1.
Madison Square Garden
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Madison Square Garden, often called MSG or simply The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Located in Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. The Garden is used for basketball and ice hockey, as well as boxing, concerts, ice shows, circuses, professional wrestling and other forms of sports. It is close to other midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown and it is home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and residency to singer-songwriter Billy Joel. The Garden opened on February 11,1968, and is the oldest major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area and it is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League and the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association. MSG is the fourth-busiest music arena in the world in terms of sales, behind The O2 Arena. At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion and it is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex. Several other operating entities related to the Garden share its name, Madison Square is formed by the intersection of 5th Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in Manhattan. It was named after James Madison, fourth President of the United States, two venues called Madison Square Garden were located just northeast of the square, the first from 1879 to 1890, and the second from 1890 to 1925. The first Garden, leased to P. T. Barnum, had no roof and was inconvenient to use during inclement weather, Madison Square Garden II was designed by noted architect Stanford White. The new building was built by a syndicate which included J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, P. T. Barnum, Darius Mills, James Stillman and W. W. Astor. It was 200 feet by 485 feet, and the main hall and it had a 1, 200-seat theatre, a concert hall with a capacity of 1,500, the largest restaurant in the city and a roof garden cabaret. A third Madison Square Garden opened in a new location, on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, from 1925 to 1968, groundbreaking on the third Madison Square Garden took place on January 9,1925. Designed by the theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, it was built at the cost of $4.75 million in 249 days by boxing promoter Tex Rickard. The arena was 200 feet by 375 feet, with seating on three levels, and a capacity of 18,496 spectators for boxing. Demolition commenced in 1968 after the opening of the current Garden and it finished up in early 1969, and the site is now where One Worldwide Plaza is located. The new structure was one of the first of its kind to be built above the platforms of a railroad station. It was an engineering feat constructed by Robert E. McKee of El Paso, public outcry over the demolition of the Pennsylvania Station structure—an outstanding example of Beaux-Arts architecture—led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
2.
New York City
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The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
3.
Chuck Berry
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Charles Edward Anderson Chuck Berry was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as Maybellene, Roll Over Beethoven, Rock and Roll Music, Goode, Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive. Writing lyrics that focused on teen life and consumerism, and developing a style that included guitar solos and showmanship. Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age, while still a high school student he was convicted of armed robbery and was sent to a reformatory, where he was held from 1944 to 1947. After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of the blues musician T-Bone Walker and his break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955 and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess, of Chess Records. With Chess, he recorded Maybellene—Berrys adaptation of the country song Ida Red—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard magazines rhythm and blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was a star, with several hit records and film appearances. He had also established his own St. Louis nightclub, Berrys Club Bandstand, but in January 1962, he was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines. After his release in 1963, Berry had several hits, including No Particular Place to Go, You Never Can Tell. His insistence on being paid in cash led in 1979 to a jail sentence and community service. Berry is included in several of Rolling Stone magazines greatest of all time lists, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll includes three of Berrys, Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, and Rock and Roll Music, Berrys Johnny B. Goode is the only rock-and-roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was the child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as the Ville and his father, Henry William Berry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother, Martha Bell, was a certified public school principal. His upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age, Berrys account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a nonfunctional pistol. He was convicted and sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri, the singing group became competent enough that the authorities allowed it to perform outside the detention facility. Berry was released from the reformatory on his 21st birthday in 1947, on October 28,1948, Berry married Themetta Toddy Suggs, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on October 3,1950
4.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
5.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
6.
