 The Artaria String Quartet first established in Boston Massachusetts and currently resides in Minnesota. The quarter was formed by Ray Shows, Nancy Oliveros, Annalee Wolf, and Patricia Ryan. The group currently has a residence at Sundin Music Hall on the campus of Hamline University and previously held a residence at Viterbo University and Boston College.
Artaria Quartet has been described as an exceptional ensemble with impressive confidence in its interpretations as well as Minnesota’s foremost teaching and performing string quartet. Recently the ensemble has celebrated 30 years of chamber music performances. With that comes numerous opportunities to travel and awards earned. The group has traveled to Europe, most notably France, Canada, and all over the United States. Their playing has awarded them with the National Endowment for the Arts award as well as the Minnesota State Arts Board for excellence in performance and educational outreach. Artaria won the Minnesota State Arts Board for excellence through their music school called the Artaria Chamber Music School or ACMS for short. The school is a premier weekly string chamber music program based in Saint Paul that features the Artaria String Quartet and renowned guest artists. Every April, the school competes in the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, which showcases the nation’s top high school-age string quartets. Artaria believes in the power of music and the importance of music education so it has dedicated the school to provide students with a musical mentor that allows them to share, create community, make friends, and make something happen all through the power of music. Violinist, Ray Shows is passionate about 20th-century music and has recorded music of today’s leading composers, including Gunther Schuller, Augusta Read Thomas, Marjorie Merryman, and Thomas Oboe Lee. In 2010, Ray was named MNSOTA Studio Teacher of the year. His students are concerto soloists, scholarship recipients at renowned American music schools, are prizewinners at national competitions, and have appeared on National Public Radio From the Top. Shows also received the coveted Director’s Award and graduated with distinction from Boston University and Florida State University in Violin Performance. Nancy Oliveros is also a violin player. Nancy was a fellowship student at Aspen, Kneisel Hall, and the Florida Festival and was a graduate teaching assistant at The Florida State University and Boston University studying violin and chamber music. Nancy is a founding member of the ASQ and a 2004 McKnight Fellow. Annalee Wolf is the viola player for ASQ and she has received her undergraduate degree at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Wolf has earned a Premier Prix in viola performance from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, and subsequently studied chamber music and the humanities at eh European Mozart Academy. Her talents have allowed her to play in places in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. as both a guest solo artist and as part of an ensemble. Patricia Ryan is the cello player for ASQ. Patricia has completed her second Masters of Music at Rice University Shepherd School of music on a full-tuition scholarship. Patricia has participated and received the top prize in the Plowman, Coleman, and Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions and has [performed internationally in Portugal and China as part of the Viana de Castello International Music Festival and the San Francisco-Shanghai International Chamber Music Festival. As a group, ASQ has stated that Artaria is a conversation among equals, each voice is heard and respected and the remarkable music we are privileged to study and perform guides us through the greatest thoughts and emotions humanity can express. “Our greatest joy as curators of the great medium of string playing has been to see students in our coaching programs grow into the awareness that they are part of something greater than themselves.” “Our next challenge is presenting the cycle of string quartets of Beethoven. We feel honored to have this opportunity and are delighted to share our love of chamber music with the people of Minnesota and beyond.” The Artaria String Quartet will perform on March 15 at 2 p.m. in the Narthex of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and School in Waverly, IA.
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 In the third century, a Greek engineer named Ctesibius of Alexandria created what we now call the organ. The instrument was originally called the hydraulis as the instrument made noise through water pressure flowing through a set of pipes allowing the instrument to produce different notes based on the size of the pipe and how much pressure was put through the pipe. The hydraulis would mainly be played in arenas of the Roman Empire to get the crowd excited, similarly how the organ is used today at ballparks to play Take Me Out To The Ball Game.
