The Competition (1980 Film)
''The Competition'' is a 1980 American drama musical film starring Richard Dreyfuss, Amy Irving and Lee Remick, written and directed by Joel Oliansky.''Variety'' film review; December 3, 1980, page 24. Plot Paul Dietrich, a gifted but disillusioned classical pianist, is nearly 30 years old. He has never won a major piano competition and will soon be past the age limit to compete. Paul has accepted a job as a music teacher at a prep school in his hometown of Chicago, needing to help his mother and ailing father. However, he decides to compete one final time at an international piano competition in San Francisco, even though it could cost him the job. The competition for a financial grant and two years of concert engagements pits the intense and arrogant Paul against a select group of talented artists. He advances to the final round of six, which includes brash New Yorker Jerry DiSalvo, who can only play one concerto; Michael Humphries; Canadian pianist Mark Landau; and a meek Ka ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joel Oliansky
Joel Oliansky (October 11, 1935 – July 29, 2002) an Emmy-winning director and screenwriter, was best known for the screenplay of ''Bird'' (the 1988 biographic film about Charlie Parker), as well as writing and directing episodes of TV series including '' The Law'', and ''Kojak.'' Early life Oliansky was born in Brooklyn, New York and attended Hofstra University, graduating in 1959. In his last year, he wrote the book for the Hofstra University Kaleidoscopians' musical ''Inertia'' which featured music by Steve Lawrence, lyrics by Francis Ford Coppola and starred fellow-student Lainie Kazan; a drama scholarship at Hofstra is named in his memory. He pursued a master's degree at Yale, during which course his 1962 play ''Here Comes Santa Claus'' was written and produced. He remained as playwright-in-residence at Yale until 1964, and directed two of the four plays comprising the initial season of the Hartford Stage Company, as well. During this period he also wrote ''Shame, Shame On ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adam Stern (conductor)
Adam Oscar Stern (born 1955) is an American conductor. Born in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States, Stern was trained at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles. He received his MFA in conducting in 1977 at the age of twenty-one, the youngest music student in CalArts' history to receive a master's degree. Conductor Following years as a freelance conductor, composer and pianist, Stern served as Assistant Conductor (1992–1996) and Associate Conductor (1996–2001) of the Seattle Symphony, as well as Music Director of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra (1993–2000). Stern has guest-conducted throughout the United States, including engagements with the Milwaukee Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic, the Boulder Philharmonic, Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Michigan State University, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Chamber Music Northwest in Portland, the New York Chamber Symphony, Philharmonia Northwest and the Sacramento Symphony. From 2001 to 2 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Daniel Pollack
Daniel Pollack is an American pianist. Biography Early life and education Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Pollack began his studies at the age of four and made his debut with the New York Philharmonic at the age of nine, performing the Chopin Piano Concerto No. 1. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School from the class of the legendary Rosina Lhévinne. He also studied with Ethel Leginska and Lillian Steuber in Los Angeles. Pollack continued his graduate studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna under a Fulbright scholarship with Bruno Seidlhofer, at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy with Guido Agosti, and was selected as one of 12 pianists internationally to participate in a special Beethoven Master Class with the late Wilhelm Kempff in Positano, Italy. While in Italy, he also attended masterclasses with Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Career Pollack was a prize winner in the historic International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow 1958. He subse ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who later worked in the Soviet Union. As the creator of acknowledged masterpieces across numerous music genres, he is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. His works include such widely heard pieces as the March from ''The Love for Three Oranges,'' the suite ''Lieutenant Kijé'', the ballet ''Romeo and Juliet''—from which "Dance of the Knights" is taken—and ''Peter and the Wolf.'' Of the established forms and genres in which he worked, he created—excluding juvenilia—seven completed operas, seven symphonies, eight ballets, five piano concertos, two violin concertos, a cello concerto, a symphony-concerto for cello and orchestra, and nine completed piano sonatas. A graduate of the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga (born March 28, 1937) is an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who has worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music. Life and career Pop music in the 1950s and '60s Mayorga was born in Los Angeles, California, attended Hollywood High School, and trained as a classical pianist. He began working as arranger and accompanist to his high-school friends in the Four Preps, contributing one of the two piano parts on their 1958 hit " Big Man" and being known as "the fifth Prep". The group's producer, Lou Busch, helped Mayorga get a ragtime album issued in 1958, which was released under the pseudonym "Brooke Pemberton".Lou Busch at PerfessorBill.com Accessed January 26, 2010. With E ...
