Stop. Look. Listen.

Four saxophones, new music: the PRISM Quartet will perform at Franklin & Marshall College 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24. Since there’s not a lot of music out there for a quartet of saxes, the group has gotten quite a few noted U.S. composers to write new works, including William Bolcom and Steven Mackey.
Two pianos, two […]

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Just before Barack Obama took the oath of office, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Ytzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriela Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill (not shown in the Associated Press photo at left) gathered to perform “Air and Simple Gifts” by John Williams, composer of film scores by the dozen (Star Wars, anyone?) and much more. In keeping […]

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If you enjoyed hearing pianist Michael Sheppard at last weekend’s Lancaster Symphony Orchestra concerts, he’ll be playing here again in the LSO’s Chamber Music Series at Franklin & Marshall College — more information here. And talk about guest stars — look who appeared with the Chicago Symphony in 2005!

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The Lancaster Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Sounds of the Season’ concert is reviewed here. A tip of the Santa hat to concertmaster Igor Yuzefovich and the rest of the musicians, who turned in a warm and spirited performance. A few orchestra members actually wore Santa hats for the second half of the concert, and one double-bassist put the hat on her […]

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Sleigh bells ring — are you listening? Do you have a choice? Absolutely. Can the canned music and drop in downtown this Friday, Dec. 19 for live music of all sorts. Click here for a list of participating venues and musicians. The event supports Music for Everyone.

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I thought it was high time to catch up with Dick Strawser’s blog, “Thoughts on a Train,” and found out to my surprise that it had left the station. He’s written a series of posts on composer Elliott Carter, who is still alive and creating music at 100, and whose birthday was Dec. 11, and which […]

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A. Handguns
B. Forever
C. the Union
D. Here
E. the Turnpike Hustle
F. the Mayors Wife
G. playing at the Champion Ship in Lemoyne tonight (doors open at 6 p.m.)
H. All of the above!
(We can only hope for a past tense concert sometime in the future, with We Were Skeletons.)

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December weekends are filled with holiday music, and choral music fans, especially, have full calendars and choices to make!
The Wheatland Chorale will sing Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and more at 8 tonight (Friday, Dec. 12) at Neffsville Mennonite Church, 2371 Lititz Pike, and 4 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 140 E. Orange St. (Also Saturday in […]

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Today would have been the composer Olivier Messiaen’s 100th birthday. This evokes a memory — I once saw Yvonne Loriod perform Messiaen’s “Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus” in concert at Swarthmore College in 1978 or around that time. (I do not recall whether it was the whole thing — the work is two hours long – but I believe […]

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Now under way at WXPN — XPN Local’s 12 Days of Music, featuring songs from all over the region. It started Dec. 8 with Marah’s “Counting the Days till Christmas” and continues until Dec. 23. The songs will be aired at 9:40 a.m. and 1 p.m. every day and can also be downloaded free from the WXPN Web site. Today’s song […]

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