IN-PERSON ONLY: Russian Composers: Shostakovich and the Best of the Rest

About

Friday, October 16, 23, 30, November 6, 13, and 20 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.THIS COURSE WILL BE RECORDED.Register Here Dmitri Shostakovich was one of the 20th century's most popular composers. Living during a time of serious censorship in the Stalin-ruled Soviet Union, Shostakovich faced severe reprimands for writing music that expressed his true feelings and, for fear of his life, often had to write music that met the government's expectations. His dark, beautiful, exciting, and emotionally driven music has never ceased to captivate listeners. We will explore several of his 15 symphonies, as well as his concertos, string quartets, and more. The rest of the course focuses on all the wonderful composers we did not cover in the first two courses! Some composers may be more familiar - from Glazunov, with his traditionally Russian-sounding style, to Scriabin's visionary and mystical works - while others may only be known for one piece, like Khachaturian (Sabre Dance), Glière (Russian Sailor's Dance), Ippolitov-Ivanov (Procession of the Sardar), and Kabalevsky (piano works). We will explore the magical miniature tone poems of Liadov, beautiful chamber music by Arensky and Taneyev, Liszt-inspired piano music of Lyapunov, the symphonies of Myaskovsky (he wrote 27!), Tcherepnin's French Impressionist-tinged orchestral music, the futuristic modernism of Mosolov, 20th-century composers who looked both forwards and backward with their musical styles, and enjoy a special segment on Russian choral music. For those who loved the music you have explored so far in the past two courses, you will find a lot more to enjoy in this course - even if you have not heard of these composers! It is not necessary to have taken the previous two parts to enjoy this class, as each course stands on its own.John Kendall Bailey is a Bay Area conductor, lecturer, singer, and composer. He is the music director of the Mozart to Mendelssohn Orchestra and Mesopotamia Symphony, and has guest-conducted numerous other groups. He has been a pre-concert lecturer for San Francisco Opera and Oakland Symphony, and frequently teaches courses through Cal State East Bay's OLLI program. John has taught a series of courses on Russian Composers, Nordic Composers, American Musical Theater, American Classical Music, 19th-century Romantic Pianist-Composers, 19th-century French Composers, and Conducting. His courses are filled with video clips of concert performances. This will be his twenty-first course for OLLI@SCU.