6 Questions for Nicholas Kok
I wrote a pop song when I was 12, called ‘Fire’. I remember that it was in C major and that the music, which was heavily influenced by Elton John, was better than the lyrics, which were shocking!
I wrote a pop song when I was 12, called ‘Fire’. I remember that it was in C major and that the music, which was heavily influenced by Elton John, was better than the lyrics, which were shocking!
Caught between artistic aspirations and social pressures: In the 1830s and 1840s, Fanny Hensel composed a large number of songs. The compositions bear witness to her musical maturity and stylistic diversity. However, these years were not only a time of artistic creativity, but also personal difficulties.
My most emotional experience was putting together my first concert with Vocal Journey (the jazz and pop choir of the Cologne University of Music and Dance) and my band after the pandemic in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, as conductor, composer, arranger and pianist!
As a performer, I once participated in a version of John Cage’s ASLAP that lasted four uninterrupted days. It was performed on the organ of a beautiful church in a former monastery in Santiago de Chile, and many organists participated in two-hour shifts. I played in the middle of the night, and it was an almost transcendental experience to be in that church, enveloped by the sound of the organ, especially considering that I only had three chord changes in two hours. It was the closest thing to a musical “trance” that I had ever experienced.
A previously unknown manuscript in the Puccini Archive in Torre del Lago was identified as the autograph score of the Preludio a Orchestra – and it turned out to be complete! The fourteen missing measures have been copied from this source, so that the complete Preludio can now be performed in its original form.
Our editor Barbara Großmann gives an overview of Lortzing’s life and work.
Julia Schwartz composes in practically all genres, and several of her compositions have already been published by Carus. She answers six questions in the Carus interview.
Karin Rehnqvist is one of Sweden’s best known and most widely performed composers, Carus has published her composition “Universe”. We have asked her some questions.
Elisabeth Fußeder has published her choral cycle “waldeslust” with Carus. She answered our questions in this interview.
In this interview, the composer talks about his most emotional musical experience and his current projects.
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