Carolina Performing Arts Event: London Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle: May 5 & 6, 2020

"In Mahler, Jonathan Carr reexamines Mahler's life and work on through the circumstances leading to his death in 1911. The focus is on Mahler's last decade, his tempestuous marriage to the alluring Alma Schindler, his work as a "summer composer" in isolated huts in the country, his revolutionary achievements as director of the Vienna opera and his final years in America. But it sets the stage by looking into Mahler's earlier career as a talented, ambitious, and often ruthless, conductor."

This complete edition of the letters of the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, collected for the first time in any language, details his stay in the Paris of the 1920s, his work in Brazil and the 1930s and `40s and his international travels as conductor of his own music. The letters also discuss commissions for ballets, concertos and other works. Lisa M. Peppercorn, who knew Villa-Lobos, is the acknowledged expert on the life and music of this colourful figure, and she gives a detailed commentary on the events giving rise to the letters. A chronology gives a detailed account of Villa-Lobos' life, which is thoroughly illustrated with photographs of the persons and places associated with Villa-Lobos, facsimiles of works and concert programmes, and so on. The letters thus form a guide to the most productive years of his life.

The definitive account of the life and music of Hungary's greatest twentieth-century composer This deeply researched biography of Béla Bartók (1881-1945) provides a more comprehensive view of the innovative Hungarian musician than ever before. David Cooper traces Bartók's international career as an ardent ethno-musicologist and composer, teacher, and pianist, while also providing a detailed discussion of most of his works. Further, the author explores how Europe's political and cultural tumult affected Bartók's work, travel, and reluctant emigration to the safety of America in his final years.   Cooper illuminates Bartók's personal life and relationships, while also expanding what is known about the influence of other musicians--Richard Strauss, Zoltán Kodály, and Yehudi Menuhin, among many others. The author also looks closely at some of the composer's actions and behaviors which may have been manifestations of Asperger syndrome. The book, in short, is a consummate biography of an internationally admired musician.