Shostakovich wrote his fifth symphony to redeem himself in the eyes of the authorities. At the same time he could not capitulate to Stalin’s terror. His task was to write a symphony in the style of The Party’s “heroic classicism” …

Today I had to move my Cd’s away from the wall due to a water leak. I decided to go through them and find something I haven’t listened to in years. I tend to listen to a few core compositions. …

On Christmas Day, Bud Greenspan died of complications from Parkinson’s. Greenspan was a documentary film maker who focused specifically on athletics. For his 1977 film dramatizing the life of Wilma Rudolph, Greenspan cast Denzel Washington in his first role. What …

If you haven’t noticed, every-other-little-girl in town is currently appearing in a production of The Nutcracker. Each year a new crop of youngsters gets an introduction to ballet and orchestral music via Tchaikovsky’s charming composition. Initially, The Nutcracker flopped. What …

Noel! Hodie Christus natus est. Today Christ is born. Vaughan Williams’ Christmas Choral work, Hodie, begins with this text. The text is taken from the Vespers for Christmas Day. That’s an interesting choice for a composer who wrote Anglican Hymns …

With school being out and the weather being rainy, I took my six year old daughter and three year old son to an indoor playground. This was our first visit. Apparently I wasn't the only parent with that idea. The …

Chorus rehearsals for San Deigo Opera started up this week. Here comes Turandot. After 13 years, chorus master Todd Simmons has moved on to become the executive director of New Orleans Opera. Over the past several seasons, principal artists have …

For anyone not paying close attention, there was only one Italian tenor during the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Pavarotti may have had the most beautiful voice ever produced and his technique was flawless. Every note he sang was consistent in …

In my spin class at the gym, the instructor played some "opera" today. She called it opera but it was Andrea Bocelli and I think we all know how I feel about that. It did get me to thinking about …

I was driving along the 5 north today coming out of Downtown. The sun was shining, it was warm, I had the windows down and I found the appropriate music. I cranked up Schubert's Mass No. 2 in G. As …

I went to the perfect Messiah performance the other night at the Neuroscience Institute. The organization putting on the show was the Fan Faire Foundation: where science and music intersect. I'd not heard of Fan Faire but I was impressed …

Some people love Italian opera but have no knowledge of Italian diction. Allow me to offer one rule which will immediately make anyone sound like an opera aficionado. The rule involves common operatic nouns like Don Giovanni or Giuseppe Verdi …

I made a youtube comment on Andrea Bocelli's inability to sing Nessun Dorma and received a rebuke. The following is the conversation that ensued. The syntax is quirky because of the limited number of characters for youtube comments. Original comment: …

Four repeated notes. Four b flats one right after the other resolved by a descending 3rd to a g flat. Pure, musical, poetry. Go to any keyboard and play four b flats in a row--it's the black key just below …