Aaron Diehl, pianist and composer, talks about his passion for bringing lesser-known composers to the stage.
Reader Interactions
Comments
Greg Hustissays
You should interview Richard White, tuba professor at University of New Mexico, who started out as a homeless child in Baltimore and succeeded in attaining his doctorate.
Thank you for this interesting segment! Growing up, I knew some of Williams’s piano playing from old records by the Kirk ” territory” band, the “Clouds of Joy” and then a few years later, she and her manager, the Priest, were well-known in the Music Building when I was a student in the music department at Duke in the 1970s. He had secured an engagement for her at the University for a few years . Duke had two nice connections to the Big music world out there, University Trustee Nancy Hanks ( an alumnus, too iirc) who chaired the National Council for the Arts which was sort of the ” umbrella” for NPR and for Public Television, also Mary Duke Biddle Semans. She was the Duke Family ( American Tobacco) member who was well known for her fascinating talks about the magnificent Fifth Avenue place in which she grew up iirc, and for her many soonsorships in the Fine Arts and related endeavors. I remember a ” Mary Lou’s Mass” that was performed during those years in Durham, or at least in rehearsal, down there in the Duke Music Department ? Or the professional State orchestra, in Raleigh ? It was a long time ago. Mr. Diehl’s comments about ” real time composing”, etc. were fascinating. Good food for thought. Thank you , again, and Happy upcoming Holidays.
You should interview Richard White, tuba professor at University of New Mexico, who started out as a homeless child in Baltimore and succeeded in attaining his doctorate.
Thank you for this interesting segment! Growing up, I knew some of Williams’s piano playing from old records by the Kirk ” territory” band, the “Clouds of Joy” and then a few years later, she and her manager, the Priest, were well-known in the Music Building when I was a student in the music department at Duke in the 1970s. He had secured an engagement for her at the University for a few years . Duke had two nice connections to the Big music world out there, University Trustee Nancy Hanks ( an alumnus, too iirc) who chaired the National Council for the Arts which was sort of the ” umbrella” for NPR and for Public Television, also Mary Duke Biddle Semans. She was the Duke Family ( American Tobacco) member who was well known for her fascinating talks about the magnificent Fifth Avenue place in which she grew up iirc, and for her many soonsorships in the Fine Arts and related endeavors. I remember a ” Mary Lou’s Mass” that was performed during those years in Durham, or at least in rehearsal, down there in the Duke Music Department ? Or the professional State orchestra, in Raleigh ? It was a long time ago. Mr. Diehl’s comments about ” real time composing”, etc. were fascinating. Good food for thought. Thank you , again, and Happy upcoming Holidays.