Episode 8 is designed around the use of My First Classical Music App.*

To learn more about the app, click here.

If interested in purchasing click here.

*It is not necessary to own this to enjoy the videos included in this episode.

II III II III II III II

If you are using My First Classical Music App:

Complete the Scavenger Hunt Worksheet for Handel, Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. Tip: you may want to complete the hunt for one composer at a time and then watch the correlating episode videos. Scavenger Hunt Worksheets: Episode 8
The following episode highlights the music of the Baroque and Classical composers featured in the app. Alas, they did not have room to include all MY top choices for composers but the selection does provide a decent representation of each style period. Sit back and enjoy!

II III II III II III II

Baroque

~Handel

Sarabande (just happens to feature various dances of various popular films)

Hornpipe from "Water Music" from BBC Proms 2012

~Bach

Cameron Carpenter

As a keyboard prodigy, Cameron Carpenter performed Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier at age 11 before joining the American Boychoir School in 1992 as a boy soprano. During his four years of high school

studies at The North Carolina School of the Arts, he transcribed for the organ more than 100 major works, including Gustav Mahler's complete Symphony No. 5. Cameron continued composing after moving to New York City in 2000 to attend The Juilliard School. Cameron received a Master's Degree from The Juilliard School in New York in 2006.

The same year, he began his worldwide organ concert tours, giving debuts at numerous venues. Cameron is one of the only performing artists to make a practice of meeting his audience in person before his performances – often spending over an hour before each concert shaking hands and signing autographs on the floor of a concert venue. With combined millions of hits on YouTube and numerous television, radio and press features including CBS Sunday Morning, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and many others, he is the world’s most visible organist.

Toccata and Fugue in Dminor

Just for Fun

Toccata and Fugue in D minor

II III II III II III II

Classical

~Mozart

Papagena from "The Magic Flute" sung by Detleff Roth and Le Roi

Yuja Wang

Twenty-six year old pianist Yuja Wang is widely recognized as one of the most important artists of her generation. Regularly lauded for her controlled prodigious technique, Yuja has been praise for her authority over the most complex technical demands of the repertoire, the depth of her musical insight and her fresh interpretations and charismatic stage presence.

To watch video interview with Yuja: click here

Rondo Alla Turca played by Yuja Wang. This is a famous paraphrase (an arrangement of Mozart's original) on "Turkish March" arranged by Arcadi Volodos.

~Beethoven

Valentina Lisitsa

Valentina Lisitsa is a Ukrainian-born classical pianist. Lisitsa resides in North Carolina in the USA. She is among the most frequently viewed pianists on YouTube. Lisitsa has followed a truly unique path to success, launching her career via social media, without initially signing to a tour promoter or record company. Lisitsa was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in 1973. She started playing the piano at the age of three, performing her first solo recital at the age of four.

Despite her early disposition to music, her dream at that point was to become a professional chess player. Lisitsa attended the Lysenko music school for Gifted Children and, later, Kiev Conservatory, where she and her future husband, Alexei Kuznetsoff, studied. It was when Lisitsa met Kuznetsoff that she began to take music more seriously. In 1991, they won the first prize in The Murray Dranoff Two Piano Competition. In the same year, they moved to the United States to further their careers as concert pianists. Their New York debut was at the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center in 1995. For more details of her journey as an artist click here.

Moonlight Sonata Op 27, No 3, Movement No 3 (not the first movement!)

The Piano Guys

Hailing from Utah, The Piano Guys became an internet sensation by way of their series of self-made music videos. They’ve made 35 since joining forces a little more than a year ago.

The Piano Guys are made up of only one piano player, Jon Schmidt, and one other instrumentalist, Steven Sharp Nelson, on cello. Yet the other three – Paul Anderson (store owner and promotions), Tel Stewart (videographer) and Al van der Beek (studio operations) – are equally significant members of the group. The Piano Guys’ name comes from Anderson’s piano store in St. George, Utah, called The Piano Guys. Anderson was so taken by the music of Schmidt and Nelson that he closed his store at the end of 2011 in order to devote himself to the group, which only became a full-time operation in February 2012.

Their videos have netted over 130 million YouTube views (and 500,000 new views a day). “We try to put a ‘wow factor’ in every video" with a dual goal of bringing people to classical music and inspiring young musicians!

The 5 Secrets of Beethoven played by The Piano Guys' --a mix of One Republic's "Secrets" and Beethoven's 5th Symphony.