Christmas Concert Works for Band

The diptych "Estampes Simfòniques" (Symphonic Images) by the Spanish (Catalan) composer Joaquim Serra (1907-1957) would not be a unique piece in its production if it wasn"t because in this occasion th...

Alejandro Garcia Caturla (1906 - 1940) was a Cuban composer of art music and creolized Cuban themes. He was fascinated by creolized Afro-Cuban rhythms and these Creole themes were characteristic of hi...

Alejandro García Caturla (1906 - 1940) was a Cuban composer of art music and creolized Cuban themes. He was fascinated by creolized Afro-Cuban rhythms and these Creole themes were characteristic of hi...

The opera buffa Così fan tutte (Thus do they all )is one of the three Mozart operas for which Da Ponte wrote the libretto. The other two Da Ponte-Mozart collaborations were Le nozze di Figaro and Don...

Among Charles Gounod's compositions are several hundred sacred solo songs, including his 1852 setting of the Catholic hymn 'Ave Maria'. Forty years later, Gounod, a devoutly religious albeit also a de...

Maurice Ravel is perhaps known best for his orchestral work 'Bolero' (1928), which he considered trivial and once described as 'a piece for orchestra without music'. Bolero is a one-movement orchestra...

Maurice Ravel is perhaps known best for his orchestral work Bolero (1928), which he considered trivial and once described as a piece for orchestra without music. Bolero is a one-movement orchestral pi...

Emmerich Kálmán (1882-1953) was a contemporary of Bartók and Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music. He first coupled a career as a music critic with more conventionally serious composition, before,...

'Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra' (Enigma), Op. 36, commonly referred to as the 'Enigma Variations', is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar...

Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra(Enigma), Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1...

In 1899 Edward Elgar finished his best-known large-scale composition, the 'Enigma Variations'. Elgar dedicated the piece to 'my friends pictured within', each variation being an affectionate portrayal...

In 1899 Edward Elgar finished his best-known large-scale composition, the "Enigma Variations". Elgar dedicated the piece to "my friends pictured within", each variation being an affectionate portrayal...

On Christmas Eve of 1818, Catholic priest Josef Mohr, showed Austrian composer Franz Xaver Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816 and he asked Gruber to set the poem to music. Because the chu...

On Christmas Eve of 1818, Catholic priest Josef Mohr, showed Austrian composer Franz Xaver Gruber a six-stanza poem he had written in 1816 and he asked Gruber to set the poem to music. Because the chu...

Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" (1816) is one of the greatest of all comic operas. Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, "The Barber of Seville" delights audiences with its keenly sketched c...

Rossini's "Il Barbiere di Siviglia" (1816) is one of the greatest of all comic operas. Based on an excellent play by Beaumarchais, "The Barber of Seville" delights audiences with its keenly sketched c...

Absolutely the most famous "Canzone Napoletana" is "O Sole Mio" composed by the Italian singer and songwriter Eduardo di Capua (1865-1917) in 1898. The lyrics were written by Giovanni Capurro. Though...

Dmitri Shostakovich wrote his second piano concerto in 1957 as a birthday gift for his 19-year-old son Maxim who premiered the piece during his graduation at the Moscow Conservatory. The eager, brilli...

The score of "La Gioconda" is best known for its ballet divertimento "The Dance of the Hours". The tangled story of passion, intrigue, violence and eventual tragedy is set against the grim splendour o...

While Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as...

While Saverio Mercadante (1795-1870) may not have retained the international celebrity of Gaetano Donizetti or Gioachino Rossini beyond his own lifetime, he composed as impressive a number of works as...

In 1904 Pleyel, the famous Parisian firm of instrument manufacturers, approached Debussy with a commission for a new test piece for chromatic harp, intended for use in the diploma examinations at the...

In 1904 Pleyel, the famous Parisian firm of instrument manufacturers, approached Debussy with a commission for a new test piece for chromatic harp, intended for use in the diploma examinations at the...