Selections from the Martha Graham Collection is a new web presentation now available in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Dancer, choreographer, and company director Martha Graham (1894-1991) is considered one of the pioneering founders of American modern dance. In a career spanning over seven decades, Graham developed her own innovative technique and produced an impressive legacy …
Every other Friday the Music Division releases a batch of photos from the William P. Gottlieb Collection to Flickr Commons. This week’s release includes portraits of musical legends like Frank Sinatra, Billy Strayhorn, Sarah Vaughan, and Billy Taylor, whose collection resides in the Music Division. You can also view a gathering of Smiths, including violinist Stuff, alto …
The Music Division’s renowned concert program has something for the seasoned concert goer and the young music aficionado alike – often on the same evening. Nowhere is this broad spectrum more apparent than with Sybarite5, who as one critic notes is “not your grandfather’s string quartet.” This eclectic group of string players juxtapose Classical, Romantic, and …
The Music Division encourages stateside readers to exercise their right to vote. Today’s political climate may appear contentious, but perhaps a look at the campaign songs of elections past will put things into perspective. If past is prelude, come preview the next campaign season with a collection of Presidental Campaign Songs in the Performing Arts Encyclopedia. …
Walt Whitman wrote, “I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.” The American experience – the courage and the struggle and the hope of the American people – has long been reflected in her rich tradition of poetry and song. The Music Division reaches beyond Capitol Hill to celebrate this great tradition with The …
In the Muse recently put out a call to Music Division staff in search of ghost stories, and while nobody would tell me outright that they felt an unexplained cold spot on the Coolidge Auditorium stage, or that sounds of the Stradivarius would emerge mysteriously from an empty hall, the age and history of this …
The following is the second part of a two-part guest post by Kevin Lavine, Senior Music Specialist. The vampire made its musical début on this side of the Atlantic in a slight piece for piano solo titled “Vampire Polka” (Boston, 1850), of unknown authorship (its composer is identified as “Four Eyes”), a work undoubtedly intended for performance …
Many virtual servings of cake and ice cream are on hand this week in the Music Division, as we celebrate the birth dates of a veritable constellation of stars in the musical firmament. These October children grew to be the august personages who populate the Performing Arts Encyclopedia with dulcet tones – or, in some …
The following is a part one of a guest post by Kevin LaVine, Senior Music Specialist. If you’ve ever sat around a campfire, listening intently to a ghost story almost against your will; or have peered through half-closed eyes, with fascination and horror, at a slasher film; or have simply heard inexplicable bumps in the …
