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Byron Janis, the celebrated classical pianist who studied with Vladimir Horowitz, recorded previously unknown Chopin waltzes from manuscripts he unearthed and became a cultural hero in the U.S. after performing in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, has died. He was 95.

Janis died Thursday at The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, his wife, Maria Cooper Janis, daughter of two-time Oscar-winning actor Gary Cooper, announced.

“I have been blessed with the privilege for 58 years of loving and being loved by not only one of the greatest artists of the 20th century, but by an exceptional human being who took his talents to their highest pinnacle,” she said in a statement.

During his 85-year career, Janis covered composers from Bach to David W. Guion and performed major piano concertos from Chopin, Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Liszt and Prokofiev. He occupied two volumes of the 1999 Mercury Philips series Great Pianists of the...

London, Feb 2 (Ians) A British Indian conductor and a sitarist are among 19 individual performers and composers shortlisted for this year’s prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society (Rps) Awards, celebrating classical music and musicians across the UK.

Billed by The Sunday Times as the “biggest night in UK classical music”, the awards shine a light on brilliant musical individuals, groups, and initiatives inspiring communities nationwide.

Alpesh Chauhan OBE, Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Company, has been nominated in the Conductor category, and sitarist and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun is in the Instrumentalist Award and the Large-Scale Composition Award categories.

“Of the 19 individual performers and composers shortlisted, 42 per cent represent the global majority, including cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Music Director of the Birmingham Opera Company Alpesh Chauhan, and sitar player Jasdeep Singh Degun,” a press note by Rps read.

In a post shared on X, Leeds-born Degun thanked his teacher for supporting him in his musical journey.

In “Maestro,” playing the legendary American conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Bradley Cooper has a light in his eye — a glow of merriment and mischief, of gleeful cosmopolitan desire. His Lenny is a prodigy, a prankster, a seducer, a monk of creative devotion and, through it all, a man of epic contradiction. In public, he tends toward the proper and stentorian; in private, he’s recklessly exuberant enough to give new — or maybe old — meaning to the word gay. He’s a layered soul, a quality that extends from his professional life, where he’s a reverent conductor of the classics and a jubilant composer of Broadway musicals (as well as a serious composer who longs to be thought of as classic), to his personal life, where he’s an ardent hedonist, unapologetically attracted to men, as well as a devoted husband and family man.

It turns out that the...

C. Thomas Howell skyrocketed to superstardom when he portrayed Ponyboy in the Francis Ford Coppola '80s cult classic The Outsiders, becoming one of the many rising stars associated with the Brat Pack and gaining a passionate fan following. The gifted actor continued to dominate the big screen throughout the decade, landing notable roles in films like Red Dawn, Grandview, U.S.A., Secret Admirer, and The Hitcher.

His career began to slow down and his popularity started to fade in the 1990s, with Howell appearing in a slew of direct-to-video projects throughout the period that failed to reestablish his star power. After a brief lull doing low-budget flicks and a foray into directing, Howell demonstrated his range as a performer with memorable roles in popular shows like Criminal Minds, The Punisher, Sons of Anarchy, The Walking Dead, and Bosch.

Fans of the '80s heartthrob may not realize just...

Many consider Dmitri Shostakovich the greatest composer of the 20th century. Born September 25, 1906, he might not have lived past his teens if he hadn't been talented. During the famines of the Revolutionary period in Russia, Alexander Glazunov, director of the Petrograd (later Leningrad) Conservatory, arranged for the poor and malnourished Shostakovich's food ration to be increased. Shostakovich's Symphony No. 1, his graduation exercise for Maximilian Steinberg's composition course at the Conservatory, was completed in 1925 at age 19 and was an immediate success worldwide. He was The Party's poster boy; his Second and Third Symphonies unabashedly subtitled, respectively, "To October". (celebrating the Revolution) and "The First of May". (International Workers' Day).

His highly emotional harmonic language is simultaneously tough yet communicative, but his expansion of Mahlerian symphonic structure, dissonances, sardonic irony, and dark moods eventually clashed with the conservative edicts of Communist Party officials. In 1936 he was viciously denounced by Pravda...

Paul Hindemith: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for Those We Love Jan De Gaetani/William Stone/Atlanta Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/Robert Shaw (Telarc)

Memorial Day started spontaneously and independently in several towns and cities in 1866 as a way of honoring soldiers who died in the Civil War by placing flowers on their graves -- thus the holiday's old name, Decoration Day.

At first there was not a specific date, but observation was made more uniform starting in 1868; May 30 was chosen, supposedly because it was not the anniversary of a specific battle and because by then flowers would be in bloom throughout the country. 

After World War I, the observances were expanded to include the deceased of that fresh conflict, and in the decades since, the holiday has come to honor all fallen servicemen. A century after its start, the observance was changed to the last...

In his first town hall meeting since becoming Chairman of NBC News Group, Andy Lack laid out plans to greatly increase collaboration between the ratings-starved cable news network and NBC News as part of a strategy to focus on breaking news on the cable network and de-emphasize left-leaning opinion programming. Talking to the staff from 30 Rock's Studio 8H, home of Saturday Night Live and the NBC Symphony conducted by Arturo Toscanini — back in the days when broadcast…...

