western classical music | Musicosity

western classical music

Vladimir Ashkenazy

Vladimir Davidovich Ashkenazy (sometimes transliterated Ashkenazi) (Russian: ????????? ?????????? ?????????) (born July 6, 1937) is a Russian conductor and, more notably, a pianist. He was born in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. Ashkenazy began his studies at the age of 6 and showing prodigious talent, was accepted at the Central Music School at 8. A graduate of the Moscow Conservatory, he won second prize in the prestigious International Frederick Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955 and shared first prize in the 1962 International Tchaikovsky Competition with English pianist John Ogdon.

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John Eliot Gardiner: English Baroque Soloists & Monteverdi Choir

Sir John Eliot Gardiner CBE FKC (born 20 April 1943, Fontmell Magna, Dorset, England) is an English conductor. He founded the Monteverdi Choir in 1964 and the English Baroque Soloists in 1978. Gardiner is most famous for his interpretations of Baroque music on period instruments with the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists, but his repertoire and discography are not limited to early music.

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Pauline Oliveros

Composer Pauline Oliveros is a maverick in the field of electronic music. Oliveros' first instrument was the accordion; as a teenager in Texas she played in a 100-piece accordion group that appeared at the rodeo. In 1949 she entered the University of Houston, but in 1952 transferred to San Francisco State College. Oliveros studied music privately with Robert Erickson and began to associate with a loose confederation of like-minded composers; Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Morton Subotnick among them.

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Eighth Blackbird

Hailed as “Friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled” by the New Yorker, eighth blackbird is widely lauded for its unusual performing style – often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair – and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. The ensemble’s 2005-06 10th anniversary season includes tours of California– taking in Los Angeles’s Disney Hall and stops in La Jolla, Stanford and Davis; a performance at New York’s 92nd Street Y; and the ensemble’s debut performance at Boston’s renowned Celebrity Series.

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Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky

Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (Russian: ??????? ????????? ???????????, Modest Petrovi? Musorgskij), also Modeste, Moussorgsky (and see also ?????? ???????? ??????????) (March 9/21, 1839

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Mitsuko Uchida

"Uchida is, simply, Uchida – an elegant, deeply musical interpreter who strikes an inspired balance of head and heart in everything she plays." - Chicago Tribune Mitsuko Uchida (born December 20, 1948) is a classical pianist. Born in Atami, a seaside town close to Tokyo, Japan, Uchida moved to Vienna, Austria when she was twelve with her diplomat parents, and she enrolled at the Vienna Academy of Music to study with Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase.

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