Alex Whorms is the Hamilton-based singer-songwriter and score composer behind the newly released single Christmas Morning — which is included in CBC Music’s Best New Holiday Music list.
Whorms — pronounced warms, like warming by the fire, she noted — sat down with CBC Hamilton and CBC Music to chat about holiday music and fun facts about the songs heard this time of year.
“Did you know that Jingle Bells wasn’t even written about Christmas?” Whorm said.
“It totally still counts as a Christmas song, but there isn’t a single mention of Christmas time, the month of December or of Christmas trees. It was actually written around Thanksgiving by James Pierpont in 1857 about an annual sleigh-riding event, and was originally published as The One Horse Open Sleigh before being retitled.”
Whorms loves discussing Christmas music history.
“Many Christmas songs are actually written in the summer in order to be ready in advance of the winter season,” she said. “Justin Bieber’s Christmas album Under the Mistletoe was written in August, and to get into the spirit, he ordered boxes and boxes of Christmas cookies to the recording studio.”
Whorms laughed and said she felt jealous. “Where do you get Christmas cookies in the summer, I would like to know.”
Whorms stayed in Hamilton after moving from Pickering, Ont., in 2015 to study at McMaster University. (Michael To/CBC)
Whorms’s research also found some songs have had a polarizing love-hate history. They include Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime, and Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer by Randy Brooks.
“People were really divided over those songs. Some listeners didn’t like the instrumentation of Christmastime and its departure from tradition, but I love how interesting it sounds,” Whorms said.
“With Grandma, I think a lot of people thought the image of a drunken grandparent during Christmas wasn’t appropriate, but the dark humour resonated with the people who loved it.”
Whorms said that when she thinks of Christmas music, she envisions sleigh bells, string quartets, choirs or carollers — musical clues that represent the Christmas season and can clue you into what makes a song, even if it isn’t about Christmas.
“A good Christmas song will suck you into the holiday spirit and make you feel excited for the season — the songs that you can spin on a record player and listen to while enjoying hot tea in front of a fireplace.”
University student turned musician
Whorms moved to Hamilton from Pickering, Ont., in 2015 to study at McMaster University, and has remained in Hamilton. Like a true Hamiltonian, she prefers to call the escarpment “the mountain.”
“My favourite thing to do for Christmas is to shop on James Street and Locke to find unique gifts,” Whorms said. “I really enjoy the Christmas markets that happen in the city, the arts and the events that happen year round.
“There were many turning points for me before becoming a musician. I tried to have a band and get into medicine, and started to get more music work before that tour at [the University of Toronto].”
She said she realized the medical field didn’t appeal to her while touring the biophysics department at the U of T, and through some help from the music department at McMaster, she began her new career.
“Over time, I just broke off and took a course [at Humber College] for music composition. People were hiring me to play music and they were paying me more than any entry-level undergrad science job would.”
When asked about her inspiration for Christmas Morning, she said, “Music has been a huge part of my life … and I wanted to write a song about what the Christmas season means to me — the opportunity to go back home and spend time with my friends and family.”
Zakir Khan’s latest comedy special “Tathastu” on OTT has garnered all praises from fans as it stays true to the comic’s unique andaaz and promises bouts of laughter. What’s also special is that this marks the first collaboration of debutant singer-songwriter Zeeshan Khan whose composition “Khoya Hai Dil”was licensed by the streaming platform as the end-credit soundtrack.
In memory of their late grandfather, UstadMoinudien Khan Sahab, a Padma Shree awardee and magnificent Sarangi player, Zeeshan’s soulful rendition has managed to touch the right chords among listeners. The Pune-based artist, who released the track earlier this year, is popularly known in the city circuits as the lead vocalist for Pune’s most beloved band, ‘Malang the Band.’ With the legacy of music maestros in the family, Zeeshan is an Indian singer-songwriter with a flair to strike the tunes of a Ghazal, a Bandish, or even a Bollywood chartbuster with great ease.
The show’s familiarity as well as Zakir Khan’s connection with his audience have undoubtedly influenced the song’s trajectory and served as a bridge for Zeeshan. In yet another feat for the young artist, the track recently surpassed the 1 Million-Stream mark on Instagramwhile alsoreflecting a similar responses across channels such as DSPs, YouTube, Social Mediaamong others.
Speaking about the inspiration behind his first composition, Zeeshan shares, “Khoya Hai Dil happened to me at a point when I was at the crossroads of life trying to navigate through a stable corporate job versus a career in music. The lyrics of the song truly come from a place of heart as it represents the emotional state I was in while trying to find my true purpose in life. I think this is an emotion that truly resonates with the youth today who are caught in the hustle in their own ways to discovering their calling in life.For any young music artist, it’s such a milestone achievement to have your first composition licensed by an entertainment powerhouse like Amazon Prime Video and what makes it a bigger highlight is that it’s a part of my brother’s special, Tathastu that’s an ode to our memories with our late grandfather who I consider as my mentor.”
