A strange, cryptic compact disc was found while hiking in Joshua Tree National Park. [more inside]
posted by gcbv on Nov 24, 2009 - 85 comments

Mindaugas Piečaitis has performed his "CATcerto," an original score written to accompany Nora The Piano Cat's piano improvisation. Here's the video of kitty with orchestra. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Jul 25, 2009 - 20 comments

Last week was International Trombone Week. But what is a trombone? Can you recognize the many types of trombone? [more inside]
posted by winna on Apr 13, 2009 - 66 comments

Wafa Younis is an Arab Israeli musician who organised a youth orchestra in the Jenin refugee camp. She recently brought her orchestra to play for Holocaust survivors at an Israeli old age home. The performance was strongly criticised by Palestinians as a hostile political act. Now the orchestra has been disbanded, its performance space sealed, and Ms Younis has been expelled from the West Bank. [more inside]
posted by Joe in Australia on Apr 2, 2009 - 49 comments

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain travels south of the border
posted by Blazecock Pileon on Nov 2, 2008 - 20 comments

Celebrating 120 years, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is offering 10 symphonies as free downloads, available until November 24! [more inside]
posted by LooseFilter on Oct 20, 2008 - 17 comments

People who make music out of carrots via The World Carrot Museum, enjoy some vegetable music on a Monday afternoon. Flute N Veg. Ivan the Chef drills a carrot. The Vienna Vegetable Orchestra. Carrot Pan Flute.
posted by grippycat on Oct 6, 2008 - 7 comments

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performs the theme to "Shaft" (SYTL). Really, is any description needed? [more inside]
posted by WCityMike on Oct 4, 2008 - 46 comments

“Another Rosenberg Executed”? Classical music critic Donald Rosenberg may be the reigning expert on the Cleveland Orchestra, having written an entire book on the esteemed ensemble. But failure to fawn over conductor Franz Welser Most has gotten him booted off his newspaper’s classical music beat. People are beginning to notice… [more inside]
posted by Faze on Sep 23, 2008 - 16 comments

The Thai Elephant Orchestra. Founded by Richard Lair and Dave Soldier [previously] at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang, Thailand, a former logging camp. • Listen to tracks from the Elephants' two releases: Thai Elephant Orchestra (2001) and Elephonic Rhapsodies (2004) [They're the 6th and 7th albums on the page] • A New York Times Article from Dec 16, 2000 • A National Geographic segment (audio) that accompanies a larger piece (video) about the changing lives of elephants in Thailand • A full-length documentary (.mov format) • Youtubery: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 [#4 is a beautiful animation which also incorporates paintings made by the elephants at the Center.] [more inside]
posted by not_on_display on Sep 16, 2008 - 16 comments

Two 20th century additions to the comparatively small body of concertos for double bass and orchestra: Einojuhani Rautavaara's Angel Of Dusk (II, III), from 1980, and the 1948 concerto of Eduard Tubin (II, III). Those are courtesy of YouTube, but if you're not sated you can hear still more from bassist Phillip Serna, and a great deal more, from the fine Contrabass Conversations podcast.
posted by Wolfdog on Aug 24, 2008 - 4 comments

The theory is one thing - but if you have ever dreamed of having the chance to conduct a full, professional orchestra at a major concert then you are almost certainly (*) out of luck. Sorry. Unless you are a celebrity in which case the BBC might fix it for you (full program trailer on YT). Giving it their first go are actors Jane Asher and David Soul, Drum and Bass star Goldie, Blur bassist Alex James, broadcasters Katie Derham and Peter Snow, and comedians Sue Perkins and Bradley Walsh as they compete to be the "Maestro" [i-player link for UK only unfortunately]
posted by rongorongo on Aug 13, 2008 - 25 comments

ASIMO Conducts The Detroit Symphony Orchestra
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jun 26, 2008 - 26 comments

The Youth and Children Orchestras of Venezuela have won the Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts. It might be in part due to their charismatic conductor, or very probably due to their unique style. What sets them apart from most orchestras, though, is their System, which the NYT referred to as "the most ambitious program of music education and orchestra training in the world". [more inside]
posted by micayetoca on May 23, 2008 - 7 comments

In LA, a 63 (70!)-piece orchestra blends the styles of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington with hip-hop, European classical music, and free jazz. Spend some time with the dAKAH Orchestra and it's founder Geoff "Double G" Gallegos.
posted by mikoroshi on Apr 23, 2008 - 9 comments

Playing with Dictators - an editorial on the New York Philharmonic's decision to play a concert in North Korea. One musician's account of the performance.
posted by Wolfdog on Mar 17, 2008 - 24 comments

Flamenco guitar is such a subtle and delicate mean of expression that it looks like arranging flamenco music for a number of musicians isn't practical or efficient. Nevertheless, many attempts have been made to use flamenco phrasing or colors within large ensembles : in a classical piece like The Aranjuez Concierto, in jazz when Gil Evans teamed with Miles Davis to greate several pieces entitled Sketches of Spain, or more recently, with the beautiful work of Maria Schneider, or the small units of Louis Winsberg. One of the most convincing score has been recently produced by Juan Carmona, a gipsy guitarist from Marseille, a work performed by many philarmonic orchestras.
posted by nicolin on Oct 7, 2007 - 11 comments