Today the organ still uses different sized pipes to create sound, but makers have since replaced the pressurized water system with pressurized air. The organ is composed of two or more manuals (keyboards) played by the hands and a pedalboard which is played by the feet. Each set of keyboard controls a new group of stops. Stops are groups of pipes that can replicate different sounds that can be played on the organ. The average number of stops that an organ can have is 32 stops, meaning there are 32 different sized pipes inside the organ. Many large organs will have 64 stops, and the largest organ in the world has 78 stops. Stops are used to reference different pipes inside of the organ because each pipe only plays one note. In order to have 88 different notes represented as well as four different types of sounds, many organs will have an average of 785 pipes inside of them, with the largest organ in the world, located in Atlantic City, New Jersey, has 33,114 pipes. There are four different groups in the organ called the organ families. These families are in charge of making different sounds on the organ based on what stops are pulled before playing. The first family is called the principals. The principals are the main stops of the organ and sound like the gloomy almost scary sound of the organ that gets featured most in Dracula movies. The second family is the flutes. This family is what it sounds like, when the flute stops are pulled, the organ an imitate various instruments of the flute family such as the recorder, orchestral flute, and piccolo. Third in the family are the strings. The string stop can make the organ sound like string instruments such as violin, viola, cello, or double bass. Finally in the organ family are the reeds. The reeds are a special family are unlike their organ siblings, the pipes are made differently in order to get the sounds for the reed stops. All of the pipes in the reed family have a brass plate called the tongue which lines the small opening of the pipe in order to have a different vibration of air travel through the pipe. Reeds can then be broken down into two different groups, solo reeds, and chorus reeds. However, all reed stops imitate various kinds of wind instruments like oboe, clarinets, french horn, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, and tuba. Typically only one stop would be played at a time during the duration of a piece, but their can be multiple stop changes throughout a piece. There are some rare occasions where multiple stops are played at once, but most composers avoid this as to not make the piece sound crunchy or filled with too much noise at once. Many people argue that the organ is the instrument of all instruments because it can replicate four different families of instruments, and it can also be compared to the voice. In order to sing, the larynx has three operating systems, the actuator (respiratory mechanism), the vibrator (phonatory mechanism), and the resonator. All three of these components can be found within the organ. The actuator or the respiration comes from the air pressure that is constantly circulating throughout the instrument in order to have sound come from each of the pipes. The vibration or phonation comes from the pipes itself, as each pipe is a different size and can be lined, sealed or created from different materials such as wood or metal that creates different vibrations of sound. Finally, the resonation comes from the stops and the manuals as the organ player is the one that is in charge of creating the dynamic level of each pipe when a note is played. The pipes can also fit in the category of resonation as each pipe comes in different sizes that will enhance the tone quality when played. Overall, the organ is a very large and complicated instrument, not only to build but to play as well. One must have fine-tuned coordination to play the organ as they have to use their feet, and hands, to play while simultaneously changing stops and turning pages of music. The number of people that know how to play the organ has slowly been on the decline, but many schools are trying to reverse that by offering students organ lessons for free. No matter how invested one gets into learning how the organ works, or even how to play it, I think one thing can remain true. No wedding, church service, or baseball game would ever be the same if we didn’t have the organ. Heng-Jin Park, the new Artistic Director of Halcyon Music Festival, has been heralded as a “pianist of unusual artistry and musical imagination,” by the Washington Post. Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe also wrote of Ms. Park, “A centered musician with uncommon control over the sonorous possibilities of her instrument; she plays boldly with a full spectrum of colors.”
Ms. Park is renowned for her versatility as a soloist, chamber musician, pedagogue, and music director. Ms. Park started playing the piano at age five and made her solo debut with the Boston Pops in Symphony Hall at age 15 performing the Schumann Piano Concerto. She has had numerous engagements with the Boston Pops, and has also made concerto appearances with the Boston Classical Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, New England Philharmonic, L’Orchestre Symphonique Française, and many others. She has given solo recitals in Boston’s Jordan Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, Ambassador Hall in California, and the Gardner Museum in Boston, as well as concerts in Canada, France, Switzerland and Korea. Ms. Park has also been featured in the Boston Celebrity Series. Heng-Jin Park is a passionate chamber member and founding member and current pianist of the Boston Trio. With the Boston Trio, Ms. Park has performed internationally in some of the most respected concert series and venues, including Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Merkin Concert Hall in New York, Sanders Theater, UCLA, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Sanibel Festival in Florida, Detroit Pro Musica, Chamber Music Society of Williamsburg, Rockefeller University, and Kolarac Hall in