Stephanie Elkins

Aug 28, 2024 | wpr.org | Stephanie Elkins

"Reformation," a new recording of early keyboard pieces, brings attention to the rich depths of emotion that can be found in music created during the turbulent and destructive English Reformation. Agents of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell laid waste to Catholic churches and monasteries in the 16 th century - what the English pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen referred to as "cultural vandalism" in an article she penned for London's "The Guardian" newspaper in June.

May 16, 2024 | wpr.org | Stephanie Elkins

« All Events Revel in the music of myth, magic, and marvel! Grammy-winning ensemble Third Coast Percussion, solo percussionist John Corkill, and Music Director Ken-David Masur take the stage for Tōru Takemitsu’s visually captivating From me flows what you call Time, which calls for unusual bells suspended from the ceiling and played using long, colorful ribbons.

Jan 16, 2024 | wpr.org | Stephanie Elkins |Samuel Coleridge-Taylor

Composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor arranged African-American spirituals and traditional music from Africa for classical piano. “What Brahms has done for the Hungarian folk music, Dvorak for the Bohemian and Grieg for the Norwegian, I have tried to do for these Negro melodies,” Coleridge-Taylor wrote about his collection of classical piano arrangements, “24 Negro Melodies.”Coleridge-Taylor was born in London in 1875 to a father from Sierra Leone and an English mother.

Dec 19, 2023 | wpr.org | Stephanie Elkins

Some of my favorite memories involve singing with others, especially music for the holidays. One of those highlights in college was learning and performing the gorgeous 16th century Christmas motet by Spanish composer Tomas Luis de Victoria, "O Magnum Mysterium (O Great Mystery)."Decades later, I discovered and sang another stunning setting of the same words by the living American composer Morten Lauridsen.

Feb 14, 2021 | wpr.org | Stephanie Elkins