Sociologists speak of class envy, students of grade envy and Freudians of penis envy. But in the choral world (and what is the choral world, after all, but a trembling microcosm of the very world itself?), it's tenor envy that seethes just beneath the surface.


A tenor's-eye view of choral music

When the then 24-year old Venezuelan conductor Gustavo Dudamel burst on the North American classical music scene in 2005—making his Los Angeles Philharmonic debut in September of that year at the Hollywood Bowl—few U.S. Americans had heard of either him or of El Sistema, the vibrant music education program that had nurtured and propelled him from childhood. By 2009, all that had changed, at least so far as Dudamel himself was concerned; in September of that year he succeeded Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, cinching a level of superstardom rare in the classical music world.




Gustavo Dudamel and Let the Children Play

Andreas Steinhofel's children's book 'If My Moon Was Your Sun' addresses aging and dementia from the perspective of a lively 9-year-old boy whose beloved grandfather has moved to a memory care unit. An accompanying audiobook features classical music for children by Bizet and Prokofiev.


'If My Moon Was Your Sun': Music and dance encounter 'The Great Forgetting'

To learn a new work of music takes dedication and practice. Dedication and practice in turn help develop what's known as a musician's technique - not just fluency with the work itself and its composer's ideas, but mastery of various musical effects the composer and performer use to express those ideas. Performers who master the technique of a particularly challenging work while also being able play with sensitivity and poetry - with soul - are said to play with virtuosity.


Class Notes: Technique, Virtuosity, and Soul

In the early 1780s, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed a serenade later nicknamed "Gran Partita." The serenade's sublime third movement, its Adagio, is one of the most beautiful and poignant in all classical music.


Class Notes: Expression in Music -- Mozart's 'Gran Partita'

"Hearing Susan's and Mary Beth's stories reaffirmed that communal singing, like all variations on the arts in this culture-rich state, is not merely a 'nice to have' -- it deepens our connections with each other and our communities at a time when those ties are fraying." Vaughn Ormseth shares how music can bring people together even in the toughest of circumstances.


'Fire and Ice,' Bring the Sing's intrepid duo

This past Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, Bring the Sing returned to Rochester for an event that celebrated and honored the civil-rights icon. Listen to the audio and check out the photos from that event.


Bring the Sing celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. in Rochester

Cellist Nygel Witherspoon, a 2017 Minnesota Varsity Showcase Artist, took first place in the 22nd Annual Sphinx Junior Division Honors Concert held Friday in Detroit's Fischer Music Center.


Minnesota Varsity alumnus Nygel Witherspoon wins Sphinx competition

Spanish composer, pianist, and conductor Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909) based his beloved work 'Asturias' on a kind of Spanish dance known as flamenco, which involves intricate footwork, brightly colored costumes, and a wide range of emotion. 'Asturias' also vividly demonstrates the ABA form, in which a work's opening and concluding melodic theme book-ends a distinctly different theme. This video introduces young students to the music through guitarist Milena Petkovic's masterful performance of it, and describes its underlying rhythm, inspiration, and structure.


Class Notes: Song and Dance in 'Asturias'

French composer Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) was the only female member of "Les Six," a group of composers who worked together in Paris. Her works are distinguished by their use of color--or timbre, as it is known in music--as well as their beauty and unconcealed emotion. This video introduces young students to the concept of timbre through Tailleferre's work Ballade.


Vaughn Ormseth

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