The coming year will see Zeeshan releasing a bunch of soulful songs as part of his journey in music.
Justin Bieber is reportedly close to finalizing a $200 million deal to sell his music rights.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Bieber is in negotiations with Hipgnosis Songs Capital, a Blackstone-backed investment and song management company, in a deal that would value his rights at “around” $200 million.
The potential deal includes both Bieber’s publishing and recorded music catalog, the Journal noted, and represents the largest to-date acquisition for Hipgnosis, which purchased Justin Timberlake’s song catalog rights for a reported $100 million earlier this year.
Music publishing encompasses the copyrights for songwriting and composition, such as lyrics and melodies. Although publishing rights are often not worth as much as actual recordings, they can still lead to a significant amount of revenue over time with radio play, advertising, movie licensing, and more.
Justin Bieber performs onstage during the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 03, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
The news serves as the latest in what has been a series of similar deals done by artists over the years, as streaming services like Spotify (SPOT), Apple (AAPL) and Amazon (AMZN) increase the value of back catalogs.
In December 2021, Bruce Springsteen sold both his master recordings and publishing rights to Sony Music in a deal worth north of $500 million, according to multiple outlets. The Red Hot Chili Peppers sold the rights to its song catalog for a reported $150 million that same year.
In 2020, Bob Dylan sold over 600 copyrights to Universal Music Group in a deal reportedly valued at over $300 million. Prior to that, Stevie Nicks sold a majority stake in her songwriting for a reported $100 million.
“It gets to the point where there’s money coming from so many different places that you can’t go wrong on any type of deal like this,” Guillermo Page, a former record label executive who worked for Sony and Universal, previously told Yahoo Finance.
Page, who now teaches in the music program at the University of Miami, noted “streaming has provided stability.”
“The key is that the business has become predictable,” Page explained, adding: “[Investors] can trust in the future of the business because it’s growing. When you eliminate the uncertainty, it opens up a new door for investors to come in and snap those assets.”
Bieber’s reported deal signals how younger artists are beginning to cash in on the growing trend; although buyers are having more difficulty financing deals within the current interest rate environment — something the pandemic-era avoided amid ultra-low rates.
“You’re seeing all major acts from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that are riding the wave of streaming,” Page said, explaining artists can now “capture a ton of money” in ways they were not able to do in the past.
“It’s the perfect storm for artists who can now maximize their return on the sale of those assets.”
Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Media Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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Bayan Northcott, who has died aged 82, was a composer, biographer and music critic whose erudite and thoughtful prose adorned the pages of The Sunday Telegraph for a decade from 1976; at times he lamented that his journalism and other writing left little time for composition, but the music he did produce left a lasting impression on those who heard it and included a vigorously expressive Fantasia for Guitar (1982) and the celebratory Doubles All Round (2009), written for the 30th anniversary of the Endymion Ensemble.
Northcott began composing in the 1970s, but it was always a slow, methodical process. His Concerto for Horn and Orchestra (1996), written for the New York-based Speculum Musicae, took eight years, though his Concerto for Orchestra, first performed at the Proms in 2016 by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simone Young, took a positively speedy three years.
“Of all the new pieces I’d caught during the season, this was the most irresistible to my ear, a fascinating stream of invention (the idiom sometimes suggesting a tonal and wholly Anglicised Elliott Carter), a lively music making the liveliest case for a late compositional start,” observed Paul Driver of the latter in The Sunday Times. “Still echoing in my mind, is, of all things, Northcott’s writing for tuba, not to mention his adroitly placed late little violin solo.”
For his 10-minute Hymn to Cybele (1983) the composer turned to some of the gorier pages of ancient Roman verse. In his elegant translation of Catullus, Attis the impetuous warrior dedicates himself to the goddess Cybele by “shearing off his manhood with a sharp flint”.
Bayan Peter Northcott was born at Harrow on the Hill on April 24 1940, the son of Roy Northcott and his wife Cecilia, née Venning. He was educated at Latymer Upper School, Hammersmith, read English at University College, Oxford, and for six years taught English at Chichester High School for Boys.
Until this point he had never properly learnt an instrument and what little music he knew had been largely self-taught. He took himself as a mature student to the University of Southampton, where he studied composition with Alexander Goehr and Jonathan Harvey. They were among the many composers he subsequently wrote about. As a result of this relatively late start his Opus 1, a Sonata for Solo Oboe, was only completed in 1978.
Meanwhile, Northcott became a music critic for the New Statesman in 1973 and three years later joined The Sunday Telegraph, combining concert reviews with longer essays. In his early writings he concentrated largely on developments in postwar British and American music, but in later years he encompassed music from all eras.