Carole King
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Carole King is an American composer and singer-songwriter. She is the most successful songwriter of the latter half of the 20th century. King also wrote 61 hits that charted in the UK, making her the most successful female songwriter on the UK singles charts between 1952 and 2005. Kings career began in the 1960s when she, along with her then husband Gerry Goffin and she has continued writing for other artists since then. Kings success as a performer in her own right did not come until the 1970s, King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry, which held the record for most weeks at No.1 by a female artist for more than 20 years. Her most recent non-compilation album was Live at the Troubadour in 2010 and her records sales were estimated at more than 75 million copies worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and she is the recipient of the 2013 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, the first woman to be so honored. She is also a 2015 Kennedy Center Honoree, King was born Carol Joan Klein in February 1942 in Manhattan, to a Jewish family. Her mother, Eugenia, was a teacher, and her father and they met in an elevator when they were students at Brooklyn College in 1936. He was majoring in chemistry while her mothers major was English and they married in 1937, during the heights of the Great Depression. Her mother dropped out to run the household while her father also quit college, with the economy struggling, he then took a more secure job as a firefighter in New York. After King was born, they remained in Brooklyn, eventually able to buy a small two-story duplex where they could rent the upstairs for income and her mother had learned how to play piano as a child and, after buying a piano, would sometimes practice. When Carol was four years old, her parents discovered she had developed a sense of relative pitch whereby she could name a note by just hearing it. Her father enjoyed showing off his daughters skill to visiting friends, I enjoyed making my father happy and getting the notes right. Carols mother then began giving her real music lessons when she was four years old and she would climb up on the stool and be raised as yet higher by sitting on a phone book. With her mother sitting alongside, Carol was taught music theory and elementary piano technique, including how to read notation, King wanted to learn as much as possible, My mother never forced me to practice. I wanted so much to master the popular songs that poured out of the radio, Carol began kindergarten when she was four years old, but after her first year she was promoted directly to second grade because she had an exceptional facility with words and numbers. In the 1950s she went to James Madison High School and she formed a band called the Co-Sines, changed her name to Carole King, and made demo records with her friend Paul Simon for $25 a session
7.
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
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The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, the award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as follows, For a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, note that this is not necessarily the first album released by an artist. It is sometimes asserted, with varying degrees of sincerity, that winning the award is a curse, as several award winners were never able to duplicate the success they experienced in their debut year. This viewpoint was expressed by former Starland Vocal Band member Taffy Danoff in a 2002 interview for VH1s 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders, so that was basically the kiss of death and I feel sorry for everyone whos gotten it since. The category is also notable for being the one of its kind in which a Grammy Award was vacated. This occurred in 1990 after it was revealed winners Milli Vanilli did not contribute their own vocals on their debut album, the award was revoked, but was not handed out to another artist. Of the 54 awards presented in the category since its inception, the honor has been presented to 25 solo female artists,18 duos or groups, between 1997 and 2003, all the winners were solo female artists. Also, from 1993 to 2005, no winner was a male artist. In 2006, John Legend broke this trend, which started with Marc Cohn in 1992. Only four artists have won both Best New Artist and Album of the Year in the year, Bob Newhart in 1961, Christopher Cross in 1981, Lauryn Hill in 1999. Of all the winners, only three have been country artists, in 1997, LeAnn Rimes became the first country artist to win the award. She was followed by Carrie Underwood in 2007 and Zac Brown Band in 2010, additionally,2017 marked the first time that two country artists were nominated in this category in the same year. 1984 marked the first time all of the nominees were from outside of the United States. Over the years, the eligibility rules for this category have changed several times, in 2010, Lady Gagas exclusion from the Best New Artist category caused the Recording Academy to change eligibility requirements for the next ceremony. She was ineligible for the nomination because her hit Just Dance had been nominated in 2008, the new rule stated that an artist can be nominated as long as that artist has not previously released an entire album and has subsequently not won a Grammy. To be eligible in the category of Best New Artist, the artist, duo, or group, Must have released a minimum of five singles/tracks or one album, but no more than 30 singles/tracks or three albums. May not have entered into this more than three times, including as a performing member of an established group
8.
