by Kile Smith | Dec 2, 2022 | Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
Twenty-two years and while we’ve had a few Christmas pieces on Fleisher Discoveries, we’ve never done a Christmas show, until now. Frank Bridge (1879–1941). A Christmas Dance, Sir Roger de Coverley, for strings (1923) Alec Rowley (1892–1958). from...
by Kile Smith | Nov 27, 2022 | Uncategorized
Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord. Prelude for 2 trumpets, horn, trombone, organ, 3′. For the Installation of the Rev. Dr. Maurice Y. Lee, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Abington, Pa., 13 Nov 2022, premiered by Emily Waltz, Kent Bergin, trumpets,...
by Kile Smith | Nov 2, 2022 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
Elgar promoted him, his music sold hundreds of thousands of copies, he was as big as Elton John or Paul McCartney, but he died in poverty. So the music industry changed. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912). Symphonic Variations on an African Air (1905)...
by Kile Smith | Nov 1, 2022 | Broad Street Review
[First published in the Broad Street Review 1 Nov 2022 as “One man, his van, and 18 hours: Journey to an orphanage in Kyiv” and reprinted here by permission.] The Russians, invading Ukraine at the end of February, pounced on the capital city of Kyiv. By...
by Kile Smith | Oct 1, 2022 | Classical music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Podcast
He was the assistant conductor at the Bavarian State Opera, then assistant at Augsburg Opera, then Kapellmeister, but Hitler came to power, and the purge of Jews began. So he went to Palestine. He was forbidden to work under the terms of his travel visa. So he changed...
by Kile Smith | Sep 2, 2022 | American music, Fleisher Collection, Fleisher Discoveries, Music Composition
She founded a pioneering group for women composers and a successful independent record label. She taught in Tennessee, Hawaii, Jakarta, and Vienna. But what made Nancy Van de Vate happiest was composing—for orchestra. Nancy Van de Vate (b. 1930). Distant Worlds, for...
by Kile Smith | Aug 20, 2022 | Uncategorized
An unexpected delight was Miniwelt, “a small tour around the world” in the town of Liechtenstein in Saxony. You walk around the park and look at models of architectural marvels of the world. It drew me in, surprised, the longer I was there. The Taj Mahal,...