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Merit School Of Music
Merit School of Music is a nonprofit organization located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Merit is dedicated to helping young people transform their lives by removing barriers to a high-quality music education, with nearly 70 percent of students benefitting from need-based financial aid and low-cost instrument rental. Merit enables motivated students, regardless of economic circumstance, to develop their talent and to use music as a springboard for achieving their full personal potential, with virtually 100 percent of conservatory graduates going onto college. Merit School of Music is a member of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts, Illinois Arts Alliance, Illinois Alliance for Arts in Education, Chicago Consortium of Community Music Schools, and the Chicago Music Alliance. History Merit School of Music was founded in 1979 by Alice S. Pfaelzer and Emma Endres-Kountz in response to the elimination of music education from the Chicago Public Schools' elementary ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nonprofit Organization
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in contrast with an entity that operates as a business aiming to generate a Profit (accounting), profit for its owners. A nonprofit is subject to the non-distribution constraint: any revenues that exceed expenses must be committed to the organization's purpose, not taken by private parties. An array of organizations are nonprofit, including some political organizations, schools, business associations, churches, social clubs, and consumer cooperatives. Nonprofit entities may seek approval from governments to be Tax exemption, tax-exempt, and some may also qualify to receive tax-deductible contributions, but an entity may incorporate as a nonprofit entity without securing tax-exempt status. Key aspects of nonprofits are accountability, trustworth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James DePreist
James Anderson DePreist (November 21, 1936 – February 8, 2013) was an American conductor. DePreist was one of the first African-American conductors on the world stage. He was the director emeritus of conducting and orchestral studies at The Juilliard School and laureate music director of the Oregon Symphony at the time of his death. Early life and education DePreist was born in Philadelphia in 1936. He was the nephew of contralto Marian Anderson. He was in the 202nd Class at Central High School, Philadelphia, graduating in June, 1954. DePreist studied composition with Vincent Persichetti at the Philadelphia Conservatory while earning a bachelor's degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a master's degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 1958. On the side, he played percussion in a jazz Quintet, which performed on "The Tonight Show" with Steve Allen in 1956, and did enough composing to win a commi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Watts
André Watts (born June 20, 1946) is an American classical pianist and professor at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. In 2020, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society. Life and early performances Born in Nuremberg, Germany, Watts is the son of a Hungarian mother, Maria Alexandra Gusmits, a pianist; and an American father, Herman Watts, a U.S. Army non-commissioned officer. André spent his early childhood in Europe, living mostly near army posts where his father was stationed. He began to study the violin when he was four. By six he decided the piano was his instrument. When André was eight years old, Herman's military assignment brought the family to the United States. They settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother started him with his first piano lessons. As do many children, Watts disliked practicing. For encouragement, his mother would tell stories of the great pianist and composer Franz Liszt, making it clear that Liszt practiced fai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin (born September 1, 1944) is an American conductor, author and composer. Early life and education Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a Jewish musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father, Felix Slatkin, was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet, and his mother, Eleanor Aller, was the cellist with the quartet. His brother, Frederick, now a cellist, traced the family's original name as Zlotkin, and adopted that form of the family surname for himself professionally. Frederick Zlotkin has spoken of the family lineage as follows: :: "The Zlotkin/Slatkin lineage is Russian-Jewish. The first Zlotkin arrival to the US was Felix's father, grandpa Chaim Peretz Zlotkin, who came to settle with relatives in St. Louis in 1904; he (or the clerk at Ellis Island) changed the name. He probably came from the town of Mogilev ow Mohyliv-Podilskyi">Mohyliv-Podilskyi.html" ;"title="ow Mohyliv-Podilskyi">ow M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Samuel Ramey
Samuel Edward Ramey (born March 28, 1942) is an American operatic bass. At the height of his career, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart and Rossini, yet with power enough to handle the more overtly dramatic roles in Verdi and Puccini. Early life Ramey graduated from Colby High School in Colby, Kansas in 1960. He studied music in high school and in college at Kansas State University, as well as at Wichita State with Arthur Newman. In college at Kansas State, he was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity. After further study in Central City (where he was in the chorus of ''Don Giovanni'' in 1963, with Norman Treigle in the title role) and as an apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera, he went to New York City where he worked for an academic publisher before he had his first breakthrough at the New York City Opera, debuting on March 11, 1973, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midori Goto
