Steven Stucky, Composer

Steven Stucky, Composer Who Won a Pulitzer, Dies at 66

 Mr. Stucky was associated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as composer in residence for more than 20 years. NYTimes Obit

 Stucky was born in Hutchinson, Kansas. At age 9, he moved with his family to Abilene, Texas, where, as a teenager, he studied music in the public schools and, privately, viola with Herbert Preston, conducting with Leo Scheer, and composition with Macon Sumerlin. He attended Baylor University and Cornell. Stucky's principal composition teachers were Richard Willis, Robert Palmer, and Karel Husa; his principal conducting teacher was Daniel Sternberg. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: In the 2008-09 season Music Director Lorin Maazel and the Philharmonic are unveiling three brand-new works commissioned by the Orchestra from three composers. Composer Steven Stucky reveals how the limitations put on commissions can spur creativity. Learn about the story behind his Rhapsodies for Orchestra. (Premiering in concerts on September 18-20 23, 2008)
 

Ulf Söderblom (5 February 1930 – 4 February 2016)

Ulf Söderblom was a Finnish conductor and music professor. He was the Principal Conductor of the Finnish National Opera from 1973 to 1993 and was a key figure in the revival of the Savonlinna Opera Festival. A champion of Finnish music, he has conducted the world premieres of several works by Finnish composers including Kokkonen's The Last Temptations and Sallinen's Kullervo and The Horseman. WIKIPEDIA

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Leslie Bassett, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Composer, Dies at 93

Known for his lush sonorities and ecumenical instrumentation, Mr. Basset wrote for orchestras, chamber and choral ensembles and solo instruments. NYTimes Obit | Official website

Leslie Bassett (January 22, 1923 – February 4, 2016) was an American composer of classical music, and the University of Michigan's Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Composition. Bassett received the 1966 Pulitzer Prize for Music for his Variations for Orchestra. He studied composition with Homer Keller at the University of Michigan. He was a member of the Gamma Pi chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia at California State University-Fresno, 1942. Bassett died at the age of 93 on February 4, 2016 at his home in Flowery Branch, Georgia.

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Saulius Sondeckis (11 October 1928 – 3 February 2016)

 Saulius Sondeckis was a Lithuanian violinist, conductor, orchestra leader and professor. He founded the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra in 1960 and was its artistic director and principal conductor until 2004. WIKIPEDIA VIDEO:

Eva Schorr (28 September 1927 – January 2016) was a German painter and composer.

 Eva Weiler was born in Crailsheim, Württemberg. Her father was a music and art teacher and gave her lessons in both. At the age of eight she began composing, and at the age of 15 won prizes for composition and organ. She studied music in Stuttgart with Johann Nepomuk David and Anton Nowakowski. She also studied with Olivier Messiaen in Darmstadt. She was married to Dieter Schorr, music editor of the Stuttgarter Nachrichten and had two sons and a daughter. She died at the age of 88 January 2016. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Eva Schorr: Retro für Klavier und Orchester, I Memorial (live Mitschnitt) Felix Romankiewicz, Klavier Kammerphilharmonie Stuttgart Simon Schorr, Leitung...

Denise Duval, soprano (23 October 1921 – 25 January 2016)

 Denise Duval (23 October 1921 – 25 January 2016) was a French soprano, best known for her performances in the works of Francis Poulenc. She was born in Paris. Duval created the roles of Elle in La voix humaine, Thérèse in Les mamelles de Tirésias and later excelled in the role of Blanche de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites, although she did not sing in the world premiere of the work at the Teatro alla Scala, when it was performed in Italian translation. Duval made her debut as Lola in Cavalleria rusticana in Bordeaux in 1941, and was a member of the companies of the Paris Opéra and Opéra-Comique from 1947 to 1965, when she retired. She was noted for her portrayals of Debussy's Mélisande and Massenet's Thaïs. She was also noted for her performances of works by Roussel and Ravel. She continued to be closely associated with Poulenc, who in a sense 'discovered' her, and undertook many tours with him towards the end of his life as a duo chansons partnership. Her voice was characterised by a general fragility in strength, an intonational precision marked by a lack of vibrato, and a manner of articulation wherein the delivery of notes lies slightly behind the beat. She was particularly effective in roles where emotion is ironic or neo-classical in nature, but not explicitly anti-romantic. Among her appearances in America was her 1961 Thaïs at the Dallas Opera, conducted by Nicola Rescigno and directed by Franco Zeffirelli. She died in Switzerland in 2016, aged 94. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Denise Duval with Francis Poulenc 1959...


