Greetings to all.

As you can imagine Sophia and I are incredibly emotional about the unfolding events in the Ukrainian war for peace. For those of you that do not know, Sophia Pavlenko is Ukrainian by birth and citizenship. Her immediate family has remained in Kiev the Capital city throughout the Russian attacks and subsequent retreat. Sophia's friends and family have united to create a indomitable force against aggression, and to date they are very tired and weary, but secure in their commitment to stay in Ukraine.

Sophia and I have been doing all that we can here in the United States to support the people and troops of Ukraine. We want to announce a series of concerts, that can be found on our website, that will serve as fundraisers for Ukraine. We hope that all of you will be able to attend at least one of our concerts. While we know that the money is important, it is also incredibly special when all of you reach out to us and give us your goodwill and strength. Look for more from us in the coming weeks and months as we update you on our connection to the war in Ukraine, and to our efforts to support the people there.

Thank you all for reaching out to us and giving us strength during these trying times!

Paul & Sophia

Don't forget to join us tonight, Feb. 13, at 7:00 for our latest show:  Romantic Favorites with Paul and Sophia.  Valentine's Day just can't be truly romantic without beautiful music.  Join us as Paul and Sophia play Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet; Pavlenko’s Quartet for Four Hands and Two Pianos; Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty Waltz; and Rachmaninoff’s “Love Theme” from the Paganini Variations.  To get there:  stay on this site and go to the Performances tab.  Under Performances, scroll down and look for Romantic Favorites with Paul and Sophia.  Then click on "Virtual Live Event".  See you tonight!      

Don't forget to join us tonight, Dec. 19 at 7:00 for Paul and Sophia play Christmas Favorites.  This is the third and final installment of Paul and Sophia's Christmas 2020.  Tonight, everyone is on the lookout for Santa himself.   Paul and Sophia play familiar Christmas carols, classical Christmas music, and fun Christmas favorites.  There's something for everyone -  from Jingle Bells to Sleigh Ride.  To get there from here go back to the top, click on Performances, then click on Virtual Live Event.  Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone!  Don't forget to join us tonight, Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7:00 for a virtual concert:  Paul and Sophia play "Sophia's Christmas." 

To get there from this site, click on Performances and then click on Virtual Live Event. 

Everything on the program is two-piano Christmas music written by Sophia.  Featured are Sophia's Carol Medley; Drummer Boy; Two Ancient Carols; Christmas; Dobry vechir; and God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.

And we hope to see you next week for our THIRD BONUS CHRISTMAS CONCERT

Paul and Sophia's Holiday Favorites - Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7:00       Paul and Sophia play their favorite Christmas and Holiday Classics

Hi friends!  Join us tonight for our broadcast of the Nutcracker Suite.  On this site, click on Performances and then click on Live Virtual Event. Christmas just isn't Christmas without the Nutcracker.  Nothing will get you in the Christmas spirit quicker than an evening with the Sugar Plum Fairy. 

Also, join us on the next two Saturdays at 7:00 for two more BONUS CHRISTMAS CONCERTS.

Sophia's Christmas - Saturday, Dec. 12 at 7:00                                  Paul and Sophia play Christmas Music written by Sophia.

Paul and Sophia's Holiday Favorites - Saturday, Dec. 19 at 7:00       Paul and Sophia play their favorite Christmas and Holiday Classics

Ghouls, ghosts and goblins are running free through the night!  Don't forget to join us for our Spooktacular Nights Concert tonight at 7:00.  Look under Performances and click on Virtual Live Event.

Hello friends!  Join us this evening for our first ever virtual event. 

Sophia and I are playing Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto in Bb Minor on our two Steinway grands.   

Sophia will play the piano solo part while I play my own arrangement of the orchestra score. 

This is our way of saying "thank you!" to all the members of the Trinity Music Academy who have supported our school and students through these difficult times.

Copy and paste this link in your browser:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXBIUx7DOlZk_88rp47XJuQ/

You can also access this link directly in our Performances section by clicking on Virtual Live Event .

If you have any TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES copy and paste this link in your browser:  https://vimeo.com/user111072577/review/462163940/33b864b115

Enjoy!

Sophia and I hope you had a wonderful at home Easter Sunday! We wantedf to spread a little Easter cheer this week so we created an Easter Concert featuring not only some of Sophia's compositions, but also Copland and Handel and other favorites. It gave us an opportunity to play together on piano and organ, and to also reach out to you our friends. We hope you are all at home, safe and well. If you have some time this week please listen and enjoy!

