From the category archives:

Reviews & Previews

World Cup Music: Shostakovich’s Soccer Match

July 11, 2010

Don’t underestimate the power of either sports or music when it comes to exciting a crowd. Even as a tormented composer writing under the harsh restrictions and demands of Communism, in his 1929 ballet  The Golden Age big-time soccer fan and sometime soccer referee Shostakovich recreated a soccer match. In this ballet, a communist soccer team [...]

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The Music of Soccer: Top 5 Soccer Pieces in Classical Music

July 7, 2010

There’s a lot more to World Cup soccer music than national anthems and the penetrating blare of “vuvuzela” horns.  WQXR classical FM station, highlights the top 5 soccer pieces from 100 years of soccer-inspired classical music.

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Hidden Musical Code in Plato’s Writings

July 7, 2010

A scholar in England just announced his discovery of a secret music code in the writings of Plato.  As a closeted follower of Pythagoras, whose heretical beliefs threatened traditional religion, Plato believed that music and mathematics were closely related, and that music was a reflection of the mathematical principles that governed the universe. Pythagoras codified [...]

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Jazz Festivals 2010

June 29, 2010

Here are links & dates for jazz festivals around the world, so plan a trip around an  enticing jazz venue that beckons you to kick back and enjoy live jazz at its convivial best.
Jazz Festivals in USA
Jazz Festivals in Canada
UK Jazz Festivals
European Jazz Festivals
Worldwide jazz festivals are also listed geographically, but without dates, in [...]

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Vienna Vegetable Orchestra: Veggies Never Sounded So Good

June 28, 2010

Since 1998, the Vienna Vegetable Orchestra has performed on musical instruments they make from fresh vegetables. (I couldn’t make this up.) They shop for veggies at the local produce market, spend a few hours making their vegetable instruments, then after their concert, they throw them into the pot and serve up vegetable soup. Contrary to [...]

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The Met Brings Opera into the Classroom

June 15, 2010

Bring full-scale Metropolitan Opera productions into your classroom! The free Live in HD school program from the Met is now available in some school districts around the country, and online educational guides put the icing on the cake.  Teaching guides for each Metropolitan opera production include classroom activities, musical highlights, story synopses, accompanying audio clips, [...]

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Enjoy Operas from the Met: At the Movies or Online!

June 3, 2010

Can’t go to the opera? Does your busy schedule or a pinched pocketbook or an illness make you miss the magic of the live performance? While there is nothing like the excitement of being in the theater for the real event, there are now 2 wonderful and affordable alternatives:
Option 1. Opera Night at the Movies [...]

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Boomwhackers on Steroids: Plastik Musik

June 1, 2010

If you thought boomwhackers were just for kids, think again. Better still, listen to the percussion group Plastik Musik in their astounding Boomwhacker performance:

The first time I met Craig Ramsell, creator of the Boomwhackers, was  in Phoenix, Arizona, about 15 years ago at a music education conference.  At the time, I knew his [...]

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New Opera Explores Dementia & Alzheimer’s

May 17, 2010

The Lion’s Face, a new opera on the effects of ageing and memory loss, premieres in Brighton, England May 20, 2010, then tours the UK for the summer.  The music is by Elena Langer, and the lyrics by Glyn Maxwell. The creation of the opera involved an intense collaboration with scientists and doctors at the [...]

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Picasso and Music

May 7, 2010

Three Musicians by Picasso 

After a day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, mostly spent in the special Picasso exhibit (the largest ever), I was virtually blinded by “the embarrassment of riches” he left to the world. The chronological exhibit of his works gave cohesion to his [...]

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Opera/Ballet Live in Cinema series: Dallas metroplex

April 20, 2010

This took a little research to find, but thought that opera and ballet fans in the  Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex would find this theater schedule handy for upcoming productions from major opera/ballet companies around the world. How exciting is this! Gather up your friends or your music class and plan a night at the opera, Texas [...]

