Description
Teaching was part of Mozart’s lifestyle, and it was not uncommon for him to offer instruction while playing billiards or at the bowling alley. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
During the early stages of his career in Vienna, Mozart would give pupils 3 to 5 one-hour lessons per week but wasn’t particularly flexible about when the lessons could happen: he only wanted to teach during and around noon, so that he could have the mornings and evenings to write, perform and generally ponder over his own compositions.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved to eat. His favourites included a variety of dishes to fuel his creativity. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
With Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and numerous other composers hanging around, Vienna was clearly a musical center. Concurrently, it was an epicurean center that created and established the Viennese cuisine we still enjoy today.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Dating back over one thousand years, it is said that Ukrainian choral music embodies a cultural identity and is truly a reflection of the soul of a nation. Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
With ever-changing borders and territories, Ukraine became a truly independent state only in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet choral art in the Ukrainian lands stretches back for over 1,000 years. The so-called “Znamenny Chant” stood at the core of Eastern Byzantium church music and rites, but a good number of the early sources have not been fully deciphered to date. Eventually, responding to Western European developments, notation was reformed by the Kyiv square notation.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Sergei Rachmaninoff had an unmistakable connection to writing in minor keys. In fact, his three symphonies, Symphonic Dances, four piano concertos, and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini are all written in minor keys. But why you may ask? Join me, Steven Hobé, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
By 1900 Rachmaninoff was paralyzed with self-doubt and unable to compose. After professional help, his creative juices were rekindled. The Piano Concerto No. 2, completed in 1901 and performed by Rachmaninoff himself, was a success and led to a Glinka Award.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Vladimir Horowitz is considered one of the greatest pianists of all time. What is less known is that Horowitz was born in Kiev, the capital of modern-day Ukraine and at the time this was part of the Russian Empire. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Horowitz was acclaimed for his recordings of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concerto No. 3, and his performance before Rachmaninoff awed the composer, who proclaimed "he swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, the daring."

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Sergei Bortkiewicz, a Ukrainian composer and pianist, was oppressed by the Soviets and the Nazis, a refugee and survivor of two World Wars, yet he composed wonderfully rich, appealing and colourful music. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
The outbreak of World War I in 1914 changed Bortkiewicz's life: Being a citizen of the Russian Empire, he was—together with his wife—initially put under house arrest and later deported from Germany to Russia. He returned to Kharkov, where he established himself as a music teacher, and also gave concerts. Hear his 3rd Piano Concerto.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Luciano Pavarotti was one of the most remarkable tenors of all time. Born into a humble working-class family, he attained worldwide fame, and eventually the honorific title of "King of the High Cs". Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Though praised for his voice, Pavarotti was often criticized for his inability to read music well and was unpopular with conductors due to telling them the correct tempo he believed was appropriate.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Alexina Louie is one of my favourite Canadian composers of contemporary classical music. I first heard her work “Music For Heaven and Earth” in 1990, which was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony. This is one composer you should definitely get to know. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Alexina Louie settled in Toronto in 1980, and over the subsequent four decades, she created a brilliant and ongoing career whose highlights are far too many to mention. Some of the most notable ones include her work O Magnum Mysterium: In Memoriam Glenn Gould, composed in response to the tragic and untimely death of Gould in 1982; two JUNO awards, as well as numerous JUNO nominations; her opera, The Scarlet Princess, commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company; her 2005 appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada; and esteemed awards like the 1999 Jules Leger Prize for New Chamber Music and the 2019 Canada Council Molson Prize in the Arts.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Esprit Orchestra is one of the few full-sized orchestras devoted to performing the work of living composers. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
Conductor, Alex Pauk, is married to composer Alexina Louie. Over the years, both have collaborated on several film scores including Don McKellar's Last Night, which received a Genie nomination for Best Original Score in 1998, and The Five Senses, a film by Jeremy Podeswa that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival the following year. In conjunction with David Henry Hwang, Louie composed a full-length opera, The Scarlet Princess (1996–2002).

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show

Description
Over the years 1825–1849, Frédéric Chopin wrote at least 59 Mazurkas for piano, based on the traditional Polish dance. But his unique style differed significantly from the original. Join me, as we take a minute to get the scoop!

Fun Fact
In 1921, Béla Bartók published an essay in which he said that Chopin "had not known authentic Polish folk music." Bartók suggested that Chopin instead had been influenced by national, and not folk music.

About Steven
Steven is a Canadian composer living in Toronto. He creates a range of works, with an emphasis on the short-form genre—his muse being to offer the listener both the darker and more satiric shades of human existence. If you're interested, please check out his website for more.

A Note To Music Students et al.
All recordings and sheet music are available on my site. I encourage you to take a look and play through some. Give me a shout if you have any questions.

Got a topic? Pop me off an email at: [email protected] 

Support the show