In Brief: Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää!

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.

• No, random strings of letters and diacritical marks did not stray into the title of this post. Finland celebrated the 90th anniversary of its independence this week. We love Finland: Sibelius is in the CD player as this goes to post. [Marja-Leena Rathje]


• Leading American musicologist H. Wiley Hitchcock, a giant in the field and in so many areas, has died. Kyle Gann, who knew him well, has a moving tribute. [PostClassic]


• Speaking of giants, Karlheinz Stockhausen passed into the atonal ether on December 5. Alex Ross has a good tribute and links to many others. [The Rest Is Noise]


• Frank Johnston, like any other father, just wanted to see his daughter Isabelle make her debut as a Mouse in the Washington Ballet's Nutcracker on Friday night. The problem is that Johnston, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps, is stationed in Iraq at the moment. (You think your commute to the Warner Theater will be tough.) In response to Johnston's request, the Washington Ballet has enlisted the help of WRC NBC-4 to film the performance, which will then be broadcast on the Pentagon Channel not once but three times. Good on everyone who made this happen. [Playbill Arts]


• As just about everyone in Blogville has already reported, congratulations are due to Peter Lieberson for winning the 2008 Grawemeyer Prize, (hopefully) to be augmented by a few Grammy awards for Neruda Songs in a couple months. [Playbill Arts]


• La Cieca has written an incisive dissection of recent comments by director Francesca Zambello. [Parterre Box]


• Tim Nelson has announced the next season for American Opera Theater: Cavalli's La Calisto, Bizet's Carmen, and Philip Glass's Hydrogen Jukebox are the new productions. [Yugen]


• Lucky blogger got to experience a performance of Harry Partch's Delusion of the Fury. [Waggish]

Via Boing Boing, Philip Glass's four animated shorts for Sesame Street,
with his own music, from 1977 (around the time of Einstein on the Beach)