Classical Notes: World premiere of Pulitzer-winning composer at Hudson Hall timesunion.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from timesunion.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Composer and pianist Frederic Rzewski is dead at 83
Frederic Rzewski in 2011 (Photo credit–Christian Mondrup)
Rzewski, who taught at the Royal Academy of Music in Liège, Belgium from 1977 until his death, is best known for his set of variations for solo piano,
Be Defeated, based on a protest song, written by Chilean composer Sergio Ortega, that became inseparable from the resistance of the working class to the coup that overthrew Salvador Allende and installed fascist dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1973.
The massive set of 36 variations, spanning nearly an hour in length, was premiered by and created for the pianist Ursula Oppens in 1976, at a series of concerts in Washington D.C. to mark the bicentennial of the United States. It was often performed by Rzewski himself, and a 2005 recital by him was reviewed in the WSWS.
May 10 2021 Homemade Astronauts
A Portland man, Cameron Smith, is part of the new Discovery+ series Homemade Astronauts, which is available to stream Thursday, May 13.
On the show, regular people attempt to blast themselves into outer space, a news release says. Smith, a Portland State University anthropology professor, has created a spacesuit that can withstand all the elements of space travel with the ultimate goal of taking himself to the Armstrong line, 60,000 feet above ground. He ll use a hot-air ballon to float himself to the highest height.
Three self-financed teams are part of the program, and there ll be four episodes. Daredevil Mike Mad Mike Hughes and partner Waldo Stakes have built a Rockoon part rocket, part balloon to take them to the Karman line, 62 miles above Earth. And, Ky Michaelson, the first civilian to build and launch an unmanned rocket into space, has been working with his son, Buddy, and entrepreneur Kurt Anderson to build and launch