#classical-music

#classical-music

Music trains our theory of mind -our cognitive ability to infer and attribute mental states (beliefs, desires, emotions) to others. In a live performance, we are challenged to figure out the state of mind of the composer, his characters, the performers, and ourselves, the listeners. In this contemporary time of increasing censorship and decreasing funding, of processed news and embedded marketing, conscious listening to classical music is a way to revive our "theory of mind" defense.

FRI/31: KRONOS QUARTET & TIMO ANDRES: SPOOKY Who else but our own Kronos (along with celebrated pianist Andres) could mix the haunting score Philip Glass created for the classic film Dracula, plus music from Bernard Herrmann's iconic score for Psycho, selections from George Crumb's wild Black Angels, and the world premiere of a new Edward Gorey-inspired piano work by Gabriel Kahane, along with other works perfectly suited for a thrilling Halloween. 8pm, Herbst Theater, SF. More info here.

Lovers of classical music and ballet are in luck this weekend. Peter Jaffe conducts Symphony San Jose's annual Symphonic Spooktacular, featuring selections from Stephen Schwartz's Wicked, Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll & Hyde, Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, Alan Menken's Little Shop of Horrors and Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd. Dress up in a costume or just enjoy the festive Halloween parade. $35-$115. Oct 25, 7:30pm; Oct 26, 2:30pm. California Theatre, 345 S 1st St, San Jose. symphonysanjose.org

Uncle Klaus is planning to come tomorrow. Hopefully, it will happen. Then the family will be back together again comfortably. Except sadly it's not quite complete. But that too will come about. And then the long-awaited celebration will also come. One must just wait patiently. Sometime that day will come for certain. The lovely fruit season is over now. The last apple dropped from our tree yesterday.

What I've been looking to do with these characters is to illuminate the context of what people do not know, he said. Even if you talk to musicians and pianists, they know a lot about the rhetoric, how to play something, and what is the accepted style, but in general, they don't tend to study historical context. What I'm looking for, really, is to set these guys in context, so that when we hear the music, we understand where this music came from.

When young musicians from Nigeria and Germany took to the stage at a Beethovenfest concert in Bonn on September 11, it was clear that the audience was witnessing the culmination of an incredible journey. Afrobeat rhythms pulsed alongside clarinets and violins, Nigerian protest songs merged with Beethoven's"Egmont." The concert, with its musical mix of influences, was the culmination of Campus Project 2025 a collaboration between BeethovenfestBonn, the German Youth Orchestra and DW that's been running for over two decades.

Of the many things to remember about David Stabler, the one that keeps coming back to me is his smile, a wide delighted upturn at the corners of his mouth that set his moustache twitching and traveled northward to his eyes, which were in on the joke. Isn't life grand? it seemed to say. Can't we just scoop it all up?

In "The History of Sound," a new romantic drama set during and after the First World War, passion is an intensely private thing, and in more ways than you might expect. Love and desire are not simply expressed in the sweaty vigor of bodies in bed; the two central characters are turned on, and brought together, by moments of quietly harmonious convergence, rooted in shared qualities of heightened perception, cultivated taste, and specialized knowledge.

Cupertino Poet Laureate Keiko O'Leary will lead a Teen Poetry Workshop on Sept. 7, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Cupertino Library. Topics will be based on participant interest, but may include getting ideas, finishing projects, being true to yourself as a poet and technical poetry skills such as rhyme and meter. For more information, visit http://bit.ly/47QqbCO. Community Coffee Assemblymember Patrick Ahrens will join Cupertino Mayor Liang Chao on Sept. 6 for a Community Coffee, where they'll discuss state and local matters with community members.

"We fell in love with the Austrian countryside, we fell in love with Vienna, and it's where we fell in love with each other, because we realized we have the exact same interests," says Ian.

In the mid-1960s, the Beatles engaged with classical music's most audacious composers, which helped cement their status as influential artists.

Nina Bernat has transformed the perception of the double bass in classical music, showcasing her talent across various performances and compositions on prestigious platforms.

Hunter Noack has embarked on an unusual journey, transporting a thousand-pound 1912 Steinway concert grand piano to unlikely outdoor locations for his In A Landscape project.

Andrew Davis returned to his first love of music by making orchestral versions of JS Bach's organ works in the final two years of his life.

Fantasia is a lavishly animated visual masterpiece that overflows with thought and intention, presenting hand-drawn imagery that is painstakingly crafted and gorgeous.

Roger Norrington, a significant figure in early music revival, played a major role in redefining performance practices for historical music, influencing orchestras worldwide.

Hurwitz's YouTube channel received almost ten million visits last year, showcasing his rapid and voluminous reviews and opinions about classical music recordings and musicians.

Sir Roger Norrington's mission was to make us hear classical repertoire through the prism of historical techniques and styles, breaking away from later traditions.

Longplayer, begun on 31 December 1999, is a millennium-long work for Tibetan singing bowls, designed to last 1,000 years and survive as an artificial life form.

The story begins in the early 19th century when concert pianists were cultural superstars. Liszt, for instance, packed out European concert halls in the same way that a modern day icon such as Taylor Swift sells out stadiums in minutes.

When four top film studio musicians formed the Hollywood String Quartet in the late 1930s, its name was presumed an oxymoron. Exalted string quartet devotees belittled film soundtracks, while studio heads had a reputation for shunning classical music longhairs.

David Spade will perform at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga on July 12, showcasing his successful career as a comedian spanning over 30 years, attracting hundreds of fans.

"Echoes of Bach" celebrates how music has been inspired by a composer of the past; the Young Artist Institute is inspiring the brilliant music and musicians of the future.

These twenty-seven previously unheard works by Erik Satie, from playful cabaret songs to minimalist nocturnes, have been painstakingly pieced together from hundreds of small notebooks.

It was refreshing to watch this film after now having sat through 30 years' worth of biopics of various musical figures. This movie removes pretty much all the baloney that most biopics think they need to include.