Jeff Lunden

Singing The Praises Of Pre-Dawn Walks

Jeff Lunden — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 19:28:38 +0000

Minnesota-born composer Maria Schneider has called New York home for more than 30 years, and she knows how to find nature in the middle of the city. Because her new album is called Winter Morning Walks, we walked to her favorite bird-watching spot in Central Park on a chilly February morning.

"This part right here in the Ramble and this Azalea Pond area is just teeming with warblers," Schneider says. "On a good day, you can see 18 warbler species in the morning, maybe even more.

Anonymous 4 Marks A Milestone Year Performing Medieval Music

Jeff Lunden — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:29:00 +0000

As of this year, the vocal group Anonymous 4 has been introducing modern audiences to medieval music for a quarter century. When the all-female quartet asked David Lang to help mark the occasion by writing them some music, he didn't need any convincing. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer was already a big fan.

"I really like the fact that they had dedicated themselves to keeping alive this music from 800 years ago," Lang says.

The Peony Pavilion: A Vivid Dream In A Garden

Jeff Lunden — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 09:03:00 +0000

The Peony Pavilion is one of China's most famous operas, but uncut performances of this romantic 16th century work can take more than 22 hours. Chinese composer Tan Dun, who's best known for his Academy Award-winning score for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has adapted the work into a compact 75 minutes.

John Williams' Inevitable Themes

Jeff Lunden — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 05:00:00 +0000

For more than 50 years, John Williams' music has taken us to galaxies far, far away through adventures here on earth, made us feel giddy joy and occasionally scared us to death.

He might be the most recognized contemp

The Philadelphia Orchestra Reboots With New Music Director

Jeff Lunden — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 06:03:00 +0000

Everywhere you look right now, it seems like American symphony orchestras are fighting for their lives — strikes, lockouts, bankruptcy. Perhaps the biggest example is the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra, which is just coming out of its own bankruptcy. Tonight, its new 37-year-old music director takes the podium as the venerable orchestra begins a reboot.

The Philadelphia Orchestra has been one of the world's greatest orchestras since it was founded in 1900.

During Lockout Season, Orchestra Musicians Grapple With Their Future

Jeff Lunden — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 20:06:00 +0000

It's been a tumultuous time for American orchestras. Labor disputes have shut down the Minnesota Orchestra and Indianapolis Symphony, and strikes and lockouts have affected orchestras in Chicago, Atlanta and Louisville in the past year.

Whether Mozart is on the bill or Mahler, it's an expensive proposition to present a symphony orchestra. To do the music justice, you need between 80 and 100 musicians to play it, and their salaries and health care benefits make up most of an orchestra's budget.

Tanglewood: Celebrating Beethoven In The Backwoods For 75 Years

Jeff Lunden — Sat, 14 Jul 2012 06:03:00 +0000

It now seems like a natural rite of summer — open-air classical music festivals where audiences can hear great music while picnicking under the stars. But 75 years ago, when the Boston Symphony first performed on a former estate called Tanglewood in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, it was a novel idea.

When Serge Koussevitzy, the Russian-born conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, opened Tanglewood in 1937, he chose an all-Beethoven program, including the "Pastoral" Symphony.

After Two Years, Gifted Classical Students Leave The Nest

Jeff Lunden — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:54:00 +0000

The odds of making it in the classical music business are long, but for the past two years, 25-year-old viola player Nathan Schram has received a stipend, health insurance, lots of amazing performance opportunities and a real-world education teaching violin students at an inner-city elementary school in Brooklyn. Now, Schram and his colleagues have to say goodbye to The Academy.

"It's kind of like getting booted out of your parents' house," Schram says.

A (Very) Young Composer Gets His Chance At The New York Philharmonic

Jeff Lunden — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 06:03:00 +0000

What would it be like if you were 10 years old and composed a piece of music that was played by the New York Philharmonic? For a few New York City school kids, including one fifth-grader, it's a dream come true, thanks to the orchestra's Very Young Composers program.

Composer Jon Deak, who played bass with the New York Philharmonic for more than 40 years, says the idea for Very Young Composers came when he and conductor Marin Alsop visited an elementary school in Brooklyn several years ago.

"As we were going in, I saw all the children's art on the walls, which was so superior," Deak says.