Carly Simon
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Carly Elisabeth Simon is an American singer-songwriter, musician and childrens author. Over the course of her career, Simon has amassed 24 Billboard Hot 100 charting singles,28 Billboard Adult Contemporary charting singles, AllMusic called Simon, One of the quintessential singer-songwriters of the 70s. Simon has a vocal range. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994, inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for Youre So Vain in 2004 and awarded the ASCAP Founders Award in 2012. In 1995 and 1998, respectively, Simon received the Boston Music Awards Lifetime Achievement, Simon is the former wife of another notable singer-songwriter, James Taylor. Simon and Taylor have two children together, Sarah Sally Maria Taylor and Benjamin Ben Simon Taylor, who are also musicians, Carly Simon was born in New York City. Her father was Richard L. Simon, a pianist who often played Chopin and her mother was Andrea Louise Simon, a civil rights activist and singer. Her father was from a German Jewish family, while her maternal grandfather Frederick was a German-speaking Swiss and maternal grandmother a Spanish-Catholic from Valencia and her grandmother was sent to England and raised by nuns until the age of sixteen. In 2015, Simon stated that when she was seven years old and she stated, It was heinous, adding, It changed my view about sex for a long time. Simon began stuttering severely when she was eight years old, a psychiatrist tried unsuccessfully to cure her stuttering. Instead, Simon turned to singing and songwriting, I felt so strangulated talking that I did the natural thing, which is to write songs, because I could sing without stammering, as all stammerers can. Simon was raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, New York City and has two sisters, Joanna and Lucy, and a younger brother, Peter. They were raised as nominal Catholics, according to a book of photography Peter published in the late 1990s and she also briefly attended Sarah Lawrence College before dropping out to pursue music. Simons career began with a music group with her sister Lucy as the Simon Sisters. They had a hit in 1964 called Winkin, Blinkin and Nod. Their second album, Cuddlebug, followed later that year, the duo made one more album together, 1969s The Simon Sisters Sing the Lobster Quadrille and Other Songs for Children, before Lucy left to get married and start a family. Later, Carly collaborated with eclectic New York rockers Elephants Memory for about six months and she also appeared in the 1971 Miloš Forman film Taking Off, playing an auditioning singer, and sang Long Term Physical Effects, which was included in the 1971 soundtrack for the film. Simon was signed by Jac Holzman to Elektra Records in 1970 and she released her self-titled debut album, Carly Simon, in March 1971
9.
Bill Cosby
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William Henry Bill Cosby, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, author, and singer. Cosbys start in comedy began at the hungry i in San Francisco and was followed by his landing a starring role in the 1960s television show I Spy. He was also a regular on the television series The Electric Company during the shows first two seasons. Throughout the 1970s, Cosby starred in a number of films, after attending Temple University in the 1960s, he received his bachelors degree there in 1971. In 1973, he received a degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His dissertation discussed the use of Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids as a tool in elementary schools. The sitcom highlighted the experiences and growth of an affluent African-American family, Cosby has been the subject of publicized sexual assault allegations since about 2000. He surrendered to authorities on December 30,2015, and was released on $1 million bail, Cosby is scheduled to go on trial on or before June 5,2017. Cosby was born on July 12,1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he is one of four sons of Anna Pearl, a maid, and William Henry Cosby Sr. who served as a mess steward in the U. S. Navy. During much of Cosbys early childhood, his father was away in the U. S. armed forces, as a student, he described himself as a class clown. Cosby was the captain of both the team and the track and field team at Mary Channing Wister Public School in Philadelphia. Early on, though, teachers noted his propensity for clowning around rather than studying, at FitzSimons Junior High School, Cosby began acting in plays as well as continuing his devotion to playing sports. Cosby went on to Philadelphias Central High School, a magnet and academically rigorous university prep school where he played football, basketball, baseball, and ran track. In addition, Cosby was working before and after school, selling produce, shining shoes and he transferred to Germantown High School, but failed the tenth grade. Instead of repeating, he got a job as an apprentice at a repair shop, which he liked. In 1956, Cosby enlisted in the Navy, serving at the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, Naval Station Argentia, Newfoundland and at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. During his four years in the Navy, Cosby served as a Hospital Corpsman working in therapy with Navy. He finished his equivalency diploma via correspondence courses and was awarded a track, there, he studied physical education while running track and playing fullback on the universitys football team
