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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: composer

composer stories: 20 news summaries

Composers Seek Pay Tune-Up With Teamsters

Hollywood composers, lyricists form  alliance with Local 399

Nov 18, 09 4:58 AM CST
(Newser) - A group of composers for movies and TV seeking a better deal now have the Teamsters in their corner. The musicians, who complain that their pay is shriveling as studios expect them to absorb more costs, were one of the few groups of Hollywood workers not covered by union contracts.... More »

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television • Hollywood • composer • musician • labor unions • Teamsters • organized labor

Lloyd Webber Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer

Disease in early stage; expects to be back at work before end of year

Oct 25, 09 9:05 AM CDT
(AP) - British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, a spokeswoman said today in a statement that said "the condition is in its very early stages. Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year." More »

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prostate cancer • Broadway • composer • musical • Andrew Lloyd Webber • Phantom Of The Opera

 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

(Newser) - We may have Erik Satie to blame for hold music—the composer “developed a very cynical attitude” toward a distracted listening public and decided modern music would be more like a chair than an intellectual pursuit—but the science behind it is state-of-the-art, Newsweek reports. Studies on the... More »

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music • science • business • composer • telephone • scientific study • hold • Erik Satie

 iTunes Offers Silent  Freebie 

First movement of John Cage's 4'33 becomes April Fool's giveaway

Apr 1, 09 1:32 AM CDT
(Newser) - ITunes' April 1 giveaway is a landmark composition by avant-garde American composer John Cage, Gizmodo reports. The first movement of Cage's 4'33—an experimental piece consisting entirely of silence—has been made available for free download, although listeners who enjoy the first minute and 46 seconds of silence and want... More »

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music • iTunes • composer • April Fools' Day

 Doctor Zhivago Composer Dies 

Maurice Jarre worked with Hollywood legends

Mar 30, 09 1:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Maurice Jarre, the composer who wrote the Oscar-winning scores of Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India, has died of cancer at the age of 84. The Frenchman—who rose to fame after moving to Los Angeles in the '60s—worked with such film director legends as... More »

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Hollywood • obituary • composer • Oscars • Maurice Jarre • film score

To Combat Digital Piracy, Try Stealing

Composer pitches real-world thievery to help raise awareness

Feb 25, 09 11:47 AM CST
(Newser) - A Hollywood composer wants you to stop illegally downloading music, and he's willing to put his freedom in jeopardy to make his point. Because the public doesn't seem to equate swapping digital files with stealing, Richard Gibbs is pushing for people to swipe other products in a nationwide "day... More »

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music industry • music downloads • theft • iTunes • composer • digital music • Napster • illegal downloading • Digital Millenium Copyright Act • Richard Gibbs • Day of Sharing

 Composers Score 
 With Video-Game Gigs 

Film-like scores have taken strides with technology—and pay as much as $2K/minute

Dec 8, 08 10:34 AM CST
(Newser) - The musical scores for video games have kept pace with the evolution of the games themselves, the Los Angeles Times reports, with composers bringing in as much as $2,000 per minute to create sweeping, film-like compositions. With sales projected to hit $50 billion this year, game developers can budget... More »

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music • composer • score • video games

US Composer Says Feds Are After Him

John Adams claims agents have targeted him for his politics

Oct 19, 08 6:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - One of the most famous composers in America insists that Homeland Security has targeted him for his liberal views, the Guardian reports. John Adams, who achieved fame with his Nixon in China opera 20 years ago, says airport immigration grills him whenever he comes home. "I'm perfectly aware that... More »

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immigration • classical music • Department of Homeland Security • composer • John Adams

 'Grateful' Symphony Debuts  

Baltimore to unveil work based on various Dead classics

Jul 27, 08 2:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will debut this week an opera derived from the music of the Grateful Dead, on what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 66th birthday. Titled Dead Symphony No. 6, each movement goes truckin' on a different Dead song. The Grateful Dead is “long overdue to... More »

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music • opera • composer • Baltimore • Grateful Dead • Baltimore Symphony • bands

Video-Game Industry Scores Big-Name Composers

Established names drawn to new, lucrative branch of composition

Jul 9, 08 3:30 PM CDT
(Newser) - Far from the shrill beeps of a decade ago, video-game music has come into its own with compositions approaching the maturity of film scores, BusinessWeek reports. A new wave of composers is putting time and effort into sophisticated soundtracks that mark the continuing expansion of video games as a form... More »

