September, 2024

85 Posts
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Who Was Mozart’s Real Musical Father?
Fans of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will likely be aware that he was taught, shaped, and influenced by his father Leopold Mozart, a violinist and composer. When Leopold began to teach his seven-year-old daughter Nannerl, in 1759, he discovered that Wolfgang
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Making a Difference: Speaking with Odaline de la Martínez
Cuban-born composer Odaline de la Martínez (b. 1949) has some wonderful milestones coming up. First is the world premiere of her new work, Three Afro Cuban Poems, on 28 September; on 2 October, the University of Illinois will put on
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On This Day
27 September: Georg Philipp Telemann’s Pimpinone Was Premiered
On the occasion of the recent wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska, daughter of the deposed king of Poland, the Hamburg Opera am Gänsemarkt saw the premiere of Georg Philipp Telemann’s intermezzos Pimpinone on 27 September 1725. The Telemann
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Free Polyphony in a Modern Style: Martinů’s Madrigals
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959), the younger compatriot of Czech composer Leoš Janáček (1854–1928), was much more widely traveled than Janáček, largely due to the wars of the 20th century. Martinů, living in Paris in 1940, emigrated temporarily to Portugal and then
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Has The Leeds Piano Competition Gone Woke?
In my previous article about the Leeds Piano Competition in 2021, I insinuated some evidence of an “old boys club”, as there were 5 men selected to advance to the finals out of 10 semi-finalists comprising 4 women and 6
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“a shared soul”
Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy (piano 4-hands): Franz Schubert & Leonid Desyatnikov
Partners at the piano and in life, Samson Tsoy and Pavel Kolesnikov met in 2007 as students at the Moscow State Conservatory, where they chose piano duo as part of their chamber music assessments. They moved to London in 2011,
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On This Day
26 September: Béla Bartók Died
Béla Bartók was diagnosed with Leukaemia in April 1944, and as his body gradually failed, he found creative energy and produced a final set of masterpieces inspired by Yehudi Menuhin, Fritz Reiner, and Serge Koussevitzky. Bartók died at age 64,
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Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764)
Seven of His Most Beautiful Instrumental Suites
Jean-Philippe Rameau, born in Dijon and baptised on 25 September 1683, was France’s leading 18th-century composer. In his lifetime, however, he was primarily known as a music theorist. His 1722 Treatise on Harmony, establishing the development of a fundamental bass,
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