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Music Of The Heart
''Music of the Heart'' is a 1999 American biographical film, biographical musical film, musical drama (film and television), drama film directed by Wes Craven and written by Pamela Gray, based on the 1995 documentary ''Small Wonders''. A dramatization of the true story of Roberta Guaspari, portrayed by Meryl Streep, who co-founded the Opus 118 Harlem School of Music and fought for music education funding in New York City public schools, the film also stars Aidan Quinn, Angela Bassett, Gloria Estefan in her film debut, Jane Leeves, Kieran Culkin and Jay O. Sanders. It was Craven's sole mainstream cinematic film not in the horror film, horror or thriller film, thriller genre, and also his only film to receive Academy Awards, Oscar nominations. Plot In 1981 New York City, violinist Roberta Guaspari has recently divorced her U.S. Navy officer husband Charles Demetras, who has instead decided to pursue a romantic relationship with a friend of hers named Lana Holden. Encouraged by her ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl Craven (August 2, 1939 – August 30, 2015) was an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Amongst his Wes Craven filmography, prolific filmography, Craven worked primarily in the Horror film, horror genre, particularly slasher films, where he mixed horror cliches with humor. Craven has been recognized as one of the masters of the horror genre. Craven created the A Nightmare on Elm Street (franchise), ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' franchise (1984–present), writing and directing A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984 film), the first film, co-writing and producing the third, ''A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors'' (1987), and writing and directing the seventh, ''Wes Craven's New Nightmare'' (1994). He directed the first four films in the Scream (franchise), ''Scream'' franchise (1996–2011). He directed cult classics ''The Last House on the Left'' (1972) and ''The Hills Have Eyes (1977 film), The Hills Have Eyes'' (1977), the horror comedy ''The People ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biographical Film
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films and Historical drama, historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives. Context Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham of Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis. Custen, in ''Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History'' (1992), regards the genre as having died with the Studio system, Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study ''Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre'' shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isaac Stern
Isaac Stern (July 21, 1920 – September 22, 2001) was an American violinist. Born in Ukraine, Stern moved to the United States when he was 14 months old. Stern performed both nationally and internationally, notably touring the Soviet Union and China, and performing extensively in Israel, a country to which he had close ties since shortly after its founding. Stern received extensive recognition for his work, including winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom and six Grammys, Grammy Awards, and being named to the French Legion of Honour. The Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall bears his name, due to his role in saving the venue from demolition in the 1960s. Biography The son of Solomon and Clara Stern, Isaac Stern was born in Kremenets, Second Polish Republic, Poland (now Ukraine), into a Jewish family. He was 14 months old when his family moved to San Francisco in 1921. Both his parents were musical and his mother, who had studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guarneri Quartet
The Guarneri Quartet was an American string quartet founded in 1964 at the Marlboro Music School and Festival. It was admired for its rich, warm, complex tone and its bold, dramatic interpretations of the quartet literature, with a particular affinity for the works of Beethoven and Bartók. Through teaching at Harpur College (which became Binghamton University), University of Maryland, Curtis Institute of Music, and at Marlboro, the Guarneri players helped nurture interest in quartet playing for a generation of young musicians. The group's extensive touring and recording activities, coupled with its outreach efforts to engage audiences, contributed to the rapid growth in the popularity of chamber music during the 1970s and 1980s. The quartet is notable for its longevity: the group performed for 45 years with only one personnel change, when cellist David Soyer retired in 2001 and was replaced by his student Peter Wiley. The Guarneri Quartet disbanded in 2009. Musicians 1st viol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arnold Steinhardt
Arnold Steinhardt (born April 1, 1937 in Los Angeles, California) is an American violinist, best known as the first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet. Steinhardt made his debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 14. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia with Ivan Galamian and later in Switzerland with Joseph Szigeti and Toscha Seidel. In 1958 he won the Leventritt International Violin competition and consequently was invited by George Szell to take second chair in the Cleveland Orchestra's first violin section (next to concertmaster Josef Gingold). He was later appointed to the faculty of the Curtis Institute, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and University of Maryland. In 2009 he was appointed to the faculty of the Colburn School in Los Angeles. He has also performed extensively as a soloist. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and is the author of two books; ''Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Har ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Benefit Concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Benefit concerts can have both subjective and concrete objectives. Subjective objectives include raising awareness about an issue such as misery in Africa (such as Live 8) and uplifting a nation after a disaster (such as America: A Tribute to Heroes). Concrete objectives include raising funds (such as Live Aid) and influencing legislation (such as Live 8 or Farm Aid). The two largest benefit concerts of all time, in size, were the Live 8 and the Live Earth events, which both attracted billions of spectators. Scholars theorize that the observed increase on concert size since the Live Aid is happening because organizers strive to make their events as big as the tragedy at hand, thus hoping to gain legitimization that wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City Board Of Education
