Great Masters: Shostakovich — His Life and Music: Let the Controversy Begin
August
16th,
2014
I am often asked which of the 30 some-odd courses I’ve created for the Teaching Company/Great Courses is my personal favorite. My typical response is to name my most recent course, which presumes that it represents my best, most recent work. But in truth, it is an impossible question to answer for a number of…
The New York Times Features The Great Courses
July
9th,
2014
A most interesting article on The Great Courses (TGC) appeared in the New York Times on Saturday. TGC has been featured in newspaper articles before: scads of articles, in fact, over the last 20-plus years. But those articles (at least the ones I’m aware of and I am aware of most of them) have always…
“The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works” Wins a TELLY Award
July
2nd,
2014
. . . and finally [small tear running down cheek] . . . I’d like to thank the Academy [*choke*] . . . I’d like to thank the Academy . . . for . . . for . . .FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! WHAT A BUNCH OF LOSERS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT A PACK OF GROVELING, PEA-BRAINED…
OraTV Jon Housman Interview on Huffington Post
June
17th,
2014
A most interesting interview with Jon Housman, the CEO of OraTV who brought me into the Ora family after reading a blog about Mozart on this very Facebook page. Check it out below:
One more from OraTV
June
5th,
2014
I swear, I promise, I guarantee (as best as I can guarantee anything): after today, there will be no more gratuitous references to my trip to SoCal yesterday, where I appeared on talk shows already named. Having said all of that, I would offer up one more photo that my wife found on her iPhone…
A Day with OraTV
June
4th,
2014
Monday was a fantastic day. I would beg your indulgence as I describe it. I will be forgiven upfront for namedropping as yesterday was about meeting some very special people. First things first. My wife Nanci was my boon companion from moment one. Nanci’s presence was a wise choice for any number of reasons, aside…
Recording for OraTV — Just a few weeks away!
June
2nd,
2014
I spent the better part of last week working on background materials for my OraTV show “Conspiracies, Peccadilloes, and Dirty Little Secrets: Fun and Games With the Great Composers.” A chunk of time was spent finding and scanning visual images appropriate for the shows, images that will be projected behind me. The bulk of the…
Reporting from Home — Vienna Wrap Up
May
19th,
2014
It’s hard to believe that it’s almost two weeks since we returned from our trip to Vienna, but there you go, time flies when you’re putting things away, doing laundry, and paying bills. I have always advocated – vainly – that we should all have the opportunity to “take a vacation from a vacation” by…
Reporting from Vienna — The Haydn House
May
5th,
2014
For my two Euros, the best monument to a composer in Vienna is – by far – the house in which Joseph Haydn lived during the last twelve years of his life, from 1797 to 1809. Here’s the story: Between 1791 and 1795, Joseph Haydn twice visited England. The first of Haydn’s most excellent English…
Reporting from Vienna — Mozart Madness!
April
28th,
2014
UPDATE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syLlWONviMc New Mozart In Vienna Webcourse! The extraordinary Joseph Haydn was born in the Austrian town of Rohrau on March 31, 1732. At the age of eight he moved to Vienna, where he became a chorister at St. Stephens Cathedral. He remained in Vienna, on and off, for the remainder of his long life,…