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“You never know someone else's story. You never know what the experience of a concert or hearing a piece is to somebody. You don't know how that affects them. So much of my music and why I do what I do is to facilitate these moments of connection between choristers, to give autonomy to choristers to feel like co-composers of my music themselves each time they're performing the work. I always tend to seek out music, texts, stories, ideas that facilitate that.”Composer, improviser, and vocalist Katerina Gimon's uniquely dynamic, poignant, and eclectic compositional style has earned her a reputation as a distinct voice in contemporary Canadian composition and beyond. Her music has earned her several honours including multiple SOCAN Awards, nominations for Western Canadian Composer of the Year, and a Barbara Pentland Award for Outstanding Composition.In her music, Katerina draws influence from a myriad of places — from the Ukrainian folk music of her heritage to indie rock, as well as from her roots as a songwriter. Her compositions are performed widely across Canada, the United States, and internationally, with notable performances at Carnegie Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, and the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. Recent commissions include new music for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Youth Choir, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and re:Naissance Opera. Katerina is the composer-in-residence for Myriad Ensemble and is based in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia.In addition to her composing work, Katerina is also a founding member (vocalist, electronics, co-composer) of dynamic new music and AR/VR collective Chroma Mixed Media alongside multi-media artists David Storen and Brian Topp. Excited by the ever-evolving landscape of technology in today's society, Chroma endeavours to explore new avenues and intersections for artistic expression by combining various art forms and new technologies to explore new possibilities and challenge audience expectations.Katerina holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of British Columbia ('17) and an Honours Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and Improvisation from Wilfrid Laurier University ('15). When she isn't making music, Katerina enjoys playing board games, puzzling, adventuring outdoors, and relaxing with her husband and their two cats.To get in touch with Katerina, you can find visit her website, katerinagimon.com, or find her on Instagram (@katgimon) or Facebook (@kgimon).Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.Podcast music from Podcast.coPhoto in episode artwork by Trace HudsonPodMatchPodMatch Automatically Matches Ideal Podcast Guests and Hosts For Interviews
This past summer, I had the great privilege of attending a performance by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. I was surprised by the crowded stage of 90 devoted youth musicians. Our local symphony is made up of only 60 members, so what … Read more
British Conductor Tess Jackson is the Associate Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra. Originally a violinist, Tess was inspired to take up conducting aged just fourteen, eventually going on to study music at Cambridge University and then a Masters in Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music. Some highlights of the upcoming season include her symphonic debut with the Philharmonia, West Side Story at Volksoper Vienna, and she has recently been assisting Enrique Mazzola at the Lyric Opera Chicago.In this episode, Tess gives us an insight - through the eyes of an artist in the early days of her career - into the various roles a conductor can play; and how she had to challenge her own self-perception in order to find confidence as a very young conductor. She also talks about her recent debut at this year's Proms with the National Youth Orchestra, and the incredible role that the orchestra played in her own development when she herself was a member.-------------------Tess's links:WebsiteInstagram-------------------Follow The Classical Circuit on InstagramDid you enjoy this episode? If so, ratings and follows help a lot with visibility, if you have a spare moment... *bats eyelashes*No offence taken if not.--------------------Music: François Couperin - Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les MaillotinsPerformed by Daniel Lebhardt--------------------This podcast is also available to listen to via The Violin Channel--------------------The Classical Circuit is made by Ella Lee (producer by trade, pianist at heart). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Alto solo associé de l'Orchestre Métropolitain, Thierry Lavoie-Ladouceur est également membre de l'orchestre de chambre I Musici de Montréal depuis 2022. Il participe à plusieurs festivals en tant que chambriste, notamment le Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal, le Festival Schubert de Lachine, le Festival du Domaine Forget ainsi que le National Youth Orchestra, et se produit comme soliste avec orchestre à titre de lauréat du concours de concerto du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal en 2019. Il a pu bénéficier de l'enseignement de grands musiciens tout au long de son parcours comme Antoine Tamestit, Miguel Da Silva, Atar Arad et James Dunham. Son plaisir à improviser et à composer l'amène à collaborer régulièrement avec des artistes de tous horizons, que ce soit à l'émission La Voix, ou encore avec des artistes comme Jonathan Roy, les 2Frères, Didem Basar ou Erika Angell. Artiste engagé, il fut musicien bénévole durant les confinements pandémiques et a livré plusieurs performances au cours de son parcours dans des milieux hospitaliers, scolaires et communautaires. En parallèle à sa carrière d'interprète, Thierry a travaillé en gestion, en coordination et en marketing auprès de plusieurs organismes culturels de la province comme le Concours de musique du Canada, le Festival de musique de chambre de Montréal et le Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Il obtient sa maîtrise en alto avec distinction auprès du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal en 2020 dans la classe de Mme Jocelyne Bastien. Il est également depuis 2024 diplômé de HEC au diplôme d'études supérieures spécialisées en gestion d'organismes culturels, et est l'un des fondateurs et directeur général du festival Alto/Fest célébrant de manière festive cet instrument sous-représenté.Instagram :https://www.instagram.com/laprescriptiondrfred/?hl=frFacebook :https://www.facebook.com/people/La-prescription-avec-Dr-Fred-Lambert/100078674880976/ Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
Recorded in Stoke on Trent where members of the NYO - the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain are rehearsing for their summer concert tour in which they perform music by Wagner, Mahler, and Missy Mazolli at Bridgewater Hall on 7 August, Saffron Hall in Cambridgeshire on 9th, and finally the BBC Proms on 10th August.
The National Youth Orchestra is celebrating it's second Gala concert showcasing their brilliant young musicians, including violin soloist Alexandra Derkaloustian. Also joining me in the conversation is concert master Jonathan Barrett, and Co-Founder and Executive Director of the National Youth Orchestra Amira Fouad, who also serves as the Artistic Director of Encore.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Kelly Molson, Founder of Rubber Cheese.Download the Rubber Cheese 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report - the annual benchmark statistics for the attractions sector.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcast.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcastCompetition ends on 29th March 2024. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references: https://skiptontownhall.co.uk/craven-museum/https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-hill-54503a189/ Jenny Hill is Lead Museums Curator at North Yorkshire Council, including at Craven Museum in Skipton. She has a degree in History from Lancaster University and a Contemporary History MA from the University of Sussex. She has worked in the sector for almost 7 years and is passionate about community engagement and making museum collections accessible for all. Between 2018-21 she worked on a National Lottery Heritage Funded capital redevelopment project at Craven Museum. In 2023 her team won the Kids in Museums Best Family Friendly and Most Accessible Museum awards. https://kidsinmuseums.org.uk/https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-bowyer-0608a417/Alison Bowyer has worked in the cultural sector for over 20 years with previous roles at LAMDA, the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Southbank Centre and the Academy of Ancient Music. The longer her career has continued, the more convinced she is that we still need to work harder to make culture and heritage accessible to all.She has a longstanding interest in museums and how people engage with heritage, having been a volunteer at Handel House Museum (now Handel and Hendrix) in London and completing degrees in Cultural Memory and History. Alison has been Executive Director of Kids in Museums for seven years. During which time, the organisation has become an Arts Council England IPSO, won a Museum + Heritage Award, developed a new national training programme, established a Youth Panel and delivered a range of new programmes.Outside of work, Alison is a listening volunteer for Samaritans, a Director of the Family Arts Campaign and likes to crochet. Transcription: Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. On today's episode I'm joined by my co-host, Paul Marden, CEO of Rubber Cheese.We're speaking with Alison Bowyer, Executive Director of Kids in Museums and Jenny Hill, Lead Museums Curator at Craven Museum.It's almost a Kids in Museums takeover as Paul is one of their amazing trustees.Today we're finding out what it takes to be a truly family friendly museum, why it's important for you to engage with the Kids in Museums manifesto, and how you can enter the awards this year.If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue.Kelly Molson: Hello, Alison, Jenny, and Paul, welcome. Welcome to Skip the Queue today. This is a treat. I am joined by Alison and Jenny today and we're going to talk about kids and museums. And I've also got Paul. Hello, Paul, who has joined me as co host today, and he is going to start the icebreakers. This is new.Paul Marden: It is, isn't it?? It's a brave new world for us, isn't it? So I've got a lovely one for you, Alison. So should we get started? What are you most likely to buy when you exit through the museum gift shop?Alison Bowyer: Oh, gosh, that's a really tough one. Definitely postcards. I'm also a sucker for a nice sort of pencil case or I do like museum jewellery. I have quite a lot of tattoo divine, especially museum themed jewellery. And I do also have a pushant for like, cute, fluffy things, even though I'm not a child. I'm 44 years old, but still.Kelly Molson: I'm loving this. Hello. At museums, Alison is your best gift when she comes because she's filling up her bag.Paul Marden: Think of all of those museum gift shops that you can go through with all the jewellery in because there are some amazing ones, aren't there, that have the jewellery stands in them.Alison Bowyer: That completely are. And I like to buy all my gifts for other people from museums if I can. So I am a big museum shopper.Kelly Molson: It's really lovely to do that. So just before Christmas, actually, I think it was. No, yeah, it was November time. I went over to the Ashmolean museum and their gift shop is really lovely, actually, and had a really good nosy around it in between meetings. And oh, my God, I bought so many of my Christmas gifts in there. It was brilliant. My best friends, I bought Edie a book called Bear at the Museum, which she adores. It's the most read book in our house at the moment, which is lovely, but I bought my mother in law jewellery. I bought her earrings from the Ashmolean, which were absolutely lovely. So I'd never really thought about jewellery from a museum as well. There you go.Kelly Molson: Good tip for you from Alison today. Thank you. Right, Jenny, have you ever been pulled off by security for touching a museum exhibit?Jenny Hill: I haven't personally, no. But I did visit Manchester Museums with a friend and she was told off whilst were in the gallery because it was a really pretty furniture display and she just kind of automatically reached out a hand because she was like, “Oh, it's so pretty”, and instantly clocked by the security guard in the room and we very sheepishly left quite quickly.Kelly Molson: I love that. It's really hard, isn't it, if you're quite a tactile person as well, and you're like, “Oh”, because you would do that if you were in a shop, right?Jenny Hill: Exactly, yes. And she was just really excited by it was kind of just like an instant response. We were like, “Oh, no, shouldn't have done that.”Kelly Molson: I love that. One day you will get told off. I know this, and you need to come back on and share that with us. Okay? Right, I've got one for both of you now. So, Alison, I'm going to start with you. If you had to wear a t shirt with one word on it for the rest of your life, what word would you choose and why?Alison Bowyer: Oh, gosh, one word makes it really difficult because it can't be like a command.Kelly Molson: Well, it could stop.Alison Bowyer: Yeah, that's true.Kelly Molson: It is a command.Alison Bowyer: Because I have one at the moment that I'm quite fond of that just says “Be kind on it.”Kelly Molson: That's nice. All right, well, maybe I'll let you have two words.Alison Bowyer: You can't just say kind because that sounds really weird. And od, if I'm allowed to, it would “Be kind.”Kelly Molson: Okay, we'll allow to, for the purpose of this podcast, we'll allow to. That's nice. I like that one. Jenny, what about you?Jenny Hill: “Be curious” as well. I think that's something that always happy for our visitors to do when they're visiting, is to be curious. And I think it's just a good motto for life, isn't it, to always be thinking, always be inquisitive. Yeah.Kelly Molson: They're very good one, Paul, I'm going to ask you as well. Sorry, dropping you right in it. What about yours?Paul Marden: Learn. It has got to be if it's got to be one word, because one's a toughie. Learn.Kelly Molson: I like that. Somebody actually went with the brief. Thank you for obeying me.Paul Marden: Always. I know my place.Kelly Molson: Doesn't happen often. All right. Thank you, everyone, for sharing that. I appreciate it. Right, unpopular opinions. What have you prepared for us? Alison? Over to you first, I think.Alison Bowyer: Oh, gosh, this question made me so stressed.Kelly Molson: I'm so sorry.Alison Bowyer: No, no, it's fine. Not in a bad way, because I was like, oh, my goodness, I'm not sure what I have that's unpopular. And then I started googling unpopular opinions and I found all these weird lists of things that I never even considered were opinions, like people saying that C is the most redundant letter in the English language and you could replace all C's with S's and K's. Apparently, this is a commonly held unpopular opinion. So, yeah, then I started thinking, oh, goodness, I'm not really sure I'm up to this. I think what I came up with in the end was, which is going to make me unpopular, probably. I think pizza is the worst takeaway because it always survives cold and hard and the topping off, it falls off in transit, so you end up with a really dowsy meal.Kelly Molson: I love a pizza takeaway, though. I can't be down with you on this one because I love a pizza. It's because we never get to eat pizza. Oh, no. Actually, we've had pizza quite frequently recently because Edie loves it. But Lee has always been a bit like anti pizza takeaways. Okay.Paul Marden: I don't understand people that have the delivery of burgers and chips, because surely that is going to be cold by the time it gets to you and they're going to be rubbish chips.Kelly Molson: Yes. That's weird. Yeah, that is weird. I've never ordered a burger to be delivered to my house. That sounds strange to me. Ok, let's see what Twitter feels about your pizza. Unpopular opinion. Jenny, what about you?Jenny Hill: Oh, mine's similar on a food topic, which I feel is going to make me really unpopular. But something I always say that really annoys people is I really hate brunch, which I feel is very unpopular. But I'm a person that gets regularly hungry, so for me, waiting to go out for food in the morning is just not possible. So I will always have to have something to eat before I leave the house. So I'll always basically have breakfast and then before you know it, I'm eating again. So at that point, it's essentially lunch. So for me, brunch doesn't really exist.Kelly Molson: Okay. All right. Let me argue this point back to you, though. So if your girlfriends or whoever had asked you out for brunch, you'd have breakfast first, right? So you'd have like 08:00 breakfast and then you'd go for brunch. But if you're always hungry, doesn't that just mean you just eat lunch a little bit earlier? So brunch is like.Jenny Hill: I mean, I don't mind eating again, but it's just the concept, I guess, of calling it brunch just doesn't feel accurate for me by that point because I've already had a full breakfast.Kelly Molson: Okay. So I have a similar challenge with afternoon tea. I can't stand afternoon tea. Sorry if this upsets people. I don't understand why you get to a certain age and all of your every thing has to be, “Oh, should we go for afternoon tea?” No, why don't we just go to the pub like we used to? Go to the pub. Just go to the pub. What is it about afternoon tea? It's really annoying. And it's one of those. It's always at like 03:00 so what is it?Jenny Hill: It's not a meal. It's the same situation, but in the middle of the afternoon. I agree.Kelly Molson: Exactly. Okay, I can get on board with your brunch thing then. If you're on board with my afternoon tea thing. Good.Paul Marden: I'll take you afternoon tea and I'll raise you a kids party at 2:30 in the afternoon. It's neither lunch nor is it dinner. So I have to feed the child before. I have to feed the child afterwards. And then they're going to eat more food in the middle of the day.Kelly Molson: They are. They are. But I mean, Edie eats constantly so that it doesn't really matter. But kid's parties are amazing because buffet food is the best kind of food. I'm all down for a kid's party. You get what's it, what's not to love? You get party rings. There's always sausage rolls, which is like my number one top snack of all time. I'm here for the kid's parties. I'll just take the food. You can have all the kids. Okay. Should we talk about some serious stuff now?Paul Marden: Yeah. Shall we do that?Kelly Molson: I mean, it's still equally fun, but let's get on, shall we? We're talking about Kids in Museums today.Paul Marden: Which is really good, isn't it?Kelly Molson: It is a great topic.Paul Marden: I feel like I'm going to learn loads about Kids in Museums that I probably should already know as I'm a trustee of Kids in Museums. But I get to ask Alison all the questions that perhaps I've been a little bit too scared to ask for the last year because I might look a little bit silly if I don't know the answer.Kelly Molson: Yeah, and she has to answer you because that is what the podcast rules are.Paul Marden: Exactly. All right then, Alison, why don't we kick off, tell us a little bit about Kids in Museums and how the organisation was developed.Alison Bowyer: Kids in Museums has existed in one form or another for about 20 years now, which always astonishes me a little bit. So we started life when our founder, who at the time wrote to the Guardian, her name was Dea Birkett and she took her young child, I think she was about two years old, to the. I'm going to name and shame, I'm afraid, the Aztec's exhibition at the Royal Academy. And her son screamed at one of the massive Aztec statues, which, if I remember the exhibition correctly, was totally fair enough, because the statues were pretty. I mean, they were designed to be scary. That's one of the reasons why they built some of them. So they were thrown out of the Royal Academy because apparently he was disturbing the other visitors.Alison Bowyer: And then Dea wrote about this in her Guardian column, and what happened after that was the Guardian got a lot of letters coming from families telling Dee about similar experiences they'd had when they were out and about in museums with their children. And so a campaign was born to make museums better places for families, children and young people to visit. And to an extent, what happened on that day at the Royal Academy, that kind of remains our guiding principle. We are led by what visitors tell us about their experiences and we really strongly feel that museums, galleries, heritage sites, as kind of public space, should be for everyone, and everyone should be free to have that access, to feel comfortable when they're visiting and to have a really great time during your visit. So since then, the charity has evolved in various ways.Alison Bowyer: Today, we work across the whole of the UK and we will work with any kind of museum, gallery, heritage site, historic house, castle, any kind of outdoor heritage site to support them and lead them and encourage them to take action, to better places for families, children, young people. We're quite a small organisation. There's only five of us in total, but we feel like we achieve a lot. And last year we won the Museum and Heritage Award for being the Best Sector Support Organisation in the UK, which was a really amazing validation of our work. That definitely doesn't mean we're sitting on our laurels, though. We're always trying to spend time talking to families, talking to young people, talking to museums about how we can create new programmes, refine our existing programs to do better.Alison Bowyer: And we really want to be approachable, supportive, trusted experts. So we are doing the best by both the audiences we represent and the museums we try to support.Paul Marden: I think the size of the organisation. I know Vanessa, our chair, often says how much you, as a team, punch above your weight, because I don't think anyone would imagine that it was such a small team that was having such a loud voice. Is that a positive thing? That should be a positive thing. How much impact you have with such a small team? It's amazing.Kelly Molson: It was lovely at the MandH Show. I was at those awards, and I saw that win happen, and it was fantastic because the cheer from the crowd was pretty phenomenal. So congratulations on that.Alison Bowyer: Thank you. I was so sure weren't going to win. I wasn't there, and I'd gone to bed and gone to sleep.Kelly Molson: Woke up to some spectacular news.Alison Bowyer: Yeah, no, it really did. But, yeah, no, it was brilliant to get that recognition. It helps more people find out about us as well, which is always valuable.Paul Marden: So what is it that you offer museums, and how can they get involved more with what you're doing?Alison Bowyer: So we like to think that we've got something for pretty much any kind of museum, whatever your level of expertise in working with families, children and young people is whatever resources you have, how many staff you have. So we have a large, free offer, which is kind of the building blocks of what we encourage museums to do, and it's all centring on our manifesto. So our manifesto is something that we compile with children, families and young people. So every two years, which actually is something we're going to be doing this year, we will be out talking to museum visitors, doing a national survey, and finding out about what their good and bad experiences of museums are. And then we will take all that information and distil it down into six easy points that make up our manifesto.Alison Bowyer: And then that's a document that we think pretty much every museum should be able to commit to in their work. None of it is particularly complicated, or a lot of it doesn't need to be resource intensive. They're all pretty simple things that everybody should be able to do. So that's a really good starting point. And over a thousand museums have signed up to the manifesto and hopefully are using it in their work. I know we'll hear later from Jenny about how Craven Museum did that. Once you've signed the manifesto, there are lots of other things that you can get involved in.Alison Bowyer: We've got over 100 free resources on our website, which cover everything from ways to implement the manifesto at low cost, how to create self guided resources for families, right up to things like how you can engage children and young people with the climate emergency in your museum. So they cover a really wide range of things that we think are helpful to the teams in museums who are doing that work on the ground. We have a programme of UK training, so we run about trend training sessions a year for museum staff and we also work with museum development organisations on training and that's available to attend in person for a small ticket price or to buy us recordings.Alison Bowyer: Then every year we run a program called Takeover Day, which is a really brilliant, fun, exciting initiative where children and young people age between 0 and 25 go into museums and they do adults jobs for the day. When I say 0 to 25, I really mean that. We have toddlers doing museum Takeover Days, being given tasks like polishing glass museum cases with soft dusters, doing some cleaning and doing some object packing with, like, wooden blocks. They don't let them use loose on the actual collection.Paul Marden: With white gloves on. Kelly Molson: I'm laughing because Edie would be like up there licking the glass, not trying to clean it, thinking about my daughter. And Paul is smiling because he did one of these Takeover Days. Alison Bowyer: He did. Yeah.Kelly Molson: He's got a massive grin on his face.Paul Marden: We loved it. We got to be curators for the day. The kids got to run around the museum and then they went back into the learning suite of the Mary Rose Trust and they got told to design an immersive exhibition and they took ideas from all around the museum and designed out what they would do and such brilliant ideas that they had. It was such a great experience for them to get that kind of behind the scenes experience of what the museum is actually like.Alison Bowyer: So we see from Takeover Day that impact Paul has described. More than 70% of the young people who take part say that they would like to go back to a museum again as a result of being part of Takeover Day. And more than two thirds of the museums say that they now know more about what young people want from their museums and will make a change. So it's a really brilliant initiative. Then we obviously have the Family Friendly Museum Award, which is what we're going to be talking about with Jenny and I'll talk more about it later. And we've got some new programs coming online this year. So for the first time, we're working with a group of museums to help them appoint their first young trustees. So they're going to have people on their boards by the end of the programme age between 18 and 25. Alison Bowyer: And we also are running some programs with our own youth panel that they've designed. So we are working with them on a project which will hopefully show that museums can help address social isolation that young people experience when they move for education or new jobs.Kelly Molson: I think it's just take a pause there and just reiterate that there are five of you in the Kids in Museum's team. That is a pretty phenomenal menu of things that you offer to museums with just five people.Paul Marden: It's amazing, isn't it?Kelly Molson: Yeah. Let's just keep that up there as we're talking today. Thanks, Alison. Jenny, I want to come over and chat to you about Kids in Museums. How did you first kind of find out about them and get involved with what they're doing?Jenny Hill: So, I've been aware of Kids in Museums probably since I first started working in the sector around six, seven years ago now. I've been on their website, sort of seen their name come up and use some of their guidance when I was doing some of my initial sort of museum work. But I think they sort of really stood out to me. From about 2021, I got involved with some training with part of Museum Development Yorkshire, whose sector support as well, funded by Arts Council England, and they were running front of house cohort that I got involved with at the time. And we had a really great training session as part of that cohort with Laura Bedford from Kids inMuseums. She gave a really inspiring talk and session on creating family friendly interactions in museums, and that was really inspiring.Jenny Hill: I learned a lot during that session and really made me think, oh, we definitely need to be involved with this more. And then later on in the same year, I actually did an in person event. It was at the auction museum, and actually got to have a chat with Laura there about Kids in Museum's work. So that was really helpful. So, yeah, we kind of taken it from there. We signed up to the kids and museum manifesto following on from that, started to use those sort of principles in a lot of our front of house work and then behind the scenes as well. So, yes, Kim, have been on my radar for quite a while.Jenny Hill: But, yeah, it's sort of the past three years, really, that we've really sort of been taking on board a lot of their, using a lot of their resources and their ideas.Kelly Molson: It's lovely to see that it was indirectly as well. So obviously, Kids in Museums and what they do, it's good that they work in partnership with other organizations as well. So there was like a crossover there. Why did you enter the Family Friendly Museum award last year?Jenny Hill: So Craven Museum went through a National Lottery Funded redevelopment project between 2018 and 2021. So we completely redesigned our museum space. It used to be really inaccessible. It used to be at the top of Skipton town hall. There was no lifts up there. It was a really steep, horrible flight of stairs to get up there, and a lot of the interpretation was really outdated. A lot of it was not very accessible. So after our redevelopment project, which really put access at the centre of all of our work, and particularly looking at family audiences, this is a group that we really wanted to feel welcome to our museum. It's a group that we'd been working with a lot pre redevelopment and we really wanted to expand our work with this audience after we reopened.Jenny Hill: So after all this work was completed, we spent 2022 in sort of that post Covid year, finding our feet when maybe our visitors weren't quite as confident coming onto site and people were still getting to know that were reopened as well. So we had got a lot of people coming in going, “Oh, I didn't realise the work had finished.”Jenny Hill: That was sort of our sort of pilot year. Whereas last year in 2023, we really felt that we hit our stride and we've been piloting lots of new ideas in 2022 and embedding our family friendly ethos in our work. So it kind of was the year that work really felt