10.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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The Chicago Symphony Orchestra, based in Chicago, was formed by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010, the CSO is one of five American orchestras commonly referred to as the Big Five. Since Thomas, the orchestra has had ten music directors, including Rafael Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Sir Georg Solti, from 2010 to the present, the incumbent conductor is Riccardo Muti. In 1890 Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago, under the name Chicago Orchestra, the orchestra played its first concert October 16,1891 at the Auditorium Theater. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestras newly built residence was dedicated December 14,1904. The orchestra was renamed Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1905 and today, in 1905, Frederick Stock became music director, a post he held until his death in 1942. The orchestra was renamed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913, subsequent music directors have included Désiré Defauw, Artur Rodziński, Rafael Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Georg Solti, and Daniel Barenboim. His contract has been renewed for five years, through the 2020 season. Many of these guests have also recorded with the orchestra, carlos Kleiber made his only symphonic guest appearances in America with the CSO, in October 1978 and June 1983. The three principal guest conductors of the orchestra have been Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, the CSO holds an annual fundraiser, originally known as the Chicago Symphony Marathon, more recently as Radiothon and Symphonython, in conjunction with Chicago radio station WFMT. As part of the event, from 1986 through 2008, the released tracks from their broadcast archives on double LP/CD collections. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra maintains a home at Ravinia in Highland Park. The CSO helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival in August 1936 and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since, as of 2005, James Conlon holds the title of Ravinia music director. The Chicago Symphony has amassed an extensive discography, recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. These include several Classical Album of the Year awards, awards in Best Classical Performance in vocal soloist, choral, instrumental, engineering and orchestral categories. On May 1,1916, Frederick Stock and the orchestra recorded the Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohns music to A Midsummer Nights Dream for what was known as the Columbia Graphophone Company
11.
Gustav Mahler
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Gustav Mahler was an Austrian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century, born in Bohemia as a German-speaking Jew of humble circumstances, Mahler displayed his musical gifts at an early age. During his ten years in Vienna, Mahler—who had converted to Catholicism to secure the regular opposition. Late in his life he was director of New Yorks Metropolitan Opera. Mahlers œuvre is relatively limited, for much of his composing was necessarily a part-time activity while he earned his living as a conductor. Some of Mahlers immediate musical successors included the composers of the Second Viennese School, notably Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, dmitri Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten are among later 20th-century composers who admired and were influenced by Mahler. The International Gustav Mahler Institute was established in 1955 to honour the composers life, the Mahler family came from eastern Bohemia and were of humble circumstances, the composers grandmother had been a street pedlar. Bohemia was then part of the Austrian Empire, the Mahler family belonged to a German-speaking minority among Bohemians, from this background the future composer developed early on a permanent sense of exile, always an intruder, never welcomed. Bernhard Mahler, the son and the composers father, elevated himself to the ranks of the petite bourgeoisie by becoming a coachman. He bought a modest house in the village of Kalischt, halfway between Prague in Bohemia and Brno in Moravia, in the center of todays Czech Republic. Bernhards wife, Marie, gave birth to the first of the couples 14 children, a son Isidor, two years later, on 7 July 1860, their second son, Gustav, was born. In December 1860, Bernhard Mahler moved with his wife and infant son, Gustav, to the town of Iglau,25 km to the south-east, the family grew rapidly, but of the 12 children born to the family in Iglau only six survived infancy. All of these elements would later contribute to his musical vocabulary. When he was four years old, Gustav discovered his grandparents piano and he developed his performing skills sufficiently to be considered a local Wunderkind and gave his first public performance at the town theatre when he was ten years old. Although Gustav loved making music, his reports from the Iglau Gymnasium portrayed him as absent-minded. In 1871, in the hope of improving the results, his father sent him to the New Town Gymnasium in Prague. In 1874 he suffered a personal loss when his younger brother Ernst died after a long illness. Mahler sought to express his feelings in music, with the help of a friend, Josef Steiner, he work on an opera
