There is no one making music like this 27-year-old, classically trained opera tenor and pianist. Watch and see why.
Watch members of the New York-based group give the world premiere video performances of two recent pieces by Radiohead guitarist and composer Jonny Greenwood.
Watch what happens when the smoky-voiced jazz singer from Mexico conspires with an adventuresome string quartet for songs steeped in Latin American traditions.
Kelsey Lu knew she wanted to play music from a young age. So, at 18, she left home to deepen that study. On her debut album, Blood , Lu explores what that decision meant.
You may not recognize the Austrian composer by name, but if you like cartoons, you've heard the music of Franz von Suppé.
The acclaimed Concertgebouw Orchestra issued a warmly worded statement Tuesday saying its disagreements with the conductor have been resolved by both parties.
The Calidore String Quartet confirms that the centuries-old formula — two violins, a viola and a cello — is still very much alive and evolving.
Chief organist Olivier Latry looks ahead at the church's extensive renovation process after the Notre Dame cathedral fire on April 15.
Complementing the artist line-up of Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony on this recording are the Violins of Hope, a poignant collection of restored instruments that survived the Holocaust. Jonathan Leshnoff wrote his Symphony No. 4 with this unique set of orchestral voices in mind; Raymond Bisha introduces the performance and the background to its Read More ...
Manuel de Falla is renowned as the greatest Spanish composer of the early 20th century, whose genius rested in part on his ability to meld diverse stylistic, folk or literary influences into distinctive new musical languages, forging masterworks that would ultimately become cultural emblems of his homeland. Raymond Bisha presents a new release of a Read More ...
The Icelandic singer/composer Björk released her concept album Vespertine in 2001. Raymond Bisha introduces a new audio recording of an opera that was born of that release. The inherent theatricality of Björk’s original was the inspiration for an expert creative team to effect the transition from studio to stage, from sound tracks to symphonic support. Read More ...
Yvar-Emilian Mikhashoff (1941–1993) was an American pianist who collaborated with the publishing house Quadrivium Press to commission composers from all over the world to write piano pieces based on the tango dance form. An intriguing selection of those 100-plus commissions are performed on this Grand Piano release by Hanna Shybayeva, the works’ eclecticism reflected in Read More ...
Berlioz left us a number of Shakespeare-inspired works, chief among them his masterpiece Roméo et Juliette. The work took a decade to complete and is cast in an innovative form, a kind of ‘super-symphony’ that incorporates elements of symphony, opera and oratorio. Raymond Bisha introduces this new recording by Leonard Slatkin and the Orchestre National Read More ...
Raymond Bisha presents a pair of vividly contrasting ballet scores by Aaron Copland, superbly performed by Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Grohg immediately suggested itself as the basis for a ballet after Copland attended a screening of Nosferatu, the popular German silent horror film, in 1922; the story-line of a vampire magician able Read More ...
This podcast from the Naxos Sounds Interesting series documents the musical settings of works by Rudyard Kipling, the English journalist, poet and novelist. The presenter is Richard Kennedy.
Raymond Bisha introduces the fifth and final volume in our series of recordings of guitar music by Agustín Barrios, the virtuoso Paraguayan guitarist and composer who was one of the first guitarists to understand the potential of making recordings. Sometimes referred to as ‘the Paganini of the guitar from the jungles of Paraguay’, his music Read More ...
Raymond Bisha introduces a recording of orchestral works by Alberto Nepomuceno (1864-1920), a herald of Brazilian musical nationalism. It’s the first release in a significant new Naxos series titled The Music of Brazil. This is a monumental, 5-year undertaking in collaboration with Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to produce around 30 releases of some 100 Read More ...
Born to actor-singer parents, it’s little wonder that Albert Lortzing (1801-1851) devoted his life and his musical talents to the world of opera. Although little known outside his native Germany, this actor-singer-librettist-conductor-composer’s operas were amongst the most popular productions in German theatres for more than a century, second only to Mozart and Verdi. Raymond Bisha Read More ...
