Friday, September 26, 2014

Naxos Music Library Mobile App Available!!!

Follow these steps, and start listening!

Need help? Contact Kathy Abromeit, Public Services Librarian, Conservatory Library

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Joshua Bell to Play Again in D.C. Metro Station after 2007 Stunt

The Grammy-winning violinist played for spare change in a D.C. Metro station during a 2007 experiment with The Washington Post, and almost no one paid attention. It made for a good magazine story that won the Pulitzer Prize. But Bell hasn't been able to live it down after seven years.
Now, Bell tells the Post he is planning another public performance in the main hall at Washington's Union Station. And he hopes to have an audience this time. The performance is set for Sept. 30 at 12:30 p.m.  More

British conductor Christopher Hogwood has died aged 73.

He died at his home in Cambridge following an illness lasting several months, a statement on his website said.
It added his funeral will be private, with a memorial service to be held at a later date.
Hogwood worked with many leading orchestras around the world and was considered one of the most influential exponents of the early-music movement.
The conductor founded the Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) in 1973 and directed the academy across six continents for some 30 years.
The AAM also made more than 200 CDs, including the first-ever complete cycle of Mozart symphonies on period instruments.
Among his most famous recordings include the 1980 version of Handel's Messiah with Emma Kirkby and James Bowman, which was named by BBC Music Magazine as one of the top 20 recordings of all time. more

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Enduringly Dramatic Italian Soprano Magda Olivero Dies At 104

One of the last great Italian divas, and one of opera's most thrilling voices, has finally gone silent. Soprano Magda Olivero died in Milan, Italy today, according to multiple media organizations including the newspaper La Repubblica. She was 104. Olivero never had a glitzy recording career, but she did have something her contemporaries didn't: longevity. She sang in public for more than seven decades.

I first heard Olivero almost three decades ago on one of her hard-to-get bootlegged live recordings, and I immediately fell for her unique sound.

But don't take my word for it. RenĂ©e Fleming, one of today's reigning divas, is so crazy about Olivero that she made a pilgrimage to Milan to see her when the older soprano was a spry 94.  watch/listen/read