Classical

First Listen: 19 Year Old Conrad Tao, 'Voyages'

Anastasia Tsioulcas — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 02:33:00 +0000

Audio for this feature is no longer available.

Not everyone gets to celebrate his or her 19th birthday the way Conrad Tao will: On June 11, he'll release a major-label debut album and curate the first day of his own three-day new music festival in Brooklyn.

Movies about Classical Music

Steve Reeder — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 21:19:49 +0000

April is Public Radio Music Month, an excellent opportunity for us to consider

the intersection of classical music (and musicians) and motion pictures. Too

often, filmmakers have offered a distorted view of that world, but there have

been notable, memorable exceptions over the years. Here are some that stand

out in my mind.

"Amadeus" (1984). Yes, Tom Hulce plays Mozart pretty broadly, and Peter

Breaking: Pope Francis I Loves Opera

Mark Mobley — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:22:08 +0000

Here's a quick side note to today's big news ...

Immediately after the announcement of the papal election result and the name the new pope had chosen, Brian Williams of NBC News asked New York's Cardinal Edward Egan about the new pontiff, Francis.

"Your Eminence?" Williams said.

"I know him very well. I like him very much," Egan replied. "He's the cardinal archbishop in Argentina and he is a wonderful man. I think he's about 70 years old. And I think you might be interested to know, Brian, that I sent him a couple of Metropolitan Opera recordings.

Marches Madness: John Philip Sousa's 'Washington Post'

editor — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:25:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mxrh1CrMmTY

History As Symphony: The African-American Experience In Jazz Suites

David Brent Johnson — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:33:00 +0000

The Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s inspired several black artists to explore their African heritage and the black experience in America, from enslavement to life after emancipation and migration to cities in the north. In the musical world, pianist James P. Johnson composed Yamekraw: A Negro Rhapsody, a 12-minute portrait of a black community in Savannah, Ga.

Robin Rilette Critiques Apple's Classical Top 10 List

Robert Frank — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 20:03:29 +0000

Republished from WSUNews

From Bow To Baton: Violinist Joshua Bell Conducts Beethoven

NPR Staff — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:15:14 +0000

Violinist Joshua Bell has followed the lead of symphony orchestra conductors since he turned 7 and made his orchestra debut. But now he's the one waving the baton — or at least waving his violin bow. Bell recently took over the music directorship of the venerable Academy of St.

Jonas Kaufmann On Wagner: 'It's Like A Drug Sometimes'

NPR Staff — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:33:00 +0000

This year is the bicentennial of Richard Wagner's birth. The man widely called the greatest living Wagnerian tenor is marking the occasion in style — and asking listeners who may have turned away from the German composer to give his music another chance.

The Munich-born singer Jonas Kaufmann is currently in New York starring in the Metropolitan opera's production of Parsifal. He also has a new album, simply called Wagner, that draws from across the composer's entire career.

Can You Learn To Like Music You Hate?

Anastasia Tsioulcas — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:23:00 +0000

You hear some music you hate. That's fair. We all do on occasion. But can you learn to love — or at least not loathe — that music? Can you intentionally transform the visceral response you have to certain pieces and styles, or does that happen at some more incalculable, subtle level?

Researchers at Australia's University of Melbourne say that the more dissonance (which they describe as "perceived roughness, harshness, unpleasantness, or difficulty in listening to the sound") that we hear in music, the less we enjoy said music.

Jailhouse Bach

Pablo Helguera — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:53:00 +0000

Got an idea for a classical cartoon or a reaction to this one? Leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Pablo Helguera is a New York-based artist working with sculpture, drawing, photography and performance. His new book is Helguera's Artunes. You can see more of his work at Artworld Salon and on his own site.