THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL: Roderic Dunnett previews the 2024 edition of the UK's oldest music festival, 27 July until 4 August.
ARTICLES BEING VIEWED NOW:
- Intelligently Structured and Winningly Executed - Mike Wheeler is impressed by Fenella Humphreys and Martin Roscoe's Buxton Festival recital marking the centenary of the death of Gabriel Fauré
- February 2023 New Releases - Browse a large selection of new recordings
- New Releases for April 2024 and Later - Browse a selection of new recordings
- Comment
- Gerald Fenech
CENTRAL ENGLAND: Mike Wheeler's concert reviews from Nottingham and Derbyshire feature high profile artists on the UK circuit - often quite early on their tours.
American composer Stephen Paulus was born on 24 August 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, and grew up in Minnesota, where he studied with Paul Fetler.
He co-founded the American Composers Forum in 1973.
In 1983 he became the Minnesota Orchestra's composer-in-residence, and five years later he took a similar post with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
Paulus is best known for his 1982 opera The Postman Always Rings Twice, to a libretto by Colin Graham based on James M Cain's 1934 novel of the same name. It was written for the Opera Theatre of St Louis, and he composed four further operas for the same company. He wrote nearly sixty orchestral works and more than one-hundred-and-fifty choral works, including the Holocaust oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn, a Stabat Mater and the anthem Pilgrims' Hymn.
His much-performed and recorded music is tonal, melodic, lush and romantic sounding.
Paulus, a prolific composer of more than five hundred works, suffered a stroke in July 2013 and died in Minnesota from the ensuing complications the following year, on 19 October 2014, aged sixty-five.
Classical music news - Pacifica Quartet - The Pacifica Quartet returns as Don Michael Randel ensemble-in-residence at Chicago University
CD Spotlight. Yuletide Writing - The Taylor Festival Choir, heard by Howard Smith. '... irresistible verve and clarity.'
Record Box. A Rewarding Experience - Music from The Phoenix Chorale impresses Patric Standford