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On This Day
3 November: Vincenzo Bellini Was Born
The city of Catania, at the beginning of the 19th century, was considered the jewel of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Picturesquely located on Sicily’s east coast, it sits at the base of Mount Etna, one of the tallest
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On This Day
2 November: Daniel Müller-Schott Was Born
Daniel Müller-Schott, born on 2 November 1976 in Munich, Germany, started his musical education on the recorder, but soon began to take cello lessons at the age of five. The reason he decided on the cello was because his mother,
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Nicknamed Compositions by Frédéric Chopin
I have recently been listening to a lot of Frédéric Chopin’s music, and I am constantly in awe of the unbelievable and imaginative sound world he was able to create. It is a world of incredible passion and of poetry,
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On This Day
31 October: Alondra de la Parra Was Born
Conductor Alondra de la Parra, born on 31 October 1980 in New York City has “gained widespread attention for her spellbinding and vibrant performances, making her one of the most compelling conductors of her generations.” Her performances attract an unusually
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Wordless Communication
Musicians’ Communicating Tricks During Performance When you glance out at an orchestra during a concert, what do you see? Bows moving up and down in (hopefully) perfect unison? Eyes moving between music stand and conductor? Wind players breathing and moving
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On This Day
30 October: Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring Was Premiered
Aaron Copland can undoubtedly be counted among the most important American composers. He displayed a pronounced interest in music as a child, and his interest in music composition led him to Paris in 1920, where he studied with Nadia Boulanger.
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Fanfares for the New Century
Fanfares are a way of stating the obvious: a short ceremonial tune or a flourish on trumpets or brass instruments to introduce something or someone important. What happens when the fanfare becomes something else? Tobias Picker: Old and Lost Rivers
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Who Got It Right and Who Got It Wrong?
Critics and Composers
We were looking at a book of musical quotations the other day and found some things that make one so glad to have a sense of perspective. Here, John Gregory, writing in 1766 in his A Comparative View of the
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