Here, at the WQXR offices, we read about, watch and listen to a lot of classical music. We created the WQXR Whole Note as a place where every morning, Monday through Friday, we will share news, videos, music and musings that have captivated us as we swim through various media streams. We hope they will captivate you, too, and perhaps inspire you to tell us what is capturing your attention in the comments below.
"Dead Man Walking," "Cold Mountain," now "The Shining."
The Stephen King novel-turned-film is the latest pop culture phenomenon to inspire an opera. The work, which premieres in May at the Minnesota Opera, is by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, who recently came to the city to give the New York press a preview.
What's missing? Jack Nicholson's famous "Here's Johnny" line.
David Patrick Stearns reports: "Campbell, whose Minnesota Opera credits include the Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night, says he wouldn't have wanted the 'Here's Johnny' stuff anyway. 'It's kind of campy and camp causes distance [between opera and listeners],' he said. 'I want them to feel completely involved in the story, to be scared for their [the character's] lives.'
Read the full story here.
LISTEN:
Only Human, a podcast from our sister station WNYC, explores how opera training helped a man with autism better express himself. (WNYC)
9 pm — New York Philharmonic This Week features chestnuts, including Emanuel Ax performing Brahms's Piano Concert No. 2 and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 (WQXR)
READ:
From the department of too much information, composer Georg Friedrich Haas opens up about his lively sex life. To be fair, it does provide some insight into the controlling nature of his works. (The New York Times)
Another classical music couple, Erin Keefe and Osmo Vänskä, concertmaster and music director of the Minnesota Orchestra, respectively, talk about the dynamics of their relationship. (Minnesota Star-Tribune)
A Swiss physicist has discovered a Pleyel piano on which Chopin performed. (24presse.com)
WATCH:
Opera singer Larry Brownlee and jazz pianist Jason Moran perform the spiritual, "There's A Man Going 'Round Taking Names," using it as a moment to reflect on the Black Lives Matter movement.
FOLLOW:
London Symphony Orchestra violinist and frequent Tweeter Maxine Kwok-Adams, welcomes Gianandrea Noseda as the orchestra's new principal guest conductor. Noseda was recently announced as the new music director of Washington, D.C.'s National Symphony Orchestra, too.
Congratulations to @NosedaG who joins @djharding as @londonsymphony principal guest conductors! pic.twitter.com/fizcvIAHX7
— Maxine Kwok-Adams (@Maxinekwokadams) February 24, 2016