After months of deadly trench warfare, on Dec. 24, 1914, German and British soldiers in Belgium suddenly ceased hostilities and, through the singing of carols, celebrated Christmas together. This film documents their spontaneous musical truce with eyewitness reports, proving that "people who make music together cannot be enemies, at least not while the music lasts" … Read more
Born Sept. 25, 1906 in St. Petersburg, Russia Died Aug. 9, 1975 in Moscow, Russia A product of the Bolshevik Revolution, Shostakovich was the most famous of all Soviet composers. He led a politically and personally troubled life, yet produced some of the century’s most celebrated and frequently performed works even today . Born into … Read more
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 … Read more
These are hard times, especially in nearly bankrupt California. But are we content to see the California legislature gut the heart (i.e., the arts) out of education? The arts and foreign languages are fundamental to education, especially in the world we live in today. If creative thinking and global communications were ever needed in this … Read more
King Henry VIII, famous for his marriages on the rocks (and the blocks), is lesser known for his talent as a musician and composer. Tall, handsome, and charming in his youth, he played several musical instruments, and was a skilled singer and dancer. Some of his musical compositions are still performed today.
The scene was straight out of Hollywood. As my husband Jim and I left our small hotel room on 49th Street we had only 20 minutes to go before the curtains rose at Broadway theaters throughout the district. I had only 30 minutes earlier purchased tickets at TKTS (the half-price ticket booth on Times Square—see … Read more
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.
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.
Non-profit music and arts groups will suffer big losses in charitable donations if Congress fails to extend the IRA Charitable Rollover by the end of 2009. Act now to help save the arts.
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.
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.
How far is an elementary school entitled to go in bringing politics into the classroom?
Thanks to the support of all who called their state representatives and senators, the fine arts amendments to the Texas education bill were retained!