Podcasts about Virgil Thomson

Betty Allen has been featured on countless omnibus Countermelody episodes, but it's time for her to get her own episode! Born in Ohio on 17 March, 1927, she died at the age of 82 on 22 June 2009. Not only did Betty Allen possess a voice of significant power and amplitude, she was a superb musician who channeled her soul into her singing, using her superb technique to convey depth of meaning in all the music she sang. She also had a wide repertoire, excelling in opera, concert, and recital. Though her recorded legacy is relatively small, it is superb and significant. Today's episode samples a cross-section of her recordings, both live and studio, and includes collaborations with Leonard Bernstein, Nicolai Gedda, Eugene Ormandy, Carmen Balthrop, Horst Stein, Leontyne Price, Virgil Thomson, John DeMain, Hildegard Hillebrecht, Richard Bonynge, and Adele Addison. She was a powerful force for good in the musical world, as an educator and advocate as well, succeeding Dorothy Maynor in leading the Harlem School of the Arts, where she served as both executive director and president. Many currently active singers have been touched by the stringent generosity of this fine artist, and it is my honor to pay tribute to her today. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford.

„Nie ma wolności bez dyscypliny” – mówiła podobno jedna z najważniejszych nauczycielek muzyki XX wieku. Do salonu Nadii Boulanger przy Rue Ballu 36 w Paryżu oraz do letniej szkoły w Fontainebleau, którą kierowała po wojnie, pielgrzymowały tysiące adeptów sztuki dźwięku z całego świata, nie tylko kompozytorów, ale także śpiewaków i instrumentalistów, którzy wywarli ogromny wpływ na muzykę współczesną i to w różnych jej aspektach. Uczył się u niej zarówno Daniel Barenboim, jak i Astor Piazzolla, Aaron Copland, ale i Philip Glass, Virgil Thomson, ale i Quincy Jones. Ogromne znaczenie miała dla muzyki polskiej. U progu Warszawskiej Jesieni większość czołowych twórców zrzeszonych w Związku Kompozytorów Polskich była jej uczniami. Czego uczyła Nadia Boulanger? Skąd wzięła się ta sława, która zaowocowała tysiącami anegdot i mitologizację „Mademoiselle”. Wreszcie – jak ta nauka wytrzymała próbę czasu? O tym wszystkim w najnowszym odcinku!  Artykuły Beaty Bolesławskiej-Lewandowskiej o listach Zygmunta Mycielskiego dostępne są w „Ruchu Muzycznym”: * część 1 * część 2 Artykuł Krzysztofa Meyera w „Dwutygodniku”. Podcastu można wysłuchać także na Breaker, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic oraz Apple Podcasts. Jest dostępny także na YouTube. Podcast powstał dzięki Mecenasom Szafy Melomana. Jeśli chcesz stać się jednym z nich i wspierać pierwszy polski podcast o muzyce klasycznej, odwiedź mój profil w serwisie Patronite.pl.

Inspired by the upcoming 2024 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music (July 9–12), the Ladies are turning their attention to the book of Psalms. In the third of a five-episode series, Sarah turns her attention to Psalm paraphrases in a special Hymn Sing episode.   Lyrics featured in this episode include hymns by Isaac Watts (“Joy to the World,” “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”), Martin Luther (“A Mighty Fortress,” “Out of the Depths”), Joachim Neander (“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty”), Johann Gramann (“My Soul Now Praise Your Maker”), and many more.   Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook group members: visit our ongoing poll in the group to vote for your favorites and see how they rank.   Resources referenced in the episode include:  Hymnary.org: a comprehensive index of hymns and hymnals | Hymnary.org  "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" (arr. Virgil Thomson) (youtube.com)  Hymnapalooza episode on Louis Bourgeois The Westminster Standard – To glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.  2024 Institute on Liturgy, Preaching and Church Music - LCMS Calendar  Engaging the Psalms: A Guide for Reflection and Prayer - Concordia Publishing House (cph.org)  Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Hymns - 2 Volume Set - Concordia Publishing House (cph.org)  Connect with the Lutheran Ladies on social media in The Lutheran Ladies' Lounge Facebook discussion group (facebook.com/groups/LutheranLadiesLounge) and on Instagram @lutheranladieslounge. Follow Sarah (@hymnnerd), Rachel (@rachbomberger), and Erin (@erinaltered) on Instagram! Sign up for the Lutheran Ladies' Lounge monthly e-newsletter here, and email the Ladies at lutheranladies@kfuo.org.

SynopsisOn today's date in 1943, at the height of World War II, Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man had its premiere performance in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Symphony's conductor in those days, British-born Eugene Goosens, had commissioned 18 fanfares for brass and percussion. “It is my idea,” he wrote, “to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort.”Besides Copland, composers commissioned included Henry Cowell, Paul Creston, Morton Gould, Howard Hanson, William Grant Still and Virgil Thomson.Most of the composers dedicated their fanfares to a unit of the U.S. military or one of its wartime allies. But Copland's fanfare stood out, both musically and by virtue of its title.Among the titles Copland considered — and rejected — were Fanfare for the Spirit of Democracy and Fanfare for Four Freedoms, the latter in reference to President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union Address that called for the freedom of speech and religion, and from want and fear. He settled on Fanfare for the Common Man.“It was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army,” Copland recalled. “He deserved a fanfare.”Music Played in Today's ProgramAaron Copland (1900-1990): ‘Fanfare for the Common Man'; San Francisco Symphony; Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. RCA/BMG 63888

Ned Rorem was an American composer and writer, and was hailed by some as the greatest art-song composer of his time. Writing over 500 songs, his music has been described as Neoromantic, leaning at times towards a more lyrical nature. Early musical influences upon Rorem were Margaret Bonds, Virgil Thomson, Aaron Copland and also Arthur Honegger. After a period of living in Paris where he associated with members of Les Six, as well as frequent trips to Morocco, Rorem eventually settled back in the USA for the rest of his life. He went on to win a Pulitzer Prize in 1976 for his orchestral work, Air Music.Rorem also wrote seventeen books, six of which were intimate diaries. These earned him a certain reputation from the 1960s onwards, particularly for his openness about his regular sexual encounters with men. During this period, Rorem also had issues with alcohol and drugs, but his life steadily settled when he entered into a long-term relationship with the composer and choral director James Holmes. They purchased a house together in Nantucket, and Rorem often relied upon Holmes for feedback concerning his own music. This week, Donald Macleod reflects on Ned Rorem's life and music, remembering his own encounter with the composer when he interviewed Rorem for this series in 2003. Music Featured:Early in the morning The Lordly Hudson Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening Dance Suite (excerpt) Piano Concerto No 2 (excerpt) Piano Sonata No 3 (excerpt) Sing My Soul Symphony No 2 (excerpt) For Poulenc Two Psalms and A Proverb (excerpt) Lions Love Divine, All Loves Excelling I will always love you Book of Hours Sky Music (Brisk and Smooth) Santa Fe Songs (excerpt) Praise the Lord, O My Soul Violin Concerto (excerpt) While all things were in quiet silence (Seven Motets for the Church Year) Breath on Me, Breath of God String Symphony (excerpt) Spring Music (Bagatelle) String Quartet No 4 (Still Life) More than a Day (excerpt) Evidence of things not seen (excerpt) Piano Album 1 (excerpts) Double Concerto for Violin and Cello (excerpt) United States: Seven Viewpoints for String Quartet (excerpt) Concerto for English Horn and Orchestra (Recurring Dream) Our Town (excerpt) For Six Friends Four Prayers From An Unknown PastPresented by Donald Macleod Produced by Luke Whitlock for BBC Audio Wales and WestFor full track listings, including artist and recording details, and to listen to the pieces featured in full (for 30 days after broadcast) head to the series page for Ned Rorem (1923-2022) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001slxs And you can delve into the A-Z of all the composers we've featured on Composer of the Week here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/3cjHdZlXwL7W41XGB77X3S0/composers-a-to-z

The Apollo Chamber Players present music by Copland, Thomson, and a pair of world premieres from Allison Loggins-Hull and Mark Buller.

Vandaag twee kwartetten van Henry Cowell naast een hoogst geavanceerd werk van Ruth Crawford Seeger en een merkwaardig ‘ouderwets' werk van Virgil Thomson. Bij Cowell blijft – evenals bij Ives – de indruk bestaan dat hij bekende muziek met verkeerde noten schreef, wat voor ons luisteraars soms bijzonder ontregelend werkt, maar ook verfrissend tegendraads is. […]

Nancy Rhodes has served the Arts as an administrator, director, educator and writer. The founding director of Encompass New Opera Theatre, she has staged plays, musicals and operas across the US, Europe and Asia, with performances that include the world premiere of "Tartuffe" for San Francisco Opera, and Virgil Thomson's "Lord Byron" at Alice Tully Hall. Rhodes has also served as Vice President/US Delegate to the International Theatre Institute, and taught Acting for Singer at Manhattan School of Music. A trip to Ephesus led today's guest on the Sunbury Press Books Show into a metaphysical experience: the mother of Jesus is said to have lived in what is now Turkey after her son's death. While visiting Mary's home, Rhodes was asked by Mary to tell her story. Over a ten-year period, Mary told Rhodes her own story, of a lonely childhood, violence against her at the hands of her father, Joseph's devotion and how he saved his family. This interview with Lawrence Knorr discusses Rhodes' ongoing career, and the experience and process that led to the telling of "Mary's Story."      

