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On This Day
31 October: Halloween
In some parts of the word, Halloween is a hugely profitable holiday for retailers. In fact, roughly 25 percent of all the candy sold annually in the United States is purchased for Halloween. Halloween isn’t just a holiday for kids,
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Cello Music by Women Composers VII
Mazzoli, Clyne, and Montgomery
Today major orchestras and artists are commissioning young women composers to write music for them. Here are three rising stars. Missy Mazzoli was selected as a featured composer by the Minnesota Orchestra’s Composer’s Institute more than a decade ago. We
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If You Were on the Jury, Whom Would You Choose as Winner of the 18th Chopin Piano Competition?
This was the most frequently posed question among my friends and colleagues at the conclusion of the Chopin Piano Competition in 2021. I suspect that it did not come from those who approved of the jury’s official verdict, but probably
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Recording Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, at Last!
My closest, most long-standing musical relationship is with Beethoven. The essential joy of life as an interpreter is, to me at least, in making friends with these extraordinary composers through their music; I know his moods, his rough humour, his
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On This Day
27 October: Niccolò Paganini Was Born
Niccolò Paganini was born in Genoa, then capital of the Republic of Genoa, on 27 October 1782. His father, Antonio Paganini was a dockworker and unsuccessful trader who supplemented his meager income by playing the mandolin for social occasions. Unsurprisingly,
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On This Day
26 October: Domenico Scarlatti Was Born
The Scarlatti family was one of the most prominent musical dynasties in Italy, with various branches of the family living in Sicily, Rome, and in northern Italy. Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) became the most important opera composer of his generation in
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Scary Music for a Scary Night
Whether you decide to venture out for the end of October holiday or stay home and just scare people with the music you’re playing, there’s a lot of scary music out there to chose from. Opening with 12 strokes of
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The Pulitzer Prize in Music
1990s and the New Century
See here for the history of the prize. The 1990s Composer Mel Powell, who founded the music department at the California Institute of the Arts, started his career as a jazz pianist, joining Benny Goodman’s band in 1941. During WWII,
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