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The Washington Chorus
The Washington Chorus is a symphonic choir based in Washington, D.C., United States. The three-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award-winning ensemble has over 200 members and often performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Strathmore (Maryland), Strathmore, the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, and the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. History The Washington Chorus was the first major Washington area chorus to be founded independent of a church or college. In 1961 Hugh Hayward, a medical doctor and classically trained musician, founded the Oratorio Society of Montgomery County, which became known as the Oratorio Society of Washington, and is now celebrated under the name of The Washington Chorus. The organization has a $2.4 million budget, as of 2025. Artistic Leadership The Washington Chorus has had five artistic directors. Founding director Hugh Hayward was followed by Robert Shafer (conductor), Robert Shafer, who served for more than three ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Choir
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words is the music performed by the ensemble. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the Medieval music, medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conducting, conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures. The term ''choir'' is very often applied to groups affiliated with a church (whether or not they actually occupy the Choir (architecture), quire), whereas a ''chorus'' performs in theatres or concert halls, but this distinction is not rigid. Choirs may sing without instruments, or accompanied by a piano, accordion, pipe organ, a small ensemble, or an orchestra. A choir can be a subset of an ensemble; thus one speaks of the "woodwind c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Conlon
James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera and principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. Early years Conlon grew up in a family of five children on Cherry Street in Douglaston, Queens, New York City. His mother, Angeline L. Conlon, was a freelance writer. His father was an assistant to the New York City Commissioner of Labor in the Robert F. Wagner administration. His siblings were not musically inclined, nor were his parents. When he was eleven, he went to a production of '' La traviata'' by the North Shore Opera. He asked for music lessons and became a treble (boy soprano) in a children's chorus in an opera company in Queens. He dreamed about being a tenor, then a baritone, and even wanted to sing the role of ''Carmen'' at one point. Finally it dawned on him that the only way to do everything in opera was to become an operatic conductor. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicholas Phan
Nicholas Phan (last name pronounced /ˈPan/; b. Hartford, Connecticut, January 3, 1979) is an American lyric tenor who has performed internationally with orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born to a Chinese Indonesian father (from Jakarta) and Greek American mother (from Indianapolis), Phan grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended Greenhills School. He studied voice at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance and the Manhattan School of Music. Phan is an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and the Marlboro Music School. He has been called "one of the world's most remarkable singers" by the Boston Globe. Phan's many opera credits include appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Chicago Opera Theater, Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Naumburg Orchestral ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parade Across America
The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, on the West Front of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the 59th inauguration and marked the commencement of Joe Biden's term as president and Kamala Harris' term as vice president. Biden took the presidential oath of office, before which Harris took the vice presidential oath of office. The inauguration took place amidst extraordinary political, public health, economic, and national security crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic; outgoing President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, which provoked an attack on the United States Capitol on January 6; Trump's second impeachment; and a threat of widespread civil unrest, which stimulated a nationwide law enforcement response. Festivities were sharply curtailed by efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and mitigate the potential for viol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
DJ Cassidy
Cassidy Durango Milton Willy Podell (born 1981), known as DJ Cassidy, is an American DJ, record producer and MC. With his trademark boaters, cricket sweaters, bow ties, color-blocked tuxedos, and 24-carat-gold microphone, Cassidy became known for his work at celebrity functions, including the 2008 wedding of Beyoncé and Jay-Z, the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, President Obama's 50th birthday party, and the 2024 Democratic National Convention roll call.Brennan Williams"DJ Cassidy Shares Details On New Album, 'Paradise Royale,' And The Resurgence Of Disco" ''HuffPost'', 10 March 2014.Nicole Berrie"D.J. Cassidy Celebrates His Birthday with Music's Biggest Names" ''Vanity Fair'', 9 July 2009. Early life and education Born in New York's Upper East Side, Cassidy is the second child of Monica Podell, née Faust, and music agent Jonny Podell. Cassidy's sister, Brittany, was born in 1977. At the time of Cassidy's birth, Jonny Podell was a booking agent for Norby Walters ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up from repetitive Phrase (music), phrases and shifting layers. He described himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped to evolve stylistically. Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1968. He has written 15 operas, numerous chamber operas and musical theatre works, 14 symphony, symphonies, 12 concertos, nine string quartets, various other chamber music pieces, and many film scores. He has received nominations for four Grammy Awards, including two for Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Best Contemporary Classical Composition for ''Satyagraha (opera), Satyagraha'' (1987) and ''String Quartet No. 2 (Glass), String Quartet No. 2'' (1988). He has received three Academy Award for Best ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pioneered the gritty, rhythmically driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, guitarist Keith Richards, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their early years, Jones was the primary leader. Andrew Loog Oldham became their manager in 1963 and encouraged them to write their own songs. The Jagger–Richards, Jagger–Richards partnership soon became the band's primary songwriting and creative force. Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing Cover version, covers and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, becoming identified with the youthful counterculture of the 1960s. They then f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sir Andrew Davis
Sir Andrew Frank Davis (2 February 1944 – 20 April 2024) was an English conductor. He was the long-time chief conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He was music director at the Glyndebourne Festival from 1988 to 2000, and especially known for conducting the traditional Last Night of The Proms, including Last Night speeches. He was music director and principal conductor of the Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2000 to the 2020/21 season. Music critic Alan Blyth described Davis as "a conductor whose technical skill was enhanced by an inborn enthusiasm for and dedication to the task in hand that he was able to transfer to the forces before him." Early life and education Andrew Frank Davis was born on 2 February 1944, in Ashridge, Hertfordshire, England. His parents were Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence Joyce (née Badminton). Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. He had piano lessons fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor. He is currently the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He is scheduled to become the Music and Artistic Director of the New York Philharmonic in 2026. Early life Dudamel was born in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the son of a trombonist and a voice teacher. He studied music from an early age. In 1986 he became involved with El Sistema, the famous Venezuelan social action music programme, initially learning the violin. He soon began to study composition. He attended the Jacinto Lara Conservatory, where José Luis Jiménez was among his violin teachers. He then went on to work with José Francisco del Castillo at the Latin-American Violin Academy. Dudamel began to study conducting in 1995, first with Rodolfo Saglimbeni, then later with José Antonio Abreu. In 1999, he was appointed music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop (; born October 16, 1956) is an American conductor. She is the first woman to win the Koussevitzky Prize for conducting and the first conductor to be awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. She is music director laureate of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Ravinia Festival, and the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2008 and to the American Philosophical Society in 2020. Early life and education Alsop was born in New York City to Ruth E. (Condell) and Keith Lamar Alsop, both professional string players, and grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. She was educated at the Masters School and studied violin at the Juilliard School's Pre-College Division, graduating in 1972. She attended Yale University as a mathematics major, but transferred to Juilliard, where she earned a Bachelor of Music (1977) and a Master of Music ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kent Nagano
Kent George Nagano (born November 22, 1951) is an American conductor and opera administrator. Since 2015, he has been ''Generalmusikdirektor'' (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera (until 2025). Early life and education Nagano was born in Berkeley, California, while his parents were in graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a '' sansei'' (third-generation) Japanese-American. He grew up in Morro Bay, a city on the Central Coast of California in San Luis Obispo County. He studied sociology and music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. After graduation, he moved to San Francisco State University to study music, taking composition courses from Grosvenor Cooper and Roger Nixon. He also studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris. Career Nagano's first conducting job was with the Opera Company of Boston, where he was assistant conductor to Sarah Caldwell. In 1978, he became the conductor of the Berkeley Symphony, his first music directorshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neville Marriner
Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English conductor and violinist. Described as "one of the world's greatest conductors", Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the 18 "Greatest and Most Famous Conductors of All Time". He founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and his partnership with them is the most recorded of any orchestra and conductor. Early life Marriner was born in Lincoln, England, the son of Herbert Marriner, a carpenter, and his wife Ethel (née Roberts). He was educated at Lincoln School (then a grammar school), where he played in a jazz band with the composer Steve Race. He initially learned the violin as well as the piano from his father, and later studied the violin with Frederick Mountney. In 1939 he went to the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with the violinist William Henry Reed and was able to play among the second violins of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