Having given the history of the "New World" in Part I, it seems wise to preface Part II with some words about how the symphony is constructed. The movements are:

I. Adagio; Allegro molto II. Largo III. Scherzo: Molto vivace IV. Allegro con fuoco

Unusually, every movement starts with an introduction. The first movement's is the most famous: starts with a striking slow introduction that establishes the current of nostalgia for, or homesickness for, the composer's native Bohemia. Another reminder of this comes with the famotus flute solo -- or does it? Some have remarked on its similarity to "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," but this is not so much a quote as a paraphrase, so to speak; small bits of "Chariot" are elided into something new that mingles many flavors: African-America spiritual, yes, but also Native American music and Bohemian folk music, which share a pentatonic flavor.

Note that the...

Is Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886-1954) the greatest conductor ever? While there are some who, in preference to his highly inflected, interventionist style, would prefer a more straight-forward conductor such as his contemporary Arturo Toscanini, many cognoscenti believe that at the least Furtwängler, when heard in his favored 19th century Austro-Germanic repertoire, ranks supreme of his type in the pre-stereo era. The aforementioned Toscanini himself was an admirer; asked who aside from himself was the greatest conductor, he named Furtwängler, and also pushed for the German to take over the directorship of the New York Philharmonic when Toscanini relinquished its reins, though controversy prevented that.

While Furtwängler was a more versatile conductor than some observers give him credit for, his reputation is based firmly on his masterful conducting of the symphonies of Beethoven, Bruckner, and Brahms and the operas of Wagner. He said, "A well-rehearsed concert is one in which you have...

I used to work at a store where some of us employees liked to dress up for Halloween. One year the young woman I worked with that day dressed in her full Goth regalia (this is someone with a spiderweb tattoo), and when one customer said to her, "I love your costume," she replied, coldly and seriously, "It's not a costume." Ever since then I have thought of Halloween as the one day each year when Goths "fit in."

From whence does "Goth" come as a description of this subculture? Not from the original Goths, Germanic barbarians who sacked Rome and later founded the kingdom that eventually became Spain and Portugal. Rather, it comes from "Gothic fiction," an English literary movement (so called in reference to the architecture of castles) that dates from Horace Walpole's 1764 novel The Castle of Otranto.

Such famed literature as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein,...

Italian composer Ottorino Respighi (July 9, 1879-April 18, 1936) was a master of colorful orchestration whose evocative symphonic tone poems and suites arranging Baroque material in modern garb have been audience-pleasers since they were first heard.

The son of a piano teacher who gave him lessons on both piano and violin, Respighi excelled on the latter. It was while first violinist in the Russian Imperial Orchestra at St. Peterburg that Respighi was able to study with master orchestrator Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He may have studied later with composer Max Bruch in Berlin (this is disputed), then returned to Italy, mostly working as first violin in the Mugellini Quintet. He moved to Rome in 1913 to teach and lived there for the rest of his life, which was ended by heart failure at the age of 56.

Luckily for listeners, a high percentage of Respighi's most popular works, in graceful, idiomatic performances, can be found on an...

Paul Hindemith: When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for Those We Love Jan De Gaetani/William Stone/Atlanta Symphony Chorus & Orchestra/Robert Shaw (Telarc)

Memorial Day started spontaneously and independently in several towns and cities in 1866 as a way of honoring soldiers who died in the Civil War by placing flowers on their graves -- thus the holiday's old name, Decoration Day.

At first there was not even a specific date, but observation was made more uniform starting in 1868; May 30 was chosen, supposedly because it was not the anniversary of a specific battle and because by then flowers would be in bloom throughout the country. (A hundred years later the observance was changed to the last Monday of May to create a three-day weekend.) After World War I, the observances were expanded to include the deceased of that fresh conflict, and in the decades since, the...

The St. Louis Jewish Film Festival, held annually at the Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema (1701 S Lindbergh Blvd #210, St Louis, Mo 63131), is one of the local Jewish community’s most popular and highly attended events of the year. Each year, the festival presents international Jewish films, both documentaries and features that explore universal issues through traditional Jewish values, opposing viewpoints and new perspectives. And each year, the fest packs ‘em in so get there early – it’s first come first serve for seats and those Frontenac theaters aren’t very big. Attendance is always through the roof for this thing, a testament to the group’s marketing and choice of programming. Guest lecturers are brought to the fest to discuss and illuminate the subjects of these films. This year’s St. Louis Jewish Film Festival runs Sunday, June 9th through Thursday June 13th.

The 18th Annual St. Louis Jewish Film Festival...

DVD Release Date: April 9, 2013

Price: DVD $27.95

Studio: First Run Features

Arturo Toscanini (l.) and Bronislaw Huberman in 1936 in Orchestra of Exiles.

The Orchestra of Exiles is 2012 documentary directed by Josh Aronson, who previously helmed the Academy Award-nominated 2000 doc Sound and Fury.