like it came to fruition after having spent quite a few years developing it. So we thought, as a team, that we'd really like to sort of get this work hopefully recognised. And a family friendly museum award really felt like a way to do that and we really wanted it to sort of give a boost to our team as well, who'd been working hard on that. So, yeah, we just thought it would be a great year to get involved and we entered it with very low expectations.Jenny Hill: We thought, we're a small museum in the north of England. We weren't sure if we'd be, I don't know, sort of recognised for what we've been doing. So it was absolutely amazing to get recognition through the award in that way. It's fantastic.Kelly Molson: It feels like the recognition was for the team and for the people that were kind of working in it. Is that what was important to you about entering?Jenny Hill: I think so, yes. It was to prove to the team that the work that they'd been doing was really valid and really important. And I think in the museum sector, sometimes there's quite a lot of pressure on quite small teams. Like Alison was saying, there's only five people in Kids in Museums, and we're a small team, too. So I think having that recognition for the team just really helps them to know that, yes, they're doing a good job alongside the fact that it's obviously important to us to sort of share with the families that do come and use the museum, that it's going well.Kelly Molson: How difficult was it to write the entry? Because I think that there's often a barrier. I mean, certainly for us, there's been things that I've thought this would be great to enter, but I look at it and think, “Oh, my goodness, this is going to take me, like, four or five days to actually pull all of these things together and write it. And write it in a way that's appealing.” Did you find it was an easy process to go through?Jenny Hill: Actually, yes, we did find it, because I've done some applications that, yes, like you say, it can be quite as difficult, quite time consuming. I actually found the process for Kim really easy. So when the applications opened, members of the public were asked to nominate their favourite museum through a form on the Kim website. And we're really excited that we got some lovely nominations from families. And then kids and museum got in touch to let us know that we could make full application because we'd been nominated. So after that point, there was an online form that we could fill out that asked questions like, how have you made visiting your museum accessible to families, children and young people with additional needs? So that was one of the sort of longer questions on the form because we applied for the best accessible museum.Jenny Hill: And that was. Yeah, I think because of all the work that we've been doing and because that kind of ethos is embedded in our team, weren't talking maybe about a specific project that we'd been working on. As some applications, I feel like they're very sort of project focused, but having such a wide question like that meant that we could just talk about what we do every day at the museum, which is what's really important to us. Jenny Hill: So, yeah, there were nice questions to answer because they kind of felt like they gave us the space to talk about all of our work. So that was brilliant. And we also had the opportunity to upload some supporting materials so we could get some photos in there, send through some of our more visual. Yeah, I think we might have sent a video as well. So that was great, too, because it meant we could share lots of different aspects of our work.Kelly Molson: I love that. And spoiler alert even. You won. You're not only be the overall winner, you were the Best Accessible Museum winner as well.Jenny Hill: Yes. And I was still absolutely blown away by that.Kelly Molson: It's phenomenal. Congratulations.Jenny Hill: Thank you.Kelly Molson: Huge for that.Paul Marden: I wonder if the reason why you found it not too painful to do the application is because this is folded into you. This is running through your core. You're just telling people what you do every day, and so you're just telling the story of what you do all the time.Jenny Hill: I think that's how it feel. Yeah.Paul Marden: Alison, let's talk about. I remember sitting in the audience listening to you talking about all the different museums and what the judges said and what stood out, and I loved hearing those stories. So what was it, do you think, that stood out about the Craven Museum, about their entry for you?Alison Bowyer: So there were a few things about the Craven entry that really grabbed us. The first that I remember reading was that they had built our manifesto into their visitor charter, which is amazing because they are taking what we know, families, children, young people need and want, and they're building it into that work that they do every day. Like Jenny was saying, this is them living that way of working, which is incredible. And I think throughout the application, you got a real sense that all of their staff really cared about this. There was a page in the supporting document with the whole team on it saying just, like, one little thing about everyone in the team. And it was really amazing to see that because you felt that where in some museums, this is kind of just what the people in the learning team do.Alison Bowyer: That wasn't true at Craven. Everyone at Craven really cared about the families he visited, and I think that was really borne out in the family nominations we received. There were so many families who were telling us how much they loved going to the museum that their children saw it as, like, the highlight of their half term holiday. And they talked for weeks in advance about wanting to go, and the make and take craft seemed to be a particular hit. There were lots of families telling us that their children couldn't wait to go back and do that again. And the families who nominated the museum also, they sounded really proud that their town had the museum, which was really lovely. And also, I think, something that came through, which is a kind of sad reflection of the way the world is at the moment.Alison Bowyer: They really appreciated that all of that was available for free. When they're struggling to find things for their family to do that don't cost much, it felt like it was a really important thing to have that amazing resource in their town. And there were other little things, too. The museum is a safe space. The staff have amazing access training and training in inclusive language, and those things really help with kind of broadening out who can come into the museum and something that we spend quite a lot of time talking about. That isn't always something museums pick up on. And the Craven Museum website is just amazing, incredibly informative. I think it came in like the top five or something in the state.Alison Bowyer: The museum access website report in the whole of the UK for its access information, which a museum of its size is absolutely incredible. We spent so much time telling people that families like to plan, they like to look at a website in advance and find out about all the facilities, and Craven had actually done that and it really makes a difference. So were really pleased to see that. And then I think the final thing was the community case and how they had a space in the museum where local people, local organisations, could show things that were important to them. So they were really giving the local community the opportunity to see themselves in the museum and feel a sense of kind of belonging and ownership.Alison Bowyer: So I think all of those things came together and it was really clear that Craven Museum was going to be a really strong contender, which was why they shortlisted them. And then it was over to the families to judge them during the second stage of the award.Paul Marden: I'd say the fact that you gather together these real families to kind of go and look at the museums that have applied and pass on their feedback to the judges, I think is hugely powerful. Are there any little snippets that the families came back that you liked because there were so many lovely little comments that the families had given to us throughout the awards?Alison Bowyer: Yeah. So I think this quote is one that I think sort of sums it all up, really. The family judge said, “This is one of the most accessible, family friendly and welcoming museums I have ever visited across Britain. Although small compared to city museums, this has a lot to offer and is well laid out. It is very inclusive and their website is a particular strong point in terms of helping people to feel able and welcome to visit. People can visit the museum or attend an event knowing what to expect and what options are available. We especially love the fact that the spot, the mouse activity involved actual exhibits. Often this type of activity utilizes soft toys or pictures that have been placed around the site and end up being a distraction from the collection, meaning families don't get to actually experience the museum and look at the artifacts on display. But this activity in Craving Museum involved looking for things that were part of the carvings and objects. A great way for visitors to get more close to the collection. We all really enjoyed our visit.”Kelly Molson: That's so nice.Paul Marden: That's just brilliant feedback, isn't it?Alison Bowyer: Yeah.Kelly Molson: So nice.Paul Marden: And who would have thought having a website that told you information about the museum that was accessible could actually be of value to people?Alison Bowyer: I know. It's amazing, isn't it?Paul Marden: I know. I wonder who could help you with that.Kelly Molson: Yes, although, full credit, this is not one of our websites, but we definitely could help you with that. This is incredible. What lovely words. We've all got smiles on our faces for people that are listening to the audio of this and can't see us. Jenny, I'd really love to know. We go back to the reason that you entered and, you know, part of that is for the team, it's for the people that have worked really hard to make all of these amazing things happen. What has the impact been for your team since you won this award?Jenny Hill: I think it's just been the real boost that it's given the whole team. Like Alison was saying, everyone on the team really cared about this, know every single member of our team, not just maybe our learning team or our forward facing team, everyone cared about it. And I think it's just really inspired us to carry on with our work. We're all very conscious of the fact that working with families, working with accessibility, is never a finished process. You've not achieved it. So it's kind of really just. Yeah, it's given us that extra push to think, oh, actually, we're doing well in this and we really want to continue. We don't want to sit on our laurels, we don't want to take this for granted. We want to keep working on this. So I think that was really great.Jenny Hill: It was also particularly lovely just to know that it was real families who'd nominated us and that, like were just saying with the undercover judges, it was real families who came to visit us during that judging period and had these positive experiences. So that was just fantastic to know that it was visitors who wanted to sort of recognise the work we've been doing. So, yeah, I think that's been the main thing, really. It's just been amazing being recognised by the sector and our colleagues and given us all that kind of. That boost. Kelly Molson: Yeah. Like a validation of all of the work that gone into it. Jenny Hill: Definitely.Kelly Molson: And what about the impact from kind of general public? Has it had an impact on the visitors that are coming and what they're saying about it and then also the sector itself, you said it's been a good thing to be recognised within the sector.Jenny Hill: So it's definitely had a real impact with our visitors. So we've had some visitors coming to site who've said that they've specifically come because they heard about the Kids in Museum award, which has been amazing. Some people coming from a distance to visit family in the area and saying, “Oh, when I was looking for things to do, I saw that you'd won the award. So I thought while I was visiting I'd pop in.” So that's been incredible, that impact with visitors and our sort of more regular local visitors who've come in, we've got the award up on a shelf behind the front desk. Our front of house team are so proud to have it there behind them while they're working.Jenny Hill: And we've had local visitors saying, “Oh, it's so amazing that our town's got a museum that's won this award and it's really lovely for local people that we've got this here.” So, yeah, that's been really nice for both bringing in new visitors and also for our local audience and then within the sector, it's just been so good for us, publicity wise, to sort of kind of get our name out there, really. So since the awards I've done, I was just counting up the other day, I've had seven different institutions in touch, asking for site visits to come and look at our work, have a chat with us about best practice. I've delivered another seven presentations either already or got them booked in for the rest of the year. And then obviously doing podcasts like this.Jenny Hill: And then we did a blog post as well for Send in Museums with Sam Bowen. I think that's the pipeline, hopefully. So, yeah, it's really kind of boosted us and we even noticed on social media, new institutions following us that maybe weren't aware of us before, after the award, people taking interest. So that's been really nice as a small local museum to have that kind of more bigger awareness from the sector.Kelly Molson: I love this so much. And this goes back to something that comes up time and time again on these podcast interviews is just how collaborative and how supportive the sector is and how much they want to work with each other. It's so lovely that you can now showcase the processes that you've been through and how you approach accessibility and be able to share that with others so that they can go on and do the same and make theirs better and better. Kelly Molson: I think it's so important to be able to do that, and it makes me love this sector so much. It really does. What top tips Jenny, would you give to any museums that are out there thinking, “We really want to enter the awards this year.” What would you say were your best top tips for them?Jenny Hill: This kind of links to something Paul was saying earlier, and it maybe sounds a bit cliched, but just be yourself. I think there's so much amazing work going on in the sector to do with making venues family friendly. And if you're passionate about what you do and you're working hard to make your venue inclusive, then that will shine through. So maybe sometimes not to overcomplicate it. So if you're doing the work and you really care, then that will make itself apparent. But I guess on a more practical level as well. Give yourself time with the application, don't try and rush it. We work very collaboratively at Craven Museum, so we really wanted the opportunity for all of our staff to be able to feed back into the application process and for lots of different people to read the draft, make comments, have their say.Jenny Hill: So by giving ourselves enough time to do that, it really made the process a lot smoother. And also, have a look at the Kids in Museum manifesto. It's a great place to just, if you haven't signed up already, sign up and if you have, just refresh yourself on it, because it can really help that framework for how to answer questions and things.Kelly Molson: Great tips. Thanks, Jenny.Paul Marden: So with that in mind, should we talk about this year's family friendly awards. Nominations Open on 19th March, I think. Is that right, Alison?Alison Bowyer: Yeah, that's right.Paul Marden: So what is it that museums can do to enter?Alison Bowyer: This year we have five categories, so there are three size categories, so best, small, medium and large museums, which will be organised by number of visits in the previous twelve months. That's all explained on our website. I won't go into that now. Then we have a category for the Best Successful Museum, which is the category that Craven won last year. And then our new category for this year is Best Youth Project, and that is a prize for museums who are doing long term, so work longer than six months with young people from the ages of 14 to 25. And what we're really looking for is work, that young people are given a sort of equal share in decision making, that they're really involved in shaping work.Alison Bowyer: And the guidelines for that category, along with all of the others, are in the guidance notes, which you can download from our website. So that would be the first thing to do. Sounds very obvious, read the guidance notes carefully because that should explain most of what you need to know about how to enter. So then there are two routes to entry, really. So what Jenny described, what happened to Craven, that's what happens to most museums. Families will nominate them. So for a family to nominate, they can just go on our website. It's really simple. They just have to tell us the name with the museum they're nominating and in a few sentences why they're nominating them. That's it. And then we will contact the museum and tell them they've been nominated and ask them to fill in the museum side of the application process.Alison Bowyer: We've got lots of tools to help museums promote nominations to families. So we've got social media assets for all channels and we've got some paper forms you can print out and put in your museum if you want to. Then the other alternative is if you want to enter but you for some reason don't have the time or the capacity to collect lots of family nominations, you can just enter as a museum on our website. That's totally fine. You just go on our website and you look at the museum application form. It's not essential to have a family nomination for the small museum and large category, but for the Best Successful Museum, we do ask that at least one family has supported your museum's nomination. Just because we feel for that category, it's super important that the museums are sort of supported by families for the provision that they offer in terms of accessibility. Alison Bowyer: What happens then is once we've got all the nominations together, we put together a shortlist. So the shortlisting panel is made up of. We normally have primary schools, young people from our youth panel, our staff and trustees, and sometimes representatives from museums who've won in the past. We all come together, we pick a shortlist and then we announce that in June. And then if you've been shortlisted over the summer, we will send out families like mystery shopper judges to your museum. So you won't know they're coming, they will just go on a visit and they will report back to us afterwards. And as Jenny says, it's their scores that choose the winners.Alison Bowyer: We don't intervene in any way. We go with whatever the families tell us, so they really are in control. And I think that's one of the lovely things about this award. It is genuinely an award that is given by people who visit museums and then we will announce all the results in October at our award ceremony.Paul Marden: We've talked a little bit about the mystery shoppers, the family judges, the undercover judges going in and actually looking at the museums. And that's how I first found out about Kids in Museums because I saw a sign when I was in the London Transport Museum suggesting that people could go on to nominate and also apply to be an undercover judge, which was how I found out about you first. This is a few years ago now. What can families do, though, if they want to be an undercover judge? Can they get involved?Kelly Molson: Oh, yeah.Alison Bowyer: Absolutely. So the best thing to do is to sign up on our website to our family mailing list. And then when we recruit the judges, which will be from June onwards, we will get in touch with you and let you know whereabouts in the UK. We need judges. It changes every year because we need the judges to be the museums on the shortlist. So it's a bit of a chicken and egg thing that we can't really start until we know where those museums are. But, yeah, the best thing to do is to sign up for our family mailing list.Paul Marden: Yeah. It's such a great opportunity, isn't it, for people to go and have a mission, for the kids to go in and have a mission to go and check these places out and be the ones that decide who gets the award. What a great opportunity for a family to go and find that out.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Don't tell them until they get home, though, because they'll just be shouting that out in the museum.Paul Marden: Do you know who I am?Alison Bowyer: We get lots of families tell us that their kids really enjoy it because they tell them they're, like, having to play detective or something and not be seen. And apparently it makes the day out really fun. So, yeah, it comes recommended.Paul Marden: So there's a call to action for all the families that might be listening to us to join the mailing list and get in there early to become an undercover judge.Alison Bowyer: Yeah. And I should say that we will cover travel expenses for the family judges, up to 30 pounds a visit. So we try to make it as accessible as possible to be a judge.Paul Marden: Completely brilliant opportunity.Kelly Molson: Thank you both for coming on and sharing this with us today. It's been so lovely to hear about it. We are going to put all of the details on how you can enter and how you can sign up to be a family judge as well on the show notes, but essentially go to Kids in Museum's website because they have everything that you need on there. We always ask our guests to leave us with a book recommendation. Something they love or know can be anything, a personal recommendation, a business book. Whatever you like. Jenny, what have you prepared for us today?Jenny Hill: Well, it's probably not one that people haven't heard of before, but I'm a massive Jane Austen fan, so I would always recommend Emma. Emma is probably my favourite by. Yeah, it's one of those ones that I always go back to. So, yeah, if you're thinking about you've never read Jane Austen before, you want to read some classics? I would always recommend that. Yeah, it's a lovely book.Kelly Molson: Oh, it's nice. We get so many people come on and recommend their favourite. Mean something magic about rereading the book over and over again is that you always find out something different every time you read it, regardless of how many times you've read it before. Thank you. Alison, what about you?Alison Bowyer: Gosh, I found it so hard to pick a favourite book. People who aren't watching won't be able to see the bookcase behind me.Kelly Molson: Very full.Paul Marden: Alison looks like a reader for the people that are listening.Alison Bowyer: It's not probably necessarily my favourite book, but a book that I really love by an author who I think deserves to best known in the UK is Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiney. She is absolutely hilarious and it's just a really beautiful portrait of a family living in New York who are all slightly eccentric and unusual in different ways. And I guess I'm really curious and lazy about people's lives. So I love books that kind of open the window onto different kinds of families. And yeah, she's just a wonderful author. All her books are wonderful, but that's my absolute favourite.Kelly Molson: Good recommendation. Thank you. And both of those books have never been recommended before as well, so they will go top of the list on our blog post that we have where we save off all of our guests recommendations. As ever, if you want to win these books, if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with the words I want Alison and Jenny's books, then you'll be in with a chance of winning a copy yourselves. Once again, thank you both for coming on. It's been so lovely to hear about the awards and the impact of winning the awards. Congratulations again on all of your hard work. It's just been wonderful to talk to you. So thank you.Jenny Hill: Thank you very much. It's been lovely speaking to you today.Alison Bowyer: Thank you so much. It's been a real pleasure to share the award and some of the other work we do.Paul Marden: And it's got us smiling all the way through, hasn't it, Kelly? It's been a lovely story to tell.Kelly Molson: I hope people can hear that in our voices, that we're smiling. They can hear that we're smiling if they don't watch them, nobody watches our videos. Hey, go and watch our videos.Paul Marden: There you go. See us grinning all the way through smiling.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast. The 2023 Visitor Attraction Website Report is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsDownload the report now for invaluable insights and actionable recommendations!
This week is full of beautiful cello headbanging as Grace takes us on another journey to Get Bakedthoven! We have a High Thought about saxopets (or trumpophones?), a messy and thrilling Bong Box on the trials of living in the age of apps, and a discussion of who did or did not influence the character of Lydia Tar. Shoutout to Gretchen Yanover! Roll up, light up, and join us. All audio included in this episode for educational discussion. Watch the full videos here: Calidore String Quartet plays Mendelssohn's Quartet in D major for Strings, Op.44, No.1 Jerusalem Quartet plays Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op.110 The Brentano Quartet plays Schumann String Quartet in A Major, op.41, no.3 Nina Lee: Cellist for Brentano String Quartet interview on I am every GIRL Marin Alsop interview on Wired Marin Alsop conducts National Youth Orchestra playing Mahler's Symphony No.1 in D Major, 'Titan' Gretchen Yanover for Northwest Sinfonietta playing 'Suddenly I Felt Joy' looped live ---- Find us: www.stonerchickspodcast.com Want more Stoner Chicks? Become a Patron! patreon.com/stonerchicks Grace Penzell, Phoebe Richards (@27phoebe27), Kayla Teel (@kayla_teel), and Stephani Thompson (@fannytragic). Instagram: @stonerchickspodcast Facebook: Stoner Chicks Podcast TikTok: @broccolibroads Email: stonerchickspodcast@gmail.com Snail Mail: PO Box 80586, Seattle, WA 98108 --- Edited by German at YPEditor.com; Theme Song by Jessica DiMari; Cover Art by Ben Redder, AJ Dent, and Kayla Teel
The Trombone Corner Podcast is brought to you by Bob Reeves Brass and The Brass Ark. Join hosts Noah and John as they interview Megumi Kanda, Principal Trombone of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. About Megumi Kanda Megumi Kanda, Principal Trombone of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra since 2002, is an internationally acclaimed performer, teacher, and author. Megumi has performed as a soloist across the United States, Europe, and Asia, including with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Pershing's Own Army Band, the US Army Field Band, and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. She has been a featured guest artist at many trombone workshops and festivals, including the International Trombone Festival and the American Trombone Workshop. Megumi has appeared as guest faculty at numerous music institutions, including the New World Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of the USA, and Interlochen Arts Academy, and has given master classes and recitals across the US, Europe, and Asia. In April 2006, Megumi was recognized by the Arion Foundation in Tokyo, Japan as one of the most influential Japanese classical artists. She has also received a Certificate of Commendation from the Consul General of Japan at Chicago in recognition for distinguished service contributing to the friendship between the United States and Japan. Megumi was named a 2017 Woman of Influence in the category of education by the Milwaukee Business Journal. In 2020, she was named the recipient of the International Trombone Association Award, which recognizes the highest level of creative and artistic output. Megumi's first book, The One Hundred, a collection of orchestral trombone excerpts with accompanying commentary, was published in August 2015 and is a resource widely used by aspiring young trombonists around the world. Her second book, Trombone Unlimited, a comprehensive method book, was published in 2020. As a JVC/Victor Entertainment artist, Megumi recorded three solo albums: Amazing Grace, Gloria, and Mona Lisa. She also can be heard on Magnifique Live, a live recording of Megumi and other JVC artists in the August 2005 performance at Takemitsu Hall in Tokyo's Opera City. Megumi is proud to be a Greenhoe performing artist. Podcast Credits Theme Music: The Trombone Choir Arrangements of Jay Friedman, Vol. 1 Audio Engineer – Preston Shepard Cover Art – Frank Gladstone Podcast Hosts - Noah Gladstone & John Snell
Born in Liverpool, in 1962, John' family relocated to North Wales in the early 1970's where John joined the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. He played in several bands with his Father before moving to the Royal Northern College of Music studying Contemporary percussion/ drum kit and piano. After 5 years of graduate and post-graduate studies, he joined Rambert Dance Company, London as a percussionist, enjoying extensive touring for a further 5 years. After still more years gigging in bands and theatre John accepted the post as Composer / Musical Director for the Bristol Old Vic. While working in theatre John learned the basics on Bass Guitar, Flute, Trumpet and Trombone until eventually discovering the Accordion. As of the 2023 release of the new @officialjethrotull album RökFlöte, it's been 20 years since John has been part of the Jethro Tull family. In 2003 he met @IanAnderson and joined the “Rubbing Elbows” tour on piano and accordion subsequently recording on “Rupi's Dance.” Since that time John has enjoyed touring with the band and scoring, conducting, and playing Ian's orchestral concerts. Outside of the Jethro Tulliverse, In 2004 John was commissioned to compose a children's opera by the @welshnationalopera . This was a great success and has led to a further two pieces being commissioned. John has composed for wildlife, drama, and documentary TV. John holds teaching positions at Bath and Bristol Universities and is a guest tutor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. From 2007-2009, he helped arrange and conduct music for the College's stage production of the classic The Who album “Quadrophenia.” This past April (2023), John performed with an All-Star band (including Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson) touring “Jon Lord's Concerto for Group and Orchestra,” featuring the music of Deep Purple. John composed the closing oratorio, “The Bargee's Wife” for the Three Choirs Festival U.K. (2013) and “The Gloucester Magnificat” for Gloucester Cathedral U.K. (2016). During the pandemic, he composed the score for a series of short films for the @TravellingLightTheatre designed to help young people during lockdown: 17 and the Squeak Gobbler (2021 available on YouTube). He continues to work with young performers in universities, as well as drama and music schools.