Apoteket Orkestern.
posted by hama7 on Jun 23, 2007 - 23 comments

Vibraphone Orchestra
posted by phrontist on Apr 8, 2007 - 18 comments

Search the complete works (including 8000 pages of critical commentary) of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a gift by the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum on the occasion of his 250th birthday. (German links are also available).
posted by ubiquity on Dec 12, 2006 - 8 comments

The Orchestra: A User's Manual is one element of 'The Sound Exchange' by the Philharmonia Orchestra. It was conceived and written by Andrew Hugill who has also developed this online Random Round [flash] based on the work of Percy Grainger.
posted by tellurian on Nov 6, 2006 - 6 comments

The Symphony OS. Microsoft may have tired something like this before, but it certainly doesn't look as pretty. This beta linux distro is sporting something called the Mezzo Desktop environment. Under its hood resides a http server and a Mozilla renderer which allows you to run any applications coded with HTML, Javascript and PERL. Think small "Web 2.0" applications on your own computer or more Dashboard widgets for tracking your FedEx packages. You might not get your extended family on to the alterative OS bandwagon, but a different conceptualization of the desktop never hurts. Instructions on how to get it running on Ubuntu are here.
posted by phyrewerx on Apr 15, 2006 - 40 comments

Nazi swing music from the 30s. FMU's terrific blog presents mp3s of songs by Charlie and His Orchestra, a big band assembled by Hitler's minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, to spread the Nazi message abroad even while trying to stamp out jazz and swing domestically. "Leave it to Goebbels to take the music of The Andrews Sisters, Paul Whiteman and Irving Berlin and fill it with venomous rants against Jews, America and the British." Vol. 1 is here. Some history. And now I want to see this movie about the band. via BB
posted by CunningLinguist on Dec 10, 2005 - 20 comments

"It doesn't even need a conductor, and there is not even any need for rehearsals together. Each instrumentalist receives sheet music and a disc with the sound track to which he will be linked during the concert, and that way he can practice at home, by himself; and then they come straight to the concert and play freely, whatever they want. A sound that is random as opposed to planned, a precise pitch for a note, as opposed to a false note, that's what leads the work. And here, toward the end, order gradually prevails".
Arik Shapira talks about his new concerto for piano and orchestra.
posted by matteo on Nov 28, 2005 - 16 comments

San Carlo of the Symphony. Il Maestro Carlo Maria Giulini, orchestra conductor who passed away Tuesday at 91 "had an almost uncanny ability to transform the sound of an orchestra, any orchestra, into a dark and intense glow, which became his trademark over the years". "We have lost one of the greatest musicians of our time," says Esa-Pekka Salonen (.pdf), music director of the LA Philharmonic. Giulini has been called "the last humanist", a gentle man beloved by his orchestras, so humble in his approach to music that, always feeling the necessity to "fathom" each new work, it wasn't until the 1960s that he finally felt ready to conduct Bach, or the symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven. This from a man who, at the beginning of his career (as a viola player) had played under Richard Strauss. "I had the great privilege to be a member of an orchestra," Giulini said in 1982. "I still belong to the body of the orchestra. When I hear the phrase, 'The orchestra is an instrument,' I get mad. It's a group of human beings who play instruments." More inside.
posted by matteo on Jun 16, 2005 - 11 comments

Classic Cat describes itself as "the free classical music directory," and offers links to 3rd-party-hosted downloadable recordings, sliced and diced by hits, composer, performer, and more. There are active fora. Given the old-school look of the site, I was surprised not to find it in my repost search.
posted by mwhybark on Feb 13, 2005 - 13 comments

Jack Hylton's career spanned the early 1920s and up until his death in 1965, he was a successful bandleader setting trends within popular music of the time in the U.K. and expanding into the world of entertainment. Real Audio files here. Earworm here (ram).
posted by dhruva on Feb 8, 2005 - 2 comments

Libraries? Sports? Music Programs? Guidance Counselors? Not on my bill, buddy! That crap is for nerds and jocks. It's all good here in sunny California.
posted by _sirmissalot_ on Mar 10, 2004 - 19 comments

Excellent gallery of early 20th century sheet music folios, including some very attractive samples, as well as some somewhat outdated images. via memepool
posted by jonson on Aug 19, 2003 - 6 comments

Ursula Plaichinger, a 27 year-old viola player, is the first woman to be (partially) admitted into the Vienna Philharmonic since the orchestra's creation 161 years ago. Except for hiring temporary, underpaid, unmentioned and unseen harpists ("Cameramen were instructed to show only her hands, never her face or figure"), the Viennese Phil not only tried to ignore several pleads for gender equality but took seven years to comply to the Austrian government's injunctions. Does this kind of resistance reflect a general trend? Is Ursula's case merely an example of "Rent-a-Frau" ? On the other hand, since the Viennese orchestra is a private association, could this be just a modified version of the Battle of Augusta?
posted by 111 on Jan 17, 2003 - 12 comments

Yahama has made the Rolls Royce of pianos.
'Built around an Intel Pentium III computer chip, the piano allows functions to be controlled by a user's voice and lets the user watch an artist's performance stored on disc while hearing the concert. When the disc is inserted into a built-in DVD player, the performance is displayed on a computer monitor as keys and pedals move up and down recreating the piano part.'
And only $333,000, where do I sign up?
posted by Mark on Apr 5, 2000 - 2 comments