Carman Moore

Carman Moore is an American composer, conductor, and teacher, born on October 8, 1936. He first obtained an undergraduate degree from Ohio State University and, after moving to New York, graduated from Juilliard with honors. His teachers there were Luciano Berio and Vincent Persichetti, among others. He is probably the best composer you have never heard of. That is a complete mystery to me. Critics across the board have consistently praised his music. His music has been performed by many great orchestras around the world, including the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the San Francisco Symphony. He writes and arranges music for ballet, film, and theatre, and has written concertos, chamber music, and operas, in addition to many songs. He is the founder and conductor of the Skymusic Ensemble. Moore has also taught at Yale University School of Music and Carnegie-Mellon University. He also has a page on MySpace that includes a wonderful song for peace - sung by a child. I urge you to see it. http://www.myspace.com/carmanmoore

Walter Trampler

It seems odd that in the space of just three days, I would be writing about another violist. The other day it was William Primrose - now, it's Walter Trampler. Not that I resent them in any way, though it's annoyingly coincidental - I suppose there's nothing anyone can do about the proximity of viola players' birthdays. Maestro Trampler was born in Germany on this day in 1915. He became famous for playing the viola as well as the viola d' amore. I think a viola d'amore is simply a regular viola that sounds sweet, but I'm not at all sure of that. Who really knows? Trampler studied violin with his father (what else is new?), a violinist. I don't know when he switched to the viola, but he did, early in his career. He first played - for a time - with the Strub String Quartet - a very obscure ensemble, as far as I know - but ended up as Principal violist of the Berlin Radio Orchestra. He came to the U.S. in 1939, concertizing extensively and teaching at major music schools, including Juilliard. He was also one of the founding members of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Many musicians still speak well of him.