Download or read book The Magic of Beverly Sills written by Nancy Guy and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2015-10-15 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With her superb coloratura soprano, passion for the world of opera, and down-to-earth personality, Beverly Sills made high art accessible to millions from the time of her meteoric rise to stardom in 1966 until her death in 2007. An unlikely pop culture phenomenon, Sills was equally at ease on talk shows, on the stage, and in the role of arts advocate and administrator. Merging archival research with her own love of Sills's music, Nancy Guy examines the singer-actress's artistry alongside the ineffable aspects of performance that earned Sills a passionate fandom. Guy mines the memories of colleagues, critics, and aficionados to recover something of the spell Sills wove for people on both sides of the footlights during the hot moments of onstage performance. At the same time, she analyzes essential questions raised by Sills's art and celebrity. How did Sills challenge the divide between elite and mass culture and build a fan base that crossed generations and socio-economic lines? Above all, how did Sills capture the unnameable magic that joins the members of an audience to a performer--and to one-another? Intimate and revealing, The Magic of Beverly Sills explores the alchemy of art, magnetism, community, and emotion that produced an American icon.
Download or read book Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan written by Nancy Guy and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peking Opera and Politics in Taiwan tells the peculiar story of an art caught in a sea of ideological ebbs and flows. Nancy Guy demonstrates the potential significance of the political environment for an art form's development, ranging from determining the smallest performative details (such as how a melody can or cannot be composed) to whether a tradition ultimately thrives or withers away.When Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government and military retreated to Taiwan in 1949, they brought along numerous Peking opera performers. Expecting that this symbolically important art would strengthen regime legitimacy and authority, they generously supported Peking opera's perpetuation in exile. Valuing mainland Chinese culture above Taiwanese culture, the Nationalists generously supported Peking opera to the virtual exclusion of local performing traditions, despite their wider popularity. Later, as Taiwan turned toward democracy, the island's own "indigenous" products became more highly valued and Peking opera found itself on a tenuous footing. Finally, in 1995, all of its opera troupes and schools (formerly supported by the Ministry of Defense) were dismantled.Nancy Guy investigates the mechanisms through which Peking Opera was perpetuated, controlled, and ultimately disempowered, and explores the artistic and political consequences of the state's involvement as its primary patron. Her study provides a unique perspective on the interplay between ideology and power within Taiwan's dynamic society.Nancy Guy is an associate professor of music at the University of California, San Diego.
Download or read book Beverly Sills Sherrill Milnes up in Central Park written by Beverly Sills and published by . This book was released on 1978 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Social Voices written by Levi S. Gibbs and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2023-09-05 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singers generating cultural identity from K-Pop to Beverly Sills Around the world and across time, singers and their songs stand at the crossroads of differing politics and perspectives. Levi S. Gibbs edits a collection built around the idea of listening as a political act that produces meaning. Contributors explore a wide range of issues by examining artists like Romani icon Esma Redžepova, Indian legend Lata Mangeshkar, and pop superstar Teresa Teng. Topics include gendered performances and the negotiation of race and class identities; the class-related contradictions exposed by the divide between highbrow and pop culture; links between narratives of overcoming struggle and the distinction between privileged and marginalized identities; singers’ ability to adapt to shifting notions of history, borders, gender, and memory in order to connect with listeners; how the meanings we read into a singer’s life and art build on one another; and technology’s ability to challenge our ideas about what constitutes music. Cutting-edge and original, Social Voices reveals how singers and their songs equip us to process social change and divergent opinions. Contributors: Christina D. Abreu, Michael K. Bourdaghs, Kwame Dawes, Nancy Guy, Ruth Hellier, John Lie, Treva B. Lindsey, Eric Lott, Katherine Meizel, Carol A. Muller, Natalie Sarrazin, Anthony Seeger, Carol Silverman, Andrew Simon, Jeff Todd Titon, and Elijah Wald
Download or read book Beverly Sills written by Mona Kerby and published by Viking Books for Young Readers. This book was released on 1989 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a biography of the famous opera singer who became Director of the New York City Opera.
Download or read book Beverly Sills written by Bridget Paolucci and published by Chelsea House Pub. This book was released on 1990 with total page 111 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Portrays the life and career of the successful opera star and businesswoman.