His move to The Independent, where he remained until 2009, brought greater freedom and, in his own words, “the unique opportunity to work out an aesthetic position … in a regular series of c. 1,200-word lead pieces for the arts page”. Many of these were reproduced in The Way We Listen Now (2009), a selection of insightful essays.
Northcott, who worked closely with the Holst Foundation, spent 10 years on the board of the NMC record label, helping to put together the NMC Songbook, in which he also featured as a composer. It was a genre he felt should be better heard. “I’ve heard it said by music publishers that if contemporary composers turn up with song cycles, they hide under their desk,” he told Gramophone magazine.
Northcott’s music-critic colleagues recalled a gentle, intelligent and ego-free figure, though he was a man of routine: before sitting down to write a post-concert review, he first cooked himself a late-night bacon sandwich. He is survived by his husband.
Bayan Northcott, born April 24 1940, died December 13 2022
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Raven Chacon became the first Native person to receive a Pulitzer Prize for musical composition in 2022. He wrote “Voiceless Mass,” which premiered last November in Wisconsin.
Bethany Yellowtail has been designing clothing for more than a decade. ICT Editor Jourdan Bennett-Begaye caught up with her in May at the Reservation Economic Summit in Las Vegas.
In May, the children of the Chippewa Cree Tribe received more than 3,000 new and gently used children’s books. ICT’s Kaitlin Onawa Boysel has the story.
About four years ago, Monica Nuvamsa started making puzzles from intricate Hopi designs. ICT’s Patty Talahongva reports.
Ten years ago, Cheyenne and Arapaho Television started broadcasting. Known as CATV, viewers have come to enjoy shows with names like, “Indian Road,” “Making Regalia,” and “Frybread Flats.” Senior Content Producer Darren Brown tells us more.
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Night after night, a young Bill Murphy waited for his older brother, Allen Murphy, to return home and head straight to his room, where Allen would sit on his bed and remove his euphonium horn from its case. For roughly two hours a night, Allen practiced his instrument while Bill stood nearby to watch all the way through.
Seeing his older brother pursue something with such passion moved Bill deeply, he says, especially since it provided him something to look forward to and take comfort in amidst a volatile home life rife with physical abuse.
“I was frankly amazed that he could come home and practice with such dedication in spite of everything,” Murphy says. “I ultimately have the music he showed me to thank for a sense of community I discovered that kept me from going down a trail many abused children can find themselves on—turning to drugs and alcohol or crime.”
Bill Murphy’s school life also proved to be tumultuous, as he began 7th grade in 1969, during the first days of mandatory integration in schools following the efforts activists worked tirelessly toward during the height of the Civil Rights Movement. Murphy and a number of other white students rode buses to the formerly all-Black Stone Middle School in Melbourne, Fla., and tensions at the school often boiled over during his time there.
Stone faced frequent bomb threats, which would force students to relocate to the nearby outdoor fields while authorities investigated. Murphy also witnessed riots erupt outside the school, with police cars ending up turned over or burned.
‘Sense of Community, Shared Purpose’
Amidst the chaos, Murphy found sanctuary and community with the school band after he discovered a natural talent for playing the saxophone. Within his first semester, the budding musician found himself moved from the school’s beginner band to the advanced band. When he later moved on to Melbourne High School, he came under the tutelage of music instructor Andre Arrouet, who formerly served as band director and music supervisor for Brevard County, Fla.
“I consider the connections I made with Director Arrouet and all the band families I met at school to be what saved my life as a kid,” Murphy says. “As soon as I turned 16, I packed up a suitcase, left home and went out on the streets to get away. Those band families took me in at different times while I was working toward getting into college.”
Bill Murphy (center), who graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi with a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance, served in the United States Air Force Band for more than a decade before moving on to become a music instructor in the Madison County area. Photo courtesy Bill Murphy
After graduating from Melbourne High School, Murphy enrolled at Brevard Community College in 1975. Two years later during the summer of 1977, he took a job performing with the Walt Disney All American College Band at Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
Later that year, Murphy joined the United States Air Force Band. Stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., he continued his education at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg, where he received a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance in 1979.
During his stay at Keesler, Murphy went on to serve as director of the base’s jazz band. He later transferred to Travis Air Force Base in northern California and served as director of the Commanders Jazz Ensemble.
Murphy retired from the Air Force in 1994 and moved to Madison, Miss., where he took a job as a music teacher at Madison-Ridgeland Academy. While teaching, he spent three years organizing a series of “Summer Jazz Camps” in Ridgeland, where students regularly performed at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson. Murphy also spent several years teaching music composition at USM and at Murrah High School in Jackson.
Today, Murphy works as a private guard for the Mississippi Department of Transportation while continuing to independently write and record his own music. In July 2023, he plans to move to Orlando, Fla. to pursue a doctorate in music composition at the University of Central Florida, where he plans to put a new band together and work as a teaching assistant.
