News
In 2022 the Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival, Cecilia Bartoli, focuses on Seville, which inspired an incomparable number of composers. There are said to be 153 operas set in and around Seville. It is a city which unites a unique mixture of proud ancient cultures which has generated
Know Your Composer
One day in 1979, the chief music critic at the San Francisco Examiner, Michael Walsh, who had the desk next to mine, sidled over and handed me the album of a new musical, Sweeney Todd. ‘It’s actually an opera’, he whispered conspiratorially, ‘but don’t tell anyone’. When I
Know Your Composer
Greatness will invariably recognise greatness! And Franz Liszt’s efforts and commitment on behalf of forgotten masterpieces set a powerful trend in the 19th century. As such it is hardly surprising that Franz Schubert occupied a central place in Liszt’s transcriptions and paraphrases. Schubert published his first major piano
Interviews
What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of programmatic music? Symphonie Fantastique? Harlem Air Shaft? Tales from Topographic Oceans? Sven Helbig’s Skills, which will be released in February 2022 by BMG’s Modern Recordings imprint, is very much a part of this lineage.
How do you not deafen yourself with the sound of your own voice? If you’ve been within ten feet of an opera singer doing their thing, you can vouch for the fact that they can create a lot of decibels. Even when they’re not singing at their full
News
The Supervisory Board of the Salzburg Festival has voted unanimously to appoint Kristina Hammer the new president of the Salzburg Festival. During the hearing of candidates applying for the position of president, the German/Swiss candidate with long-standing Salzburg connections convinced the Board. Therefore, Kristina Hammer will become the new
Music Education
ON Stage brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988 and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. The concluding part of a feature by musician and ethnomusicologist Ashok D. Ranade on categories of music talks about what demarcates popular music from
News
The great maestro Bernard Haitink passed away last month, and I am grieving this immense loss. Without a doubt, passing at the age of 92 is the sign of a long, rich life, but there are those you secretly hope will live forever. For me, he was one of them.
Music Education
ON Stage brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988, and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. In the penultimate part of the series on categories of music, musician and ethnomusicologist Ashok D. Ranade examines the various aspects of folk music
The rapid technological change has influenced all aspects of our lives, including the way we master new skills. Today, we have access to piano-learning apps that allows us to grow our music skills at our own pace. Some people are still skeptical about online music learning. But in fact, well-designed
Know Your Composer
Alexandre Tansman (1897-1986), a virtuoso pianist, prolific composer and conductor of Polish origin was one of the few mainstream orchestral composers who wrote for the guitar. His association and admiration for the musical personality of Andres Segovia resulted in a long term fruitful collaboration and friendship with Segovia. It has
Music Education
ON Stage brings you excerpts from the NCPA Quarterly Journal, an unsurpassed literary archive that ran from 1972 to 1988, and featured authoritative and wide-ranging articles. In the first of a three-part series on categories of music, musician and ethnomusicologist Ashok D. Ranade dissects definitions and dispels common misunderstandings regarding
