The holiday season has always been popular for introducing new works, including many perennial favorites. In Italy, the day after Christmas became especially meaningful to composers and impresarios. Continue Reading ‘Tis The Season Of Read More
Music
The holiday season inspires all kinds of thoughts, often having to do with reflection, celebration and renewal. For musicians and concert presenters, this time of year has long served as a period for introducing new works, whether specifically related to the season or not. Classical music offers a wealth of examples. Read More
If you find yourself asking, “Who is Florence Price?” you’re not alone. Which is why that’s the title of a lively new book for and by young readers. Continue Reading BOOK REVIEW: Who Is Florence Price? Young Musicians Read More
Let’s start with the paradoxes. The latest film from Oscar- and Emmy-winning writer-director Aaron Sorkin boasts several. Its two protagonists don’t look all that much like the historical characters they portray (although Nicole Kidman with red hair comes pretty close). The female lead, a comedy legend, has very few funny lines in the story. And, although the movie has the Read More
Steven Spielberg’s latest picture arrives in theatres with not only the weight of history and expectation, but also the bittersweet memories of his father and the work’s lyricist. Arnold Spielberg, the film’s dedicatee, died in August, 2020, and Stephen Sondheim passed away last month. Read More
For decades, it was almost impossible to hear a piece of music written by Florence Price. Price was a Black, female composer who died in 1953. But a group of New York City middle school students had the opportunity to quite literally write Florence Price's history. Their book, titled Who Is Florence Price?, is now out and available in stores. Read More
Twenty years ago, Will Smith accepted the challenge of portraying a living legend, and arguably reached the zenith of his acting career, in Ali. In his latest film, he plays the obsessive, controlling father of sibling tennis phenoms in King Richard. It marks another high point for him. Read More
The writer, director and graphic artist Mike Mills loves to explore family. His own family, to be precise. In Beginners (2010), for which the late Christopher Plummer won an Academy Award, Mills dramatizes his elderly father’s gay relationship with a much younger man. In 20th Century Women (2016), for which Mills himself earned an Oscar nomination for Original Screenplay, Read More
“The Irish are built to leave,” as one character ruefully observes in Sir Kenneth Branagh’s new film, his twenty-second behind the camera. Indeed, many have departed the home soil, but their abiding attachment to it has prompted a wealth of insight and inspiration. You can add Belfast to the mix. Read More
The risk of the project was destined to match the scale of journalist-turned-author Frank Herbert's Dune. Denis Villeneuve's conception has arrived in theatres (and HBO Max), and its sequel has already been greenlighted by Warner Bros. After two viewings, his intentions have become more clear and convincing. Read More
“I’ve got this kind of gift. I can see people, places. Things others can’t.” Eloise (a wide-eyed Thomasin McKenzie) can, indeed, have experiences denied to others, especially when it comes to swinging London of the 1960s, her obsession. In Edgar Wright’s psychological thriller, her gift becomes a nightmare. Read More
A movie review of The French Dispatch. Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Reviews: The French DispatchRead More
There’s a recipe for just this baroque-era staple included in The Little Bach Book by the Oregon-based tenor, Bach specialist and book designer David Gordon (Lucky Valley Press, 2017). Only 160 pages, including maps, glossary, timeline, recommendations for further reading and, yes, recipes, Gordon’s little book reveals the magnificent Johann Sebastian Bach as a man of his Read More
Every beer tent at Oktoberfest in Munich has its own take on traditional food. So here are a few (non-taditional) offerings from the NWPB tent, submitted by NWPB staff. Continue Reading Guinness Stew, Sauerkraut Roast, And Read More
The steins of beer. The plates of roast pork and chicken, sausages and dumplings. The brass bands. The throngs of people, many of them in traditional Bavarian dress. Dirndls or lederhosen, anyone? That’s how you probably identify Oktoberfest today. However, in the beginning, it had a very different feel. Read More
Adam Driver, left, and Matt Damon in Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.” (Patrick Redmond/20th Century Studios) “If we don’t trust each other, this earth might as well be hell.” The words of the Priest in Akira Kurosawa’s landmark of world cinema, Rashômon, still ring true today. His kaleidoscopic tale of a rape and murder in… Read More
Nettie Asberry opened many doors in her lifetime, including her own. Her teaching and her activism left an indelible mark on the Northwest. Continue Reading Women’s History Music Moment: Nettie AsberryRead More
You could say that the gifted actor-writer-director Justin Chon’s new film, Blue Bayou, began in Vancouver, Washington. Five years ago, Adam Crapser, a native of South Korea given up for adoption in the United States at the age of three, was deported to his country of birth, because none of his legal guardians had ever… Read More
A movie review of The Many Saints of Newark. Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Reviews: The Many Saints of NewarkRead More
A movie review of The Card Counter. Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Reviews: The Card CounterRead More
Past as Prologue essay about gendered epithets in Pacific Northwest politics and beyond. Continue Reading Past As Prologue: Gendered Epithets In Pacific Northwest Politics And BeyondRead More
What is it about some music that feels just right for these challenging times? In Victoria, BC, the theme of the 13th Annual Pacific Baroque Festival is “From the Ground, Up,” featuring just that kind of music: the kind that builds on repetition. Marc Destrubé, the internationally-acclaimed violinist and teacher, and the Pacific Baroque Festival’s Artistic Director, says Read More
Freshly sharpened pencils. New spiral notebooks. Markings of a new school year and a new opportunity to fill your brain with math and English and music. Many composers led double lives as teachers, and some of the music we remember best originated in the classroom. Read More
When a student becomes an award-winner, you congratulate the teacher, right? A teacher like Dr. Chris Dickey, assistant professor of tuba at WSU. His student earned this year’s first prize in European Music at the Charleston International Music Competition. The student is WSU sophomore Tim Schrader. Read More
With the height of the Perseids on August 11 & 12, it’s a great time to reflect on the inspired music of composers entranced by the celestial objects that surround us. The sky has had a long history of captivating its audience. Continue Reading Composers And The Night SkyRead More
Steve reviews The Suicide Squad movie. Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Reviews: The Suicide SquadRead More
Theaters of the 1920’s were nothing short of magical. Elaborate architecture and stunning decor housed vaudevillian acts and traveling shows for an evening or two, while making way for a rapidly growing hunger in America - a desire for movies. The Lincoln Theater in Mount Vernon was born during this enchanting time of art and growth and today serves as a home to Read More
Midsummer Update! As of the beginning of August, the 2021 season of Northwest summer music festivals finds some fests concluded, some continuing, and some just getting underway. Some continue to stream past performances. Read More
If you're prepared to immerse yourself in a story rich with character, emotion, symbolism and poetry (both verbal and visual), then you'll savor this journey. This is a story well worth telling, and watching.
Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Read More
NWPB's Steve Reeder review's Disney's latest, long awaited movie, Jungle Cruise. Continue Reading Reeder’s Movie Review: Jungle CruiseRead More
Music and technology - two things you probably can't live without! But can you tell the difference when given just a name? Is Frescobaldi a composer or music software. Or both! Take a couple moments to see if you can guess composer from music software. Continue Reading Quiz: Read More
Who needs a concert hall when there’s a barn nearby? Or a brewery? Or an old electric power plant? The Northwest is home to some classical music venues with decidedly non-classical histories. This is the story of Trillium Woods Farm, home of Concerts in the Barn. Read More
The orchestra tuning up. A quieting audience. Applause as the conductor enters the stage.