“The relationships I found while pursuing music were what hooked me and kept me going at it for more than 50 years—the connections I found through bands, the sense of community, the shared purpose that comes from working together as a group,” Murphy says. “Music and other forms of art like theater can do just as much to bring young people together and teach them these skills as any school or college athletics program.”
Murphy has a 35-year-old son named Joshua Murphy, who works as a software engineer in Dallas, Texas.
Christmas is steeped in musical tradition, and its classical canon glistens with festive jewels. Our selection of the best classical Christmas music is a snapshot of many Christmases-past: feelings of joy, celebration, reflection and nostalgia are bound up in these beautiful, timeless scores. Pour yourself a glass of mulled wine, relax, and listen to these classical Christmas masterpieces featuring magnificent choral works and orchestral fantasies. Merry Christmas!
Listen to Classical Christmas on Apple Music and Spotify and scroll down to discover our selection of the best classical Christmas music.
10: Berlioz: L’Enfance du Christ
Berlioz’s musical telling of The Childhood of Christ makes for perfect Christmas listening. This oratorio, written in 1854, tells the Holy story from Herod’s decree in Judea to the journey of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Christ. From the drama of ‘The Dream of Herod’ to the lilting tranquillity of ‘The Shepherd’s Farewell’, Berlioz’s warm-blooded romanticism brings depth and color to the biblical story.
9: Britten: A Ceremony of Carols
Britten’s Ceremony of Carols showcases a host of heavenly voices accompanied simply by angelic harp. The use of only treble voices evokes a sense of child-like innocence, creating a warm, magical atmosphere. The piece itself is a selection of medieval carols, still in the original language, preserved in Britten’s refreshing compositional idiom. A wonderful classical stocking filler.
8: Liszt: Weihnachtsbaum
Liszt’s Christmas Tree Suite for solo piano is a classical Christmas delight. The twelve pieces are, by Liszt’s standards, wonderfully simplistic in their composition and not too challenging to play; indeed, they were dedicated to Liszt’s eldest grandchild and sing of childlike wonder and innocence. This connection to younger generations permeates the score which, steeped in festive nostalgia, is a lesser-known gem in Liszt’s piano oeuvre and one of the best pieces of classical Christmas music.
7: Byrd: O Magnum Mysterium
A Christmas message from 400 years ago, delivered in glorious choral counterpoint. Written in 1607, Bryd’s O Magnum Mysterium, is a beautiful motet for a 4-part choir, and is a meditation on the wondrous Holy birth. A warm, subtle blend of ethereal voices with deep, resonant harmonies relay the text:
O great mystery and wonderful sacrament that even the animals saw the new-born Lord lying in a manger. Blessed Virgin, whose womb was worthy to bear our Lord Christ
There is a tangible profundity to this piece: it feels vast yet intimate, celebratory yet reflective.
6: Finzi: In Terra Pax (On Earth, Peace)
Picture a frosty winter morning. Hazy, muted strings and glowing harp gradually melt away, warmed by the depth of a pure, pristine baritone solo, angelic soprano, and a choir of heavenly voices. In Terra Pax takes its text from St Luke’s account of the first Christmas Eve in Bethlehem, flanked by verses from Robert Bridges’ poem, Noel: Christmas Eve, 1913. The listener is at once swept away by the enchanting narrative and enveloped in a mass of warm strings and voices in this magical Christmas scene-setter.
5: Bach: Magnificat
Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Magnificat is a musical setting of the biblical canticle Magnificat – the Latin text of the story of the Virgin Mary as told in the Gospel of St. Luke. In 1723, soon after he had been appointed the Director of Music and Organist of St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, Bach set the text of the Magnificat, originally composed in Eb major, which was first performed on Christmas Eve 1723. The following year Bach produced a new version, which he transposed into D major, to be performed at the feast of the Visitation in July. Magnificat is one of Bach’s most popular vocal works.
4: Handel: Messiah
An epic rumination on the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ, Handel’s 1742 oratorio is a stalwart fixture in both Easter and yuletide programs and one of the best pieces of classical Christmas music. The first part, often referred to as the ‘Christmas’ part, features the iconic choruses ‘And He Shall Purify’ and ‘For unto us a Child is Born.’ Performances of the Christmas part of the work are often concluded with the endlessly joyful ‘Hallelujah Chorus.’
3: Prokofiev: ‘Troika’ from Lieutenant Kijé suite
This exultant orchestral melody is probably best known as the climax of Greg Lake’s ‘I Believe in Father Christmas’, but it was originally written by none other than Prokofiev for his Lieutenant Kijé suite. A ‘troika’ is a three-horse Russian sled: the excited flurry of strings, shimmering bells, and festive brass depict a magical sleigh ride through the glistening snow. What could be more Christmassy?