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Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leading musician of his era, one whose "poetic genius was based on a professional technique that was without equal in his generation". Chopin was born in Żelazowa Wola in the Duchy of Warsaw and grew up in Warsaw, which in 1815 became part of Congress Poland. A child prodigy, he completed his musical education and composed his earlier works in Warsaw before leaving Poland at the age of 20, less than a month before the outbreak of the November 1830 Uprising. At 21, he settled in Paris. Thereafterin the last 18 years of his lifehe gave only 30 public performances, preferring the more intimate atmosphere of the salon. He supported himself by selling his compositions and by giving piano lessons, for which he was in high demand. Chopin formed a fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ralph Grierson
Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms are: * Ralph, the common variant form in English, which takes either of the given pronunciations. * Rafe, variant form which is less common; this spelling is always pronounced , as are all other English spellings without "l". * Raife, a very rare variant. * Raif, a very rare variant. Raif Rackstraw from H.M.S. Pinafore * Ralf, the traditional variant form in Dutch, German, Swedish, and Polish. * Ralfs, the traditional variant form in Latvian. * Raoul, the traditional variant form in French. * Raúl, the traditional variant form in Spanish. * Raul, the traditional variant form in Portuguese and Italian. * Raül, the traditional variant form in Catalan. * Rádhulbh, the traditional variant form in Irish. Given name Middle Ages * Ralph ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow. Brahms composed for symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, violin, voice, and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked with leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms has been considered both a traditionalist and an innovator, by his contemporaries and by later writers. His music is rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. Emb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eduardo Delgado
Eduardo Delgado (born October 3, 1943) is an Argentine classical pianist and teacher living in California. Born in Rosario, Argentina, Delgado is a recipient of the Vladimir Horowitz Award and has received grants from the Mozarteum Argentino, Martha Baird Rockefeller, and the Concert Artists Guild. In 1999, he was awarded by UNESCO in Buenos Aires. Delgado has given recitals all over the world, in Europe, Asia, South America and North America. Mentoring Delgado has participated in international competition juries such as the William Kapell, the Gina Bachauer, and the Vega in Japan and in 2003 he served as a juror in the 2nd Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires. In 2009 he was a member of the jury at the San Antonio International Piano Competition. He is also noted for his extensive work in teaching in universities and workshops in Japan, mentoring, among others, Japanese pianist Atsuko Seta. He is a part-time instructor at the California State Univ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alberto Ginastera
Alberto Evaristo Ginastera (; April 11, 1916June 25, 1983) was an Argentinian composer of classical music. He is considered to be one of the most important 20th-century classical composers of the Americas. Biography Ginastera was born in Buenos Aires to a Spanish father and an Italian mother. During his later years, he preferred to use the Catalan and Italian pronunciation of his surname – , with an initial soft 'G' like that of English 'George' – rather than with a Spanish 'J' sound (). Ginastera studied at the Williams Conservatory in Buenos Aires, graduating in 1938. As a young professor, he taught at the Liceo Militar General San Martín. After a visit to the United States in 1945–47, where he studied with Aaron Copland at Tanglewood, he returned to Buenos Aires. He held a number of teaching posts. Among his notable students were Ástor Piazzolla (who studied with him in 1941), Alcides Lanza, Jorge Antunes, Waldo de los Ríos, Jacqueline Nova and Rafael Aponte-Ledé ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
The Los Angeles Philharmonic, commonly referred to as the LA Phil, is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September. Gustavo Dudamel is the current Music Director, Esa-Pekka Salonen is Conductor Laureate, Zubin Mehta is Conductor Emeritus, and Susanna Mälkki is Principal Guest Conductor. John Adams is the orchestra's current Composer-in-Residence. Music critics have described the orchestra as the most "contemporary minded", "forward thinking", "talked about and innovative", and "venturesome and admired" orchestra in America. According to Salonen, "We are interested in the future. We are not trying to re-create the glories of the past, like so many other symphony orchestras." "Especially since we moved into the new hall", continues Deborah Borda (former CEO), "our intention has been to integrate 21st-century ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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James Sikking
James Barrie Sikking (born March 5, 1934) is a former American actor, most known for his role as Lt. Howard Hunter on the 1980s TV series ''Hill Street Blues''. Early years Sikking was born in Los Angeles on March 5, 1934 to Andy and Sue (née Paxton) Sikking. His mother co-founded Santa Monica's Unity-by-the-Sea Church. He graduated from UCLA in 1959 and attended the University of Hawaii. He has two brothers, Tom and Art, and a sister, Joy. Career Sikking starred on the ABC TV series ''Doogie Howser, M.D.'' as Dr. David Howser and on the 1997 drama series ''Brooklyn South'' as Captain Stan Jonas. Sikking appeared as Sergeant (later promoted to Lieutenant) Howard Hunter on ''Hill Street Blues'' from 1981 to 1987. He also portrayed Geoffrey St. James on the NBC comedy '' Turnabout'' and voiced General Gordon on the short-lived 1998 cartoon series ''Invasion America''. He is often credited as James B. Sikking, and was sometimes credited as "Jim Sikking" in some of his earlier ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |