Tagged: Classical

News coming across the web that American composer Elliott Carter has passed. At 103, he just received honors from France, world premieres around the globe, and a new recording of his Cello Concerto.

This month, KPAC celebrates thirty years in broadcasting. Our hosts are having some fun sharing "30 lists" - artists, music, movies, and recordings you might enjoy and help shape the great sound of your classical oasis.

Kicking things off is Afternoon Host John Clare with 30 Great Violinists! (They are in no particular order, and were chosen keeping in mind the artist was available to be heard on Spotify)

Click here to listen to these violinists on Spotify

Few classical musicians these days are serious improvisers — aside from organists and early-music practitioners. But pianist Gabriela Montero is absolutely fearless when it comes to creating a new piece, right out of the air, right on the spot. At her concerts she takes requests from audience members. They can suggest a song for her to improvise on, or simply a topic of interest.

If ever the term ‘opposites attract’ were applied to an opera, it should applied to Jules Massenet’s Thais. Two of the unlikeliest of characters will carry on an extended, obsessive and sublimated non-affair affair. It will inspire some of the composer’s most popular music, the Meditation for violin and orchestra, though the work as a whole has never quite become part of the repertory. It falls between two of his most well known works Werther and Cendrillion.