Listen to New Voices on Studs Terkel our partnership with 826CHI-here! Read the Story
Showing 31 - 45 of 94 results
Polly Podewell and Johnnie McDonough evaluate jazz vocalists, musical influences, and compare music genres. Jazz music performances of Polly Podewell (from private tape) are interspersed throughout the interview as well as recordings from Mildred Bailey, Helen Ward, and Billie Holiday. Songs are removed on this file due to copyright reasons.
Placido Domingo discusses his career as a tenor singer and conductor, including his role in the film "Otello" directed by Franco Zeffirelli and based on the opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
Actor Peter Sellars takes on a different role as director of the Los Angeles Festival. The sixteen day event will happen in parks, streets, churches and community centers all over Los Angeles, says Sellers. With all the diverse groups living in Los Angeles, there's so much culture to share with one another & Sellers wanted people to get out and see things that they never experienced before.
Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson sits down with Studs Terkel to discuss historical developments in jazz piano, his own personal development as a pianist, and his experience directing a youth jazz piano school. Includes Peterson playing short excerpts from "Chicago (that toddlin' town)," "Soon," Chopin's Nocturne in E flat Major to demonstrate musical concepts.
Celebrated young tenor Giuseppe Sabbatini discusses his upcoming performance as Alfredo in "Traviata" at the Lyric Opera as well as beginnings, church music, debuts with little/no rehearsal and more.
Merce Cunningham, choreographer and John Cage musician and composer speak about music and dance. The two gentlemen discuss with Studs how music and dance come together to create the avant-garde of art in both worlds (music and dance).
The day before their concert performance at North Park College, the Shanghai Quartet was at the WFMT studios. Betty Bucchari explained her job was to search for great musicians that were not well-known. The Li brothers were destined to play the violins, as their parents were music teachers for 15 years.
Marilyn Horne talks about her music career and her upcoming perfomance in "Rinaldo" at the Chicago Opera Theater
Marian Anderson talks about her singing career, including her singing in Sunday School and her first singing experience in 4th grade. She shares how she interprets the songs she sings. Includes Studs reading the poem "Gertrude" by Gwendolyn Brooks. The interview takes place in Anderson's suite in the Sheraton Blackstone in Chicago.
Marian Anderson recalls singing on stage for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1957 and how it was the realization of a dream come true. Marion's nephew, James DePreist remembers being able to conduct a piece of music he had never conducted before because his aunt Marion had exposed him to it when he was a child. James said when his aunt Marion sung spirituals, he couldn't help but feel religious and he's an atheist.
Now retired from singing opera, when Madame Lotte Lehmann is not traveling around Europe, she teaches, what she says, are the best students she has encountered, at Northwestern University. Lehmann explains her hope is to not only teach but to inspire singers to be larger than life and to bring out their own personalities in a song.
Being a Pisces, Pavarotti says he's always looking for perfection. He admits the biggest critic of his work is himself. Pavarotti said that he loves the charm of the French language and he likes to learn new languages. He talks of recording some music in Russian. Being able to reach those high C notes, Pavarotti says, is the most athletic part of his voice.
Pavarotti recalls his meeting with the Pope was very special. Singing "Ave Maria" for him was like God lit up, explained Pavarotti. There are more younger people in the audience, said Pavarotti. They're very surprised that opera's so beautiful, as they believed it was an old fashioned thing.
Instead of being called "The King of the High C's," Pavarotti would rather be known as "The King of the Bel Canto". Pavarotti said he didn't have the greatest of enthusiasm prior to performing his first concert. However, it ended up being a phenomenal experience, he said. A great singer, Pavarotti added, is very human and romantic. One needs to feel what one's singing and lastly, one must be a beautiful person inside.
In a nightclub in Chicago, at two in the morning and after a performance, Louis Armstrong talks about his music stylings. Notes are good to learn the tune, says Armstrong, but it's all about the phrasing. Armstrong explained, it's up to you to express yourself. Armstrong shared the one piece of advice that had always stuck with him. King Oliver told Armstrong not to worry about the notes but rather to put some lead into the song.