Synopsis On today's date in 1953, at New York's 92nd Street “Y,” the Walden String Quartet tackled the difficult First String Quartet of American composer Elliott Carter.   Carter's Quartet was as densely-packed with ideas as a page from James Joyce— – an author the composer cited as an influence. But, writing for the Herald Tribune, composer Virgil Thomson gave the work a glowing review: “The piece is complex of texture, delicious in sound, richly expressive, and in every way grand— – the audience loved it,” wrote Thomson. That same year Carter's Quartet won First Prize in the International String Quartet competition in Belgium -- – a contest Carter entered almost as an afterthought. “My First Quartet was written largely for my own satisfaction and grew out of an effort to understand myself,” he said. To escape from the distractions of New York, Carter retreated to the desert near Tucson to write it. No one had commissioned the Quartet, and Carter initially feared its complexity would baffle performers and audiences. His next quartet, equally challenging, won a Pulitzer Prize. Complexity would characterize Carter's music for the next 50 years—although the composer himself insisted that fantasy and invention, rather than difficulty for its own sake, had always been his goal. Music Played in Today's Program Elliott Carter (1908 - 2012) String Quartet No. 1 The Composers Quartet Nonesuch 71249

Synopsis On this day in 1934, an excited crowd of locals and visitors had gathered in Hartford, Connecticut, for the premiere performance of a new opera entitled Four Saints in Three Acts. The fact that the opera featured 16 saints, not 4, and was divided into 4 acts, not 3, was taken by the audience in stride, as the libretto was by the expatriate American writer, Gertrude Stein, notorious for her surreal poetry and prose. The music, performed by players from the Philadelphia Orchestra and sung by an all-black cast, was by the 37-year old American composer, Virgil Thomson, who matched Stein's surreal sentences with witty musical allusions to hymn tunes and parodies of solemn, resolutely tonal music. Among the locals in attendance was the full-time insurance executive and part-time poet, Wallace Stevens, who called the new opera (quote): "An elaborate bit of perversity in every respect: text, settings, choreography, [but] Most agreeable musically… If one excludes aesthetic self-consciousness, the opera immediately becomes a delicate and joyous work all around." The opera was a smashing success, and soon opened on Broadway, where everyone from Toscanini and Gershwin to Dorothy Parker and the Rockefellers paid a whopping $3.30 for the best seats—a lot of money during one of the worst winters of the Great Depression. Music Played in Today's Program Virgil Thomson (1896-1989) Four Saints in Three Acts Orchestra of Our Time; Joel Thome, conductor. Nonesuch 79035 On This Day Births 1741 - Belgian-born French composer André Grétry, in Liège; 1932 - American composer and conductor John Williams, in New York City; Deaths 1709 - Italian composer Giuseppe Torelli, age 50, in Bologna; 1909 - Polish composer Mieczyslaw Karlowicz, age 32, near Zakopane, Tatra Mountains; Premieres 1874 - Mussorgsky: opera “Boris Godunov”, at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, with bass Ivan Melnikov in the title role, and Eduard Napravnik conducting; This was the composer's own revised, nine-scene version of the opera, which originally consisted of just seven scenes (Julian date: Jan.27); 1897 - Kalinnikov: Symphony No. 1 (Gregorian date: Feb. 20); 1904 - Sibelius: Violin Concerto (first version), in Helsinki, by the Helsingsfors Philharmonic conducted by the composer, with Victor Novácek as soloist; The revised and final version of this concerto premiered in Berlin on October 19, 1905, conducted by Richard Strauss and with Karl Halir the soloist; 1907 - Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony No. 1 in Vienna, with the Rosé Quartet and members of the Vienna Philharmonic; 1908 - Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2 in St. Petersburg, with the composer conducting (Julian date: Jan. 26); 1909 - Liadov: “Enchanted Lake” (Gregorian date: Feb. 21); 1910 - Webern: Five Movements, Op. 5, for string quartet, in Vienna; 1925 - Cowell: "Ensemble" (original version for strings and 3 "thunder-sticks"), at a concert sponsored by the International Composers' Guild at Aeolian Hall in New York, by an ensemble led by Vladimir Shavitch that featured the composer and two colleagues on "thunder-sticks" (an American Indian instrument also known as the "bull-roarer"); Also on program was the premiere of William Grant Still's "From the Land of Dreams" for three voices and chamber orchestra (his first concert work, now lost, dedicated to his teacher, Edgard Varèse); 1925 - Miaskovsky: Symphonies Nos. 4 and 7, in Moscow; 1934 - Virgil Thomson: opera "Four Saints in Three Acts" (libretto by Gertrude Stein), in Hartford, Conn.; 1942 - Stravinsky: "Danses concertantes," by the Werner Janssen Orchestra of Los Angeles, with the composer conducting; 1946 - Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 3 (completed by Tibor Serly after the composer's death), by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy conducting and György Sándor as the soloist; 1959 - Elie Siegmeister: Symphony No. 3, in Oklahoma City; 1963 - Benjamin Lees: Violin Concerto, by the Boston Symphony, with Erich Leinsdorf conducting and Henryk Szeryng the soloist; 1966 - Lou Harrison: "Symphony on G" (revised version), at the Cabrillo Music Festival by the Oakland Symphony, Gerhard Samuel condicting; 1973 - Crumb: "Makrokosmos I" for amplified piano, in New York; 1985 - Earle Brown: "Tracer," for six instruments and four-track tape, in Berlin; 1986 - Daniel Pinkham: Symphony No. 3, by the Plymouth (Mass.) Philharmonic, Rudolf Schlegel conducting; 2001 - Sierra: "Concerto for Orchestra," by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Wolfgang Sawallisch conducting; Others 1875 - American composer Edward MacDowell admitted to the Paris Conservatory; 1877 - German-born (and later American) composer Charles Martin Loeffler admitted to the Paris Conservatory; 1880 - German opera composer Richard Wagner writes a letter to his American dentist, Dr. Newell Still Jenkins, stating "I do no regard it as impossible that I decide to emigrate forever to America with my latest work ["Parsifal"] and my entire family" if the Americans would subsidize him to the tune of one million dollars. Links and Resources On Virgil Thomson More on Thomson

Synopsis In 1935 Aaron Copland finished a new orchestral work that was to be premiered by the Minneapolis Symphony and its young conductor Eugene Ormandy. The work was entitled Statements for Orchestra, and consisted of six short movements, each with a descriptive title, namely: Militant, Cryptic, Dogmatic, Subjective, Jingo, and Prophetic. The Jingo movement alludes to the popular tune Sidewalks of New York – where Copland completed the orchestration of his new score. The last two movements were premiered by the Minneapolis Symphony early in 1936, first on an NBC radio broadcast, then on one of the orchestra's subscription concerts. The conductor, however, was not Ormandy but rather Dimitri Mitropoulos, who would become the Music Director of the Minneapolis Symphony the following year. And it was Mitropoulos who would lead the first complete performance of all six of Copland's Statements on today's date in 1942 during a concert by the New York Philharmonic. The new piece got good reviews, and Copland quoted with pride one given by his friend and colleague Virgil Thomson, which called the music “succinct and stylish, cleverly written and very, very personal …“ Much to Copland's surprise this music never really caught on with orchestras or audiences. “To my disappointment,” wrote Copland, “Statements remains one of my lesser-known scores.” Music Played in Today's Program Aaron Copland (1900 –1990) Statements London Symphony; Aaron Copland, conductor. Sony 47232

Synopsis In all, the American composer David Diamond wrote 11 Symphonies, spanning some 50 years of his professional career. The last dates from 1991, and the first from 1940, completed after his return from studies in Paris shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Diamond's first Symphony was premiered on today's date in 1941 by the New York Philharmonic led by the famous Greek conductor Dimitri Mitropoulos. Despite winning awards and positive comments from fellow composers ranging from Virgil Thomson to Arnold Schoenberg, for years Diamond struggled to make ends meet by playing violin in various New York City theater pit bands. More than one fellowship grant, however, enabled him to live abroad for extended stays, where, he said: “I can make my income last and live extremely well with my own villa and garden at a cost that would provide a hole-in-the-wall, coldwater flat in America . . . There is a spiritual nourishment, too, in that cradle of serious music [and] quiet for concentration that could never be found in an American city.” Defending his more traditional approach, Diamond wrote: “It is my strong feeling that a romantically inspired contemporary music, tempered by reinvigorated classical technical formulas, is the way out of the present period of creativity chaos in music... To me, the romantic spirit in music is important because it is timeless.” Music Played in Today's Program David Diamond (1915-2005) Symphony No. 1 Seattle Symphony; Gerard Schwarz, conductor. Delos 3119

10:00 a.m. Sunday Worship Service. Unintended Expectations by the Rev. Rachel Pedersen Download bulletin here: https://www.bmpc.org/sermons/worship-bulletins/1247-sunday-july-3-2022-10-00-a-m-bulletin/file Prelude: Variations on a Sunday School Tune: Shall We Gather at the River Music: Virgil Thomson, 1926. Music: ©1954, 1955 H.W. Gray Co. © Renewed 1982, 1983 Virgil Thomson. Reprinted and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-716211. All rights reserved. Response: Take, O Take Me As I Am Text and Music: John L. Bell, 1995. Text and Music: ©1995 WGRG, Iona Community (admin. GIA Publications, Inc.) Reprinted and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-716211. Hymn: God of Our Life Text: Hugh Thomson Kerr, 1916, alt. Music: Charles Henry Purday, 1860, harm. John Weaver, 1986. Text: ©1928 F.M. Braselman, ren. 1956 Presbyterian Board of Christian Education. (admin. Westminster John Knox Press). Music Harm: ©1990 Hope Publishing Company Reprinted and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-716211. All rights reserved. Offertory Anthem: Hear My Prayer, O God Text and Music: James Kent (1700-1776); arr. Crawford R. Thoburn. ©2016 St. James Music Press. Reprinted and streamed with permission by St. James Music Press, license #7158. All rights reserved. Doxology: Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow Text: Brian Wren, 1989. Music: Geistliche Kirchengesäng, 1623; harm. Hal H. Hopson, 1998. Text: ©1989 Hope Publishing Company. Music Harm: ©1998 Hope Publishing Company. Reprinted and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-716211.

