Search - Yuriy Kornilov - trumpet soloist, Danielle Economy - violin soloist, Kiev Philharmonic :: Outside the Box (CD & DVD)

Interesting title, and one that is highly appropriate. Robert Ian Winstin?s compositional output seems to defy categorization. At times he is blatantly neo-classical, as in his "Symphony #5" (?Symphony of Song?), and in other works, even from the same compositional era, he seems to flaunt convention, as in his very interesting ?music history? work "Opening Night Overture", and writes completely Out of the Box. In fact, nothing about Winstin?s work, or life, for that matter, could claim to be ?within boundaries?. A distinguished composer and conductor, well respected by professional peers throughout the world ? and, yet, he spends a tremendous amount of conductor. (He claims it "energizes him and keeps him fresh". It also "needs to be done?why in the world would you want your child to have a bad conductor?") He travels weekly between the Mid-West and the East Coast, partly to work with the two youth orchestras he founded, and partly to spend time with his wife and step-children. In between, he sandwiches outside concert appearances, recordings (of which he does a lot), community activism (he is the former Chairman of the Arts Commission in Illinois) and composing. He once quipped, in an interview on Public Radio, that he did his best work in public libraries and on airplanes. He shuns the usual commissions in favor of more ?interesting?, and often less financially rewarding, compositional opportunities. And, he seems to revel in all of this with his performance style that often has him joking with the audience from the podium and encouraging applause between movements ("It?s okay to clap when you think we?re doing a great job?we do ask that you spare us the spoiled tomatoes when you think the opposite!") ?an almost sacrilegious behaviour in the very conservative field of classical music. Of course, none of this should come as a surprise to an audience member as they watch the six-foot-three, stocky ("I?m slightly plump") Winstin take the stage with his shock of long hair (a ?long-hair? in long haired music) and an over-sized, almost all grey, goatee. It should be obvious from the beginning that he is going to be coloring outside the lines.