Spring 2025
Class Calendars
Our class schedule, volunteer presentation opportunities, and weekly assignments for the Spring 2025 semester.
Weekly Class Meetings
| Date | Session Themes | Session Leaders |
|---|---|---|
| March 3 Class #1 | 30 min. Session #1: Introductions to us and to composer Missy Mazzoli 15 min. Session #2: Course overview, website tour 10 min. Break 20 min. Session #3: The concerto: History and form 40 min. Session #4: Beethoven Piano Concerto #1 | Linda Nancy, Linda Linda Nancy |
| March 10 Class #2 | 20 min. Session #1: Intro to Joyce Yang, pianist, and Marcello Lehninger, conductor 30 min. Session #2: Introduction to the Orchestra 10 min. Break 20 min. Session #3: Tchaikovsky biography 40 min. Session #4: Tchaikovsky symphony #4 | Volunteer Nancy Volunteer Linda |
| March 14 | Concert | |
| March 17 Class #3 | 40 min. Session #1: Post-concert discussion 30 min. Session #2: April concert preview: Classical style 10 min. Break 15 min. Session #3: Michael Haydn biography, style 25 min. Session #4: M. Haydn: First movement, Symphony #25 in G | Linda Nancy Volunteer Nancy |
| March 24 | No class | |
| March 31 Class #4 | 30 min. Session #1: Mozart biography 20 min. Session #2: Figaro overture 10 min. Break 15 min. Session #3: Intro to Robert Levin, pianist 45 min. Session #4: Mozart Piano concerto #23 | Volunteer Linda Volunteer Nancy |
| April 7 Class #5 | 30 min. Session #1: Role of the conductor: History 15 min. Session #2: Intro to Ken-David Mazur, conductor 10 min. Break 15 min. Session #3: Mozart at the time of Symphony #38 45 min. Session #4: Mozart’s Symphony #38 | Linda Volunteer Volunteer Guest Presenter |
| April 11 | Concert | |
| April 14 Class #6 | 40 min. Session #1: Post-concert discussion 20 min. Session #2: Intro: Ruth Reinhardt 10 min. Break 10 min. Session #3: Unsuk Chin, composer 15 min. Session #4: Subito con Forza 15 min. Session #5: Nationalist Romanticism in music | Volunteer Volunteer Volunteer TBA Nancy |
| April 21 Class #7 | 30 min. Session #1: Rachmaninoff intro 20 min. Session #2: Tone Poem as a symphonic form 10 min. Break 30 min. Session #3: Isle of the Dead 30 min. Session #4: Beethoven’s impact on the symphony | Volunteer Volunteer Guest Presenter Linda |
| April 28 Class #8 | 30 min. Session #1: Beethoven biography 25 min. Session #2: Beethoven symphony #5 mvt. #1 10 min. Break 20 min. Session #3: Beethoven symphony #5 mvt. #2 30 min. Session #4: Beethoven symphony #5 mvts. #3, #4 | Volunteer Nancy Linda Nancy |
| May 2 | Concert | |
| May 5 Class #9 | 30 min. Session #1: Post-concert discussion 30 min. Session #2: Summer music 30 min. Session #3: Semester retrospective | Nancy Linda Linda and Nancy |
Dates for Volunteer Session Leaders
Choose your date and topic from the options below.
Class #2
March 10
- Introductions to Joyce Yang, pianist and
Marcello Lehninger, conductor (20 minutes) - Biography of Tchaikovsky (20 minutes)
Class #3
March 17
- Biography of Michael Haydn (15 minutes)
Class #4
March 31
- Biography of Mozart (30 minutes)
- Introduction to Robert Levin, pianist (15 minutes)
Class #5
April 7
- Introduction to Ken-David Mazur, conductor (15 minutes)
- Mozart and Vienna at the time of Symphony #38 (15 minutes)
Class #6
April 14
- Lead a post-concert discussion (30-40 minutes)
- Introduction to Ruth Reinhardt (20 minutes)
- Introduction to Unsuk Chin, composer (15 minutes)
Class #7
April 21
- Biography of Rachmaninoff (30 minutes)
- Introduction to the Tone Poem (20 minutes)
Class #8
April 28
- Biography of Beethoven (30 minutes)
Weekly Assignments
Complete these assignments before each class meeting.
Class #1
March 3
1. Before Class #1, explore the class website. Read the class calendar page and choose your presentation topic and date. Send your choice to lkshamoon@gmail.com
2. A couple of days before Class #1, listen to Missy Mazzoli’s 8-minute piece “These Worlds Within Us.” After your first listening session, look at the video of Mazzoli talking about the piece. During the next days, listen at least three more times to the piece, each time tracking your emotions and thoughts prompted by the piece as it goes along.
For the first day of class, tell us the emotions and thoughts this piece arouses in you—in no more than THREE sentences or less.
Class #2
March 10
1. Go to the Video Resources page of this website and listen to the two performances of the Beethoven Piano Concerto #1. Be prepared to tell us which performance you prefer and why.
2. After class #2 but before the March 14 concert, go to the Video Resources page of this website and listen to the two performances of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony #4. Decide which one you prefer and why. Also decide what features and performance aspects of the symphony you will follow.
Class #3
March 17
1. Come to class prepared to share your thoughts about the RI Philharmonic performance of March 14.
2. Go to the Video Resources page of this website and listen to Michael Haydn: First movement, Symphony #25 in G and listen to the first movement of W. A. Mozart’s Symphony #37.