One of the most important American composers of the 20th century.

Carlos Iribarren | Hoy arrancamos un repaso muy completo a algunas de las grandes sinfonías con las que debutaron los compositores estadounidenses más destacados. En esta primera entrega hemos escogido a 4 que resultan de lo más variado: Amy Beach, Virgil Thomson, Howard Hanson y Charles Ives. Cada obra tiene su propia historia y en algunas podemos escuchar influencias musicales procedentes de los países de origen de sus antepasados: Irlanda en el caso de Beach y Suecia en el de Hanson. Carlos y Mario Mora te acompañan en este viaje melódico por obras que estamos seguros de que van a llamar tu atención por su colorido y algunos momentos muy emotivos; así suena la nueva entrega de Hoy Toca, el programa de Clásica FM que te quiere sorprender.

Synopsis In 1935, a 26-year-old American named Elliott Carter returned to the States after composition studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Carter found work as the music director of Ballet Caravan, an ambitious and enterprising touring ensemble whose mission was to present specially-commissioned new dance works on quintessentially American themes. Virgil Thomson, for example, wrote a ballet entitled "Filling Station," and Carter himself, decades before the animated Disney movie, wrote a ballet version of the story of Pocahontas and John Smith. While on tour, these new scores were presented in two-piano versions, but on today's date in 1939, the orchestral version of Carter's "Pocahontas" Ballet was presented by the Ballet Caravan at its home base at the Martin Beck Theater in New York. The New York Times reviewer didn't much care for the staging or Carter's music: "The costumes are in the manner of the old-fashioned cigar box Indian," he wrote, "and after the first amusing glimpse their psuedo-naiveté begins to grow irksome. Mr. Carter's music is so thick it is hard to see the stage through it." The Times reviewer DID like another new ballet also receiving its orchestral debut that same night. This was Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid.” "A perfectly delightful piece of work," enthused the same critic, concluding, "Aaron Copland has furnished an admirable score, warm and human, and with not a wasted note about it anywhere." Music Played in Today's Program Elliott Carter (1908 - 2012) — Pocahontas Ballet (American Composers Orchestra; Paul Dunkel, cond.) CRI 610 Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990) — Billy the Kid Ballet (St. Louis Symphony; Leonard Slatkin, cond.) EMI 73653

Synopsis On today's date in 1947, a new opera entitled “The Mother of Us All” debuted at Columbia University in New York City. The libretto was by the American poet Gertrude Stein, and dealt with the life and times of Susan B. Anthony, a 19th century champion of women's rights. In Stein's dream-like account, iconic figures from America's past like President John Adams, orator Daniel Webster, and entertainer Lillian Russell interact even though they lived at different times in history. Two of the opera's 27 characters, playwright Constance Fletcher and Yale librarian Donald Gallup, in fact, were contemporary friends of Stein's. The music was by the American composer Virgil Thomson, whose score evoked seemingly familiar 19th century hymns, sentimental ballads, circus band music, drum rolls, and fanfares. The tunes were, in fact, all original creations. The mix of Thomson's music and Stein's text results in a rambunctious opera about American life and politics, at turns both amusing and strangely touching. It became an unlikely success. Thomson wrote two other operas: “Four Saints in Three Acts,” from 1933, was an earlier collaboration with Gertrude Stein, and “Lord Byron,” from 1972, sets a witty libretto by Jack Larson, an actor famous for his portrayal of Daily Planet cub reporter Jimmy Olson on the old “Superman” TV series. “Lord Byron” was intended for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, but never made it there, and performances these days are rare. Music Played in Today's Program Virgil Thomson (1896 - 1989) — The Mother of Us All (Santa Fe Opera; Raymond Leppard, cond.) New World 288

Subscribe to Quotomania on Simplecast or search for Quotomania on your favorite podcast app!Through his operas, his symphonies, his compositions for his own ensemble, and his wide-ranging collaborations with artists ranging from Twyla Tharp to Allen Ginsberg, Leonard Cohen to David Bowie, Philip Glass has had an extraordinary and unprecedented impact upon the musical and intellectual life of his times.The operas – “Einstein on the Beach,” “Satyagraha,” “Akhnaten,” and “The Voyage,” among many others – play throughout the world's leading houses, and rarely to an empty seat. Glass has written music for experimental theater and for Academy Award-winning motion pictures such as “The Hours” and Martin Scorsese's “Kundun,” while “Koyaanisqatsi,” his initial filmic landscape with Godfrey Reggio and the Philip Glass Ensemble, may be the most radical and influential mating of sound and vision since “Fantasia.” His associations, personal and professional, with leading rock, pop and world music artists date back to the 1960s, including the beginning of his collaborative relationship with artist Robert Wilson. Indeed, Glass is the first composer to win a wide, multi-generational audience in the opera house, the concert hall, the dance world, in film and in popular music – simultaneously.He was born in 1937 and grew up in Baltimore. He studied at the University of Chicago, the Juilliard School and in Aspen with Darius Milhaud. Finding himself dissatisfied with much of what then passed for modern music, he moved to Europe, where he studied with the legendary pedagogue Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Aaron Copland , Virgil Thomson and Quincy Jones) and worked closely with the sitar virtuoso and composer Ravi Shankar. He returned to New York in 1967 and formed the Philip Glass Ensemble – seven musicians playing keyboards and a variety of woodwinds, amplified and fed through a mixer.The new musical style that Glass was evolving was eventually dubbed “minimalism.” Glass himself never liked the term and preferred to speak of himself as a composer of “music with repetitive structures.” Much of his early work was based on the extended reiteration of brief, elegant melodic fragments that wove in and out of an aural tapestry. Or, to put it another way, it immersed a listener in a sort of sonic weather that twists, turns, surrounds, develops.There has been nothing “minimalist” about his output. In the past 25 years, Glass has composed more than twenty five operas, large and small; twelve symphonies, thirteen concertos; soundtracks to films ranging from new scores for the stylized classics of Jean Cocteau to Errol Morris's documentary about former defense secretary Robert McNamara; nine string quartets; a growing body of work for solo piano and organ. He has collaborated with Paul Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Yo-Yo Ma, and Doris Lessing, among many others. He presents lectures, workshops, and solo keyboard performances around the world, and continues to appear regularly with the Philip Glass Ensemble.From https://philipglass.com/biography/. For more information about Philip Glass:Words Without Music: https://wwnorton.com/books/Words-Without-Music/“The beginner's guide to Philip Glass”: https://www.eno.org/discover-opera/the-beginners-guide-to-philip-glass/“How Philip Glass Went From Driving Taxis to Composing”: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2018/04/philip-glass-taxi-driver-composer/558278/“Philip Glass”: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/philip-glass

Nancy Rhodes: Called "a champion of American Opera" by Ronald Rand, Nancy Rhodes is the long-time Artistic Director of Encompass New Opera Theatre and the librettist for The Theory of Everything, a new opera inspired by physics' superstring theory of multiple dimensions and alternate universes. At Encompass, she has staged scores of operas, about 70 all told, including Virgil Thomson's The Mother of Us All, Blitzstein's Regina, Britten's Phaedra, Evan Mack's Angel of the Amazon, and The Astronaut's Tale at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Nancy staged the world premiere of Kirke Mechem's Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, and Virgil Thomson's Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall, as well as new operas for the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra and Pittsburgh Opera Theatre. Her acclaimed production of Grigori (Gregory) Frid's opera The Diary of Anne Frank toured Cleveland Opera and was nominated for an Artistic Achievement Award. She has directed operas all over the world, including Stockholm, Finland, Istanbul, and Amsterdam, as well as speaking publicly and conducting workshops in Europe, South America, Russia, among other places. [You might say she is a Rhodes scholar) And 8 years ago, she launched PARADIGM SHIFTS, a Music and Film Festival that brings indigenous cultures, women's wisdom, and social justice/environmental issues in celebration of our planet, oceans, sacred lands, and wildlife. John David Earnest is a composer who has written for orchestra, chamber ensembles, chorus, solo voice, concert band, opera, and film. In addition to several one-acts operas, his first full-length opera, The Theory of Everything, was commissioned by the Encompass New Opera Theatre, a collaboration with Nancy Rhodes, who wrote the libretto. A longtime resident of New York City, Mr. Earnest has taught music composition both privately and as a visiting professor at Whitman College in Washington, as well as adjunct teaching at Lehman College and Rutgers University.Roger Jeff Cunningham is a co-founder of Encompass New Opera Theatre.  He has gone on to teach Psychology in college.  Roger created The Dream Table, which meets weekly and allows his students to discuss their night-time dreams and nightmares.  He has a small private practice and continues to assist in the growth and development of Encompass.

