Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Anderson, Laurie

(Encyclopedia)Anderson, Laurie, 1947–, American performance artist, b. Chicago. Originally a sculptor, she was influenced by Philip Glass and other avant-garde composers in the early 1970s and soon turned to the ...

Fiedler, Arthur

(Encyclopedia)Fiedler, Arthur, 1894–1979, American conductor, b. Brookline, Mass. Fiedler, who ultimately became a grandfatherly American musical icon, studied violin with his father, a member of the Boston Symph...

Amacher, Maryanne

(Encyclopedia)Amacher, Maryanne, 1938–2009, American avant-garde composer, b. Kane, Pa. She studied composition with Georg Rochberg at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (B.F.A., 1964), and privately with Karlheinz Stockh...

Ozawa, Seiji

(Encyclopedia)Ozawa, Seiji sāˈjē ōzäˈwä [key], 1935–, Japanese conductor, b. Japanese-occupied Manchuria. A graduate of the Toho School of Music, Ozawa became the first Japanese conductor to gain recogniti...

Stockbridge, town, United States

(Encyclopedia)Stockbridge, resort town (1990 pop. 2,408), Berkshire co., W Mass., on the Housatonic River, in the Berkshire Mts.; inc. 1739. It is a year-round tourist resort with nearby lake, ski, and recreational...

Bruckner, Anton

(Encyclopedia)Bruckner, Anton änˈtōn bro͝okˈnər [key], 1824–96, Austrian composer. He was appointed organist at the Linz cathedral in 1856 before becoming court organist in Vienna in 1868, where he later ta...

Burns, Ken

(Encyclopedia)Burns, Ken (Kenneth Lauren Burns), 1953–, American documentary filmmaker, b. Brooklyn, N.Y., grad. Hampshire College (1975). Acting as producer, director, and cinematographer, Burns typically explor...

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel

(Encyclopedia)Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel bäkh [key], 1714–88, German composer; second son of J. S. Bach, his only teacher. While harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great, where his chief duty for 28 y...

Wonder, Stevie

(Encyclopedia)Wonder, Stevie, 1950–, American singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, b. Saginaw, Mich., as Steveland Hardaway Judkins (changed to Steveland Hardaway Morris, 1961). Blind from birth, he played th...

Menotti, Gian-Carlo

(Encyclopedia)Menotti, Gian-Carlo jänˈ-kärˈlō mānôtˈtē [key], 1911–2007, Italian composer. Menotti was taught music by his mother and composed his first opera at 10. He studied at the Verdi Conservatory,...