Music & Culture
Classical Music Posts
2021/2022 Northwest Concert Season Premieres
The orchestra tuning up. A quieting audience. Applause as the conductor enters the stage.
Familiar sounds marking the start of a live performance. After a year and a half pause, symphony season has been a notably missing companion in our community.
Music Moment: The Grand Canyon Suite
A 24-year-old New York man packed a Jeep with some essentials and a few cans of gas and made his way across Arizona in 1916. The man, Ferde Grofé, arrived at his destination after dark, unaware that his life was about to change with the sunrise of the next day.
Passing the Baton: From Isbin And Hauser To Bellingham Symphony Music Director Yaniv Attar
Conducting a symphony orchestra is hard. It takes a special set of skills to bring out just the right sound from a stage full of players. Even after Bellingham Symphony’s Music Director Yaniv Attar finished his studies with legendary classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, he found that she still had a thing or two to teach him about conducting.
Passing The Baton: Dorothy DeLay
“I promise you, children become what they are told they are.” The words of the first teacher to be awarded the National Medal of the Arts, Dorothy DeLay. Her violin students numbered in the hundreds, and they include some of music’s biggest names: Midori, Nigel Kennedy, Sarah Chang, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Anne Akiko Meyers, Gil Shaham and Itzhak Perlman.
Black Voices In Classical Music
Classical music has historically been dominated by white voices. Black composers and musicians have been silenced and barred from musical careers, with a long history of not receiving proper credit for their contributions, and even so far as being kept from being audience members for much of music history. But the future of classical music is diverse and inclusive and African American Music Appreciation Month, as well as Juneteenth, has inspired NWPB Classical to compile a list of black voices in classical music that need to be heard.
Passing The Baton: Puget Sound Professor Of Violin Dr. Maria Sampen
From the teaching studio to the concert hall, musicians are uniquely poised to create community through their work. For one Tacoma-based violin teacher, inspiration comes from camaraderie with fellow performers and students.
