Posted by composer on Apr 28, 2009 in
Historic Composers 
http://www.playbillarts.com/features/article/7978.html
Charles Dutoit and the Philadelphia Orchestra have been exploring the work of Hector Berlioz this spring, with performances of The Damnation of Faust through May 2 and his Requiem slated for June. Music journalist Peter G. Davis profiles the French composer.
Three composers of genius dominated mid-19th century Europe: Richard Wagner (1813–83) in Germany, Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901) in Italy, and Hector Berlioz (1803–69) in France, each embodying the ideals of high musical Romanticism in very different ways. Although audiences back then may not have viewed this mighty triumvirate with quite the same sense of awe and historical inevitability that we do today, few doubted their importance. In 1850 the 37-year-old Verdi was already a prolific and internationally successful opera composer, while his exact contemporary, Wagner, was stirring up heated controversy with his early operas and revolutionary theories about the “music of the future.”
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Tags: 19th Century Composer (1800s), Composer
Posted by composer on Apr 26, 2009 in
Uncategorized 
Miami Herald Ellen 4-26-09 Taaffe Zwilich, the first woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in music, turns 70 on Thursday, and while the milestone is significant, most people would find it difficult to believe.
With her unfailing good cheer and prolific musical output, Zwilich remains a strikingly youthful presence.
And, while the birthday of the home-town composer — Zwilich was born in Miami and is a seasonal resident of Pompano Beach — has been overlooked by South Florida’s musical institutions, it is being celebrated in appropriate style elsewhere.
Zwilich’s Fifth Symphony premiered at Carnegie Hall last October under the baton of James Conlon. Several new recordings of her music have either been released or are in the pipeline.
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Zwilich (pronounced SWILL-ik) has been remarkably prolific. She has written in all genres except opera and has created an extensive body of work, averaging more than one new composition a year since she ‘’started counting” in 1971.
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Tags: Living Composer