[This short essay in WSJ Life & Arts “Masterpiece” style celebrates the October 22 NAXOS release of a new CD dedicated to American composer Arthur Farwell (1872-1952). Farwell focused the best of his creative energy to bringing Native American music and belief into symbiotic relationship with the means and practices of the Western concert music […]

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Album on Spotify Album on Apple Music Track 7 with scrolling text Cacioppo texts Critical response to ILLUMINATIONS ‘like Leonard Bernstein, [Cacioppo is] another American composer of controlled eclecticism’ ‘a composer with such a fertile musical imagination, given to a kind of Whitman-like inclusiveness’ ‘potency…wealth of wit and invention…spectacularly clever’ ‘potent…thought-provoking poetics’ ‘The performances are […]

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Just after the inauguration of our 46th president, it saddened me that because of the pandemic, there would be no White House ball. Until there is, I thought it might be nice to offer the Biden’s some sort of dance number for their enjoyment, and so composed the present TANGO for Joe and Jill. To […]

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Cacioppo’s monument to George Rochberg is now available for listening on YouTube at https://youtu.be/MRfPPkZvOc8 CURT CACIOPPO Ciclo metamorfico sul nome d’un maestro (1988) Metamorphic cycle on the name of a master  Curt Cacioppo, pianist (world premiere performance) Bösendorfer Imperial #29041 Lawrence H. Fornaci, piano technician LIVE at Marshall Auditorium, Haverford College, 10/22/88 Jeanne Velonis, audio […]

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My PIANO VARIATIONS on Hail to the Chief act to affirm and to celebrate our country’s diversity and its people. It is truly “for ALL Americans,” and represents many constituencies. A blustery fanfare and flourish announce the Theme (already varied, as it finds itself in a heckled quodlibet framework). Variation I (“Arabesques”), acknowledges the Islamic […]

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On this day as President Obama’s successor takes office, I wanted to inform readers that yesterday morning I completed a new set of PIANO VARIATIONS “for ALL Americans” on Hail to the Chief, to coincide with the inauguration. The 36 minute work celebrates our country, its diversity, and its people. The table of contents includes […]

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I was a latecomer to Dvořák. By late I mean maybe the summer of my sophomore year at college, when the Serenade for Winds & String Bass was being rehearsed at the Blossom Festival. Of course I must have heard some of his music prior to this, but other than the energetic Slavonic Dances, it […]

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In the last few days I have completed a half-hour-long 2-piano work called STORIES FROM THE 7TH WARD, a tribute to New Orleans. My friend Althea Waites, a member of the Orpheus Duo for which the set is written, and a native of New Orleans who grew up in the 7th Ward, was the catalyst […]

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A stunning Hollywood-style trailer for Cacioppo’s monumental TRILOGIA DANTESCA may now be viewed on Youtube at https://youtu.be/FbGCnK_3q2E. Produced in conjunction with audio engineer/narrator Jeanne Velonis and videographer/digital artist John Thornton, the 6-minute film encapsulates the beauty and expressive range of Cacioppo’s concert-length concerto-oratorio for piano, orchestra and chorus. Reactions from listeners: “Wow, this is fantastic. […]

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Florentine music critic Alessandro Michelucci writes in Cultura commestibile: “The passion of the composer for Italy does not at all end with the two discs ITALIA and RITORNELLO. Confirming this is the monumental “Dante Trilogy” [TRILOGIA DANTESCA] for piano, orchestra and chorus, completed in 2006. 2015 marks the 750th anniversary of the poet’s birth: Cacioppo […]

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