Collection of music videos

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) is considered one of the three giants of musical composition, along with Bach and Beethoven . A child prodigy born in Salzburg , Austria, he mastered the keyboard and violin at the age of six and began composing. His father, Leopold , exhibited him on exhausting tours of various European courts. A prolific composer (more than 600 works written from the age of five until his death), he cultivated all kinds of musical genres: piano works, chamber music, symphonies, concertante works, choral works, operas... each and every one of them a masterpiece of their kind. His operas The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Così fan Tutte, and The Marriage of Figaro are among the 10 most performed operas in the world. He died in Vienna at the age of 35.

The catalogue of Mozart's works or Köchel Catalogue ( Köchel Verzeichnis, in German) was created by Ludwig von Köchel in 1862 and lists the musical works composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Each of Mozart 's works is designated by a number preceded by the abbreviation K. or KV ; this number designates the chronological order of its creation and which is actually valid for most of the works; however, in its first edition, works by other authors appear erroneously attributed to Mozart , and other authentic works that had not yet been discovered are omitted.

Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385, known as the "Haffner," is a symphony composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782 that demonstrates the evolution of the classical symphony. In fact, it is the first symphony he composed away from Salzburg , his family, the archbishop, and the citizens of Salzburg , among whom he felt "impossible to experiment freely." The work consists of four movements: I. Allegro con spirito; II. Andante; III. Menuetto; IV. Finale (Presto), of which today we will view the fourth movement in a performance by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by New Zealand maestro Gemma New .

Pablo Sarasate (1844-1908) was a composer and violin virtuoso born in Iruña/Pamplona . A precocious child, his parents, aware of their son's musical abilities, trained him in the study of the violin; studies that he expanded in Madrid and Paris . In 1859 he began his public career giving concerts throughout Europe and America , remaining active until his death. His universal prestige was made clear by the dedication with which eminent composers such as Max Bruch , Camille Saint-Saëns , Édouard Lalo, Henryk Wieniawski , Antonín Dvořák ... and some others began some of his scores. He died at his home in "Villa Navarra" in Biarritz in 1908, at the age of 64.

The Navarrese Jota . According to what the writer José María Iribarren published in the Diario de Navarra (1966): “The Navarrese jota began to penetrate the Navarrese soul during the cholera epidemic of 1885. The city of Tafall found its medicine in the jota; along with the sulfur bonfires, there were the rondallas (round bands) to calm the spirits. In this way, the jota became consubstantial with Navarre , and especially with the Ribera region . To all this, Manuel García Matos added: “The Navarrese Jota is closely related to the Aragonese one ; but it presents a greater linear undulation of the phrases, with more abundant and longer melismas, and is not subject to the metric regularity of the latter. It has more melodic precision than the Aragonese one, and the introduction and instrumental variations are also different.”

Catalogue of Sarasate's works . His works, like those of Mozart mentioned above, are classified by their opus number.

Navarra, Op. 33 is a Navarrese jota written by Sarasate for two violins and orchestra, performed today by Irina Filimon and Cristina Alecu , accompanied by the Castilla y León Symphony Orchestra, all conducted by the late Granada-born maestro Miguel Ángel Gómez Martínez.

Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849), Spanish composer and classical guitarist born in Madrid , is one of the most celebrated Spanish guitarists of the 19th century . He adopted conventional guitar notation, dispensing with the tablature notation that was prevalent in Spain at that time. Napoleon 's invasion forced him to retire with his mother to his lands in Fuenlabrada and dedicate himself to deepening his musical knowledge. After a period of retirement that he dedicated to the study and perfection of his technique, he went to Paris in 1825 where he attracted the attention of relevant musicians of the time for his virtuosity, and achieved great success with his recitals. In 1838 he returned to Madrid , where he dedicated his life to teaching until his death on December 29, 1849.

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, unlike the piano, which is struck by a percussion string , or the violin, which is bowed . After centuries of evolution, the current guitar is made up of a sound box with a large hole or soundhole at the top, a neck with six strings running from the bridge to the headstock , whose tuning pegs are used to tune the strings according to the tension used; the neck is covered by a piece of wood, the fingerboard , divided into frets that divide the strings into half tones. Its origin dates back to 1000 BC , when the Assyrians already had plucked string instruments with a sound box. The six-string guitar was introduced in the 18th century by Jacob Otto , with its current tuning.

Le Thu (born in 1978 in Hanoi ) graduated from the Vietnam Music Academy in 2001 after 15 years of study and subsequently worked as a teacher there. The daughter of the late guitarist and painter Le Hanh , her passion for the instrument began naturally. She shared, “When I was still in my mother’s womb, my father used the sound of the guitar to express happiness and talk to us.” With excellent professional skills, the Vietnamese artist has been invited to perform and teach guitar in countries such as Italy, France, England, Austria, Germany, Spain, Bulgaria, Romania, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Turkey, and the United States . (Excerpt from an article in Vov 5 )

Zhou Long (1953) is a Chinese-American classical music composer who is known for his blending of Eastern and Western aesthetic and musical elements. His vocal, orchestral, and chamber works have been performed all over the world. Zhou Long was born in Beijing on July 8, 1953, to a family of artists. He began studying piano at an early age, but during the Cultural Revolution he was sent to rural areas, specifically to state farms, an episode that marked his life. He continued his musical studies in 1973, studying composition, music theory, conducting, and also traditional Chinese music. In 1977 he entered the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing , graduating in 1983.