Synopsis We'd like to start the new year with some upbeat music to honor the American composer and bandleader Edwin Franko Goldman, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, on today's date in 1878. At the tender age of 14, Goldman attended the National Conservatory of Music in New York City, where he studied composition with Antonin Dvorak. At 15, Goldman became a professional trumpet player with the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. In 1911, he founded the New York Military Band, later known simply as the Goldman Band. They performed hundreds of public concerts around the city, including on the Mall in Central Park.  In the 1930s, radio broadcasts made the Goldman Band famous nationwide. Their catchy signature tune, entitled “On the Mall,” was composed by Goldman himself, and invited the audiences to sing – or even whistle – along. Goldman composed about 150 band works of his own, and commissioned many more, including classics by composers such as Virgil Thomson, Walter Piston, and Howard Hanson. The Goldman Band, led by Goldman or his son Richard, also premiered new works by leading European composers. Goldman founded the American Bandmasters Association in 1929 and served as its Second Honorary Life President after John Philip Sousa. Music Played in Today's Program Edwin Franko Goldman (1878 - 1956) — On the Mall (Eastman Wind Ensemble; Frederick Fennell, cond.) Mercury 434 334

Listen to four specially selected works from David's recordings, discussions about each work and, of course, all things six strings!Guest:David LeisnerAn extraordinarily versatile musician with a multi-faceted career as an electrifying performing artist, a distinguished composer, and a master teacher.“Among the finest guitarists of all time”, according to American Record Guide, David Leisner's career began auspiciously with top prizes in both the 1975 Toronto and 1981 Geneva International Guitar Competitions. His recent seasons have taken him around the US, including his solo debut with the Atlanta Symphony, a major tour of Australia and New Zealand, and debuts and reappearances in China, Japan, the Philippines, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, the U.K., Italy, Czech Republic, Greece, Puerto Rico and Mexico. An innovative three-concert series at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall included the first all-Bach guitar recital in New York's history, and currently he is the Artistic Director of Guitar Plus, a New York series devoted to chamber music with the guitar. He has also performed chamber music at the Santa Fe, Music in the Vineyards, Vail Valley, Crested Butte, Rockport, Cape and Islands, Bargemusic, Bay Chamber, Maui, Portland, Sitka and Angel Fire Festivals, with Zuill Bailey, Tara O'Connor, Eugenia Zukerman, Kurt Ollmann, Lucy Shelton, Ida Kavafian, the St. Lawrence, Enso, Escher and Vermeer Quartets and many others. Celebrated for expanding the guitar repertoire, David Leisner has premiered works by many important composers, including David Del Tredici, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Sculthorpe, Osvaldo Golijov, Randall Woolf, Gordon Beeferman and Carlos Carillo, while championing the works of neglected 19th-century guitar composers J.K. Mertz and Wenzeslaus Matiegka.A featured recording artist for Azica Records, Leisner has released 9 highly acclaimed CDs, including the most recent, Arpeggione with cellist Zuill Bailey, and Facts of Life, featuring the premiere recordings of commissioned works by Del Tredici and Golijov. Naxos produced his recording of the Hovhaness Guitar Concerto with Gerard Schwarz and the Berlin Radio Orchestra. Other CDs include the Koch recording of Haydn Quartet in D with the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival and Hovhaness Spirit of Trees for Telarc with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. And Mel Bay Co. released a solo concert DVD called Classics and Discoveries. Mr. Leisner is also a highly respected composer noted for the emotional and dramatic power of his music. Fanfare magazine described it as “rich in invention and melody, emotionally direct, and beautiful”. South Florida Classical Review called him “an original and arresting compositional voice.” Recent commissioners include the Rob Nathanson for the New Music Festival at UNC Wilmington, Cavatina Duo, baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, Arc Duo, Stones River Chamber Players (TN), Fairfield Orchestra (CT), Red Cedar Chamber Music (IA), and the Twentieth Century Unlimited Series (NM). Recordings of his works are currently available on the Sony Classical, ABC, Dorian, Azica, Cedille, Centaur, Town Hall, Signum, Acoustic Music, Athena and Barking Dog labels. The Cavatina Duo's recording of his complete works for flute and guitar, Acrobats (Cedille) was released to exceptionally strong reviews. His compositions are mostly published by Merion Music/Theodore Presser Co., as well as AMP/G. Schirmer, Doberman-Yppan and Columbia Music.David Leisner has been a member of the guitar faculty at the Manhattan School of Music since 1993, and also taught at the New England Conservatory from 1980-2003. Primarily self-taught as both guitarist and composer, he briefly studied guitar with John Duarte, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici. His book, Playing with Ease: a healthy approach to guitar technique, published by Oxford University Press, has received extraordinary acclaim.Website: www.davidleisner.com

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Synopsis The old adage, “If at first you don't succeed, try, try again” pretty much sums up the career of the French composer Georges Bizet. Bizet died at the age of 36 in 1875, the same year his opera “Carmen” premiered.  Now, “Carmen” soon became acknowledged as one of the great masterworks of French opera, but poor Monsieur Bizet wasn't around to experience any of that. Moreover, “Carmen” was preceded by Bizet's no less than THIRTY attempts writing a hit opera. Most never made it to the stage, and the few that did, achieved only modest success. The most famous of the “pre-Carmen” Bizet operas premiered on today's date in 1863.   It was set in exotic Ceylon, and entitled “Les pêcheurs de perles,” or “The Pearl Fishers.” It ran for 18 performances, and, although applauded by its first audiences, was roundly panned by the press. Only one music critic saw any merit in Bizet's opera, and that critic just happened to be the great French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz. Even so, Bizet's “Pearl Fishers” wasn't revived until long after Bizet's death, and some 30 years after its premiere. Today, after “Carmen” of course, it's Bizet's SECOND most popular opera. Music Played in Today's Program Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) — Prelude, fr The Pearl Fishers (Mexico City Philharmonic; Enrique Batiz, cond.) ASV 6133 Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) — "Au fond du temple saint," fr The Pearl Fishers (Placido Domingo, tenor; Sherrill Milnes, baritone; London Symphony; Anton Guadagno, cond.) BMG 62699 On This Day Births 1840 - Norwegian composer Johann Svendsen, in Christiania; 1852 - Irish-born British composer Sir Charles Villers Stanford, in Dublin; Deaths 1989 - American composer and music critic Virgil Thomson, age 92, in New York City; Premieres 1791 - Mozart: opera, "Die Zauberflöte" (The Magic Flute), in Vienna at the Freihaustheater auf der Wieden, conducted by the composer; 1863 - Bizet: opera "Les Pecheurs de perles" (The Pearl Fishers), in Paris at the Théâtre Lyrique; 1935 - Gershwin: opera "Porgy and Bess," during trial run at Boston's Colonial Theater; According to Opera America magazine, this is one of the most frequently-produced American operas during the past decade; 1944 - R. Vaughan Williams: Oboe Concerto, with soloist Leon Goosens and the Liverpool Philharmonic conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent; 1960 - Barber: "Toccata Festiva" for organ and orchestra, at Philadelphia's Academy of Music, by the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy, with Paul Callaway the soloist; 1979 - Penderecki: "Te Deum" in Assisi, Italy; 1989 - Daniel Asia: Piano Quartet, at Wigmore Hall in London, by the Domus ensemble; 1999 - Michael Tilson Thomas: "Whitman Songs for Orchestra," by the San Francisco Symphony, composer conducting. Links and Resources On Bizet

Synopsis The American composer Virgil Thomson was fond of writing what he called “portraits” –musical sketches of people he knew. When asked how he did this, Thomson replied: “I just look at you and I write down what I hear.” One of these works – a portrait in disguise – premiered on today's date in 1954 at the Venice Festival in Italy.  Identified simply as his Concerto for Flute, Strings, Harp, and Percussion, Thomson later confessed it was in fact a musical portrait of Roger Baker, a handsome young painter he had recently befriended. Virgil Thomson was born in Kansas City in 1896, studied music at Harvard, lived in Paris through much of the 1920s and 30s, and in 1940 became the music critic of The New York Herald-Tribune, a post he held until 1954. Thomson once defined the role of music critic as one who “seldom kisses, but always tells.” But in 1954, Thomson decided fourteen years as a music critic was enough, and it was time to concentrate on his own music for a change. Perhaps not by coincidence, one of the friends who encouraged him to do so was Roger Baker, the artist “portrayed” by Thomson in his 1954 concerto. Music Played in Today's Program Virgil Thomson (1896 – 1989) — Flute Concerto (Mary Stolper, flute; Czech National Symphony; Paul Freeman, cond.) Cedille 046

