Now we want to convince those curious friends to love choral music — the gorgeous sound of a mass of voices. We hope you find lots here to discover and enjoy; leave your favorites in the comments.
When I first heard Marcel Cellier's compilation album "Le Mystère Des Voix Bulgares," I was struck by the choir's vocal quality: raw and direct, with a supreme clarity — and unlike anything I'd heard before. In "Kalimankou Denkou," a powerful solo by Yanka Rupkina is wrapped in rich, cascading harmony, unfolding with organic complexity. This is perfect tonal music, where harmony and melody reinforce each other to convey deep expression. I hope it leads you down a YouTube rabbit hole in the vocal music not only of Bulgaria, but also nearby areas like Albania, Greece, Georgia and Corsica.
Joel Thompson's "America Will Be" has everything I love about choral music. It weaves together texts about what America has meant to immigrants from generation to generation, in a variety of languages. It employs a variety of compositional techniques and effects that add richness to the textures. It is rhythmically complex, evoking feelings from uneasiness to urgency to steadfastness. It features gorgeous moments of solo singing with beautiful support from the choir. This piece explores so many harmonic colors, taking the listener on a journey from dissonant unpredictability to consonant inevitability.
Choral singers collectively use voice and body to communicate words, and those words can encompass stories and perspectives apart from our own. This year especially, we have recognized the need to speak with intention and honesty about our country's history, laden with injustice and inequality. Shawn Kirchner's reimagining fuses Katherine Lee Bates's traditional "America the Beautiful" lyrics with his own verses describing early American interactions with Native Americans and Black people. Listeners are welcomed into a space where patriotism can be met with empathy and a united path toward a truer "justice for all."
Wynton Marsalis's scoring of this doxology is a highlight of his "Abyssinian Mass," which co-stars the conductor Damien Sneed's Chorale le Chateau. At the outset of this recording with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, soprano and alto voices sing the text in rounds, while tenor and bass voices move together. Later, these halves of the choir swap patterns. By the climax, we experience a chorus-wide unity. It's all anchored by the Lincoln Center instrumentalists, who elsewhere enjoy their own chances to play some elaborate variations on the movement's central motif.
Opera choruses don't have to be loud and boisterous to make an impression. The "Humming Chorus" from Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" works its magic with its simplicity and wordless melody. The singers don't appear onstage and, without a text, their sound conveys whatever emotions the listener is having at this point in the opera. It could be Butterfly's loneliness, or the hope that she almost dares to feel. The gentle humming could be the rustling of the cherry blossoms, the flickering of fireflies. The sound of chorus and orchestra suspends us, breathless, in time.
The first time I watched Donald Lawrence and the Tri-City Singers perform "Matthew 28," I was captivated — frozen, even — yet invigorated, in awe as I attempted to process the magnitude of the multidimensional performance. For me, this is a masterpiece that skillfully bridges elements of traditional gospel style with contemporary practices, while also encompassing elements of funk, jazz and classical music. Filled with unexpected changes in dynamics and choral textures, it is a riveting, almost cinematic interpretation of the Resurrection story.
The first time I heard Monteverdi's "Lamento d'Arianna" was in 1972, in an early-music workshop. We were sight reading it, at a time when Monteverdi wasn't all that well known, and we were all visibly moved by the exquisite dissonances we were singing. At the end, a very loud cricket was either applauding or serenading us, and we stood together, admiring her song and the experience. Written over 400 years ago, the lament retains its freshness, and to this day it still passes the "brings me to tears" test.
Written by a young Samuel Barber in 1940, "The Coolin" sets the words of the poet James Stephens, who based his five stanzas on an old Irish love song; the word "coolin" originally referred to a curl at the base of a girl's neck, and evolved into a term for one's sweetheart. Barber has an ear for accessible, but not trite, harmony. He delights me by highlighting certain words ("wine") with a subtle chord change. He uses a lilting dotted rhythm for much of the piece. From the opening line — "Come with me, under my coat" — to the final "Stay with me," the words and music speak seamlessly to the listener's heart.
Is classical music colonialist? | Music | DW | 05.05.2021
Yes, say professors at the University of Oxford, where they want to change the curriculum. German institutions are lagging behind, but change is in the air.
Music students to Germany from abroad should be familiar with composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Stockhausen. However, knowing modern Nigerian composers like Joshua Uzoigwe and Fela Sowande or the 16th-century Indian court musician Tansen is neither expected nor is their music taught in German music colleges.
"For the entrance exams, you have to be familiar with Western European music; you can't apply as a specialist in African drum rhythms," Julia Gerlach from Berlin's Akademie der Künste cultural institute told Deutsche Welle.
The University of Oxford has recognized the lack of diversity in its curriculum. Recently, Britain's The Sunday Telegraph wrote that editors had seen proposals for changes to undergraduate courses at the elite university to include "more diverse" forms of music in its curriculum.
