News
In 1873, when the Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Franz Joseph I, approved the construction of the Hungarian State Opera, his one condition was that it must not exceed the enormity of the Vienna State Opera. However, there was no stipulation placed on its beauty or opulence. The
Music Education
My son’s piano lessons afford me an opportunity to look at piano sheet music up close. Piano scores seem to have a unique visual beauty that music written for other instruments doesn’t quite match. I’m writing this after taking a look at ‘Children’s Corner’ (L.113)
Interviews
As Johann Strauss’s beloved opera Die Fledermaus comes to the NCPA this month, Dr. Virág Főző, Deputy General Director of the Hungarian State Opera, talks to Aishwarya Bodke about artistic collaboration across borders. At an opera conference in Beijing about five years ago, when Mr. Szilveszter Ókovács, Director General
Know Your Composer
The Latvian composer, Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946), began as “a young, angry and avant-garde” modernist. Over time, his music evolved to embrace consonance, simplicity, spirituality, Latvian folk influences, and “echoes of bird songs.” Composed in 2013, Vasks’ The Fruit of Silence is a choral setting of a prayer by Mother
Interviews
Kiran Nadar is the Chairperson of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and a Trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation. She is a patron of modern and contemporary Indian art and gave India its first philanthropic private art museum in 2010 – the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art (KNMA). Her continuously
News
Marin Alsop leads the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in its Carnegie Hall debut on Friday, October 14 at 8:00 p.m., a program that includes Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and works by illustrious 20th-century Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos: his Preludio from Bachianas brasileiras No. 4; Harmonica Concerto, featuring Brazilian harmonica
News
The mandate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, which has just concluded the celebration of its fiftieth anniversary, is far broader than that of being one of America’s premiere performing arts centers. Rather, as the nation’s cultural center, its goal is
Features
A four-part series of reflections on the pleasures and paradoxes of learning to sing or play an instrument. For parents, musicians, and would-be musicians of all ages. All the World’s a Stage Performing might be considered the ultimate goal of music study. To occupy the stage confidently and perform
Know Your Composer
In the historiography of Western music Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart occupies a special position. We consider him an exceptional and singular musical genius who attained the status of an undisputed superstar of Classical music. God-like status and reverence aside, we also understand, however, that Mozart was very human in his emotions
News
Lars Vogt, the renowned German pianist and conductor, passed away on Monday, September 5. He was 51. In March of 2021, Vogt was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer in his throat and liver. Born in the town of Düren in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, Vogt rose to prominence after winning
Music Education
Operetta, a precursor of the modern musical, is often considered less serious than opera. We delve into the history of the ‘lighter’ side of opera to understand why the form continues to thrive in musical theatre of the 21st century. Operetta emerged in the second half of the 19th century
News
How does a composer with a social consciousness seek to change the world, and why? Brian Field, a New York City and Juilliard-trained composer and pianist is seeking to do just that. With his solo piano work “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet,” Field is engaging with pianists from around