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://quiteaquote.in/2020/11/25/virgil-thomson-musician/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/quiteaquote/message

Synopsis On today’s date in 1825, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri breathed his last in Vienna. Gossip circulated that in his final dementia, Salieri blabbed something about poisoning Mozart. Whether he meant it figuratively or literally, or even said anything of the sort, didn’t seem to matter and the gossip became a Romantic legend. Modern food detectives suggested that if Mozart WAS poisoned, an undercooked pork chop might be to blame… In one of his last letters to his wife, Mozart mentions his anticipation of feasting on a fat chop his cook had secured for his dinner! Twenty-five years after Salieri’s death, on today’s date in 1850, the Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl was born in Budapest. Seidl became a famous conductor of both the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. It was Seidl who conducted the premiere of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. In 1898, at the age of just 47, Seidl died suddenly, apparently from ptomaine poisoning. Perhaps it was the shad roe he ate at home, or that sausage from Fleischmann’s restaurant? An autopsy revealed serious gallstone and liver ailments, so maybe Seidl’s last meal, whatever it might have been, was as innocent of blame as poor old Salieri. Music Played in Today's Program Wolfgang Mozart (1756 – 1791) Symphony No. 25 St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond. Fantasy 104/105 Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Vienna Philharmonic; Rafael Kubelik, cond. Decca 466 994 Antonio Salieri (1750 – 1825) "La Folia" Variations London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, cond. Chandos 9877 On This Day Births 1833 - German composer Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg; 1840 - Russian composer Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, in Votkinsk, district of Viatka (Julian date: April 25); 1850 - Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl, in Budapest; He was Wagner assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival performances of the "Ring" operas in 1876-79, was engaged to conduct the German repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in 1885, and in 1891 as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic; He conducted the American premieres of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886 and the world premiere of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony in 1893; He died of ptomaine poisoning in 1898; Deaths 1793 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, age 71, in Florence; 1818 - Bohemian composer Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius)Kozeluch (Kotzeluch, Koželuh), age 70, in Vienna; 1825 - Italian composer Antonio Salieri, age 74, in Vienna; Premieres 1824 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf; 1888 - Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (The King of Ys) at the Opéra Comique, in Paris; 1926 - Milhaud: opera "Les malheurs d'Orphée" (The Sorrows of Orpheus), in Brussels at the Théatre de la Monnaie; 1944 - Copland: "Our Town" Film Music Suite (revised version), by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein; An earlier version of this suite aired on CBS Radio on June 9, 1940, with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow; 1947 - Virgil Thomson: opera "The Mother of Us All," at Columbia University in New York City; 1985 - David Ward-Steinman: "Chroma" Concerto for multiple keyboards, percussion, and chamber orchestra, in Scottsdale, Ariz., by the Noveau West Chamber Orchestra conducted by Terry Williams, with the composer and Amy-Smith-Davie as keyboard soloists; 1988 - Stockhausen: opera "Montag von Licht" (Monday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; 1988 - Michael Torke: ballet "Black and White," at the New York State Theater, with the NY City Ballet Orchestra, David Alan Miller conducting; 1993 - Harrison Birtwistle: "Five Distances for Five Instruments," in London at the Purcell Room, by the Ensemble InterContemporain; 1998 - Joan Tower: "Tambor," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting; 1999 - Robert X. Rodriguez: "Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra," by the San Antonio Symphony, Wilkins conducting; Others 1747 - J.S. Bach (age 62) visits King Frederick II of Prussia at his court in Potsdam on May 7-8; Bach improvises on a theme submitted by the King, performing on the King's forte-piano; In September of 1747 Bach publishes a chamber work based on the royal theme entitled "Musical Offering." 1937 - The RKO film "Shall We Dance?" is released, with a filmscore by George Gershwin; This film includes the classic Gershwin songs "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and an instrumental interlude "Walking the Dog" (released as a solo piano piece under the title "Promenade"). Links and Resources A BBC story on "Rehabilitating Salieri" On Anton Seidl On the Seidl papers at Columbia University

Synopsis On today’s date in 1825, the Italian composer Antonio Salieri breathed his last in Vienna. Gossip circulated that in his final dementia, Salieri blabbed something about poisoning Mozart. Whether he meant it figuratively or literally, or even said anything of the sort, didn’t seem to matter and the gossip became a Romantic legend. Modern food detectives suggested that if Mozart WAS poisoned, an undercooked pork chop might be to blame… In one of his last letters to his wife, Mozart mentions his anticipation of feasting on a fat chop his cook had secured for his dinner! Twenty-five years after Salieri’s death, on today’s date in 1850, the Austro-Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl was born in Budapest. Seidl became a famous conductor of both the Metropolitan Opera and New York Philharmonic. It was Seidl who conducted the premiere of Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony. In 1898, at the age of just 47, Seidl died suddenly, apparently from ptomaine poisoning. Perhaps it was the shad roe he ate at home, or that sausage from Fleischmann’s restaurant? An autopsy revealed serious gallstone and liver ailments, so maybe Seidl’s last meal, whatever it might have been, was as innocent of blame as poor old Salieri. Music Played in Today's Program Wolfgang Mozart (1756 – 1791) Symphony No. 25 St. Martin's Academy; Sir Neville Marriner, cond. Fantasy 104/105 Antonin Dvořák (1841 – 1904) Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Vienna Philharmonic; Rafael Kubelik, cond. Decca 466 994 Antonio Salieri (1750 – 1825) "La Folia" Variations London Mozart Players; Matthias Bamert, cond. Chandos 9877 On This Day Births 1833 - German composer Johannes Brahms, in Hamburg; 1840 - Russian composer Pyotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, in Votkinsk, district of Viatka (Julian date: April 25); 1850 - Hungarian conductor Anton Seidl, in Budapest; He was Wagner assistant at the first Bayreuth Festival performances of the "Ring" operas in 1876-79, was engaged to conduct the German repertory at the Metropolitan Opera in 1885, and in 1891 as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic; He conducted the American premieres of Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" in 1886 and the world premiere of Dvorák's "New World" Symphony in 1893; He died of ptomaine poisoning in 1898; Deaths 1793 - Italian composer and violinist Pietro Nardini, age 71, in Florence; 1818 - Bohemian composer Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius)Kozeluch (Kotzeluch, Koželuh), age 70, in Vienna; 1825 - Italian composer Antonio Salieri, age 74, in Vienna; Premieres 1824 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ("Choral") at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna, with the deaf composer on stage beating time, but with the performers instructed to follow the cues of Beethoven's assistant conductor, Michael Umlauf; 1888 - Lalo: "Le Roi d'Ys" (The King of Ys) at the Opéra Comique, in Paris; 1926 - Milhaud: opera "Les malheurs d'Orphée" (The Sorrows of Orpheus), in Brussels at the Théatre de la Monnaie; 1944 - Copland: "Our Town" Film Music Suite (revised version), by the Boston Pops conducted by Leonard Bernstein; An earlier version of this suite aired on CBS Radio on June 9, 1940, with the Columbia Broadcasting Symphony conducted by Howard Barlow; 1947 - Virgil Thomson: opera "The Mother of Us All," at Columbia University in New York City; 1985 - David Ward-Steinman: "Chroma" Concerto for multiple keyboards, percussion, and chamber orchestra, in Scottsdale, Ariz., by the Noveau West Chamber Orchestra conducted by Terry Williams, with the composer and Amy-Smith-Davie as keyboard soloists; 1988 - Stockhausen: opera "Montag von Licht" (Monday from Light), in Milan at the Teatro alla Scala; 1988 - Michael Torke: ballet "Black and White," at the New York State Theater, with the NY City Ballet Orchestra, David Alan Miller conducting; 1993 - Harrison Birtwistle: "Five Distances for Five Instruments," in London at the Purcell Room, by the Ensemble InterContemporain; 1998 - Joan Tower: "Tambor," by the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mariss Jansons conducting; 1999 - Robert X. Rodriguez: "Bachanale: Concertino for Orchestra," by the San Antonio Symphony, Wilkins conducting; Others 1747 - J.S. Bach (age 62) visits King Frederick II of Prussia at his court in Potsdam on May 7-8; Bach improvises on a theme submitted by the King, performing on the King's forte-piano; In September of 1747 Bach publishes a chamber work based on the royal theme entitled "Musical Offering." 1937 - The RKO film "Shall We Dance?" is released, with a filmscore by George Gershwin; This film includes the classic Gershwin songs "Beginner's Luck," "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off," "They Can't Take That Away from Me" and an instrumental interlude "Walking the Dog" (released as a solo piano piece under the title "Promenade"). Links and Resources A BBC story on "Rehabilitating Salieri" On Anton Seidl On the Seidl papers at Columbia University

On today’s date in 1943, at the height of World War II, Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” had its premiere performance in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Symphony’s conductor in those days, the British-born Eugene Goosens, had commissioned 18 fanfares for brass and percussion. “It is my idea,” he wrote, “to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort.” Besides Copland, the 18 composers commissioned included Henry Cowell, Paul Creston, Morton Gould, Howard Hanson, William Grant Still, and Virgil Thomson. Most of the 18 composers dedicated their fanfares to either a unit of U.S. military or one of its wartime allies, Copland’s fanfare stood out, both musically and by virtue of its title. Among the titles Copland considered — and rejected — were “Fanfare for the Spirit of Democracy” and “Fanfare for Four Freedoms,” the latter in reference to President Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address that called for the freedom of speech and religion, and from want and fear. He settled on “Fanfare for the Common Man,” because, as Copland recalled, “it was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army. He deserved a fanfare.”

