Wayne Peterson Photo by Jack McDonald, courtesy C. F. Peters Corp. Winning the Pulitzer has meant nothing for the piece that won. Back when Blomstedt was at the San Francisco Symphony, David Zinman conducted it and did a beautiful job. But they never did it again and nobody else has ever played it. It’s a… Read more »
Adam Silverman Photo by Melissa Richard I used tell people at parties that I flew helicopters, even though I have never ridden in one and don’t know anything about piloting. But the story would draw people in, and by the time they discovered my lie, they would be primed to disbelieve the truth: that I… Read more »
It is perhaps poetic justice that concurrent with our issue inspired by the winner of the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Music that Bridge Records has released the world premiere recording of the Pulitzer winner from 1999, Melinda Wagner’s Flute Concerto. There are a number of other Pulitzer alumni among the featured composers this month: Howard… Read more »
Frank J. Oteri Photo by Melissa Richard Over the years, I have frequently bemoaned the fact that there is no Nobel Prize for Music. While only in my most musically zealous moments I’d claim that musical contributions are as significant as strides toward world peace, even in my soberest moments I know in my heart… Read more »
Wayne Peterson “…My commissions have soared and everything I have written since that time has been published…” Christopher Rouse “…the number of commissions and performances of my music have remained about the same in my pre-Pulitzer and post-Pulitzer periods…” Charles Wuorinen “…as I look over the list of winners I am struck by how many… Read more »
Shortly after learning that Lewis Spratlan had won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize in Music for part of an opera that had been completed in 1978 but was only performed in a concert version this past year, we trekked up to Amherst to talk to him about it.
Christopher Rouse Photo by Alex Irvin, courtesy Aspen Music Festival I think the Pulitzer can have a variety of effects on a career. In my own case, I don’t believe it changed much; the number of commissions and performances of my music have remained about the same in my pre-Pulitzer and post-Pulitzer periods. However, I… Read more »
Is there a sustainable place on the airwaves for music other than the Top 40 Pop or Classical hits?
Gunther Schuller Photo courtesy GM Recordings © 2000 by Gunther Schuller I appreciate very much being asked to present the keynote address at this Year’s annual Music Personnel Conference. Many of you know me only by name; some of you may know me as a composer, a few as a conductor; others of you know… Read more »
Joan Tower Photo by Steven J. Sherman, courtesy G. Schirmer, Inc. Frankly, I only listen to the radio in the car and then I’m listening primarily to the local NPR stations. On long rides, I love to listen to Car Talk, which is entertaining and funny, or the News Forum from the Washington Press Club,… Read more »
Steve Metcalf Photo by Paul Cryan As a child of the ’50s, I have a romantic attachment to radio, or at least the idea of radio. I even built a little crystal radio set from a kit, an achievement I recall to this day because it was the one and only time I have ever… Read more »
Andrew Litton Photo by Steven J. Sherman, courtesy Aleba Gartner I keep my clock radio tuned to Dallas’ classical music station, WRR-FM, the oldest radio station in Texas, and occasionally wake up to music that may trigger some programming ideas. At least, that is my excuse for delaying getting out of bed! I mean, one… Read more »
Milton Babbitt Photo courtesy C.F. Peters Corp. I turn on the radio every morning and every night. But more often that not, I turn it off and put on a CD because in all the many years of listening to some half-dozen public stations, I have not heard a note of the most influential music… Read more »
Jennifer Undercofler Photo by Brian Krinke Lately, it has gotten so that almost every time I turn in to my local classical music station, I feel as if I have been transported back to a very shiny version of the eighteenth century. Now, it’s not any secret to me that this public radio station is… Read more »
As usual, the 34 CDs collected in this month’s round-up of new recordings of American repertoire reflect a stunning range of musical possibilities. A great amount of lost American musical history has been unearthed recently in recordings of symphonies by Virgil Thomson, George Antheil, and Paul Creston, organ concertos by Leo Sowerby, chamber music by… Read more »
Frank J. Oteri Photo by Melissa Richard This month marks the one-year anniversary of NewMusicBox and I am thrilled to say that it has been extremely successful thus far. When we launched our first issue a year ago, we had a little bit more than 5000 user sessions to the site. Not bad for a… Read more »
Milton Babbitt “…in all the many years of listening to…public stations, I have not heard a note of the most influential music of the 20th century…” Andrew Litton “Sometimes I awaken to my own voice when WRR plays one of our ads, which is extremely frightening.” Steve Metcalf “As a child of the ’50s, I… Read more »
Members of the board of directors of the American Music Personnel in Public Radio–Outgoing President Beverley Ervine (WOSU-FM, Columbus OH), Chris Kohtz (WGUC-FM, Cincinnati OH), Boyce Lancaster (WOSU), Robert J. Lurtsema (WGBH-FM, Boston MA), Deanne Poulos (KBAQ-FM, Phoenix AZ), and Lois Reitzes (WABE-FM, Atlanta GA)–get grilled about broadcasting the music of American composers.
Stewart Wallace Photo by Steve Sherman I’d make things with my hands like a sculptor or a painter. Things that I could touch. Things that would be done when I was done. Where the thing was the thing itself – not a roadmap to be interpreted, not dependent on the skills of the interpreter. Or… Read more »
Melinda Wagner Photo courtesy Theodore Presser Company In the field of music, if I weren’t so busy, I would return to teaching. I’d also really like to coach chamber music or conduct. Outside of music, I’d really enjoy working in a library, however one that is pre-computer! I love to work with file cards. I… Read more »
Jeffrey Mumford Photo courtesy Theodore Presser Company I would love to run a radio station that plays REAL music, that does not compromise (whatever style, just intensely good and focused). It would have a live format incorporated wherein there would be performances and interviews. There would also be live panel discussions on matters of musical… Read more »
Daron Hagen Photo courtesy Carl Fischer Inc. If I could spend one hundred percent of my time composing I would. Now in my twenty-third year of thinking of myself as a composer, I have worked up to being able to spend eighty percent of my time pushing notes around. I’m proud of that. While I… Read more »
William Colvig with Lou Harrison and John Luther Adams Photo by Dennis Keeley Musician and instrument builder, engineer and mountaineer William Colvig died on March 1, 2000 in Capitola California, at the age of 82. Born in Medford, Oregon on March 13, 1917, Bill grew up in Weed, California at the base of Mt. Shasta… Read more »
Michael Daugherty Photo courtesy 21st Century Music Management If I was not a composer I would either run a used book store or be a lounge cocktail pianist. I have always loved the smell of old books and enjoyed rummaging through the stacks never knowing what I might come across. For years I was a… Read more »