The South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha talks to Front Row ahead of returning to the Proms this Saturday to sing Strauss's Four Last Songs with the National Youth Orchestra. Critics Sharlene Teo and Max Liu review Joy Ride, the feature film debut of Adele Lim, who also wrote Crazy Rich Asians - and also Ann Patchett's new novel Tom Lake, a story about how we tell the story of our lives – and how we fill the inevitable gaps. And the composer and conductor Carl Davis has died. His film and television successes include the themes for the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, ITV's landmark history series the The World At War, and the TV adaptation of Far Pavilions. He wrote part of the Liverpool Oratorio with Paul McCartney to mark the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic's 150th anniversary. The composer and author Neil Brand joins us to celebrate the work of Carl Davis. Presenter: Tom Sutcliffe Producer: Paul Waters
For our 10th episode, we are celebrating the Royal Philharmonic Society, who have generously sponsored this podcast with their Enterprise Fund and Harriet's Trust! Our guest this week is James Murphy, CEO of the RPS, who previously worked at the Royal College of Music, National Youth Orchestra (with Matilda!) and Southbank Sinfonia. We chat about his work at all of these different organisations, particularly delving deep into the future of classical music and how important young musicians are, and discussing topics such as how to present yourself onstage and tips for a career in music management. Find out more about the RPS: https://royalphilharmonicsociety.org.uk/
It's a big weekend for the National Youth Orchestra as they are celebrating their 5th Year Anniversary Gala Concert at the Dubai Opera. I am joined by the conductor Jonathan Barrett, principal cellist Tymon Hendershot, and first trumpet Tarn Timmermans and we talked all about the exciting and prestigious event. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We talked classical music with some incredible young musicians of the National Youth Orchestra who will be celebrating it's 5th year anniversary at the Dubai Opera. Eva Grasbeck, the cofounder of National Youth Orchestra and the Head of Strings shared with us the earlier days of of the orchestra, and the growth that it has seen right now. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
The National Youth Orchestra is celebrating it's 5th Year Anniversary and they will be featuring several incredible artists in the Gala concert including the talented young Emirati musician Ahmed Al Mousawi, who has composed a beautiful piece entitled Different World. Amira Fouad, the co-founder of National Youth Orchestra, told us all about the event. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Disney on Ice's Pablo Saccinto sits down with us to talk about the upcoming show in Duluth, life on the road, how he started skating, and his favorite Disney movies. Also: The Taste of Mableton festival kicked off with a parade featuring Pebblebrook High School's Mighty Marching Machine band and other local groups. The parade showcased the multicultural talents of the Mableton community and marched down Floyd Road to the Mable House complex. The event was attended by many students who had worked hard to prepare for the parade. Parade grand marshal Jeff Padgett was enthusiastic about the event, and Fernanda Juarez from the TEOTL Foundation said it was emotional to see different people sharing their cultures. South Cobb students and JROTC members Andrea Galdamez and Yazmin Vanegas enjoyed the parade, but after the performance, they were really looking forward to getting some food. The M2R TrailFest is a free, public arts festival taking place on May 13th. This year, attendees can enjoy art installations and performances along the Mountain to River Trail, which stretches from Lewis Park to Brown Park. There will be sculptures, mural additions, free art drops, scavenger hunts, and a pet parade. The festival also features live music, dancers, and aerialists. Visitors can choose their path and see the brightly colored murals and sculptures along the way. The event is sponsored by SA White Oil and raises funds for the Marietta Art Council. More information is available at m2trailfest.com. Despite having five stitches removed from his shooting hand just two days before, Wheeler alum Jaylen Brown led the Boston Celtics to a 112-99 victory over the Atlanta Hawks in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference first-round playoff series. Brown recorded game highs of 29 points and 12 rebounds, while Jayson Tatum added 25 points and 11 rebounds. Atlanta's Trae Young, finished with 16 points, and Dejounte Murray led the Hawks with 24 points and eight rebounds. Game 2 will be played in Boston tonight at 7:00 PM on NBA TV, and then the series will shift to Atlanta Friday night. Each summer, outstanding young American instrumentalists from the National Youth Orchestra 2 come together for the free orchestra program with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and NYO Jazz for intensive training and performance opportunities. Four members of the NYO2 for 2023 are student musicians in Cobb Schools. Harrison 10th grader Euginie Lim will join the group as a violinist. Ian Lilly, an 11th-grade band student at North Cobb High School, earned a spot as a trombone player. And Wheeler's Christian Phanhthourath and Angelina Lu round out the Cobb selections. Christian plays the cello, and Angelina is a violinist. Gary Varner, a former head coach at Allatoona High School, has taken a new role as an assistant coach for North Cobb Christian's football team. Varner had to step down from his previous position due to the rigors of teaching full-time and dealing with recovery from multiple cancer surgeries. He received many offers from other coaches, but chose North Cobb Christian because of his respect for head coach Matt Jones. Varner will bring his experience and knowledge to the team as they prepare for the upcoming season. Marietta City Schools has welcomed a new "crisis response canine" named Barney, a black Lab who will offer support to students in need. Barney will be assigned to Officer Paul Hill, who works as a school resource officer in the city's elementary schools. The specially trained dog will assist students and adults with emotional and mental health issues by providing comfort and de-escalation during crisis situations. Barney will be used in court, too, where he can sit under the witness stand if a child has to testify. Barney's cost will be covered by the Marietta City Schools Foundation, a nonprofit which supports the school system. Sprayberry High School held its third annual interfaith baccalaureate ceremony on Thursday night. The event included seniors and local faith leaders who delivered messages of wisdom for adulthood to an audience of about 60 people. The ceremony aimed to represent the diversity of the school's student population, which includes Christians, Hindus, Jews and Muslims. The messages from the faith leaders focused on adapting to change, seeking wisdom from parents and contributing to society. Each student was called up individually to receive a certificate from the school's principal. Students stayed after the ceremony to eat baked goods and hug family members. Editor Ron Cobb recently discussed a Civil War memoir by John C. Reed, a line officer in the 8th Georgia Infantry, at an event in Marietta. The manuscript, which chronicles Reed's firsthand experiences of General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, was published in full for the first time. Reed, who fought throughout the entire war, was educated in classics and was wounded at least twice in battles at Manassas and Gettysburg. The manuscript, which includes 226 footnotes, has been edited by Cobb, who described the challenges of deciphering the text and making minimal changes. The memoir also includes Reed's observations on baseball and his practice of taking a slave to war with him. #CobbCounty #Georgia #LocalNews - - - - - The Marietta Daily Journal Podcast is local news for Marietta, Kennesaw, Smyrna, and all of Cobb County. Subscribe today, so you don't miss an episode! MDJOnline Register Here for your essential digital news. https://www.chattahoocheetech.edu/ https://cuofga.org/ https://www.esogrepair.com/ https://www.drakerealty.com/ Find additional episodes of the MDJ Podcast here. This Podcast was produced and published for the Marietta Daily Journal and MDJ Online by BG Ad Group For more information be sure to visit https://www.bgpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Each summer, outstanding young American instrumentalists from the National Youth Orchestra 2 come together for the free orchestra program with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and NYO Jazz for intensive training and performance opportunities. Four members of the NYO2 for 2023 are student musicians in Cobb Schools. #CobbCounty #Georgia #LocalNews - - - - - The Marietta Daily Journal Podcast is local news for Marietta, Kennesaw, Smyrna, and all of Cobb County. Subscribe today, so you don't miss an episode! MDJOnline Register Here for your essential digital news. https://www.chattahoocheetech.edu/ https://cuofga.org/ https://www.esogrepair.com/ https://www.drakerealty.com/ Find additional episodes of the MDJ Podcast here. This Podcast was produced and published for the Marietta Daily Journal and MDJ Online by BG Ad Group For more information be sure to visit https://www.bgpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Episode 164 of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "White Light/White Heat" and the career of the Velvet Underground. This is a long one, lasting three hours and twenty minutes. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a twenty-three minute bonus episode available, on "Why Don't You Smile Now?" by the Downliners Sect. Tilt Araiza has assisted invaluably by doing a first-pass edit, and will hopefully be doing so from now on. Check out Tilt's irregular podcasts at http://www.podnose.com/jaffa-cakes-for-proust and http://sitcomclub.com/ Errata I say the Velvet Underground didn't play New York for the rest of the sixties after 1966. They played at least one gig there in 1967, but did generally avoid the city. Also, I refer to Cale and Conrad as the other surviving members of the Theater of Eternal Music. Sadly Conrad died in 2016. Resources No Mixcloud this week, as there are too many songs by the Velvet Underground, and some of the avant-garde pieces excerpted run to six hours or more. I used a lot of resources for this one. Up-Tight: The Velvet Underground Story by Victor Bockris and Gerard Malanga is the best book on the group as a group. I also used Joe Harvard's 33 1/3 book on The Velvet Underground and Nico. Bockris also wrote one of the two biographies of Reed I referred to, Transformer. The other was Lou Reed by Anthony DeCurtis. Information on Cale mostly came from Sedition and Alchemy by Tim Mitchell. Information on Nico came from Nico: The Life and Lies of an Icon by Richard Witts. I used Draw a Straight Line and Follow it by Jeremy Grimshaw as my main source for La Monte Young, The Roaring Silence by David Revill for John Cage, and Warhol: A Life as Art by Blake Gopnik for Warhol. I also referred to the Criterion Collection Blu-Ray of the 2021 documentary The Velvet Underground. The definitive collection of the Velvet Underground's music is the sadly out-of-print box set Peel Slowly and See, which contains the four albums the group made with Reed in full, plus demos, outtakes, and live recordings. Note that the digital version of the album as sold by Amazon for some reason doesn't include the last disc -- if you want the full box set you have to buy a physical copy. All four studio albums have also been released and rereleased many times over in different configurations with different numbers of CDs at different price points -- I have used the "45th Anniversary Super-Deluxe" versions for this episode, but for most people the standard CD versions will be fine. Sadly there are no good shorter compilation overviews of the group -- they tend to emphasise either the group's "pop" mode or its "avant-garde" mode to the exclusion of the other. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Before I begin this episode, there are a few things to say. This introductory section is going to be longer than normal because, as you will hear, this episode is also going to be longer than normal. Firstly, I try to warn people about potentially upsetting material in these episodes. But this is the first episode for 1968, and as you will see there is a *profound* increase in the amount of upsetting and disturbing material covered as we go through 1968 and 1969. The story is going to be in a much darker place for the next twenty or thirty episodes. And this episode is no exception. As always, I try to deal with everything as sensitively as possible, but you should be aware that the list of warnings for this one is so long I am very likely to have missed some. Among the topics touched on in this episode are mental illness, drug addiction, gun violence, racism, societal and medical homophobia, medical mistreatment of mental illness, domestic abuse, rape, and more. If you find discussion of any of those subjects upsetting, you might want to read the transcript. Also, I use the term "queer" freely in this episode. In the past I have received some pushback for this, because of a belief among some that "queer" is a slur. The following explanation will seem redundant to many of my listeners, but as with many of the things I discuss in the podcast I am dealing with multiple different audiences with different levels of awareness and understanding of issues, so I'd like to beg those people's indulgence a moment. The term "queer" has certainly been used as a slur in the past, but so have terms like "lesbian", "gay", "homosexual" and others. In all those cases, the term has gone from a term used as a self-identifier, to a slur, to a reclaimed slur, and back again many times. The reason for using that word, specifically, here is because the vast majority of people in this story have sexualities or genders that don't match the societal norms of their times, but used labels for themselves that have shifted in meaning over the years. There are at least two men in the story, for example, who are now dead and referred to themselves as "homosexual", but were in multiple long-term sexually-active relationships with women. Would those men now refer to themselves as "bisexual" or "pansexual" -- terms not in widespread use at the time -- or would they, in the relatively more tolerant society we live in now, only have been in same-gender relationships? We can't know. But in our current context using the word "homosexual" for those men would lead to incorrect assumptions about their behaviour. The labels people use change over time, and the definitions of them blur and shift. I have discussed this issue with many, many, friends who fall under the queer umbrella, and while not all of them are comfortable with "queer" as a personal label because of how it's been used against them in the past, there is near-unanimity from them that it's the correct word to use in this situation. Anyway, now that that rather lengthy set of disclaimers is over, let's get into the story proper, as we look at "White Light, White Heat" by the Velvet Underground: [Excerpt: The Velvet Underground, "White Light, White Heat"] And that look will start with... a disclaimer about length. This episode is going to be a long one. Not as long as episode one hundred and fifty, but almost certainly the longest episode I'll do this year, by some way. And there's a reason for that. One of the questions I've been asked repeatedly over the years about the podcast is why almost all the acts I've covered have been extremely commercially successful ones. "Where are the underground bands? The alternative bands? The little niche acts?" The answer to that is simple. Until the mid-sixties, the idea of an underground or alternative band made no sense at all in rock, pop, rock and roll, R&B, or soul. The idea would have been completely counterintuitive to the vast majority of the people we've discussed in the podcast. Those musics were commercial musics, made by people who wanted to make money and to get the largest audiences possible. That doesn't mean that they had no artistic merit, or that there was no artistic intent behind them, but the artists making that music were *commercial* artists. They knew if they wanted to make another record, they had to sell enough copies of the last record for the record company to make another, and that if they wanted to keep eating, they had to draw enough of an audience to their gigs for promoters to keep booking them. There was no space in this worldview for what we might think of as cult success. If your record only sold a thousand copies, then you had failed in your goal, even if the thousand people who bought your record really loved it. Even less commercially successful artists we've covered to this point, like the Mothers of Invention or Love, were *trying* for commercial success, even if they made the decision not to compromise as much as others do. This started to change a tiny bit in the mid-sixties as the influence of jazz and folk in the US, and the British blues scene, started to be felt in rock music. But this influence, at first, was a one-way thing -- people who had been in the folk and jazz worlds deciding to modify their music to be more commercial. And that was followed by already massively commercial musicians, like the Beatles, taking on some of those influences and bringing their audience with them. But that started to change around the time that "rock" started to differentiate itself from "rock and roll" and "pop", in mid 1967. So in this episode and the next, we're going to look at two bands who in different ways provided a model for how to be an alternative band. Both of them still *wanted* commercial success, but neither achieved it, at least not at first and not in the conventional way. And both, when they started out, went by the name The Warlocks. But we have to take a rather circuitous route to get to this week's band, because we're now properly introducing a strand of music that has been there in the background for a while -- avant-garde art music. So before we go any further, let's have a listen to a thirty-second clip of the most famous piece of avant-garde music ever, and I'll be performing it myself: [Excerpt, Andrew Hickey "4'33 (Cage)"] Obviously that won't give the full effect, you have to listen to the whole piece to get that. That is of course a section of "4'33" by John Cage, a piece of music that is often incorrectly described as being four minutes and thirty three seconds of silence. As I've mentioned before, though, in the episode on "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", it isn't that at all. The whole point of the piece is that there is no such thing as silence, and it's intended to make the listener appreciate all the normal ambient sounds as music, every bit as much as any piece by Bach or Beethoven. John Cage, the composer of "4'33", is possibly the single most influential avant-garde artist of the mid twentieth century, so as we're properly introducing the ideas of avant-garde music into the story here, we need to talk about him a little. Cage was, from an early age, torn between three great vocations, all of which in some fashion would shape his work for decades to come. One of these was architecture, and for a time he intended to become an architect. Another was the religious ministry, and he very seriously considered becoming a minister as a young man, and religion -- though not the religious faith of his youth -- was to be a massive factor in his work as he grew older. He started studying music from an early age, though he never had any facility as a performer -- though he did, when he discovered the work of Grieg, think that might change. He later said “For a while I played nothing else. I even imagined devoting my life to the performance of his works alone, for they did not seem to me to be too difficult, and I loved them.” [Excerpt: Grieg piano concerto in A minor] But he soon realised that he didn't have some of the basic skills that would be required to be a performer -- he never actually thought of himself as very musical -- and so he decided to move into composition, and he later talked about putting his musical limits to good use in being more inventive. From his very first pieces, Cage was trying to expand the definition of what a performance of a piece of music actually was. One of his friends, Harry Hay, who took part in the first documented performance of a piece by Cage, described how Cage's father, an inventor, had "devised a fluorescent light source over which Sample" -- Don Sample, Cage's boyfriend at the time -- "laid a piece of vellum painted with designs in oils. The blankets I was wearing were white, and a sort of lampshade shone coloured patterns onto me. It looked very good. The thing got so hot the designs began to run, but that only made it better.” Apparently the audience for this light show -- one that predated the light shows used by rock bands by a good thirty years -- were not impressed, though that may be more because the Santa Monica Women's Club in the early 1930s was not the vanguard of the avant-garde. Or maybe it was. Certainly the housewives of Santa Monica seemed more willing than one might expect to sign up for another of Cage's ideas. In 1933 he went door to door asking women if they would be interested in signing up to a lecture course from him on modern art and music. He told them that if they signed up for $2.50, he would give them ten lectures, and somewhere between twenty and forty of them signed up, even though, as he said later, “I explained to the housewives that I didn't know anything about either subject but that I was enthusiastic about both of them. I promised to learn faithfully enough about each subject so as to be able to give a talk an hour long each week.” And he did just that, going to the library every day and spending all week preparing an hour-long talk for them. History does not relate whether he ended these lectures by telling the housewives to tell just one friend about them. He said later “I came out of these lectures, with a devotion to the painting of Mondrian, on the one hand, and the music of Schoenberg on the other.” [Excerpt: Schoenberg, "Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte"] Schoenberg was one of the two most widely-respected composers in the world at that point, the other being Stravinsky, but the two had very different attitudes to composition. Schoenberg's great innovation was the creation and popularisation of the twelve-tone technique, and I should probably explain that a little before I go any further. Most Western music is based on an eight-note scale -- do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do -- with the eighth note being an octave up from the first. So in the key of C major that would be C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C: [demonstrates] And when you hear notes from that scale, if your ears are accustomed to basically any Western music written before about 1920, or any Western popular music written since then, you expect the melody to lead back to C, and you know to expect that because it only uses those notes -- there are differing intervals between them, some having a tone between them and some having a semitone, and you recognise the pattern. But of course there are other notes between the notes of that scale. There are actually an infinite number of these, but in conventional Western music we only look at a few more -- C# (or D flat), D# (or E flat), F# (or G flat), G# (or A flat) and A# (or B flat). If you add in all those notes you get this: [demonstrates] There's no clear beginning or end, no do for it to come back to. And Schoenberg's great innovation, which he was only starting to promote widely around this time, was to insist that all twelve notes should be equal -- his melodies would use all twelve of the notes the exact same number of times, and so if he used say a B flat, he would have to use all eleven other notes before he used B flat again in the piece. This was a radical new idea, but Schoenberg had only started advancing it after first winning great acclaim for earlier pieces, like his "Three Pieces for Piano", a work which wasn't properly twelve-tone, but did try to do without the idea of having any one note be more important than any other: [Excerpt: Schoenberg, "Three Pieces for Piano"] At this point, that work had only been performed in the US by one performer, Richard Buhlig, and hadn't been released as a recording yet. Cage was so eager to hear it that he'd found Buhlig's phone number and called him, asking him to play the piece, but Buhlig put the phone down on him. Now he was doing these lectures, though, he had to do one on Schoenberg, and he wasn't a competent enough pianist to play Schoenberg's pieces himself, and there were still no recordings of them. Cage hitch-hiked from Santa Monica to LA, where Buhlig lived, to try to get him to come and visit his class and play some of Schoenberg's pieces for them. Buhlig wasn't in, and Cage hung around in his garden hoping for him to come back -- he pulled the leaves off a bough from one of Buhlig's trees, going "He'll come back, he won't come back, he'll come back..." and the leaves said he'd be back. Buhlig arrived back at midnight, and quite understandably told the strange twenty-one-year-old who'd spent twelve hours in his garden pulling the leaves off his trees that no, he would not come to Santa Monica and give a free performance. But he did agree that if Cage brought some of his own compositions he'd give them a look over. Buhlig started giving Cage some proper lessons in composition, although he stressed that he was a performer, not a composer. Around this time Cage wrote his Sonata for Clarinet: [Excerpt: John Cage, "Sonata For Clarinet"] Buhlig suggested that Cage send that to Henry Cowell, the composer we heard about in the episode on "Good Vibrations" who was friends with Lev Termen and who created music by playing the strings inside a piano: [Excerpt: Henry Cowell, "Aeolian Harp and Sinister Resonance"] Cowell offered to take Cage on as an assistant, in return for which Cowell would teach him for a semester, as would Adolph Weiss, a pupil of Schoenberg's. But the goal, which Cowell suggested, was always to have Cage study with Schoenberg himself. Schoenberg at first refused, saying that Cage couldn't afford his price, but eventually took Cage on as a student having been assured that he would devote his entire life to music -- a promise Cage kept. Cage started writing pieces for percussion, something that had been very rare up to that point -- only a handful of composers, most notably Edgard Varese, had written pieces for percussion alone, but Cage was: [Excerpt: John Cage, "Trio"] This is often portrayed as a break from the ideals of his teacher Schoenberg, but in fact there's a clear continuity there, once you see what Cage was taking from Schoenberg. Schoenberg's work is, in some senses, about equality, about all notes being equal. Or to put it another way, it's about fairness. About erasing arbitrary distinctions. What Cage was doing was erasing the arbitrary distinction between the more and less prominent instruments. Why should there be pieces for solo violin or string quartet, but not for multiple percussion players? That said, Schoenberg was not exactly the most encouraging of teachers. When Cage invited Schoenberg to go to a concert of Cage's percussion work, Schoenberg told him he was busy that night. When Cage offered to arrange another concert for a date Schoenberg wasn't busy, the reply came "No, I will not be free at any time". Despite this, Cage later said “Schoenberg was a magnificent teacher, who always gave the impression that he was putting us in touch with musical principles,” and said "I literally worshipped him" -- a strong statement from someone who took religious matters as seriously as Cage. Cage was so devoted to Schoenberg's music that when a concert of music by Stravinsky was promoted as "music of the world's greatest living composer", Cage stormed into the promoter's office angrily, confronting the promoter and making it very clear that such things should not be said in the city where Schoenberg lived. Schoenberg clearly didn't think much of Cage's attempts at composition, thinking -- correctly -- that Cage had no ear for harmony. And his reportedly aggressive and confrontational teaching style didn't sit well with Cage -- though it seems very similar to a lot of the teaching techniques of the Zen masters he would later go on to respect. The two eventually parted ways, although Cage always spoke highly of Schoenberg. Schoenberg later gave Cage a compliment of sorts, when asked if any of his students had gone on to do anything interesting. At first he replied that none had, but then he mentioned Cage and said “Of course he's not a composer, but an inventor—of genius.” Cage was at this point very worried if there was any point to being a composer at all. He said later “I'd read Cowell's New Musical Resources and . . . The Theory of Rhythm. I had also read Chavez's Towards a New Music. Both works gave me the feeling that everything that was possible in music had already happened. So I thought I could never compose socially important music. Only if I could invent something new, then would I be useful to society. But that seemed unlikely then.” [Excerpt: John Cage, "Totem Ancestor"] Part of the solution came when he was asked to compose music for an abstract animation by the filmmaker Oskar Fischinger, and also to work as Fischinger's assistant when making the film. He was fascinated by the stop-motion process, and by the results of the film, which he described as "a beautiful film in which these squares, triangles and circles and other things moved and changed colour.” But more than that he was overwhelmed by a comment by Fischinger, who told him “Everything in the world has its own spirit, and this spirit becomes audible by setting it into vibration.” Cage later said “That set me on fire. He started me on a path of exploration of the world around me which has never stopped—of hitting and stretching and scraping and rubbing everything.” Cage now took his ideas further. His compositions for percussion had been about, if you like, giving the underdog a chance -- percussion was always in the background, why should it not be in the spotlight? Now he realised that there were other things getting excluded in conventional music -- the sounds that we characterise as noise. Why should composers work to exclude those sounds, but work to *include* other sounds? Surely that was... well, a little unfair? Eventually this would lead to pieces like his 1952 piece "Water Music", later expanded and retitled "Water Walk", which can be heard here in his 1959 appearance on the TV show "I've Got a Secret". It's a piece for, amongst other things, a flowerpot full of flowers, a bathtub, a watering can, a pipe, a duck call, a blender full of ice cubes, and five unplugged radios: [Excerpt: John Cage "Water Walk"] As he was now avoiding pitch and harmony as organising principles for his music, he turned to time. But note -- not to rhythm. He said “There's none of this boom, boom, boom, business in my music . . . a measure is taken as a strict measure of time—not a one two three four—which I fill with various sounds.” He came up with a system he referred to as “micro-macrocosmic rhythmic structure,” what we would now call fractals, though that word hadn't yet been invented, where the structure of the whole piece was reflected in the smallest part of it. For a time he started moving away from the term music, preferring to refer to the "art of noise" or to "organised sound" -- though he later received a telegram from Edgard Varese, one of his musical heroes and one of the few other people writing works purely for percussion, asking him not to use that phrase, which Varese used for his own work. After meeting with Varese and his wife, he later became convinced that it was Varese's wife who had initiated the telegram, as she explained to Cage's wife "we didn't want your husband's work confused with my husband's work, any more than you'd want some . . . any artist's work confused with that of a cartoonist.” While there is a humour to Cage's work, I don't really hear much qualitative difference between a Cage piece like the one we just heard and a Varese piece like Ionisation: [Excerpt: Edgard Varese, "Ionisation"] But it was in 1952, the year of "Water Music" that John Cage made his two biggest impacts on the cultural world, though the full force of those impacts wasn't felt for some years. To understand Cage's 1952 work, you first have to understand that he had become heavily influenced by Zen, which at that time was very little known in the Western world. Indeed he had studied with Daisetsu Suzuki, who is credited with introducing Zen to the West, and said later “I didn't study music with just anybody; I studied with Schoenberg, I didn't study Zen with just anybody; I studied with Suzuki. I've always gone, insofar as I could, to the president of the company.” Cage's whole worldview was profoundly affected by Zen, but he was also naturally sympathetic to it, and his work after learning about Zen is mostly a continuation of trends we can already see. In particular, he became convinced that the point of music isn't to communicate anything between two people, rather its point is merely to be experienced. I'm far from an expert on Buddhism, but one way of thinking about its central lessons is that one should experience things as they are, experiencing the thing itself rather than one's thoughts or preconceptions about it. And so at Black Mountain college came Theatre Piece Number 1: [Excerpt: Edith Piaf, "La Vie En Rose" ] In this piece, Cage had set the audience on all sides, so they'd be facing each other. He stood on a stepladder, as colleagues danced in and around the audience, another colleague played the piano, two more took turns to stand on another stepladder to recite poetry, different films and slides were projected, seemingly at random, onto the walls, and the painter Robert Rauschenberg played scratchy Edith Piaf records on a wind-up gramophone. The audience were included in the performance, and it was meant to be experienced as a gestalt, as a whole, to be what we would now call an immersive experience. One of Cage's students around this time was the artist Allan Kaprow, and he would be inspired by Theatre Piece Number 1 to put on several similar events in the late fifties. Those events he called "happenings", because the point of them was that you were meant to experience an event as it was happening rather than bring preconceptions of form and structure to them. Those happenings were the inspiration for events like The 14 Hour Technicolor Dream, and the term "happening" became such an integral part of the counterculture that by 1967 there were comedy films being released about them, including one just called The Happening with a title track by the Supremes that made number one: [Excerpt: The Supremes, "The Happening"] Theatre Piece Number 1 was retrospectively considered the first happening, and as such its influence is incalculable. But one part I didn't mention about Theatre Piece Number 1 is that as well as Rauschenberg playing Edith Piaf's records, he also displayed some of his paintings. These paintings were totally white -- at a glance, they looked like blank canvases, but as one inspected them more clearly, it became apparent that Rauschenberg had painted them with white paint, with visible brushstrokes. These paintings, along with a visit to an anechoic chamber in which Cage discovered that even in total silence one can still hear one's own blood and nervous system, so will never experience total silence, were the final key to something Cage had been working towards -- if music had minimised percussion, and excluded noise, how much more had it excluded silence? As Cage said in 1958 “Curiously enough, the twelve-tone system has no zero in it.” And so came 4'33, the piece that we heard an excerpt of near the start of this episode. That piece was the something new he'd been looking for that could be useful to society. It took the sounds the audience could already hear, and without changing them even slightly gave them a new context and made the audience hear them as they were. Simply by saying "this is music", it caused the ambient noise to be perceived as music. This idea, of recontextualising existing material, was one that had already been done in the art world -- Marcel Duchamp, in 1917, had exhibited a urinal as a sculpture titled "Fountain" -- but even Duchamp had talked about his work as "everyday objects raised to the dignity of a work of art by the artist's act of choice". The artist was *raising* the object to art. What Cage was saying was "the object is already art". This was all massively influential to a young painter who had seen Cage give lectures many times, and while at art school had with friends prepared a piano in the same way Cage did for his own experimental