Interchanging Idioms

Performing Arts and Virtual Education Leaders to Develop and Deliver Online Arts Education Courses for K-12 Students and Educators Everywhere Starting in the 2012-2013 school year, The Juilliard School and Connections Education are launching JUILLIARD eLEARNING, for K-12 students and educators everywhere. Juilliard eLearning is the world-famous conservatory’s first-ever group of online courses, presenting an exciting new option for teaching music and related courses, with distribution and implementation by leading provider of online learning solutions, Connections Education, part of the global education company, Pearson. Juilliard eLearning will be developed to the same high standards educators have come to expect of both partners. The Juilliard School , the nation’s pre-eminent school for performing arts education, and Connections Education , will develop and deliver innovative online courses and resources for K-12 educators and students – helping to extend Juilliard–structured le...

Application deadline: April 23, 2012 (postmark) The Minnesota Orchestra and the American Composers Forum have announced details of the 2013 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute, which will run from January 7-13, 2013, at the University of Minnesota's School of Music in Minneapolis. Under the guidance of composer Aaron Jay Kernis, up to nine composers will have orchestral works rehearsed and performed by the Minnesota Orchestra and will participate in a series of seminars on musical, career, business and professional development issues. Composers receive consultations with Kernis and Music Director Osmo Vänskä before and after the rehearsals. They also meet with Orchestra members and attend small-group sessions with leading music industry professionals. Composers’ travel and hotel will be provided. All works selected for the Institute will be performed in a public concert, conducted by Music Director Osmo Vänskä on Friday, January 11, 2013, 8 pm. Complete program de...

Number of available spots/rehearsals double for performance of selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” Last season, Pacific Symphony asked “OC Can You Play With Us?” and got a resounding and positive response from community musicians across Orange County. This year, back by popular demand, the Symphony is offering four sessions over two nights for adult amateur musicians (ages 22 and older) to perform alongside the orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Carl St.Clair. Taking place Monday, April 30, and Tuesday, May 1, at 7 p.m., this year’s event offers twice the number of spots—bringing the number of musicians to 200—for a unique opportunity to rehearse and perform selections from Prokofiev’s “Romeo and Juliet” on the stage of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Although the program is considered full, the Symphony is pulling from a waiting list up until the event dates. Friends, fans and interested observers are invited to attend this workshop-style event...

Classical Summer Music Program on the campus of Curtis Institute of Music Julian Krinsky Camps & Programs (JKCP) offers an exciting three-week performing arts experience for high school students in Center City Philadelphia — right on Curtis’ Rittenhouse Square campus and new state-of-the-art living and learning facility, Lenfest Hall. From sectional coaching and private instruction to chamber music rehearsals, you will enhance your technical and musical abilities while learning at the music world's most prestigious conservatory. Young musicians grow with the best this summer as they sample college living and the life of a professional musician and symphony orchestra member. Each day is stimulating playing with other passionate young instrumentalists. With access to resources of the Curtis Institute of Music, they develop their potential and love of music as they prepare for college. JKCP recognizes the importance of instrumental music education programs and providing teens a...

Continued Learning for people in all stages of their life Building on The Times’s decades of active involvement in education, The New York Times Knowledge Network offers a wide range of distinctive adult and continuing education opportunities, including online courses, programs and Webcasts. Some of our programs are offered directly by The Times, while others are presented in collaboration with universities, colleges and other educational institutions. Students in our online continuing education classes benefit from the expertise and experience provided by the faculty of renowned educational institutions, and from the full resources of The New York Times. Some courses are supplemented by The Times’ articles and multimedia. Others have The New York Times’ editors or reporters as guest speakers or instructors, sharing their timely insights and informed perspectives. In areas ranging from art to business, writing to politics, journalism to science, online programs from The New York T...

