Every summer since 1895, the Henry Wood Promenade Concert (commonly known as the BBC Proms) presents an eight-week orchestral classical music festival at the Royal Albert Hall in central London. This year’s Proms put a special focus on cellos.
The post 10 interesting facts about the cello appeared first on OUPblog.
Tuba, trumpet, trombone...which one should you pick up this fall? Read below to learn what makes the trombone the right choice, and to find out a little more about this bass instrument's long history.
The post 10 facts about the trombone appeared first on OUPblog.
In celebration of The BBC Proms 120th anniversary we have created a comprehensive reading list of books, journals, and online resources that celebrate the eight- week British summer season of orchestral music, live performances, and late-night music and poetry.
The post Happy 120th birthday BBC Proms appeared first on OUPblog.
Here’s a spot I did in the recent issue of Highlights magazine (March ’12). Part of it even made the cover (speaking of, nice cover there by Tim Foley!). I’m being silly with the “Lookity!” comment, but it is cool to see it displayed on the cover.
Below is the final spread. I knew the AD planned to drop it on a color background so I had to think about that.
Below: The first round of roughs I sent of the kids with NO instruments! Not sure what I was (or wasn’t thinking) at this point. I was more concerned with how I wanted to show the kid-conductor and the orchestra. I think I thought I was doing a choir. Silly me.
Below: After the AD kindly pointed out the need for instruments and notes, I went back and reworked it. Much better, yes?
Below: The above rough was approved and I didn’t deviate much from the rough. Only a few changes to the kids and cleaned it up. But I wanted the line work to be loose and easy and not over-worked, which I think I achieved. It’s usually something I feel inside me as other people can never tell when I over-work a project. My thanks again to Cindy for the project, her patience and the fine job she does/did with the magazine!
By Suzanne Ryan, Music Editor
We bid a sad farewell to one of our most dear authors and friends, Bruce Haynes.
An Associate Professor at the Université de Montréal and McGill University, Bruce was a pioneer and champion of historical performance practice with numerous solo and ensemble recordings to his credit. He was a founding member of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, alongside his wife and musical partner, Susie Napper to whom we humbly offer our most sincere condolences.
As part of his long list of publications, Bruce authored two books with Oxford, The Eloquent Oboe: A History of the Hautboy from 1640-1760 (2001) and The End of Early Music: A Period Performer’s History of Music (2007) which received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Media Award, and he was a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Music.
Beloved and respected throughout the early music community, Bruce’s efforts and insights as both performer and scholar brought historical performance practice alive, and his legacy will enrich the ears and hearts of musicians and audiences for years to come. It was an honor, a privilege, and a joy to work with Bruce and to be witness to his grace, warmth, and generosity. Bruce passed from our midst on May 17th, but his spirit will never leave our hearts.
I just wanted to extend a hello to our new readers, many of whom I had the pleasure of meeting at ALA in San Diego earlier this week. As always, if you have suggestions, questions, ideas about/for OUPblog, I more than welcome them. You can email me at blog[at]oup[dot]com. And now, I present the Friday links…
Incredible footage of the flooding in Australia [White Light Bringer] – Related: You can donate to Queensland flood relief here.
LOOK AT THESE CAVE PHOTOS! [National Geographic]
Baby learns to just say ‘no’ [via]
Orchestra fail [YouTube audio only]
This child dances better than we ever will [YouTube]
Falling books bookshelf [via]
Some amazing basketball skillz [Dunking Devils]
An interesting question about the death penalty [GOOD]
And from The Next Web, the answer to the question you’ve all been asking…
ANNA NICOLE SMITH: the opera(?)
by Eleanor Tylbor
It was Andy Warhol who said in the future, everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. If that's the case then ex-Playboy centrefold,
Anna Nicole Smith, will have had her share of being a celebrity, and then some.
Her life will soon be the focus of an opera by the co-creator of the cult musical, "Jerry Spring: The Opera" if all goes as planned.
Composer Richard Thomas is writing the libretto for a contemporary piece, to be staged at the Royal Opera House no less, in 2010. He said the tragic life story of Ms Smith, a former stripper who died from an overdose of prescription drugs a year ago, was "a classic American tale about celebrity" which was "intrinsically operatic".
Perhaps he meant soap opera-ish.
The production, still in the early stages of development, is intended to be shown on the main stage at the Royal Opera House, accompanied by a 90-piece orchestra. Mr Thomas admitted that he was fascinated by stories which might seem "trashy".
He told The Independent newspaper: "It's an incredible story. It's very operatic and sad.
She was quite a smart lady with the tragic flaw that she could not seem to get through life without a vat of prescription painkillers."
However, his choice of subject, a woman labelled "the queen of trailer trash" by American tabloids, is unlikely to appeal to diehard fans of classical opera, some of whom have accused the Royal Opera House of dumbing down.
Read the backgrounder about the soon-to-be-(soap)opera here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/04/nsmith404.xmlPersonally, I wouldn't waste my money on this show and why anyone would want to do a show based on the life of Anna Nicole Smith is beyond stupid or inane.
Yawn... Pass... Not for nothing...