Maestros In America

This volume presents biographical and critical essays of the leading orchestral conductors of US nationality, or of non-US citizens holding permanent appointments in the US, during the twenty-first century.

Maestros in America: Conductors in the 21st Century provides short biographical and critical essays of over 100 American conductors-and conductors in America-in the twenty-first century. Roderick L. Sharpe and Jeanne Koekkoek Stierman made their selections based on three categories of persons: American-born; naturalized US citizens; and foreign conductors holding a permanent appointment in the US. In addition, all individuals included had to have been active as conductors at the start of the new millennium. These criteria allowed the authors to incorporate up-and-comers as well as those more established, offering an extensive cross-section of the upper echelons of the conducting profession focused on the present, recent past, and future. Each entry is a biographical essay containing essential facts of the conductor's life and work, as well as assessment and commentary gleaned from articles, interviews, reviews, and, in some cases, personal observation. The entries conclude with the conductor's website, a list of further reading, and selected recordings. These sketches of currently or recently practicing conductors provide insight into the state of orchestral music-making in the US as it is, has been, and may become, highlighting the efforts these conductors made to ensure its survival. Complete with two appendixes and an index, this important reference will be beneficial to music students and faculty, reference librarians, orchestral administrators, and music lovers alike.

Explores the evolving history of immigration to the United States, a long saga about people coming first in search of food and then, later in a quest for religious and political freedom, safety, and prosperity.

Who is responsible? From the President to the Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan to Wall Street to the role of the emerging technologies, Woodward uses his exhaustive investigative technique to reveal the ideas and politics that have changed the lives of millions of people and established the United States as the world's preeminent power. He shows why America has found itself in this exalted position. How it might have been different and when and why it might end.

Music and Maestros was first published in 1952. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. Music lovers all over the United States as well as in other countries have heard the music of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra under the direction of such noted conductors as Dimitri Mitropoulos and Eugene Ormandy. Now they can enjoy the story behind those concerts, records, and radio broadcasts through this intimate history of the men and music that have made the orchestra famous. The story begins with the lively musical activities of a frontier town, the antecedents of the symphony orchestra that took shape at the turn of the century. From the early years of the organization under the batons of Emil Oberhoffer and Henri Verbrugghen, the chronicle rises to the period of the great contemporaries, Ormandy, Mitropoulos, and Antal Dorati. There is a wealth of detail on the career of Mitropoulos, the renowned New York Philharmonic conductor who reached his present stature during his leadership of the Minneapolis orchestra.The extensive concert tours that have earned for the Minneapolis symphony the nickname of "orchestra on wheels" are recalled in anecdotes that will evoke many a chuckle and plenty of amazement. Accounts of early recording sessions offer fascinating sidelights on this aspect of musical history. A complete list of the works performed by the orchestra during the past fifty years provides a significant record of changing trends in musical tastes. A roster of al the players who have been members of the orchestra is given, and the reference section also includes a complete list of out-of-town engagements and a list of the orchestra's recordings which are available.

The story of the Philadelphia Orchestra told through three of its greatest conductors.

(Amadeus). Conducting an orchestra is something that is seen as well as heard, but it is quite misunderstood when it comes to knowing what this person actually does for a living. This most mysterious of jobs is brought to life for the music lover as well as for the aspiring maestro in a book by Leonard Slatkin. Drawing on his own experiences on and off the podium, Slatkin brings us into the world of the baton. He tells tales of some of the most fascinating people in the musical world, including Frank Sinatra, Leonard Bernstein, and John Williams. He takes the reader to the great concert halls and orchestras, soundstages in Hollywood, and opera pits around the globe. Mr. Slatkin recounts his controversial appearance at the Metropolitan Opera, his creation and direction of summer music festivals, and a shattering concert experience that took place four days following 9/11. Life in the recording studio and on the road as well as health issues confronting the conductor provide an insider's glimpse into the private world of public figures. Covering everything from learning how to read music to standing in front of an orchestra for the first time, what to wear, and how to deal with the press, Conducting Business is a unique look at a unique profession.

Louis Passau is America’s greatest living orchestral conductor, a legendary, world-acclaimed artist whose ninetieth birthday will be marked by a glittering celebratory concert at New York’s Lincoln Center. But a double shadow hangs over the event: Passau has recently been accused of spying for Hitler and, worse, the British Secret Intelligence Service have now linked his name to KGB clandestine operations in the USA during the Cold War. The Maestro agrees to be interrogated, but only after the concert. British Intelligence call in Big Herbie Kruger to question the Maestro, and thanks to the once-famous agent-runner Passau survives an assassination attempt in his moment of glory. Still a target, he now insists on dealing only with Kruger, who desperately seeks a safe-house to conduct the debriefing. As he grapples with the elusive truth about the conductor – from the man’s first memories of his Bavarian village, to his adventures as a young immigrant in New York, his experiences in Capone’s Chicago and his ruthless rise to fame and fortune – Herbie Kruger finds himself ensnared in the Maestro’s dangerous secrets and deceits.