 VIDEO: These sequences show the incomparable French soprano Denise Duval, back in Paris nowadays, remembering Francis Poulenc and teaching how to sing La Voix Humaine, a work that she was the first to perform in 1959....

Robert Tuggle, Longtime Archivist of the Metropolitan Opera, Dies at 83

 Robert Tuggle, who as the longtime archivist of the Metropolitan Opera helped create a digital database that includes details from every performance since the Met opened with Gounod’s “Faust” on Oct. 22, 1883, died on Sunday 24 January 2016, in Manhattan. He was 83.

  NYTimes Obit | MET Opera archives database 

 VIDEO: Met Director of Archives Robert Tuggle talks to Mary Jo Heath about vintage Aida items from past Met productions during the opera's 2012 Live in HD transmission. 

Marion Studholme, soprano of Sadler’s Wells Opera dies

 The soprano Marion Studholme, who died on 6 January 2016, was a stalwart of the Sadler’s Wells Opera in the 1950s, which moved to the London Coliseum in 1968 and became the English National Opera in 1974. She was also frequently engaged for the many popular music programmes that were common on radio and television at the time, as well as on the stage and concert platform. She was born in Blackpool, the daughter of a water board engineer, and at 17 won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London and studied with Rodolfo Mele, who also taught Ian Wallace. After touring with Thomas Round in Lilac Time she joined the chorus of Sadler’s Wells Opera in 1949, but was soon given leading roles. In 1950 she was Zerlina in Geoffrey Dunn’s production of Don Giovanni, where her vocal expertise was particularly commented on. MORE

 VIDEO: Marion Studholme - Caro Nome from Verdi's Rigoletto. Marion was a former principal soprano of the English National Opera when it was at Sadlers Wells. She can also be found on the recording of Peter Grimes conducted by it's composer Benjamin Britten.
 

Gilberto Mendes (13 October 1922 – 1 January 2016) was a Brazilian composer.

 Mendes was born in Santos. He attended the Santos Conservatory from 1941 to 1949, and studied composition under Cláudio Santoro in 1954 and under George Olivier Toni from 1958-1960. In the 1960s he studied in Darmstadt under Pierre Boulez, Henri Pousseur, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Mendes's compositions include cantatas, motets, orchestral music, incidental music, solo and chamber pieces, and some avant-garde works. Most of them are published by Alain Van Kerckhoven Editeur. In 1965, he founded the Santos New Music Festival. In the 1970s and 1980s, he taught at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Texas, then was professor of music in São Paulo.

 VIDEO: 47° Festival Música Nova- Gilberto Mendes Quarteto de Cordas Brasileiro de Tel Aviv Violinos: Abner Landim, Simone Elenciuc Viola: José Batista Junior Cello: Emerson Nazario Piano: Rodrigo Antonio Silva Gilberto Mendes-1922-2016 Rimsky Piano quintet-2003 Ribeirão Preto, 26 de setembro 2013

 

Gilbert Kaplan, millionaire businessman and self-taught maestro of Mahler, dies at 74

Gilbert Edmund Kaplan (March 3, 1941 – January 1, 2016) was an American businessman, journalist and conductor. WIKIPEDIA Mahler's Second Symphony was the only complete work he conducted, although he had also recorded the Adagietto from Mahler's Symphony No. 5. He has been invited to conduct more than fifty orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Saint Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Philharmonic Orchestra of La Scala.

 VIDEO: Gilbert Kaplan on Mahler's Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection"

 

Pierre Boulez, French Conductor-Composer, Dies at 90

Pierre Boulez, the French composer and conductor who was a dominant figure in classical music for over half a century, died on Tuesday, 5 January 2016, at his home in Baden-Baden, Germany. He was 90. NYTimes Obit Pierre Boulez (French: [pjɛʁ bu.lɛːz]; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor, prolific writer, and pianist. He was also the founder and former director of the Paris based Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique (IRCAM). In his early career, Boulez played a key role in the development of integral serialism, controlled chance and electronic music. This, coupled with his highly polemical views on the evolution of music, gained him the image of an enfant terrible. As a conductor, Boulez was known mainly for his performances of Béla Bartók, Alban Berg, Anton Bruckner, Claude Debussy, Gustav Mahler, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Igor Stravinsky, Edgar Varèse, Richard Wagner, and Anton Webern. He was awarded a total of 26 Grammy Awards during his career. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: In this comprehensive interview, Pierre Boulez talks to Universal Edition about his works. http://www.universaledition.com/boulez Interview: Wolfgang Schaufler

 

Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015)

