http://www.thecontrapuntist.com Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:43:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2012/01/11/detroit-symphony-violists-electrified-adventures-with-the-symphony-of-life/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2012/01/11/detroit-symphony-violists-electrified-adventures-with-the-symphony-of-life/#comments Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:58:44 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=5199 I recently came across a story on the Calgary Herald about Detroit Symphony Orchestra principal violist Alexander Mishnaevski’s collaboration with keyboardist Stuart Zaltz as the rock duo Two Circles Music Co. Their newly released album, Symphony of Life, fuses Mishnaevski’s classical music background and love of jazz violin with Zaltz’s passion for 70s progressive rock [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2012/01/11/detroit-symphony-violists-electrified-adventures-with-the-symphony-of-life/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/12/11/the-orchestral-space-pop-of-miracles-of-modern-science/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/12/11/the-orchestral-space-pop-of-miracles-of-modern-science/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 19:34:48 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=5051 While perusing the music news on the handy dandy NPR iPad app, I discovered an intriguing story from Weekend Edition Sunday about rock band Miracles of Modern Science (MOMS). The group has an unusual instrumental lineup – mandolin, upright bass, cello, violin, drums, and vocals. I always love finding musicians who use classical instruments in [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/12/11/the-orchestral-space-pop-of-miracles-of-modern-science/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/10/19/the-regeneration-music-project/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/10/19/the-regeneration-music-project/#comments Wed, 19 Oct 2011 13:00:03 +0000 Contrapuntist http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4892 Earlier today I randomly came across a video from the Re:Generation Music project. I can’t say I know much about it because so far only a few odd videos have been made available.  The video that caught my attention has DJ Premier learning a little bit about classical music.  Watch below: After visiting the project’s website, [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/10/19/the-regeneration-music-project/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/09/21/jordan-rudess-does-beethovens-symphony-5/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/09/21/jordan-rudess-does-beethovens-symphony-5/#comments Wed, 21 Sep 2011 17:36:30 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4839 Dream Theater‘s Jordan Rudess is renowned for his wizardly keyboard chops. But did you know that he sings, too? Jordan shows off his vocal “skills” in his latest YouTube video, “Beethoven Revisited”, by singing the melody and accompaniment lines from the first movement of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony. He used VidRhythm on the iPhone to create [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/09/21/jordan-rudess-does-beethovens-symphony-5/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/25/classical-virtuosity-turns-metal-in-shredding-paganini/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/25/classical-virtuosity-turns-metal-in-shredding-paganini/#comments Thu, 25 Aug 2011 21:18:07 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4731 Classical violin virtuoso Niccolò Paganini was renowned for his technical prowess and pyrotechnic compositions. German Schauss, Yngwie Malmsteen and The Great Kat are just a few of the heavy metal guitarists who have proven their chops by adapting Paganini’s music to their instruments. Now, Schauss is releasing a new instructional book entitled Shredding Paganini – [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/25/classical-virtuosity-turns-metal-in-shredding-paganini/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/17/yeah-yeah-yeahs-guitarist-goes-classical-with-41-strings/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/17/yeah-yeah-yeahs-guitarist-goes-classical-with-41-strings/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 19:18:33 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4712 Spin.com featured an interview with Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner about his foray into classical composition. Loomstate clothing company commissioned the rocker to write a piece celebrating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day for a performance on May 11. Along with collaborators Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida of Soft Circle, Zinner composed 41 [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/17/yeah-yeah-yeahs-guitarist-goes-classical-with-41-strings/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/16/baroque-violin-music-gets-hip-hop-makeover-by-the-dueling-fiddlers/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/16/baroque-violin-music-gets-hip-hop-makeover-by-the-dueling-fiddlers/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:48:09 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4708 Violin duo The Dueling Fiddlers (Adam DeGraff and Russell Fallstad) has released a new hip-hop/classical mashup, “Yo Fo Leah”. This collaboration with DJ Everglow takes the guys out of their traditional acoustic zone into the realm of electric violin, with some synthesized keyboards thrown in for good measure. They’re currently holding a contest in which [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/08/16/baroque-violin-music-gets-hip-hop-makeover-by-the-dueling-fiddlers/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/27/aerial-violinist-turns-classical-performance-upside-down/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/27/aerial-violinist-turns-classical-performance-upside-down/#comments Wed, 27 Jul 2011 17:15:09 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4665 While browsing the web for interesting music news, I came across an astonishing video of aerial violinist Janice Martin. She demonstrates incredible physical strength by performing her violin while suspended from the ceiling on silks. The Juilliard graduate has performed with symphony orchestras all around the United States and has collaborated with several jazz artists. [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/27/aerial-violinist-turns-classical-performance-upside-down/feed/ 1 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/08/dsharps-violin-stylings-fuse-pop-rock-and-hip-hop-into-one-unique-flavor/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/08/dsharps-violin-stylings-fuse-pop-rock-and-hip-hop-into-one-unique-flavor/#comments Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:27:23 +0000 Viola da Voce http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4569 While Contrapuntist and I were being bums at home on a lazy summer night, I decided to peruse my Google reader for any rock violin news. I came across a CBS news video featuring pop violinist Derryk Gleaton‘s (a.k.a. DSharptheViolinist) cover of Katy Perry’s “Last Friday Night (TGIF)”. Even though I don’t like most of [...]

]]> http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/07/08/dsharps-violin-stylings-fuse-pop-rock-and-hip-hop-into-one-unique-flavor/feed/ 0 http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/06/09/break-of-reality-perform-metallica-cover/ http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/2011/06/09/break-of-reality-perform-metallica-cover/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:00:18 +0000 Contrapuntist http://www.thecontrapuntist.com/?p=4468 In the process of scouring the internet, I stumbled onto an amusing quartet, Break of Reality. The group has a similar sound to Apocalyptica, but instead of four cellos the group has three cellos with a percussionist.  The following video is of the group performing Metallica’s “The Day That Never Comes” from Death Magnetic. Break [...]

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