Welcome class of 2015

Conservatory Library orientation tours on Friday, September 2nd from 11:00a until 2:00p.

Come to the Conservatory Library and learn about the awesome services and resources we offer, and get some cool FREE stuff!!

"She's Got the Power!" Girl-Group Hits From Rock’s Women

It was all about love. Waiting for it, finding it, showing it, fearing for it, fighting for it, sometimes losing it, sometimes taking it all the way to happy-ever-after marriage. On Saturday afternoon the rock archivists of the Ponderosa Stomp and Lincoln Center Out of Doors presented a fond four-hour marathon of girl-group songs from the early 1960s, sung by the women who made them.  More

Red Beans And Ricely Yours: The Culinary Habits Of Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong was arguably the greatest artist of the 20th century. He was also one of its greatest eaters.

The man behind "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" so often had grub on his mind that he often worked it into his song lyrics, and occasionally signed his letters "Soul Foodly Yours." More often, the signoff was "Red Beans & Ricely Yours," after his favorite food. We'll get to that in a minute — including his personal recipe for the New Orleans staple.  More

The Music of Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary

It's been called the "Alcatraz of the South." Locals call it "The Farm." The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola has been synonymous with brutality, suffering and executions for much of its 110-year history. There was a time when even the most hardened criminals were said to break down and cry when they were sentenced to time there. Yet as prisons go, it stands out for an entirely different reason: its music.

It was one of the first stops for legendary folklorist John Lomax and his son Alan (who was just 18 at the time) when they set off on a year-and-a-half long odyssey on America's back roads in 1933. They were on a mission to gather folk songs of African-Americans, specifically music born of slavery, and they wanted it in its purest form. The elder Lomax believed prison walls were a filter against what he considered the "polluting" influence of popular music.
Read more here.

Free Concerts: In Washington D.C., They Happen 365 Days A Year

In Washington, D.C., at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage, audiences can hear opera, jazz, folk and hip-hop seven days a week, 365 days a year, at 6 p.m. sharp — and never pay a dime.

The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is funded by both public and private dollars. And it was always intended to be accessible to everyone. But the mammoth white building can be a little intimidating. Immense chandeliers, red carpeting, tickets priced at easily $50 or more.  More

Lorin Maazel to conduct Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven Festival

American conductor Lorin Maazel will conduct all seven concerts in Brazil’s Beethoven Festival, which starts on 10 August, it has been announced.


Maazel is replacing conductor Kurt Masur, who cancelled his engagement due to health issues.
The Brazilian Symphony Orchestra’s (OSB) principal conductor and former artistic director, Roberto Minczuk (right), will not be conducting at the festival and has been stripped of the title of artistic director by the orchestra's management due to an ongoing dispute over his decision to dismiss 33 members of the orchestra.  Read More

Ravi Coltrane Quartet In Concert - Newport Jazz 2011

His bloodline alone makes him something of a prince of jazz. But his legendary father died when he was a toddler, and Ravi Coltrane blazed his own trail on the tenor saxophone; indeed, his ideas about composition and flow and tone sound most at home with his own generation of improvisers. His quartet has developed a new set of repertoire for a new album in the works. We get a good midterm progress report from the Harbor Stage at the 2011 Newport Jazz Festival.  Enjoy the concert here!

Harmonica Blues With A 'Brand' New Beat

The harmonica is a staple of American blues, beginning with the Memphis jug bands of the 1920s. In the 1960s, blues-influenced artists like The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton brought the harmonica into the sound of mainstream rock and roll. These days, however, few young artists pick it up.

Twenty-year-old Brandon Bailey is an exception. His debut album, Memphis Grooves, brings a new take to traditional blues harmonica. As Bailey plays, he uses his mouth as a percussive instrument, a technique called beat-boxing. He also uses a loop pedal to layer and repeat the phrases he creates.

Bailey has his own name for his unique playing style: harp-boxing. "I sort of consider it a modernization of the one-man band," he explains.  Read More & listen to Brandon!

Pakistani 'Take Five' Is The Best Selling Jazz Thing On iTunes

After a BBC report, and some word-of-Internet buzz, this version of "Take Five" is easily the most popular thing on the most popular jazz album on iTunes.Watch and Listen Here!