Article
Academy of Music (opera house) (i)
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Academy of Vocal Music
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Aeolian Hall
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Aldeburgh Festival
Noël Goodwin
revised by Heather Wiebe
Annual music festival inaugurated in 1948 and held each June. It was established around Benjamin Britten and based on the small Suffolk coastal town where he lived from 1947 (and which is the historical setting for his Peter Grimes). Britten’s taste, imagination, and personality helped to give it a distinctive character. His own music formed an important element in the programmes, particularly in the first years of the Festival, but it has also been a forum for new music by other British composers. Today it is an eclectic event, retaining an emphasis on early music and 20th- and 21st-century works.
The festival was born from a suggestion by Peter Pears and set out to provide a focus of cultural events in East Anglia. It also secured an outlet for productions by the English Opera Group, which Britten and Pears helped to found. Britten and Pears were named as artistic directors in ...
Article
Alice Tully Hall
Article
Amateur Concert
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American Academy of Music
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American Festival of Microtonal Music
Paul R. West
Founded in 1981 by New York-based composer, theorist, bassoonist, and author Johnny Reinhard (b 1956), the American Festival of Microtonal Music, otherwise referred to as AFMM (
Article
Amusement parks
Elizabeth A. Clendinning
An amusement park is a commercially-operated, outdoor venue that offers games, rides, and other types of entertainment, including music. The amusement park concept originated in the pleasure gardens of 17th-century Europe, which were originally large landscaped outdoor spaces primary devoted to games with a few refreshment stands. Dances and social and instrumental concerts became commonly integrated into these pleasure gardens in the 18th century. (See Pleasure garden.) Another important part of early amusement park soundscapes was the mechanical organ, which was used by street performers as early as the 18th century and was frequently built into carousel rides by the end of the 19th century. Over the course of the 19th century, the popularity of amusement parks skyrocketed, especially in the United States, where large tracts of land were available for development. Bandstands and pavilions devoted explicitly to musical performances were common in the 19th century, in part influenced by the popular World’s Fairs, which were industrial and cultural expositions that featured specific stages devoted to performers from around the world. A change came with the ...
Article
Ancient Concerts
Article
Antient Concerts
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Areíto
Sean Bellaviti
[areyto]
The term variously refers to a large-scale ceremonial/celebratory event, the music-dance practices performed on these occasions, and a “song” based on the recitation or singing of ancient histories (e.g., genealogies), laws, and possibly specific song lyrics. The tradition was practiced by the Taíno (Arawak) peoples living in the Greater Antilles prior to and shortly after the Spanish Conquista (Conquest). Our knowledge of areíto is very limited, based primarily on the accounts of early European chroniclers (namely Pané, Las Casas, and Oviedo) and archaeological evidence. While no documentation of the specific poetic and musical practices exist today, areíto likely involved the use of specific musical instruments and sound makers (such as the mayohuacán [a slit-drum], rattles, and perhaps maraca), musical techniques (e.g., antiphonal singing) and dance routines. As a community-based group activity, areíto is variously described as a ceremony, celebration, funerary rite, or form of recreation, or as serving specific pedagogical functions....
Article
Arts management
Katherine K. Preston and Michael Mauskapf
[music management]
This article addresses the history of individuals and organizations devoted to the management of musical artists and their careers in the United States.
Musicians who toured the United States during the first half of the 19th century relied on individuals to manage their tours. Some of the most important early impresarios included William Brough, max Maretzek , bernard Ullman , and maurice Strakosch . These men travelled the musicians’ routes, sometimes with the performers and sometimes a week or two ahead, and were responsible for renting a performance venue, arranging publicity, and engaging supporting musicians and needed instruments. Managers also made travel arrangements, secured lodging, and negotiated terms with the managers of local theaters or halls. Some of these managers were themselves performers; the pianist Strakosch frequently toured with singers, and Maretzek was the conductor for his opera companies. This style of management essentially replicated the modus operandi of itinerant theatrical stars. (...
Article
Aspen Music Festival and School
Rita H. Mead
An annual summer music festival, comprising hundreds of concerts and training courses, held in Aspen, Colorado. It grew out of the Goethe Bicentennial Convocation and Music Festival of 1949; concerts have been presented by faculty members, students of the music school, and guest artists since 1950. The festival includes performances by student orchestras and guest artists as well as concerts of chamber, choral, and contemporary music. The music school program includes the Aspen Opera Theater Center, the Edgar Stanton Audio Recording Institute, individual lessons, and master classes; the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, founded by Claus Adam, provides opportunities for students to work with renowned ensembles. The Conference on Contemporary Music, founded by Darius Milhaud in 1951, enabled students to attend lectures and seminars given by one or more composers-in-residence; today’s budding composers study at the Susan and Ford Schumann Center for Composition Studies. Each summer, the school enrolls approximately 750 students, and the festival is attended by more than 100,000 people....