Professors and students had criticized that there were too many works by "white European composers" from the time of slavery, including music by Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn. According to The Sunday Telegraph , some professors view the Western grading system as a "colonialist system of oppression."
1933 saw the first orchestral premiere of a symphonic work by a black woman composer. The lushly orchestrated E Minor Symphony was one of 300 works by Florence Price, including chamber music, piano concertos, arrangements of spirituals and art songs. 200 of them, and additional documents, were found in 2009 in 33 boxes in a dilapidated house in a small Illinois city – Price's onetime summer home.
France's best fencer, prodigious violinist, Marie Antoinette's violin teacher, colonel in the republican army during the French Revolution, Chevalier de Saint-Georges has been called "the black Mozart." Misleadingly so, since the real Mozart envied him for his accomplishments. Several operas, 15 highly virtuosic violin concertos, symphonies and chamber works issued forth from the Chevalier's pen.
The first black musician to conduct a major orchestra, the first to write an opera produced by a major company and performed on national television: William Grant Still is known for his Afro-American Symphony of 1930 but was an oboist and jazz arranger as well. Having studied under the French avant-garde composer Edgard Varese, Still wrote 150 compositions, including Hollywood film music.
Called "potentially the greatest trumpeter of all time" by fellow-trumpeter Maurice André, Grammy Award winner Wynton Marsalis has spiced up the world of classical music with four symphonies and, most recently, his violin concerto of 2019. His music is infused with touches of jazz, gospel and spiritual, and his scope is inclusive, from big band to symphony orchestra and from quartets to ballets.
Music Inc: Why song rights sales are booming | Music | DW | 05.05.2021
From Bob Dylan to Shakira and now the Red Hot Chili Peppers, many music superstars are selling their song catalogs for hundred-odd-million sums. What's behind the megadeals?
Publishing rights are a lucrative business, as Michael Jackson found out after he acquired 251 Beatles songs for more than $47 million in 1985 and doubled his money 10 years later.
Bob Dylan sold all his song rights to Universal Music for what Rolling Stone magazine estimates to be around $400 million in late 2020. Dylan had been one of the few artists who had retained the rights to their own catalog. But the balladeer has joined a slew of top-selling music artists who have recently made their publishing rights prized currency in a song acquisition boom.
Just this week, the Red Hot Chili Peppers also got in on the act. The evergreen rock four-piece sold their publishing rights to Hipgnosis Songs Fund for over $140 million (€116.2 million), according to the music publication Billboard .
Earlier this year, Neil Young also sold the rights to 50% of his songs, including such classics as "Heart of Gold," to the same investment fund for a reported $150 million.
Similar megadeals were also recently struck between Hipgnosis, which was founded in 2018, and the diva Shakira, as well as with former Fleetwood Mac member Lindsey Buckingham, pop icon Blondie and disco legends Chic.
Indeed, Rolling Stone reports that Hipgnosis had made a rival $400 million bid for Bob Dylan's catalog before he signed with Universal Music for a similar sum.
Bob Dylan has two honorary doctorates and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 in recognition of his enormous influence on pop culture. In 2012, US President Barack Obama awarded him the country's highest civil distinction: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also became a Nobel Prize laureate in 2016.
Joan Baez and Bob Dylan are connected by more than protest against the establishment. The two were once a couple. In 1963 they made a joint appearance at the civil rights march in Washington.
Music and Fine Arts | Briar Cliff University
The Department of Music and Fine Arts seeks to provide a means for spiritual, intellectual, and artistic development consistent with a liberal arts education. This department offers students:
This department is proud to provide our campus and the greater Siouxland community with countless opportunities to develop, explore, and experience the gift of music.
Collaborating with the Music and Fine Arts Department at The Cliff will help improve your musicality, mental and physical health, confidence, and provide you a place to belong.
Do you love music? Use it to help finance your education at Briar Cliff! The Department of Music awards scholarships that recognize and encourage talented student musicians who are searching for a liberal arts education, regardless of major. The department awards these annual renewable scholarships based upon talent and musical leadership. Award amounts vary and are based upon an audition.
The Weeknd Drops Hints About 'Beautiful' New Music - Variety
When Variety interviewed the Weeknd over the weekend about the Grammys’ decision to eliminate nomination-review committees (more on that here ), we naturally slipped in a question about the new music he recently hinted at in social media posts, which presumably will be the follow-up to his blockbuster 2020 album, “After Hours.” To our surprise, he answered the question — and in characteristic, slightly enigmatic fashion, no less.
“If the last record is the after hours of the night,” he said, “then the dawn is coming.”
On April 27, amid a slightly cryptic series of tweets , he wrote, “Made so much magic in the small quarantined room … now just piecing it all together … it’s so beautiful.”
