Simone Dinnerstein's 'Circles' Shares A Common Language With Bach & Glass
Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. At first glance, Philip Glass...
View ArticleMatt Marks, Versatile Composer And Musician, Dies At 38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPbcoHNZ9s8 Matt Marks, a young composer, musician and founding member of the contemporary music ensemble Alarm Will Sound , died suddenly Friday, May 11. The group made...
View ArticleRemembering The Soprano Who Sang Like A Laser Beam
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT49r82E7Oc The myriad stories about Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson usually fall into two groups: the ones about her enormous, laser-focused voice and those about her...
View ArticleThird Coast Percussion: Tiny Desk Concert
Back at the beginning of time, the human voice was the very first instrument. Probably close in second place were folks banging on stuff – in other words, percussionists. The quartet of gentlemen who...
View ArticleThe Sound Of Silence: Female Composers At The Symphony
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUZ2sOYHucs The Women's March and # MeToo movement have helped raise the volume for women's voices across the country. But one place where women still struggle to be...
View ArticleThe King's Singers: Tiny Desk Concert
Fifty years ago, a group of six guys walked on a London stage to perform for the first time as The King's Singers. They were choral scholars and graduates from King's College, part of England's...
View ArticleAfter Criticism, Philadelphia Orchestra Adds Female Composers To Its New Season
In June, NPR reported the Philadelphia Orchestra's admission that it had not programmed a single piece of music composed by a woman for its upcoming 2018-19 season. Jeremy Rothman, the orchestra's vice...
View ArticleLeading Orchestra Fires Conductor After Sexual Misconduct Allegations Widen
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, considered one of the world's top orchestras, has fired its conductor, Daniele Gatti, after two women publicly accused him of sexual misconduct. A...
View ArticleGeorge Walker, Trailblazing American Composer, Dies At 96
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W17alPNaVfY Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, pianist and educator George Walker has died at the age of 96. Walker's death was first announced to NPR by one of his family...
View ArticleLife With Leonard Bernstein
Jamie Bernstein can't call her childhood a typical one. On any given weekend, she might find Lauren Bacall, Isaac Stern, Richard Avedon, Mike Nichols, Stephen Sondheim , Lillian Hellman or Sidney Lumet...
View ArticleRenée Fleming, America's Go-To Diva, To Sing At McCain Memorial In Washington
Renée Fleming is becoming America's go-to singer. The celebrated soprano, who has performed at a broad range of high-profile events off the opera stage, is scheduled to sing at Senator John McCain's...
View Article'They Fed Me To The Beast': Joni Mitchell At The Isle Of Wight Festival
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgtLZCe-GSM "A bit of a disaster" is how Joni Mitchell described an out-of-control August afternoon in 1970, when she gave a courageous performance at England's Isle of...
View ArticleAnthony Roth Costanzo: Tiny Desk Concert
Anthony Roth Costanzo is a feisty performer who knows a thing or two about busting down barriers in classical music. After all, opera singers don't normally belt out arias behind office desks, and they...
View Article'The Planets' At 100: A Listener's Guide To Holst's Solar System
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be7uEyyNIT4 One hundred years ago, a symphonic blockbuster was born in London. The Planets , by Gustav Holst , premiered on this date in 1918. The seven-movement suite,...
View ArticleBach On Tap Shoes: Tiptoeing Through The 'Goldberg Variations'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mxNgyuJsvc Although Johann Sebastian Bach was probably no tap-dancer, he did know something about dancing. The gigues , menuets and courantes that populate his various...
View ArticleMacArthur Fellow Matthew Aucoin Talks Composing And Donating His 'Genius' Money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mPiwCoIr1Y Composer Matthew Aucoin has earned one of the most prestigious awards in the arts and sciences. Wednesday he was announced as a 2018 MacArthur Fellow, a...
View ArticleOne Mesmerizing Moment With Soprano Montserrat Caballé
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gzuk7yCQkw Like every other opera fanatic, I was saddened Saturday to learn of the death of Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé. She is among the last of a breed of old...
View ArticleDreaming Of Rachmaninov On A Train
Until recently, most classical music videos have been humdrum affairs. Musicians, in concert attire, earnestly produce their notes with eyes closed and heads tilted in a beatific expression, somewhere...
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