Contemporary | Musicosity

Contemporary

British Methodist Youth Choir

The British Methodist Youth Choir was formed in 1982 and, with rolling membership, has continued to sing a variety of the best of the choral repertoire ever since, both in concert on CD (a first album, [album]A New Dawn[/album], has enjoyed considerable success, and a second was shortly to be released at the time of writing in spring 2012). Working under the strapline 'A Mission in Song', a feature of the choir's repertoire in recent years has been specially composed music, to traditional or new texts, particularly by former and current Musical Directors Anthony Thompson and Heidi Cottrell respectively.

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Bill Stewart

Stewart, Bill b.18 October 1966, Des Moines, Iowa, USA.
Percussionist Bill Stewart made his name as the rhythmic force behind guitarist John Scofield 's band, working with him for five years between 1990 and 1995. Self-taught on drums, Stewart is also a capable pianist, the instrument on which he composes. He grew up listening to his parents' jazz and R&B record collection, but otherwise jazz was a rare commodity in Iowa in the 70s and he played in a Top 40 covers band in high school as well as the school orchestra.

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Per Zanussi

Born in 1977, Per Zanussi grew up in Stavanger, Norway with an Italian father and Norwegian mother. He started playing various instruments at five but picked up the bass at 13 playing in bands. After discovering he quickly switched to double bass. In 1996, while still a student in Trondheim he founded the electronic project Wibutee together with Håkon Kornstad and Wetle Holte.This outfit recorded 3 albums with Zanussi and toured most of the world in the following years.

Read more about Per Zanussi on Last.fm.

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Mario Biondi

Mario Biondi is an Italian singer. Born in Catania, son of a popular song singer, still young sings in various small choruses. Years after he follows Califano, di capri, Bongusto, Fiorello and others in their tours. After a long series of participations with Italian and international artists and a small production of disco music, during 2006 he hits the success with the Schema Records album "Handful of Soul". His deep and warm voice recalls the great interpreters and music.

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Johnny Powell

During 2009, Johnny Powell began the creation of a large collection of alternative folk material for his new solo project using the harp, acoustic guitar, vocals and electronics as the major instruments (www.johnnypowell.com). The songs also involve a variety of strange and unexpected recorded clips and the use of unusual, yet meaningful objects (e.g. curtain rails, toy cars, high heels, graveyard noises etc.) all designed to have symbolic links to the lyrics, and add intentional atmosphere to the music.

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György Kurtág

György Kurtág was born on 19th February 1926 at Lugoj in Romania, not far from the birthplace of fellow hungarian György Ligeti. Both young composers hoped to study with Béla Bartók in Budapest in 1945, but Bartók died in America and Kurtág went on to study piano, composition and chamber music with other teachers at the Budapest Academy. Among his early works was a Korean Cantata which expressed solidarity with the North Koreans in the Korean War against the US, but he reached the age of thirty-three before he was willing to give any of his works opus numbers.

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Franz Waxman

Franz Waxman (December 24, 1906 – February 24, 1967) was a Jewish German American composer, known for his bravura Carmen Fantasie for violin and orchestra, based on musical themes from the Bizet opera Carmen, and for his musical scores for films. Waxman was born Franz Wachsmann in Königshütte (Chorzów) in the German Empire's Prussian Province of Silesia. He orchestrated Frederick Hollander's score for the 1930 film Blue Angel (1930) and wrote original scores for several German films in the early 1930s.

Read more about Franz Waxman on Last.fm.

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Brooklyn Rider

The multi-faceted string quartet Brooklyn Rider is becoming increasingly known for its creative programming and exciting collaborations which serve to illuminate music in new ways and invite audiences into a shared experience. Uniquely able to address a wide and inclusive range of music, they are as willing to explore the world of Haydn as they are in the music of our time and have performed in venues as varied as Joe's Pub in NYC, Todai-ji Temple in Nara Japan and the Petronas Towers in Malaysia.

Read more about Brooklyn Rider on Last.fm.

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Bruno Sanfilippo

Bruno Sanfilippo is a classically trained musician and composer who has been creating music for more than 20 years. His focus alternates between the exploration of concepts, and hybrids of and acoustic music."His gift for picture music is the common thread running through it, his earlier works sounding more like music and his later works moving into more realms, though still with a strong sense of imagery" Te is obsessed with the search for new and unique qualities in music - the amazing, the magical and the deep.

Read more about Bruno Sanfilippo on Last.fm.

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