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Part 1 Part 2 Finzi Before and After Summer Channel Firing Epeisodia I Said To Love Two Lips I Said To Love In Years Defaced To A Poet A Thousand Years Hence When I Set Out For Lyonnesse In Years Defaced Proud Songsters Let Us Bring Garlands Come Away In, […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley John Ireland Sea Fever Songs of the Wayfarer When Daffodils Begin To Peer I Will Walk On The Earth When Lights Go Rolling ‘Round The Sky Hope The Hornblower Marigold Dear, Think Not That They Will Forget You Individual Songs If There Were Dreams To Sell When I Am Dead, […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley Charles Villiers Stanford Songs Of The Sea, Drake’s Drum, Outward Bound, and O Devon Songs of the Fleet: The Song of the Sou’wester Songs of the Fleet: The Little Admiral Maude Valerie White So We’ll Go No More A-Roving My Soul Is An Enchanted Boat Elgar Queen Mary’s Song Ethyl […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Symphony No. 18 in A Allegro Andante Mesto Presto Andante Sostenuto Symphony No. 19 B.A.C.H Allegro Allegretto Grazioso Allegro Agitato Fuge Symphony No. 21 in a
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Symphony No. 8 in c sharp minor Allegro Molto E Passianato Symphony No. 9 – Bitonal Symphony No. 10 in D – Walzersymphonie For Orchestra Allegro Con Spirito Symphony No. 15 in f sharp minor Poco Allegro Sostenuto Poco Allegretto Piacevole Lento Andante, Animato, Allegro Vivace
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Symphony No. 3 in c Allegro Molto E Passianato Andante Un Poco Sostenuto Presto Feroce Largamente, Allegro, Largamente Symphony No. 4: Symphonietta Humoristica Vivace Giocoso Con Molto E Con Delicatezza Allegro Non Troppo E Marcato Allegro, Un Poco Sostenuto, Più Vivace E Scherzando, Tempo I, Più Vivace Symphony […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Marcello Concerto A Cinque For Violin and Orchestra in D Veracini Violin Concerto in A Allegro Grave Allegro Tartini Concerto For Violin, Strings, and Continuo in Bb Grave Allegro Largo Allegro Locatelli Concerto De Chiesa in c Grave Andante, Adagio Vivace, Adagio Largo Largo Andante, Adagio Leo Concerto […]
Listening Guide With Lew Smoley The Works Torelli Concerto For Violin and Orchestra Marcello Violin Concerto in G Allegro Lerghetto Vivace ALbinoni Concerto No. 4, in A Allegro Adagio Allegro ALbinoni Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, in F Allegro Adagio Allegro Bonporti Concerto For Violin and Orchestra, in Bb Montinari Violin Concerto In Eb Adagio […]
Get a free MP3 of John Philip Sousa - Hands Across the Sea as the Daily Download celebrates Memorial Day and honors the passing of loved ones. And don't forget to sign up for the new Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free MP3!
Classical MPR assistant Brooke Knoll is in Havana as part of a U.S. contingent taking part in the Cuban American Youth Orchestra. Follow along as she shares her experience with this cross-cultural musical venture.
Forget everything you thought you knew about the harp. Jennifer Higdon's new harp concerto is "strong, feisty, and heroic," says Yolanda Kondonassis, the harpist for whom the piece was composed. Hear her interview with Fred Child.
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Get a free MP3 of Edward Elgar - Sea Pictures: III. Sabbath Morning at Sea as the Daily Download celebrates warmer weather with water-themed works. And don't forget to sign up for the new Daily Download newsletter so you never miss a free MP3!
Take a few thousand old books and add four guitarists in a majestic Italian Renaissance style space, and you have all the makings of an amazing night of music. On March 26, the Schubert Club welcomed the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet to the James J. Hill Center in St. Paul, Minn., for an evening of their signature, Grammy-winning music. Listen to that concert now.
Nearing 80, the solo artist has a new album out. Decades after she brought a gospel score to the civil rights movement with The Staple Singers, she remains hopeful in her enduring mission for change.
Laura Barnett wrote a novel about an aging singer-songwriter sizing up her life in 16 tracks. Then she approached musician Kathryn Williams, who created the book's original soundtrack.
The flute-playing pop star celebrates self-acceptance on her latest album, Cuz I Love You. "About 10 years ago, I made the decision that I just wanted to be happy with my body," she says.
Fifteen years ago, Sam Miltich was a teenager on top of the world. He taught himself how to play jazz guitar growing up in the woods outside Grand Rapids. And he got so good that at 18 he played in Europe and New York. Then, four years later, something happened that made it hard for Miltich to comprehend living, much less making a living playing jazz.
Eleven members of the Minnesota Orchestra will join 25 young U.S. musicians in Cuba for the inaugural tour of an organization inspired by the 2015 Minnesota Orchestra visit to Havana.