PYP News
Kristan Knapp, Alumni Relations Manager, Retires after 9 1/2 years
Posted on June 12, 2024
Alumni, Friends, Staff and Board celebrated Kristan’s retirement on June 12 in the PYP office.
Among those present were alumni Scott Swope, Larry Baldridge, Judy Rompa, Daniel Avshalomov, Brenda Ray Scott, and Bill Spady. Bill gave the following appreciation. Kristan Knapp is a very special person, which I immediately recognized after settling back in the Portland area nine years ago and getting... Read More ›
Johannes Brahms: “Academic Festival Overture”
Posted on May 24, 2024
By the late 1870s Brahms’ position as a preëminent composer was well recognized. He was almost universally admired for his first two symphonies, his two serenades, and the “Haydn” variations. So, in 1879 the University of Breslau in Prussia (now Wrocław, Poland), in the best tradition of universities everywhere, brought honor to the distinguished composer—and distinction to itself, of course—by awarding him an... Read More ›
Benjamin Britten: “Four Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes”
Posted on May 24, 2024
Benjamin Britten is one of the last century’s most respected composers, and unquestionably the most influential and admired British composer from WW II until his death in 1976. Fantastically gifted from an early age (almost a thousand compositions before his first mature, published one!), he was blessed with the early attainment of an authentic personal “voice” in his musical style. That... Read More ›
George Gershwin: “Rhapsody in Blue”
Posted on May 24, 2024
George Gershwin was arguably the most successful and talented of America’s composers of popular music. His songs constitute the core of the “American Songbook,” whether composed as part of his immensely successful Broadway shows, or as stand alone popular tunes. Born of Russian Jewish immigrants, he didn’t evince his formidable musical talents until about the age of ten, when a piano was... Read More ›
Franz Schubert: Symphony No. 8 in B Minor, D. 759 “Unfinished”
Posted on May 24, 2024
The epitaph on Schubert’s tombstone reads: “The art of music has entombed here a rich treasure but even fairer hopes.” We all lament the “loss” of treasure that we never possessed, none perhaps more than great art that we presume may have come to pass but not for lives cut short in youth. We must remember that not all composers can live... Read More ›
Sylvan Talavera: examine it carefully, before it’s set ablaze
Posted on April 26, 2024
examine it carefully, before it’s set ablaze is, like many other pieces I’ve written, an exploration of a small piece of text I like, in this case a single line from a song by The Books. When I find that a line from something I’ve read or heard is bouncing around in my brain, I tend to make art that tries to feel like a... Read More ›
Comments [4] | Post a Comment