In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or a musical composition written for such an ensemble.
Hendrik Pienaar Hofmeyr is a South African composer. Born in Cape Town, he furthered his studies in Italy during 10 years of self-imposed exile as a conscientious objector. While there, he won the South African Opera Competition with The Fall of the House of Usher. He also received the annual Nederburg Prize for Opera for this work subsequent to its performance at the State Theatre in Pretoria in 1988. In the same year, he obtained first prize in an international competition in Italy with music for a short film by Wim Wenders. He returned to South Africa in 1992, and in 1997 won two major international composition competitions, the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition of Belgium and the first edition of the Dimitris Mitropoulos Competition in Athens. His 'Incantesimo' for solo flute was selected to represent South Africa at the ISCM World Music Days in Croatia in 2005. In 2008 he was honoured with a Kanna award by the Kleinkaroo National Arts Festival. He is currently Professor and Head of Composition and Theory at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, where he obtained a DMus in 1999.
The Michael Nyman Band, formerly known as the Campiello Band, is a group formed as a street band for a 1976 production of Carlo Goldoni's 1756 play, Il Campiello directed by Bill Bryden at the Old Vic. The band did not wish to break up after the production ended, so its director, Michael Nyman, began composing music for the group to perform, beginning with "In Re Don Giovanni", written in 1977. Originally made up of old instruments such as rebecs, sackbuts and shawms alongside more modern instruments like the banjo and saxophone to produce as loud a sound as possible without amplification, it later switched to a fully amplified line-up of string quartet, double bass, clarinet, three saxophones, horn, trumpet, bass trombone, bass guitar, and piano. This lineup has been variously altered and augmented for some works.
The Michael Nyman Songbook is a collection of art songs by Michael Nyman based on texts by Paul Celan, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, William Shakespeare and Arthur Rimbaud. It was recorded as an album with Ute Lemper in 1991, and again as a concert film in 1992, under the direction of Volker Schlöndorff, again with Ute Lemper, though many of the musicians had changed. The songs have been recorded by others and as instrumentals, and are published by Chester Music. The album has been issued by both London Records and Argo Records, though the covers are the same except for the logo.
Grand traité d’instrumentation et d’orchestration modernes, abbreviated in English as the Treatise on Instrumentation is a technical study of Western musical instruments written by Hector Berlioz. It was first published in 1844 after being serialised in many parts prior to this date and had a chapter added by Berlioz on conducting in 1855.
Rita Coolidge is the self-titled debut album by Rita Coolidge.
Lior Navok is an Israeli classical composer, conductor and pianist. He was born in Tel Aviv. Navok studied composition privately with the Israeli composer Moshe Zorman, and completed a Bachelor's degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, where he studied composition and conducting. He later completed he studied for a Master's and Doctorate at the New England Conservatory, where he studied with John Harbison.
ClassiKhan is the tenth studio album by American singer Chaka Khan, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra. It was released by independent label Sanctuary Records on October 5, 2004 in United Kingdom, with international releases overseen by different record companies. Produced and arranged by Eve Nelson, ClassiKhan was mainly recorded at London's legendary Abbey Road Studios and features guest appearances by pianist Joe Sample and percussionist Sheila E., among others.
Paul Angerer was an Austrian violist, conductor, composer and radio presenter.
Janet Maguire (1927–2019) was an American composer who was born in Chicago and resided in Venice, Italy.
Madeleine Isaksson is a Swedish/French composer.
Heads is the fifth album by the jazz musician Bob James, released in October 1977. It was his first album released on his newly formed Tappan Zee label, which was distributed by Columbia Records. All of his Tappan Zee albums are distributed by E1 Music. The album reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Shaken Not Stirred is an album by American pianist David Benoit released in 1994, recorded for the GRP label. The album reached #14 on Billboard's Jazz chart.
Holiday for Swing is the second studio album and first Christmas album by American actor and singer Seth MacFarlane, released by Republic Records on September 30, 2014. It is available on CD, vinyl and as a digital download. The album is a collection of Christmas songs and contains collaborations with artists including Norah Jones and Sara Bareilles. It also features Frank Sinatra's bassist Chuck Berghofer as well as a 65-piece orchestra. The album is the follow-up to MacFarlane's Grammy-nominated 2011 debut album Music Is Better Than Words. Like Music Is Better Than Words, Holiday for Swing was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely.
No One Ever Tells You is the third studio album by American actor Seth MacFarlane. The album was released on September 30, 2015 through Republic Records. The album features Frank Sinatra's bassist Chuck Berghofer as well as a 65-piece orchestra. The album is the follow-up to MacFarlane's 2014 Christmas album Holiday for Swing. Like his two previous albums, No One Ever Tells You was produced and conducted by film and television composer Joel McNeely. The album earned MacFarlane a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.
Wicked: The Soundtrack is the soundtrack album to the 2024 epic musical fantasy film Wicked by Jon M. Chu, the first of the two-part film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman. It was released by Republic Records and Verve Records on November 22, 2024, the same date as the film's theatrical release in the United States. Along with the film cast, the soundtrack is billed to Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, the film's two main stars, who each appear on seven tracks out of eleven on the standard release.
