Anime Academy

This new edition of the groundbreaking popular book is a must-have for both seasoned and new fans of anime. Japanese animation is more popular than ever following the 2002 Academy Award given to Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. It confirmed that anime is more than just children's cartoons, often portraying important social and cultural themes. With new chapters on Spirited Away and other recent releases, including Howl's Moving Castle—Miyazaki's latest hit film, already breaking records in Japan—this edition will be the authoritative source on anime for an exploding market of viewers who want to know more.

The new album from Laura Pausini, "Anime Parallele" ("Almas Paralelas" is the Spanish version), five years after her last studio album "FATTI SENTIRE," from 2018. Five years of anticipation has seen Laura starring in a world tour, a biopic, a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination, as well as numerous awards, leading up to 2023, which represents the year of her comeback.

With a captivating compilation of re-written, sound-painting arrangements for violin and orchestra of well-known film and series soundtracks and new compositions by Academy Award-winning composers Rachel Portman and Anne Dudley, violinist Esther Abrami demonstrates her versatility, musical sensitivity and sophistication on Cinéma.

Agostino Steffani was both a musician and an important state and church figure. Active principally in Munich, Hanover and Düsseldorf, his music was also very much admired in London, to the extent that the Academy of Vocal Music (later known as the Academy of Ancient Music) made him honorary president in 1727. Baccanali, dating from 1695, is a series of reflections on the joys and sorrows of mans life, portrayed by eight characters set in a pastoral context. In the prologue, the Titan Atlas introduces the events that are to follow: men should be granted a pause from their sufferings and labours at least during the days consecrated to Bacchus, the soother of all ills.

Anne-Sophie Mutter is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of modern times, combining technical virtuosity, beauty of tone, and exceptional charisma. She has nurtured the classical music scene through her own Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation, which has commissioned new works and fostered the careers of younger violinists. Mutter was born in the German town of Rheinfelden, near the Swiss border, on June 29, 1963. She took up the piano at five, and the violin shortly after. By nine she was advancing rapidly and had begun lessons with Aïda Stucki. Mutter appeared in recital at the Lucerne Festival when she was 13 and was heard there by legendary conductor Herbert von Karajan.

This is a program of great French works, in arrangements for double bass and piano by Henry Chen. Henry Chen and Lucas Wong, piano, turn in wonderful performances. These are great additions to the very limited double bass literature. A versatile bassist, Han-Jui (Henry) Chen has performed in North America, Europe, South Africa, Asia, and his native Taiwan. He enjoys performing as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral bassist. Henry was appointed to the faculty at Central Conservatory of Music in Fall of 2018.

Werner Haas was a German pianist especially known for his interpretations of French repertory, particularly the works of Debussy and Ravel. But his performances of music by Chopin and Beethoven were also highly praised and his repertory was quite broad, extending to Prokofiev and Kabalevsky. He was better known in Europe than in the Americas, where he never concertized. His many admirers assert that had his life not been tragically cut short, he would likely have achieved recognition as one of the finest pianists of his time. Haas was born in Stuttgart on March 3, 1931. He exhibited unusual talent as a young child, though the pianist himself was reluctant to claim he was extraordinarily gifted. Still, he might have developed even sooner but for the exigencies brought on by the war in his homeland. He enrolled at the Stuttgart Academy of Music in 1947, where he took instruction on piano from Lilli Kröber-Asche, who was known for her Mozart interpretations. Shortly after leaving the Stuttgart Academy in 1954, he traveled to Saarbrücken for two years of study with Walter Gieseking, whose interest in the music of Debussy may well have steered Haas toward the French master's works. It was during this time that he launched his career with a critically well-received recital (1955) in his native Stuttgart.

Friedrich Guida was born in Vienna on May 16, 1930. He began his musical education at the Grossmann Conservatory and subsequently took private lessons from Felix Pazofsky. From 1942 to 1947 he studied piano at the Vienna Academy of Music under Bruno Seidlhofer and Music Theory and Com position under Joseph Marx . He gave his first public performance in 1944 and, two years later when just 16 years old, won the Geneva International Music Competition. Starting after the Second World War, as a 20-year-old, Guida established himself as a piano soloist with an excel I ent international reputation and even performed at Carnegie HalI in New York City in 1950.