Monthly archives: April, 2025

Pioneers of Musical Pan-Americanism: David Van Vactor

Born in Indiana in 1906, David Van Vactor received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University in 1928. He spent the following year in Vienna composing and studying the flute with Josef Niedermeyer, the principal flutist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. He returned to the US and became the first flutist of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. …

On Conducting Latin American Music

Alfonso Leng, La muerte de Alsino, opening section. The classical music of Latin America unfolded along an entirely different path than that of Europe or the United States. In fact, the sequential development that we learned about in music history class, that is, concerning the distinct periods ending with “ism,” such as classicism or modernism, …