Contact: David Schwartz, Ph.D — 805-967-9637
dave_schwartz@musicacademyonline.com

 

Music Academy Online announces
“Festival in two Worlds”

As Second Life becomes a favored destination, MAO launches this first-ever concert series, uniting historical and modern composers.

SANTA BARBARA, CA (August 22, 2007)

Say what you will about the wildly popular web portal Second Life: it is a unique educational and entertainment platform. And now, for the first time, a series of classical-music performances can be viewed in Second Life that includes works by such timeless composers as Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varese, John Cage and Aaron Copland, as well as such living composers as living composers Willliam Kraft, Alex Shapiro, Antonio Giacometti, Andersen Viana and Stefania de Kenessey.

This “Festival In Two Worlds” is being presented by Music Academy Online (MAO) beginning this Saturday, August 25th and runs through the following Sunday, September 2, 2007. Additionally, September is “Mahler Month,” according to MAO founder and CEO David Schwartz, Ph. D.

“We are officially launching the boldest, newest and most exciting online presence imaginable: our ‘Festival In Two Worlds’ brings together the greatest recorded classical music performances in history and the best in modern compositions, both from the brick-and-mortar world and within the Web’s fastest-growing community, Second Life,” Schwartz says.

“Second Life is the ideal online networking platform for this type of ‘dream’ festival,” he continues. “This three-dimensional, virtual world has gained intense international media attention in The New York Times, Newsweek, PC Magazine and several other publications, just within the last 60 days,” Schwartz notes, adding, “When I joined in late January there were three million registered avatars in Second Life. That figure has tripled, in only seven months,” he states.

And, while a recent Wired magazine article took Second Life to task, for not offering enough content to its resident/visitors, Music Academy Online seeks to change all that, by forwarding an imaginative array of classical music performances on video, as well as a sequence of interactive events.

Principal among these is the following performance schedule:

MUSIC ACADEMY ONLINE PRESENTS: “FESTIVAL IN TWO WORLDS”
AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 2, 2007

 

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

SATURDAY - AUGUST 25, 2007 8pm/EASTERN — Premiere Recital
The Music of Willliam Kraft, Alex Shapiro, Antonio Giacometti and Andersen Viana

  • Fanfare for a New Theatre (1964) Igor Stravinsky (1881-1971)
  • Trio for Guitar, Violin and Piano (1972) Arthur Berger (1912-2003)
  • Density 21.5 (1936) Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
  • Music for Two Big Instruments (2000) Alex Shapiro (b. 1962)
  • Nocturne Geometrique (1981) Antonio Giacometti (b. 1957)
  • Apenas uma Impressao (1981) Andersen Viana (b. 1962)
  • Episodes (1987) William Kraft (b.1923)

SUNDAY - AUGUST 26, 2007 5pm/EASTERN
The Music of Andersen Viana, Stefania de Kenessey, William Kraft and Alex Shapiro

  • Quatro pecas “new age” (1988) Andersen Viana (b. 1962)
  • Traveling Light (1984) Stefania de Kenessey
  • Cadeau (1992) William Kraft (b.1923)
  • Slipping (2006) Alex Shapiro (b.1962)

WEDNESDAY - AUGUST 29, 2007 8pm/EASTERN
A Concert of Electronic Music

  • Poème Electronique (1958) Edgard Varese (1883-1965)
  • Something Else (2004) Dave Schwartz (b. 1968)
  • Onirica (1988/1992) Bernardo Feldman (b. 1955)
  • Vista (2005) Alex Shapiro (b. 1962)
  • Soliloquy: Encounters I (1975) William Kraft (b. 1923)

SATURDAY - SEPTEMBER 1, 2007 8pm/EASTERN
The Music of Andersen Viana, William Kraft, John Cage and Aaron Copland

  • Suite brasiliera para piano a quarto maos (1983) Andersen Viana (b. 1962)
  • Requiescat: Let the Bells Mourn for Us for We are Remiss. (1974) William Kraft (b. 1923)
  • Suite for Toy Piano (1948) John Cage (1912-92)
  • Piano Variations (1931) Aaron Copland (1900-90)

SUNDAY - SEPTEMBER 2, 2007 5pm/EASTERN
The Music of William Kraft, Antonio Giacometti and Stefania de Kennesey

  • Quartet for the Love of Time (1987) William Kraft (b. 1923)
  • Derniere Lettre for Flute and Piano (1986) Antonio Giacometti (b. 1957)
  • The Passing (1996) Stefania de Kennesey
  • Gallery 4-5 (1985) William Kraft (b. 1923)


Additionally, Music Academy Online will present “A Special Exhibit: Gustav Mahler” beginning with an online reception this Friday, August 31, 2007 from 5pm-8pm/Eastern that will continue through the month of September and include the following performances:

Tuesday - September 4, 2007 2pm/Eastern
MAHLER: THE PIANO ROLLS

  • Ich ging mit Lust durch einen grünen Wald (from Des Knaben Wunderhorn)
  • Symphony No. 4 4th Movement
  • Symphony No. 5 1st Movement

Thursday - September 6, 2007 8pm/Eastern
SCREENING—CONDUCTING MAHLER/I HAVE LOST TOUCH WITH THE WORLD

Thursday - September 13, 2007 8pm/Eastern
SCREENING—WHAT THE UNIVERSE TELL ME: UNRAVELING THE MYSTERIES
OF MAHLER’S NINTH SYMPHONY

MAHLER: THE SYMPHONIES (DAVE’S PICKS—to be announced prior to each event)

Monday - September 3, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 1 in D, “Titan”

Wednesday - September 5, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, “Resurrection”

Friday - September 7, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 3

Monday - September 10, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 4

Wednesday - September 12, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 5

Friday - September 14, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 6

Monday - September 17, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 7

Wednesday - September 19, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 8

Friday - September 21, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Das Lied von der Erde

Monday - September 24, 2007 2pm/Eastern
Symphony No. 9

“This Festival is part of our ongoing mission, to bring together musicians, scholars, educators, orchestras and ensembles, academic and other institutions, in order to provide music lovers with a completely unique online environment in which to foster and cultivate their appreciation for music,” says Schwartz..