by Kurt Knecht | Feb 23, 2012 | dr. andrew crane, ecu chamber singers, go tell it on the mountain, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
Here’s a lovely performance that popped up by the East Carolina University Chamber singers.
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 22, 2012 | censorship, john dowland, kurt knecht, l'incorinazione di poppea, Uncategorized
This week, the Lincoln Public Schools decided not to send students to see the University’s opera production because it was deemed too controversial. Of course, some people are up in arms about censorship etc. Normally, I’m opposed to censorship, but I’m not sure that...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 16, 2012 | kurt knecht, St. Mark's on the Campus, Uncategorized
One of the great pleasures in my life is getting to listen to the lovely volunteers that make up the choir at St. Mark’s on the Campus. Anyone that regularly works with a volunteer choir knows some of the frustrations that can occur. You have people of wildly...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 9, 2012 | concert music, kurt knecht, Thomas a Kempis, Thomas Merton, Uncategorized
In the past few days, a little vortex in the collective unconsciousness opened above my head, and a gyre of synchronicity came spinning down. Colleagues from around the country representing various academic institutions and performing arts organizations have been...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 8, 2012 | aesthetics, kurt knecht, Shaftesbury, Uncategorized
Any time you start talking about a philosophy of beauty, it is important to ask the right questions. The 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury can bring it with some eloquent prose stylings. In a lovely little essay called “The Moralists”, he sets up a dialogue between Philocles...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 7, 2012 | aesthetics, Anthony Ashley Cooper, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury, is not to be confused with Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 1st Earl of Shaftesbury. He should also not be confused with Anthony Ashley Cooper the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th Earls of Shaftesbury. The...
by Kurt Knecht | Feb 1, 2012 | kurt knecht, leonard bernstein, Uncategorized
Earlier this week, I played a Leonard Bernstein review show. Bernstein is a composer with whom I’ve always had a somewhat complicated aesthetic relationship. He did so much for music that I am hesitant to be critical, but the truth is that some of his writing makes me...
by Kurt Knecht | Jan 25, 2012 | arts, chiara quartet, haig mardirosian, kurt knecht, Lane Harder, Uncategorized
In his recent articles in The American Organist magazine, my friend Haig Mardirosian has been tackling the problem of poor concert attendance and the seeming demise of concert music. Haig always writes articles that are both thoughtful and urbane. (You can read some...
by Kurt Knecht | Jan 23, 2012 | gigging stories, kurt knecht, Uncategorized
My wife has often said that I have a “European” sense of personal hygiene. My socks seldom match. I don’t iron my shirts. I stopped combing my hair around the time I successfully emerged from my 80s New Wave look. I don’t shave regularly. It’s not that these are...
by Kurt Knecht | Jan 18, 2012 | Jonah Sirota, kurt knecht, SPACE, Uncategorized
I made a little garden tonight using pencils, organ pipes, bells, and the harmonic series. The incomparable Jonah Sirota came strolling through with his viola mixing his rosin with the incense and the candles.
by Kurt Knecht | Jan 16, 2012 | bob marley, kurt knecht, organ, Uncategorized
There is a wonderful loneliness that can settle into a church when you have spent several hours in solitude practicing some thorny section of a Bach Fugue. The tinted light from the stained glass dances around the high ceilings with the F sharps and the B flats. One...
by Kurt Knecht | Jan 15, 2012 | Uncategorized
I constructed a long theological argument in an attempt to justify some selfish behavior. After patiently listening to me for 10 minutes, he simply stared and said, “You know, the Lord Jesus wouldn’t put up with all your bull shit.” Unaccustomed to such plain speech...
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