He also tends to bring in a few new collaborators on each album, and in addition to the duet partners above, he also has been working with avant-electronic musician Oneohtrix Point Never, who came in toward the end of the “After Hours” sessions and has performed and recorded with him regularly over the past few months.
The Weeknd has always been big on symbolism, too, and the most telling tip about his new music could be in his statement to Variety over the weekend. There’s no question that “After Hours” is a dark album — all one needs to do is watch some of its videos , which basically add up to a horror film — and his statement that “the dawn is coming” naturally suggests that at least the subject matter of the songs will be brighter, and could provide him with a next chapter for the “After Hours” narrative, one that he could expand during the tour that has now been postponed twice due to the pandemic.
A brighter, Prince-flavored album that scatters the demons of “After Hours”? Sounds like a solid way to usher in the Weeknd’s next decade …
School of Music Concerto Competition winners announced | Fredonia.edu
The Fredonia School of Music hosted its annual Concerto Competition on May 3 with a virtual audience.
Winners of the prestigious competition are offered the opportunity to perform with major School of Music ensembles. They included:
Saxophonist Matthew Gioia, a student of Dr. Wildy Zumwalt. He will perform the third and fourth movement from the Concerto by Stephen Dankner with the College Symphony during the 2021-2022 academic year. Mr. Gioia, from Carriere, Miss., is a graduate student pursuing a Master of Music degree in Music Performance.
Pianist Yejin Lee, a student of Fr. Sean Duggan, with perform the first movement of the Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18, by Sergei Rachmaninoff with the College Symphony during the 2021-2022 academic year. From Seoul, South Korea, she is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance.
Saxophonist Christopher Mantell, also a student of Dr. Zumwalt, will perform the Concert Suite by William Bolcom with the Fredonia Wind Ensemble next year. From Randolph, N.J., he is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Performance.
School of Music judges included faculty Drs. Sarah Hamilton, Eliran Avni and Paula Holcomb, Laura Koepke, Barry Kilpatrick, Dr. Kay Stonefelt, David Rose and Lynne McMurtry, joined by Fredonia alumnus Andrew Bisantz.
Sarah McKenzie has been chosen as the 2021 Marion Fellow with her project "To See Inside: Understanding the People and Architecture of the US Prison System."
Homegrown Music Festival (and more) schedule | Duluth News Tribune
5-9 p.m.: Starfire Unofficial Birthday Bash: Black-eyed Snakes, Adam Herman & Friends, Misisipi Mike, Sonofmel, Gavin St. Clair, Servio Mancieri. Earth Rider Festival Grounds.
9-11 p.m.: "Looking Up from Below," a mural projection by Tom Moriarty and Daniel Benoit on the side of Zenith Bookstore
5-9 p.m.: Starfire Unofficial Birthday Bash: Father Hennepin, The New Norm, Kyle Ollah Band, Betty Danger, Superior Siren, Ingeborg von Aggasiz. Earth Rider Festival Grounds.
5-9 p.m.: Starfire Unofficial Birthday Bash: Woodblind, Teague Alexy Band, New Salty Dog, Rick McLean, Jen West, Lyla Abukhodair.
The best and brightest to be honored by School of Music on Friday | Fredonia.edu
Following a welcome from School of Music Interim Director Daniel Ihasz and remarks and the presentation of the President's Award to Kristine Terranova and Devin Vogel by President Stephen H. Kolison Jr., the program will proceed to announce recipients of scholarships and program-specific awards.
Current and incoming students will be recognized as the recipients of over 60 yearly scholarships and awards in Music Education, Music Composition, Music Therapy, Sound Recording Technology, Voice/Choral, Jazz, Strings, Percussion and Brass. Also to be recognized are renewals of students receiving the Hillman Memorial Music Scholarship, the Virginia W. Maytum Music Scholarship, the Robert and Marilyn Maytum Scholarship, the Juliet J. Rosch Scholarship, and many other named scholarships.
The highly sought and regarded Performer's Certificate will be awarded to Allison Dana, Rose Roberson and Scott Sgueglia.
Nearly all of the scholarships and awards to be announced have been created through endowments established with the Fredonia College Foundation.
The Fredonia School of Music hosted its annual Concerto Competition on May 3 with a virtual audience. Winners of the prestigious competition are offered the opportunity to perform with major School of Music ensembles
"Health-Related Consequences of Unfair Treatment by Police" is both a timely topic and the title of a lecture University at Buffalo Assistant Professor of Sociology Christopher Dennison will deliver in the final Brown Bag Lunch Series talk on May 5.
Sarah McKenzie has been chosen as the 2021 Marion Fellow with her project "To See Inside: Understanding the People and Architecture of the US Prison System."
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