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Top Spot
Mar. 1, 2012—For music students, preparing for competitions and auditions has to be about more than winning.
In the VORTEX with Cage and Cunningham
Mar. 1, 2012—Surprises are in store when Blair’s percussion ensemble VORTEX joins with former dancers of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Nashville’s Company Rose on Sunday, April 1.
Making Music for Each Other
Mar. 1, 2012—Chamber music, with its graceful, intimate character, presents a special set of challenges and pleasures to the musicians who play it.
The Treble and Bass of a Balanced Life
Mar. 1, 2012—In music, balance is the harmonic poise, the requisite equilibrium given to a chord, a melody or a group of instruments. In life, balance is the constant recalibration of obligations and passions. Quarter Note recently spoke to two Blair alumni to discover how divergent paths can lead to a fulfilling euphony.
A Talent that Resonates
Sep. 8, 2011—Not many teenagers would attempt to write a two-act chamber opera based on Shakespeare’s play The Winter’s Tale. But that’s exactly what 16-year-old Amy Thompson has been doing for more than a year.
A Nest for Conductors
Sep. 8, 2011—Within the conducting profession, the word “maestro” is sometimes used to describe the person wielding the baton and coaxing joyous sounds from voice, instrument or both.
A Necessary Musical Confluence
Sep. 8, 2011—Creation, translation, interpretation, performance. The process of bringing a piece of music from the composer’s hands to the ears of an audience is a long one that requires trust and commitment for both the composer and the commissioning ensemble. When the Blair String Quartet approached composer Michael Hersch about writing a string quartet for them, the tumblers fell into place for an extensive creative journey.
A Commodore in Kabul
Mar. 29, 2011—Boom! The cannon blasts at the end of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. The eighth-graders in my music class don’t react, they just listen. To me, it is a great moment of pure genius.
An Investment Beyond Boundaries
Mar. 29, 2011—The small Central American country of Costa Rica is famous for its rich natural resources and for its exceptional political stability in a part of the world that has seen much upheaval. In spite of these advantages, Costa Rica is troubled by poverty and its attendant problems.
An American in Cairo
Mar. 29, 2011—The sound of “Allahu Akbar” several times daily and the permeating dust of the desert surrounding the Nile Valley have changed very little since Napoleon’s entourage first described the city of Cairo, Egypt, in the early 19th century.