In 1985 he traveled to the USA for the first time on a scholarship to study at Columbia University , where he studied with professors Chou Wen-chung, Mario Davidovsky and George Edwards , receiving his Doctor of Music and Arts degree in 1993. In 1999, after more than a decade as musical director of 'Music of China in New York' , he received the Adventurous Programming award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He has been a US citizen since 1999 and is married to the composer and violinist Chen Yi . His work is characterized by its combination of aesthetic and musical elements from the East and West , especially those based on the heritage of his country of origin, including folkloric, philosophical and spiritual elements. His work reveals the transfer of sounds and idiomatic techniques from ancient China and traditional music, as well as the use of instruments and ensembles typical of the West.

The Piano Concerto is a three-movement concertante work. The FIRST MOVEMENT (0'52''), Pianodance , is a shamanic dance characteristic of northeast China in which the piano emulates animal postures that can be seen in the art of Kung-fu . The SECOND MOVEMENT (10'42''), Pianobells , is the most lyrical and brilliant part, which takes two contrasting bells for its narrative. The THIRD MOVEMENT (21'25'') is a final movement of intense force with fast rhythmic patterns by the percussion, which acquire a leading and virtuoso role in this concerto.

Today Christopher Janwong McKiggan performs Zhou Long 's Piano Concerto with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of José Luis Nova at the 2015 Thailand International Composition Festival .

Ana Gabriel (1955) is a Mexican singer-songwriter and businesswoman, known as the Diva of America and the Moon of America ; she has a 49-year career with popular songs such as "Simplemente amigos", "Quien como tu" and "No te hago falta" . She is the daughter of Ramón Araujo Valenzuela and Isabel Yong, the latter of Chinese descent.

She has received 13 awards, including Lo Nuestro, Billboard, and Latin Grammys , among others. She has also won several diamond, gold, and platinum records. She has recorded duets with artists such as Armando Manzanero, Pedro Fernández, Yuri, Plácido Domingo, José Feliciano, Jon Secada, Rocío Jurado, Vicky Carr, Vicente Fernández, Juan Gabriel, Albita, Marc Antony, and José Luis Perales, among others.

Totó la Momposina (1940) was a Colombian singer born into a family of musicians; song and dance were something innate to her that she expressed from a very early age. Her music combines African and indigenous elements, just as it happened during the time of Spanish colonization in America ; hence, the rhythms that were born from that fusion were multiple. After studying at the Conservatory of the National University of Colombia , she dedicated herself to traveling around Europe and studying at the Sorbonne University in Paris , as well as at other institutions in Santiago de Cuba and Havana . She is one of the most recognized Colombian singers in Latin America and holds an Honorary Doctorate in Education from the National Pedagogical University of Colombia .

Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880) was a French cellist and composer of German origin who converted to Catholicism in order to marry the Catholic Herminia de Alcain . He began his musical studies with his father, a music teacher; at the age of 14 his family moved to Paris where he continued his studies with Cherubini . In 1855 he founded the Bouffes Parisiens theatre, where he staged his own works, which reflect the joie de vivre of his time. He also presented entertaining adaptations of other musical geniuses such as G. Rossini . His German ancestry earned him enemies after the Franco-Prussian War; enemies that he ironically reflected in his operettas. A leading exponent of French operetta (he wrote hundreds of them), his remains rest in the Montmartre Cemetery.

Gaîté Parisienne is a ballet choreographed by Léonide Massine to music by Jacques Offenbach, orchestrated by Manuel Rosenthal in collaboration with Jacques Brindejonc-Offenbach , the composer's nephew. The ballet depicts the amorous flirtations, pleasant dancing, and good humor of a diverse group of people belonging to various social classes who frequent an elegant Parisian café during an evening during the Second Empire period (1851–1870).

Today we attended the performance offered by the Bolshoi Ballet dance corps.

The Lesaka Zubigaineko dance (The Dance on the Bridge of Lesaka) is one of the most popular dances in the Basque Country . Coinciding with the San Fermín festival, on July 7th, the espatadantzaris of Lesaka dance the Zubigain (“On the Bridge”) on the parapet of the Onin River. It is a big day for the people of Lesaka; and for those who dance the Zubigain , it is undoubtedly the most emotional moment of the festival. It seems that this dance is a memory of the peace pact between the neighborhoods of this town in the 15th century . However, outside of history, some specialists have seen it as closely related to the rituals of the San Juan solstice . In reality, it may be a ritual that emerged from different traditions. It is noteworthy that on San Fermín day in 2019, for the first time in history, three women acted as swordsmen/women after several years of rehearsals.