Belgrade, Serbia, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, and Univ of Winnipeg, Canada.The trio has been in residence at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. Outside of her work with Boston Trio, Ms. Park has been a guest artist with First Monday Concert Series in Jordan Hall, Maui Classical Music Festival, Andover Chamber Music Series, the Boston Chamber Music Society, Boston Musica Viva, Music at Eden’s Edge, Market Square Concerts in Pennsylvania, the University of Kansas, Penn State, Park University in Missouri, ArtMusic Concerts in Dallas, and the Walden Chamber Players. She has collaborated with such artists as the Borromeo String Quartet, the Fry Street Quartet, Abel Pereira, Wendy Warner, Martin Chalifour, David Hardy, members of the Ying Quartet, Peter Stumpf, Ronald Thomas, and Andres Diaz. Ms. Park has made numerous appearances on WGBH and other NPR stations around the country, and she has recorded for Albany and Centaur Records. In addition to her performing activities, Ms. Park enjoys an international reputation as a pedagogue of both piano and chamber music. As an Artist-in-Residence at Harvard University, she has received the university’s Certificate of Distinction in Teaching award numerous times. She is also on the piano faculty at MIT and the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, has taught chamber music at Tanglewood Music Center and the Walnut Hill School, and gives frequent master classes worldwide. Ms. Park held the position of artistic director of Killington Music Festival in Vermont from 2011 to 2013. Born in Korea and raised in the Boston area, Ms. Park studied with Leonard Shure and Russell Sherman at the New England Conservatory. While receiving her bachelor and master's degrees at NEC, she won several awards and prizes including the Tourjée Grant for graduate study and the Frank H. Beebe Grant for study abroad. She also worked with Marie-Françoise Bucquet at Conservatoire Nationale Superieur de la Musique de Paris. She currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Jonah Ellsworth is acclaimed as one of the greatest cellists of his generation. Ellsworth has won critical acclaim for his solo performances with the Boston Symphony, Akron Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, and New Bedford Symphony, among others. Ellsworth has been referred to as “a kind of unrepentant Tannhäuser” and “a player to watch,” by The Boston Globe and Clevelandclassical.com. The Boston Musical Intelligencer wrote that he is “fearless, [with a] complete range of expressive richness” and “definitely a player to watch.” These praises were earned after performances of the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto with the Boston Philharmonic, the Dvořák Cello Concerto with the Akron Symphony, and his performance of Strauss’s Don Quixote with the Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra (BPYO).
Ellsworth was featured as a soloist with the New Bedford Symphony on their regular subscription series in 2012, performed as a soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall in 2011, and with Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra under the baton of the late Gunther Schuller. He was invited to participate at Marlboro Music Festival for 2014, 2015, and will return next summer. He is a member of the cello section of the Boston Philharmonic. When Ellsworth recently performed Strauss’s Don Quixote with conductor Benjamin Zander and the BPYO in Prague, former Boston Globe critic Richard Dyer wrote “Ellsworth’s grasp of what the notes mean, of the stories they tell, of the feeling behind and within the notes, is firm, and very deep. His playing of some of the quieter episodes, the yearning that Don Q feels for the idealized Dulcinea, was profoundly moving, and there was a high amount of energy as he tilted against windmills and scattered sheep. And he plays the death sigh of Don Quixote as tenderly and movingly as I have ever heard it – it is with a profound content that this Don Quixote he leaves this life, and not with a sigh of regret.” On this same tour, Ellsworth performed the Dvořák Concerto in Basel, Switzerland. The following is Dyer’s comparison of this performance to that of Natalia Gutman (a legendary Russian cellist who was also soloist with BPYO on this tour): “Ellsworth’s performance was the more mature, serene and centered, and he played with technical mastery, imagination, passion and deep feeling and he was fearless, despite the fact that moments before the concert his cello was knocked over and the bridge was cracked.” His performance of the Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with YPO in Slovakia prompted the critic from The Boston Musical Intelligencer to write, “… Any praise of Jonah’s technical abilities is likely to be an understatement. He is completely assured and intensely musical; each of the variations had a distinctive character and tone color… This is a young man on the verge of an international career.” Ellsworth was finalist of the 2011 Stulberg International String Competition in Michigan and received top prize from the Harvard Musical Association in 2012. He appeared on the PBS TV show of the “From the Top” taped live in Carnegie Hall in New York City which has been broadcast on PBS stations nationwide. Ellsworth has studied with Lawrence Lesser at New England Conservatory and Peter Wiley at Curtis Institute of Music. Other teachers include Andrew Mark and Natasha Brofsky. He has attended Meadowmount Music School where he studied with Hans Jansen, Greenwood Music Camp, Orford Arts Center in Canada. The Boston Trio violinist, Irina Muresanu, has won international acclaim as an outstanding young soloist, recitalist and chamber musician. Muresanu has achieved top prizes in numerous international violin competitions. These include the Montreal International, Queen Elizabeth Violin, UNISA International Sting, Washington International, and the Schaefer String Competitions. She is the winner of the Po Musicis International Award, the Presser Music Award and the Arthur Foote Award from the Harvard Musical Association.