On today’s date in 1943, at the height of World War II, Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” had its premiere performance in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Symphony’s conductor in those days, the British-born Eugene Goosens, had commissioned 18 fanfares for brass and percussion. “It is my idea,” he wrote, “to make these fanfares stirring and significant contributions to the war effort.” Besides Copland, the 18 composers commissioned included Henry Cowell, Paul Creston, Morton Gould, Howard Hanson, William Grant Still, and Virgil Thomson. Most of the 18 composers dedicated their fanfares to either a unit of U.S. military or one of its wartime allies, Copland’s fanfare stood out, both musically and by virtue of its title. Among the titles Copland considered — and rejected — were “Fanfare for the Spirit of Democracy” and “Fanfare for Four Freedoms,” the latter in reference to President Roosevelt’s 1941 State of the Union Address that called for the freedom of speech and religion, and from want and fear. He settled on “Fanfare for the Common Man,” because, as Copland recalled, “it was the common man, after all, who was doing all the dirty work in the war and the army. He deserved a fanfare.”

To round off #BlackHistoryMonth2021, I bring you an array of artists singing a wide range of 20th Century repertoire. Included are singers who have previously been featured in full episodes (including Lawrence Winters, Gloria Davy, Charles Holland, and Carol Brice), legendary favorites (including Leontyne Price, Martina Arroyo, Roberta Alexander, and Barbara Hendricks), important concert singers (including Adele Addison and Betty Allen), lesser-known artists (including Helen Thipgen, Martha Flowers, William Pearson, Mareda Gaither, and Olive Moorefield), and iconic singers (including Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle, and Christiane Eda-Pierre) for whom important new work was created by Judith Weir, André Previn, and Charles Chaynes. The range of composers represented is equally vast and includes Leonard Bernstein, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Virgil Thomson, Michael Tippett, Lee Hoiby, Shulamit Ran, Gian Carlo Menotti, Judith Weir, Paul Bowles, Lukas Foss, and David Del Tredici. with special attention given to African American composers Margaret Bonds, Howard Swanson, William Grant Still, Hall Johnson, and Robert Nathaniel Dett. In other words: something for everyone and just a foretaste of future Countermelody programs that will continue to celebrate the contributions of African American singers. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel’s lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” Occasional guests from the “business” (singers, conductors, composers, coaches, and teachers) lend their distinctive insights. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. At Countermelody’s core is the interaction between singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. Please visit the Countermelody website (www.countermelodypodcast.com) for additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. And please head to my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/countermelody to pledge your monthly support at whatever level you can afford. Bonus episodes available only to Patreon supporters are currently available.

Episode SummaryChez Panisse has indelibly shaped California cuisine since its inception in 1971 and Lindsey and Charles Shere were there from the beginning, helping to change the landscape for female chefs. Influenced by the politics and art of Berkeley in the 1960s, Charles and Lindsey found their niche for unconventional thinkers and doers and they continue to live their life by following their hearts. Listen in for the era-spanning experiences of a chef and a composer, in this episode of The Sydcast.Syd Finkelstein Syd Finkelstein is the Steven Roth Professor of Management at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He holds a Master's degree from the London School of Economics and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. Professor Finkelstein has published 25 books and 90 articles, including the bestsellers Why Smart Executives Fail and Superbosses: How Exceptional Leaders Master the Flow of Talent, which LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman calls the “leadership guide for the Networked Age.” He is also a Fellow of the Academy of Management, a consultant and speaker to leading companies around the world, and a top 25 on the Global Thinkers 50 list of top management gurus. Professor Finkelstein's research and consulting work often relies on in-depth and personal interviews with hundreds of people, an experience that led him to create and host his own podcast, The Sydcast, to uncover and share the stories of all sorts of fascinating people in business, sports, entertainment, politics, academia, and everyday life. Charles ShereCharles Shere was born in Berkeley, California, in 1935, and grew up there and on a small farm in Sonoma county, where he attended high school. He studied music and English literature at Chapman College, Santa Rosa Junior College, San Francisco State University, and the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated cum laude in 1960.He was music director at KPFA-fm, Berkeley, 1964-67; announcer, critic, director, and producer at KQED-tv, San Francisco, 1967-1972; lecturer in music at Mills College, Oakland, 1973-1984; and art and music critic at the Oakland Tribune, 1972-1988. He was the founding editor and publisher of Ear, the west coast new-music tabloid, 1973-78, and has published four books: Even Recent Cultural History (Hanover, New Hampshire: Frog Peak Music, 1995); Thinking Sound Music: the Life and Work of Robert Erickson (Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1996); Everbest Ever: Correspondence with Bay Area Friends (as editor and joint author with Virgil Thomson and Margery Tede)(Berkeley: Fallen Leaf Press, 1996); and Why I Read Stein (Oakland: Mills College Center for the Book, 2002), as well as numerous musical compositions.Lindsey ShereIn 1947 Lindsey and her family moved to a sizable ranch in Sonoma County, California, where she spent the next ten years among milk cows, apple and prune orchards, hayfields, and four younger sisters.She graduated from Healdsburg High School, Santa Rosa Junior College, and the University of California at Berkeley, where she majored in a group major in French language, literature, and political history.In 1971 she joined Alice Waters to open the restaurant Chez Panisse, where she continued as Pastry Chef until her retirement in 1998.Largely self-taught as a cook, she began focusing on baking and desserts as a teenager, delighted by the fresh dairy and orchard products available on the family farm. Her interest in the French language and in European culture led to further investigations into cuisine. She has traveled extensively throughout western Europe, especially in France and northern Italy: her mother's family was Alsatian; her father was born in the Italian Alps.Widely read, she counts among her major influences James Beard, Ada Boni, Robert Courtine, Curnonsky, Elizabeth David, M.F.K. Fisher, Richard Olney, and Waverly Root, as well as the chefs associated with her at Chez Panisse, especially Alice Waters.Her book, Chez Panisse Desserts, was published in 1985 and is still in print. She was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the James Beard Foundation in 1993. Among the chefs who have worked for her in the Chez Panisse pastry kitchen have been bakers Diane Dexter, Gayle Ortiz, and Steve Sullivan; pastry chefs David Lebovitz and Mary Jo Thoresen; and chefs Deborah Madison and Mark Peel. She is an active member of The Baker's Dozen and a major contributor to the Dozen's forthcoming book.Since her retirement she has returned with her husband to a rural life in Sonoma county, dividing her time among gardening, grandchildren, reading, and travel.Insights from this episode:Details on how Lindsey's passion for baking led to her becoming the Pastry Chef at Chez Panisse and a prestigious career that lasted twenty-six years.How Chez Panisse challenged the prevalent perception of the 1970s of women's roles as chefs and restaurant owners.Benefits to businesses and brand building when there is one owner for an extended period of time, like with Chez Panisse.Details on some of the experiences that Charles and Lindsey have shared, including why Charles walked from Geneva, Switzerland to Nice, France.Importance of living life as it comes and taking advantage of opportunities as they come to you.Quotes from the show:“I used to think the restaurant business was a really safe business to be in because people always had to eat but now I'm learning differently.” – Lindsey Shere“It is quite interesting to see how the center of gravity for political parties shifts over time.” – Syd Finkelstein“You can't cook a different menu everyday without learning a huge amount.” – Lindsey ShereOn Alice Waters: “One thing that Alice has continued to learn over these years, she doesn't stop and stay there; she's constantly moving.” – Lindsey Shere“The early success of the restaurant owes something to the fact that health and nutrition were very much in the news all that time.” – Charles ShereOn having a bucket list: “I don't think I believe in it and I don't think I have one. It seems unnecessarily disciplined.” – Charles Shere“If you lead a full and engaging life, your life is the bucket list.” – Syd Finkelstein“There's always something waiting out there to be discovered and enjoyed.” – Lindsey Shere“It seems very difficult to be a young person these days.” – Lindsey Shere“My method has always been to have as open a mind as possible and be as attentive and responsive to events as possible and to enjoy things for what they are.” – Charles ShereStay Connected: Syd FinkelsteinWebsite: http://thesydcast.comLinkedIn: Sydney FinkelsteinTwitter: @sydfinkelsteinFacebook: The SydcastInstagram: The Sydcast Charles and Lindsey Shere Website: shere.orgCharles' Blog: The Eastside ViewSubscribe to our podcast + download each episode on Stitcher, iTunes, and Spotify.This episode was produced and managed by Podcast Laundry (www.podcastlaundry.com)