GIVES STUDENTS DEEPER UNDERSTANDING OF COMPOSER AND HIS “NEW WORLD SYMPHONY” Thanks to a generous (and rare) grant from the National Endowment of Humanities (NEH), Pacific Symphony is about to dive into an exciting new education initiative—“Dvořák and America”—led by Music Director Carl St.Clair and developed by New York-based author/scholar and Pacific Symphony artistic advisor, Joseph Horowitz. The project links symphonic performance with humanities content to provide in-depth exploration to deepen students’ understanding and connection to Dvořák’s “New World Symphony.” The project is also an extension of the Symphony’s innovative “Music Unwound” series, which endeavors to contextualize music to provide deeper emotional and intellectual engagement of the audience. While “Music Unwound,” now in its third year, has previously targeted adults, this latest incarnation targets for the first time a younger segment and includes Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra (PSYO), plus hundreds of Irvi...

Taught by Veteran Hollywood Orchestrator Scott Smalley Los Angeles - May 12-13, 2012 Learn the exact orchestration techniques that top film composers like Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman and others use to get the biggest, best sound from live orchestras with these live courses from veteran Hollywood orchestrator Scott Smalley. I have taken this course and HIGHLY recommend it for any composers interested in writing for larger voices. If you're a composer who writes for live orchestra, you need to know what Scott Smalley has taught over 2,500 film and television composers from across the world. Through the intense, detailed study of the music of Jerry Goldsmith and others, top Hollywood film music orchestrator Scott Smalley ("Batman," "Mission: Impossible," "The Insider") demonstrates why some Hollywood scores sound so good, and what you as a composer can do to make your scores sound bigger and better. Enroll in these live courses if you: * are a comp...

Performance Marks Conductor Jacomo Bairos' LACO Debut as well as PROJECT Trio’s Debut as LACO Family Concerts Artists-in-Residence Sunday, February 26, 2012 , at Alex Theatre 1 PM – “Instrument Petting Zoo” 2 PM – Performance It will be anything but music as usual when the electrifying Brooklyn-based ensemble PROJECT Trio joins the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and guest conductor Jacomo Bairos for the first of LACO's 2012 Family Concerts series on Sunday, February 26, 2012, 2 pm, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. PROJECT Trio, with its wildly eclectic mix of jazz, hip-hop and rock sounds and appearances on Nickelodeon and MTV, performs a high-octane twist on Copland's Appalachian Spring and other original works in its debut as LACO's Family Concerts artists-in-residence for the next three seasons. Bairos, who enjoys an international career as a conductor and educator, makes his LACO debut with this performance. Youngster at LACO's "Instrument ...

Mark O'Connor will unveil the third book in The O'Connor Method, his original and rapidly growing new approach to string instrument instruction, in February. Method Book III will teach students the traditional songs and O'Connor compositions found on the accompanying CD, 'American Classics,' a collection of new recordings arranged for violin and piano and performed by O'Connor and pianist Rieko Aizawa. 'American Classics' will also be released February 14 as a stand-alone album on O'Connor's own label OMAC Records. This is O'Connor's first collection comprised solely of traditional American tunes and songs he has released since 'Soppin’ the Gravy,' from his teenage years. The O'Connor Method, which The New Yorker calls, "an American grown rival to the Suzuki method," includes great folk songs, fiddle tunes and classic themes culled from 400 years of traditional American violin playing. It pulls from all regions of ...

Intensive musical residency program pairs Symphony musicians with elementary school students Second grade students at Airport Elementary School in the Ferguson-Florissant district will present a special musical assembly and performance showcasing all they’ve learned during the St. Louis Symphony’s Adopt-A-School program. The concert takes place at the school on Thursday, December 8 at 2pm. Adopt-A-School provides an in-depth approach to music education. It features weekly visits from St. Louis Symphony staff and musicians which focus on classical music, basic musical skills and learning the instruments of the orchestra. One special visit even featured a hands-on conducting class taught by St. Louis Symphony Resident Conductor Ward Stare. In addition, the students at Airport Elementary school prepared for and attended a St. Louis Symphony education concert, took part in a special percussion demonstration and got a behind the scenes tour of Powell Hall. The St. Louis Symphony’s...