compositions, dampening the strings with different objects. [Excerpt: Dana Gillespie, "Andy Warhol (live)"] Duchamp and Rauschenberg were both big influences on Andy Warhol, but he would say in the early sixties "John Cage is really so responsible for so much that's going on," and would for the rest of his life cite Cage as one of the two or three prime influences of his career. Warhol is a difficult figure to discuss, because his work is very intellectual but he was not very articulate -- which is one reason I've led up to him by discussing Cage in such detail, because Cage was always eager to talk at great length about the theoretical basis of his work, while Warhol would say very few words about anything at all. Probably the person who knew him best was his business partner and collaborator Paul Morrissey, and Morrissey's descriptions of Warhol have shaped my own view of his life, but it's very worth noting that Morrissey is an extremely right-wing moralist who wishes to see a Catholic theocracy imposed to do away with the scourges of sexual immorality, drug use, hedonism, and liberalism, so his view of Warhol, a queer drug using progressive whose worldview seems to have been totally opposed to Morrissey's in every way, might be a little distorted. Warhol came from an impoverished background, and so, as many people who grew up poor do, he was, throughout his life, very eager to make money. He studied art at university, and got decent but not exceptional grades -- he was a competent draughtsman, but not a great one, and most importantly as far as success in the art world goes he didn't have what is known as his own "line" -- with most successful artists, you can look at a handful of lines they've drawn and see something of their own personality in it. You couldn't with Warhol. His drawings looked like mediocre imitations of other people's work. Perfectly competent, but nothing that stood out. So Warhol came up with a technique to make his drawings stand out -- blotting. He would do a normal drawing, then go over it with a lot of wet ink. He'd lower a piece of paper on to the wet drawing, and the new paper would soak up the ink, and that second piece of paper would become the finished work. The lines would be fractured and smeared, broken in places where the ink didn't get picked up, and thick in others where it had pooled. With this mechanical process, Warhol had managed to create an individual style, and he became an extremely successful commercial artist. In the early 1950s photography was still seen as a somewhat low-class way of advertising things. If you wanted to sell to a rich audience, you needed to use drawings or paintings. By 1955 Warhol was making about twelve thousand dollars a year -- somewhere close to a hundred and thirty thousand a year in today's money -- drawing shoes for advertisements. He also had a sideline in doing record covers for people like Count Basie: [Excerpt: Count Basie, "Seventh Avenue Express"] For most of the 1950s he also tried to put on shows of his more serious artistic work -- often with homoerotic themes -- but to little success. The dominant art style of the time was the abstract expressionism of people like Jackson Pollock, whose art was visceral, emotional, and macho. The term "action paintings" which was coined for the work of people like Pollock, sums it up. This was manly art for manly men having manly emotions and expressing them loudly. It was very male and very straight, and even the gay artists who were prominent at the time tended to be very conformist and look down on anything they considered flamboyant or effeminate. Warhol was a rather effeminate, very reserved man, who strongly disliked showing his emotions, and whose tastes ran firmly to the camp. Camp as an aesthetic of finding joy in the flamboyant or trashy, as opposed to merely a descriptive term for men who behaved in a way considered effeminate, was only just starting to be codified at this time -- it wouldn't really become a fully-formed recognisable thing until Susan Sontag's essay "Notes on Camp" in 1964 -- but of course just because something hasn't been recognised doesn't mean it doesn't exist, and Warhol's aesthetic was always very camp, and in the 1950s in the US that was frowned upon even in gay culture, where the mainstream opinion was that the best way to acceptance was through assimilation. Abstract expressionism was all about expressing the self, and that was something Warhol never wanted to do -- in fact he made some pronouncements at times which suggested he didn't think of himself as *having* a self in the conventional sense. The combination of not wanting to express himself and of wanting to work more efficiently as a commercial artist led to some interesting results. For example, he was commissioned in 1957 to do a cover for an album by Moondog, the blind street musician whose name Alan Freed had once stolen: [Excerpt: Moondog, "Gloving It"] For that cover, Warhol got his mother, Julia Warhola, to just write out the liner notes for the album in her rather ornamental cursive script, and that became the front cover, leading to an award for graphic design going that year to "Andy Warhol's mother". (Incidentally, my copy of the current CD issue of that album, complete with Julia Warhola's cover, is put out by Pickwick Records...) But towards the end of the fifties, the work for commercial artists started to dry up. If you wanted to advertise shoes, now, you just took a photo of the shoes rather than get Andy Warhol to draw a picture of them. The money started to disappear, and Warhol started to panic. If there was no room for him in graphic design any more, he had to make his living in the fine arts, which he'd been totally unsuccessful in. But luckily for Warhol, there was a new movement that was starting to form -- Pop Art. Pop Art started in England, and had originally been intended, at least in part, as a critique of American consumerist capitalism. Pieces like "Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing?" by Richard Hamilton (who went on to design the Beatles' White Album cover) are collages of found images, almost all from American sources, recontextualised and juxtaposed in interesting ways, so a bodybuilder poses in a room that's taken from an advert in Ladies' Home Journal, while on the wall, instead of a painting, hangs a blown-up cover of a Jack Kirby romance comic. Pop Art changed slightly when it got taken up in America, and there it became something rather different, something closer to Duchamp, taking those found images and displaying them as art with no juxtaposition. Where Richard Hamilton created collage art which *showed* a comic cover by Jack Kirby as a painting in the background, Roy Lichtenstein would take a panel of comic art by Kirby, or Russ Heath or Irv Novick or a dozen other comic artists, and redraw it at the size of a normal painting. So Warhol took Cage's idea that the object is already art, and brought that into painting, starting by doing paintings of Campbell's soup cans, in which he tried as far as possible to make the cans look exactly like actual soup cans. The paintings were controversial, inciting fury in some and laughter in others and causing almost everyone to question whether they were art. Warhol would embrace an aesthetic in which things considered unimportant or trash or pop culture detritus were the greatest art of all. For example pretty much every profile of him written in the mid sixties talks about him obsessively playing "Sally Go Round the Roses", a girl-group single by the one-hit wonders the Jaynettes: [Excerpt: The Jaynettes, "Sally Go Round the Roses"] After his paintings of Campbell's soup cans, and some rather controversial but less commercially successful paintings of photographs of horrors and catastrophes taken from newspapers, Warhol abandoned painting in the conventional sense altogether, instead creating brightly coloured screen prints -- a form of stencilling -- based on photographs of celebrities like Elvis Presley, Elizabeth Taylor and, most famously, Marilyn Monroe. That way he could produce images which could be mass-produced, without his active involvement, and which supposedly had none of his personality in them, though of course his personality pervades the work anyway. He put on exhibitions of wooden boxes, silk-screen printed to look exactly like shipping cartons of Brillo pads. Images we see everywhere -- in newspapers, in supermarkets -- were art. And Warhol even briefly formed a band. The Druds were a garage band formed to play at a show at the Washington Gallery of Modern Art, the opening night of an exhibition that featured a silkscreen by Warhol of 210 identical bottles of Coca-Cola, as well as paintings by Rauschenberg and others. That opening night featured a happening by Claes Oldenburg, and a performance by Cage -- Cage gave a live lecture while three recordings of his own voice also played. The Druds were also meant to perform, but they fell apart after only a few rehearsals. Some recordings apparently exist, but they don't seem to circulate, but they'd be fascinating to hear as almost the entire band were non-musician artists like Warhol, Jasper Johns, and the sculptor Walter de Maria. Warhol said of the group “It didn't go too well, but if we had just stayed on it it would have been great.” On the other hand, the one actual musician in the group said “It was kind of ridiculous, so I quit after the second rehearsal". That musician was La Monte Young: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "The Well-Tuned Piano"] That's an excerpt from what is generally considered Young's masterwork, "The Well-Tuned Piano". It's six and a half hours long. If Warhol is a difficult figure to write about, Young is almost impossible. He's a musician with a career stretching sixty years, who is arguably the most influential musician from the classical tradition in that time period. He's generally considered the father of minimalism, and he's also been called by Brian Eno "the daddy of us all" -- without Young you simply *do not* get art rock at all. Without Young there is no Velvet Underground, no David Bowie, no Eno, no New York punk scene, no Yoko Ono. Anywhere that the fine arts or conceptual art have intersected with popular music in the last fifty or more years has been influenced in one way or another by Young's work. BUT... he only rarely publishes his scores. He very, very rarely allows recordings of his work to be released -- there are four recordings on his bandcamp, plus a handful of recordings of his older, published, pieces, and very little else. He doesn't allow his music to be performed live without his supervision. There *are* bootleg recordings of his music, but even those are not easily obtainable -- Young is vigorous in enforcing his copyrights and issues takedown notices against anywhere that hosts them. So other than that handful of legitimately available recordings -- plus a recording by Young's Theater of Eternal Music, the legality of which is still disputed, and an off-air recording of a 1971 radio programme I've managed to track down, the only way to experience Young's music unless you're willing to travel to one of his rare live performances or installations is second-hand, by reading about it. Except that the one book that deals solely with Young and his music is not only a dense and difficult book to read, it's also one that Young vehemently disagreed with and considered extremely inaccurate, to the point he refused to allow permissions to quote his work in the book. Young did apparently prepare a list of corrections for the book, but he wouldn't tell the author what they were without payment. So please assume that anything I say about Young is wrong, but also accept that the short section of this episode about Young has required more work to *try* to get it right than pretty much anything else this year. Young's musical career actually started out in a relatively straightforward manner. He didn't grow up in the most loving of homes -- he's talked about his father beating him as a child because he had been told that young La Monte was clever -- but his father did buy him a saxophone and teach him the rudiments of the instrument, and as a child he was most influenced by the music of the big band saxophone player Jimmy Dorsey: [Excerpt: Jimmy Dorsey, “It's the Dreamer in Me”] The family, who were Mormon farmers, relocated several times in Young's childhood, from Idaho first to California and then to Utah, but everywhere they went La Monte seemed to find musical inspiration, whether from an uncle who had been part of the Kansas City jazz scene, a classmate who was a musical prodigy who had played with Perez Prado in his early teens, or a teacher who took the class to see a performance of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra: [Excerpt: Bartok, "Concerto for Orchestra"] After leaving high school, Young went to Los Angeles City College to study music under Leonard Stein, who had been Schoenberg's assistant when Schoenberg had taught at UCLA, and there he became part of the thriving jazz scene based around Central Avenue, studying and performing with musicians like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Eric Dolphy -- Young once beat Dolphy in an audition for a place in the City College dance band, and the two would apparently substitute for each other on their regular gigs when one couldn't make it. During this time, Young's musical tastes became much more adventurous. He was a particular fan of the work of John Coltrane, and also got inspired by City of Glass, an album by Stan Kenton that attempted to combine jazz and modern classical music: [Excerpt: Stan Kenton's Innovations Orchestra, "City of Glass: The Structures"] His other major musical discovery in the mid-fifties was one we've talked about on several previous occasions -- the album Music of India, Morning and Evening Ragas by Ali Akhbar Khan: [Excerpt: Ali Akhbar Khan, "Rag Sindhi Bhairavi"] Young's music at this point was becoming increasingly modal, and equally influenced by the blues and Indian music. But he was also becoming interested in serialism. Serialism is an extension and generalisation of twelve-tone music, inspired by mathematical set theory. In serialism, you choose a set of musical elements -- in twelve-tone music that's the twelve notes in the twelve-tone scale, but it can also be a set of tonal relations, a chord, or any other set of elements. You then define all the possible ways you can permute those elements, a defined set of operations you can perform on them -- so you could play a scale forwards, play it backwards, play all the notes in the scale simultaneously, and so on. You then go through all the possible permutations, exactly once, and that's your piece of music. Young was particularly influenced by the works of Anton Webern, one of the earliest serialists: [Excerpt: Anton Webern, "Cantata number 1 for Soprano, Mixed Chorus, and Orchestra"] That piece we just heard, Webern's "Cantata number 1", was the subject of some of the earliest theoretical discussion of serialism, and in particular led to some discussion of the next step on from serialism. If serialism was all about going through every single permutation of a set, what if you *didn't* permute every element? There was a lot of discussion in the late fifties in music-theoretical circles about the idea of invariance. Normally in music, the interesting thing is what gets changed. To use a very simple example, you might change a melody from a major key to a minor one to make it sound sadder. What theorists at this point were starting to discuss is what happens if you leave something the same, but change the surrounding context, so the thing you *don't* vary sounds different because of the changed context. And going further, what if you don't change the context at all, and merely *imply* a changed context? These ideas were some of those which inspired Young's first major work, his Trio For Strings from 1958, a complex, palindromic, serial piece which is now credited as the first work of minimalism, because the notes in it change so infrequently: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "Trio for Strings"] Though I should point out that Young never considers his works truly finished, and constantly rewrites them, and what we just heard is an excerpt from the only recording of the trio ever officially released, which is of the 2015 version. So I can't state for certain how close what we just heard is to the piece he wrote in 1958, except that it sounds very like the written descriptions of it I've read. After writing the Trio For Strings, Young moved to Germany to study with the modernist composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. While studying with Stockhausen, he became interested in the work of John Cage, and started up a correspondence with Cage. On his return to New York he studied with Cage and started writing pieces inspired by Cage, of which the most musical is probably Composition 1960 #7: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "Composition 1960 #7"] The score for that piece is a stave on which is drawn a treble clef, the notes B and F#, and the words "To be held for a long Time". Other of his compositions from 1960 -- which are among the few of his compositions which have been published -- include composition 1960 #10 ("To Bob Morris"), the score for which is just the instruction "Draw a straight line and follow it.", and Piano Piece for David Tudor #1, the score for which reads "Bring a bale of hay and a bucket of water onto the stage for the piano to eat and drink. The performer may then feed the piano or leave it to eat by itself. If the former, the piece is over after the piano has been fed. If the latter, it is over after the piano eats or decides not to". Most of these compositions were performed as part of a loose New York art collective called Fluxus, all of whom were influenced by Cage and the Dadaists. This collective, led by George Maciunas, sometimes involved Cage himself, but also involved people like Henry Flynt, the inventor of conceptual art, who later became a campaigner against art itself, and who also much to Young's bemusement abandoned abstract music in the mid-sixties to form a garage band with Walter de Maria (who had played drums with the Druds): [Excerpt: Henry Flynt and the Insurrections, "I Don't Wanna"] Much of Young's work was performed at Fluxus concerts given in a New York loft belonging to another member of the collective, Yoko Ono, who co-curated the concerts with Young. One of Ono's mid-sixties pieces, her "Four Pieces for Orchestra" is dedicated to Young, and consists of such instructions as "Count all the stars of that night by heart. The piece ends when all the orchestra members finish counting the stars, or when it dawns. This can be done with windows instead of stars." But while these conceptual ideas remained a huge part of Young's thinking, he soon became interested in two other ideas. The first was the idea of just intonation -- tuning instruments and voices to perfect harmonics, rather than using the subtly-off tuning that is used in Western music. I'm sure I've explained that before in a previous episode, but to put it simply when you're tuning an instrument with fixed pitches like a piano, you have a choice -- you can either tune it so that the notes in one key are perfectly in tune with each other, but then when you change key things go very out of tune, or you can choose to make *everything* a tiny bit, almost unnoticeably, out of tune, but equally so. For the last several hundred years, musicians as a community have chosen the latter course, which was among other things promoted by Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of compositions which shows how the different keys work together: [Excerpt: Bach (Glenn Gould), "The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II: Fugue in F-sharp minor, BWV 883"] Young, by contrast, has his own esoteric tuning system, which he uses in his own work The Well-Tuned Piano: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "The Well-Tuned Piano"] The other idea that Young took on was from Indian music, the idea of the drone. One of the four recordings of Young's music that is available from his Bandcamp, a 1982 recording titled The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath, consists of one hour, thirteen minutes, and fifty-eight seconds of this: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath"] Yes, I have listened to the whole piece. No, nothing else happens. The minimalist composer Terry Riley describes the recording as "a singularly rare contribution that far outshines any other attempts to capture this instrument in recorded media". In 1962, Young started writing pieces based on what he called the "dream chord", a chord consisting of a root, fourth, sharpened fourth, and fifth: [dream chord] That chord had already appeared in his Trio for Strings, but now it would become the focus of much of his work, in pieces like his 1962 piece The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer, heard here in a 1982 revision: [Excerpt: La Monte Young, "The Second Dream of the High-Tension Line Stepdown Transformer"] That was part of a series of works titled The Four Dreams of China, and Young began to plan an installation work titled Dream House, which would eventually be created, and which currently exists in Tribeca, New York, where it's been in continuous "performance" for thirty years -- and which consists of thirty-two different pure sine wave tones all played continuously, plus purple lighting by Young's wife Marian Zazeela. But as an initial step towards creating this, Young formed a collective called Theatre of Eternal Music, which some of the members -- though never Young himself -- always claim also went by the alternative name The Dream Syndicate. According to John Cale, a member of the group, that name came about because the group tuned their instruments to the 60hz hum of the fridge in Young's apartment, which Cale called "the key of Western civilisation". According to Cale, that meant the fundamental of the chords they played was 10hz, the frequency of alpha waves when dreaming -- hence the name. The group initially consisted of Young, Zazeela, the photographer Billy Name, and percussionist Angus MacLise, but by this recording in 1964 the lineup was Young, Zazeela, MacLise, Tony Conrad and John Cale: [Excerpt: "Cale, Conrad, Maclise, Young, Zazeela - The Dream Syndicate 2 IV 64-4"] That recording, like any others that have leaked by the 1960s version of the Theatre of Eternal Music or Dream Syndicate, is of disputed legality, because Young and Zazeela claim to this day that what the group performed were La Monte Young's compositions, while the other two surviving members, Cale and Conrad, claim that their performances were improvisational collaborations and should be equally credited to all the members, and so there have been lawsuits and countersuits any time anyone has released the recordings. John Cale, the youngest member of the group, was also the only one who wasn't American. He'd been born in Wales in 1942, and had had the kind of childhood that, in retrospect, seems guaranteed to lead to eccentricity. He was the product of a mixed-language marriage -- his father, William, was an English speaker while his mother, Margaret, spoke Welsh, but the couple had moved in on their marriage with Margaret's mother, who insisted that only Welsh could be spoken in her house. William didn't speak Welsh, and while he eventually picked up the basics from spending all his life surrounded by Welsh-speakers, he refused on principle to capitulate to his mother-in-law, and so remained silent in the house. John, meanwhile, grew up a monolingual Welsh speaker, and didn't start to learn English until he went to school when he was seven, and so couldn't speak to his father until then even though they lived together. Young John was extremely unwell for most of his childhood, both physically -- he had bronchial problems for which he had to take a cough mixture that was largely opium to help him sleep at night -- and mentally. He was hospitalised when he was sixteen with what was at first thought to be meningitis, but turned out to be a psychosomatic condition, the result of what he has described as a nervous breakdown. That breakdown is probably connected to the fact that during his teenage years he was sexually assaulted by two adults in positions of authority -- a vicar and a music teacher -- and felt unable to talk to anyone about this. He was, though, a child prodigy and was playing viola with the National Youth Orchestra of Wales from the age of thirteen, and listening to music by Schoenberg, Webern, and Stravinsky. He was so talented a multi-instrumentalist that at school he was the only person other than one of the music teachers and the headmaster who was allowed to use the piano -- which led to a prank on his very last day at school. The headmaster would, on the last day, hit a low G on the piano to cue the assembly to stand up, and Cale had placed a comb on the string, muting it and stopping the note from sounding -- in much the same way that his near-namesake John Cage was "preparing" pianos for his own compositions in the USA. Cale went on to Goldsmith's College to study music and composition, under Humphrey Searle, one of Britain's greatest proponents of serialism who had himself studied under Webern. Cale's main instrument was the viola, but he insisted on also playing pieces written for the violin, because they required more technical skill. For his final exam he chose to play Hindemith's notoriously difficult Viola Sonata: [Excerpt: Hindemith Viola Sonata] While at Goldsmith's, Cale became friendly with Cornelius Cardew, a composer and cellist who had studied with Stockhausen and at the time was a great admirer of and advocate for the works of Cage and Young (though by the mid-seventies Cardew rejected their work as counter-revolutionary bourgeois imperialism). Through Cardew, Cale started to correspond with Cage, and with George Maciunas and other members of Fluxus. In July 1963, just after he'd finished his studies at Goldsmith's, Cale presented a festival there consisting of an afternoon and an evening show. These shows included the first British performances of several works including Cardew's Autumn '60 for Orchestra -- a piece in which the musicians were given blank staves on which to write whatever part they wanted to play, but a separate set of instructions in *how* to play the parts they'd written. Another piece Cale presented in its British premiere at that show was Cage's "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra": [Excerpt: John Cage, "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra"] In the evening show, they performed Two Pieces For String Quartet by George Brecht (in which the musicians polish their instruments with dusters, making scraping sounds as they clean them), and two new pieces by Cale, one of which involved a plant being put on the stage, and then the performer, Robin Page, screaming from the balcony at the plant that it would die, then running down, through the audience, and onto the stage, screaming abuse and threats at the plant. The final piece in the show was a performance by Cale (the first one in Britain) of La Monte Young's "X For Henry Flynt". For this piece, Cale put his hands together and then smashed both his arms onto the keyboard as hard as he could, over and over. After five minutes some of the audience stormed the stage and tried to drag the piano away from him. Cale followed the piano on his knees, continuing to bang the keys, and eventually the audience gave up in defeat and Cale the performer won. After this Cale moved to the USA, to further study composition, this time with Iannis Xenakis, the modernist composer who had also taught Mickey Baker orchestration after Baker left Mickey and Sylvia, and who composed such works as "Orient Occident": [Excerpt: Iannis Xenakis, "Orient Occident"] Cale had been recommended to Xenakis as a student by Aaron Copland, who thought the young man was probably a genius. But Cale's musical ambitions were rather too great for Tanglewood, Massachusetts -- he discovered that the institute had eighty-eight pianos, the same number as there are keys on a piano keyboard, and thought it would be great if for a piece he could take all eighty-eight pianos, put them all on different boats, sail the boats out onto a lake, and have eighty-eight different musicians each play one note on each piano, while the boats sank with the pianos on board. For some reason, Cale wasn't allowed to perform this composition, and instead had to make do with one where he pulled an axe out of a single piano and slammed it down on a table. Hardly the same, I'm sure you'll agree. From Tanglewood, Cale moved on to New York, where he soon became part of the artistic circles surrounding John Cage and La Monte Young. It was at this time that he joined Young's Theatre of Eternal Music, and also took part in a performance with Cage that would get Cale his first television exposure: [Excerpt: John Cale playing Erik Satie's "Vexations" on "I've Got a Secret"] That's Cale playing through "Vexations", a piece by Erik Satie that wasn't published until after Satie's death, and that remained in obscurity until Cage popularised -- if that's the word -- the piece. The piece, which Cage had found while studying Satie's notes, seems to be written as an exercise and has the inscription (in French) "In order to play the motif 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobilities." Cage interpreted that, possibly correctly, as an instruction that the piece should be played eight hundred and forty times straight through, and so he put together a performance of the piece, the first one ever, by a group he called the Pocket Theatre Piano Relay Team, which included Cage himself, Cale, Joshua Rifkin, and several other notable musical figures, who took it in turns playing the piece. For that performance, which ended up lasting eighteen hours, there was an entry fee of five dollars, and there was a time-clock in the lobby. Audience members punched in and punched out, and got a refund of five cents for every twenty minutes they'd spent listening to the music. Supposedly, at the end, one audience member yelled "Encore!" A week later, Cale appeared on "I've Got a Secret", a popular game-show in which celebrities tried to guess people's secrets (and which is where that performance of Cage's "Water Walk" we heard earlier comes from): [Excerpt: John Cale on I've Got a Secret] For a while, Cale lived with a friend of La Monte Young's, Terry Jennings, before moving in to a flat with Tony Conrad, one of the other members of the Theatre of Eternal Music. Angus MacLise lived in another flat in the same building. As there was not much money to be made in avant-garde music, Cale also worked in a bookshop -- a job Cage had found him -- and had a sideline in dealing drugs. But rents were so cheap at this time that Cale and Conrad only had to work part-time, and could spend much of their time working on the music they were making with Young. Both were string players -- Conrad violin, Cale viola -- and they soon modified their instruments. Conrad merely attached pickups to his so it could be amplified, but Cale went much further. He filed down the viola's bridge so he could play three strings at once, and he replaced the normal viola strings with thicker, heavier, guitar and mandolin strings. This created a sound so loud that it sounded like a distorted electric guitar -- though in late 1963 and early 1964 there were very few people who even knew what a distorted guitar sounded like. Cale and Conrad were also starting to become interested in rock and roll music, to which neither of them had previously paid much attention, because John Cage's music had taught them to listen for music in sounds they previously dismissed. In particular, Cale became fascinated with the harmonies of the Everly Brothers, hearing in them the same just intonation that Young advocated for: [Excerpt: The Everly Brothers, "All I Have to Do is Dream"] And it was with this newfound interest in rock and roll that Cale and Conrad suddenly found themselves members of a manufactured pop band. The two men had been invited to a party on the Lower East Side, and there they'd been introduced to Terry Phillips of Pickwick Records. Phillips had seen their long hair and asked if they were musicians, so they'd answered "yes". He asked if they were in a band, and they said yes. He asked if that band had a drummer, and again they said yes. By this point they realised that he had assumed they were rock guitarists, rather than experimental avant-garde string players, but they decided to play along and see where this was going. Phillips told them that if they brought along their drummer to Pickwick's studios the next day, he had a job for them. The two of them went along with Walter de Maria, who did play the drums a little in between his conceptual art work, and there they were played a record: [Excerpt: The Primitives, "The Ostrich"] It was explained to them that Pickwick made knock-off records -- soundalikes of big hits, and their own records in the style of those hits, all played by a bunch of session musicians and put out under different band names. This one, by "the Primitives", they thought had a shot at being an actual hit, even though it was a dance-craze song about a dance where one partner lays on the floor and the other stamps on their head. But if it was going to be a hit, they needed an actual band to go out and perform it, backing the singer. How would Cale, Conrad, and de Maria like to be three quarters of the Primitives? It sounded fun, but of course they weren't actually guitarists. But as it turned out, that wasn't going to be a problem. They were told that the guitars on the track had all been tuned to one note -- not even to an open chord, like we talked about Steve Cropper doing last episode, but all the strings to one note. Cale and Conrad were astonished -- that was exactly the kind of thing they'd been doing in their drone experiments with La Monte Young. Who was this person who was independently inventing the most advanced ideas in experimental music but applying them to pop songs? And that was how they met Lou Reed: [Excerpt: The Primitives, "The Ostrich"] Where Cale and Conrad were avant-gardeists who had only just started paying attention to rock and roll music, rock and roll was in Lou Reed's blood, but there were a few striking similarities between him and Cale, even though at a glance their backgrounds could not have seemed more different. Reed had been brought up in a comfortably middle-class home in Long Island, but despised the suburban conformity that surrounded him from a very early age, and by his teens was starting to rebel against it very strongly. According to one classmate “Lou was always more advanced than the rest of us. The drinking age was eighteen back then, so we all started drinking at around sixteen. We were drinking quarts of beer, but Lou was smoking joints. He didn't do that in front of many people, but I knew he was doing it. While we were looking at girls in Playboy, Lou was reading Story of O. He was reading the Marquis de Sade, stuff that I wouldn't even have thought about or known how to find.” But one way in which Reed was a typical teenager of the period was his love for rock and roll, especially doo-wop. He'd got himself a guitar, but only had one lesson -- according to the story he would tell on numerous occasions, he turned up with a copy of "Blue Suede Shoes" and told the teacher he only wanted to know how to play the chords for that, and he'd work out the rest himself. Reed and two schoolfriends, Alan Walters and Phil Harris, put together a doo-wop trio they called The Shades, because they wore sunglasses, and a neighbour introduced them to Bob Shad, who had been an A&R man for Mercury Records and was starting his own new label. He renamed them the Jades and took them into the studio with some of the best New York session players, and at fourteen years old Lou Reed was writing songs and singing them backed by Mickey Baker and King Curtis: [Excerpt: The Jades, "Leave Her For Me"] Sadly the Jades' single was a flop -- the closest it came to success was being played on Murray the K's radio show, but on a day when Murray the K was off ill and someone else was filling in for him, much to Reed's disappointment. Phil Harris, the lead singer of the group, got to record some solo sessions after that, but the Jades split up and it would be several years before Reed made any more records. Partly this was because of Reed's mental health, and here's where things get disputed and rather messy. What we know is that in his late teens, just after he'd gone off to New
Aili Deibert is a Junior at PorRoosevelt High School. She's been playing flute with BRAVO Youth Orchestras (an El Sistema inspired afternoon music program based in North Portland) since 2015. She has performed at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall and was selected to perform in the National Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles (YOLA). Aili is an active performer and teacher and has been a part of the BRAVO Community Orchestra for several years. After high school, she plans to attend college and major in law while still keeping up with music.