2: Bach: Christmas Oratorio
This almost three-hour choral festive extravaganza is one of the best pieces of classical Christmas music. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio is divided into six cantatas, each to be performed in the days following Christmas. The first part, performed on Christmas Day, pronounces the Holy birth; the second, for the 26th, describes the annunciation to the shepherds; the third, the adoration of the shepherds, and so on. Each section has its own distinctive character, brought to life in Bach’s masterful composition, and is in equal parts intense, reflective, and jubilant.
1: Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
Tchaikovsky’s timeless ballet, The Nutcracker, is top of our list. A Christmas Eve ball, toys that magically come to life, the enchanted land of the Sweets, waltzing snowflakes, and dancing sugar plum fairies – this is a Christmas cracker of a piece. Tchaikovsky’s score captures the childlike wonder of this festive fairy tale with resplendent orchestra, twinkling percussion and, at moments, a soft sweeping choir. The Nutcracker is an absolute classic – no Christmas would be complete without it.
Listen to our recommended recording of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich, now.
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In November last year Bollywood’s ace musician Shantanu Moitra began riding Anantha Yatra (Endless Journey) along the trail of the Ganga in Kolkata as a tribute to the lives lost to COVID-19 on behalf of their loved ones who had been denied closure. Little did he know then that his small ride would lead him on a One-in-a-lifetime journey across the range of river Gange – from Gomukh to Gangasagar. The expedition may have started out as an adventure sport with a cause, but by the time he reached Gangasagar in West Bengal, it changed something very profound in him and he decided to continue the journey. And a blend of adventure, travel and music, the journey eventually turned into a travel web series, Songs of the River Ganga currently streaming on Disney+Hotstar.
Produced by JSW Group, Songs of the River Ganga follows Shantanu cycling along the River Ganga from its origin to its end to record the music album by the same name. The unique docuseries sees Moitra taking in the melange of blue-green vista, rich sights, sounds and stories, which eventually culminate in an epic album inspired by the journey. With more than 3,000 kilometers on a bicycle along the River Ganga, the 60-day adventure was Shantanu’s road trip to rediscover himself with a much stronger purpose through a powerful combination of life’s unique moments and music.
The six-episode web series is presented as a reality show capturing the softer moments as well as the challenges Shantanu overcomes to record his songs in varied locations ranging from an apple orchard at Harsil to a perfume factory in Kannauj to the Ghats of Varanasi, the ruins of Rabindranath Tagore’s House at Munger to the Baluchari silk weavers of Jiaganj. Before the Songs of the River Ganga, Shantanu had taken a 100 days journey to the Himalayas. His music album 100 Days in the Himalayas is inspired by his enchanting journey into the hills. Braving a cloud-burst in Uttarkashi, a flood in the river, an asthmatic attack and an accident just 40 kilometers before the final destination, Shantanu’s journey had its high points. The musician, who mostly stays away from the limelight yet manages to leave his signature in every music he creates, spoke to us exclusively about his unconventional way and inspiration behind creating music with basic instruments, his personal discoveries, why he stays away from the spotlight, his next projects and much more…
What was the idea behind Songs of Ganges?
After 100 days in the Himalayas, I was guilty of not taking cameras and capturing the trip. But in the middle of my trip to the Himalayas, I realised that I should share my journey because not many people have this opportunity to travel. I was there to experience everything, so I made a mental note that I will be sharing my next journey. For the Songs of the River Ganga, I always wanted to do something that includes small towns, small villages, and what happens there. What is most important of it all is the fact that I was going to create a set of recordings to be able to see new sights, new sounds, and new experiences. It is definitely a different experience where I didn’t get four walls of a recording studio and see what happens. So I think all of these things together were the reason why I decided to do this journey.
What inspires you to turn your travel experiences amidst nature into music?
There’s a natural beauty. That’s pretty much what I think is very soothing to your senses. Also, the people who dwell here are fantastic artists. Be it the Himalayas or the length of the Ganges there are amazing stories to encounter from people who live there. You don’t see these people every day in your lives in big cities, or maybe we rush past too fast to even stop and notice them. So I think wherever there is nature, of course, nature’s beauty, but it’s also people who live there. And I think bringing both together is very exciting for a creative person like me. I create and compose music in my head. I don’t sit on an instrument and play anything. It’s like when anything comes to me I create the tunes in my head, which is what I was doing while I was cycling through the Ganges. I was creating tunes along the way. So, I definitely feel that nature is a great impetus for me to create music.
What are the discoveries that you made during this Anantha Yatra?