Paul and Sophia Easter Concert 2020

We hope you had a Blessed and Happy Easter, dear friends!!! Christ is risen!!!

Sophia and I have been hard at work this winter season, not only with our seasonal concerts and committments, but we are always at work as usual with our music. Sophia composes daily, and for me to keep up with her musical genius I have to put in the time in our customized studio. No. Not all studios in our business are filled with Steinways! As you can see here in this picture, I am working on our computer system with software that enables us to create compositions, and also allows Sophia some previews of her work. It is complicated, but at least I am not trying to transcribe the work with a pen and parchment! I have to confess that the work is exciting and our true love. I can't wait for you to hear some of the amazing music that I get to listen to daily!

One of the most common questions that I am asked is, "What is the difference between organs, harpsichords, and pianos?"  Sophia and I regularly play all three and regularly interchange these instruments in our concerts.  Because we live and breathe on these music machines, I sometimes forget how mysterious they can be to the rest of the world.  How these instruments work, where they came from, and the differences between them can seem almost mystical.  Hopefully, I can shed just a little bit of light into your darkness and direct you towards a couple of the most basic points of the history and working parts of the tools that Sophia and I work on each day. 

Compared to the piano and the harpsichord, the organ is the most complex of the three.  It is also the oldest.  It is also complicated to play.  An organist has to operate not only multiple keyboards (manuals are the technical term) with their fingers but also a big one down below with their feet (called a pedal board).  But put simply, an organ is anything that blows air through pipes to make sound.  The pipes are made with different shapes and materials that give us the different sounds that you hear.  For example, flutes sounds come from square pipes made with wood while trumpet sounds come from pipes are shaped like ice cream cones and made of metal.  A big blower blows air through the pipes as valves are opened at the pipe bottoms allowing a sustained tone for as long as the performer needs.  Different sounds and sustained tones are the primary differences of the pipe organ compared to the piano and harpsichord.    

So, where did the organ come from?  Now, we historians love nothing better than arguing about exactly when or where this or that occurred, especially looking this far back into history.  For example, on the one hand, very early water driven organs were reported in ancient Rome.  Many organists call those the first accounts of organs.  Now comes my personal bias and opinion.  I don't agree.  I think these Roman instruments fall into the "steam whistle" category and have little to do with our modern organs.  (But again, I have many distinguished colleagues who disagree with me on this.)  I personally fall into the Constantinople camp.  I am convinced our organs came out of the Eastern Church in what is now Syria and Turkey.  At any rate, all of us organists agree that the organ has been in use in Christian churches since the time of Peter and Paul.  In fact, the use of the organ in Christian worship actually predates the use of both the Cross as a symbol and the Holy Bible (Well…..at least the "New" part!).  The primitive organ continued its development and rapidly spread across Europe on the Roman roads  The air blowing through the pipes was said to represent the Holy Spirit blowing at Pentecost and heavenly choirs of angels.  Germany gets the nod for the oldest truly complex and complete organ ever built and organs became much more innovative, versatile and reliable through the 1500's and 1600's. 1708 was a    landmark year.  During that year J.S. Bach wrote his first great Toccatas and Fugues and the organ was here to stay.  At about the time of our Revolution, Mozart called the organ the "King of Instruments" because of its technical complexity and glorious sound.  The high tech development race was on during the 1800's with France, England, Germany, and the Flemish lands all vying for top honors.  As builders and players immigrated across the Atlantic, the old world powerhouses were soon joined by the great Canadian and American builders.     

At this point, organ building split into two types - organs that "power assisted" the player's fingers in some way so they could play more notes and the old style "tracker" that literally ran wood strips from the keys to the pipes to open the air valves.  Most of the time, you can quickly tell the difference.  Mechanics have the keyboards in one place and the pipes somewhere else - usually in a pipe room or chamber.  Trackers have the pipes in a single case of some type directly above the organist and keyboards.    

The picture you see in this blog is of me talking with fellow organist Dr. Richard McPherson about the Skinner organ he plays in Northern Virginia just out of DC. We are laughing here because we agree that we organists each have our own "favorite heroes" of organ building.  Mine is Samuel Sebastian Wesley (grandson of Methodist co-founder Charles).  His best friend in the world was one of the sons of the Walker and Sons Organ Company.  Samuel lived not far from the factory and designed what we would call the first truly modern organ around the time of our Civil War.  Every Sunday I get to play an English "tracker" organ that was built in 1997 from his blueprints and then sent to America.   

See?  Now you know what I'm talking about. You passed the exam!  Next time, we'll talk about the harpsichord.