Oct 5th, 2008 · There probably isn't a major symphony orchestra in the U.S. — or abroad — that hasn't played the music of John Adams. His distinctive sound has made Richard Nixon sing and won a Pulitzer Prize. His new autobiography, Hallelujah Junction, reveals an American composer's history.
Sep 25th, 2008 · Making its fifth appearance on Mountain Stage is the New Orleans band The Subdudes, playing music from 2007's Street Symphony. Founded in 1987, the band draws from Louisiana's melting pot to create a rootsy, harmony-soaked sound.
Aug 23rd, 2008 · The National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba has made the transition from a virtually all-white group to one featuring a number of black musicians.
Jul 29th, 2008 · Born nearly 100 years apart, Mozart and Mahler shared a knack for writing transcendent music under stress. Live from the Mostly Mozart Festival, hear Mozart's 40th Symphony, filled with pride and pain, and Mahler's ode to eternity, The Song of the Earth.
Jul 26th, 2008 · The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performs work next week inspired by the music of the Grateful Dead. Composer Lee Johnson, who wrote Dead Symphony No. 6, discusses the piece's origins and talks about learning to become a "Deadhead."
May 18th, 2008 · Gustav Mahler once said, "The symphony is a world; it must contain everything." For the famous composer, that meant writing symphonic music with the dramatic punch and poignancy of opera.
May 13th, 2008 · Music critics sometimes slam symphony conductors for their overly robotic approach. When the Detroit Symphony performs today with soloist Yo-Yo Ma, that criticism won't be.a criticism. The DSO will be led by Honda's ASIMO robot.
Apr 19th, 2008 · Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop says Antonin Dvorak's symphony "From the New World" was one of the first big orchestral works to incorporate indigenous American musical ideas. She discusses the music with Scott Simon.