Piano
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Weekly Woman & Virtuous Black VI: Florence Price, composer
Florence Beatrice Price, born on April 9 of 1887 in Little a rock, Pulaski County, Arkansas, USA, is the first black woman in the United States to have been recognized as a symphonic composer. Even though her training was steeped in European tradition, Price’s music consists of mostly the American idiom and reveals her Southern…
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The Life You Give: Witold Lutosławski *1913
Lutoslawski was the leading progressive figure in Polish music of the second half of the twentieth century. Born in Warsaw, he showed an exceptional musical talent at an early age, with his first compositions dating from 1922. He studied piano, violin, and composition (with Witold Maliszewski, a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakov), graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory…
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Martha Argerich — Early Recordings
A prodigy, Argerich was performing professionally by age eight. In 1955 she went to Europe, where her teachers included Friedrich Gulda and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. She won two prestigious competitions in 1957 at age 16: the Geneva International Music Competition and the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition. In 1965 she won the Chopin Piano Competition…
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The Life You Give: Maurizio Pollini *1942
Pollini made his debut at age nine. He graduated from the Milan Conservatory in 1959 and won the Ettore Pozzoli Competition that same year, followed by the Warsaw Chopin Competition in 1960. He appeared on the stage more frequently during the second half of the 1960s, playing in the United States for the first time…
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The Life You Give: Nikolai Medtner *1880
Russian composer Nikolai Karlovich Medtner (or Metner) was born January 4 1880 in Moscow, to parents of German descent who had lived in Russia for several generations. The family background was musical; his mother’s brother was Fedor Gedike (Theodore Goedicke), a minor Romantic composer and professional pianist. He received early piano lessons from his mother…
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The Life You Give: Teresa Carreño *1853
Teresa Carreño, born María Teresa Gertrudis de Jesús Carreño García on December 22, 1853 in Caracas, is the celebrated Venezuelan pianist of great power and spirit, who was known to her public as the “Valkyrie of the piano.” She was given her first piano lessons by her father, Manuel Antonio Carreño, a politician and talented…
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The Life You Give: András Schiff *1953
András Schiff is among the most prominent members of a generation of Hungarian pianists born in the years following World War II, along with such artists as Zoltán Kocsis, Dezso Ránki, and Jenö Jandó. Of this remarkable group, Schiff has achieved the strongest international reputation, due not only to his decision to pursue his career…
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Weekly Woman: Sofia Gubaidulina — composer
Sofia Gubaidulina *1931, Russian composer, whose works fuse Russian and Central Asian regional styles with the Western classical tradition. The Aristipposian Poet presentsWeekly Woman: Sofia GubaidulinaNovember 25 at 9pm ESTon Clubhouse During her youth, Gubaidulina studied music in the city of Kazan, the capital of her home republic. She had lessons at the Kazan Music…
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The Life You Give: Scott Joplin 1868
Ragtime in The Aristipposian Poet Club, tonight at 11pm EST, on Clubhouse. Scott Joplin, (born 1867/68, Texas — composer and pianist known as the “king of ragtime” at the turn of the 20th century. Joplin spent his childhood in northeastern Texas, though the exact date and place of his birth are unknown. By 1880 his…
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Happy Birthday, Manuel de Falla! 1876
Manuel María de los Dolores Falla y Matheu was born November 23, 1876, in Cádiz, Spain, and is the most distinguished Spanish composer of the early 20th century. In his music he achieved a fusion of poetry, asceticism, and ardour that represents the spirit of Spain at its purest. Falla took piano lessons from his…
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“Peter Grimes” by Benjamin Britten
Join us in listening to this opera, in celebration of Benjamin Britten’s birthday today, at 1pm EST, at the Opera, Blood and Tears Club, on Clubhouse. Music: Benjamin BrittenLibretto: Montague Slater Musicians:Benjamin Britten – conductorPeter Pears – peter grimesClaire Watson – ellen orfordJames Pease – capitän balstrodeJean Watson – auntieDavid Kelly – hobsonOwen Brannigan -…
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Happy Birthday, Meredith Monk! 1942
On this day, Meredith Jane Monk came to Manhattan for the very first time.
Sila Blume 