COMPOSER NEWSBBC Composer of the Week: Thomas Arne (1710-1778)March 09, 2010 Thomas Arne is remembered today, if he's remembered at all, by just a handful of popular songs. Even so, these are some of Britain's most enduring melodies. 'Rule Britannia' has its annual outing at the Last Night of the Proms, and his setting of Shakespeare's 'Where the bee sucks' remains the best known of the very many versions of that song. The lasting appeal of these tunes gives us just a hint of the fame and popularity he enjoyed as one of London's most successful stage composers in the 18th century. He had a knack for entertaining the city's well-to-do middle-classes, and wasn't afraid to pander to their more low-brow tastes if that was what put bums on seats.
A World Of Expression In A Tiny Chopin Mazurka March 03, 2010 Frederic Chopin was one of the great composers for piano. His work forever changed what we even imagine as possible on the instrument, both technically and emotionally. It's one thing to say Chopin's great, but what makes him great? That's the question for composer and pianist Rob Kapilow.
For composer, a serpentine route to new opera February 25, 2010 Composer Zhou Long is known for his deft integration of Western and Eastern musical traditions. Though he was born in Beijing, the first music he can remember hearing was squarely in the Western tradition. His mother was a voice teacher; Zhou remembers that she “coached every day, all day long. I heard many French art songs, German Lieder.’’ And he heard a lot of opera. His aunt had studied singing in Russia and brought back records of Tchaikovsky’s “Queen of Spades’’ and Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride.’’ They fired his imagination.
Inside Calgary Opera's whale of a tale February 24, 2010 According to journalistic protocol, whenever a classical artist of the stature of renowned American mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade comes to town for a concert, it's usually the star who gets the buzz. But when the pianist accompanying von Stade in her Calgary Opera recital on Wednesday at Jack Singer Concert Hall is Jake Heggie, composer of the hit opera Dead Man Walking -- not to mention the imminent, Calgary Opera co-commissioned whale of an opera, Moby-Dick -- then you gotta sit up and take extra notice.
BBC Composer of the Week: Leos Janacek (1854-1928) February 23, 2010 Donald Macleod explores the brilliant, tempestuous last five years of the life of Leos Janacek, a composer who has been described as classical music's 'anti-prodigy.'
Giacchino wins BAFTA at Royal Opera House February 22, 2010 The composer Michael Giacchino has won the Music BAFTA for his score for Up.
Husband and wife team take on Harbison’s new Double Concerto February 08, 2010 Like many married couples, Mira Wang and Jan Vogler deal with the stresses of maintaining two busy careers. But they also have some unique marital challenges, like for instance expanding the repertoire of double concertos written for the violin and cello. Because, you know, there are days when Brahms just won’t do.
'Ghosts' resurrects Kip Winger's career February 04, 2010 "When the grunge thing hit," Kip Winger explains, "it was like all the 1980s bands were gone. Overnight." It's a well-referenced piece of musical history. Nirvana's 1991 album "Nevermind" sold 10 million copies, and Winger the band became an oft-used punch line. That brutal ending was also the beginning for the artist, who is about to execute one of the all-time improbable musical resurrections. Winger, who spent much of the past 17 years studying classical music composition, on Tuesday will premiere his first symphonic piece with the San Francisco Ballet. He wrote the music for "Ghosts," featuring choreography by Christopher Wheeldon.
BBC Composer of the Week: William Walton (1902-1983) February 03, 2010 Donald Macleod follows William Walton through the distinct eras of his life and explores the many sides to the man and his music.
'Agrippina,' Handel's Unlikely Comedy February 02, 2010 George Frideric Handel spent much of his long and successful operatic career writing Italian operas for eager, English audiences in London. But that's not where he made his first splash in the opera house.
Osvaldo Golijov Channels Chopin and Schumann January 28, 2010 “Memory is a strange human quality,” says Osvaldo Golijov. “To recreate something you love from memory leads to something very different than reality. Chopin wonderfully recreated Poland while living in Paris: Living in exile leads you to invent a land that maybe never existed.”
Spring Concert to feature popular veteran composers January 27, 2010 A special concert from the HCM City Music Conservatory’s symphony orchestra will grace the city this week. The Spring Concert will feature music by three renowned music composers, Quang Hai, Ca Le Thuan and Hoang Cuong, who played a role in developing the country’s classical music.
BBC Composer of the Week: Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) January 25, 2010 His melodies were as brilliant and beguiling as his scientific discoveries. Alexander Borodin (1833-1887) was one of history's great polymaths -who combined a career as one of Russia's great research chemists with an equally dazzling creative life as one of the 19th century's most enchanting composers. Happily married, loved by his friends and also a noted writer, philanthropist and linguist, Borodin's life was high on talent, short on crisis - and full of extraordinary, bewitching music.
Composer pleases with concerto January 23, 2010 Composer Jennifer Higdon is on a roll. Her new Piano Concerto was premiered last month by Yuja Wang and the National Symphony Orchestra. Her Percussion Concerto is up for a Grammy Award. She’s writing a concerto for the new music ensemble Eighth Blackbird to be premiered in June with the Atlanta Symphony, and she’s working on a San Francisco Opera commission with a duet date of 2013.
BBC Composer of the Week: Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) January 18, 2010 Donald Macleod begins his week-long exploration of one of Baroque music's forgotten heroes. With a name like Zelenka, he may sound like a man created only to make possible the complete A-Z list of classical composers, but this musician's talents added up to so much more.
Composer set his homeland love to music January 14, 2010 Taiwan-born pianist and composer Tyzen Hsiao has overcome decades of political exile and mounting medical woes to finally achieve his annual dream of “going home” by returning to Taiwan, where some of his major compositions are to be presented at a concert in Taipei Jan. 15.
BBC Composer of the Week: Alfred Schnittke (1934-1998) January 12, 2010 Donald Macleod and Russian music expert Alexander Ivashkin explore the work of Alfred Schnittke, the USSR's last great composer. He was an enigmatic man and had a very individual musical style.
BBC Composer of the Week: Spanish Baroque (1600-1750) January 06, 2010 Donald Macleod explores the little-known music of 17th and 18th-century Spain. The all-powerful church in 17th century Spain liked its music very traditional indeed: old-fashioned and strictly Latin only. Outside the liturgy, though, composers could be more experimental. Donald reveals how modern styles, popular tunes and dance rhythms found their way into the sacred 'villancico' form.
John Dowland's Art Of Melancholy January 05, 2010 John Dowland (1563-1626) was an important instrumental composer at a time when the most serious music was vocal, and he was a popular composer at a time when there was no dichotomy between popular and classical music. Much of Dowland's music is sad and melancholy, but that's not to say that he was a self-pitying person. In his time, melancholy was the sign of a superior individual, of someone who was mature and capable of deep feeling. Dowland was a fine artist capable of giving voice to what was considered an appropriate emotion.
'The Childhood Of Christ' In Concert December 28, 2009 Hector Berlioz had a weakness for the grand gesture. As a way of asserting that his medical studies (a concession to his physician father) were in vain, Berlioz threw himself out the window of a dissecting lab. When a pretty young pianist jilted him in Italy, he tried to end it all by diving into the Bay of Naples.
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