Reference: Carnegie Hall Launches Performance History Search Database Online
From the Carnegie Hall Blog:
What did Arturo Toscanini, Woodrow Wilson, Martha Graham, and Albert Einstein have in common? They all appeared at Carnegie Hall. You can uncover this information and tons more when you explore Carnegie Hall’s new online Performance History Search, recently added to carnegiehall.org/history.
This exhaustively researched database holds records of every event—both musical and non-musical—presented in the public performance spaces of Carnegie Hall since its 1891 opening. That’s information on nearly 50,000 events, including performances of classical, jazz, pop, and world music, featuring more than 88,000 artists and over 80,000 musical works, all available directly to the public for the first time. The sheer volume of information means that records must be released in installments; the first, available now, covers the period between 1891 and 1941, with more than 12,500 events. More will be released on a regular schedule.
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Searching is easy, and can be done by Keyword, Composer, Work, Performer, Date, or Date Range. Did you know Richard Strauss made his US debut and appeared at Carnegie Hall several times from late February to the end of March 1904? Key in “Richard Strauss” in the performer or composer search and the details pop up. Results can also be filtered by venue or genre; and search results can be saved, shared through a link, or exported to a PDF.
You can get delightfully lost poking around in the Performance History Search, and also settle some trivia bets. Which of his own works did John Philip Sousa conduct as his Carnegie Hall debut concert? Sheridan’s Ride, on January 23, 1893. What was the occasion for Andrew Carnegie’s first speech at his namesake hall? A memorial for writer Robert Louis Stevenson on January 4, 1895.
Direct to Performance History Search
See Also: Carnegie Hall’s Archives Begins Digitizing (October 12, 2012)
Filed under: Archives and Special Collections, News
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.