The Boston Globe has come to praise her as “…not just a virtuoso, but an artist,” and the Los Angeles Times has written that her “musical luster, melting lyricism and colorful conception made Irina Muresanu’s performance especially admirable,” while Strad Magazine called her Carnegie/Weill Hall performance “…a first-rate recital.” Muresaby has participated in recent concerts with the Boston Pops, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (Geneva), the Syracuse Symphony, the Metropolitan Orchestra (Montreal), the Transvaal Philharmonic (Pretoria), the Orchestre de la Radio Flamande (Brussels), the Boston Philharmonic, the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, and the Miami Symphony Orchestra, among others. Irina Muresanu has collaborated with Kim Kashkashian, Cynthia Phelps, Sharon Robinson, Ronald Thomas, Andres Cardenes, Ilya Kaler, and Nathaniel Rosen. Ms. Muresanu’s performances have been frequently cited as among the “Best of” classical music performances by the Boston Globe, and her recital in the Emerging Artist BankBoston Celebrity Series was named one of the Top 10 musical events by TAB Magazine. Irina is also often heard on Boston’s WGBH and other NPR radio stations. As an active chamber musician, Ms. Muresanu has appeared in a variety of festivals and venues which include, Bargemusic in New York; the Rockport Festival in Massachusetts; Bay Chambers concert series and Bowdoin Festival in Maine; the Strings in the Mountains festival in Colorado; Maui Chamber Music Festival in Hawaii, Reizend Music festival in Netherlands; Festival van de Leie in Belgium; and the Renncontres des Musiciennes festival in France. Ms. Muresanu’s discography includes the Thomas Oboe Lee concerto on the BMOP label, works Elena Ruehr dedicated to Irina Muresanu on Avie Records, the integrale of William Bolcom violin and piano sonatas with pianist Michael Lewin on the Centaur label, and the Guillaume Lekeu and Alberic Magnard late Romantic violin and piano sonatas (with the pianist Dana Ciocarlie) for the AR RE-SE French label. The artist has also recorded the world premiere recording of Marion Bauer’s Sonata for Violin and Piano (with pianist Virginia Eskin) on Albany Records, a CD with works of Andy Vores, and a CD featuring chamber works of Erich Korngold released by the VPRO Radio Amsterdam. Irina Muresanu currently serves on the faculty of the Boston Conservatory. She is a Bucharest, Romania native and has received the prestigious Artist Diploma and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the New England Conservatory. Irina Muresanu plays an 1856 Joseph Rocca violin and a Charles Peccat bow, courtesy of Mr. Mark Ptashne. Irina Muresanu will be performing alongside The Boston Trio on February 9 at 2 PM at St. Paul's Lutheran Church and School in Waverly, Iowa. “Whenever this trio plays, drop everything and go hear them!” hailed the Boston Globe during The Boston Trio’s Tanglewood debut at Ozawa Hall. Since their formation in 1997, the trio has quickly become one of today’s most exciting chamber ensembles. The trio is known for their superb sense of ensemble and wondrous balance. These virtuosic and profound musicians are committed to creating exceptional and daring performances of standard and contemporary repertoire.
Violinist Irina Muresanu, cellist Jonah Ellsworth, and pianist Heng-Jin Park each have distinguished careers as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and have appeared with major orchestras and premier chamber music festivals throughout the United States and Europe. Highlights for the ’17-’18 season include the trio’s second performance at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, a tour of Florida featuring a performance at the Flagler Museum and a return to the Sanibel Music Festival, and tours from California to Maryland to upstate New York. Recent highlights for the Boston Trio include performances at UCLA, Detroit Pro Musica, University of Arkansas, Maui Classical Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Virtuosi Concerts in Winnipeg, and performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Boston Philharmonic. The Boston Trio has been invited to perform on numerous prestigious music series including the Bank of America Celebrity Series, Seiji Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood, Sanibel Chamber Music Festival, Chamber Music Society of Utica, Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series, ‘First Monday’ series at NEC, Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, Harvard Musical Association, Concerts at the Point, Brigham Young University, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Howland Chamber Music Circle, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Boston Classical Orchestra, and a nationally televised performance at Belgrade Music Festival at Kolarac Foundation Hall in Serbia. The Boston Trio has collaborated with such artists as the Borromeo Quartet and Bill T. Jones Dance Company and has been frequent guests on Boston’s WGBH Radio and NPR. The trio has coached chamber music at the Tanglewood Institute of Music and served as Ensemble-in-Residence at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge from 1997 to 2004. The ensemble was in residence at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. The Trio is committed to bringing chamber music to a broader audience through outreach activities at public schools and assisted living centers. The individual members serve on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and are in demand as master class teachers throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe. Learn more about the ensemble at https://www.bostontrio.com/  Join pianist, John Krebs and composer and violinist, Philip Wharton at their performance Sunday, January 19. The musicians will be performing at 2 p.m. in the Narthex of St. Paul´s Lutheran Church and School in Waverly, Iowa.
