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Thierry Noir is a French artist and muralist based in Berlin. He is considered the first artist to paint the Berlin Wall in the 1980s. He created brightly-colored paintings across large spans of the Berlin Wall and some of these original paintings can still be seen on surviving segments of the Wall in art collections and on the East Side Gallery. Noir's work and style are now considered iconic, and Noir is also regarded as one of the forerunners of the street art movement as a whole. He continues to create murals worldwide in cities including London, Los Angeles, and Sydney.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full name Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was an Austrian composer and virtuoso musician. Mozart is one of the greatest composers in music history on par with Beethoven and Haydn.
Wolfgang was born into the family of violinist and composer Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), at the age of five he had already begun composing and gave his first public performance. His older sister Maria Anna (1751-1829) was also a prodigy, and from 1763 Leopold and his children began traveling around Europe with performances.
Mozart had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and was a superb improviser. Unlike any other composer in music history, he was versatile and wrote in all musical genres of his time. During his short life, Mozart composed more than 800 works, many of which are recognized as the pinnacle of the symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral repertoire. The general public is familiar with the composer's three operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.
Society did not immediately appreciate the scale of Mozart's genius. It was only many years later that the vivid image of a prodigy, a refined salon composer who could miraculously think through an entire work in his head, gave way to the image of a serious, meticulous and brilliant creator of music.
Luís Tinoco is a Portuguese composer and producer of new music programs on radio.
Tinoco studied at the Escuela Superior de Musica de Lisboa, then at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the University of York, where he received his doctorate in composition. Since 2000 he has been working as a freelance composer. He is also the author and producer of new music radio programs for Antena 2/RTP and lectures at the Escuela Superior de Música de Lisboa (EMSL).
Luis Tinoco's major works include the operas Evil Machines and Color Me, as well as the cantata The Wanderings of a Lonely Dreamer.
Robert Saxton, full name Robert Louis Alfred Saxton, is a British composer.
Born into a family of Jewish immigrants, Robert began composing music at the age of six and studied at Cambridge and Oxford Universities. Saxton has worked as Professor of Composition at Oxford University and as a Research Fellow in Music at Worcester College. Since 2013 he has been Composer of the Purcell School for Young Musicians Association and has been appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy.
Robert Saxton works in a wide variety of genres. His recent works include the opera The Wandering Jew, song cycles, orchestral symphonic compositions and works for strings and piano.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German pioneering composer, conductor and opera reformer.
His first proper Symphony in C major was performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts in 1833. Wagner lived in a colony of poor German artists and made his living in music journalism. Nevertheless, in 1841 he wrote his first representative opera, The Flying Dutchman, based on the legend of a ship captain doomed to sail forever. In 1842 his Rienzi was triumphantly performed in Dresden, after which Wagner was appointed conductor of the court opera and held this position until 1849.
In 1848-49 Wagner became involved in the German Revolution, wrote a number of articles in support of it, and took an active part in the Dresden Uprising of 1849. When the uprising failed, he was forced to flee Germany. His subsequent years were occupied mainly with writing theoretical treatises on philosophy and music. Wagner held anti-Semitic and Nazi views. And reflecting on the future of music, he predicted the disappearance of opera as an artificial entertainment for the elite and the emergence of a new kind of musical stage work for the people, expressing the self-realization of free humanity. This new work was later called "musical drama."
By 1857 his style had been enriched with new interpretations, and Wagner had composed "Rheingold," "Die Walküre," and two acts of "Siegfried." By 1864, however, unwise financial habits had driven him into debt and ruin, and he was forced to flee from prison to Stuttgart. He was rescued by King Louis II, an ardent admirer of Wagner's work. Under his patronage for six years in Munich, the composer's operas were successfully staged. The King also practically ensured him a trouble-free life, thanks to his support Wagner built his own opera house (Bayreuther Festspielhaus), in which many new constructive ideas were realized. The premiere of "The Ring" and "Parsifal" took place here.
As a result of all Wagner's creative innovations and methods, a new kind of art emerged, the distinctive feature of which was a deep and complex symbolism, operating in three inseparable planes - dramatic, verbal and musical. He had a significant influence on European musical culture, especially on the development of opera and symphonic genres.
Richard Wagner's major works include The Flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhäuser (1845), Lohengrin (1850), Tristan und Isolde (1865), Parsifal (1882), and his great tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung (1869-76).
