by David Evan Thomas | Sep 29, 2019 | Composers, Musicians, My Blog, Performers, Poets, Singers |
Listening to Anna Tivel Idon’t remember how I discovered the songs of the Portland-based folk-singer Anna Tivel. It was probably through Folk Alley, an internet radio station that keeps me company while I’m doing computer work. I admired the clear harmony and...
by David Evan Thomas | Aug 30, 2016 | Composers, Concerts, Musicians, My Blog, Public figures |
August, 2016 As a kid, I enjoyed the syndicated column of Sidney J. Harris (1917-1986), which appeared on the same page with Ann Landers and Erma Bombeck. Like those writers, Harris helped you navigate the real world with insight and humor. One of his regular features...
by David Evan Thomas | Apr 17, 2016 | Concerts, Musicians, Performers, Public figures, Singers |
This coming Wednesday, April 20, 2016, The Schubert Club will welcome the Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel back to Saint Paul. There is no better ambassador for Welsh song—for song, period—than Terfel. That’s “Terrrvel.” (For pronunciation help from actual humans, I go...
by David Evan Thomas | Feb 19, 2016 | Composers, Concerts, Friends of DET, Musicians, My Blog, Performers, Profiles |
I met Grigg Fountain in 1979, when he played my Carol Suite with flutist Darlene Drew in a spring worship service at Northwestern University’s Alice Millar Chapel. That day Grigg was an organist and I was a junior in college. Little did I know how important he...
by David Evan Thomas | Jan 22, 2016 | Composers, Musicians, My Blog |
I come from New York, but Upstate. Only after living in Saint Paul, Minn. did I realize that my hometown of Rochester, N.Y.—which was first nicknamed “The Flour City,” then “The Flower City” when the mills moved west—was essentially a...
by David Evan Thomas | Jan 8, 2016 | Composers, Musicians, My Blog |
When I heard of Pierre Boulez’s death the other day, I realized that I had already begun to forget him—Boulez the composer, that is; his recordings as a conductor are everywhere. Boulez once figured ever so slightly in my musical geography. I’ve lived in four cities,...
by David Evan Thomas | Dec 31, 2015 | Musicians, My Blog, Performers |
I’m remembering Thelma Hunter today, listening to her CD, Reflections: The Music of my Life. She’s slithering through the sometimes twisted dream-figurations of Chopin’s hypnotic Berceuse, motoring in high gear to Busoni’s transcription of Bach’s Rejoice, Beloved...