On this podcast we focus on the National Youth Orchestra at Dubai Opera. I am joined here by the artistic director, director of the orchestra, and an International Concert Pianist, Amira Fouad. She shared with us what the youth orchestra is all about, the community, the growth that it has experienced, and so much more. It is definitely an amazing opportunity for the young musicians to learn and perform on stage. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
I'm pleased to share this podcast with Daniel Pailthorpe, Co-Principal Flautist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. We had a fascinating discussion about his musical journey growing up, parallels between flute playing and singing, solo performances, what it's like playing for one of the top symphony orchestras in the country, performing at the BBC Proms and Royal Albert Hall (including a memorable concert involving the then five members of Monty Python!), tone production and vibrato. Podcast interview recorded 26 September 2022 at Daniel's home in Richmond, London; Daniel's additional commentary about tone production and throat tuning recorded 12 November 2022; podcast released 16 November 2022. Due to some digital noise when I started recording, here's also what he said when I asked him about his musical journey growing up: "I actually don't come from a particularly musical family. My father loved music but was not a trained musician at all. Bach was his passion and he transferred that to me. It was just a very pure love of music without having an instrument but they very much encouraged me in my music, took me to concerts. It so happened that both of my godparents who they chose when I was born were both very keen musicians and so they helped to introduce me to the world of music." Crumb - Voice of the Whale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd76Q-yA5M4. Daniel's arrangement of Prokofiev's Scenes from Romeo and Juliet - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmca0PTyy-c. Daniel's arrangement of Scenes from Romeo and Juliet for oboe - https://youtu.be/lB07FNY84DQ. End music: Margaret Hubicki (2005). From the Isles of the Sea [performed by Daniel Pailthorpe and James Kirby]. On Dedication in Time: Chamber Music by Margaret Hubicki. Chandos. (Premiere recording). Podcast intro and outro music by Helena and Annabelle Lee. Podcast edited by Joe Eftihiou, additional edits from Daniel Pailthorpe and Annabelle Lee. One of the few orchestral principals of international standing who plays on a modern wood flute, Daniel Pailthorpe has gained a world-wide following for the uniqueness and breadth of his sound as well as the warmth of his musicianship. As co-principal flautist of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Daniel is regularly heard on BBC Radio 3 and at the Proms. He features prominently on the BBCTV 'Symphony' series and is a familiar face on the Last Night of the Proms. Together with his wife Emily Pailthorpe and the pianist Julian Milford, he founded the London Conchord Ensemble. The group has rapidly gained an international reputation, performing in some of the world's most prestigious concert series. His recordings, ranging from Poulenc to Bach and George Crumb, have enjoyed many accolades, among them Sunday Telegraph's CD of the week and Classic FM's CD of the month. Singing featured prominently in Daniel's musical training: he began as a choirboy aged six, was a finalist in the UK Chorister of the Year competition, and went on to become a Choral scholar at Clare College, Cambridge. After a year of postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music, Daniel was the recipient of the Leonard Bernstein Fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Centre, USA. His flute studies took him to Paris and America and his teachers include William Bennett, Derek Honner, Gaston Crunelle, Thomas Nyfenger and Geoffrey Gilbert. He has gone on to be much in demand as a guest principal with many orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He is one of London's most sought-after session musicians, featuring on the soundtracks for many films. As a teacher Daniel has been a coach for the National Youth Orchestra and is a Professor of flute at the Royal College of Music. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/talking-classical-podcast/message
The Manawatu Sinfonia epitomises the value of a community orchestra - helping to launch professional music careers, promoting the work of local composers and of course, entertaining people living in Palmerston North and the wider region. Its members are currently rehearsing for a concert featuring the work only of New Zealand composers - three of them from Palmerston North - and including two world premiere works. Just this year the Sinfonia and associated Manawatu Youth Orchestra between them saw seven string players snapped up for the National Youth Orchestra. Lynn Freeman talks with bassoonist Jeff McNeill on a break from the afternoon's rehearsals. 20 November is when the Manawatu Sinfonia will perform A Celebration of Local Composers at Palmerston North Boys High.
Jess Gillam meets the trumpeter Aaron Akugbo and they share some of their favourite music, including tracks by Jacob Collier, Errolyn Wallen, Mahler and Beyonce. Edinburgh-born Aaron trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and cites Louis Armstrong as his biggest musical influence. An ex-principal of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, he now combines playing in some of the UK's top orchestras with a career as a chamber and solo player, which has included a solo recital debut at this year's Lucerne Festival. Playlist: Mahler – Symphony No.5, 1st movement (Vienna Philharmonic, Pierre Boulez) Poulenc – Les chemins de l'amour (Sabine Devieilhe and Alexandre Tharaud) Jacob Collier ft. Daniel Caesar – Time Alone With You Goat Rodeo Sessions (Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile) – Quarter Chicken Dark Prokofiev – Toccata Op.11 (Freddy Kempf) Beyoncé – Love On Top Errollyn Wallen – Concerto Grosso, 1st movement (Chineke!) Leif Vollebekk – Elegy
Brief summary of episode:Jonathon Heyward is forging a career as one of the most exciting conductors on the international scene. He currently serves as Music Director Designate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and will begin his five-year contract in the 2023-24 season. Jonathon's selection was unanimous from the Baltimore Symphony Music Director Search Committee, comprised of BSO musicians, staff, and community members. In March 2022, Jonathon made his debut with Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in three performances that included the first-ever performance of Shostakovich's Symphony No. 15. Quickly re-engaged, he returned in April to lead a Benefit Concert for Ukraine at the Meyerhoff.Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Jonathon began his musical training as a cellist at the age of ten and started conducting while still at school. He studied conducting at the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he became assistant conductor of the prestigious institution's opera department and of the Boston Opera Collaborative, and received postgraduate lessons from Sian Edwards at London's Royal Academy of Music. Before leaving the Academy, he was appointed assistant conductor of the Hallé Orchestra, where he was mentored by Sir Mark Elder, and became Music Director of the Hallé Youth Orchestra. His debut with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the 2021 BBC Proms earned five-star reviews and was hailed by British newspaper The Guardian as ‘an unforgettable showcase of high-energy collaboration'.Jonathon's commitment to education and community outreach work deepened during his three years with the Hallé and has flourished since he arrived in post as Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie in January 2021. He is equally committed to including new music within his imaginative concert programmes. Those qualities were evident in his Baltimore Symphony Orchestra debut bill, which comprised Hannah Kendall's The Spark Catchers, Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto and the first ever BSO outing for Shostakovich's Fifteenth Symphony.The Truth In This ArtThe Truth In This Art is a podcast interview series supporting vibrancy and development of Baltimore & beyond's arts and culture. To find more amazing stories from the artist and entrepreneurial scenes in & around Baltimore, check out my episode directory. Stay in TouchNewsletter sign-upSupport my podcastShareable link to episode ★ Support this podcast ★
“The thing about music, there's this nurturing of our souls.” Karen Donnelly, principal trumpet for the National Arts Centre Orchestra, is our guest on What's Your Forte this week! She and Kathryn talk about touring Canada, the moment she realized the depth to which music could impact you, the best gig she's ever seen and some key advice for the next generation of players. Karen Donnelly was unanimously appointed principal trumpet of the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada in October 1999, following three successful seasons as acting principal trumpet, and continues to enjoy playing with this wonderful ensemble. A native of Regina, Saskatchewan, Karen started the trumpet in elementary school, which propelled her into a Bachelor of Arts in Music at the University of Regina, followed by a Master of Music degree at McGill University. While freelancing in Montreal, she quickly became in demand, performing with many ensembles in the area including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. Karen has given master classes and workshops in Europe, China, the United States, the United Kingdom and coast-to-coast in Canada. She is part of the coaching team for both the trumpet section and chamber music for Canada's National Youth Orchestra. In 2002, she joined the teaching staff at the University of Ottawa, and has been assisting with their Orkidstra program, inspired by Sistema, since 2009. Most recently, Karen spearheaded the Canadian Women's Brass Collective. This group of talented musicians presented concerts, master classes and lectures in Toronto during January 2019 over a five-day conference to great acclaim. During the pandemic, the collective curated an extensive series of online sessions to support musicians to create healthy and effective practice strategies.
Rayana Zapryanova reports on Gearoid Grant conducting his final ever concert with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland.
"I want flute playing to be expansive and to communicate a story! This week on Talking Flutes, Clare speaks with the wonderful London flute player, and Professor at the Guildhall College of Music in London Philippa Davis about how she started and always being very busy!! Philippa Davies has established an international reputation as one of the finest flautists currently performing. Originally Principal Flute of the National Youth Orchestra of GB, Philippa went on to train at the Royal College of Music with Douglas Whittaker and later William Bennett. She won many awards including the Tagore Gold Medal Prize, the National Federation of Music Societies award, the Mozart Memorial Prize and was a Park Lane Group Young Artist. She was a member of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies's ensemble Fires of London, and of the ensembles Capricorn and Albion; currently she is part of the Nash Ensemble and London Winds directed by Michael Collins and plays in duo with Jan Willem Nelleke, piano, and with Maggie Cole, harpsichord. She was principal flute with the London Mozart Players, and continues to be a regular guest principal flute with all the main London orchestras. As a soloist, she has taken part in many international festivals since her debut at the BBC proms in 1988. She gives masterclasses, recitals and broadcasts, and performs concertos throughout the world with many orchestras. Philippa's numerous recordings include Mozart's entire original concertos and quartets, Bach's Flute Sonatas, Romance of the Flute and Harp, Poulenc's Flute Sonata, Giles Swayne's Winter Solstice Carol with the King's College Choir and all William Alwyn's flute music. She is a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and has a summer International Flute Course in Cubertou, France. 'Talking Flutes' and 'Talking Flutes Extra' are podcast recordings by the TJ flute company. For more information visit www.trevorjamesflutes.com
Creating a distinctive Maori orchestral sound by integrating the style and colour of traditional Maori music with the vast range of an orchestra, is the goal of award winning composer and sonic artist, David Mason. He's busy working on five new compositions this year as the National Youth Orchestra's Composer in Residence. The orchestra is about to premiere one of them, Wahi Ngaro. Lynn speaks to David about how he explores the juxtaposition of his Maori heritage with his work as a classical composer. David Mason will be performing at the Michael Fowler Centre on Thursday 7 July, and the Christchurch Town Hall on Saturday 9 July.
♦ L'avvocato e sociologo venezuelano Luis Alberto Machado afferma che ogni bambino sano nasce con il potenziale per diventare un genio. Ha detto: “Non credo nei bambini superdotati. Ogni essere umano, dal giorno in cui nasce, è potenzialmente un genio. Abbiamo tutti la stessa capacità di sviluppare l'intelligenza”. Lui ritiene che un'adeguata educazione precoce sia fondamentale. In un esperimento 35 bambini indiani nativi della giungla amazzonica hanno imparato a suonare il violino in sole 10 settimane sotto la guida di un maestro violinista giapponese arrivato a Caracas. Il suo metodo poneva l'accento sul convincere i bambini a maneggiare i loro strumenti prima di imparare la teoria musicale. Successivamente i bambini si sono esibiti con la National Youth Orchestra, suonando brani difficili di Beethoven e Haydn. Machado ha concluso: “I sistemi educative in tutto il mondo sono cattivi. Invece di rendere l'uomo più creativo, questi diventa meno creativo. È necessario apportare cambiamenti radicali”. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/corgiov/message
Claire Yoo, a junior at Idaho Falls High School, has been invited to perform in Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America. We spoke about how she got started on violin and how this experience came to be. Cover Photo Credits: The Idaho Falls Symphony https://www.byui.edu/radio/claire-yoo
From her bio: "Annette was born in Cardiff and at the age of 8 decided she wanted to play the trombone but was told that her arms were too short. She is eternally grateful for that teacher's wisdom and began playing the horn instead, rapidly progressing through the local youth ensembles and eventually going on to become principal horn of the National Youth Orchestra of Wales.Annette studied BMus at Manchester University and Masters at Trinity College of Music. Whilst living in London she worked with various UK orchestras and gained a place on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment's experience scheme on the natural horn. In 2013 She moved to Zürich to study at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. During her studies she played with the Zürich Opera Orchestra and was the horn Academist of Bern Sinfonieorchester for the 2014-2015 season.In 2016 Annette played for 3 Months as principal horn of the Bulgarian State Opera, Stara Zagora before returning to Zürich where she currently works as a freelance horn and alphorn player, manages The Alpine Sisters and is studying a Master of Advanced Studies in clinical music therapy." Learn more about Annette and her sisters at http://thealpinesisters.org/.Come play with other Alpornists at our series of events this year! Check out the dates and locations at https://www.alphorninstitute.com/events.
Our sponsor: Houghton Hornswww.houghtonhorns.comThe GOLD Method appwww.ryanbeachtrumpet.com/gold-method-appVirtual Equipment Consultationhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfDOyZXRiXwDr. Joseph Cooper joined the dynamic and accomplished brass studios at Oklahoma State University as the Assistant Professor of Trumpet in Fall 2019. He teaches applied trumpet lessons to music performance and music education majors, directs trumpet ensembles, and teaches courses in high brass methods, among other resposibilities. Prior to OSU, he taught applied trumpet at The University of Texas at San Antonio from 2015-2019 and at Texas Lutheran University from 2011-2018.Dr. Cooper is a member of RotoЯ Brass. A new brass duo created to promote new commissions and elevate the trumpet and horn chamber music setting. The RotoЯ Brass inaugural performance will be in March 2020 at the International Duo Symposium where they will be featured guest artists. The other member of RotoЯ Brass is Dr. Zachary Cooper, Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Horn at the University of Montana, Dr. Joseph Cooper's identical twin brother. Cooper is an active performer having appeared frequently with the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony Brass Quintet and Austin Opera in recent years. Additional performances include the Colorado Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, and the Breckenridge Music Festival orchestras, among others. Trumpet students of Dr. Cooper succeed at all levels. College students under his direction have been admitted to top graduate music programs in trumpet performance, have performed at summer festivals nationally and internationally, hold positions in regional ensembles, have won TMEA teaching scholarships, and have become successful band directors. His private lessons students have auditioned into the National Youth Orchestra and NYO2, have been accepted into music conservatories as performance majors, regularly achieve positions in All-State ensembles, and have been invited to perform at the National Trumpet Competition. He holds degrees from powerhouse trumpet programs including Indiana University- Bloomington (BM), Rice University (MM) and The University of Texas at Austin (DMA). His former teachers include John Almeida, John Rommel, Marie Speziale, and Ray Sasaki. He is a member of the International Trumpet Guild and served on the Conference Artist Committee for the 2018 ITG Convention held in San Antonio, Texas.Support the show (https://thatsnotspit.com/support/)
Instagram: @connorisgreat34 • Connor Rowe is a multi-award-winning trombonist who used to be one of the very few selected players of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States. He already holds a degree from The Colburn School in Los Angeles and is currently pursuing his Master's degree at The Juilliard School.
This month we had the pleasure of interviewing violinist Nikki Naghavi. She shared her experience as a student at The New England Conservatory and how health and wellness as a musician show up in her life. We were impressed and inspired by all that she so openly shared with us! Show Notes: Bio: Nikki Naghavi was born in Dallas, Texas and currently studies at the New England Conservatory of Music with Ayano Ninomiya. In 2018, Nikki had solo debuts with the Baylor Chamber Orchestra and the Plano Symphony Orchestra, and won 3rd prize at the Lynn Harrell Competition. Nikki was concertmaster of the Texas All-State Symphony Orchestra, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, Round Top Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra. She has performed on NPR's From the Top Radio Show, and at the Bowdoin and Malaga International Music Festivals, and with the Plano Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, she toured Europe as principal second violin with the National Youth Orchestra of the USA and was selected as a collegiate ambassador for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 2019-2020 season. Aside from playing the violin, Nikki enjoys traveling and exploring new cultures, as well as spending time with her friends and family. She is also a Co-Founder of Through the Staff, an organization that provides free online music lessons to young musicians who could otherwise not afford or have access to them. New England Conservatory Nicolette Solomon Emanuel Borok Through the Staff The Inner Game of Tennis- W. Timothy Gallwey The Art of Possibility - Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander
I spoke with the renowned bassoon player Christopher Millard about many topics, including many fascinating insights into the orchestra profession, the physics of sound production on both the bassoon and violin, great advice on how best to practice music, the legendary flutist Marcel Moyse and much more. Timestamps listed below! Like all my episodes, this is also a video, linked here on my website to the transcript as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/e5s1christophermillard Please consider leaving me a tip! https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Timestamps: (00:00) Intro and Chris' Podcasts (04:14) Advice for music students (10:19) CBC radio orchestra (13:03) Making reeds (17:20) Physics of sound production on bassoon and violin (27:44) Woodwind mechanisms and repair (30:19) All thumbs: special bassoon challenges (32:01) Advantages of studying jazz (37:19) Musicians' difficulty with retiring (39:35) Conductors (also see below about World Orchestra for Peace with Gergiev) (42:35) National Youth Orchestra (44:48) Marcel Moyse: legendary Flute teacher and mentor (55:33) World Orchestra for Peace with Gergiev (59:19) The Neuroscience of practicing music better! https://nac-cna.ca/en/bio/christopher-millard https://councilofcanadianbassoonists.ca/project/reed-making-by-christopher-millard-introduction-and-chapter-1-the-craftsman/ You can follow this podcast on Spotify, Google Play, Apple Podcasts, RadioPublic, Breaker, Anchor, Pocket Casts --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/leah-roseman/message
Kate studied music at Manchester University. Whilst at uni she took a part-time job at The Bridgewater Hall, a concert hall in Manchester. There, she fell in love with ticketing, data and technology and is now Strategy Director at Supercool, a digital design agency working in the cultural sector.QUOTESI have an overview of a lot of different aspects of the business which is what I find really interesting. I see that big picture, where the problems are and join dots. I worked at a concert hall in Manchester, it was really interesting to see what audiences were really interested in, what they were passionate about going to.It was always really exciting to have my pieces performed. But the only people that were really in the room were the friends that I dragged along and other composers. So when you study classical music, there is this sense that there is high art, there's proper music. And then you have the less good music and I started to question that a bit.After working in ticketing, I geeked out about the technology and ended up at a tech company called Spectrix that build ticketing platform for the art sector. And I really loved it there. When I got to university it was a very different environment, there was a lot of pressure. Having grown up in North Wales, there were loads of orchestras. I took part in the small local orchestra, then the regional orchestra and then the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. And I played the double bass and sometimes in those situations, people are just happy for you to turn up because there aren't many double Bassists so they were just happy that I had an instrument and could turn up and play some of the notes. But at university, there was a different level of pressure that was on me. I've never loved practicing on my own. When I was at university, that's one of the things that made me realize I'm probably never going to be cut out to be an actual full time professional musician, because spending many hours sat in a room on my own all day is not my idea of fun. I really like being around people. The thing I loved about composing was that you could come up with an idea for something and you could create it from scratch yourself. And I still like doing that, and that relates to the bigger picture problem solving. You have an idea of what you want to convey and what is the best way to do that. I definitely built up my tech savviness whilst I was at uni, doing electro acoustic and recording. That definitely helped because I was using computers and complex programs at the time. I don't think anybody who is learning music when they're young, and goes to study a music degree says “actually what I want is to work in ticketing”. But it's a fascinating sector.In my current role, probably the most exciting bit is when you meet an organization for the first time and you stop and think about what their new website is going to be. Creating a website is like composing, it's like when you have that really awkward rehearsal with the musicians where they tell you all the things you've written that aren't possible on their instrument because you read it's possible somewhere. They're not superhumans.I think one of the biggest things is listening. I think that I noticed this when I was doing improvisation. Really good improvisers know that they don't have to make sound all the time, it's okay just to listen. I think those improvisation skills have just been incredibly valuable going forward, especially when dealing with other people in workshop situations and discovery situations, or meetings in general. With people being able to realize that it's okay to just listen, and not always having to contribute something. There's lots of other things as well, things like being able to see patterns and see what's going on in a bigger picture. I was thinking recently about how when you're learning a piece for the first time, you're constantly shifting between the kind of very small micro moments and the bigger picture of the piece that you're learning.I might spend an hour of my morning testing one tiny little feature on a website. Understanding how that feature applies to the larger customer journey, how it will improve the end customer and the client in terms of how they communicate with their customers, makes that one hour worthwhile. Even if I'm just frustratingly changing a button for one hour.Being able to do things like public speaking, being able to walk into a room full of strangers, being able to go to a conference and walk up to somebody and have a chat. That is incredibly hard for a lot of people. Whereas I was sent off to orchestra rehearsals, and it was a whole different social network.Community music is a great place to learn it's, a great place to experiment, to learn in a way that you might not have the freedom to do in an organization where there's a little bit more scrutiny on what you post on Twitter and things like that.LINKSFind Kate on LinkedIN and TwitterSpektrixBridgewater HallSupercool DesignThe Noise UpstairsPODCAST TEAMProduction Support from Molly Jenkins Audio Engineering from Frazer RuddickTheme Music Composed by Danna YunTheme Music Performed by Jasper LyRECORDEDRecorded on 15 August 2021
Laoise O'Brien travels to Amsterdam with the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland to follow their musical adventures in this historic and culturally rich city.
TMDTA hosts Rebecca Toal and Hattie Butterworth discuss their experiences taking psychiatric medication following Dr Alex George's PostYourPill campaign. They talk about the stigma and image around being someone with a mental illness within the classical music world and how important campaigns like this are for normalising people's experiences.They also talk over the Royal Opera House's recent merchandise, featuring Margot Fonteyn's statement of the all-consuming nature of art as a way of life. We discuss whether or not we agree and also move onto talk about rejection, Rebecca's recent auditions and how traumatising rejection from the National Youth Orchestra was for Hattie!If you want to keep up with us, we are online pretty much everywhere!Follow us on instagram!And TwitterOur websiteBuy our stickersOr buy us a coffee!
28 November 2021: The one and only Steve Harvey joins Mark for a chat about his new projects in Dubai. Pakistani singer songwriter Maria Unera sings live in the studio. The National Youth Orchestra tell us about their biggest performance coming up at Global Village. And Paris our Guy In Dubai shares his experience of The Dubai Run. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Conductor Kwamé Ryan is the final guest for Season 2 of the podcast. Mr. Ryan's international career includes holding the position of General Musical Director of Freiburg Opera, Musical and Artistic Director of the National Orchestra of Bordeaux and Musical Director of the National Youth Orchestra of France. As a guest conductor, he has worked with the Paris Opera, Belgian National Opera, English National Opera and many more. In 2011, he was inducted as an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters, one of France's highest honors. Kwamé and Denis discuss education, language, interpretation, serving the composer and the personal nature of his most recent project, The Time of Our Singing. His musical journey is a unique and inspiring one. We'll be back in 2022 with Season 3!Kwamé Ryan:Website: www.kwameryan.comPodcast: 8 Minute IdeaDenis:Website: www.denislambertonline.comInstagram: @denis_e_lambertPodcast:Website: www.thevoraciousstudent.comInstagram: @thevoraciousstudentFacebook: /thevoraciousstudent
Searching for Elephants - Entrepreneurship and leading from the front
Wasfi Kani is the CEO of Grange Park Opera. Born in the East London she started teaching herself the piano at 9 and was playing Violin in The National Youth Orchestra by 16. She read music at Oxford but was good at Maths so became a computer programmer but soon gave that up to become a conductor. With a story like that how could she be anything but interesting?
