Fan sings NOI from ZAIA Cirque Du Soleil

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn608_lamG0

A ZAIA fan has recorded their own rendition of the song NOI from the show, complete with photos from the Zaia theater performances and pics of the band. (Hey, I’m in those pics!). Chicago Rose who performs this song in the show with the cast says “I love it”. And I think it’s pretty darn cool too.

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Symphony of Science – We Are All Connected

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk

“We Are All Connected” was made from sampling Carl Sagan’s Cosmos, The History Channel’s Universe series, Richard Feynman’s 1983 interviews, Neil deGrasse Tyson’s cosmic sermon, and Bill Nye’s Eyes of Nye Series, plus added visuals from The Elegant Universe (NOVA), Stephen Hawking’s Universe, Cosmos, the Powers of 10, and more. It is a tribute to great minds of science, intended to spread scientific knowledge and philosophy through the medium of music.

Leoš Janáček – String Quartet No. 2, ‘Intimate Letters’ (1 of 4)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jh7aXjRj08

I did not like this piece on first listen – then I read about it’s background: the description of Janacek’s unrequited love and pining. And now the piece is very powerful to me.

Janacek once wrote: “I maintain that a pure musical note means nothing unless it is pinned down in life, blood and locale; otherwise, it is a worthless toy.”

And that is exactly true for this piece, the “Intimate Letters”. How many songs do we each have in our personal lives that are tied to a certain event or emotion that triggers our memory when we hear it? Or to have a piece like this framed with new information so the performance takes on a deeper perceived meaning.

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The Clowns of Cirque Du Soleil

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVwRv7tnRcA

A montage of the clowns of Cirque Du Soleil. I see Dimitri Hatton here from our ZAIA Cirque show doing his Montgolfiere passage and “Mad Conductor” act. I’m sure that Onofrio Colucci is also in this video but I’m not sure which clown he is (formerly with “O” and Zaia, currently with ZED in Tokyo).

You’ll also see Brian Dewhurst from Mystere. I had the chance to see Mystere performed in Vegas several years ago and the pre-show antics of Dewhurst stand out in my memory as one of the highlights of the show. He is SO funny.

Leonard Bernstein – What is Orchestration?

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz7HCGpRZDM

Leonard Bernstein. Young people’s concerts. What is Orchestration?. March 8, 1958

Bernstein discusses orchestration beginning with Rimsky-Korsakov live performance examples. He also plays examples of bad orchestration.

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Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture Part 2

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW4C2h3lPac

Compare the two conducting and performance styles for Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.

Top video is concluding part two of Tchaikovsky’s famous 1812 Overture performed by the Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Mark Elder at the Royal Albert Hall during the Nations Favourite Prom 2004

Bottom video is the Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6LY11kV444

Survivors Remember Kristallnacht: Rabbi Gerd Jacob (Zwienicki) Wiener

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clmpqf2aB5c

In this interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Holocaust survivor Rabbi Gerd Jacob (Zwienicki) Wiener shares his memories of Kristallnacht, the November 1938 pogroms.