Actually, for me, primarily, it was a very personal kind of upheaval that I was going through because I lost my father to COVID-19. He was very much part of my planning journeys to the Himalayas and to the Ganga. And the fact that he always felt that if there’s something you’re searching for in music, maybe it’s time for you to go to the Ganga, especially to Banaras because that’s where something will unlock in you and he was from Banaras. So he had the sight that he probably wanted to share with me. What I was guilty of was constantly postponing it. Then I finally planned to go to Banaras with him but then COVID changed the world and I lost him. So, this entire trip also was almost like a payback time. The entire journey was like a remembrance of who he was to me. So yes, it was a very, very emotional moment for me. But also, I think, very interestingly, a change that did happen was that while I was performing a ceremony in Banaras after I lost my father, I got the idea that there are so many other people in India, who have lost their near and dear ones. I’m fortunate that I was next to Ganga. And I can do my father’s ceremony, but what about those who didn’t get the closure? And how is it that I can include them to be a part of my journey? And that’s when I came up with the idea for Anantha Yatra where I invited photographs of the ones who succumbed to the virus and said I will include them as part of my journey. If you ask me about that one definitive moment, it was this that brought that transition into my life.
I’m really sorry to hear about your loss. Your way of creating music keeps you away for a longer duration. Do you fear losing the spotlight?
Actually, that’s a fair question. I just have understood this one thing: your work speaks for you and being in the spotlight or not is subjective. I by nature and characteristics slightly like to play the second figure. Even in my school, I was like this. I didn’t like to be on the front bench. I have always been very comfortable being the backbencher. Also, I think the fact is that as a creative person, the joy of your creation coming alive is so overpowering. It’s so beautiful that you just seem to forget about the limelight part of it. The fact that God has given me a gift where I can create music with people makes me thankful every day and in my own small way. This is the limelight for me. I’m in the limelight for having got this opportunity. It is scary of course when you’re out for a hundred days from the industry, which is competitive. But I think it is also faith and belief that you can’t predict or claim. No matter how you design it, it doesn’t work like this. Otherwise, there would have been a formula and people would have known what to do, but it’s just that you need to be true to yourself and believe in what you are setting out to do. And hope that another bunch of like-minded people will like what you’re doing. It’s an unconventional path. These roads are not traveled metaphorically also. But then there are joys that you feel going on this uncharted territory. In my heart, I’m actually an adventure traveler and it helps in the music that I create.
Do these trips help you stay grounded at this stage of your life?
I think travel definitely does. When you go there, you see that there’s a world out there that is functioning very differently. I see the enormity of this incredible land that I’m part of. I feel very conscious about one thing: to create something is a god’s gift. And I am gifted with that talent and it is my job now to nurture it and ensure that with that gift I can reach and communicate with more and more people. I genuinely believe that music is not just entertainment but an ideology.
Your music reflects a commitment to the craft and Shantanu Moitra’s touch. How have you maintained that?
If you ask me about one blessing, it is that I don’t design anything to make it a signature. It is just there and that is a true blessing. I can’t rationalise it but there is something and many people have said that when they hear my first four bars they know, it’s my music. But the greater satisfaction as a creator and a composer is when I hear this because ultimately we all want our small signature in whatever we do. I have noticed one thing every time I have not been true to myself, my signature disappears. So the trick, struggle and belief are how much honesty can I show to something that I am doing, and at the same time, I am also looking at other extraneous factors like will it work or will it not work? or What’s gonna happen? I’ve seen that by nature that every time I am true to myself the signature comes in.
You also use rare yet very basic instruments. How do you think they contribute to the kind of music you want to create?
I don’t know but I think it’s maybe the college canteen where we grew up with no instruments and use whatever cutlery available on the table and enjoy the joy of creating music. We didn’t have the money to even buy any instruments. We were all singing and having fun together. We never thought much about it so I think there is a return of that innocent DNA.
What is your next big project?
I’m very keen to do a journey from coast to coast, right from the Bay of Bengal to Gujarat along the peninsula of India. So that would be a very fascinating journey for me because every 100 kilometers there is a different language, dialect, food, clothing, and music. I am guilty of the fact that when I did the Himalayas I didn’t take a crew with me but I would definitely do the Himalayas once again because I want to share that story with people.
An open letter calling on the Juilliard School to take disciplinary action against composer Robert Beaser for alleged “decades-long abuse of women and power” has attracted the signatures of about 450 composers, musicians, educators and arts leaders.
By late Friday, after an initial 120 people had signed the letter, Beaser, 68, a former chair of the prestigious Manhattan music school’s composition department, had taken leave from his teaching post as the school launched a third-party inquiry into the allegations.
“In light of the ongoing investigation, and following discussions with Bob earlier this afternoon, we want to notify you that Bob will step away from his teaching duties and other faculty responsibilities while the investigation is being conducted,” Juilliard Provost Adam Meyer wrote in a letter to composition faculty members on Friday. “This change will be effective immediately.”
Last week, the Berlin-based classical music website VAN magazine published the results of a six-month investigation into allegations of misconduct against several Juilliard faculty members, including Beaser, who, the magazine said, “faces multiple, previously-undisclosed allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct from the late 1990s and 2000s.”
