Music & Culture
Classical Music Posts
Spring Music Moment: Britten’s Spring Symphony
Unlike his contemporaries, Britten did not devote much of his time to writing symphonies. It’s no wonder that when he *did* sit down to write his Spring Symphony, it resulted in a grand journey in 4 parts and 12 movements, harnessing the power of mixed chorus, boys’ choir, soprano, alto and tenor soloists and a massive orchestra including harp, tambourine and cow horn. Britten’s Spring Symphony takes us through the changing of the seasons and the power of that transition – both as a time of the year and a stage of life.
Spring Music Moment: Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel got a much needed breath of fresh air and a boost of musical inspiration from a year-long Italian trip in 1840.
Mendelssohn-Hensel, her husband and their young son spent the entire year away from their home of Berlin and vacationing throughout Italy – stopping in Rome and Venice to take in the vast musical inspiration.
Sonny Simmons, Fiercely Independent Alto Saxophonist, Dies at 87
Simmons died last week at the age of 87. The cause of death remains unknown, but his life is cause for considerable celebration. Although jazz has established a place in academic and cultural institutions, it was and largely still is an outsider’s music, and Simmons was an outsider’s outsider.
A Melting Pot Of Traditions: Violinist Regina Carter Talks With Lara Downes
When Duke Ellington famously coined the phrase “beyond category,” he was talking about freedom — of choice, of expression, of belonging. He meant following your heart and your instincts into an artistic territory without borders. And that’s the place where violinist Regina Carter makes her home.
Collecting Stories Together, In A Year Spent Apart: A StoryCorps Northwest Special
This hour-long special of StoryCorps Northwest highlights some of the moving and inspiring stories from friends and neighbors in the Inland Northwest.
‘We Will Never Break’: In Iraq, A Yazidi Women’s Choir Keeps Ancient Music Alive
With its dirt roads and drab dwellings, the camp can be a bleak place. But the beat of a daf, a drum sacred to Yazidis, throbs underneath loud, energetic singing, rising over shouts of children in a trash-strewn playground.