In this episode, we spoke with Carolyn Christie about her work as a mental skills coach for musicians. She shares her history as a career flutist and how she helps musicians strengthen their mental game. If you are a musician with a brain, this episode is for you! BIO: Carolyn Christie won the Second Flute Chair of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (OSM) in 1978, after beginning her orchestral career with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. With the OSM she toured 40 times, performing in Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Ms. Christie performed in Carnegie Hall on many occasions and has appeared on about 100 recordings. As a soloist, Ms. Christie performed concerti with the MSO, and as a chamber musician and recitalist, with Les Chambristes de Montréal, Les Vents de l'Est, the Jupiter Quintet and Musica Camerata Montreal. A devoted pedagogue, Ms. Christie taught on the faculties of the University of Alberta, Concordia University, and the Conservatoire de Quebec à Montréal, as well as Domaine Forget and The National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Christie now teaches exclusively at McGill University. Many of her former students perform with orchestras in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Upon retirement from the OSM in 2014, Carolyn Christie attended the University of Ottawa, where she earned a Masters degree in Human Kinetics (MHK), with a concentration in Intervention and Consultation. Christie adapted her MHK work to the performing arts, and now leads workshops and offers private counselling to professional and student musicians, teaching them mental skills that can assist them to perform up to their potential under stress. Ms. Christie's Mental Performance Skills Workshops have been offered at every major University in Canada, the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, CAMMAC in Montréal and at the Curtis Institute of Music. Most recently she was appointed as Co-Director of Canada's first Musician Wellness Centre at the University of Ottawa. Contact Carolyn Christie carolynrchristie@gmail.com Show Notes: McGill University Montreal Symphony Orchestra Jeanne Baxtresser Sommer Christie Noa Kageyama Aaron Williamon Composed Documentary- John Beder
Another wonderful conversation with Brett Leonard. We talk about anechoic chambers, recording, mixing, and all things audio; including tips for setting up a new audio studio. http://www.blpaudio.com/ Brett Leonard is a recording engineer, audio researcher and audio educator. Currently, Dr. Leonard serves as the director of music technology programs at the University of Indianapolis. Dr. Brett Leonard began his musical career as a percussionist, playing any and every genre and instrument he could get his hands on. While in college, Dr. Leonard discovered the joys of the recording studio. Shortly after, he received his bachelor's from California Lutheran University with a focus in music technology. While attending CLU, he also spent time at the Aspen Music Festival, studying under such luminaries as John Eargle, Stephan Peus, and Ron Streicher. After college, he moved to New York to pursue a Master's of Music Technology at New York University's Steinhardt School. Dr. Leonard has also served as lecturer at McGill University, where he recently completed a PhD in Music in the area of Sound Recording, and served the coordinator of music technology and assistant professor of music at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Dr. Leonard is also an active freelance recording engineer. He has worked on projects ranging from orchestras to progressive jazz, hip-hop to classic rock, including projects with artist such as Lenny Pickett, Matt Haimovitz, Jerry Douglas, Cecile McLorrin Salvant, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and producers such as Russ Titelman, Bob Belden, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Devo Springsteen. Dr. Leonard currently serves as the chief recording engineer for the Chelsea Music Festival in New York. In 2007, he began BLPaudio, a company providing recording services, acoustical consulting, system design and equipment rental. BLPaudio has since provided consulting services to numerous private studios, event spaces, performance venues, and institutions including the United National International School, the Musée de Beaux Arts Montréal, the Musical Instrument Museum and others. As a researcher, Dr. Leonard focuses on spatial audio and the interplay between acoustics, instruments, and the recording process. His work in spatial audio has included collaborations with Sennheiser, NHK, Swissaudec, and Skywalker Sound and has been published in more than 35 papers. Dr. Leonard is active in the Audio Engineering Society (AES) as a member of the education committee, and as a member of the organizing committee for numerous conventions and conferences.
We're chatting with Paul Sharpe and Ella Sharpe about what it's like studying the bass from your parents. We talk about how both Paul and Ella got into playing the bass, the unique bass program at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, perspectives from both Paul and Ella, and Ella's thoughts on her future. Enjoy! About Paul Sharpe: Paul Sharpe enjoys teaching all levels of student, whether it is starting instruction with young students and instilling them with good playing habits from the start or with an already well-developed graduate student that he can refine into something great. Sharpe pulls from his extensive performance career while teaching which includes countless performances with orchestras, quartets and as a member the strings duo Low and Lower. About Ella Sharpe: Ella Sharpe began double bass at seven years old under the tutelage of her father in North Carolina. At 17, she was a competitor in the semi-finals of the 2017 International Society of Bassists Solo Competition (15-18 division). Ella is now in her third year of undergraduate studies with David Allen Moore at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Ella has attended music festivals including the National Youth Orchestra, Sarasota Music Festival, and Wabass. Ella also plays the viola da gamba. Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically! Check out our Online Sheet Music Store with 100+ wide-ranging titles for bassists. Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle. Check out my Beginner's Classical Bass course, available exclusively from Discover Double Bass. Thank you to our sponsors! Dorico - Dorico helps you to write music notation, automatically producing printed results of exceptional quality — and plays it back with breathtaking realism. It is easy enough for anyone to learn, yet has hundreds of advanced notations, features, options and sounds to satisfy even the most demanding professionals. With its streamlined, natural user interface, students and those with less experience in scoring can compose and arrange straight into Dorico, making learning the language of music notation much faster and more intuitive. Editing and making changes — such as instrument, time signature or key — are straightforward, with the notation instantly and correctly adapting to include them, reinforcing the learning outcome. Upton Bass String Instrument Company - Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. Ear Trumpet Labs - They make hand-built mics out of Portland, OR and they have an excellent mic for upright bass called Nadine. The Nadine is a condenser mic with a clear natural sound and incredible feedback rejection. This mic is a completely new design -- the head mounts in between the strings above the tailpiece with a rubber grommet, and the body securely straps to the tailpiece with velcro elastic. A 14-inch Mogami cable connects the two parts making it easy to place on any bass. It's durable and holds up to the demanding needs of the instrument while offering excellent sound quality. Ear Trumpet Labs is offering a free t-shirt just for Contrabass listeners with the purchase of a mic, just visit EarTrumpetLabs.com/contrabass to claim yours and check out the Nadine! Contrabass Conversations production team: Jason Heath, host Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing Mitch Moehring, audio engineer Trevor Jones, publication and promotion theme music by Eric Hochberg
Here's the guest line-up for Sat, Aug 7, 2021 from 4 to 6pm CST on Indo American News Radio (www.IndoAmerican-news.com) on 98.7 FM and available also on the masalaradio app (www.masalaradio.com) You can also hear the Podcast of the recorded show uploaded by Monday on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Google Podcasts, Pocket Casts, Radio Public and Breaker. 4:20 pm With Simone Biles and Naomi Osaka withdrawing from competitive sporting events, mental health is on the forefront of everyone's mind. Denise Oncken has been the Executive Bureau Chief for over 30 years over Special Victims and Mental Health at the Harris County District Attorney's office. She joins us today to explain what her office oversees. 4:40 pm Galson Auto & Body has made a name for itself for 28 years in Northwest Houston for its great work and customer service. Brothers Ravi and Roger Galhotra now manage the business that their dad Harjit started. They call in to tell us what the Houston auto market is like now. 5:10 pm Sandhya Mahesh is a passionate violist and pianist from Houston, who recently performed in Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra, and the Houston Youth Symphony. She joins us with her mom Anu Mahesh to talk about her experience. Also stay tuned in for news roundup, views, sports and movie reviews IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE FEATURED ON THE SHOW, OR TO ADVERTISE, PLEASE CONTACT US AT 713-789-6397 or at indoamericannews@yahoo.com --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/indo-american-news-radio/support
Booker Prize shortlisted Turkish writer Elif Shafak has a new novel: The Island Of Missing Trees. Set in Cyprus it follows lovers who risk everything in a divided island. And one of the narrators is a fig tree. Shafak explains about melding passionate ecological and political information and messages. Jonathon Heyward makes his Proms debut this week conducting the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. He tells Samira why he loves working with youth orchestras, isn't so keen on being labelled a ‘young conductor', and how much he's looking forward to getting on to the podium at the Royal Albert Hall. In Stillwater, the new film starring Matt Damon, he plays Bill Baker, an Oklahoma oil rig worker determined to secure the release of his daughter Allison, in prison in Marseille for the murder of her flatmate and lover, Lina. Frustrated by legal, language and cultural barriers his own conduct strays beyond the legal. Larushka Ivan-Zadeh reviews the film which is controversial because of the parallels of its plot with the murder of Meredith Kercher in Perugia, for which Amanda Knox was convicted and eventually acquitted. Knox has denounced the film. Presenter:Samira Ahmed Producer: Julian May Production Co-ordinator: Lizzie Harris
Norman Lebrecht, the well-known UK musical critic, has recently claimed that the appointment of chief conductors has little impact on the performance of orchestras. Music Director Gemma New joins the show to offer her thoughts.
Norman Lebrecht, the well-known UK musical critic, has recently claimed that the appointment of chief conductors has little impact on the performance of orchestras. Music Director Gemma New joins the show to offer her thoughts.
"If I'd had been a man, life with the flute would have been very different!" This week on 'Talking Flutes' in the first of a two part podcast Clare speaks with the enigmatic, colourful and tour de force that is Atarah Ben-Tovim M.B.E about being involved in the flute playing world for over 60 years. From breaking down barriers and being Principal Flute in Liverpool during the 60's and the time of the Beatles, to her continued love and passion for flute study. Atarah Ben-Tovim, MBE is a British flautist and children's concert presenter. Born in Wales, Ben-Tovim played her first television concert live at the Royal Albert Hall, at the age of fourteen. She was principal flautist with the National Youth Orchestra, and then from 1963-75 principal flautist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. She left the RLPO to found Atarah's Band in 1975, a group which sought to improve children's experiences with classical music. Atarah was awarded the MBE in 1980 for her work in this field. During its lifetime, the band played to over three million people. In the late 1980s, BBC Radio Three made the programme Atarah's Music Box, all about children and music. Omnibus devoted a programme to her work, as did Blue Peter and Magpie. Her own television series, Atarah's Music, aimed at primary school children, aired in 1982. Together with her husband Douglas Boyd she published The Right Instrument for Your Child followed by You Can Make Music!. 'Talking Flutes' and 'Talking Flutes Extra' are podcast productions by the TJ flute Company. For more information visit www.trevorjamesflutes.com
Episode 5 (May 5, 2021): This is Part 1 of a two-part episode. Today, Juliet Palmer and I talk about her most collaborative composition projects with community arts organizations, children's choirs, youth orchestras, high school students and professional musicians alike. Many names are dropped in this episode! (see below for links). Somehow we got onto swapping stories about musical page turning in high-pressure situations and that was the best place to leave off. Are there really page turning competitions somewhere in the world? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter because I am *certain* that they must exist, but can't find them. You can listen to Part 2 of our conversation next week: FSOE episode 6. --------- Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is an interview podcast about composition and music education, hosted by composer Alex Eddington. Every episode, I have a conversation with a different Canadian composer - with a focus on their writing for/with young and amateur musicians. --------- LINKS! www.julietpalmer.ca Video/Audio of Juliet's music and projects mentioned in the podcast: Gregory Oh's video interview with Juliet Palmer and Ian Cusson about the Unsilent Project (with National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Michael Greyeyes and Falen Johnson Burl (solo piano) Round the Table (Jumblies Theatre) Like an Old Tale (Jumblies Theatre) Quarry (Continuum, Jumblies Theatre, soprano Sarah Albu) Namedropping pick-up zone! (organizations and people mentioned): James Rolfe (composer): www.jamesrolfe.ca Continuum Contemporary Music: www.continuummusic.ca Jumblies Theatre: www.jumbliestheatre.org - Artistic Director Ruth Howard, Gather Round Singers, Choir Director Shifra Cooper Community Arts Guild: http://communityartsguild.ca - Artistic Director Beth Helmers VIVA Singers: www.vivasingerstoronto.com - Artistic Director Carol Woodward Ratzlaff David Fallis (conductor): www.deanartists.com/david-fallis St. Lawrence String Quartet: www.slsq.com ------- CREDITS: Fresh Sounds / Open Ears is hosted, edited and produced by Alex Eddington: www.AlexEddington.com Logo 1.0 design and administrative support by Stephanie Chua. Theme music by Saman Shahi. Hear more of his work at samanshahimusic.com Fresh Sounds is presented by the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects (ACNMP): acnmp.ca
In this episode, Dr. Ashley Pribyl interviews Dominican conductor/composer and current St. Louis resident Darwin Aquino. Join them as they discuss the history of classical music on the island of Hispaniola, the important impact of El Sistema in Latin America, how the publishing industry impacts composer diversity, and Aquino's own journey of becoming a world-renowned composer and conductor. They also discuss the wide variety of amazing music by Latinx composers, giving quite a few specific examples for you to explore! Listen to more of his music at www.darwinaquino.com. The theme for MOSY Motifs is the overture to Treemonisha by Scott Joplin, recorded by Cristian Chiappini & Orchestra dell'Università di Firenze. Music examples: Charles P. Phillips performs “4 Danzas” by Ludovic LamotheBBC Symphony Orchestra, Finale from Engima Variations by Edward ElgarYouth Orchestra of the Americas and the Dom. Rep. National Youth Orchestra, Yo Aminicana by Darwin AquinoFrankfurt Radio Symphony, Danzas de Ballet “Estancia” by Alberto GinasteraPhilharmonie de Paris, La Noche de los Mayas by Silvestre RevueltasHeidelberg Youth Chamber Orchestra, Fuga con Pajarillo by Aldamaro Romero These complete examples, as well as more music related to this episode, can be found here or on our YouTube page.Support the show (https://themosy.org/donate/)Support the show
Two talented flute playing brothers Ross & Jake Houston are the recipients of many awards such as Young Musician of the Year NI and have both played with Ulster Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Ross currently studies at the Royal Academy of Music and Jake will soon embark on studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.
In this special podcast episode, we celebrate International Women's Day (8 March 2021). An episode not only celebrating the achievements of women in music, but also music itself, and all of those who are engaged with it and making the effort to take it out of any one particular box. In this lively conversation, we are excited to be joined by three knowledgeable and passionate panellists: Dobrinka Tabakova – a multi-award-winning composer born in Bulgaria who has lived in the UK for over 25 years. As well as writing extensively for the concert hall she has also composed for film and dance projects – and amongst her commissioners are the Royal Philharmonic Society, BBC Radio 3 and the European Broadcasting Union. Her music is performed worldwide – and her debut profile album String Paths, on ECM Records, was nominated for a Grammy in 2014. In 2017 she was appointed composer-in-residence with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Sarah Alexander – Chief Executive and Artistic Director, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, named Orchestra Manager of the Year in the 2015 Association of British Orchestras/Rhinegold Awards and awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year's Honours list. When accepting that award Sarah spoke of the NYO being unique. Through the groundbreaking initiatives brought in under Sarah's stewardship, its teenage musicians have continued to share their knowledge and love of orchestral music with thousands of other teenagers, both encouraging others musically and bringing musical inspiration directly into the lives of many who may never have heard a live orchestra before. James Murphy – Chief Executive, Royal Philharmonic Society – before that he was Managing Director of Southbank Sinfonia, and previously Communications Director at NYO. He made Southbank Sinfonia the first UK orchestra to hire an equal number of male and female guest conductors and substantially raised the proportion of music is performed by women. His advocacy for gender equality continues at the RPS whose Women Conductors programme has given over 500 women the chance to try their hand and further their skills at conducting. This episode is hosted by HP's Lydia Connolly, Director and Head of Artist Management at HarrisonParrott. Useful links and resources Connect with Dobrinka: Website: dobrinka.com Instagram: instagram.com/dobrinka_tabakova Facebook: facebook.com/DobrinkaTabakovaComposer Connect with Sarah: Website: nyo.org.uk Ode to Joy project: nyo.org.uk/ode-to-joy Instagram: instagram.com/nyo_gb Twitter: twitter.com/NYO_GB Facebook: facebook.com/NYOGB Connect with James: Website: philharmonicsociety.uk Twitter: twitter.com/RoyalPhilSoc James Recommends: Daffodil Perspective: thedaffodilperspective.com Donne UK: donne-uk.org This is the second episode in our ‘Under the Spotlight' podcast mini-series where we shine a light on ‘challenging' topics in the arts, and focus on guests living these experiences and who are working to create change in the sector. The Culture Bar is a podcast series created by HarrisonParrott focussing on conversations in culture and the arts. #theculturebar A special thank you to Robert Cochrane as the composer of the theme tune music, and Merlyn Thomas our editor. Use #theculturebar or follow us on Twitter @_TheCultureBar to keep up with our latest releases
This episode features Scottish composer Jay Capperauld discussing his BBC Proms debut in 2020. "Circadian Refrains (172 Days Until Dawn)" was premiered with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Alpesh Chauhan. The full concert can be viewed on BBC iPlayer. Jay also chats about his influences musical and otherwise ranging from books and films to broken plates and jumpy CD players! Jay has written for various ensembles including BBC Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The National Youth Orchestra of Scotland, Psappha Ensemble, Hebrides Ensemble, The Wallace Collection, Red Note Ensemble and many more. With special thanks to performers: Afterlife - The Third Death Lewis Banks (Saxophone) Marianna Abrahamyan (Piano) The Pathos of Broken Things Katherine Bryan (Flute) Heroin Chic Bryan Allen (Conductor) RCS Big Band Dehumanised Shock Absorbers Workers Union Ensemble Ear to the Ground keeps you in the loop with interviews and gig alerts from Scotland's top-notch composers. Hosted by Aileen Sweeney and Ben Eames. Sound edited by Mia Eames. Website Links: https://www.jaycapperauld.com/ https://www.eartothegroundscotland.com/
Podcast sponsorwww.houghtonshorns.comSteven Woomert joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Trumpet in 2014. He has appeared as the Acting Principal Trumpet of the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra and has performed with the Barbados Classical Pops All Star Orchestra, New World Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.Born in Toronto, Steven began his musical studies at age five on violin and added trumpet studies at age 11. He completed his Bachelor of Music degree at Northwestern University, where he studied with Barbara Butler, Charles Geyer, and Christopher Martin. While he was at Northwestern, he was a member of the school’s entry that won First Prize in the Ensemble Division at the 2012 National Trumpet Competition. Steven continued his studies at The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory in Toronto where he studied with Andrew McCandless. In 2013, he was the winner of the International Trumpet Guild Orchestral Excerpts Competition. Steven has participated in many summer festivals, including the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, National Academy Orchestra, Banff Festival Orchestra, National Orchestral Institute, National Repertory Orchestra, and Spoleto Festival USA.Steven and his father Barton have commissioned and recorded a CD of brand new music for two trumpets and piano, entitled Tandem. Besides performing, Steven enjoys joining some of his TSO colleagues on their volleyball team (The Gustav Bahlers).Support the show (https://thatsnotspit.com/support/)
We have traveled back to America this episode with an interview with a young, up-and-coming composer from North Carolina, Tyson Davis. He began composing music at 8 and just graduated from the North Carolina School for the Arts where he made some seriously big waves with his music and artistry while studying with Lawrence Dillon. He began his first year of college at Juilliard this year and has many, many accomplishments. In 2019, he worked with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America and Antonio Pappano to premiere his work, Delicate Tension , that had been commissioned by the American Embassy in Berlin for the 30 th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also recently won the 68 th BMI Student Composer Awards as well as the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award. I met this welcoming and warm young man while doing a deep dive on Instagram. His music is beautiful, terse, passionate, and gifted beyond his years. Like myself, he is passionate about social equality and we are going to talk to him about depicting the real world in a musical form. Guest: Tyson Davis Tyson Davis YouTube Channel - www.youtube.com/channel/UCie6RcSdQoYIx6a_ru6svUA?view_as=subscriber ( https://l.facebook.com/l.php?h=AT0ROccLX-QgvfHhcr4ZRJJt0xHz-P62ZgDwcmjRVJO53TSRUmSAknQbml7XQZUeSs2Mj1ExLu70KaGWCc6xley3oeMIfmq88oxzpUMNvUFJAHFQySURlLkb6d4CZXC8OeRbxnZWNW7fHsvNCG3aRAef5cMhJmNkJqQJnJA&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fchannel%2FUCie6RcSdQoYIx6a_ru6svUA%3Fview_as%3Dsubscriber%26fbclid%3DIwAR3gU1RPJQltaxtqlZQ_5AZdSufloOvym3o0O7TGc_oDKBUBENt1wd_TZYQ ) Music Included in this Episode: Delicate Tension (2019) by Tyson Davis. Performed by the National Youth Orchestra. © Tyson Davis 2019. Tableau No. IV, for solo bassoon by Tyson Davis. Performed by Daniel Matsukawa. © Tyson Davis 2018. Hosts: William F. Montgomery - www.williammontgomerycomposer.com ( http://www.williammontgomerycomposer.com/ ) Hillary Lester - www.thehealthymusiciansite.com ( http://www.thehealthymusiciansite.com/ ) Donations Link - https://app.redcircle.com/shows/b1eba219-2869-4000-a36d-a5873d9fb5d1/donations Links for social media: Host site link - https://redcircle.com/shows/sounds-of-the-world Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/soundsoftheworldpodcast Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/soundsoftheworldpodcast Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sounds-of-the-world/id1532113091 © Sounds of the World Podcast 2020 Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/sounds-of-the-world/donations
SHOW NOTES: Trumpet Player Elmer Churampi, from Peru talks about how discipline has been key for his success as a musician and how having a positive mindset have help him overcome challenges in his career He began playing the trumpet when he was four years old with his father who is also a trumpet player that plays on street bands. Elmer was invited to be part of the National Youth Orchestra of Peru when he was seven years old and was a soloist three times with the National Symphony of Peru at the ages of 7, 8 and 9 performing Carnaval de Venecia, the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and the Arutunian Trumpet Concerto. When he was 10 years old, he was accepted to the National Conservatory of Music from Peru. Elmer was invited to be part of the professional orchestra of the Conservatory of Peru as a second trumpet when he was 12. At the age of 13, he played concerts with the Orquesta de los Reyes, the Opera Orchestra from Peru. In 2010 he attended the Interlochen Summer Camp with a full scholarship, playing first trumpet in every concert. Elmer was accepted to the Interlochen Arts Academy with a full scholarship and studied for three years with Ken Larson. During that time, Elmer won competitions including Young Artist in 2013, Jack Kent Cooke Award in 2013 and the Interlochen Young Artist Award in 2013. Elmer was also interviewed and featured on the radio program From the Top. He was invited by Mark Gould and Jen Lindemann to perform at the Banff Center of Arts in the brass festival in 2013. During his freshman year, Elmer won the concerto competition at New England Conservatory as well as the MTNA brass competition in Chicago. In 2015 and 2016, Elmer won first place in the National Trumpet Competition in the undergraduate division. He also won the Young Artist brass award in Texas. In 2017, Elmer was the soloist for the Boston Philharmonic in the South America tour, recently Elmer was the winner of the Boston Pops concert Competition. Elmer recently graduated from the New England Conservatory with a bachelors in trumpet performance under the instruction of Ben Wright and Tom Rolfs, Second and Principal Trumpet of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Elmer has played with the Boston Pops, the Boston Symphony and the Chicago Symphony. Look up more information: Support the show: If you find value in this Podcast, please consider leaving a review on Apple Podcast. It would help me reach more people and I would be forever grateful! You can make a donation to the show via venmo @satsvara or Paypal punsuspensivo@gmail.com It helps me to keep creating content for you. You can also make a donation through anchor here to help me keep creating content for all of you https://anchor.fm/satsvarapodcast/support CONNECT WITH(guest) : * Instagram: @Elmerchurampitrumpet CONNECT WITH ME : * Instagram : @sat.svara * YouTube Channel : http://www.youtube.com/puntosuspensivo * Website: http:/www.satsvara.squarespace.com OTHER: This Podcast was distributed by Anchor: anchor.fm/app Cover art: Natalie Osorio Intro Music: Blossom - SOMM --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/satsvarapodcast/support
Stephen Bell has been a friend for many years and always fun to chat with. I find out what we have to thank the National Youth Orchestra of Canada for, what method he uses to learn over 400 new works in a season and what his 6 year old daughter is better at than him! A really enjoyable chat with a lovely gent.
