As one of the social media editors here at WCRB, I spend a lot of time trawling the web for cool articles and videos to share on our Facebook and Twitter accounts in addition to posts about our own programming. There is a lot of content out there, and only a few things actually end up getting posted each week. So, starting today, I'll share with you a weekly roundup of fun, weird, and just plain interesting things that you might not have seen before, from all corners of the classical internet.
1. First up, here's a video of opera singers dubbed with the sweet song of a dial-up modem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r3oheW9jRc
2. And, opera might be the key to training champion racehorses.
3. Musician Joachim Horsley turns Beethoven's Symphony No. 7 into a zippy Cuban rumba:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZRb0FyAa9s
Check out the rest of the stuff on his YouTube channel, because it's all wicked good.
4. Clarinetist Emil Jonason inhales helium and plays a little Mozart:
Why not, right?
5. For some interesting reading, here are two articles that touch on essential elements of the concert-going experience: The New Yorker's Michael Schulman delivers a rousing defense of standing ovations, and History Today writer Alexander Lee explains how concert-goers turned from the raucous, noisy crowds of the past into the more sedate audiences we know today.
6. Our favorite melodica virtuosi return, with Holst's "Jupiter:"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4-M0GPy8rY
Seriously, what can't the Melodica Men do?
7. Australian EDM DJ Alison Wonderland shows off her classical chops with a performance of Bach's Cello Suite No. 2.
8. And finally:
Yep.
Thanks for checking out this week's roundup! Have a story you think would be great for this list? Let me know, and check back next Friday for more.