 Natalie Cole, the American singer who overcame battles with substance abuse and the long shadow of her famous father to earn worldwide success of her own, has died. She was 65. Publicist Maureen O'Connor told The Associated Press Cole died Thursday night. O'Connor had no details about how or where Cole died. The daughter of Nat "King" Cole built a chart-topping career with hits such as "This Will Be", "Inseparable" and "Our Love." She fought health problems for years and received a kidney transplant in 2009 after developing hepatitis. NBC News

 Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and performer. The daughter of Nat King Cole, Natalie rose to musical success in the mid-1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable", and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album, Everlasting, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide... WIKIPEDIA               VIDEO:
 

John Duffy, Composer, Dies at 89

 John Duffy, the founder and longtime director of Meet the Composer, an organization created to promote contemporary music and place composers in residence with American orchestras, died on Dec. 22, 2015 at his home in Norfolk, Va. He was 89. NYTimes obit | Schott music... John Duffy was one of the last of a breed of American visionary artist-impresarios...; these veritable forces of nature who built from the ground-up, who dared to do the impossible, and in so doing, would forever change the landscape of American contemporary performing arts. - Fred Ho John Duffy has composed more than 300 works for symphony orchestra, theater, television and film. His music has earned many awards including two Emmys, an ASCAP award for special recognition in film and television music, a New York State Governor’s Art Award and the (New York City) Mayor’s Award of Honor for Arts and Culture. ----see more at Schott Music link

Snuff Garrett, Record Producer Who Made a String of Hits, Dies at 77

Thomas Lesslie "Snuff" Garrett (July 5, 1938 – December 16, 2015) was an American record producer whose most famous work was during the 1960s and 1970s. 

His nickname is a derivation of Levi Garrett, a brand of snuff. WIKIPEDIA Snuff Garrett, a former Texas disc jockey who was forsaken by his own music teachers but became a millionaire by the time he was 30 producing records for Bobby Vee, Del Shannon, Gary Lewis & the Playboys and other artists, died on Dec. 16 in Tucson. He was 77. NYTimes Obit

Kurt Masur Dies at 88; Conductor Transformed New York Philharmonic

Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015)

  NYTimes obit Kurt Masur, the music director emeritus of the New York Philharmonic, who was credited with transforming the orchestra from a sullen, lackluster ensemble into one of luminous renown, died on Saturday December 19, 2015, in Greenwich, Conn. He was 88. Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany (now Brzeg in Poland) and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur was married three times. His first marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife, Irmgard, had a daughter, Carolin. Irmgard Masur died in 1972 in a car accident in which Masur was severely injured. His marriage to his third wife, the former Tomoko Sakurai, produced a son, Ken-David, a classical singer and conductor WIKIPEDIA VIDEO:

Heinz Fricke (February 11, 1927 – December 7, 2015)

Heinz Fricke, the East German conductor who had an unlikely late-career renaissance as the beloved music director of the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, died Dec. 7 near Berlin. He was 88. WASHINGTON POST Obit

 Heinz Fricke was a German conductor. From 1961 to 1992 he held the position of Generalmusikdirektor of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. He also worked at the Den Norske Opera. In 2010 Fricke announced his retirement after 18 years with the Washington National Opera and the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra (he was appointed to both in 1993). He was the honorary Music Director Emeritus of the WNO and the KCOHO.

 VIDEO: Heinz Fricke 

 

John Eaton, Composer and Electronic Innovator, Dies at 80

 John Eaton, an avant-garde composer of operas both grandiose and chamber-size and an early proponent of synthesizer music, died on Dec. 2 in Manhattan. He was 80. NYTimes Obit

John Charles Eaton (March 30, 1935 – December 2, 2015) was an American composer (Anon. n.d.(a); Morgan 2001), recipient of the Prix de Rome, Guggenheim Fellow (Morgan 2001), MacArthur Fellow and professor emeritus of composition at the University of Chicago (Anon. 2008). WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: The Greeks: Ancient and Modern, part I by John Eaton, composer; Marcy Richardson, soprano; with two pianos tuned quarter tone apart. 

Mattiwilda Dobbs, Soprano and Principal at Met, Dies at 90

Mattiwilda Dobbs, a coloratura soprano who was the third African-American to appear as a principal singer with the Metropolitan Opera, died on Tuesday, 8 Dec 2015, at her home in Atlanta. She was 90. Mattiwilda Dobbs (July 11, 1925 – December 8, 2015) was an African-American coloratura soprano and one of the first black singers to enjoy a major international career in opera. Possessing a small but buoyant voice, Dobbs was admired for her refined vocal technique and lively interpretations. NYTimes Obit | Wikipedia

 VIDEO: Rare and unknown voices - MATTIWILDA DOBBS