Theory & Practice
Undergrads explore the power of storytelling with audio documentaries
Documentaries will air on campus radio station KZSU and be posted on the Stanford Storytelling website.“I am seeking stories from accidental explorers of non-traditional realities, spiritual dimensions, labyrinths, mazes and enchanted-else-wheres.” So began a call for stories issued by Stanford senior Mischa Shoni, as part of a radio project she produced with the support of a Braden Storytelling Grant. Winners of the grant are awarded up to $3,000 to research…
Read MoreIn her research and in a new online course, Stanford scholar delves into the secrets of medieval texts
Digital tools, including a free, public online manuscript training course, are allowing English professor and medieval manuscript scholar Elaine Treharne to share her expertise well beyond traditional classroom walls.Most people don’t realize that medieval manuscripts carry in them not only the words of people centuries ago, but also a history in blood, sweat and tears – quite literally. Take the 13th-century British tome that did double duty as an impromptu shield for a hapless monk when the Vikings attacked his monastery. Bloodstains that…
Read MoreStanford students discover an 18th-century music treasure in Green Library
Music lecturer and students edit and finish an incomplete manuscript by Francesco Durante for a modern-day première in Memorial Church.This week, Marie-Louise Catsalis and her music students will present what is likely the first performance in over 300 years of Neapolitan composer Francesco Durante’s Stabat Mater. Last spring, Catsalis and her students discovered an incomplete Latin music manuscript by Durante in Stanford Library’s Special Collections and undertook the challenge of finishing the work, editing…
Read MoreArt and Ideas at Stanford Live
An in-depth look at the composer Joseph Haydn and his era – coupled with performances of some of his most iconic works. An evening of music by 11 different cultures along the Nile River – combined with conversations about geography, cultural policy, and environmental sustainability. These were the first two programs in a new series…
Read MoreThe Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra from China
2015 Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival, February 20–21The 2015 Stanford Pan-Asian Music Festival will showcase the China Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra will be in residency at Stanford University from February 18th to 22nd, 2015. During this period, it will give two symphonic concerts on February 20 and 21 in the Bing Concert Hall, focusing on music by Chinese composers. One of…
Read MoreStanford’s ‘Live Context’ series explores art and its ideas
Leveraging the university’s deep intellectual and artistic resources, "Live Context" is inspired by the conviction that the more you know about a work of art's historical and contemporary resonance the richer your experience. On tap for February: Haydn and the music of the Nile River basin.Compared with Mozart and Beethoven, “Haydn gets the short end of the stick,” says violinist Geoff Nuttall of the celebrated Stanford-based St. Lawrence String Quartet. He will make his passionate case for Haydn’s greatness – playing and talking about the composer’s music – throughout the weekend of Feb. 13–15 as part of the campus-wide Haydn:…
Read MoreRare Haydn materials in the Stanford Libraries
Over the past several months, I have been blogging about rare Haydn materials held in the Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library of Music, including one autograph manuscript, one important letter, and nine first or early score editions. Each item was digitized for deep storage in the Stanford Digital Repository, and high-quality, downloadable images have…
Read MoreStanford music scholar explores how Indian traditional folk music fuses the devotional with the political
In the first-ever ethnography of Hindu nationalism and music, Stanford music Professor Anna Schultz examines an Indian performance medium embedded with nationalist political messages.What happens when religious folk songs are used for political purposes? Stanford ethnomusicologist Anna Schultz explores this question in her latest publication, Singing a Hindu Nation: Marathi Devotional Performance. For centuries people in India have gathered in temples or on pilgrimages to hear kirtan, a form of Indian folk music that praises the divine. Schultz…
Read MoreSeen – and heard! – on campus
It’s hard to believe finals are right around the corner – what an exciting fall quarter! We have seen an amazing roster of high-profile artists and creative industry leaders on campus. I realize it may be difficult to keep up with them all – so for those keeping score at home, here are a few:…
Read MoreStanford Symphony Orchestra performs Mahler’s Symphony No. 6
The 120 musicians of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra rehearse at Bing Concert Hall for a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A minor, “Tragic.” The 90-minute epic transports performers and audience members through Mahler’s world of poetic landscape, sinister visions and profound love. Directed by Jindong Cai, the orchestra features a number of unique…
Read MoreWeston Gaylord, “Paper Chains: Cultivating Creativity”
Stanford+Connects is a 16-city world tour that brings the best of Stanford University to alumni around the world. Designed as a full afternoon of learning and connecting, attendees meet up with new “classmates” then head to the classroom for micro lectures and seminars taught by top Stanford faculty. Each event offers a broad program with…
Read MoreThe Shenson Series celebrates 10 years of recitals
The A. Jess Shenson Recital Series will celebrate its 10th anniversary this Sunday by welcoming baritone Stephen Salters to Campbell Recital Hall for a performance featuring Rachmaninoff, Strauss and American, Spanish and Brazilian folks songs. The Shenson Series was founded in 2004 by pianist LAURA DAHL, a lecturer in music, to bring vocalists to campus…
Read MoreSt. Lawrence String Quartet celebrates 25th anniversary season with three world premieres at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall
A silver anniversary and a trio of premieres kick off Oct. 19 with new work by Stanford composer Jonathan Berger.To commemorate its 25th anniversary this season, Stanford’s prized St. Lawrence String Quartet – violinists Geoff Nuttall and Mark Fewer, violist Lesley Robertson and cellist Christopher Costanza – has commissioned a trio of new works from John Adams and Stanford-based composers Jonathan Berger and Jaroslaw Kapuscinski to be premiered at Bing Concert Hall. The series,…
Read MoreStanford’s new player piano collection brings sounds of history to life
Stanford's new player piano collection opens up a world of musical and cultural highlights from the early 20th century. The Denis Condon Collection of Reproducing Pianos and Rolls brings to life historic performances from major composers like George Gershwin, Igor Stravinsky and Camille Saint-Saëns.The Golden Age of player pianos has dawned on the Farm. Stanford University recently acquired the Denis Condon Collection of Reproducing Pianos and Rolls, a private collection of more than 7,500 rolls and 10 player pianos – among the most important of its kind. Experts in the field are working along with faculty and staff…
Read MoreStanford music professor wins Humboldt Research Award for lifetime achievement
Music Professor KAROL BERGER has received a 2014 Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The 60,000 Euro award enables a scholar to spend a year working at a research institute in Germany and collaborating with other experts in the field. A scholar of Austro-German music, Berger intends to complete a long-term study…
Read MoreA molecular physics experience through movement at Stanford
Stanford collaborators fuse cutting-edge art with research-grade science.Earlier this year, dS headlined at the Barbican, London’s hot multi-arts and conference venue. Now it’s coming west. dS, short for danceroom Spectroscopy, is the world’s first large-scale, interactive molecular physics experience, and it was created by scholar, scientist and artist David Glowacki, a Royal Society research fellow at the University of Bristol, presently in…
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