Download or read book An Afternoon with Beverly Sills written by Beverly Sills and published by . This book was released on 1983 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beverly Sills 108 Success Facts Everything You Need to Know about Beverly Sills written by Jane Curry and published by Emereo Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-05 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Best book on Beverly Sills, Bar None. This book is your ultimate resource for Beverly Sills. Here you will find the most up-to-date 108 Success Facts, Information, and much more. In easy to read chapters, with extensive references and links to get you to know all there is to know about Beverly Sills's Early life, Career and Personal life right away. A quick look inside: Lawrence Linderman, Prima donna - Opera, Barbara Goldsmith - Selected Awards and Honors, National Women's Hall of Fame - M-Z, Estelle Liebling, 14th Screen Actors Guild Awards - In Memoriam, Kennedy Center Honors - 1980s, Carl Van Vechten - Biography, Beverly Sills - Peak singing years, Live from Lincoln Center - History, Hollywood Bowl - Performances, National Medal of Arts - 1990s, Beverly Sills - Honors and awards, Kensico Cemetery - Notable interments in Sharon Gardens division, California Institute of the Arts - Honorary degrees, Ravinia Festival - Overview, Blackglama - 'Blackglama - What Becomes a Legend Most' Spokesmodels, List of caricatures at Sardi's restaurant - S, Live from Lincoln Center - Notable broadcasts, Sigma Alpha Iota - Honorary members, Carol Burnett & Company, Beverly Sills - Further reading/listening/viewing, Coloratura soprano - Listen and compare, The Barber of Seville - Performance history, Rosa Ponselle - Retirement, Long Island Music Hall of Fame - 2008 inductees, Rudolf Bing - Life and career, IBM PC - The Little Tramp, Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company, Nicola Rescigno - Biography, Carol Burnett - Emmy Awards, Opera Company of Boston - Legacy, Peter Vince - Career, Opera Omaha, Nancy Drew - Cultural impact, Baby Doe Tabor - Reputation and legacy, Peter Greenough, and much more...
Download or read book Charles Ives s Concord written by Kyle Gann and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 457 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1921, insurance executive Charles Ives sent out copies of a piano sonata to two hundred strangers. Laden with dissonant chords, complex rhythm, and a seemingly chaotic structure, the so-called Concord Sonata confounded the recipients, as did the accompanying book, Essays before a Sonata . Kyle Gann merges exhaustive research with his own experience as a composer to reveal the Concord Sonata and the essays in full. Diffracting the twinned works into their essential aspects, Gann lays out the historical context that produced Ives's masterpiece and illuminates the arguments Ives himself explored in the Essays . Gann also provides a movement-by-movement analysis of the work's harmonic structure and compositional technique; connects the sonata to Ives works that share parts of its material; and compares the 1921 version of the Concord with its 1947 revision to reveal important aspects of Ives's creative process. A tour de force of critical, theoretical, and historical thought, Charles Ives's Concord provides nothing less than the first comprehensive consideration of a work at the heart of twentieth century American music.
Download or read book Spirituals and the Birth of a Black Entertainment Industry written by Sandra Jean Graham and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2018-02-26 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spirituals performed by jubilee troupes became a sensation in post-Civil War America. First brought to the stage by choral ensembles like the Fisk Jubilee Singers, spirituals anchored a wide range of late nineteenth-century entertainments, including minstrelsy, variety, and plays by both black and white companies. In the first book-length treatment of postbellum spirituals in theatrical entertainments, Sandra Jean Graham mines a trove of resources to chart the spiritual's journey from the private lives of slaves to the concert stage. Graham navigates the conflicting agendas of those who, in adapting spirituals for their own ends, sold conceptions of racial identity to their patrons. In so doing they lay the foundation for a black entertainment industry whose artistic, financial, and cultural practices extended into the twentieth century. A companion website contains jubilee troupe personnel, recordings, and profiles of 85 jubilee groups. Please go to: http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/graham/spirituals/
Download or read book Bill Monroe written by Tom Ewing and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2018-09-07 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Father of Bluegrass Music, Bill Monroe was a major star of the Grand Ole Opry for over fifty years; a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, and Rock and Roll Halls of Fame; and a legendary figure in American music. This authoritative biography sets out to examine his life in careful detail--to move beyond hearsay and sensationalism to explain how and why he accomplished so much. Former Blue Grass Boy and longtime music journalist Tom Ewing draws on hundreds of interviews, his personal relationship with Monroe, and an immense personal archive of materials to separate the truth from longstanding myth. Ewing tells the story of the Monroe family's musical household and Bill's early career in the Monroe Brothers duo. He brings to life Monroe's 1940s heyday with the Classic Bluegrass Band, the renewed fervor for his music sparked by the folk revival of the 1960s, and his declining fortunes in the years that followed. Throughout, Ewing deftly captures Monroe's relationships and the personalities of an ever-shifting roster of band members while shedding light on his business dealings and his pioneering work with Bean Blossom and other music festivals. Filled with a wealth of previously unknown details, Bill Monroe offers even the most devoted fan a deeper understanding of Monroe's towering achievements and timeless music.
