May, 2015

54 Posts
archive-post-image
In Touch with Mark Latimer of ‘The Imperfect Pearl’
The name of composer Domenico Zipoli may not be familiar to our regular readers. But a recent UK-based project, The Imperfect Pearl, has committed to presenting this composer’s extraordinary music and even more remarkable life story. The project, inspired by
Read more
archive-post-image
Instruments of the Orchestra VIII: The Bassoon
The woodwind’s bass support is the mighty bassoon. Another double-reed instrument like the oboe, the bassoon need to be a long wood wind in order to get the low notes and is designed rather folded back on itself in order
Read more
archive-post-image
An Orchestra Gets With It – Turn Your Phone On!
Handsome, longhaired composer and conductor Eric Whitacre instructed the audience, “Turn your phone on. Put it in airplane mode and wait for my cue.” Throughout the Orchestra Hall lobby were instructions regarding how to download the Deep Fields app prior
Read more
archive-post-image
Ten Tips for Productive Practice
When it comes to practising instruments, most people are concerned about quantity. ‘But I practised 20 minutes every day!’ ‘I practised yesterday!’ ‘I spent a total of five hours practising this week!!!’ But I urge you to concentrate on quality,
Read more
archive-post-image
Robert Schumann: Paradise and the Peri, Op. 50
When Robert Schumann premiered his secular oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, Op. 50 (Paradise and the Peri) in December 1843 in Leipzig, the composer was instantly catapulted from provincial to international fame. In the first decade after the composition,
Read more
archive-post-image
The Great Women Artists Who Shaped Music IV – Dame Myra Hess
British pianist Dame Myra Hess was a legend. She garnered fame during World War II when concert halls had to be blacked out during the evenings. She organized 1700 day time concerts during the London Blitz—the six years of bombings
Read more
archive-post-image
Music and Art: Goya
Francisco Goya (1746 – 1828) lead a life in and out of favour with the Spanish king and his highly dramatic paintings and etchings, particularly in relation to the various Spanish wars, were highly influential. His pictures of woman, his
Read more
archive-post-image
The Sting of a Bad Review — And Revenge!
Bad reviews hurt! Why else would we remember Word for Word our first bad review? When I was a college student, I performed one of my first solos with an orchestra. I had just won the school wide concerto competition
Read more