The oldest musical instruments in the world have been unearthed, reports BBC News. Found in Hohle Fels cavern in southwest Germany, the flutes date to the time that modern humans forged colonies in Europe, circa 35,000 years ago.
What’s more, researchers suggest that music played a major role in prehistoric cultures: “Music, they suggest, may have been one of a suite of behaviors displayed by our own species which helped give them an edge over the Neanderthals.”
Gotta say, we’re not surprised. Case in point:
The flute pictured at top — the most well-preserved of the lot — is carved from a vulture’s wing bone. It is one of eight flutes discovered in the area. Take a listen at BBC News online.
LEGO and music maniacs, listen up! While most of us are stuck building pirate ships and Sherwood Forest hideaways, LEGO wiz Nathan Sawaya is busy creating “brick art.” His latest: a life-sized, playable cello. Watch the construction:
We’d like to see a LEGO orchestra next. Imagine the possibilities.
The Planets + birthday cupcakes? What more can you ask for?
Join us tonight for a big-time birthday bash in honor of Benaroya Hall’s first dazzling decade in Seattle. Hear Gustav Holst’s mighty symphonic suite, The Planets, alongside Beethoven’s First Symphony. Then, join us in the Grand Lobby for a FREE post-concert birthday party, including cupcakes, dj and dancing.
RSVP required for the post-concert party (space is limited!). Call 206.215.4851 to reserve your spot, or visit the registration table in The Boeing Company Gallery along Third Avenue the night of the concert for your party pass.
Thanks for a tremendous 10 years, Seattle — here’s to 100’s more!
Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of Seattle Symphony, in our grand season finale featuring Gustav Holst’s celestial suite, The Planets, and the World Premiere of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Symphony of Meditations.
Tonight and Friday, hear Holst’s paean to the planetary bodies (and their astrological attributes) alongside Kernis’ Third Symphony — his first work of this scale in 18 years! — commissioned by Seattle Symphony with generous support from Jeff and Lara Sanderson. Symphony of Meditations is a luminous piece for vocal soloists, chorus and orchestra, featuring MacArthur Fellow Peter Cole’s glorious translations of 11th-century Sephardic poetry.
Join MacArthur Fellow and poet Peter Cole for a FREE poetry workshop on Tuesday, June 23, from 3 to 6pm in Soundbridge, located at the corner of 2nd Ave. & Union St. in Benaroya Hall.
Cole, an American poet living in Jerusalem, played a significant role in the genesis of Aaron Jay Kernis’ Symphony No. 3, Symphony of Meditations, which Seattle Symphony will premiere on June 25 & 26. Kernis was inspired by Cole’s translation of 11th-century Spanish poet Solomon Ibn Gabirol’s Kingdom’s Crown, which he used as vocal text for his Third Symphony.
At the workshop, Cole will discuss the ways in which the foreign enters into his own work as a poet and as a translator, then guide a discussion of the great Hebrew poetry that was written in Muslim Spain.
Parking available for $5 in the Benaroya Hall Garage.
Midori is in town this week to perform not one, not two, but three pieces with the Orchestra. Three. Does the word “superstar” come to mind? The violinist burst onto the classical music scene in 1982 in her concert debut with Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic (ps. she was 11!), and has since made a name for herself as one of the world’s top violinists.
But Midori isn’t just about being in the soloist’s spotlight — she’s dedicated to giving back to her community (and to communities around the country) through incredible education and outreach projects. In 1992, she founded Midori & Friends, a non-profit organization that provides music education to more than 13,000 underserved kids in New York City’s public schools annually. In 2001, Midori spearheaded the Partners in Performance program, funded by the monetary prize she received along with her Avery Fisher Career Grant. Partners in Performance supports classical music presenters in communities across the nation by offering affordable concerts by major artists.
Yes, we drink Starbucks coffee (it’s Seattle, right?), so it was particularly heartwarming to see this quote from none other than Yo-Yo Ma, cellist extraordinaire, on the back of a recent mocha:
“What I look for in musicians is generosity. There is so much to learn from each other and from each other’s culture. Great creativity begins with tolerance.”
Alan White, longtime drummer for British prog-rock band YES, will join the Symphony’s percussion section on Sunday to perform a part of his all-time favorite symphonic piece, Stravinsky’s Firebird. Sunday marks White’s 60th birthday, and taking the stage with the Symphony fulfills his ultimate b-day wish.
White, who began studying music at age 6, signed on with YES in 1972 and has been touring with the group ever since. He and his bandmates will set out on the 2009 YES World Tour at the end of the month.
Remember this awesome — and, of course, a little nightmarish — scene from Disney’s classical music extravaganza Fantasia?
This is Modest Mussorgsky’s thrilling showpiece, A Night on Bald Mountain, in a posthumous orchestration by Mussorgsky’s composer-colleague, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. (Read more about the complicated genesis of this repertoire powerhouse in the online program notes — you won’t believe the route this piece took to get to the concert hall!)
Hear it live this weekend at Seattle Symphony (sans giant winged demons), June 11–14, alongside a fresh violin concerto by Thomas Adès, performed by Leila Josefowicz, and Stravinsky’s mighty ballet score, The Firebird.
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