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Maximus Musicus
{{Primary sources, date=August 2010 ''Maximus Musicus'' is an Icelandic children's franchise, including books, CDs, DVDs and family concert programs, aimed at introducing symphonic music to children. The story and part of the music was written by Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir, principal flautist of the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. The books are illustrated by Þórarinn Már Baldursson, a violist in the ISO. Conductor and pianist Vladimir Ashkenazy is the program's patron. Books The first book introduces Maximus, a mouse that finds his way into a concert hall, and enjoys many adventures as he explores the world of the symphonic orchestra rehearsing there. It was first published in Iceland in 2008 along with an audio CD. The second book of the series tells of Maximus exploring a school of music. It was published in 2010 along with an audio CD. Concerts Each story of Maximus is designed to be performed by a full symphonic orchestra, a narrator and silent actor playing the part of Max ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir
Hallfríður Ólafsdóttir (12 July 1964 – 4 September 2020) was an Icelandic flautist, music pedagogue and writer. She did chamber music for the Iceland Symphony Orchestra, conducted orchestra with several symphony orchestras and was a flute teacher at various Icelandic institutions. Hallfríður collaborated in the creation of the mouse Maximus Musicus to introduce children to classical music. She received multiple awards and recognition for her work and was appointed Knight's Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon in 2014. Early life and education Hallfríður's birth occurred on 12 July 1964 in Reykjavík. She was brought up in Kópavogur. Hallfríður was educated at Kársnesskóli in Kópavogur and Kvennaskólinn í Reykjavík. She was a graduate of Reykjavík High School and each of the Reykjavík Academy of Music with a degree for being a brass teacher and a soloist in mid-1988 under Bernharður Wilkinson, the Royal Academy of Music with a Diploma of Advanced Studi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands (Iceland Symphony Orchestra) (ISO) is an Icelandic orchestra based in Reykjavík, Iceland. Its primary concert venue is the Harpa Concert Hall. The Iceland Symphony is an autonomous public institution under the auspices of the Icelandic Ministry of Education. Iceland Symphony Orchestra made its home in Háskólabíó (University Cinema) from 1961 to 2011, but moved into the new 1800-seat Harpa Concert Hall in spring 2011. The orchestra gives approximately sixty concerts each season. Per a 1982 law (changed in 2007), the Iceland Symphony's primary financial sources are the Icelandic treasury (82%) and the City of Reykjavik (18%). Eva Ollikainen took in September 2020 over as the chief conductor and artistic director of the Iceland Symphony, Osmo Vänskä is the orchestra's honorary conductor and Vladimir Ashkenazy holds the post of Conductor Laureate. As of the season 2021/22 Daníel Bjarnason is the orchestras artist in association but had been prin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (russian: Влади́мир Дави́дович Ашкена́зи, ''Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazi''; born 6 July 1937) is an internationally recognized solo pianist, chamber music performer, and conductor. He is originally from Russia and has held Icelandic citizenship since 1972. He has lived in Switzerland since 1978. Ashkenazy has collaborated with well-known orchestras and soloists. In addition, he has recorded a large repertoire of classical and romantic works. His recordings have earned him five Grammy awards and Iceland's Order of the Falcon. Early life Vladimir Ashkenazy was born in Gorky, Soviet Union (now Nizhny Novgorod, Russia), to pianist and composer David Ashkenazi and to actress Yevstolia Grigorievna (born Plotnova). His father was Jewish and his mother came from a Russian Orthodox family. Ashkenazy was christened in a Russian Orthodox church. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Actor
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when necessary, be conveyed by the use of title cards. The term "silent film" is something of a misnomer, as these films were almost always accompanied by live sounds. During the silent era that existed from the mid-1890s to the late 1920s, a pianist, theater organist—or even, in large cities, a small orchestra—would often play music to accompany the films. Pianists and organists would play either from sheet music, or improvisation. Sometimes a person would even narrate the inter-title cards for the audience. Though at the time the technology to synchronize sound with the film did not exist, music was seen as an essential part of the viewing experience. "Silent film" is typically used as a historical term to describe an era of cinema p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Boléro
