Oscar crowns a new "King" on Sunday

On Sunday, Hollywood's best and brightest gather for the 83rd time as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives their awards of merit, known worldwide as the OSCARS(c).  "The King's Speech" is the front runner to win Best Picture.

Though we're as interested in who's going to win each category as much as the next person, we're particularly excited about this year's crop of nominated composers for Best Original Score.  All this week on KPAC, Nathan Cone and John Clare have been trading ideas about who will win as they sample some of the music for each nominated film.  You can listen to their discussions through the audio links below, which include short excerpts from the nominated scores.

127 Hours: A.R. Rahman, composer

How To Train Your Dragon: John Powell, composer

The Social Network: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, composers

Inception: Hans Zimmer, composer

The King's Speech: Alexandre Desplat, composer

Nathan thinks Desplat will take home the gold for "The King's Speech," but John says the Oscar will go to Reznor and Ross for "The Social Network."  Who do YOU think will win?  Let us know in the comments box below.

And if you haven't gotten enough Oscar music, visit NPR Music to listen to a special audio stream curated by Nathan Cone, the staff of KPAC, and you.  Songs and Scores of Oscars Past is online now at NPR's companion music site, and it featured over 100 Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated songs and scores.

Enjoy, and we'll see you at the movies!

--Nathan Cone

Sticking to it and the bumpy road to success

A young American read some of this poetry to Gertrude Stein and was told by the formidable woman "to give up writing completely". She dubbed him the manufactured savage. He caught up with Aaron Copland and after some lessons was told that he was "militantly non-professional", but Paul Bowles didn't give up and succeeded in both disciplines. Also hear piano music from a dramatist who, after a long gestation period, eventually created giant operas! On the Piano his Sunday more musicians who divided their time between different art forms.

The Piano can be heard this Sunday afternoon at 5 on KPAC and KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Perlman in the news

Renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, who is playing a recital in San Antonio March 19th, has left his conducting position in Westchester, NY. Read more about the story here.
Perlman will be at Lila Cockrell Theater Saturday March 19th at 7:30pm with pianist Rohan DeSilva.  Tickets are available here.

(Project) Sing Sing Sing!

The Children’s Chorus of San Antonio (CCSA) shines in "Project: Sing!" at Our Lady of the Lake University tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the Thiry Auditorium.
Project: Sing! is CCSA’s neighborhood-based satellite program that gives area children the opportunity to sing, learn, share and excel. PS:OLLU is in its tenth season and provides tuition-free programs to over 70 students from San Antonio and Edgewood ISDs.
Singers represent the 10 schools spanning grades 3-6 and receive the same level of curriculum and instruction as CCSA’s core programs. CCSA continues to provide exceptional experiences in choral music education and performance to over 300 children and youth annually.
The programs include five performing ensembles for children and youth ages seven to 18; “Music Together” an early-childhood music program for infants and toddlers ages birth to five; “Big Kids” for youngsters ages five to seven; and Project: Sing! a neighborhood-based satellite ensemble for elementary children in Harlandale, San Antonio and Edgewood school districts.
The CCSA singers who represent San Antonio and the surrounding communities perform in a variety of concerts throughout the city. CCSA's advanced choirs have traveled nationwide boasting feature performances, tours to Europe and Canada and have been featured on NBC-TV's Today Show. CCSA’s ensembles regularly perform with the San Antonio Symphony, San Antonio Mastersingers and the Youth Orchestras of San Antonio among others.
Auditions for CCSA’s next season’s choir begin May 12-14. For more information, call (210) 826-3447 or visit their website at childrenschorussa.org.

Anne Kaufman on Irving Berlin's Always

Anne Kaufman, daughter of playwright, humorist and producer George Kaufman, tells of her father's falling out with Irving Berlin after he mocked Berlin's sentimental ballad Always. This is taken from the series American Popular Song, written and produced by James Baker and Kathy Couser for KPAC in 2005. The opening phrase of Always is sung by Bruce Hubbard.

Beautiful evening, gorgeous recording

Janine Jansen has released a new album of French music including Debussy, Ravel, Faure and Messiaen. She also includes some new works by Richard Dubugnon, who she speaks with in this delightful interview:

TPR's John Clare will feature Beau Soir this Thursday on Classical Spotlight and talk with Janine, check it out 1pm on KPAC & KTXI.

Musical Moustache?

In the years before one could have music just spill out of a box at the press of a button, people had to make their own. In Houston there is an orchestra made up of physicians, these doctors had music as a friend and ally during their long years of study. It is not surprising that educators recommend that all students explore music by learning an instrument. In the nineteenth century the amount of time devoted to the arts was much higher than today and many accomplished people were also proficient musicians.

On the Piano this Sunday music of famous people, not well known musicians, but those who are better known for their other accomplishments; in this case literary. Hear "It's not my day job" on the Piano this Sunday afternoon at 5 on     KPAC & KTXI.

host, Randy Anderson

Free Trade Baroque

We guarantee the Coffee Cantata is free trade! (and so is the concert!)
Cellist Frederick Edelen and harpsichordist Christina Edelen will present a concert of music of the French Baroque on Thursday evening, February 24, at 7:00 p.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church (11 St. Luke's Lane, San Antonio). Special guests include tenor Tony Boutte´ and baroque flutist Colin St. Martin. The concert will feature music by Rameau, Monteclair, and Boismortier and the Coffee Cantata of Nicolas Bernier.
This program is free and open to the public. For more info: 210-828-6425

Thanks to our host Gerald Self for the heads up! Listen to his show, Musica Antiqua Wednesday nights at 9pm (CST) on KPAC & KTXI!

RIP Sidney Harth - Concertmaster, Conductor, Teacher

Read more here: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11047/1125789-122.stm
Violinist and conductor SIDNEY HARTH, was universally acclaimed as one of the world's great artists. His prolific career as a performer and educator has earned him countless honors and accolades, and his numerous recordings have made an important contribution to classical discography.
In a stunning musical and political victory, Harth attained international recognition when he became the first American to be awarded the Laureate Prize in Poland's Wieniawshi Violin Competition in 1957 at the height of the Cold War.
Harth's orchestral career was unparalleled. He served as Concertmaster of the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras, both under conductor Zubin Mehta, Concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner, and Concertmaster of the Louisville Symphony Orchestra under Robert Whitney, where he was also Assistant Conductor. His solo engagements took him to virtually every musical capital in the world, performing with the major symphony orchestras of North America, Europe, Israel, China, South America, and Russia. Harth was a familiar figure at the leading summer music festivals including the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Music Festival, the Vancouver Summer Festival, the Grands Interprets dans le Valle du Lot in France, and the popular festivals in Santa Barbara, Maine, Alaska, Texas, and Tennessee.
In tandum with his solo engagements, Harth enjoyed a brilliant career as a conductor. His numerous appointments have included the post of Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Music Director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and the Northwest Chamber Orchestra of Seattle, and Principal Conductor of the Natal Symphony Orchestra in South Africa. He has served as director of the conducting programs at Mannes College of Music in New York, the University of Texas in Houston, and the Hartt College of Music at the University of Connecticut in Hartford. He served as Director of Orchestral Activities at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Sidney Harth's notable academic career was marked by his appointment as the Andrew W. Mellon Permanent Professor of Music at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was also the Music Department Head, and Professor of Violin at Yale University for 17 years.

Yo Yo Ma - winner

The White House and President Obama will bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom -- the country's highest civilian honor -- on 15 individuals, including cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The awards, which will be presented today, are intended to honor individuals who have made "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."
Other recipients include former President George H. W. Bush, slugger Stan "the man" Musial, German Chancellor Angela Merkel; Georgia congressman and civil rights leader John Lewis; Natural Resources Defense Council co-founder John Adams; poet Maya Angelou; investor Warren Buffett; artist Jasper Johns; Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein; humanitarian activist Tom Little, who was killed in Afghanistan; civil rights activist Sylvia Mendez; Boston Celtics NBA legend Bill Russell; nonprofit leader and former Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith; and AFL-CIO chief John Sweeney.
Read more about it here.
Yo-Yo Ma will be performing with the Silk Road Ensemble next month, March 31st. Find out more here.