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The Washington Chorus
The Washington Chorus is a choir based in Washington, D.C., United States. The three-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble has 160 members and often performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Strathmore, and the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, as of 2020. History The Washington Chorus was the first major Washington area chorus to be founded independent of a church or college. In 1961 Hugh Hayward, a medical doctor and classically trained musician, founded the Oratorio Society of Montgomery County, which became known as the Oratorio Society of Washington, and is now celebrated under the name of The Washington Chorus. The organization has a $2.4 million budget, as of 2021. Leadership The Washington Chorus has had five artistic directors. Founding director Hugh Hayward was followed by Robert Shafer, who served for more than three decades. Subsequent directors included Julian Wachner (2008–2017), Christopher Bell (2017–20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures. The term ''choir'' is very often applied to groups affiliated with a church (whether or not they actually occupy the quire), whereas a ''chorus'' performs in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is not rigid. Choirs may sing without instruments, or accompanied by a piano, pipe organ, a small ensemble, or an orchestra. A choir can be a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind choir" of an orchestra, or different "choirs" of voices or instruments in a polychoral composition. In typical 18th century to 21st century oratorios and masses, 'choru ... [...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] |
Nicholas Phan
Nicholas Phan (last name pronounced /ˈPan/; b. Hartford, Connecticut, January 3, 1979) is an American lyric tenor who has performed internationally with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and others. Born to a Chinese Indonesian father (from Jakarta) and Greek American mother (from Indianapolis, he grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended Greenhills School, then he studied voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, then the Manhattan School of Music. He is also an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Marlboro Music School. He has been called "one of the world's most remarkable singers" by the Boston Globe. Phan's many opera credits include appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Glynde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parade Across America
The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, marking the start of the four-year term of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president. The 59th presidential inauguration took place on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Biden took the presidential oath of office, before which Harris took the vice presidential oath of office. The inauguration took place amidst extraordinary political, public health, economic, and national security crises, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic; outgoing President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, which provoked an attack on the United States Capitol; Trump's second impeachment; and a threat of widespread civil unrest, which stimulated a nationwide law enforcement response. Festivities were sharply curtailed by efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the potential ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DJ Cassidy
Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell (born 1981), known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC. With his trademark boaters, cricket sweaters, bow ties, color-blocked tuxedos, and 24-carat-gold microphone, Cassidy became known for his work at celebrity functions, including the 50th birthday party and 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, and the 2008 wedding of Beyoncé and Jay-Z.Brennan Williams"DJ Cassidy Shares Details On New Album, 'Paradise Royale,' And The Resurgence Of Disco" ''HuffPost'', 10 March 2014.Nicole Berrie"D.J. Cassidy Celebrates His Birthday with Music's Biggest Names" ''Vanity Fair'', 9 July 2009. Early life and education Born in New York's Upper East Side, Cassidy is the second child of Monica Podell, née Faust, and music agent Jonny Podell. Cassidy's sister, Brittany, was born in 1977. At the time of Cassidy's birth, Jonny Podell was a booking agent for Norby Walters Associates; he became head of music at ICM in 1996. He and Moni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped evolve stylistically. Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble, with which he still performs on keyboards. He has written fifteen operas, numerous chamber operas and musical theatre works, fourteen symphony, symphonies, twelve concertos, nine string quartets and various other chamber music, and several film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for an Academy Award. Life and work 1937–1964: Beginnings, early education and influences Philip Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on January 31, 1937, the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass. His family were Lithuanian Je ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who had developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Andrew Davis
Sir Andrew Frank Davis (born 2 February 1944) is an English conductor. He is conductor laureate of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Early life and education Born in Ashridge, to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence Joyce (née Badminton), Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years. His adolescent musical work included playing the organ at the Palace Theatre, Watford. Davis studied at the Royal Academy of Music and King's College, Cambridge, where he was an organ scholar, graduating in 1967. He later studied conducting in Rome with Franco Ferrara. Career Davis' first major post was as associate conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 1970. In 1975, he became music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO). He held the post until 1988, and then took the title of Conducto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera. Early life Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher. He studied music from an early age, becoming involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan musical education program, and took up the violin at age ten. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where José Luis Jiménez was among his violin teachers. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy. Dudamel began to study conducting in 1995, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. In 1999, he was appointed music director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, the national youth orchestra of Venezuela, and toured several countries. He attended Char ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop ( mɛər.ɪn ˈæːl.sɑːp born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor, the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Ravinia Festival. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2020. Early life and education Alsop was born in New York City to Ruth E. (Condell) and Keith Lamar Alsop, both professional string players, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was educated at the Masters School and studied violin at the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division, graduating in 1972. She attended Yale University as a mathematics major, but transferred to Juilliard, where she earned BM (1977) and MM (1978) degrees in violin. While at Juilliard, Alsop played with orche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano GOQ, MSM (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and was Music Director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 2006 to 2020. Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, California, while his parents were in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a ''sansei'' (third-generation) Japanese-American. He grew up in Morro Bay, a city located on the Central Coast of California in San Luis Obispo County. He studied sociology and music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduation, he moved to San Francisco State University to study music. While there, he took composition courses from Grosvenor Cooper and Roger Nixon. He also studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Career Nagano's first conducting job was with the Opera Company of Boston, where he was assistant conductor to Sarah Caldwell. In 1978, he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the 18 "Greatest and Most Famous Conductors of All Time". He founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and his partnership with them is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor. Early life Marriner was born in Lincoln, England, the son of Herbert Marriner, a carpenter, and his wife Ethel (née Roberts). He was educated at Lincoln School (then a grammar school), where he played in a jazz band with the composer Steve Race. He initially learned the violin as well as the piano from his father, and later studied the violin with Frederick Mountney. In 1939, he went to the Royal College of Music in London, getting the opportunity to play among the second violins of the London Symphony Orchestra, then conducted by Henry Wood, because ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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