''Boléro'' is a 1928 work for large orchestra by French composer Maurice Ravel. At least one observer has called it Ravel's most famous composition. It was also one of his last completed works before illness forced him into retirement. Composition The work's creation was set in motion by a commission from the dancer Ida Rubinstein, who asked Ravel for an orchestral transcription of six pieces from Isaac Albéniz's set of piano pieces, ''Iberia''. While working on the transcription, Ravel was informed that Spanish conductor Enrique Fernández Arbós had already orchestrated the movements, and that copyright law prevented any other arrangement from being made. When Arbós heard of this, he said he would happily waive his rights and allow Ravel to orchestrate the pieces. But Ravel decided to orchestrate one of his own works instead, then changed his mind and decided to compose a completely new piece based on the ''bolero'', a Spanish dance musical form. While on vacation at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the Transition from Classical to Romantic music, transition from the Classical period (music), Classical period to the Romantic music, Romantic era in classical music. His career has conventionally been divided into early, middle, and late periods. His early period, during which he forged his craft, is typically considered to have lasted until 1802. From 1802 to around 1812, his middle period showed an individual development from the styles of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and is sometimes characterized as heroic. During this time, he began to grow increasingly Hearing loss, deaf. In his late period, from 1812 to 1827, he extended his innovations in musical form and expression. Beethoven was born in Bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony No
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Composers". The open, slowly changing harmonies in much of his music are typical of what many people consider to be the sound of American music, evoking the vast American landscape and pioneer spirit. He is best known for the works he wrote in the 1930s and 1940s in a deliberately accessible style often referred to as "populist" and which the composer labeled his "vernacular" style. Works in this vein include the ballets ''Appalachian Spring'', ''Billy the Kid'' and ''Rodeo'', his ''Fanfare for the Common Man'' and Third Symphony. In addition to his ballets and orchestral works, he produced music in many other genres, including chamber music, vocal works, opera and film scores. After some initial studies with composer Rubin Goldmark, Copland ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fanfare For The Common Man
''Fanfare for the Common Man'' is a musical work by the American composer Aaron Copland. It was written in 1942 for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra under conductor Eugene Goossens and was inspired in part by a speech made earlier that year by then American Vice President Henry A. Wallace, in which Wallace proclaimed the dawning of the "Century of the Common Man". Several alternative versions have been made and fragments of the work have appeared in many subsequent US and British cultural productions, such as in the musical scores of movies. Instrumentation This fanfare is written for the following instruments: * four horns (in F) * three trumpets (in B) * three trombones * tuba * timpani * bass drum * tam-tam The Fanfare Copland, in his autobiography, wrote of the request: " Eugene Goossens, conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, had written to me at the end of August about an idea he wanted to put into action for the 1942–43 concert season. During World War ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Á Sprengisandi
Á, á ( a-acute) is a letter of the Chinese (Pinyin), Blackfoot, Czech, Dutch, Faroese, Galician, Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Lakota, Navajo, Occitan, Portuguese, Sámi, Slovak, Spanish, Vietnamese, Welsh, and Western Apache languages as a variant of the letter a. It is sometimes confused with à; e.g. "5 pommes á $1", which is supposed to be written as "5 pommes à $1" (meaning "5 apples at 1 dollar each" in French). Usage in various languages Chinese In Chinese pinyin á is the ''yángpíng'' tone ( 陽平/ 阳平 "high-rising tone") of "a". Dutch In Dutch, the Á is used to put emphasis on an "a", either in a long "a" form like in ''háár'' ("hair"), or in a short form like in ''kán'' (the verb "can"). Irish In Irish, á is called ''a fada'' ("long a"), pronounced and appears in words such as ''slán'' ("goodbye"). It is the only diacritic used in Modern Irish, since the decline of the dot above many letters in the Irish language. Fada is only used on vow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sigvaldi Kaldalóns
Sigvaldi Kaldalóns (Stefánsson) (13 January 1881 – 28 July 1946) was an Icelandic composer and doctor. Unlike the avant-garde composers of his day, he wrote in a traditional romantic style and composed many of Iceland's most famous and widely performed songs, many of which are now wrongly assumed to be folk songs. His particular skill was in capturing the spirit of poems in his melodies, making him Iceland's foremost lyric composer. Since the end of 2016, his works has entered the public domain in Iceland. Life He was born in Garðastræti, Vaktarabær in the Grjóta neighbourhood of Reykjavik, the son of Stefán Egilsson, a mason, and Sesselju Sigvaldadóttir, a midwife. He attended Lærðu School, matriculating in 1902 and then gained a diploma in medicine in 1908 from the medical school in Reykjavik. He then travelled to Denmark, where he graduated in Copenhagen. On 16 September 1909 he married Karen Margrethe Thomsen (née Mengel), a Danish nurse. Works Kaldalóns wrote ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