For this episode, I bring you a powerful conversation with world-renowned Alexander Technique teacher Lori Schiff. As Lori shares on her website, the Alexander Technique “is a method for living better through your own mindfulness in action.” It can help you gain confidence and reduce pain, tension and fatigue. It allows you to connect with yourself to nourish presence and mobility and, from there, leads to performing better in all areas of your life. Lori expands on: How Alexander Technique affected her life and her journey Who the Alexander Technique is for What the Alexander Technique is: a method for living that teaches us to pay attention and choose our reactions to stimuli How the Alexander Technique encourages the connection with our self – our wholeness – and the development of conscious control (mind body connector) How the Alexander Technique is a means to more freedom, for the whole person and their whole life How it can help in class and in lessons, in the practice room, and on stage This is an information and inspiration packed episode and I know you will appreciate Lori's knowledge and wisdom and lover her energy as much as I did! MORE ABOUT LORI SCHIFF: Website: http://lorischiff.com/ Ms. Schiff is a full-time professor of The Alexander Technique at The Juilliard School and a guest teaching artist for various schools and organizations nationally and internationally. She has been a faculty member of The Juilliard School since 1991 and was in residence at The Aspen Music Festival and School from 1993 - 2015. Ms. Schiff joined The Riverside Initiative for The Alexander Technique as Associate Director and Senior Teacher for Teacher Training in 2018. Ms. Schiff was Certified as a Teacher of the Alexander Technique at ACAT-New York in 1987. She continued with years of postgraduate training with Walter and Dilys Carrington at the Constructive Teaching Centre in London. She is a graduate of the Northwestern University School of Music in Trumpet Performance and has her Masters in Music from Manhattan School of Music. She served as the Alexander Technique Teacher for the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, and at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. She also served on the senior faculty of the American Center for the Alexander Technique's Teacher Certification Program. Institutions where she has been a guest teaching artist include: The New World Symphony, The U.S. Military Academy Band at West Point, The U.S. Army Field Band and U.S. Army Soldier's Chorus, The San Diego Symphony, ToneBank International Music Festival, National Youth Orchestra of China, University of Maryland Opera Studio, and The Internationale Meistersinger Akademie in Neumarkt, Germany. She has presented Master Classes at institutions including The Metropolitan Opera, Opera America, West Point Military Academy, Fort Meade, The Academy (ACJW) at Carnegie Hall, Manhattan School of Music, Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, The National Orchestral Institute, The Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestra and The New York Youth Symphony, Theater Aspen, MorseLife Senior Residences, and Holland and Knight, LLP. In 2013, she assisted in organizing and taught the Alexander Technique for actress and playwright, Anna Deavere Smith's Acting and Empathy course in San Francisco. She returned to San Francisco in 2014 to work with Ms. Smith's course, Personal Narratives: Global Identities. Ms. Schiff is a recognized senior teacher of the Alexander Technique by the American Society for the Alexander Technique and has presented master classes at the AmSAT Annual Meetings in San Francisco, Ann Arbor, Las Vegas, New York City, Boston, and Minneapolis. She was a guest lecturer on Teaching the Alexander Technique in schools of music for The International Congress for the Alexander Technique in Lugano, Switzerland. Ms. Schiff served on the Board of Directors of the Aspen Music Festival and School as Chair of the Music Committee for nine years and was President and Chairman of the Board of The American Center for the Alexander Technique for five years. More recently, she completed two years on the Board of Directors of The American Society for the Alexander Technique. Ms. Schiff has a private Alexander Technique practice in NYC. She is the founding director of Flight Feather Productions, LLC, an organization for creating and supporting uplifting educational experiences for corporate and artistic communities. With composer Lance Horne, she is the Co-Director of Creativity Lab, a program for inspiring community and collaboration through collective creativity. As a committed recreational runner, she has completed four marathons, several half marathons, and countless 10ks, 5 Milers, 4 Milers, and 5ks. Visit www.mindoverfinger.com and sign up for my newsletter to get your free guide to a super productive practice using the metronome! This guide is the perfect entry point to help you bring more mindfulness and efficiency into your practice and it's filled with tips and tricks on how to use that wonderful tool to take your practicing and your playing to new heights! Don't forget to visit the Mind Over Finger Resources' page to check out amazing books recommended by my podcast guests, as well as my favorite websites, cds, the podcasts I like to listen to, and the practice and podcasting tools I use everyday! Find it here: www.mindoverfinger.com/resources! And don't forget to join the Mind Over Finger Tribe for additional resources on practice and performing! If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review on iTunes! I truly appreciate your support! THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme! Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Thank you to Susan Blackwell for the introduction! You can find out more about Susan, her fantastic podcast The Spark File, and her work helping creatives of all backgrounds expand their impact by visiting https://www.susanblackwell.com/home. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly! MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/
Impact Leaders - Impact Investment and Performance with Purpose
MR Saker Nusseibeh, CBE is CEO of the international business of Federated Hermes, appointed November 2011, having joined in June 2009 as CIO. He is also a member of the Federated Hermes Executive team. Prior to this, Saker was Global Head of Equities at Fortis Investments, having previously been CIO Global Equities since 2005. Before this, he was CIO of Global Equities and Head of Marketing for SGAM UK. This followed SGAM’s acquisition of Trust Company of the West, where Saker was a Managing Director running global and international strategies, as well the London office. He started his career at Mercury Asset Management in 1987. Saker is founder of the 300 Club and was an inaugural member of the CFA Institute’s Future of Finance Advisory Council from 2013 until 2019. He is a member of the IIRC Council, the FCA-PRA Climate Financial Risk Forum, the United Nations Environmental Programme Financial Initiative Steering Committee, the Banking Standards Board, the UK National Advisory Board on Impact Investing, and the advisory Board of the National Youth Orchestra. In 2018, Saker was named CEO of the Year at the Financial News Asset Management Europe Awards. He has a BA and PhD in Medieval History from King's College, University of London. Saker was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the Queen’s 2019 New Year's Honours list for services to Responsible Business and Finance. Enjoy this epidose! Highlights: Being good is good business. Beating benchmarks and creating a pot at the end of a period just heuristics. These are just shorthand. We don't live in an isolated bubble called the financial world. We live in the real world, in real communities with real neighbours in the real space. In reality, we control most of the capital markets in the world, so we have the ability to shape the world in a way that is beneficial to us. The reason you invest is you want to grow the economy that you want to live in. Every investment you make has an impact on your life, not just on your portfolio but on your life. Challenge -> Misunderstanding Adam Smith - the moral philosopher: “happiness, perhaps the preservation of his existence again, all right, his contentment, happiness here means contentment, the preservation of his existence, his very life depends upon what its preservation preserving what the prosperity of society“. COVID has generated the debate. What is it that we as a developed society care about? We should care about the life of all citizens including citizens who are not economically productive - that’s what pensioners are in harsh economic terms. Do we care about citizens’ lives or do we care about pure financial economic growth? We have a shared assumption, the shared assumption that we have is that it's possible in the financial sector to combine being really technically excellent at what you do, while at the same time being truly a decent human being. We call it being nice. We are privileged because of how much we get paid and where we are, therefore we should reach out to help those around us. It’s about how much giving of your time and how much do you empathise. We see ourselves as the pebble that maybe can help start the avalanche that can change the market for better. I think we are part of that movement. The key is to make change for the better. It’s not what we do, its who we are. Who we are then produces what we do. But you start with the human first, not the product. High active share managers, even the ones that are not skilled outperform benchmark and everybody else after fees from that position. People use the word alpha. I don't like the word alpha, its value. We pay half of our bonuses on “being nice”. We invented the idea of engagement. Doing stewardship is a better way of enhancing value over the long-term. I'm absolutely convinced that the trend is that it will become almost impossible for people to invest in index without investing in stewardship. I worry that if ESG becomes a trend, it becomes a label. If it becomes a label, it becomes a tick box exercise. When we talk about ESG factors, however, it seems like the market wants to have a specific box that they want to put everything into it rather than the nuance. It’s the nuances of what sustainability means, what governance means, that adds value in reality. What moves companies is not just financials. There are lots of intangible assets in some of the biggest companies, in brands and reputation. Culture in banks is more important than measuring the financials. On climate change and carbon investments, to solve the problem you need 3 things to happen: Convince the company to close down or change business model Find alternative sources of what the company does Convince consumers to shift consumer behaviour Encourage oil major to shift to cleaner energy Advocate regulators to move to clean EV Change consumer behaviour e.g. move away from fast fashion and meat. Invest in alternative visions and technology. It's not a one-pill solution. You have got to do all these things. We are not interested in virtual signalling. COVID has taught us that extreme events can whack society in major ways. When I judge myself, I genuinely do not think that success is money or position or title. I think success is helping others. We receive what we have in trust from God and we have to pass it on to the next generation Every day “I judge myself”: What have I really done to make an impact? I think success is helping others If I know I’ve not done what I should do. I ask myself, have I done the best I could, in giving something back? Time Stamp: [04:40] Joining asset management in the early days [05:38] What is sustainable and impact investing [11:00] We control most of the capital markets in the world [12:45] Early works of Adam Smith as a moral philosopher [16:35] Gambling vs investing [17:35] Holistic returns vs purely financial returns [20:35] COVID debate: what and who do we care about? [23:30] Who is Federated Hermes - Leaders in Sustainability and Engagement. [29:40] The Merger of Cultures [32:06] What does being nice look like? [36:10] Reaction to George Floyd’s death [38:25] Federated Hermes AUM, EOS - Engagment and third party assets [44:50] We invented this idea of engagement [47:00] Our own academically sponsored work: ESG factors performs better [50:38] Silo mentality that says the financial system and economic system is here [54:00] Standard reporting and the obstacles to moving to a consensus [57:00] Receiving the highest rating for Real Impact Tracker certification [1:02:40] Carbon investments, divestment, replacements and climate action [1:07:57] Impact of climate change if unmitigated [1:11:33] God’s gift and the story of an old man planting an olive tree Useful links: Saker Nusseibeh CBE on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/saker-nusseibeh-cbe-6b15a85/) Federated Hermes - https://www.hermes-investment.com/uki/ Dr. Hans Christoph https://www.linkedin.com/in/andy-haldane-11877887Hirt Head of EOS on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanschristophhirt) Saker Nusseibeh on why Federated deal was right for Hermes - Financial Times (https://www.ft.com/content/ae50a970-58e8-3c27-a081-e0839f4197f8) Adam Smith as moral philosopher (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/smith-moral-political/) Adam Smith - Book: The Theory of Moral Sentiments (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Theory_of_Moral_Sentiments) Andrew Parry episode of The Impact Impact Leaders (https://audioboom.com/posts/7189177-andrew-parry-of-hermes-investment-management-sustainability-is-an-imperative-and-the-beta-of-fu) Cary Krosinski episode of The Impact Impact Leaders (https://audioboom.com/posts/7348948-cary-krosinsky-let-the-best-impact-strategy-win) Mark Campanale episode of The Impact Impact Leaders (https://audioboom.com/posts/7664052-mark-campanale-sustainability-planetary-boundaries-and-changing-capitalism) Martijn Cremers of Norte Dame on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/martijn-cremers-0925571) Active Management by Martijn Cremers - Three pillars for Active Share success (https://news.nd.edu/news/three-pillars-for-active-share-success/) Professor John Kay https://www.johnkay.com/ John Kay’s new Book: Radical Uncertainty (https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1408712601/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_oD1zFbAH7N5V3) With Marvyn King Andy Haldane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Haldane Andy Haldane on LinkedIn https://uk.linkedin.com/in/andy-haldane-11877887 Reuters: Pope backs carbon pricing (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oil-vatican-conference-idUSKCN1TF1IE) to stem global warming and appeals to deniers Real Impact Tracker highest score press release (https://www.hermes-investment.com/ukw/press-centre/corporate-news/federated-hermes-achieves-highest-score-from-real-impact-tracker-in-the-history-of-its-certification/) Real Impact Tracker Federated Hermes Summary Report (https://realimpacttracker.com/federated-hermes/) Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - Insider Article (https://www.insider.com/scientists-find-tomb-of-jesus-christ-is-older-than-people-thought-2017-11) -------- Connect with JP Dallmann on Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jp-dallmann/) , Twitter (https://twitter.com/JPDallmann) , or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/inspiredbyjp/) . Contact us to help you transition into Sustainable & Impact Investing - ILA & Partners (https://www.linkedin.com/company/impact-leaders-advisors) How to incorporate SDGs into your business model - Fast Forward 2030 (http://fastforward2030.com/) Impact Leaders is produced by Podcast Publishing (http://podcastpublishing.help/) -------- Important: The content shared on this podcast does not constitute a request, offer, recommendation or solicitation of any kind to buy, subscribe, sell or redeem any investment instruments or to perform other such transactions of any kind.
Crisis Textline - text 741741 to be connected with someone to talk to anytime, day or nightNational Suicide Prevention Hotline - 1-800-273-8255Jarrett’s playing has been called “magnificent” by the Palm Beach Daily News and “warm, romantic and seamless” by the South Florida Classical Review. Jarrett has performed with a number of different high-level ensembles, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Flint Symphony Orchestra, the Ann Arbor Symphony, and the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Jarrett has performed under classical conductors such as Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Spano, Simon Rattle, Susanna Mälkki and Peter Eötvös, as well as alongside jazz heavyweights such as Esperanza Spalding, Wayne Bergeron and Nicholas Payton.Jarrett has won several international competitions, including the New World Symphony Concerto Competition, the Marta Hidy Competition for Brass in Toronto, and concerto competitions across Canada and the U.S. Most notably, he won the top prize in the brass category of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal’s prestigious Standard Life Competition in 2014, becoming the first tubist to do so in the competition’s 75-year history. Additionally, Jarrett was a finalist in the XVI Tchaikovsky Competition (the inaugural year for brass participants) in St. Petersburg, Russia, and the only North American tubist to participate in the live rounds. Jarrett has performed as a soloist with the New World Symphony, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Toronto, the University of Western Ontario Wind Ensemble and Jazz Ensemble, and the London Concert Band. During the summers, Jarrett has performed with the Verbier Festival Orchestra, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, the Spoleto USA Festival Orchestra, the Aspen Festival Orchestra and the Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific. Jarrett was recently a guest on the popular Brass Junkies podcast, speaking largely about ways to improve one’s mental health as a musician in the 21st century. In his spare time, Jarrett volunteers with the Crisis Text Line, a global not-for-profit organization providing free crisis intervention and suicide prevention via SMS message.As an educator, Jarrett was formerly on faculty at New World School of the Arts at Miami Dade College, and has also served on faculty at the National Youth Orchestra of the United States and at Expressions Music Academy in Troy, Michigan.He earned a Bachelor of Music (Tuba Performance) with a minor in Ethics at the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 2013 and two Masters degrees (one in Tuba Performance and the other in Chamber Music) at the University of Michigan in 2015. His principal teachers have been Brent Adams, Dennis Nulty, Fritz Kaenzig, Craig Knox, Warren Deck and Gene Pokorny. Jarrett is a Miraphone Artist and performs on the 1281 Petrushka F Tuba.Support the show (https://thatsnotspit.com/support/)
Hello Everyone and welcome back to The Business Lieder Podcast. I'm breaking my Corona slump and releasing two brand new episodes with the amazing Aubrey Foard of the Baltimore Symphony and Seth Horner of the North Carolina Symphony. This is a great time for a tuba twofer because Aubrey and Seth, along with a few other tuba geniuses are hosting a very exciting bootcamp for tuba and euphonium players next week! The camp is called Back to School Tune-Up With The Pros and the faculty is amazing. These virtuosos come from some of the top orchestras in the country and can be heard in movies like the live-action Lion King, IT 2, and Batman vs. Superman. This bootcamp is a week-long with lessons, masterclasses, evening Q&A sessions and panel discussions all for $260. The website is www.tubabootcamp.com or find them on Instagram @backtoschooltuneup, and I highly encourage you to attend if you are able. All that being said, I am very excited to introduce today's guest, Seth Horner. I've known Seth for a few years now and he is one of the smartest and kindest musicians you'll ever come across. I think you will really love hearing his story and approach to life and the instrument. I've attached his bio below for your reading pleasure:A native of Eugene, Oregon, Seth Horner joined the North Carolina Symphony as Principal Tuba in 2017. Horner was the acting principal tuba of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three seasons and held faculty appointments teaching tuba and euphonium at Towson University and the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University. At the age of 19, Seth served a one-year position as principal tuba of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop, and has held positions as the principal tuba of the West Virginia Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra. Horner attended the Peabody Institute, and was an honors graduate of the University of Oregon and valedictorian of his class at the Curtis Institute of Music.Horner performed frequently with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) prior to assuming a full-time position in 2014 including the BSO's west coast tour and its 2010 and 2014 Carnegie Hall appearances with Marin Alsop. He can be heard on the BSO's two most recent albums featuring the symphonies of Leonard Bernstein conducted by Marin Alsop. Horner has also performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Louisville Orchestra, Oregon Symphony, and New World Symphony among others. He has made chamber music appearances with the Washington Symphonic Brass, the Bay Street Brassworks, and the Clipper City Brass. Horner was a featured soloist with the Capital Wind Symphony in Vienna, VA, and received honorable mention at the 2010 International Tuba and Euphonium Conference.Seth Horner has served as a faculty member for Carnegie Hall's National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America as well as Carnegie's NYO2. In the summer, he has been on the faculty of Wyoming Seminary's Performing Arts Institute in Kingston, PA, as instructor of tuba and euphonium as well as performing with the Oregon Bach Festival and Britt Festival orchestras. Horner has been a visiting instructor at the University of Oregon and Ithaca College.
On today’s episode we have the pleasure of speaking with performer, author and public speaker David Pearl. He shares the story behind Street Wisdom and the key insights from his new book 'Wanderful: Human Navigation for a Complex World' on this AFH episode. David worked at the Royal Opera House as the boy soprano soloist for 4 years and Later in his life he played Double Bass, touring as a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In 2009, David founded a not-for-profit social enterprise called Street Wisdom and we dig into this international, volunteer-led, movement that is active in more than 20 countries. We also talk about his latest book Wanderful, playing the piano, helping others, urban mindfulness and how to use the streets to answer questions. Hit me up @mindfulnews.uk Gui
This episode features beautiful music and interviews selected out of From the Top's 20 year deep archive including a rambunctious performance by a 14-year-old pianist, a young bassoonist who shares the moving story of falling in love with the bassoon during difficult times ... and the National Youth Orchestra of America performs the music of Leonard Bernstein.
This episode features beautiful music and interviews selected out of From the Top's 20 year deep archive including a rambunctious performance by a 14-year-old pianist, a young bassoonist who shares the moving story of falling in love with the bassoon during difficult times ... and the National Youth Orchestra of America performs the music of Leonard Bernstein.
On today’s episode we have the pleasure of speaking with performer, author and public speaker David Pearl. David worked at the Royal Opera House as the boy soprano soloist for 4 years and Later in his life he played Double Bass, touring as a member of the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. In 2009, David founded a not-for-profit social enterprise called Street Wisdom and we dig into this international, volunteer-led, movement that is active in more than 20 countries. We also talk about his latest book Wanderful, playing the piano, helping others, urban mindfulness and how to use the streets to answer questions. Action for Happiness is a movement of people committed to building a happier and more caring society. You can join thousands of others who are spreading a bit more happiness in their homes, workplaces, schools and local communities. Our website has all the information you need to sign up for our ‘exploring what matters course’ and also details about facilitating one yourself, all the information is online, and we are here to answer any questions you have. Don’t forget to subscribe, like and follow to keep up to date with all our content. Find out more at AFH.org. Join the movement, be the change. Gui @mindfulnews.uk
Lauren DeRoller visits the Gateway to talk about her career as a violinist. The daughter of a small-town violin teacher in Hubbard, Nova Scotia, she started playing the instrument by the time she was four years old. Lauren shares the moment, as a 16 year old, when she decided she wanted to make her career as a violinist. Playing her first orchestra rehearsal with The National Youth Orchestra of Canada she was forever changed by the power of Richard Strauss' Don Juan. Howard and Lauren review her career as she improved from student to touring musician to graduate student and finally as a regular performer with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. They also review Lauren's most recent musical projects that are much more personally and improvisationally oriented. And throughout Lauren talks about her current infatuation with personality tests and evaluations that help her understand her interpersonal choices and instincts. Spotify Playlist of songs referenced or played on the episode: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4yBxXeM6Gv0pILuFWyDUyg?si=3f5u_7QKTnq0l4U9LS-e-Q You can also access this podcast on Spotify, Stitcher and all other platforms that peddle podcasts. If you have an apple product you can access the show on iTunes/Apple Podcasts at: Facebook: www.facebook.com/Gatewaymusicpodcast/
In this week's episode, Demarre McGill, principal flute with the Seattle Symphony, discusses the building blocks of efficient and mental practice: having discipline, nurturing energy, focusing on beauty, and applying patience in our approach. Demarre also elaborates on the importance of: The “starter teachers” and the diverse support system a young musician needs to blossom Combining discipline, spirit, and energy Being an excellent colleague Patience in slow practice, and how it helps us learn faster Finding the soul of the music & focusing on beauty Providing musical context to fix technical issues Focusing on the music to get in the right headspace for a performance Confronting the things we are not comfortable with in preparation for performances Contributing to your community Not giving up in the face of rejection Staying hungry in order to grow The Mind Over Finger Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtQSB1IVNJ4a2afT1iUtSfA/videos Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to get your free guide to a super productive practice using the metronome! This guide is the perfect entry point to help you bring more mindfulness and efficiency into your practice and it's filled with tips and tricks on how to use that wonderful tool to take your practicing and your playing to new heights! TURN THE METRONOME ON AND START PRACTICING BETTER AND LEARNING FASTER RIGHT NOW! GET YOUR FREE METRONOME GUIDE TODAY AT www.mindoverfinger.com!!!! MORE ABOUT DEMARRE: Website: https://www.demarremcgill.com/ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVTwhPRg3lnSTSWxTROWz2w Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/demarremcgillflute/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/demarremcgill/ The Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth - Learning with the Masters featuring DSO flutist Demarre McGill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DK_dsbJsw0o Demarre McGill has gained international recognition as a soloist, recitalist, chamber and orchestral musician. Winner of an Avery Fisher Career Grant and the Sphinx Medal of Excellence, he has appeared as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Seattle, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Grant Park, San Diego and Baltimore symphony orchestras and, at age 15, the Chicago Symphony. Now principal flute of the Seattle Symphony, he previously served as principal flute of the Dallas Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Florida Orchestra, and Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. He recently served as acting principal flute of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and earlier with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. As an educator, Demarre has performed, coached and presented master classes in South Africa, Korea, Japan, Quebec and throughout the United States. With his brother Anthony, he was a speaker and performer at the 2018 League of American Orchestras Conference. He has also served on the faculties of the National Youth Orchestra of the United States, the National Orchestral Institute (NOI) at the University of Maryland, the Orford Music Festival, and participated in Summerfests at the Curtis Institute of Music. In August of 2019, he was named Associate Professor of Flute at Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is an artist-faculty member of the Aspen Music Festival and School. A founding member of The Myriad Trio, and former member of Chamber Music Society Two, Demarre has participated in the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Seattle and Stellenbosch chamber music festivals, to name a few. He is the co-founder of The Art of Élan and, along with clarinetist Anthony McGill and pianist Michael McHale, founded the McGill/McHale Trio in 2014. Their first CD, "Portraits," released in August 2017, has received rave reviews, as has "Winged Creatures," his recording with Anthony McGill and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2019-20 the McGill/McHale Trio performs at New York City's 92nd Street Y, as well as in Washington D.C. and on chamber music series throughout the Midwest. Media credits include appearances on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center, A & E Network's The Gifted Ones, NBC's Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and, with his brother Anthony when they were teenagers, on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. A native of Chicago, Demarre McGill began studying the flute at age 7 and attended the Merit School of Music. In the years that followed, until he left Chicago, he studied with Susan Levitin. Demarre received his bachelor's degree from The Curtis Institute of Music and a Master's degree at The Juilliard School. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review on iTunes! I truly appreciate your support! Visit www.mindoverfinger.com for information about past and future podcasts, and for more resources on mindful practice. Join the Mind Over Finger Tribe here! https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfingertribe/ THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme! Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly! MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/
This special edition of the ECS Publishing Group Podcast is meant to be used as a companion to the all-new ECS Publishing Group Spring 2020 Choral Catalog. Selections appear in catalog order. Enjoy listening to our new releases!Included WorksAn Alleluia Flourish – Julian Wachner (8733)This Is Thy Hour – Michael John Trotta (1.3581)Clear and Sweet Is My Soul – Michael John Trotta (1.3582)Jesu dulcis memoria – Connor Koppin (50-0305)Spring Carol – Michael John Trotta (1.3575)Today I Will – Ellen Gilson Voth (1.3578)Lead Us Home – Matthew Emery (1.3574)Refuge – Craig Carnahan (1.3577)Little Boy Blue – Ken Berg (1.3555)Listen, I Love You – Stephen Chatman (8801)Love Me – Stephen Chatman (8802)Do You Love for Beauty? – Gustav Mahler/Stanley M. Hoffman (8739)She Walks in Beauty – Gwyneth Walker (8834)Responsorials – Eric William Barnum (1.3572)Your Hand in Mine – Connor Koppin (1.3571)Black Pierrot: Jazzonia – William Averitt (8829)Gelobet Sei Gott – Tim Sarsany (1.3576)My People Are Rising – Carol Barnett (8759)Pueri Hebræorum – Randall Thompson/James Rodde (8845)Recording CreditsRecorded by The Singers, under the direction of Matthew Culloton, Minneapolis, MN. Recording Engineer: David Trembley, Soundmaster Productions.1.3578 Western Connecticut State University Choir, Spring 2019.1.3574 Recorded by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Used by permission.1.3555 The Birmingham Boys Choir, Ken Berg, Director. Used by permission.1.3572 Recorded by The Wartburg Choir, Lee Nelson, Director.1.3571 Recorded by Northern Arizona University Shrine of the Ages Choir, Edith Copley, Conductor.8829 Recorded by the University Singers and New Music Ensemble of the University of Missouri, under the direction of Paul Crabb. Used by permission.1.3576 Recorded by the Columbus International Children's Choir.8759 Recorded by the Elektra Women's Choir, Morna Edmundson, Artistic Director, with Nancy DiNovo, violin, and Michael Jarrett, percussion. Used by permission.8845 Recorded by the Iowa Statesmen of Iowa State University. Used by permission.
In this episode, Marc Damoulakis, principal percussionist with the Cleveland Orchestra, discusses the importance of mindful exploration, flexibility, and patience in the learning process, time management, how to create a connection between our concept of sound and the motions necessary to execute that vision successfully, and he sends us off with very wise parting words! He elaborates on: How being competitive with himself helped him get to the next level in his career and how a healthy competitive mindset can be helpful to grow as a musician The learning process behind mastering so many instruments How learning other instruments can help us make new neural connections and expand our skills on our main instrument The Importance of not skipping over fundamentals and developing the patience to go through the necessary process Time management skills for students Incorporating a solid routine for daily practice Physical connection that learning entails: understanding “when it feels like this, it sounds like this” Why students need to take responsibility for their own learning The holistic approach to playing his teachers taught him What a typical daily regimen looks like for him today Handling a lot of repertoire Focus – timeline = create timeline of your own – prioritization The importance of knowing how quickly you can learn and push yourself to learn faster than you think His favorite tools in the practice room How the Feldenkrais Method helped him Why he believes that there's always room at the top GET YOUR FREE METRONOME GUIDE TODAY AT www.mindoverfinger.com!!!! TURN THE METRONOME ON AND START PRACTICING BETTER AND LEARNING FASTER RIGHT NOW! MORE ABOUT MARC: The Cleveland Orchestra: https://www.clevelandorchestra.com/About/Musicians-and-Conductors/Meet-the-Musicians/A-L-Musicians/Damoulakis-Marc/ The Cleveland Institute: https://www.cim.edu/faculty/marc-damoulakis Marc Damoulakis joined The Cleveland Orchestra in August 2006 and was appointed to the principal percussion chair in 2013. He currently also teaches as a faculty member at the Cleveland Institute of Music. He also presents clinics, masterclasses, and workshops at institutions and festivals worldwide, and performs as a soloist in a wide variety of performance settings. Throughout his career, he has performed and recorded as a guest artist, including engagements with the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic. He performed and recorded with the National Brass Ensemble at Skywalker Ranch and Orchestra Hall in Chicago in 2015. An active chamber musician, Mr. Damoulakis plays regularly with the Strings Music Festival, ChamberFest Cleveland, and the Sun Valley Summer Symphony “In Focus” Series, where he is also the principal percussionist. He has performed with Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Gilmore Festival, New Music Consort, and the Pulse Percussion Ensemble. In addition, Mr. Damoulakis is a founding member of the Time Table Percussion Quartet. As a teacher, Marc Damoulakis has students holding positions in major symphony orchestras throughout the world and has led masterclasses and clinics throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. He is committed to a biannual week-long teaching residency at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and is a regular participant in the North Western Percussion Symposium, and the National Youth Orchestra. In addition, he serves as a judge of the annual Modern Snare Drum Competition. In addition to his current work at CIM, he taught for seven years as a faculty member at DePaul University. As a collaborative three-year project, he developed the K symphonic line of cymbals with the Zildjian Cymbal Company, instruments that are an important part of his sound collection with The Cleveland orchestra. Prior to coming to Cleveland, Mr. Damoulakis lived and worked in New York, where he performed and recorded with the New York Philharmonic (2003-2006), served as principal timpani of the Long Island Philharmonic (1998-2006), and held the position of assistant principal percussion of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra (2003-2006). He also performed as an active freelancer in New York, including playing in the orchestra for Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Mr. Damoulakis was exposed to music at a young age by his parents, who were both educators and musicians, in piano and tuba respectively. He later spent four summers at Tanglewood, in addition attending the Spoleto Festival and Pacific Music Festival. Marc Damoulakis holds a bachelor's degree in percussion performance from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied under Chris Lamb (New York Philharmonic), Duncan Patton (Metropolitan Opera Orchestra), and James Preiss (Steve Reich ensemble). He continued his studies for four years with the New World Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas (1999-2003). Marc and his wife, Samantha, currently reside in Cleveland Heights with their son George, daughter Helen, and their dog Rocky. If you enjoyed the show, please leave a review on iTunes! I truly appreciate your support! Visit www.mindoverfinger.com for information about past and future podcasts, and for more resources on mindful practice. Join the Mind Over Finger Tribe here! https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfingertribe/ THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme! Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly! MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/
Director John Bolton and NFB publicist Katja De Bock join to present the new wonderful NFB film “That Higher Level”, exploring what makes the National Youth Orchestra so special!