The music industry is evolving. What composers can do now to earn a living is vastly different than even 20 years ago. The styles of music composers can draw on are also different, as are composers backgrounds and musical interests. Music Educators, more than ever, need to teach to the students' interests and break out of their comfort zone of known musical styles and options. The statement "every student is unique" has been said ad nauseum to the point one wonders how: can every student be unique and yet teachers still follow some sort of curriculum?  In terms of music students, particularly composition students, the key is to discover the unique qualities of the student and highlight what they learn with an eye on what makes them unique. While there are certainly general "skills" every student needs to learn, as the student progresses into Masters studies, their individuality needs to be encouraged. For students to succeed, they will need  to enhance the...

For those who want to discover classical music or who enjoy it but aren’t sure why, The New York Times presents “How to Listen to Classical Music,” a delightful three-week course designed to help students recognize elements unique to classical music and identify favorite musicians and composers. Not a music theory course, not a music history course, this is a joyful listening tour led by The New York Times ’ classical music reporter Daniel J. Wakin. Back by popular demand, the course will include a “symphony” of topics, including: An overview of the orchestra repertory and other types of music The individual instruments and sections of an orchestra The role of the conductor (with a guest conductor in live class session) Concert traditions and how to get the most pleasure from a concert Wakin’s “moments of bliss” in classical music “How to Listen to Classical Music” will run from October 26 to November 15, 2011. To register for this new online course or for more information, pl...

Collaboration Benefits Teens, Offering New Opera and Musical Theater Solo Voice Major Lyric Opera of Chicago Creative Consultant – and star soprano – Renée Fleming revealed details of a new collaboration between the world-renowned opera company and Chicago’s Merit School of Music in a media conference at the school on Monday, September 12. This collaboration – part of Lyric’s Renée Fleming Initiative – will benefit teenagers in a new Opera and Musical Theater solo voice major at Merit’s Alice S. Pfaelzer Tuition-free Conservatory. Other Merit students will also participate in Lyric offerings. Joining Fleming were Lyric President and CEO Kenneth G. Pigott, who also serves on the Merit board; Lyric General Director Designate Anthony Freud; Ryan Opera Center Director Gianna Rolandi; and Merit President Duffie Adelson. Since Lyric announced the Renée Fleming Initiative, plans have solidified for the long-term collaboration between Lyric Opera and the highly regarded community musi...

Media-rich site features video, archival audio and rarely seen photos and documents from the San Francisco Symphony’s first 100 years INTERACTIVE HISTORY TIMELINE AT SFSYMPHONY.ORG/TIMELINE In the second week of its celebratory 100th season, the San Francisco Symphony has launched a web-based interactive history timeline at sfsymphony.org/timeline, where Symphony and history fans can explore the Orchestra's major milestones and accomplishments. This media-rich site features video excerpts from the new documentary San Francisco Symphony at 100 , premiering on KQED 9 Public TV Friday,September 16 at 9 pm and airing in repeat broadcasts throughout the month, archival audio recordings, short excerpts from the new book Music for a City, Music for the World by Larry Rothe, and rarely seen photos and documents from the San Francisco Symphony’s archives. Together these elements tell the story of the birth, growth and success of one of the country’s top orchestras and its place in San F...

When we start removing music history & theory courses and replacing them with more "popular" choices we are doing our future musicians a disservice. I'm probably preaching to the choir, but I have noticed a slow decline in the emphasis on music theory and history for young musicians. Other teachers have commented that class times for these subjects have been cut and there are threats to cut them even more. This is not a good trend, so I'm speaking out. Performers of today (and tomorrow) need to be well versed in a broad variety of styles, even if they plan to focus on only one era or on only contemporary music. The audience of today is vastly different than that of even 20 years ago, and as such, they listen differently. For an example of changing musical tastes, listen to a recording of Bernstein's Mahler and then to Tilson-Thomas or Boulez; the interpretations are very different. Part of the difference is due to an individual conductor’s style, bu...

