Its premiere took place in Prague on OcIn the year of Witold’s birth, Warsaw was part of the Vistulaland province of Imperial Russia. The family’s move to Moscow proved to be a fatal one for Józef, as the forces of the Bolsheviks led to his execution. After his mother moved the family to Ukraine, they

He is best known for his symphonies, Violin Concerto, and above all his patriotic symphonic poem, Finlandia, which was composed in 1899 and received its premiere performance on July 2, 1900 with Robert Kajanus conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic. It is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba,

Dan Locklair, composer-in-residence at Wake Forest University, was born on August 7, 1949 in Charlotte, NC. He holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music of Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach on March 21, 1685 and died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750. He looms as one of history’s pivotal figures whose music is venerated and admired by many composers who followed him, from Haydn to Bartók and beyond. During his own lifetime, Bach was more revered as an

One of the seminal figures of twentieth-century music, Béla Bartók was born in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary (now Sînnicolau Mare, Rumania) on March 25, 1881 and died in New York City on September 26, 1945). In addition to his brilliant career as a composer, Bartók also was an important ethnomusicologist and pianist. His music is most strongly

[Franz] Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Lower Austria on March 31, 1732 and died in Vienna on May 31, 1809. His long and productive career spanned the end of the Baroque Era to the onset of the Romantic. Famed for his incomparable contribution to the development of the symphony and string quartet, Haydn composed

Her settings of spirituals were performed by some of the twentieth-century’s greatest singers, including Marian Anderson and Leontyne Price. She was also the first African-American woman to have a symphonic work performed by a major American orchestra, when Frederick Stock led the premiere of her Symphony No. 1 in E Minor with the Chicago Symphony

Stalin’s repressive policies had a powerful, and often deleterious effect on the careers of Prokofiev and his colleague, Dmitri Shostakovich.  Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony was composed during the summer of 1944 and received its first performance in Moscow on January 13, 1945, with the Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra performing under the composer’s direction.  The performance was

She has been actively involved with the Detroit-based Sphinx Organization in supporting and encouraging young African American and Latinx string instrumentalists. Her works have been performed by many significant arts institutions (Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, to name but a few). She also has worked collaboratively with numerous colleagues in both music

It received its first performance in March of that same year at a private concert held at the palace of his patron, Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz. His Symphony no. 4 and Piano Concerto no. 4 were also performed at this event. The Overture to Coriolan is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets,