Alexa Weber Morales is a singer-songwriter from Oakland, CA whom I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting in person, but with whom I have conversed a great deal on Twitter (find her @AlexaMorales). Recently she got in touch to tell me about her experience of using Sibelius First, our entry-level music notation software […]
Broadcast Pro Middle East, a monthly magazine devoted to the broadcast TV and video market in the Arab world, features the United Arab Emirates Philharmonic Orchestra, the UAE’s only full orchestra, and its founder and artistic director, Philipp Maier: After launching the latest generation of the music notation software, Avid Sibelius 7, Philipp Maier was […]
Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela, also known as Rod y Gab, released their latest studio album, Area 52, this past January, and are currently touring Europe to promote the record, with dates in the United States in April. The pair worked with arranger and pianist Alex Wilson on the album, which saw them travel […]
Bob James is a jazz pianist, composer and arranger whose career has spanned five decades. Having been discovered by Quincy Jones in 1963, he has recorded 37 solo albums to date and played on countless more by other artists. Perhaps best known for Angela, the theme tune to 1970s US sitcom Taxi, an example of […]
A couple of months ago, I was contacted by Helen Vallaud of Audio Impressions, who are the developers of DVZ (say it out loud, and if you’re British, pronounce the Z as “zee”), a sample library with unique divisi string capabilities, about a new tool they had been working on called Notation Switchblade.
“Think of it as writing a one hour musical in a month while working a regular 40-hour-per-week job!” That’s how pianist, composer and arranger Brent Bain describes writing songs and incidental music for The High Street Broadcast, an old-style radio variety show that airs new programs bi-monthly on KSAV internet radio. Devlin Connors, a singer, […]
The Arlington Connection newspaper from Arlington, Virginia, USA, last week ran a story about a concert that took place last night at Artisphere, featuring folk singer-songwriter Dar Williams and local ensemble, the Ibis Chamber Music Society. In the words of writer Delia Sava, the concert was “a musical collaboration of styles, as well as a […]
Back in April I talked to arranger and multi-instrumentalist Gil Goldstein about his collaboration with Bobby McFerrin at this summer’s Lübeck Music Festival, which ended a couple of weeks ago. Now, courtesy of Czwórka Polskie Radio 4, some concert footage has surfaced on YouTube, and offers a chance to hear Gil and Bobby talk about their […]
Pianist, accordionist, composer, conductor, arranger, and more besides: Gil Goldstein is a Renaissance musician, ready to turn his skills to any interesting project that comes his way, whether it’s cranking out arrangements for the annual Rainforest Fund Concert in Carnegie Hall, for bassist and vocalist Esperanza Spalding, or even adapting Chopin’s piano music for big […]
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of running a break-out session at the British Dyslexia Association’s first Music Conference, which was held at the Royal Academy of Music. I was invited to speak about how Sibelius could be used by musicians with dyslexia, and over the course of a lively session we discussed a number […]