Feb.
17
2020
Black History Month, as I’ve programmed
A running list of each of the 25 different black composers I’ll be programming this Black History Month.
John Scherch
Jan.
07
2020
When Classical Met (and could meet) Pop
Some of the most well-known forms of composition in classical music are of dance music from the pieces’ time. A Bach suite (which he wrote very many of), for example, would contain dances such as an allemande (a French German-style dance), a courante (a triple meter dance often following an allemande in a Baroque suite), […]
Dec.
16
2019
Listener’s Choice: 12/13/19
Friday the 13th brought weird things to the Listener’s Choice playlist last week, so here it is! Ralph Vaughan Williams: The Lark Ascending (Hilary Hahn, London Symphony, Sir Colin Davis)Erik Satie: Je te veux (Bert Lucarelli, oboe; Susan Jolles, harp; Frank Morelli, bassoon)“Koppangen”/John Jacob Niles: I Wonder As I Wander (Anne Sofie von Otter)Henry Litolff: […]
Dec.
09
2019
Handel Choir’s 85th Messiah
Handel Choir’s Brian Bartoldus came by to talk about their 85th annual performance of their namesake’s masterpiece.
Dec.
03
2019
The Hopkins Symphony performs unexpectedly tonal works
Jordan Randall Smith, Hopkins Concert Orchestra Music Director and who will be guest conducting the Hopkins Symphony this Saturday at 7:30, came by to have a chat about how the works on the program (Sibelius’s 7th symphony, Prokofiev’s 3rd piano concerto, and a new work by Shelley Washington) are all from times that people don’t […]
Dec.
02
2019
First Impression: The Busiest Month of a Musician’s Year
Happy December, everyone! If you are a professional musician, this means you (hopefully) have lots of holiday-related work to do this month. This also means that a lot of the music going on is of the traditional variety, in the holiday spirit, but there is still new music to be heard this month, and there […]
Nov.
20
2019
Interview: Kirke Mechem
Kirke Mechem is in town this week to see the staged premiere of his new opera Pride and Prejudice, of course based on the Jane Austen classic. I had a talk with him about how he thinks as a composer.
Oct.
31
2019
First Impression: November is apparently New Music Month
Man, is there a lot going on this month. I’m sure not complaining. Let’s get to it! OCCASIONAL SYMPHONY HALLOWEEN SHOW This is tonight at 7:30, which is why I’m posting it a day early (and you may bump into some WBJC folks there!); Occasional Symphony presents a live scoring of the 1920 silent film […]
Oct.
01
2019
First Impression: Improvising and Composing
As part of last month’s annual High Zero Festival, a series of performances of improvised music, I attended a talk on improvisation itself. Discussions were had about how improvisation played a role in the panel’s music, whether it was composed or performed. Thinking about how improvisation plays a role in composition, there have been in […]
Sep.
18
2019
Interviews: Tim Nelson, IN Series
IN Series presents their new angle on Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, simply titled Butterfly, at Baltimore Theatre Project on September 28th and 29th. If you’re seeing this before that week, you can still go see the performance in DC at the Source Theater, where there will also be a performance in English. I talked with artistic […]
