It all began when the New York music publishing house, G. Schirmer, approached Lehrman to coordinate the project. Lehrman's mission was to take Antheil's original score, all 1,240 measures, and program it into a MIDI sequencer. In order to do this, Lehrman spent countless hours studying Antheil's original manuscript, which he obtained from the New York Library of the Performing Arts.

     After G. Schirmer editor William Holab had commissioned Lehrman to do the work, he met Yamaha Piano Division's Mike Bates at a concert in Los Angeles. Holab asked Bates if Yamaha would be interested in participating in the project, specifically by providing 16 Disklavier pianos to make the performance work. Bates immediately agreed. All the pianos were eventually provided by Boston Organ and Piano, with the project coordinated locally by Ray Totaro and Richard Giglio.

     "It was like putting together pieces of the puzzle, because what I had was a printed score, and I had no idea what it sounded like," says Lehrman in an interview, which aired live on National Public Radio on November 17. "It was like putting the notes in bit by bit, building up the layers and then playing it back and saying, 'Wow...That's cool.'"

     The performance of Ballet Mécanique, which took place 75 years after its composition and 40 years after the death of its composer, was web simulcast on WGBH Boston's web site at www.WGBH.org.

     The 25 minute piece was played by the university's percussion ensemble, conducted by the head of the school's percussion department, Jeffrey Fischer. The piano soloists were Professor Juanita Tsu of the University of Massachusetts Lowell and Professor John McDonald of Tufts University. Digital samples from a fire engine (recorded in Arlington, MA), small planes (recorded at a private airfield in Palo Alto, CA), and electric bells, were played, using a MIDI device, constructed specifically for the piece.

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     Future performances of Ballet Mécanique have been scheduled in April 2000 at Carnegie Hall in New York and in June 2000 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.

John Tesh's One World Concert Tour Wraps up the Millennium

mmy Award winning, GRAMMY® nominated musician/composer and Yamaha artist John Tesh began his three month One World concert tour September 1 in Interlochen, MI, culminating with a New Year's Eve performance at the Millennium Wall in Gisborne, New Zealand. Gisborne is the easternmost city on New Zealand's north island, which experienced the first dawn of the 21st century. The New Year's Eve performance, broadcast live on QVC, marked the end of Tesh's international One World tour, his first concert tour in 2 1/2 years. Ten band members and a 21 piece orchestra accompanied Tesh and his Yamaha CFIIIS concert grand piano on stage.

     Tesh is a spokesperson for The NARAS Foundation's GRAMMY® In The Schools program which is dedicated to fostering music education and preserving America's recorded cultural legacy. As in the past, Tesh donated one dollar from every ticket sold, a Yamaha portable keyboard, and sheet music to a local elementary school for music education in each city he performed. In addition, a group of children from the selected school were invited to attend the sound check and interact with the musicians.

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