Hosted by Coni Koepfinger and Christy Donahue: Nancy Rhodes (Stage Director, writer, and educator) stages a wide range of musicals, operas and plays in the U.S.A, Europe and Asia. She directed The Astronaut’s Tale at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Fisher; staged the world premiere of Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, and Virgil Thomson’s opera Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall.As Artistic Director & co-founder of Encompass Theatre, specializing in new music drama & American opera, she staged over 65 works including Gertrude Stein/Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, (about Susan B. Anthony), Blitzstein’s Regina, Britten’s Phaedra, and Only Heaven by Ricky Ian Gordon and Langston Hughes. Her production of The Diary of Anne Frank was nominated for an Artistic Achievement Award and played to over four thousand people on tour at Cleveland Opera. She recently directed the world premiere of Anna Christie, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Eugene O'Neill; and the Cast Album was released by Broadway Records in 2019, and reached #6 on the Billboard charts.Internationally, she directed Death In Venice (Stockholm), Carmen (Oslo), Happy End (Finland), Kiss Me Kate (Ankara, filmed for TV), West Side Story (Istanbul), and Eccentrics, Outcasts and Visionaries for the Holland Festival (Amsterdam), and the first American musicals ever staged in the country of Albania. At Encompass, she launched Paradigm Shifts, Music and Film Festival, to celebrate courageous people around the world protecting our planet, oceans, and wildlife, and in 2017, Paradigm Shifts was presented in Seoul, Korea.As Vice President/U.S. Delegate to the International Theatre Institute, Rhodes conducted workshops and served as a guest speaker in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Venezuela, Argentina, Korea, Holland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia. She taught Acting for Singers at Manhattan School of Music for 12 years and is the commissioned librettist of The Theory of Everything, inspired by physics’ string theory of multiple dimensions and alternate universes.

Hosted by Coni Koepfinger and Christy Donahue: Nancy Rhodes (Stage Director, writer, and educator) stages a wide range of musicals, operas and plays in the U.S.A, Europe and Asia. She directed The Astronaut’s Tale at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM Fisher; staged the world premiere of Tartuffe for San Francisco Opera, and Virgil Thomson’s opera Lord Byron at Alice Tully Hall.As Artistic Director & co-founder of Encompass Theatre, specializing in new music drama & American opera, she staged over 65 works including Gertrude Stein/Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All, (about Susan B. Anthony), Blitzstein’s Regina, Britten’s Phaedra, and Only Heaven by Ricky Ian Gordon and Langston Hughes. Her production of The Diary of Anne Frank was nominated for an Artistic Achievement Award and played to over four thousand people on tour at Cleveland Opera. She recently directed the world premiere of Anna Christie, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Eugene O'Neill; and the Cast Album was released by Broadway Records in 2019, and reached #6 on the Billboard charts.Internationally, she directed Death In Venice (Stockholm), Carmen (Oslo), Happy End (Finland), Kiss Me Kate (Ankara, filmed for TV), West Side Story (Istanbul), and Eccentrics, Outcasts and Visionaries for the Holland Festival (Amsterdam), and the first American musicals ever staged in the country of Albania. At Encompass, she launched Paradigm Shifts, Music and Film Festival, to celebrate courageous people around the world protecting our planet, oceans, and wildlife, and in 2017, Paradigm Shifts was presented in Seoul, Korea.As Vice President/U.S. Delegate to the International Theatre Institute, Rhodes conducted workshops and served as a guest speaker in Italy, Sweden, Germany, Venezuela, Argentina, Korea, Holland, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Estonia. She taught Acting for Singers at Manhattan School of Music for 12 years and is the commissioned librettist of The Theory of Everything, inspired by physics’ string theory of multiple dimensions and alternate universes.

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the winner of the seventh Pulitzer Prize in Music, Virgil Thomson for his score to the film Louisiana Story.   Virgil Thomson is perhaps best known for his operas like Four Saints in Three Acts or his precise and incisive music criticism at the New York Herald Tribune. But he was also a pioneer in film scoring, particularly documentary film scoring during the Great Depression. In 1936, he wrote his first film score for Pare Lorentz's The Plow that Broke the Plains, and he followed it up with The River two years later for the same director. A decade later, the father of the narrative documentary film, Robert Flaherty, hired Thomson to score what would be his last film. As the only piece of movie music to ever win the Pulitzer, Louisiana Story is at least a curiosity in the prize's history, but does it stand up today? If you'd like more information about Virgil Thomson we recommend: Anthony Tommasini's magisterial biography Virgil Thomson: Composer on the Aisle (New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, 1999). The Library of America's collection of Virgil Thomson's writings, edited by Tim Page The Virgil Thomson Papers at Yale University: https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/6/resources/10673 Thomson's website page with more resources: http://www.virgilthomson.org/resources/further-research

On today's date in 1953, at New York's 92nd Street "Y," Walden String Quartet tackled the difficult First String Quartet of American composer Elliott Carter. In Carter's 45-minute Quartet, the four voices enter one by one, in the style of a fugue, but each voice pursues its own very individual pace and character. Carter's Quartet was as densely-packed with ideas as a page from James Joyce—an author the composer cited as an influence. But, writing for the Herald Tribune, composer Virgil Thomson gave the work a glowing review: "The piece is complex of texture, delicious in sound, richly expressive, and in every way grand—the audience loved it," wrote Thomson. That same year Carter's Quartet won First Prize in the International String Quartet competition in Belgium, a contest Carter entered almost as an afterthought. "My First Quartet was written largely for my own satisfaction and grew out of an effort to understand myself," he said. To escape from the distractions of New York, Carter had retreated to the desert near Tucson to write it. No one had commissioned the Quartet, and Carter initially feared its complexity would only baffle performers and audiences. His next quartet, equally challenging, won a Pulitzer Prize. Complexity would characterize Carter's music for the next 50 years—although the composer himself insists that fantasy and invention, rather than difficulty for its own sake, had always been his goal.

On today's date in 1953, at New York's 92nd Street "Y," Walden String Quartet tackled the difficult First String Quartet of American composer Elliott Carter. In Carter's 45-minute Quartet, the four voices enter one by one, in the style of a fugue, but each voice pursues its own very individual pace and character. Carter's Quartet was as densely-packed with ideas as a page from James Joyce—an author the composer cited as an influence. But, writing for the Herald Tribune, composer Virgil Thomson gave the work a glowing review: "The piece is complex of texture, delicious in sound, richly expressive, and in every way grand—the audience loved it," wrote Thomson. That same year Carter's Quartet won First Prize in the International String Quartet competition in Belgium, a contest Carter entered almost as an afterthought. "My First Quartet was written largely for my own satisfaction and grew out of an effort to understand myself," he said. To escape from the distractions of New York, Carter had retreated to the desert near Tucson to write it. No one had commissioned the Quartet, and Carter initially feared its complexity would only baffle performers and audiences. His next quartet, equally challenging, won a Pulitzer Prize. Complexity would characterize Carter's music for the next 50 years—although the composer himself insists that fantasy and invention, rather than difficulty for its own sake, had always been his goal.

In this episode, Dave and Andrew explore the winner of the second Pulitzer Prize in Music, Howard Hanson and his Symphony No. 4 ("Requiem"). Hanson is known today for his impact on how we teach and train musicians in colleges and universities, but his music has fallen a bit out of favor. Join us as we see if his exclusion from concert halls is justified.   If you'd like to know more about Howard Hanson, we recommend: Harmonic Materials of Modern Music, Howard Hanson's book on music theory freely available online. Allen Cohen's Howard Hanson in Theory and Practice, from Praeger Publishers in 2004. Emily Abrams Ansari, The Sound of a Superpower: Musical Americanism and the Cold War, from Oxford University Press, 2018. This book combines Schuman and Hanson into one chapter and includes chapters on upcoming Pulitzer winners Aaron Copland and Virgil Thomson, exploring how all shaped American musical culture midcentury.

Your Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Ward Stare cap off the celebration of suffrage and Susan B. Anthony with "The Mother of Us All," Virgil Thomson's opera with a libretto by Gertrude Stein. The production, directed by Susan Stone Li , features singers from the Eastman School of Music . Ward and Susan stopped by to talk with Julia Figueras about putting the concert together, and about the path constructed by Thomson and Stein.