These include alleged “repeated sexual advances to sexual relationships with students,” as well as claims that these relationships directly affected critical decisions Beaser enacted as department chair at Juilliard.
The report cites the account of one anonymous former student who described an “instance in which Beaser offered her a promising career opportunity before attempting to obtain sexual favors in return.”
“What will you do for me?” Beaser allegedly asked.
“I am more than willing to participate in Juilliard’s outside investigation in order to protect and defend my reputation,” Beaser wrote Sunday in a statement to The Washington Post. “Until the school concludes this process, I have agreed to be on leave from my teaching position.”
The VAN story also included accounts of other abuses at the school, including claims from a student alleging uninvited advances by Pulitzer- and Grammy-winning composer and Juilliard professor Christopher Rouse, who died in 2019, as well as allegations against Juilliard professor John Corigliano, a longtime composer and faculty member accused by eight former Juilliard attendees for an alleged “unofficial policy” against taking on female students. (Corigliano denied the claims in an email to VAN.)
The open letter — hosted on a Medium account attributed to “Composers Collective” — trained focus on Beaser.
“Though we recognize and appreciate the need for due process,” the letter reads, “the volume of allegations, testimony, and supporting evidence of Beaser’s misconduct are undeniably unsettling. Until the investigation is resolved, Beaser’s presence in the Juilliard composition department could jeopardize the emotional well-being of students and inhibit a safe and healthy learning environment.”
“Sexual discrimination and sexual harassment have no place in our school community,” wrote Rosalie Contreras, Juilliard vice president of public affairs, in a statement Saturday. “We take all such allegations extremely seriously.”
Although the VAN report was unable to confirm whether complaints from two students lodged against Beaser in 2018 ever led to Juilliard officials launching Title IX investigations, Contreras confirmed that internal investigations took place at the school “in the late ’90s as well as in 2017/18” but did not elaborate on their findings.
“Allegations that were previously reported to The Juilliard School were handled at the time, based on the information that was provided,” the statement reads. “However, in order to review new information and to better understand these past allegations, the school’s current administration has launched an independent investigation.”
Juilliard’s policy on faculty-student consensual relationships explicitly forbids relationships between faculty and undergraduates, and “discourages” them for graduate students.
“In addition to creating the potential for coercion, any such relationship jeopardizes the integrity of the education process by creating a conflict of interest and may impair the learning environment for other students.”
Students contacted for VAN’s report characterized Beaser’s conduct as being well beyond an “open secret,” and paint a picture of the overall climate for women enrolled at the prestigious music school as stubbornly toxic.
Composer Sarah Kirkland Snider, who helped write and post the open letter Friday, is one of an alliance of anonymous female composers confronting the school’s alleged “long history of tolerating and covering up sexual misconduct and discrimination.” Snider assembled the coalition in the wake of #MeToo to provide a forum for female composers to discuss their own experiences of abuse and harassment in their profession.
Snider did not attend Juilliard, nor does she have any professional affiliation with it (in addition to working as a composer, Snider is also co-artistic director of New Amsterdam Records), but believes this distance from the institution — as well as the reach of its influence over composers’ careers — is what has given her the liberty “to speak on behalf of my many female colleagues who could not.”
She is also quick to point out that the scourge of sexual harassment within composition programs extends far beyond one school; it’s embedded deep into the culture of classical music education, she says. As a student, Snider had her own run-ins with sexual harassment at the hands of a powerful professor (whom she declines to identify) that she says continue to be “painful and traumatic.”
“That was the reason I got connected with these women in the first place,” she says. “I could really sympathize with what they’d been through and the feeling of powerlessness and helplessness, because it tends not to be about your abuser; it’s about the network of men at the top of our field who are friends and who protect each other. … If you come forward and name one person, you’re asking for retribution from basically a cabal of older, successful men who hold the keys to all the opportunities.”
Following the posting of the open letter, Snider has received notes from men at Juilliard who similarly feel unable to come forward for fear of retribution.
“They are the masters, and they are infallible, and they can make you or break you,” a male conservatory professor of composition who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional retribution wrote to Snider in a text message shown to The Post. “Gatekeeping doesn’t even cover it.”
Composer Jefferson Friedman, who attended Juilliard from 1998 to 2001, then taught at the school for several years, left a comment on one of Snider’s recent Facebook posts in which he recalled feeling “actually afraid of [Beaser].”
“Did I know what Beaser was doing at the time?” Friedman wrote. “Yes, everyone did. Do I wish I had spoken up? In hindsight, of course, yes I do. But Beaser was the ultimate gatekeeper back then. … His entire deal has been creating a fiefdom where he has as much of a power imbalance as possible.”