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music • composer • video game developers • video games

 Global Warming, the Opera 

La Scala plans operatic version of Al Gore's climate change documentary

May 30, 08 4:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - It started out as a slide show, became an Oscar-winning documentary and best-selling book, and now Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth is about to become a full-length opera, reports the AP. Milan's La Scala opera house has commissioned Italian composer  Giorgio Battistelli to set Gore's stark warning on global warming... More »

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climate change • Al Gore • global warming • opera • composer • An Inconvenient Truth • La Scala

 Shhh! Europe Law Forces 
 Orchestras to Tone It Down 

Noise legislation means musicians are playing musical chairs, the real game

Apr 19, 08 9:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - A new law in Europe to protect employees from ear-damaging noises is stifling a surprise industry—orchestras. Conductors are taking it down a notch to comply, in one case canceling a world premiere because it exceeded the allowable decibels in rehearsal, the New York Times reports. At the Royal Opera... More »

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European Union • classical music • composer • noise • orchestra • conductor • decibel

Scots Build Replica of Bach's Head

Rendering is based on a cast, portrait, and papers from his time

Mar 1, 08 8:40 PM CST
(Newser) - Forensic artists have re-created Johann Sebastian Bach’s head based on a cast of his skull and documents from the composer’s time, the BBC reports. The model, built at Scotland’s Dundee University, is “the most complete face that can be built from the available reliable information,”... More »

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Germany • United Kingdom • classical music • Scotland • composer • Britain • forensic experts • Johann Sebastian Bach • Dundee University • Eisenach

Philip Glass: Trained By Life

Minimalist composer talks odd jobs, '60s NYC, making money and using drugs

Feb 29, 08 7:24 PM CST
(Newser) - Philip Glass paid $30 in rent in 1960s New York City, drove a cab to support his composing, and didn't make a dime on his work until he was 41. "I was trained by life," Glass tells Details of working at the kitchen table while his kids watched... More »

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drugs • New York City • classical music • composer • Philip Glass • Allen Ginsberg • Timothy Leary

Composer Stockhausen Dead at 79

Creator of world's longest opera
inspired many, including the Beatles

Dec 7, 07 9:11 PM CST
(Newser) - Karlheinz Stockhausen, the controversial composer who wrote the world's longest opera—29 hours, to be played over 7 days—has died at the age of 79, the Guardian reports. Though he inspired the Beatles and won high critical acclaim, Stockhausen also snubbed modern music trends and received little mainstream acceptance... More »

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obituary • composer

The 100 Biggest Brains in the World

The top living geniuses dominate fields from physics to animation

Oct 29, 07 4:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Daily Telegraph jumps to point out that a quarter of its list of 100 living geniuses are British, and that that's one living genius per 2.5 million people—a higher proportion than for any other country. Americans still dominate the list, though, with a hefty 43 geniuses.
... More »

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Stephen Hawking • list • composer • Matt Groening • Nelson Mandela • geniuses • Philip Glass

Composer Gone Wild? Vivaldi Faces Lurid Spotlight

Authors, movie focus on his sex life

Oct 20, 07 10:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - The life of Vivaldi, the Italian composer best known for The Four Seasons and the Gloria, is music to the ears of authors and Hollywood producers. Two new books and an upcoming movie dwell on the supposedly salacious details of his 18th-century personal life, though at least one researcher thinks... More »

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Italy • composer • Antonio Vivaldi

Doctor Killed Beethoven,
Says Pathologist

Hair analysis suggests lead poisoning of composer 180 years ago

Aug 29, 07 7:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - It's not exactly  CSI, but the classical era now has its own forensic murder investigation. A new Austrian study has concluded that Ludwig von Beethoven died from overdoses of lead administered by his doctor with the intention of healing him. Beethoven suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, and that... More »

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lead poisoning • composer • doctor • pathology • Betthoven

Rostropovich Dead at 80

Conductor, cellist and champion of artistic freedom dies in his native Russia

Apr 27, 07 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - Cellist, conductor, and one-time Soviet gadfly Mstislav Rostropovich, who used to instruct his orchestras to "play as if you are being tickled in the sides," died today in Moscow. Rostropovich, whose 17-year-run as the head of the National Symphony Orchestra tranformed it from a middling ensemble to one... More »

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music • Mstislav Rostropovich • classical music • obituary • USSR • National Symphony Orchestra • cello • composer

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