Top 6 Spooky Picks for Your Classical Halloween Playlist!
Halloween is the perfect time of year to celebrate dark, spooktacular music! Set the mood in your home this month with a classical Halloween playlist that includes these six spine-chilling tunes for the ages. Night on Bald Mountain by Mussorgsky from Fantasia (Rimsky-Korsakov arrangement) – Our favorite spooky composition has to be Night on Bald Mountain. […]
A Magnificent Concert by the Barclay Brass
Presented both in-person and live-stream from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City, Maryland, the Barclay Brass played selections from Johann Sebastian Bach, Mikhail Glinka, Christer Danielsson, Sergei Prokofiev, and William Byrd, among other notable composers. Established in 2015, the Barclay Brass is an ensemble comprised of some of the Washington, DC area’s top brass […]
Odyssey Dedicates Concert to Former Board Member
The Howard County Concert Odyssey’s October 3, 2021, concert with the Barclay Brass is dedicated to the memory of our dear friend and former Board member, Nancy Berla, who passed away on May 10, 2020. Nancy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Oberlin College and worked for many years at the University of Michigan, as assistant director […]
Where are all the great composers?
Think about the great classical composers … names like Bach, Mozart and Debussy come to mind. And there’s no doubt they were extraordinary, but it sometimes feels like we’re reaching back centuries when looking for “the masters.” To be sure, there are contemporary composers whose names are probably at least familiar to you: John Williams, […]
Odyssey to Present the Barclay Brass In-Person and Live-Stream
On Sunday, October 3, 2021, at 4 p.m., the Howard County Concert Odyssey will present The Barclay Brass at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ellicott City. The concert will be held in-person and a live-stream option is also available. Established in 2015, the Barclay Brass is an ensemble comprised of some of the Washington, DC […]
Music in Unexpected Places
In case you haven’t heard, last year a new instrument hit the music scene, and it’s huge. In fact, it’s the Golden Gate Bridge. And it has recently been featured in duets with a guitarist from Los Angeles named Nate Mercereau. Yes, it turns out that architecture can actually be pretty darn musical. How, you […]
Feelin’ Brassy
For a strong, bold sound, you can’t go wrong with a brass instrument. But how much do you know about the brass family? Check out these fun facts! Longer than they seem You’ve no doubt noticed that brass instruments tend to bend and coil quite a bit. A French horn would actually be 12 to […]
Marching Onward
Ah, summertime. Between Memorial Day and Independence Day may just be the perfect time of year to enjoy a rousing march! Feel the beat Marches are marked by a strong, regular tempo – usually 120 beats per minute, which matches the pace of soldiers. This style of music is thought to have originated in the […]
Handbell Choir of St. John’s Church
The Howard County Concert Odyssey presented “The Bells of St. John’s,” a program of handbell music by the St. John’s Ringers on Sunday, May 2, 2021. The music ensemble is the handbell choir of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Ellicott City. The performance included classical music from Bach and Mozart, American folk hymns, and bell solos.
Good vibrations: The wonderful world of reed instruments
Ever wonder what the reed in a reed instrument actually does? After all, musicians blow into other instruments to create sound – flutes and brass instruments come to mind first – that don’t use reeds. So what makes reed instruments different? First things first First, if you’re not sure what a reed is, it’s a […]