As of Sunday, several high-profile names from across the classical and new-music fields had signed the open letter, including Missy Mazzoli, Gabriela Lena Frank, Vijay Iyer, Tyondai Braxton, Andrew Norman, Claire Chase and Nico Muhly.
Snider encountered particular trepidation from men in the music community, hesitant to sign for fear of retribution. Though sympathetic, the dissonance wasn’t lost.
“What I gently tried to tell them was that this is the same kind of fear that women have always had,” Snider says. “We’re so frequently harassed or mistreated or abused, and there’s no one to speak up about it to. Additionally, we then need to try to get those abusers to still like us enough to write letters of recommendation or to recommend us for prizes. It’s an impossible situation for women to advocate for themselves.”
By the signing deadline of 3 p.m. Friday, Snider says 90 percent of the men who had been on the fence came through at the last minute with signatures.
“I think they started to see that there’s more safety in numbers.”
Snider and the as-yet-unnamed coalition of composers are planning their first in-person strategic meeting in January to discuss further actions in directly addressing “intersectional” abuse and harassment across the composition community and classical music in general — where systemic inequities and imbalances have roots that run centuries deep.
“The positive thing to say about all of this,” Snider says, “is that it’s one of the very first times — maybe the first time in the history of our composition community — that men and women and people of all genders have come together to stand up and protect one another. It’s such a momentous occasion in our field, and I think it speaks volumes about the possibility for growth and change.”
MANILA, Philippines — Araneta City, also known as the City Of Firsts, has long been known for its Christmas Blueprint: family time, community and holiday merriment. Without fail, this blueprint has proven to be successful for decades. Even before the eye-catching yuletide displays, a lot of QCitizens, and even those who lived in the far-flung provinces of Luzon, consider Araneta City as their home for the holidays.
Since the pandemic and for the previous two Christmases, Novotel Manila has released original music compositions with uplifting messages devoted to its supporters and front liners to touch the hearts of numerous Novo-Fans.
This time around, Novotel Manila switches things up and opts for a different way of using a video narration to touch the hearts of its viewers entitled “Home” produced by the hotel’s Marketing Communications team in collaboration with Halikon Films director Arvin “Kadiboy” Belarmino and director of photography and editor Tristan Cua.
The hotel’s moving narrative depicts the life of a busy vlogger, Hayley, who no longer has time for her parents. But since it is the Christmas season, it’s a common tradition for Filipinos to reconnect and gather for the holidays. Check out the video after the jump:
It is a relatable story as we have all occasionally been caught up in life’s busyness, yet Novotel Manila embraces every heart yearning for true love and connection.
Families, couples and friends can enjoy and make themselves comfortable in their one and only home in the City of Firsts, thanks to all the festive deals planned by the hotel’s Heartists for this special season.
Have a merry magical stay
Enjoy the best time of the year with Merry Magical Stays curated to satisfy the needs of families seeking a joyous staycation. Bed, breakfast and dinner packages in December start at P8,000 nett for non-holiday dates, while stays during the holidays (December 24 and December 31) start from P12,000 nett.
Each merry magical stay includes complimentary use of the InBalance Fitness center and pool, free use of the Kids Club by Novotel for one hour per day for two children, and a 10% discount on all massage treatments at the InBalance Spa. Early check-in and check-out are also included, subject to room availability.
Taste merry magical flavors
Bring the whole family to Food Exchange Manila to enjoy a wide array of festive buffet selections such as Roasted Tandoori Australian Lamb Leg, Roasted Turkey, Roasted Chimichurri Salmon, Singaporean Chili Crab, Glazed Christmas Ham and much more for only P2,888 nett per person.
Choose from the highlighted buffet dates: December 24 (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.) Christmas Eve Dinner Buffet, December 24 (11 p.m. to 2 a.m.) Christmas Midnight Buffet or Noche Buena, and December 31 (6 p.m. to 10 p.m.) New Year’s Eve Dinner Buffet. A glass of red wine, white wine or a special holiday beverage is served to each diner as a beautiful end to the meal.
A merry magical beginning
Every ending is followed by a fresh start. The days till 2023 are being counted down at Novotel Manila. On December 31 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Monet Grand Ballroom.
Join in the fun and enjoy a memorable countdown celebration with lots of delicious food, sparkling drinks, great music and merriment with family and friends for only P2,888 nett per person, inclusive of one glass of sparkling wine or sparkling juice. Admission begins at 7 p.m., and the buffet is available from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. This offer is available to in-house guests for just P2,223 nett per person.
With your family and friends surrounding you this Christmas season, find the meaning of true ‘’home’’ this holiday season at Novotel Manila, a home for every heart. Packed in this highly regarded international brand hotel is a complete experience where you would feel at home and take time to enjoy the moments that matter.
For inquiries and reservations, please call (02) 8 990 7888 or email [email protected] More information about Novotel Manila Araneta City, its facilities and services are available at www.novotelmanilaaranetacity.com.