Iowa native, Krebs holds degrees in piano performance from Northwestern University, the University of Illinois and the University of Maryland. Krebs has been teaching at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas for the past 20 years. At Hendrix, he has taught music theory, music history and literature, an opera survey course, jazz history and studio piano. He has also served as chair of both the Hendrix music department and humanities area. Krebs has performed in Canada, Germany, Scotland, Slovenia and Thailand. He has been an active member of Music Teachers National Association at the local, state and national levels, and in 2011 he was named an MTNA Foundation Fellow. He previously taught at Central Missouri State University and Prince George's Community College and was a professor of music at Luther College from 1989-92. Few artists enjoy such high praise for both of their disciplines as composer and violinist Philip Wharton. Of his playing, The New York Times proclaimed, “a rousing performance!” and The Waterloo Courier wrote, “a golden tone with breathtaking execution.” His compositions, heralded from coast to coast, are described by the New York Concert Review as, “…decidedly contemporary…both engaging and accessible.” Writing from symphony to song, past seasons saw the Santa Fe Opera’s remounting of Two Saintes Caught in the Same Act as part of their apprentice scenes program, the Grammy-nominated Borealis Wind Quintet perform his Quintet on their concert tours, his chamber symphony, Passing Season performed by regional orchestras, premiere of his Symphony, his tribute to Shakespeare’s 450th birthday, a song cycle entitled Fools, and concerts with Grammy-nominated soprano, Caroline Worra. Other projects include collaborations with author Janet Burroway and illustrator John Vernon Lord to create musical settings of their books for children: The Giant Jam Sandwich, The Truck on the Track, and a vocal monodrama, The Perfect Pig. Recent recordings include Albany Records’ release of his Flute Sonata--performed by flutist, Katherine Fink, and pianist Rose Grace, Crescent Phase Records’ release of his Woodwind Quintet--performed by the Madera Woodwind Quintet, and Kenneth Thompkins’ (principal Detroit Symphony Orchestra) recording of his Alto-Trombone Sonata. Join us this Sunday to enjoy the music of John Krebs and Philip Wharton. Most people know that the (normally catchy) verse that repeats itself multiple times in modern songs is called a chorus, but what most people don’t know is that the chorus was created during the Baroque era of classical music. This was from the year 1750 to the year 1820 and is also known as the “golden age of music.” An increase in instruments and instrumental music, as well as an increase in solo voices really define this classical music era. During this time, the sonata, symphony, fugue, concerto, the opera, and mixed vocal-instrumental music styles were born.
Baroque music forms a major portion of the "classical music" canon, and is now widely studied, performed, and listened to.This style of classical music is the first that comes to mind when one considers “Classical” music. Handel, Vivaldi, and Monteverdi were prevalent during the Baroque era. The Classical era followed the Baroque era and took the structures of classical movement into different creative directions. It was during this era that Mozart, Hadyn, and Beethoven composed their music. Classical music is normally very serious and conventional, and closely follows certain musical principles. Because of this, many people don’t recognize the connection between music and composers from the classical era to modern genres and artists. Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, and many other composer’s music continues to be played and listened to around the world today. Classical music is a genre that has stood the test of time, in more ways than one. Classical music structure and inspiration has continued to shape the way music is written across genres. Classical music was never written to transcend generations, but that is exactly what it did. People listen to classical music when the want to study, when they want to wind down and relax, when they want to hear the passionate instrumentals, and when they want to feel the emotions that classical music evokes. People listen to classical music without even knowing that they are. The genre has made its way into movie soundtracks, video game backgrounds, cartoons, and you can even find it hidden in quite a bit of mainstream music. Many popular songs today are based on a few main chords and sequences that originated during the classical era. A lot of artists, such as Radiohead, Muse, and OneRepublic, include classical styles of sweeping string bands, complex piano and organ music, unconventional time signatures, and reliance on harmonies. Some artists also get their inspiration directly from specific composers and pieces from the classical era. The band Little Mix used Pavane’s “Fauré” in their song, “Little Me.” The intro to Lady Gaga’s popular single, “Alejandro,” is the tune from Monti’s “Csárdás.” Beyoncé even made her own version of Shubert’s “Ave Marie.” All of these artists have been influenced strongly by classical music, and modern artists continue to take cues from the classical era.  Join the Mirandola Ensemble as they perform, "Jewel of the Baroque", a program featuring anthems of Henry Purcell, excerpts of Claudio Monteverdi's Sestina and sacred works of Jean-Baptiste Lully.