One of the most eccentric and interesting artistic partnerships of the 20th century, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, was the collaboration between the composer Virgil Thomson and the writer and poet Gertrude Stein. Together, the two were instrumental in inventing American opera. More, in this episode of Fishko Files. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's production of The Mother of Us All, 100 years after the 19th amendment, begins Saturday, February 8, with four performances through February 14. Thanks to Karen Ludwig for her reading of Gertrude Stein's poem "A Substance in a Cushion." For more on Thomson's years at the Chelsea Hotel, listen to this archival edition of Fishko Files. Chelsea Hotel / Fishko Files (2001) The opera's premiere in 1947 was broadcast on WNYC from Columbia University's Brander Matthews Hall. Hear the entire performance, courtesy of Andy Lanset and the WNYC Archives. The Mother of Us All / 1947 Premiere Fishko Files with Sara Fishko Assistant Producer: Olivia BrileyMix Engineer: Bill MossEditor: Karen Frillmann

durée : 01:28:26 - Virgil Thomson, compositeur américain (jour des trente ans de sa mort) - par : François-Xavier Szymczak - Trente ans jour pour jour après sa mort, nous revenons sur la vie et la carrière d’un compositeur de Kansas City ayant côtoyé ses pairs Aaron Copland, Darius Milhaud ou Igor Stravinsky, mais aussi James Joyce et Gertrude Stein qui écrivit pour lui les livrets de deux opéras. - réalisé par : Céline Parfenoff

What makes the seemingly ridiculous plot of Così fan tutte such a compelling study of the duality of human nature that we revisit time and again? How do we understand the play of gender norms and societal pressure through a contemporary lens? And what's a director to do about a plot point that revolves around mustaches?  R.B. Schlather is one of the most creative and exciting new opera directors on the scene in America, with a strong emphasis on the visual aspect of performance. He recently he made a huge splash with a production of The Mother of Us All by Virgil Thomson at the Hudson Opera House in upstate New York, which was named as one of the 10 best opera performances of 2017 by the New York Times. R.B. makes his Santa Fe Opera directorial debut with our new production of Così fan tutte, Mozart’s and Da Ponte’s final collaboration (after Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro), which has delighted and confounded viewers ever since its 1790 premiere in Vienna. Find out why Cosi is one of Cori's "desert island operas" and how R.B. had to come around to it eventually. Follow R.B. a thttps://www.rbschlather.com on Instagram @r_b_schlather. *** Cosi fan tutte runs at the Santa Fe Opera July 13 - August 22, 2019. Learn more and plan your visit at http://www.santafeopera.org. We'd love for you to join us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook @santafeopera.  *** Beyond the Opera is produced for the Santa Fe Opera by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios. Our audio engineer is Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe. Our hosts are dramaturg Cori Ellison and Kathleen Clawson, associate director of the Santa Fe Opera apprentice singer program.  

Covering orchestras, opera, major international festivals, and a wide variety of contemporary music, Anthony Tommasini is the chief classical music critic for The New York Times. His books include a biography of the composer and critic Virgil Thomson and The New York Times Essential Library: Opera: A Critic's Guide to the 100 Most Important Works and the Best Recordings. He also has covered musical theater, done Times Talks with musical celebrities, earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts at Boston University, and recorded two albums of music by Thomson. In The Indispensable Composers, Tommasini offers a very personal perspective on the canon of classical composers. Watch the video here. (recorded 11/8/2018)

The Rev. Victoria Hart Gaskell preaches a sermon entitled "The Foundation for a Common Hope". The Marsh Chapel Choir sings “The eyes of all wait upon thee” by Jean Berger and “My Shepherd will supply my need” Virgil Thomson along with service music and hymns.

The Rev. Victoria Hart Gaskell preaches a sermon entitled "The Foundation for a Common Hope". The Marsh Chapel Choir sings “The eyes of all wait upon thee” by Jean Berger and “My Shepherd will supply my need” Virgil Thomson along with service music and hymns.

In June 2005, my composition teacher at the time told me that he was having his Pianos Variations premiered by a pianist named Marc Peloquin at the Bloomingdale School of Music, and that if I was interested, I should go. I arrived rather early, met Marc, and ended up helping him to set up chairs for the recital. The concert was wonderful, and in addition to Daron's Variations, included some works by Virgil Thomson and David Del Tredici. Afterward, I was invited to a post-concert dinner a few blocks away with Marc and his partner (now husband) Seth, Chester Biscardi, and David Del Tredici, and the five of us have been good friends ever since. (I like to tell the story of how I only ordered french fries, claiming that I had eaten before the concert, when in fact french fries were all I could afford at the time. The life of a young artist!) Nine months after that concert and dinner, Marc and I performed together for the first time on the inaugural Tobenski-Algera Concert. We perform together regularly, have toured together, and formed a small record label to release our recordings of new vocal music. Marc was also the Best Man at my wedding last year. During this week's conversation, we talked about: The value of recording previously-unrecorded works Approaching promotion from a project-oriented standpoint KeyedUp MusicProject Curation Community The economics of recording Finding a label or self-releasing your recordings Collaboration Learning from experience How we run Perfect Enemy Records “Life Rolls” Rolling with the punches Links: Marc Peloquin KeyedUp MusicProject Perfect Enemy Records Kristine Kathryn Rusch: One Phone Call from Our Knees

Jay Rozen's career encompasses so many things that there was no way we were going to get through everything, but we spend an hour covering: how he got pieces written for him by famed critic Virgil Thomson and A Clockwork Orange author Anthony Burgess, the joy of live performance, the art of free improv, and his new CD! Today's episode features Jay's arrangement the Frank Zappa song Peaches and Regalia, with him playing all of the overdubbed tuba parts. Jay's new album Killer Tuba Songs, Vol. 2: Naked Singularity is available now on iTunes and Amazon. This episode is also the first in my series partnering with David Whitwell's Radical Brass concert series at Spectrum NYC.

Wednesday, March 5, 6pm EST: Tonight's interview discusses the use of art, in particular, theater, film, music and opera, as means of expressing the depths of our feelings about our relationship to Nature, including our own, and our willingness to both learn about and challenge those forces which jeopardize our sacred eco-systems and by so doing, our own lives. Mitchell's guest with whom to discuss this is Nancy Rhodes, Artistic director of the Encompass New Opera Theatre, which creates and produces adventurous new music drama and opera that explores our place in the universe and our inter-connectedness with Nature through compelling human stories. Currently, Encompass New Opera Theatre is producing & hosting a powerful Film Festival in Brooklyn, from Feb. 25-March 9 on subjects regarding protecting indigenous culture and rain forest habitats among others. ANGEL OF THE AMAZON, about protecting the rain forest, THE ASTRONAUT'S TALE about science and religion, and THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING, exploring quantum physics and indigenous cosmology were all produced in its Science & Arts Program. Nancy Rhodes has championed American opera since founding Encompass New Opera Theatre with an award-winning production of Virgil Thomson and Gertrude Stein's opera The Mother of Us All. Nancy directed the 75th Anniversary production of Thomson and Stein's Four Saints in Three Acts and Evan Mack's Angel of the Amazon. She is the librettist for The Theory of Everything, a new opera exploring science and alternate universes with music by John David Earnest. Tune in to today's show to learn about how art reflects life but can also advance humans toward conscientious social action. You can Listen on-line at www.abetterworld.tv Or listen by phone! 602 753-1860 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/abwmitchellrabin/support

In 1936, Britten and Auden established a friendship and creative partnership whilst working at the GPO film unit in Blackheath, London, producing iconic films such as "Night Mail." With war looming, Auden - a pacifist - left for America to be shortly followed by Britten and Peter Pears in 1939. 7 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights was to become their home and an extraordinary melting part of creativity. Gypsy Rose Lee, Carson McCullers, George Davis, Chester Kallman were fellow lodgers and regular visitors included Thomas Mann, Aaron Copland, Lotte Lenya, Kurt Weill, Virgil Thomson, Marc Blitzstein and Leonard Bernstein. When Salvador Dali met Auden at one of the infamous house parties he famously asked him "Do you speak English?"

The Rev. Dr. Dean Snyder preaches a sermon entitled "The Limits of our Exceptionalism." The Marsh Chapel Choir sings "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" by Virgil Thomson and an excerpt from "Die Schöpfung (The Creation)" by Joseph Haydn along with service music and hymns.

The Rev. Dr. Dean Snyder preaches a sermon entitled "The Limits of our Exceptionalism." The Marsh Chapel Choir sings "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" by Virgil Thomson and an excerpt from "Die Schöpfung (The Creation)" by Joseph Haydn along with service music and hymns.

The Rev. Dr. Dean Snyder preaches a sermon entitled "The Limits of our Exceptionalism." The Marsh Chapel Choir sings "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" by Virgil Thomson and an excerpt from "Die Schöpfung (The Creation)" by Joseph Haydn along with service music and hymns.

The Rev. Dr. Dean Snyder preaches a sermon entitled "The Limits of our Exceptionalism." The Marsh Chapel Choir sings "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need" by Virgil Thomson and an excerpt from "Die Schöpfung (The Creation)" by Joseph Haydn along with service music and hymns.

Virgil Thomson (1896-1989), important 20th Century composer and influential critic, was interviewed by Vivian Perlis for Yale’s Oral History of American Music archive (OHAM) between 1977 and 1980. Additional material held at OHAM includes tape recordings of his Yale College course, “Words and Music”, a video-taped interview in his apartment at the historic Chelsea Hotel, New York City, and numerous acquired interviews. Excerpts appear in Composers’ Voices from Ives to Ellington, CD and book publication by Vivian Perlis and Libby Van Cleve, (Yale University Press, 2005.) Included are comments on: opera, teaching composition, Nadia Boulanger, Gertrude Stein, and music criticism. For more Yale music netcasts, visit music.yale.edu. For information about music samples and interview transcript, see OHAM website: www.yale.edu/oham/. This podcast was derived from the publication’s second CD, Track 9.

Steven Watson "Prepare; for Saints: Gertrude Stein, Virgil Thomson and the Mainstreaming of American Modernism" (Random House) "Four; Saints inThree Acts" by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson was a modernistsneak-attack, the result of cunning and deliberation. Here's how they did it.