, who performs under the mononym Midori, is a Japanese-born American violinist. She made her debut with the New York Philharmonic at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist at the New Year's Eve Gala in 1982. In 1986 her performance at the Tanglewood Music Festival with Leonard Bernstein conducting his own composition made the front-page headlines in ''The New York Times''. Midori became a celebrated child prodigy, and one of the world's preeminent violinists as an adult. Midori has been honored as an educator and for her community engagement endeavors. When she was 21, she established her foundation Midori and Friends to bring music education to young people in underserved communities in New York City and Japan, which has evolved into four distinct organizations with worldwide impact. In 2007, Midori was appointed as a UN Messenger of Peace. In 2018, she joined the violin faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. She is also on the faculty of the University of Southern California' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylvia McNair
Sylvia McNair (born June 23, 1956) is an American opera singer and classical recitalist who has also achieved notable success in the Broadway and cabaret genres. McNair, a soprano, has made several critically acclaimed recordings and has won two Grammy Awards. Early life and musical training Sylvia McNair was born in Mansfield, Ohio, the daughter of George and Marilou McNair. She attended and graduated from Lexington High School, just south of Mansfield. As a youth, she studied violin. She originally enrolled in the undergraduate music program at Wheaton College, IL as a violin major, but was encouraged by a violin instructor there to study voice as well. She commenced vocal studies at Wheaton with Margarita Evans, and finding herself more suited to singing, discontinued violin as her major. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 1978 from Wheaton and subsequently a Master of Music with Distinction in 1983 from Indiana University (whose music school is now the Jacobs Sc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catherine Malfitano
Catherine Malfitano (born April 18, 1948) is an American operatic soprano and opera director. Malfitano was born in New York City, the daughter of a ballet dancer mother, Maria Maslova, and a violinist father, Joseph Malfitano. She attended the High School of Music and Art and studied at the Frank Corsaro Studio and Manhattan School of Music, graduating in 1971. She often mentions that she was rejected from The Juilliard School.Biography at arts.endnotes.com Operatic career Malfitano made her professional singing debut in 1972 at the playing the role of Nannetta in |
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma (''Chinese'': 馬友友 ''Ma Yo Yo''; born October 7, 1955) is an American cellist. Born in Paris to Chinese parents and educated in New York City, he was a child prodigy, performing from the age of four and a half. He graduated from the Juilliard School and Harvard University and attended Columbia University and has performed as a soloist with orchestras around the world. He has recorded more than 90 albums and received 19 Grammy Awards. In addition to recordings of the standard classical repertoire, Ma has recorded a wide variety of folk music, such as American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese melodies, the tangos of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla, and Brazilian music. He has collaborated with artists in diverse genres, including the singer Bobby McFerrin, the guitarist Carlos Santana, Sérgio Assad and his brother, Odair, and the singer-songwriter-guitarist James Taylor. Ma's primary performance instrument is a 1733 Montagnana cello valued at US$2.5 million ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ramsey Lewis
Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards in his career. His album ''The In Crowd (Ramsey Lewis album), The In Crowd'' earned Lewis critical praise and the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance. His best known singles include "The 'In' Crowd (song), The In Crowd", "Wade in the Water", and "Sun Goddess (song), Sun Goddess". Until 2009, he was the host of the ''Ramsey Lewis Morning Show'' on the Chicago radio station WNUA. Lewis was also active in musical education in Chicago. He founded the Ramsey Lewis Foundation, established the Ravinia's Jazz Mentor Program, and served on the board of trustees for the Merit School of Music and The Chicago High School for the Arts. Life and career Ramsey Lewis was born on May 27, 1935, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell (January 30, 1944 – April 27, 2020) was an American classical cellist. Known for the "penetrating richness" of his sound, Harrell performed internationally as a recitalist, chamber musician, and soloist with major orchestras over a career spanning nearly six decades. He was the winner of the inaugural Avery Fisher Prize and two Grammy Awards, among other accolades, and taught at the University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Juilliard School, USC Thornton School of Music, and the Shepherd School of Music. Biography Early life Harrell was born on January 30, 1944, to musician parents in Manhattan, New York City: his father was the baritone Mack Harrell, from Texas, and his mother, Marjorie McAlister Fulton, was a violinist, originally from Oklahoma. At the age of nine, he began cello studies. When he was 12, his family moved to Dallas, Texas, where he studied with Lev Aronson while his fathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miriam Fried
Miriam Fried (born 9 September 1946) is a Romanian-born Israeli classical violinist and pedagogue. Biography Miriam Fried was born in Satu Mare, Romania but moved with her family to Israel when she was aged 2. Her family settled in Herzliya. Her mother was a piano teacher. Miriam first took up piano lessons but when she was eight years old she made a definite choice for the violin. Her studies in Tel Aviv with Alice Fenyves continued under her brother Lorand Fenyves at Geneva, Josef Gingold at Indiana University, and Ivan Galamian at the Juilliard School. In 1968 she won the Paganini Competition in Genoa and in 1971 the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels. Miriam Fried is the dedicatee and first performer of the Violin Concerto by Donald Erb. Other composers who have written works for her include Ned Rorem and Alexander Boskovich. She has recorded the complete solo sonatas and partitas of Johann Sebastian Bach, and twice recorded the Sibelius Violin Concer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
