Samuel Barber – On the Intelligibility of Music
Is music something intellectual? Or something for the “broad masses”? You may have a clear opinion about this. However, generations of composers have argued about this question – and are still arguing today. The US composer Samuel Barber (1910 – 1981) is one of the few who took a clear stand.
The 3 Most Popular Blogposts of 2020
The year 2020 has come to an end and with it a turbulent year for many cultural professionals. Since the launch of the StarkConductor Blog on 22 August 2020, I have published 28 blogposts. I will briefly present the three most popular ones here.
Menotti: How To Become a Successful Composer
How does one become successful as a composer? Very simple, says Gian Carlo Menotti: wait until you are 90 years old.
The Two Faces of the Upbeat
The upbeat is a widespread phenomenon in music. For us conductors, it has a particularly great significance, because there are different kinds of upbeats.
Volksoper Wien – Diversity From The Very Beginning
122 years ago today, the Volksoper Wien was opened. A few thoughts on the history and tradition of this diverse house.
Haydn, the Folklorist
Have you ever asked yourself where great composers got their ideas from? No doubt: a thorough education, a solid mastery of the craft of composition and an untiring will to work have always been decisive. But sometimes great composers have simply copied.
Tango – Musical And Cultural Melting Pot
With the Tango, I finish together with Adrian, the Music Theory MentOWL, the mini article series on dance music. The Tango stands for Latin American temperament and is also becoming increasingly popular in Europe. What elements make up a tango?
Pianist Pawel Markowicz: Philip Glass’ Music as an “Exciting Mystery”
The pianist Pawel Markowicz has achieved what many soloists dream of – he is considered a specialist for a certain repertoire. Pawel’s focus is on the works of the American composer Philip Glass, whose Symphony No. 8 he arranged for piano solo in years of detailed work and released as an album in August 2020. In the StarkConductor Interview Pawel gave me an insight into his work.
Germany’s Cultural Construction Sites
In today’s blog post I present three cultural construction sites in Germany. These are “construction sites” in the truest sense of the word – the opera houses in Bayreuth and Stuttgart are being renovated, and a new concert hall is being built in Munich.
