KPAC Blog

Voci di Sorelle sings at UIW Chapel this Sunday!

Holiday music is a tradition for many different kinds of people, crossing race, faith and style lines. Sounds of the season vary with groups, but are also a tradition for many directors and ensembles.

"There is a lot of really good repertoire out there for this time of the year, and if it is not for women's voices, we make it that way!"

Alfred Hitchock was one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century, but he also had a dark side. A deeper reading of his films reveals some of Hitch’s hidden obsessions, including: murder, sex, and love. Throughout his career, Hitchcock was aided by the unseen hand of his wife, Alma Reville, who often served as the director’s sounding board and sometime editor.

Franz Schubert, incredibly talented and poor as a church mouse, wanted the chance to make a decent living from his music, and finally, near the end of his life, he got publishers interested. The down side was that his works were to be dictated by what would sell, and Schubert found his outlets wanted simple music that would sell rather than the big Sonata's that he was interested in.

Not just a concert, but a service too

Already in their third season, Musica Sacra SA will perform Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. at Our Lady of Atonement. The program follows the Second Sunday of Advent - both musically and literally.

Robert Finster says there are familiar composers and one you might not know. "David Briggs is a great improviser for the organ, and has transcribed all of the Gigout solos! He works in London at a church, plus he composes very original pieces. I first heard of him on your radio station [KPAC] with Heart and Voice!"

Few, if any, operas can bear comparison with the gestation, preparation and final execution of Giuseppe Verdi’s "Un Ballo in Maschera." It is the work that definitively closes his middle period; preceded by "Traviata," "Rigoletto," and "Il Trovatore" and followed by his supreme masterworks "Don Carlo," "Aida," "Otello" and "Falstaff."

Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” continues to be a source of inspiration for filmmakers, having been adapted over a dozen times in different forms by directors all over the world. Joe Wright’s feature film boldly breaks from tradition, confining most of the plot on a single soundstage.

Thanks to my Facebook friend Lauri Pearson for setting me up for today's Alternate Routes. Lauri is a real listener, a true fanatic of music who does the mid-day shift at Magic 105.3 FM. Although she and I do most of our listening within different genres (there's more overlap than most might imagine), Lauri's observations about music are almost always spot on.

Craig Hella Johnson returns with Company of Voices to Laurel Heights

Craig Hella Johnson adds new flavor to Conspirare’s annual collage of music and poetry,  mixed to "contemplate and celebrate," with music such as Felix Mendelssohn to Mos Def, and Leonard Bernstein to Leonard Cohen! Favorites from Richard Rogers and Eric Whitacre are also on tap.

Violist is joined by Carolyn True in romantic favorites

Each season, Camerata San Antonio features one player in concert for the "Camerata Recital." This year will be the first for co-founder  Emily Watkins-Freudigman, who will play music by Benjamin Britten, Darius Milhaud, Robert Schumann, and Sergei Prokofiev.