First-ever Minnesota Orchestra Fantasy Camp, September 15-16, gives adult amateur musicians the unique opportunity to rehearse and perform with the Minnesota Orchestra at Orchestra Hall The Minnesota Orchestra today announced plans for the first-ever Minnesota Orchestra Fantasy Camp, a two-day orchestral immersion experience offering amateur musicians the one-of-a-kind opportunity to rehearse and perform with the Orchestra—playing side by side with Orchestramusicians onstage at Orchestra Hall—and to participate in a range of backstage activities with Orchestra musicians and staff. The camp will be held on Thursday, September 15, and Friday, September 16, and includes two side-by-side rehearsals and a general clinic, all led by conductor Sarah Hicks; breakout sessions divided by individual sections of the orchestra; a seminar providing an insider’s view of Orchestra programming, led by members of the Orchestra’s artistic planning team; and additional backstage activities. The camp ...

Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony’s DVD Keeping Score: Mahler – Origins and Legacy has been awarded the most prestigious German recording award, Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik , by the German Record Critics' Award Association. The winning DVD includes a two-hour documentary on composer Gustav Mahler, hosted by Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony Music Director, and two SF Symphony concert performance programs. Keeping Score: Mahler won the award in the DVD Classical: Concerts and Documentaries category. The prize was one of 12 Annual Awards by the jury this year. The first part of the documentary, Origins , explores Mahler’s early life and music, and Legacy examines his creative growth over the course of his career. The first concert features a complete performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, Titan, and the second, A Mahler Journey , traces the origins and influences of his music in a variety of orchestral and vocal works. The documentaries are a...

Over the past five years, the El Sistema movement in the United States has grown significantly, with a promise and excitement of changing the lives of young people most in need. Under the leadership of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) and BSO Music Director Marin Alsop, OrchKids, the BSO’s youth music education program in West Baltimore schools, has been a model for other orchestras, school systems and organizations. Now in its third year, the program enrolls more than 250 students, in two community locations, and has been recognized by national media such as PBS, NPR, Symphony Magazine, and CBS’s Sixty Minute s. In an effort to encourage the creation of other El Sistema-based programs throughout the country and provide proven information and strategic guidelines for success, the BSO will present “Community Engagement through Music Education,” (CEME) a one-day workshop on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore, Maryland. Fee for the one-day ...

$450,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation In addition to continuing its tradition of the highest caliber performing seasons, Orpheus is committed to education. The organization strives not only to expand audiences' conception of traditional repertoire with invigorating concerts and new commissions, but also to change the way orchestras and performing arts organizations can educate a community. In light of these aims, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra is thrilled to accept an appointment as Artist-in-Residence in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland (UMD) for the 2011-2012 season. The residency will provide UMD music students with the opportunity to experience the democratic Orpheus Process™ of conductorless ensemble performance through coaching sessions, rehearsals, master classes and performances. In December, Orpheus received a $450,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for a national expansion of the Orpheus Institute: a leadership tra...

Orchestra’s acclaimed Keeping Score Project Also Features New Interactive Companion Web Site, National Public Radio Series, Home Video on DVD and Blu-Ray The San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas will present new episodes of their acclaimed Keeping Scor e television series on PBS in Summer 2011 (check local listings), exploring the life and music of Gustav Mahler. In a year marking the centenary of both the death of Gustav Mahler and the birth of the San Francisco Symphony, the Orchestra’s Keeping Score project focuses on the enigmatic composer with two one-hour documentary-style episodes, two live-performance programs, new Mahler-related content at http://www.keepingscore.org and a 13-part national radio series. The Keeping Score project is a natural outgrowth of the San Francisco Symphony’s almost century-long commitment to make classical music more accessible and meaningful to people of all ages and musical backgrounds. National broadcast dates on PBS will be announ...