Download or read book The Possibility Machine written by Jake Johnson and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2023-10-10 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Singular and star-studded writings on America’s neon-lit playground At once a Technicolor wonderland and the embodiment of American mythology, Las Vegas exists at the Ground Zero of a reverence for risk-taking and the transformative power of a winning hand. Jake Johnson edits a collection of short essays and flash ideas that probes how music-making and soundscapes shape the City of Second Chances. Treating topics ranging from Cher to Cirque de Soleil, the contributors delve into how music and musicians factored in the early development of Vegas’s image; the role of local communities of musicians and Strip mainstays in sustaining tensions between belief and disbelief; the ways aging showroom stars provide a sense of timelessness that inoculates visitors against the outside world; the link connecting fantasies of sexual prowess and democracy with the musical values of Liberace and others; considerations of how musicians and establishments gambled with identity and opened the door for audience members to explore Sin City–only versions of themselves; and the echoes and energy generated by the idea of Las Vegas as it travels across the country. Contributors: Celine Ayala, Kirstin Bews, Laura Dallman, Joanna Dee Das, James Deaville, Robert Fink, Pheaross Graham, Jessica A. Holmes, Maddie House-Tuck, Jake Johnson, Kelly Kessler, Michael Kinney, Carlo Lanfossi, Jason Leddington, Janis McKay, Sam Murray, Louis Niebur, Lynda Paul, Arianne Johnson Quinn, Michael M. Reinhard, Laura Risk, Cassaundra Rodriguez, Arreanna Rostosky, and Brian F. Wright
Download or read book Hillbilly Maidens Okies and Cowgirls written by Stephanie Vander Wel and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A PopMatters Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 From the 1930s to the 1960s, the booming popularity of country music threw a spotlight on a new generation of innovative women artists. These individuals blazed trails as singers, musicians, and performers even as the industry hemmed in their potential popularity with labels like woman hillbilly, singing cowgirl, and honky-tonk angel. Stephanie Vander Wel looks at the careers of artists like Patsy Montana, Rose Maddox, and Kitty Wells against the backdrop of country music's golden age. Analyzing recordings and appearances on radio, film, and television, she connects performances to real and imagined places and examines how the music sparked new ways for women listeners to imagine the open range, the honky-tonk, and the home. The music also captured the tensions felt by women facing geographic disruption and economic uncertainty. While classic songs and heartfelt performances might ease anxieties, the subject matter underlined women's ambivalent relationships to industrialism, middle-class security, and established notions of femininity.
Download or read book Unsettled Scores written by Sally Bick and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2019-12-20 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hollywood careers of Aaron Copland and Hanns Eisler brought the composers and their high art sensibility into direct conflict with the premier producer of America's potent mass culture. Drawn by Hollywood's potential to reach—and edify—the public, Copland and Eisler expertly wove sophisticated musical ideas into Hollywood and, each in their own distinctive way, left an indelible mark on movie history. Sally Bick's dual study of Copland and Eisler pairs interpretations of their writings on film composing with a close examination of their first Hollywood projects: Copland's music for Of Mice and Men and Eisler's score for Hangmen Also Die! Bick illuminates the different ways the composers treated a film score as means of expressing their political ideas on society, capitalism, and the human condition. She also delves into Copland's and Eisler's often conflicted attempts to adapt their music to fit Hollywood's commercial demands, an enterprise that took place even as they wrote hostile critiques of the film industry.
Download or read book The Lady Swings written by Dottie Dodgion and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2021-03-29 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dottie Dodgion is a jazz drummer who played with the best. A survivor, she lived an entire lifetime before she was seventeen. Undeterred by hardships she defied the odds and earned a seat as a woman in the exclusive men’s club of jazz. Her dues-paying path as a musician took her from early work with Charles Mingus to being hired by Benny Goodman at Basin Street East on her first day in New York. From there she broke new ground as a woman who played a “man’s instrument” in first-string, all-male New York City jazz bands. Her inspiring memoir talks frankly about her music and the challenges she faced, and shines a light into the jazz world of the 1960s and 1970s. Vivid and always entertaining, The Lady Swings tells Dottie Dodgion's story with the same verve and straight-ahead honesty that powered her playing. A Variety Best Music Book of 2021
Download or read book Libby Larsen written by Denise Von Glahn and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Libby Larsen has composed award-winning music performed around the world. Her works range from chamber pieces and song cycles to operas to large-scale works for orchestra and chorus. At the same time, she has advocated for living composers and new music since cofounding the American Composers Forum in 1973. Denise Von Glahn’s in-depth examination of Larsen merges traditional biography with a daring scholarly foray: an ethnography of one active artist. Drawing on musical analysis, the composer’s personal archive, and seven years of interviews with Larsen and those in her orbit, Von Glahn illuminates the polyphony of achievements that make up Larsen’s public and private lives. In considering Larsen’s musical impact, Von Glahn delves into how elements of the personal—a 1950s childhood, spiritual seeking, love of nature, and status as an “important woman artist”—inform her work. The result is a portrait of a musical pathfinder who continues to defy expectations and reject labels.
Download or read book Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry written by Kevin Mungons and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2021-06-15 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From tent revivals to radio and records with a gospel music innovator Homer Rodeheaver merged evangelical hymns and African American spirituals with popular music to create a potent gospel style. Kevin Mungons and Douglas Yeo examine his enormous influence on gospel music against the backdrop of Christian music history and Rodeheaver's impact as a cultural and business figure. Rodeheaver rose to fame as the trombone-playing song leader for evangelist Billy Sunday. As revivalism declined after World War I, Rodeheaver leveraged his place in America's newborn celebrity culture to start the first gospel record label and launch a nationwide radio program. His groundbreaking combination of hymnal publishing and recording technology helped define the early Christian music industry. In his later years, he influenced figures like Billy Graham and witnessed the music's split into southern gospel and black gospel. Clear-eyed and revealing, Homer Rodeheaver and the Rise of the Gospel Music Industry is an overdue consideration of a pioneering figure in American music.
