Classical MusicClassical Music Playlist, July 15, 2024Leonard Bernstein premiered his Chichester Psalms on July 15th, 1965. Composed on a commission from the Chichester Cathedral in England, the work is an uplifting prayer for peace with texts of Psalms sung in Hebrew. It's today's Midday Masterpiece.
One Feisty Victorian Woman's Opera RevivedJuly 23, 2015A skilled mountain climber who knew Tchaikovsky and Brahms, Ethel Smyth was a big personality whose politically charged opera The Wreckers gets its first fully staged production in the U.S.
Jon Vickers, Intense Canadian Tenor, Dies At 88July 13, 2015With his large, electrifying voice and his penetrating portrayals, Canadian tenor Jon Vickers thrilled opera lovers for more than 30 years.
Classical Composers' Feathered InfluencesJuly 11, 2015Did Beethoven cop from a warbler? Did Mozart plagiarize a starling? NPR's Wade Goodwyn speaks with Talkin' Birds host Ray Brown about these musical mysteries.
Simone Dinnerstein On A Trip To Cuba And Making Music Out Of DifficultyJuly 6, 2015David Greene talks to the pianist about her recent performance at a piano festival in Cuba — and a particularly stressful time in her life.
Ticket Giveaway - Bear Valley Music FestivalJuly 2, 2015Classical music and pops in a beautiful setting - who could ask for more? Enter for your chance to win a voucher for two to the Bear Valley Music festival, July 24 through August 9.
Symphonic Sidebars: Gustav Mahler, The Sorrowful And The SublimeJune 30, 2015 | Kent TeetersWith the exception of a few songs and song cycles, the symphony as a musical form was the be all and end all for Gustav Mahler. He composed no concertos, hardly any chamber music, and though he was an important conductor of opera, Mahler wrote...
Unearthed In A Library, 'Voodoo' Opera Rises AgainJune 29, 2015The Harlem Renaissance opera Voodoo has not been performed since 1928. A Columbia University researcher rediscovered the score, and now the Harlem Opera Theater hosts two performances.
Gunther Schuller, Who Bridged Classical Music And Jazz, Dies At 89June 22, 2015The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and educator ranged widely in his musicianship. With colleagues from Miles Davis to Frank Zappa, he linked classical music and jazz.
No Riots But Plenty Of Reaction To Stravinsky's The Rite Of SpringJune 16, 2015 | Cale WigginsRomantic fictions die hard in Classical music. Take, for instance, the mistaken notion that there was a riot at the 1913 premiere of the Ballets Russe production of The Rite of Spring. It’s a demonstrable falsehood that holds on with tenacity.
How To Annoy Your Dad: Play The HarpsichordJune 15, 2015For harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani, teenage rebellion had a Baroque soundtrack. His new album juxtaposes modern composers and their distant musical forebears.