Anne Vallayer-Coster was a renowned French artist, celebrated for her exceptional still-life paintings that captivated 18th-century art enthusiasts, including the French Queen Marie Antoinette. Born into an artistic family in 1744, Vallayer-Coster's talent was evident early on, leading to her unanimous election into the prestigious Académie Royale at just 26 years old. Her works, characterized by their vibrant color, meticulous detail, and textural precision, often depicted bowls of fruit, game, shells, and flowers, showcasing the opulence of French aristocracy before the Revolution.
Vallayer-Coster's career was notable not only for her artistic achievements but also for her ability to navigate the male-dominated art world of her time. Despite the societal constraints on women artists, she gained the patronage of influential figures like Marie Antoinette and was one of the few women admitted to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Her work received critical acclaim at the Salon, where she exhibited regularly from 1771 until 1817, and her still-lifes were praised for their sensuality, illusionistic perfection, and the rich, indulgent luxury they portrayed.
One of Vallayer-Coster's most ambitious works, Still Life with Flowers in an Alabaster Vase and Fruit (1783), exemplifies her unparalleled skill in capturing the soft textures of flowers and their harmonious arrangement. This masterpiece was hailed as such at the Salon of 1783 and is considered by Vallayer-Coster herself as her finest painting. Lost for nearly two centuries, it was recently rediscovered in an almost pristine state and is now part of the National Gallery of Art's collection, highlighting Vallayer-Coster's significant contributions to European art history.
Throughout her career, Vallayer-Coster produced more than 120 still lifes, always with a distinctive brilliance in color, earning her a place among the elite artists of her time. Despite facing challenges during the French Revolution due to her close association with the monarchy, she continued to exhibit her work and contribute to the art world until her death in 1818.
For collectors and experts in art and antiques, Anne Vallayer-Coster's legacy is a testament to her skill, resilience, and the impact of her work on the history of art. To stay updated on new product sales and auction events related to Anne Vallayer-Coster, sign up for updates that focus solely on this exceptional artist's contributions to the art world.
John Frederick Herring the Elder was a British painter of Victorian England.
John had a passion for horses and painting from a young age. In his spare time from his day job as a sign painter and coachman, Herring painted horses for innkeepers and customers. Developing his talent, John specialized in drawing animals and loved to depict sporting events with horses. His impressive and vivid depictions of racehorses, cows and ducks as well as picturesque hunting scenes caught the eye of Queen Victoria. In 1845 Herring was appointed animal painter to Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, followed by a commission from the reigning Queen Victoria, who remained a patron for the rest of his life.
A highly successful and prolific artist, Herring is considered one of the most important animal painters of mid-19th century Europe. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, the British Institution, and the Society of British Artists, where Herring became vice-president in 1842. Three of his sons also became artists.
Carl Maria von Weber, full name Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber, was a German opera composer and conductor during the transition from classical to romantic music, pianist and music critic.
Weber was born into a musical and theatrical family, and his father cherished dreams of making him a second Mozart. The young Weber received his first appointment when he became the musical director of Duke Eugene of Württemberg, for whose private orchestra he wrote two symphonies, then he was secretary at the court of King Frederick I of Württemberg. At the same time he composed musical works, gaining experience and knowledge.
In 1813 Weber was appointed conductor of the opera in Prague, and four years later he was appointed director of the German opera in Dresden. Here he deployed his talents, taking on the entire job of preparing an opera production: he selected the repertoire, staff and actors; he handled the scenery, lighting and staging, as well as the orchestra and singers, taking special care to ensure that each performer fully understood the words and plot of each opera. The composer also found time to compose his own works.
During this period he created the opera The Free Rifleman (1821), where he was able to free German opera from French and Italian influences. The opera was first successfully staged in Berlin and then traveled throughout Europe. "The Free Rifleman" is the most popular German opera written to date, and it marked the beginning of German Romantic opera. Weber also wrote the operas Euryanthe (1823), Oberon (1826), and others.
Carl Weber composed many fugues, sonatas, concertos, and sacred music, and was also one of the significant piano virtuosos and music critics. From 1809 to 1818, he wrote a considerable number of reviews and quite incisive music criticisms. All his activities, music and critical writings promoted the ideals of Romanticism as an art in which feeling prevails over form and heart over head.