On their birthdays, two formidable composer-pianists with their dogs: Sergei Rachmaninoff and Levko (left) and Ferruccio Busoni and Giotto. Uploading additional photos to the comments section now.
Tag: Birthdays
-
Classical Birthdays Kim, Scriabin & More!
You won’t need a pick or a shovel when you join me this afternoon on The Classical Network. The streets are paved with gold! Prepare yourself for a mother lode of birthdays.
Former Princeton resident Earl Kim was born on this date 100 years ago. Kim was born in California to Korean immigrant parents in 1920. He began piano studies at the age of 10. As his focus shifted to composition, he received instruction from Arnold Schoenberg, Ernest Bloch and Roger Sessions.
Following service in WWII, Kim taught at Princeton University from 1952 to 1967. In 1967, he left for Harvard, where he remained until his retirement in 1990. Kim died of lung cancer in 1998.
His music has frequently been described as romantic in disposition, but make no mistake, his Violin Concerto, written for Itzhak Perlman in 1979, sports a modernist veneer. If you’re unfamiliar with it, fear not – just go with it. I think you’ll find it rewarding.
We’ll also celebrate the anniversaries of the births of Baroque oboist and composer Giuseppe Sammartini; pianist-composers Henri Herz, Franz Xaver Scharwenka and Alexander Scriabin; German Romantic master Max Bruch; Respighi teacher Giuseppe Martucci; one-hit wonder Vittorio Monti (of “Csárdás” fame); and conductor Maurice Abravanel. That’s a lot of cake!
We’ll put a great big candle on it in the form of a recording made by the Bach Aria Group, founded by another Princeton resident, born 106 years ago today, William H. Scheide.
There’s gold in them thar hills! Gallop on over to the Ponderosa, from 4 to 7 p.m. EST, for a Birthday Bonanza, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
-
Classical Birthdays High Performance Afternoon
Put a tiger in your tank!
It promises to be a high performance afternoon, as we observe the birthdays today of trumpeter Maurice André, pianist Gina Bachauer, and oboist, composer, and conductor Heinz Holliger.
We’ll have you feline good – and I ain’t lion – from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
-
It’s the End of the World Bernstein Birthday
I’m pushing the envelope here and presupposing a familiarity with R.E.M.’s 1987 hit. Happy birthday, Leonard Bernstein!
-
Classical Music Birthdays Princeton Composers on WWFM
Our chests swell with local pride this afternoon, as we hear music by Princeton composers Steven Mackey, Paul Lansky, and Milton Babbitt (on his birthday). Then things turn all cinematic, as we sample from some classic film scores by two titans of Hollywood’s Golden Age, Max Steiner and Dimitri Tiomkin, also born on May 10. Maxim Shostakovich, whose birthday it is, will conduct music by his father, and we’ll enjoy music by Baroque violinist Jean-Marie Leclair, born on this date in 1697.
That’s a lot of birthday cards to fill out, but we’ll manage, from 4 to 7 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.
Tag Cloud
Aaron Copland (92) Beethoven (94) Composer (114) Film Music (117) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (185) KWAX (228) Leonard Bernstein (99) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (132) Opera (197) Philadelphia Orchestra (86) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (106) Radio (86) Ralph Vaughan Williams (85) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (101) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)