The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of the New York City Department of Education. The members of the board are appointed by the Mayor of New York City, mayor, by the five Borough President, borough presidents and one each elected by the five borough's CEC presidents. History Independent Board (1842–2002) The New York State legislature established the New York City Board of Education in 1842. Mayoral Control (2002–present) On June 30, 2002, Mayor Bloomberg secured authority over the schools from the New York State legislature, which began the era of "mayoral control" over the city schools. The New York Supreme Court elaborates: On June 30, 2009, the New York State Senate declined to renew the mayor's full authority over the school system. In particular, State Sen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
East Harlem
East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem, or , is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City, north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, Fifth Avenue to the west, and the East and Harlem Rivers to the east and north. Despite its name, it is generally not considered to be a part of Harlem proper, but it is one of the neighborhoods included in Greater Harlem. The neighborhood has one of the largest Hispanic communities in New York City, mostly Puerto Ricans, as well as Dominicans, Cubans, and Mexicans. The community is notable for its contributions to Latin freestyle and salsa music. East Harlem also includes the remnants of a once predominant Italian community, or Italian Harlem. The Chinese population has increased dramatically in East Harlem since 2000. East Harlem has historically suffered from many social issues, such as a high crime rate, the highest jobless rate in New York City, teenage pregnancy, AIDS, drug abuse, homelessn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy's voting membership. The Oscars are widely considered to be the most prestigious awards in the film industry. The major award categories, known as the Academy Awards of Merit, are presented during a live-televised Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood ceremony in February or March. It is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony. The 1st Academy Awards were held in 1929. The 2nd Academy Awards, second ceremony, in 1930, was the first one broadcast by radio. The 25th Academy Awards, 1953 ceremony was the first one televised. It is the oldest of the EGOT, four major annual American entertainment awards. Its counterparts—the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thriller Film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. Tension is created by delaying what the audience sees as inevitable, and is built through situations that are menacing or where escape seems impossible. The cover-up of important information from the viewer, and fight and chase scenes are common methods. Life is typically threatened in a thriller film, such as when the protagonist does not realize that they are entering a dangerous situation. Thriller films' characters conflict with each other or with an outside force, which can sometimes be abstract. The protagonist is usually set against a problem, such as an escape, a goal, mission, or a mystery. Screenwriter and scholar Eric R. Williams identifies thriller films as one of eleven super-genres in his Screenwriters Taxonomy, screenwriter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horror Film
Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Monster movie, monsters, Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, apocalyptic events, and Religion, religious or Folk horror, folk beliefs. Horror films have existed History of horror films, since the early 20th century. Early Inspirations predating film include folklore; the religious beliefs and superstitions of different cultures; and the Gothic fiction, Gothic and Horror fiction, horror literature of authors such as Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. From its origins in silent films and German expressionist cinema, German Expressionism, horror became a codified genre only after the release of Dracula (1931 English-language film), ''Dracula'' (1931). Many sub-genres emerged in subsequent decades, including body horror, comed ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roberta Guaspari
Roberta Guaspari (born September 15, 1947) is an American violinist and music educator. She is known for her work in Harlem, New York, where she taught during the 1980s and 1990s to keep music alive in inner-city schools. She was portrayed on film by Meryl Streep in ''Music of the Heart'' (1999), written by Pamela Gray for which Streep was nominated for an Academy Award as Guaspari. Guaspari was also the subject of the 1995 documentary ''Small Wonders''. As of 2017, she is still an instructor of violin with Opus 118 in New York City. Life and career Guaspari was born in Rome, New York, the daughter of Assunta "Sue" (née Vitali 1923–2013) and Guido "Guy" Guaspari (1917–1974). She has a sister, Lois, and two brothers, Alfred and Douglas. Her grandparents on both sides were from Italy. She graduated with a B.A. in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia, New York, Fredonia and a master's degree in music education from the Boston University College of Fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
