David Diamond / Guys and Dolls
On this day in classical music: American composer David Diamond’s “Rounds” for string orchestra was given its premiere by Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Minneapolis Symphony in 1944. He studied composition with Bernard Rogers at the Eastman School of Music and with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. His musical output was large and included 11 symphonies, several concertos, 11 string quartets, music for wind ensemble, chamber music, vocal works and pieces for piano. Diamond spent many years teaching composition at The Juilliard School. His students included Anthony Iannaccone, Lowell Liebermann, Charles Strouse and Eric Whitacre. Listen to the Stratford Virtuosi Orchestra perform “Rounds” for String Orchestra. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAs_2uFkQ1A
On this day in the musical theatre: Frank Loesser’s “Guys and Dolls” opened on Broadway in 1950. Based on Damon Runyon’s short stories about New York and its criminal underworld, “Guys and Dolls” ran for 1200 performances and won eight Tony Awards, including one as best musical. Runyon’s stories, which date from the 1920s and ’30s, became known for a unique dialect that mixed formal language with slang. “Guys and Dolls” has had five Broadway revivals, the most popular running from April 1992 to January 1995. “Guys and Dolls” is a rare musical that received nothing but raves from the New York critics. Listen to the 1992 revival cast perform “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqkAHEGSzAU
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