Five Musicians Who Are Fun To Follow On Twitter
Some of the folks we follow on Twitter. Anastasia Tsioulcas hide caption
Some of the folks we follow on Twitter.
Anastasia TsioulcasWhat can you possibly say about classical music in just 140 characters? How do you move past "what I ate for lunch" to more meaty discussions of beloved works? What's the difference between #askaconductor and #operaplot — and what's that little number sign doing there anyway?
As inveterate and perhaps overly enthusiastic social media users, we think the ambitious soundscapes of classical music and the terseness of Twitter, the social media platform that doesn't allow for more than 140 characters, are actually a great match.
The beauty (and time-suck) of Twitter is that any random post that piques your interest very might send you down a rabbit hole of new discoveries and interesting — albeit very briefly worded — conversations. If you love classical music, there are an astounding number of fellow tweeters who share your passion.
As such, we thought it might be fun to share some of our favorite classical music finds on Twitter from time to time. If you're just starting out on Twitter, there are scads of great resources on its mechanics and lingo, including the how-to pages on Twitter itself. But digging to find the users who might be most interesting to you? That's where we come in — at least on the classical music side of things. And you can find us on Twitter, too — we're at @nprclassical.
So, to kick things off, here are five musicians who pull back the curtain on their craft in delightful and often surprising ways.
Five Master Musician-Tweeters
Hilary Hahn
Violinist Hilary Hahn tweets in the persona of, yes, the box in which she carries her fiddle. (Yes, the photo is of the case apparently relaxing après le bain.) A recent report: "My pocket now holds Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Ives, Meyer, the thirteen new Encores, the computer, Scotch tape, pencil, and highlighters."
Deborah Voigt
This famed soprano describes herself as a "down to earth diva" — and she isn't afraid of copping to last-minute flutters. Here she is the night before Siegfried opened at the Metropolitan Opera a couple of weeks ago: "For a woman who is supposed to be awakening from a mighty long slumber, I sure don't feel sleepy tonight."
Stephen Hough
The hat enthusiast and wonderfully incisive pianist and composer Steven Hough tweets about returning from life on the road: "Never mind about my own bed after the past 49 nights in hotels - it's my own teapot that's so wonderful."
Zoe Keating
Zoe Keating. courtesy of the artist hide caption
Cellist Zoe Keating has amassed over 1.3 million Twitter followers; clearly, she's got this social media thing down. Here she is on the process of mixing a new recording: "Maybe I stuck with cello because it's the only instrument I can stand to listen for 1 million hours during the mixing process."
Nico Muhly
This wide-ranging and frequently hilarious tweeter has of late been chronicling his experience in debuting his new opera Dark Sisters. Along with posting a Sisters rehearsal photo, he recently tweeted: "These technical notes sessions are always weirdly moving as I feel like I've properly made something."