Reviews + Articles + Interviews

 

“Ms. Stillman, who founded the group, is not only a consummate and charismatic performer, but also a scholar. Her programs tend to activate ear, heart — and brain.” – Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, The New York Times

Full article

Coming Up in Philly: A Spotlight for American Women: “You’ll never hear it better performed.” – Tom Purdom, Broad Street Review

Dolce Suono Ensemble Celebrating Women of Notes: “The core ensemble – Mimi Stillman, Charles Abramovic, and Nathan Vickery – had the solidity you’d expect from musicians who weren’t about to let the weather stop them.” – David Patrick Stearns, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Composer Jennifer Higdon’s ‘American Canvas’ Inspired by Three Very Different Painters: Higdon interviewed by Susan Lewis of WRTI Radio

Highs for Dolce Suono Ensemble: “the most remarkable playing came from Stillman’s performances with veteran pianist Charles Abramovic and young cellist Gabriel Cabezas in Ned Rorem’s Trio, a basic work of the repertoire for this combination. In the opening’s Debussy-esque sensuousness, the off-kilter suspensions of the slow movement, the unsettled ache of the Andante, and most of all in the breakneck unison runs and hair-trigger stops and starts of the fast movements, the three were flawlessly in sync – even their trills.” – Matthew Westphal, The Philadelphia Inquirer

From Barber and Rorem to Kramarchuk and Zhou: – Tom Purdom, Broad Street Review

The evening opened with the New York premiere of Benjamin C. S. Boyle’s “Sonata-Cantilena” for flute and piano…played vividly by the impressive flutist Mimi Stillman and the fine pianist Charles Abramovic. – Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times Full article

Our latest recording: “Freedom”

THE NEW YORK SUN

“Dazzling performances of brilliant new as well as newly discovered works”

“Stillman’s great technical ability and use of color create a powerful experience for the listener.”

“Sensitive, passionate playing plumbs the depths of sorrow and inspiration and serves the composers’ intentions well.”

“All three pieces are fascinating explorations of the ability of the musician to portray both suffering and hope. In particular, Weinberg’s fourth movement Melody and Finko’s Lento Assai have moments of searing beauty that are deeply emotional. Danielpour’s work, split into three movements labeled Lamentation, Desecration and Benediction, tackles some of the same themes while also incorporating sounds of Persian music into more traditional classical music forms.”

“An essential disc for any chamber music fan or even the casual listener of classical music.”

–Jonathan S. Tobin

http://www.nysun.com/arts/the-new-music-of-freedom/89343/ [FULL ARTICLE]

 

TABLET MAGAZINE: VOX TABLET PODCAST

“LET ‘FREEDOM’ RING: A FLUTIST GIVES LIFE TO MUSICAL CELEBRATIONS OF LIBERATIONS”

“Mimi Stillman is a world-renowned flutist heralded by The New York Times as “a consummate and charismatic performer.” Stillman is the founder and artistic director of Dolce Suono Ensemble, a Philadelphia-based chamber group. Also a historian, she brings both interests–history and music–to bear on her latest release, an album called Freedom.”

—Hosted by Sara Ivry and produced by Julie Subrin

http://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/194815/flutist-mimi-stillman [PODCAST]

 

 

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER

“Gravitas for flute. Enterprising flutist Mimi Stillman and master pianist Charles Abramovic have just issued a disc titled Freedom on the Innova label that’s likely to expand the flute repertoire with works that defy the stereotypical emotional limitations of wind instruments.”

“Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Debussy-inspired Five Pieces for Flute and Piano was all but lost until Stillman rediscovered it.”

“The prize of the album is the exotic melancholy and rage of Richard Danielpour’s Remembering Neda.”

[FULL ARTICLE]

—David Patrick Stearns

 

“This invaluable disk, beautifully played and beautifully recorded, presents three works linked by the fact that their composers, and in some cases their subjects, all suffered exile, imprisonment, or even death on account of political and religious oppression. … Weinberg’s “Five Pieces,” with their hints of Prokofiev, their echoes of Weinberg’s roots in the Yiddish theater, and their bright, neoclassical tone, are instantly likable. On the strength of this long-awaited and persuasive first recording, they should quickly become a standard in the flute repertoire.”

–Steven Stucky, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer

 

“Her youth notwithstanding, Mimi Stillman has established herself as a top concert flutist in the field.  The ease with which Mimi tackles even the most demanding music is simply astounding. … To her CD “Freedom,” she brings tremendous brilliance, authority, as well as nuance to her playing.  Accolades go to her stellar collaborator too: pianist Charles Abramovic, whose partnership with Stillman makes for a hand-in-glove match.”

Shulamit Ran, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer

 

BROAD STREET REVIEW 

“Not only do they find just the right rhythmic balance, but even their tones interact in a lovely way, with Stillman’s always fresh, tightly focused sound finding a welcome embrace in Abramovic’s multi-hued tonality.”

“The balance of the program features two new works commissioned by Stillman, who has a remarkable record of bringing new music into the world. David Finko’s post-apocalyptic music is necessarily dark, lower in energy than other music of his that I have heard, but strikingly original, with an expressionistic power delivered in a stealthy way.”

—Peter Burwasser

http://www.broadstreetreview.com/music-opera/stillman-and-abramovic-prism-quartet-bengston [FULL ARTICLE]