The Mirandola Ensemble is performing at 2 p.m. in the Narthex of St. Paul's Lutheran Church & School in Waverly, IA. The Mirandola Ensemble was established in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 2011. The group is a professional choral ensemble that is dedicated to promoting the highest standards of choral music, the notion of choral music as “high art” in the Western tradition, and the aesthetics of the Renaissance. The Mirandola Ensemble is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization and has served multiple years as a Class Notes Artist-in-Residence for Classical Minnesota Public Radio. The group’s name comes from the esteemed Renaissance philosopher, Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola (1463-1494), who wrote in his sentimental treatise “Oration on the Dignity of Man”: "[Adam,] to you is granted the power, contained in your intellect and judgment, to be reborn into the higher forms, the divine." The Mirandola Ensemble has been inspired by Mirandola’s philosophy to not take life too seriously. They believe that vocal music should be not only entertaining and fun, but also enlightening. They aims for the highest standards in vocal music performance through the use of the most recent scholarships and elite professionals in the field today. The group is comprised of the vocalists Nick Chalmers, artistic director and tenor; Andrew Kane,baritone; Matthew Culloton, bass; Clara Osowski, alto; Alyssa Anderson, mezzo soprano;Chelsie Propst, soprano; Hannah Armstrong Stanke, soprano; Krista Costin, mezzo-soprano;Brody Krogman, bass-baritone; Ben Kunkel, classical guitarist and Christopher Ganza, a continuo. The group’s studio albums “Unquiet Thoughts: The Lute Songs of John Dowland” and “Nymphs & Angels” are available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and other streaming music services.  Movies and classical music are the perfect duo. Classical music has a timeless and recognizable quality, and it contains such passionate emotional and intellectual expression that it simply cannot be left out of the soundtrack behind a great fight scene or an emotional speech.
Movies were created to use pictures to evoke emotions and feelings among audiences, and classical compositions were written to do the same thing using instrumentals and vocals, so it makes sense that they are so commonly pieced together. If you turn on any movie or TV show, there is a chance that you will hear at least one piece of classical music. Whether it is a full chorus of brass during battle or a clip of strings during a suspenseful moment, there is a major likelihood that you will experience at least one classical piece coming from the speakers. Back in the 18th century and early 19th century, classical pieces were the backbone of operas. An opera is a dramatic performance set to music with singers and instrumentalists. Movies are the modern-day opera and the popular performance art of our time. The standard classical music style originated shortly before the creation of operas, and thus, the two were made to fit together. Because movies are akin to operas, it is apparent that classical music belongs in the soundtracks of movies. When you see a movie, the music reflects what is happening on the screen. Somber music adds to somber images, suspenseful music adds to suspenseful actions, etc. When used correctly, using classical music in movies will increase the overall impact of emotions and feelings that the movie is trying to evoke. While some movies use classical music from classical era composers such as Bach, Beethoven and Wagner, other movies use music from contemporary classical composers. Movies such as “Jurassic Park,” “Schindler’s List” and “Titanic” all have very famous soundtracks that were commissioned from contemporary-classical composers. Contemporary-classical composers are people that write classical music in modern times. Contemporary-classical music follows the same style and structure of the classical era, but it’s written more recently and has more modern influences. “Jurassic Park” and “Schindler’s List” soundtracks were created by the same composer: John Williams. Williams is arguably the most prominent movie soundtrack composer of the 21st century, doing movies such as “Star Wars,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Home Alone,” “Jaws” and many more. Pieces from composers such as Williams are constantly being played by bands of all ages and skill-levels alongside classical era pieces. The prominence of contemporary classical music in movie soundtracks is creating a musical environment in which modern works are becoming almost as recognizable as those from the 18th to 19th century. |
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