory trumpet section. Can you spot the Americans?
May 02



Leading the orchestra at the Waterville Valley Conductors Institute, NH. Aug 09.

Leshowitz Hall
John J. Cali School of Music
Montclair University
January 2010


Leading a concert with the Mihail Jora Philharmonic in Bacau, Romania
June 2010



Rehearsing with the Mihail Jora Philharmonic in Bacau at Ateneu Hall
June 2010


A view from the hall, conducting Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet

Building decoration in Barcelona, Spain.
May 2010


On my way to the Conducting Competition in Cadaques, this sign was the first thing I saw when I stepped off the plane in Barcelona - in Catalan and Spanish it was equally funny.
May 2010


In the Parque del Retiro, Madrid, before traveling to the Cadaques Competition.
May 2010


The Organ in Almudena Cathedral in Madrid.
May 2010


I almost got kicked out of the Cathedral in Cadaques for snooping around the organ loft, until, while being shuffled out by a gruff local, I commented on the beauty of the organ, which led to a private tour of the entire building and more history that I could hope to retain, given as it was in Catalan.
May 2010


Our concert poster from Bacau, Romania.
June 2010


Today's Eastern European glockenspiel is brought to you by the letters Cis and H.
Bacau, June 2010


Two-meter tall functional metronome, complete with all-seeing eye, hiding around a corner in a hallway of the Reina Sofia museum, Madrid.
May 2010


Various shots of conducting in Bacau.
June 2010


In Cadaques, about to visit Salvador Dalí's house.
June 2010


Brasov, Romania, from the top of the Carpathian foothills. In the summer they perform free open air operas each month.
June 2010


In Berlin, I was privileged to see the World Cup finals from a rooftop penthouse near the Brandenburg Gate and the Bundestag. My camera's battery was dead, but leaving it off for the second half of the match allowed to to snap this one shot after the game.
July 2010


The Garden at the Bowerman's estate at Champs Hill, West Sussex.
July 2010


The Music and Art room, where our sessions were held, in Champs Hill.
July 2010


On the last night, we held an impromptu concert, and our host David Bowerman treated us to improvisations on A Nightingale Sang in Berkley Square and the first theme to Brahms' Symphony 2.
July 2010


Champs Hill had many hidden treasures, including this fascinating musical sculpture, which transformed with the breeze.
July 2010


Conducting the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at the Royal Academy during the London Conducting Workshop.
July 2010


Conducting the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto at the Royal Academy during the London Conducting Workshop.
July 2010

With some of the other conductors from the London Workshop
July 2010


The Mariinsky Teatr, where the International Academy of Advanced Conducting was held. The sign is for a new production of Khovanshchina, which will open their 2010-2011 season.
August 2010


We worked mainly in a rehearsal room with a huge tapestry, and one lone chair.
August 2010


Leading a rehearsal in Mariinsky.
August 2010


And, the performance.
August 2010


The participants of the International Academy of Advanced Conducting.
August 2010

At the Cathedral of our Savior on Spilled Blood, site of the assassination of Alexander II.
August 2010

Uncontrolled wildfires in Moscow had eventually blown smoke all across Russia and into Eastern Europe; thus the eerie lighting effect at Peter and Paul fortress.
August 2010

Earlier the same day, in Alexandrovskii Gardens - a bust of Glinka before the Admiralty.
August 2010


In Vienna, Jessica and I stumbled upon what was Beethoven's apartment for 7 years. Inside were many gems, including this sketch of the 7th Symphony, which was composed in the same room in which it was displayed.
August 2010


At Karlsplatz in Vienna before visiting the Musikverein and the Arnold Schoenberg Center.
August 2010


Rehearsing with the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra before my second recital at IC, Sept 2012

Another neat shot of me with the ICCO, in Presser Hall

Rehearsing Strauss with the Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra, Feb 2013

On the podium at the Chicago Lyric Opera, Winter 2013

The ubiquitous banners of the Oregon Bach Festival in Eugene - a mystical musical experience.
June-July 2013


Rehearsing the St. John Passion with the Orchestra of the Oregon Bach Festival, July 2013

Walking offstage at OBF...evidently I was moving more slowly than the orchestra

Rehearsing the St. John Passion with the Orchestra of the Oregon Bach Festival, July 2013

At the Cabrillo Festival in
Santa Cruz, 2013


With the wonderful group of conductors, auditors, and faculty from OBF 2013

Looking for God - leading a workshop performance of Until the War is Over at the University of Maine 2016

Conducting the Hartford Symphony as a Finalist for Assistant Conductor, 2016


(back to top)

All material contained herein, including website design, is copyright © Patrick Valentino, unless otherwise credited.
All rights reserved. No content on this website may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission.