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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: classical music

classical music stories: 45 news summaries

1 - 20 of 45 Stories | 1 2 3 Next >>

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 Beach Boy Wilson to 
 Complete Gershwin Songs 

Project a 'weird dream come true' for fans of 2 seminal American composers

Oct 8, 09 11:08 AM CDT
(Newser) - Beach Boys songster Brian Wilson will put a gloss on unfinished tunes by revered Jazz Age composer George Gershwin. Gershwin’s estate tells the Los Angeles Times that dozens of fragments, from “a few bars to some almost finished songs and everything in between,” have been in... More »

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entertainment • classical music • composer • jazz • Brian Wilson • estate • Beach Boys • popular music • songwriter • George Gershwin • unfinished

 LA Shows the Love to 
 28-Year-Old Maestro  

Gustavo Dudamel takes up baton at leading American orchestra

Oct 1, 09 9:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - The Los Angeles Philharmonic greeted its new music director yesterday with waves, cheers, and bursts of brass and strings, and cameras tailed the new boss as he hugged his principal musicians. It wasn't a standard first day, but Gustavo Dudamel of Venezuela isn't a standard maestro—he's only 28 years... More »

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California • classical music • Los Angeles • Gustavo Dudamel • Los Angeles Philharmonic • orchestra • conductor

 Strep Throat 
 Likely Killed 
 Mozart 


'Minor epidemic' hit Vienna

Aug 18, 09 7:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some have speculated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died of eating undercooked pork; others have said he was poisoned. Now researchers believe he may have died of strep throat, Reuters reports. There was a “minor epidemic” of strep in Vienna when Mozart died, and findings suggest “Mozart was one of... More »

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classical music • history • Vienna • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • strep throat

(Newser) - Two pieces by a 7- or 8-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went undiscovered for more than a century because they were written in his father Leopold’s hand, the New York Times reports. Austrian researchers have disclosed new details about the works after announcing the finding in July: The music consists... More »

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music • classical music • discoveries • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • prodigy

analysis

Tweeting Beethoven a Noteworthy Development

Tech assist enhances classical experience

Jul 30, 09 10:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - In a bid to win over multitaskers and technophobes, the National Symphony Orchestra will tweet along with tonight's performance of Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, the Washington Post reports. Audience members with appropriate gadgets can sit in a special section on the lawn at Wolf Trap, in suburban Virginia, and follow... More »

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music • technology • classical music • National Symphony Orchestra • audiences • promotion • Twitter • Beethoven • tweet


 2 New 
 Mozart 
 Pieces 
 Found 

Two piano pieces surface in Austria

Jul 23, 09 5:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Two pieces of music found in the vaults of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria, have been confirmed as the work of Mozart himself, the BBC reports. The compositions are for solo piano, but other details are being kept under wraps until a formal announcement next month, said a... More »

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music • classical music • piano • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

'Beckham of Classical Music' Is Hit on Charts, With Ladies

David Garrett loves Metallica, sets world records

Jul 16, 09 4:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - He covers Michael Jackson songs, and considers Mozart and Metallica equally influential—David Garrett is not your average classically trained violinist, but perhaps that’s why his self-titled debut has sat atop the classical crossover charts for three weeks. The German-born 28-year-old—who modeled on the side during his time... More »

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entertainment • classical music • violin • David Beckham • Michael Jackson • Metallica • Stradivarius violin • David Garrett • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart • Jay-ZTV

obituary

Conductor Downes, Wife End Lives in Swiss Suicide Clinic

Couple faced failing health

Jul 14, 09 10:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - British conductor Edward Downes and his wife, Joan, have died at a Swiss suicide clinic, ending their lives “under circumstances of their own choosing,” the couple’s children said today. Downes, 85, was largely blind and Joan, 74, had cancer, the Times of London reports, which their children... More »

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cancer • classical music • assisted suicide • obituary • blindness • Sydney Opera House • Royal Opera House • conductor • Giuseppe Verdi • Edward Downes • Joan Downes

Opera Sounds Good, But How Does It Smell?

New work opening at Guggenheim blasts
23 scents at audience

May 20, 09 8:57 AM CDT
(Newser) - A new opera premiering at the Guggenheim Museum in New York later this month will be a feast for the ears, the eyes—and the nose. Green Aria, a 30-minute "scent opera" years in the making, pairs music with 23 distinct odors blasted at the audience via individual... More »

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classical music • opera • scent • sense of smell • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum • perfume • fragrance

Polish Pianist Launches Rant Against US at
LA Concert

Zimerman vows never to return to America

Apr 28, 09 4:22 AM CDT
(Newser) - Famed Polish concert pianist Krystian Zimerman vowed to never again return to the US after his concert in Los Angeles last night, the Guardian reports. Dozens of audience members walked out as Zimerman, hailed as one of the greatest living pianists, delivered an anti-American tirade, accusing the US of wanting... More »

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Poland • anti missile bases • classical music • concert • piano • Krystian Zimerman

(Newser) - Pop songs are handily beating out traditional hymns in England as the preferred soundtrack for the final goodbye, the Telegraph reports. A survey by a funeral-services company shows that 58% of funerals feature popular music as the top request, versus 35% for hymns; classical grabs just 7%. The top request?... More »

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music • classical music • Scotland • England • pop music • funeral • Leonard Cohen • burial • Frank Sinatra • AC/DC • Meat Loaf • hymn

 YouTube Orchestra Makes 
 Strong, if Not Subtle, Debut 

Symphony orchestra was selected by YouTube viewers voting on clips

Apr 16, 09 9:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - YouTube's "crowdsourced" symphony orchestra made its debut at Carnegie Hall last night. Its 90-plus members played like "a finely tuned instrument," a BBC reviewer found, despite the fact that they had only met in person a couple of days earlier. The musicians, from 30 countries, were picked... More »

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YouTube • classical music • Carnegie Hall • orchestra

analysis

 Few Blacks Followed 
 Anderson's Lead 


Apr 6, 09 5:01 PM CDT
(Newser) - Marian Anderson shattered a racial barrier when she sang at the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday, 1939—70 years ago this week—yet despite planned tributes, the power of the moment has faded, Alex Ross writes in the New Yorker. Most young people know nothing of Anderson, and "black... More »

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African Americans • classical music • opera • jazz • black women

opera review


 High-Concept 
 Sonnambula 
 Misses at Met 


Mar 23, 09 2:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Most operas weave pretty far-fetched tales, but that isn't license for directors to retell them in ironic or mocking ways, Alex Ross writes in the New Yorker. Reviewing two recent productions at the Met, Ross hails a faithful staging of Verdi's Il Trovatore—but dismisses a high-concept version of Bellini's... More »

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classical music • opera • Metropolitan Opera • Bellini • Giuseppe Verdi

YouTube Musicians on Their Way to Carnegie Hall

Viewers vote 90 players onto orchestra

Mar 4, 09 11:40 AM CST
(Newser) - Even Internet boosters who predicted that the Web would democratize everything probably weren’t including classical music. The first YouTube Symphony Orchestra has completed auditions, and is set to perform April 15, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Ninety musicians—ages 17 through 55—from some 30 countries were voted onto... More »

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YouTube • classical music • Carnegie Hall • orchestra

(Newser) - Natalie Dessay is still butting heads with opera purists after twenty-some years in the business. The zesty soprano, an actor at heart, upsets some critics by adding theatrical gestures and even screams to her roles. "At least it's alive," Dessay says of her style. Opera, on the other... More »

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classical music • opera • Metropolitan Opera

OPINION

 Wonder Delivers Classical Opus 

Performs 20-minute composition before receiving US award

Feb 24, 09 10:48 AM CST
(Newser) - Stevie Wonder performed an original classical piece last night at the Library of Congress, where he is due to receive the second Gershwin Prize for Popular Song tomorrow, the Washington Post reports. He played piano, keyboard, and harmonica along with a 21-piece ensemble performing “Sketches of a Life,”... More »

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music • classical music • pop music • Library of Congress • Stevie Wonder • Washington, DC • President Obama

ARCHITECTURE REVIEW

 Lincoln Center's
 Concert Hall Dazzles 

Renovation at Lincoln Center slices open old building

Feb 20, 09 10:32 AM CST
(Newser) - While cities from LA to Copenhagen have unveiled stunning new concert halls in recent years, New York's Lincoln Center complex "seemed mired in indecision." But Alice Tully Hall, one of the center's smaller spaces, reopens to the public Sunday with a bold new design by the architects Diller... More »

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architecture • classical music • Lincoln Center • renovation • Diller Scofidio & Renfro

Troubled NYC Opera Names Dallas Conductor New GM

Company names Steel new GM after chaotic year

Jan 15, 09 7:17 AM CST
(Newser) - The New York City Opera, the deeply troubled company based at Lincoln Center, has named Dallas-based director and conductor George Steel as its new general manager. The announcement comes after last fall's departure of Gerard Mortier, the Belgian iconoclast who promised a shake-up of the opera but quit before he... More »

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New York • classical music • opera • New York City Opera • Metropolitan Opera • Lincoln Center • Gerard Mortier • George Steel

Schroeder 'Played' Real Beethoven 

Schulz's love of classical music came through in comic

Jan 14, 09 5:39 AM CST
(Newser) - The written notes that rose over Schroeder's piano weren't just doodles, scholars studying Peanuts tell the New York Times. Charles Schulz loved classical music as much as his Beethoven-obsessed character and carefully transcribed notes from real Beethoven scores to provide a soundtrack for every comic strip in which Schroeder was... More »

MORE ABOUT:
classical music • Peanuts • comic strips • Charles Schulz • Beethoven

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