Familiar sounds marking the start of a live performance. After a year and a half pause, symphony season has been a notably missing companion in our community. Continue Read More
A 24-year-old New York man packed a Jeep with some essentials and a few cans of gas and made his way across Arizona in 1916. The man, Ferde Grofé, arrived at his destination after dark, unaware that his life was about to change with the sunrise of the next day. Continue Read More
Conducting a symphony orchestra is hard. It takes a special set of skills to bring out just the right sound from a stage full of players. Even after Bellingham Symphony’s Music Director Yaniv Attar finished his studies with legendary classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, he found that she still had a thing or two to teach him about conducting. Read More
“I promise you, children become what they are told they are.” The words of the first teacher to be awarded the National Medal of the Arts, Dorothy DeLay. Her violin students numbered in the hundreds, and they include some of music’s biggest names: Midori, Nigel Kennedy, Sarah Chang, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Anne Akiko Meyers, Gil Shaham and Itzhak Perlman. Read More
Classical music has historically been dominated by white voices. Black composers and musicians have been silenced and barred from musical careers, with a long history of not receiving proper credit for their contributions, and even so far as being kept from being audience members for much of music history. But the future of classical music is diverse and inclusive and Read More
From the teaching studio to the concert hall, musicians are uniquely poised to create community through their work. For one Tacoma-based violin teacher, inspiration comes from camaraderie with fellow performers and students. Continue Reading Read More
The last time orchestras had a regular concert season, few works by female composers were played. In fact, less then 9% of music programmed by the top orchestras in the U.S. were by women composers. Where are all the women? Dr. Sophia Tegart, professor of flute and music history at Washington State University is making sure they take a prominent place in her classroom. Read More
Virginia Woolf was lounging in her pajamas in bed one morning when her doorbell rang. A visitor? That was the last thing she expected that day. But, expected or not, there came the sounds of footsteps: through the foyer, up the staircase and down the hall -- a moment later into her room, and into her life, burst the composer, writer and suffragette Ethel Smyth. Read More
Austin Schlichting is a high school orchestra and choir director, in addition to teaching fifth grade strings in Lacey, Washington. He is part of a music education legacy. On top of being a performer and composer, Schlichting continues a four generations-long tradition of northwest music teachers in his family. Read More
Arcangelo Corelli, respectfully known as “The Archangel,” and George Frideric Handel, nicknamed “the dear Saxon” by his adoring Italian public. Two household names among Baroque Era composers. Two famous musicians with a mentor-protégé relationship. Continue Reading Read More
The early 20th century presented a series of uphill battles for women in music. For woman of color, they scaled mountains to compose, play and share their voices. It was a series of old locked doors, blatant racism and intolerance. While many in the white, male-dominated music community turned backs, refusing to listen, or even attempted to stop them before they Read More
Music is a tough business, but a diverse one. Not everyone can take center stage in the concert hall. At Washington State University, Dr. Keri McCarthy is one of the professors encouraging her students to think about their future roles in society as musicians– as music consumers, creators, and educators -- by looking to the past. Read More
Was Johannes Brahms as sweet and comforting as the lullaby that bears his name? Actually, as conductor Manfred Honeck told the New York Times, “There was nothing cozy about Brahms.” He never had students in the formal sense. Brahms’s manner was described as “not encouraging,” when younger composers would beg for his attentions. But Antonin Dvorak didn’t have to beg. Read More
Many of us admire our musical idols from afar - maybe through keepsakes like concert ticket stubs, autographs or posters taped to our walls. Marin Alsop had two posters up in her New York City bedroom growing up - one of the Beatles and the other of the man who inspired her to become a conductor - Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein ended up becoming more than the man on her Read More
A Venetian with a passion for books and sugar, brought to Vienna at age 15 by a kindly patron. A Hungarian steeped in Roma music and religion. A native of a working-class neighborhood in Glasgow, appointed a church organist at the age of 10. A member of a highly cultured Jewish family in Copenhagen. Four very different personalities--Antonio Salieri, Franz Liszt, Frederic Read More
Like traditional classroom education, Music education has evolved during the COVID-19 pandemic - new boundary breaking virtual approaches, problem solving how to get students music and supplies, and fast tracking more advanced techniques simply to get through a lesson. Continue Read More
Igor Stravinsky was destined to change the face of music. Despite disapproving parents, all he needed was a little push down the right path from the right educator to help him fulfill his destiny. Continue Reading Passing The Baton: A Read More
What happens when the grandfather of the symphony takes on one of the brightest rising stars in classical music as his student? They shape history, of course! Continue Reading Passing The Baton: A Music Moment With Haydn And BeethovenRead More