In the early 1930′s Hitler began firing Jewish musicians across Europe. Overcoming extraordinary obstacles, violinist Bronislaw Huberman moved these great musicians to Palestine and formed a symphony that would become the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. With courage, resourcefulness and an entourage of allies including Arturo Toscanini and Albert Einstein, Huberman saved nearly 1000 Jews – and guaranteed the survival of Europe’s musical heritage.

Featuring commentary by musical greats including Itzhak Perlman, Zubin Mehta and Joshua Bell, Orchestra of Exiles is a timeless tale of a brilliant young man coming of age, and the suspenseful chronicle of how his efforts impacted

cultural history.

Bonus features on the DVD include the following

Filmmaker...

Born August 22, 1862 in St.-Germaine-en-Laye, France, Claude-Achille Debussy was a child prodigy pianist who was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age 10. Now generally considered to have been the greatest French composer, Debussy is proof that great art can come from terrible human beings. He was supremely self-centered and selfish. Two women -- one his wife -- attempted to kill themselves after he ended his relationships with them in cruelly casual fashion; his behavior was so beyond acceptable norms, even by bohemian French standards, that many of his friends turned their backs on him. In the midst of his greatest personal controversy, when he'd left his wife for a married woman and moved with the latter to England for awhile after to escape the constant recriminations, he wrote his biggest masterpiece, La Mer.

But, of course, there's nothing the French enjoy more than a controversy. Debussy's music was controversial as well.

Virtuoso violinist heard on a string of classic Hollywood movie scores

The American violinist Israel Baker, who has died aged 92, was renowned among his fellow musicians but unknown to most of the millions who heard him play on the soundtracks of such movies as Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 shocker Psycho, where he led Bernard Herrmann's screaming violin effects accompanying the stabbing of Janet Leigh in the shower scene.

Baker belonged to a select group of musicians who could fit into any situation at a moment's notice and read any piece on sight. But while making a lavish living in the Hollywood film and recording studios, he also had a considerable concert career.

He was born in Chicago, the youngest of four children of Russian immigrants. At six he appeared on national radio, and from his late teens he played in orchestras. At 22 he was concertmaster of Leopold Stokowski's All-American...

I didn’t think I would have to insult the intelligence of our readers by pointing out a very simple fact, but based on the first comment we received, I guess I should make something clear. This is a list of our favourite soundtracks of 2011. We are currently working on a list of the best original scores, which should be posted sometime within the week. Let us know if you think we left out any soundtracks you would recommend. Enjoy!

10 – Young Adult

One of the themes of Jason Reitman’s upcoming film Young Adult, is the idea of being stuck in the past, and trying to relive your glory days, and so it’s no surprise that the soundtrack to the film is loathed with 1990s alt-rock cuts. Due December 6th via Rhino Records, the fifteen-track disc features the Replacements, the Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr., Teenage Fanclub, Cracker, 4 Non Blondes, Veruca Salt and many more.

When Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) was 20, and mostly known to audiences as a pianist, Robert Schumann basically proclaimed him the great hope of German music in an article entitled "New Paths." In those days, the general lament was that no symphonist had been able to measure up to the mighty example of Beethoven. He started composing what could have become his first symphony in 1854; he got cold feet and turned it into his Piano Concerto No. 1, which was premiered in 1859. In that same period, Brahms wrote two Serenades for orchestra -- seemingly to practice dealing with the challenges of those forces -- and his String Sextet No. 1, a fairly grand work for a chamber piece. In 1862 he sent to Clara Schumann (Robert's widow, whom he loved) an early version of the first movement of what he announced would be his First Symphony (it did not yet have its glorious introduction). A decade later,...

Elton John Buy: Lala.comGenre: PopSong: My Father's GunAlbum: Tumbleweed Connection (Remastered)Béla Bartók (& June De Toth) Buy: Lala.comGenre: ClassicalSong: Stomping DanceAlbum: Bartok Solo Piano Works, Volume 3Edie Brickell (& New Bohemians) Buy: Lala.comGenre: AlternativeSong: Stranger ThingsAlbum: Stranger ThingsMississippi John Hurt Buy: Lala.comGenre: BluesSong: Nobody's Dirty BusinessAlbum: 1928 SessionsLykke Li Buy: Lala.comGenre: AlternativeSong: Time FliesAlbum: Little Bit - EPLou Reed Buy: Lala.comGenre: RockSong: Nowhere At AllAlbum: Coney Island BabyKurt Weill Buy: Lala.comGenre: ClassicalSong: Very Very Very Wooden WeddingAlbum: TryoutChaka Khan (Rufus) Buy: Lala.comGenre: R&B/SoulSong: You Got the LoveAlbum: Rags to RufusArturo Toscanini (& the NBC Symphony Orchestra) Buy: Lala.comGenre: ClassicalSong: Die Walküre, Act 1 - Scene 3 (A Rehearsal Without Singers): Wälse, Wälse! Wo Ist Dein Schwert?Album: Arturo Toscanini Rehearses Die Walküre, Act 1 - Scene 3Roger Daltrey (The Who) Buy: Lala.comGenre: RockSong: Love Ain't for KeepingAlbum: Who's Next (Remastered)Arthur Lee (& Love) Buy: Lala.