Director John Bolton and NFB publicist Katja De Bock join to present the new wonderful NFB film “That Higher Level”, exploring what makes the National Youth Orchestra so special!
Seth Horner, tubist of the North Carolina Symphony on talking to himself, studying with David Fedderly and his box of mouthpieces. Seth Horner on trusting your gut, turning down a military band gig and phrasing. From his website: A native of Eugene, Oregon, Seth Horner is the newly-appointed principal tuba of the North Carolina Symphony in Raleigh, NC. Horner was the acting-principal tuba of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for three seasons beginning in 2014, served as part-time instrumental faculty teaching tuba and euphonium at Towson University for three semesters, and in winter of 2017 Horner was selected as the tuba instructor at the Peabody Conservatory before relocating to North Carolina. At the age of 19, Seth served a one-year position as principal tuba of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop and has held positions as the principal tuba of the West Virginia Symphony and the Oregon Ballet Theatre Orchestra. Seth studied primarily with Richard Frazier, Mike Grose, Paul Krzywicki, Warren Deck, and David Fedderly. Horner attended the Peabody Conservatory, was an honors graduate of the University of Oregon and was valedictorian of his class at the Curtis Institute of Music. Seth had performed frequently with the Baltimore Symphony prior to assuming a full-time position in 2014 and performed during the BSO’s west coast tour and its 2010, 2014, and 2016 Carnegie Hall appearances with Marin Alsop. He can be heard on the BSO’s two most recent albums featuring the symphonies of Leonard Bernstein conducted by Marin Alsop (Naxos), as well as Ms. Alsop's recording with the Colorado Symphony of Roy Harris Symphonies 3 and 4 (Naxos). Horner has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony, Kennedy Center Opera, New Jersey Symphony, Louisville Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and New World Symphony among others. He has made chamber music appearances with the Washington Symphonic Brass, the Bay Street Brassworks, and the Clipper City Brass. Horner was a featured soloist with the Capital Wind Symphony in Vienna, VA, and was a finalist at the 2010 International Tuba and Euphonium Conference. Seth Horner has served as an audition panel member and coach for Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the United States of America as well as Carnegie’s NYO2. In the summer, he has been on the faculty of Wyoming Seminary’s Performing Arts Institute in Kingston, PA as the instructor of tuba and euphonium as well as performing with the Oregon Bach Festival and Britt Festival orchestras. Mr. Horner has given masterclasses at the University of Oregon, Ithaca University, and Towson University. Seth resides in Durham, NC. In this fun and lively episode, we cover: Lance is grumpy (and whelmed) Seth talking to himself Life is good Being a professional tuba player is the best gig in the world Andrew's coffee issues Saints and Rams controversy The Durham NC minor league baseball team (the Bulls, from Bull Durham fame) His fiance found his box of mouthpieces and questioned the whole relationship Mike Parker's mouthpiece issues Seth's grandfather was a tuba player, had a family band Andrew's most recent Jacob's Podcast episode about an influential Rex Martin class and the influence of the mouthpiece selection Tage Larsen of the Chicago Symphony Chris Hall and Chris Hall Don't pick a fight with a child or an animal Playing in the Baltimore Symphony for three seasons after David Fedderly's retirement Studying with Fedderly Baltimore Brass Company (and how it compared to working with the BSO) Dave Fedderly: Action-packed with wisdom The most important teacher of music is life The importance of phrasing and sub-phrasing Playing with the North Carolina Symphony Playing for elementary school students all over North Carolina How the state supports the organization Bubble Butt Turning down a military band position Trusting your gut Meeting Andrew at the Greensboro tuba conference (Lance was there too) The Captain's Log LINKS: https://www.sethhorner.com/ Want to help the show? Here are some ways: Help others find the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes. Show us some love on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Help us pay the bills (and get regular bonus episodes!) by becoming a Patreon patron. Show some love to our sponsors: The brass program at The Mary Pappert School of Music at Duquesne University and Parker Mouthpieces (including the Andrew Hitz and Lance LaDuke models.) Tell your friends! Expertly produced by Will Houchin with love, care, and enthusiasm.
Dr. Christine Guptill is an oboist, an occupational therapist, and an Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB. She is a leader in musicians' health research and has been a driver in changing the way musicians train through her work with such institutions as the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In this conversation, we talk about occupational therapy and occupational science, Christine's past research on the phenomenology of musicians' injuries, and her current work which is focused on empowering musicians through improved health literacy. We even talk about flow and how it might actually be a risk factor for musicians' injuries! This is a wide-ranging conversation that is full of information from the front lines of musicians' health research, as well as practical tips that musicians can apply immediately. To learn more about Christine and her work, visit https://www.ualberta.ca/rehabilitation/about-us/contact-us/faculty-directory/christine-guptill Show notes, including links mentioned in this episode, live over at musicmindandmovement.com/podcast-1/ For more about Karen, visit www.musicmindandmovement.com or connect on Facebook or Instagram @musicmindandmovement.
From East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, this week's From the Top features more than 100 young musicians from across Mainland China in their first ever public performance as the National Youth Orchestra of China under the direction of Maestro Ludovic Morlot. We hear the full ensemble perform "Rhyme of Taigu" by Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Zhou Long, a young clarinetist shares how he fell in love with the clarinet's sound at his first concert, and five members of the ensemble perform the energetic first movement of Francis Poulenc's Sextet for Piano and Wind Quintet with Christopher O'Riley.
I spoke with South African double bassist Zanelle Britz about her launching of the first ever double bass course in South Africa, which will take place December 9-12, 2018 in Cape Town. Learn more about the event and donate to support it at givengain.com/cc/doublebass. More about the South African Double Bass Course (from their website): The National Youth Orchestra is hosting our first ever course exclusively for the Double Bass! We are so excited - there are very few opportunities for bassists here and we want this to be the start of a wonderful bass community for South Africa. Wonderful teachers Roxane Steffen (principal bass at the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra), Nick Scales from the School of Music at West Texas A&M University, and Jeff Bradetich and Gudrun Raschen from the University of North Texas College of Music will be on this year's faculty. Every What It Takes course is designed specifically to cater to the needs of the participants. The course covers many aspects of professional musicianship including audition preparation, marketing of yourself as a musician, posture/injury prevention, performing with an orchestra, music history related to your instrument and individual master classes from top professionals. It gives insight into solo, chamber and orchestral playing as well as teaching and other career options. Each course also has an aspect of music education advocacy, and we will make sure to include people new to the bass in our audiences for our concerts, specially children. Bursaries for the What It Takes: Double Bass Course We have young double bass players from across South Africa that would love to attend - but more than half are not able to do so without financial assistance. With your help we can provide transport, accommodation and catering for their time in Cape Town for the duration of the course 9-12 December 2018. It costs roughly ZAR2000 for transport and ZAR2000 for the course - so each bursary candidate would need USD265 to be able to attend. All of our financial assistance applications are means tested and we make sure they go to the young musicians that really deserve the opportunity. Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: Steve Swan String Bass Steve Swan String Bass features the West Coast’s largest selection of double basses between Los Angeles and Canada. Located in Burlingame, just south of San Francisco, their large retail showroom holds about 70 basses on display. Their new basses all feature professional setups and come with a cover at no additional cost. Used and consignment instruments receive any needed repairs and upgrades before getting a display position on the sales floor. Upton Bass String Instrument Company Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. D'Addario Strings This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. The Bass Violin Shop The Bass Violin Shop offers the Southeast’s largest inventory of laminate, hybrid and carved double basses. Whether you are in search of the best entry-level laminate, or a fine pedigree instrument, there is always a unique selection ready for you to try. Trade-ins and consignments welcome! Kolstein Music The Samuel Kolstein Violin Shop was founded by Samuel Kolstein in 1943 as a Violin and Bow making establishment in Brooklyn, New York. Now on Long Island, over 60 years later, Kolstein’s has built a proud reputation for quality, craftsmanship and expertise in both the manufacture and repair of a whole range of stringed instruments, and has expanded to a staff of twelve experts in restoration, marketing and production. A440 Violin Shop An institution in the Roscoe Village neighborhood for over 20 years, A440's commitment to fairness and value means that we have many satisfied customers from the local, national, and international string playing communities. Our clients include major symphony orchestras, professional orchestra and chamber music players, aspiring students, amateur adult players, all kinds of fiddlers, jazz and commercial musicians, university music departments, and public schools. Contrabass Conversations production team: Jason Heath, host Michael Cooper and Steve Hinchey, audio editing Mitch Moehring, audio engineer Trevor Jones, publication and promotion Krista Kopper, archival and cataloging Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!
Join William Sitwell once again as he welcomes presenter, author, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Myleene Klass into the Classical Kitchen. Here, Myleene recalls charting the stars to Holt’s Jupiter, playing her grand piano on the shores of a tropical island, and never quite getting the hang of grandma’s recipes. Together they prepare and enjoy this Beautifully Simple recipe: Aberdeen Angus Steak with Walnuts and a Ponzu Sauce. If you’ve been inspired by these conversations and want to get in touch, or simply want to find out more, go to https://campaign.classicfm.com/classical-kitchen The recordings featured in this episode are: Also Sprach Zarathustra,. Strauss, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Edward Gardner, Chandos. Spartacus, Kachaturian, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, Chandos. Planets, Jupiter, Holst, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Edward Gardner, Chandos. Requiem, Mozart, Extreme. Flight of the Bumblebee, Rachmaninoff, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi, Chandos. Arabesque, Debussy, Extreme. Prelude a l'apres mini d'un faune, Debussy, Extreme. Fur Elise, Beethoven, Louis Lortie piano, Chandos. Piano Concerto No.2 - 2nd Movement, Rachmaninoff, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Bryden Thomson, Chandos. Nimrod (Enigma Variations), Elgar, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Sir Alexander Gibson, Chandos. Cello concerto - 2nd Movement, Elgar, BBC Philharmonic, Sir Andrew Davis, Chandos.
Welcome to seventh ever episode of The Mike O'Reilly Show: News and reporting and getting the facts. Today you'll meet the band leader and head philosopher of The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq. Quite likely, you'll feel motivated to sing as sweetly as an Iraqi Youth. Today's episode is sponsored by Scientology.
I'm thrilled to be chatting today with Alexandra Scott! Alexandra plays bass in the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and teaches at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, and she was a headliner for the 2017 International Society of Bassists Convention. More About Alexandra: Born in Somerset, England, Alexandra Scott began her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London. Later, whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music, she became a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, the Mahler Youth Orchestra and the UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra. She completed her bachelor of music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with “First-Class Honours” under Rinat Ibragimov. In 2005 Alexandra moved to Berlin where she held a scholarship from the Berlin Philharmonic Karajan Academy. Among her teachers at this time were Klaus Stoll, Janne Saksala and Esko Laine. At the age of 23 she was appointed Principal Double Bass with the NRD Radio Philharmonic in Hanover. Alexandra is a dedicated chamber musician and appears regularly at leading international festivals in collaboration with artists such as Lisa Batiashvili, Gautier Capuçon, Reinhold Friedrich, Francois Leleux, Vilde Frang, Valeriy Sokolov, Eduard Brunner, Sergio Azzolini und Harriet Krijgh. She often plays with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Amsterdam Sinfonietta, and is a founding member of the period instrument ensemble, L’accademia giocosa. Since May 2007, Alexandra holds the position of Sub-Principal Double Bass with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom she played as a soloist under Maris Jansons in 2015. Alexandra is also a passionate teacher. Since 2012 she has been Professor for Double Bass at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe. Alongside teaching the members of the Academy of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, she also coaches the Gustav Mahler Academy, the German Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Links to Check Out: Alexandra's Website Interview (in German) with Alexandra Listen to Contrabass Conversations with our free app for iOS, Android, and Kindle! Contrabass Conversations is sponsored by: This episode is brought to you by D’Addario Strings! Check out their Zyex strings, which are synthetic core strings that produce an extremely warm, rich sound. Get the sound and feel of gut strings with more evenness, projection and stability than real gut. The Upton Bass String Instrument Company. Upton's Karr Model Upton Double Bass represents an evolution of our popular first Karr model, refined and enhanced with further input from Gary Karr. Since its introduction, the Karr Model with its combination of comfort and tone has gained a loyal following with jazz and roots players. The slim, long “Karr neck” has even become a favorite of crossover electric players. Check out this video of David Murray "auditioning" his Upton Bass! The Bass Violin Shop, which offers the Southeast's largest inventory of laminate, hybrid and carved double basses. Whether you are in search of the best entry-level laminate, or a fine pedigree instrument, there is always a unique selection ready for you to try. Trade-ins and consignments welcome! Subscribe to the podcast to get these interviews delivered to you automatically!
Brian Barley was a great Canadian musician who died very young at age 28 as a result of a severe car accident. He only made one recording under his name for CBC Records in Montreal in June 1970. Barley died a year later on June 28,1971. Barley was a fine classical clarinettist who for years played Jazz on the side. He took up the saxophone at age 13. After playing in The National Youth Orchestra and The Vancouver Symphony and some Jazz gigs on saxophone. Barley moved in 1966 to Montreal where he embarked full time into Jazz and the tenor and soprano saxophone. Tonight as part of The Jazz Show's obscure musician series, we give you Barley's only recording with his band that he called "Aquarius Rising" (aka The Brian Barley Trio). Barley is on tenor saxophone and plays soprano on one tune. He's accompanied by electric bassist Daniel Lessard and drum legend Claude Ranger. This is a rather amazing and very adventurous date and definitely has a "New York feel" to it. Barley's influences are Sonny Rollins, Archie Shepp and Ornette Coleman but he really is his own man. It's too bad his life ended so early as he could have given so much more. Four of the compositions are by Barley and one is by drummer Claude Ranger. This is a superb and challenging document and a great listen.
Paul MacAlindin was called to help create a National Youth Orchestra in the world's toughest place for music, Iraq. Through his book, UPBEAT: the Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, he explains how a youth orchestra became the crucible for the young musicians' trauma and hunger for education, to create the most powerful cultural ambassador Iraq has ever seen. Although the story ends tragically with the invasion of Daesh in 2014, MacAlindin reflects on the power of paradox and conflict in creating powerful art and uniting people in peace. Resources Paul's Website Purchase: UPBEAT: the Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq
In this episode we explore the power of music in bringing people together and solving issues around the world. We begin in South Korea and travel to Iraq to speak to the Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq, Paul MacAlindin, whose new book, 'Upbeat', tells the story of the orchestra's fascinating story. Listen in, share, like and subscribe for more! //Adore&Endure// Credits: Psy - Gangam Style Ilham Almadfai - Khuttar Diplomantiq remix - Baghdad (prod. Sandhill) Additional news clips from Youtube Channel, National Youth Orchestra of Iraq Euphrates institute
Today's interview is with Paul MacAlindin. Paul discovered from an early age that he loved being an artist leading artists. As a musician, dancer and all-round performer, he found his voice through conducting, a passionate journey that has led him to work with orchestras and ensembles all over the world, from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra to the Armenian Philharmonic to the Düsseldorf Symphoniker. Today is the launch of his amazing book Upbeat: The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq. The story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq as told by Paul from its inception to its eventual end. The NYOI came through the most difficult and dangerous of times to produce fine music not only in Iraq but also in Britain, Germany and France. A beacon of hope and achievement the young musicians and their tutors made bridges across their own ethnic divisions, made great music in the most trying and tragic of circumstances, and became their country’s best ambassadors in 5000 years. Here's him in a... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
HG Wells was born 150 years ago this year. Although a prolific writer in many genres, he is best known today for his science fiction books, ‘The War of the Words' and ‘The Time Machine'. As the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain prepare to perform Holst's suite The Planets, novelist Stephen Baxter, who has been commissioned to write a sequel to ‘The War of the Worlds' examines Wells's novels and philosophy. He's joined by science fiction expert and New Generation Thinker Dr Sarah Dillon from the University of Cambridge. The discussion is hosted by Dr Will Abberley from the University of Sussex, another New Generation Thinker. New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to find academics who can turn their research into radio.Producer: Luke Mulhall
Martin Fry is a singer/songwriter who came to prominence in the early 1980s as lead singer of the band ABC. Their debut album, the Lexicon of Love, was a UK number one. Thirty four years on, he has released a sequel to reflect how his perspective on life and love has changed; and he explains why he now chooses to perform with an orchestra. The conductor Paul MacAlindin recalls how a newspaper advert: 'Iraqi teen seeks Maestro' led to him becoming the musical director of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq. Saturday Live listener Leslye Stansfield describes being reunited with her long lost bicycle and why its value is so sentimental. JP Devlin visits Matthew Sweet to take a look around his home and discover what it reveals about him. Jason Kingsley OBE, is a games developer and Royal Armouries Trustee, but in his spare time he is a practising knight. He discusses his passion for riding warhorses and jousting in a reproduction 15th century Milanese harness. And Billy Ocean shares his Inheritance Tracks - No Woman, No Cry, Bob Marley and A Change Is Gonna Come, Sam Cooke. The Lexicon of Love II is out now. ABC will be performing an autumn tour with the Southbank Sinfonia Orchestra, conducted by Anne Dudley. Upbeat - The Story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq will be Book of The Week on Radio 4 from 15 August. Here you are: The Best of Billy Ocean is out now, and he has a Spring Tour in 2017.
What should we be looking for when searching for life on other planets beyond our solar system? Scientists urgently need to come to a consensus on this as a new suite of telescopes soon begins detecting. The space agency NASA has put together a virtual institute called The Nexus for Exoplanet System Science, and they've just met to work out how we should be looking for bio signatures - on the burgeoning catalogue of worlds beyond the Solar System. Adam Rutherford hears from Sarah Rugheimer, an astrobiologist from the University of St Andrews, on why the world's astrobiologists have decided to lay down the law. The Royal Society Insight Investment Book Prize celebrates some of the best science published each year. Today the judges announced their shortlist: The Cure by Jo Marchant; The Gene by Siddhartha Mukherjee; The Hunt for Vulcan by Thomas Levenson; The Invention of Nature by Andrea Wulf; The Most Perfect Thing by Tim Birkhead; The Planet Remade by Oliver Morton. We're talking to all the authors over the next 6 weeks before the winner is announced on the 19th of September. The first is Oliver Morton's The Planet Remade: How Geoengineering Could Change the World. Bee hives have evolved to have a complex, fascinating social hierarchy, and although we know about Royal Jelly and pheromones, how exactly does the queen bee control the fertility of the rest of the hive? A team of New Zealand geneticists, Peter Dearden and Elizabeth Duncan, has finally worked it out. This Saturday's evening BBC Prom is set in space. The National Youth Orchestra performs The Planets by Holst, and Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. But the concert begins with a piece inspired by this year's detection of Gravitational Waves by LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Gravitational Waves composer Iris Ter Schiphorst discusses how she went galactic. Producer: Adrian Washbourne.
Cultural Differences & Cultural Diversity in International Business
About This Week's Guest Paul MacAlindin Paul MacAlindin is an internationally renowned conductor and author of "UPBEAT: the story of the National Youth Orchestra of Iraq". He led the orchestra from 2008- 2014 in Iraq, France, Germany and Britain, solving enormous hurdles of culture, language and education along the way. The National Youth Orchestra of Iraq is by far the most challenging and rich intercultural experience of his career. UPBEAT is out on August the 18th 2016. His three tips to become more culturally competent are: Know yourself culturally. Realize that you're the fish in your own bowl and that you might not know enough about your own culture. If you do this, you can realize that you're different than the other person but you can still work together. If you can, learn another one or two languages. Although not easy, it helps tremendously in overcoming cultural differences. Learn to laugh at yourself. Remember, when it's about culture, it's not about them. It is about you! Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: LinkedIn: https://de.linkedin.com/in/conductor Twitter: @paulmacalindin Email: macalindin@hotmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/macalindin/ Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!
Bach's Cello Suite No I in G major is one of the most frequently performed and recognisable solo compositions ever written for cello. Yet it was virtually unknown for almost two hundred years until the Catalan cellist, Pablo Casals discovered an edition in a thrift shop in Barcelona. Casals became the first to record it and the suites are now cherished by musicians across the globe. The world renowned cellist, Steven Isserlis describes his relationship with the piece and why it still surprises and excites him. Fellow cellists Richard Jenkinson and Jane Salmon talk about the challenge of playing it and we hear from the Dominic Martens, a member of the National Youth Orchestra and his teacher, Nick Jones as they explore the piece together. Garden designer Julie Moir Messervy, describes how Yo-Yo Ma's recording inspired her to design The Toronto Music Garden and doctor Heidi Kimberly explains why she chose the piece for her wedding and why she believes the suite to have healing powers. While historian and author, Eric Siblin, reveals the extraordinary history of the suites and why some still argue that they was written by Bach's second wife Anna Magdalena. Producer Lucy Lunt.
Nick's guest this week is conductor, Michael Francis, in town to conduct the NAC Orchestra. Michael will be leading the National Youth Orchestra of Canada next summer. NYOC director Barbara Smith joins the conversation.
With Mark Lawson. Writer-director J C Chandor discusses his acclaimed feature directorial debut Margin Call, about an American investment bank during the financial crisis, starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore. The writer and former cricketer Ed Smith reviews a TV documentary by former England cricket captain Freddie Flintoff about depression in sport. Scottish composer Anna Meredith discusses her new piece, entitled Hands-Free. It's written for the National Youth Orchestra but uses no instruments, involving instead clapping, body-percussion and beat-boxing. David Quantick tucks into the long history of songs featuring food - from Oliver, via The Beatles and Bob Dylan, to reggae, ska and beyond. Producer Timothy Prosser.
A radio documentary celebrating 40 years of the National Youth Orchestra and all it has brought to its members: a passion for music; enduring friendships, first loves and marriages, great pieces of music, hard work and hard play.
Filmmaker and commercial editor Daniel Mitchell is originally from London and has been working in Melbourne and Sydney since 2001, editing high end television commercials. Several years after film school, Daniel has focused his writing and directing work on children's films including Triple Concerto in D Minor. In the short film Triple Concerto in D Minor, Rebecca, an ambitious young girl, had always wanted to play the triangle with an orchestra. When the National Youth Orchestra are in town, Rebecca has the chance to make her dream come true.
We’re chatting with Volkan Orhon, David Murray, Anthony Stoops, and Paul Sharpe on this week’s episode ofContrabass Conversations. Anthony Stoops was featured recently as an interview guest on the podcast, and we also featured Volkan playing one of Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand’s basses on our interview with this fine luthier. In this interview, we chat about the formation of the ensemble, the rehearsal process, their arrangements and musical selections, and the challenges of being in a quartet when all four members live in different cities. We’re also featuring the quartet’s live performances of a rock medley (arranged by Anthony) and ‘Baby Got Bass’ (arranged by Paul) after the interview. Learn more about these four bassists through the following links: Anthony Stoops: anthonystoops.com David Murray: butler.edu…..murray Volkan Orhon: volkanbass.com Paul Sharpe: ncarts.edu……sharpe Video of the Bad Boyz: bad-boyz-of-bass Enjoy! About Anthony: Anthony Stoops is Artist/Teacher of Bass and String Area Chair at the University of Oklahoma School of Music. Since winning first prize in the International Society of Bassists international solo competition, he has performed throughout the United States and internationally as a soloist and chamber musician. Dr. Stoops has presented masterclasses in Poland, Brazil and throughout the U.S. at venues such as the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, Interlochen Arts Academy, Penn State University, and many others. About David: David Murray was born in Canada and began studies on the double bass at age 12. He worked in high school with Gary Karr and continued with Mr. Karr at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT. During summers, Mr. Murray attended the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, A F of M String Congress, and both Tanglewood and Aspen as a fellowship recipient. Upon graduation he received the Outstanding Performer Award from the Hartt School, and later that year was a top prize winner in the Canada Music Competition. Mr. Murray was winner of the Aspen Bass Concerto Competition in 1981, and in 1988 won the International Society of Bassists Competition (for which he is now secretary) in Los Angeles and was presented by the Society in a Carnegie Hall debut in 1990. About Paul: Paul Sharpe maintains an international profile and career in a variety of roles as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral double bassist. As a student of Jeff Bradetich he received the B.M. degree in Performance from Northwestern University, and he obtained an M.A. degree in Music from the University of Iowa studying with Diana Gannett. Recent performances and engagements include recitals and masterclasses at the University of Iowa, Cleveland Institute of Music, World Bass Convention (Wroclaw, Poland), University of North Texas, University of Michigan, Interlochen Arts Academy, and Brazil’s Sixth International Double Bass Encounter in Pirenopolis, Brazil. About Volkan: Acclaimed for his musicality and virtuosity, Volkan Orhon has established himself as one of the top double bassists in the world today. He was a finalist and prizewinner in the Concert Artists Guild Solo Competition in New York City, and was the co-first place winner of the International Society of Bassists Solo Competition. Additionally, he distinguished himself as the first double bass player ever to win the grand prize overall and first prize for double bass at the American String Teacher’s Association Solo Competition. Musical Selections: Rock Medley – arranged by Anthony Stoops Baby Got Bass – arranged by Paul Sharpe