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See Live European Operas in Local Movie Theaters

April 18, 2010

Enjoy front row seats at the latest operatic productions from Milan’s La Scala and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, as well as from other European venues, all in the comfort of your local movie theater.  Join opening night audiences throughout the world to experience these outstanding operas in digital HD.  Oh brave new world that [...]

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Kids Interactive Music Link: Xploring Xtremes

April 18, 2010

ArtsEdge, Kennedy Center’s interactive website for music and arts education, is a free online resource  every teacher, librarian, parent, and caregiver should know about, but probably doesn’t. 
One of my favorite features was Xploring Xtremes. Kids can explore and analyze musical extremes in dynamics, tempo, and other elements of music, through a variety of listening, [...]

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Gustavo Dudamel: A Revolutionary Musical Hero

December 15, 2009
Gustavo Dudamel

Gustavo Dudamel, classical music’s hottest young star and new LA Philharmonic director, spearheaded a musical revolution in Venezuela that affected thousands of young, poor and at-risk students.

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MAO’S LAST DANCER: Autobiography, Children’s Books, & Movie

December 15, 2009
Mao's Last Dancer

11-yr.-old Li Cunxin is taken from his family to train at the Beijing Ballet Academy during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. He dances his way to freedom and international acclaim when he courageously defects to the USA. 3 versions of this incredible true story: for adults, young readers, and children.

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Kennedy Center Honors Musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks, & “Bruce the Boss”

December 8, 2009
Thumbnail image for Kennedy Center Honors Musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks, & “Bruce the Boss”

2009 Kennedy Center annual gala honors musicians Brubeck, Bumbry, Brooks & “Bruce the Boss” for a lively evening of jazz, opera, musical comedy, and rock.

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GRACE BUMBRY: Singer as Athlete

December 8, 2009
Grace Bumbry

“A superb singer is really a highly trained athlete. You must stay in training.” – Grace Bumbry. Transforming herself from mezzo to high soprano proved her point.

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Hiding in the Spotlight: A Musical Prodigy’s Story of Survival 1941-46

December 8, 2009
Hiding in the Spotlight

A gifted 14-yr.-old Ukrainian pianist adopts a new identity after escaping from a Nazi death march, but fears informants and the enemy officers who force her to entertain them. A terrifying and true story with a triumphant message of hope.

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Ben Stevenson: Texas Ballet’s Big Gun

December 5, 2009
Ben Stevenson

Ben Stevenson, celebrating a 40-year career as one of the most acclaimed figures in American ballet, continues to supercharge the Texas Ballet, after turning the Houston Ballet into a worldclass company.

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On the Transmigration of Souls: A Musical Response to 9/11

November 30, 2009
John Adams

John Adams’s Pulitzer Prize-winning work combines orchestra, chorus, & children’s choir with recorded sounds of 9/11, including victims names and cell phone calls.

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BAKE YOU A PIE: A Tasty Treat on Musical Styles

November 16, 2009
Pie

Baby, don’t cry. It’s time for pie! Pies and music are the ultimate comfort food, for little ones of every ilk, in Bake You a Pie, a hardback book and CD by Ellen Olson-Brown & Brian Claflin, illus. by Jeffrey Ebbeler. This story-song book with CD introduces some pretty silly pies, with clever rhyming verses, [...]

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Tom Paxton’s The Marvelous Toy

November 16, 2009
the Marvelous Toy

Legendary folksinger Tom Paxton’s latest children’s book/CD evokes wonder with The Marvelous Toy. CD has vocal & instrumental versions, plus 2 other songs.

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B.B. King Sings the One Shoe Blues

November 14, 2009
One Shoe Blues

Sandra Boyton’s humorous book & DVD starring B.B. King & the Singing Sock Puppets is a great intro to the blues. And who doesn’t get the blues when you lose your shoes! A great sing-along with the King of the Blues.

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Where The Wild Things Are: At The Opera!

October 27, 2009
Where the Wild Things Are Opera

“Where the Wild Things Are” & “Higglety Pigglety Pop!” offer a kid-friendly intro to opera. “Let the wild rumpus start” in these fantasy operas by composer Oliver Knussen & author/artist Maurice Sendak.

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