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Tom Helm (conductor)
Thomas Lynn Helm, better known as Tom Helm, (June 16, 1952 – August 11, 2023) was an American conductor and orchestrator who primarily worked as a director of musical theatre and light opera. A native of Smithville, Missouri, he trained as a pianist at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He began his career as a musical director with the Kansas City Repertory Theatre in 1974-1975. After this he moved to New York City where he first worked on the music staff of the Equity Library Theater. On Broadway he conducted several musicals during 1980s and 1990s; including ''Brigadoon'', ''Cats'', ''Me and My Girl'', and ''Les Misérables''. Helm worked for more than twenty years as a conductor for the Paper Mill Playhouse where he was musical director for more than forty productions. One of these included a landmark 1998 production of Stephen Sondheim's ''Follies'' which the composer described as the first staging of the musical to present the work's complete score. He also led a 1999 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties of the conductor are to interpret the Sheet music, score in a way that reflects the specific indications in that score, set the tempo, ensure correct entries by Musical ensemble, ensemble members, and "shape" the musical phrasing, phrasing where appropriate. Conductors communicate with their musicians primarily through hand gestures, usually with the aid of a Baton (conducting), baton, and may use other gestures or signals such as facial expression and eye contact. A conductor usually supplements their direction with verbal instructions to their musicians in rehearsal. The conductor typically stands on a raised podium with a large music stand for the full score, which contains the musical notation for all the instruments or voices. S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Performances
''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is produced by the PBS member station WNET in New York City (originally in conjunction with KQED (TV), KQED/San Francisco, WTTW/Chicago, Maryland Public Television, South Carolina ETV and KERA-TV/Dallas/Fort Worth). The series is the longest-running performing arts anthology on television and has won 29 Primetime Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, and an Image Award, with nods from the Directors Guild of America and the Cinema Audio Society. History ''Great Performances''' predecessor, ''New York Playhouse'', premiered on October 7, 1972, with a production of ''Antigone (Anouilh play), Antigone''. In 1973, Exxon and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provided grants to create ''Theater in America'', which reran the ''New York Playhouse'' and some ''NET Playhouse'' pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
