istoryworld
Events relating to music
Michael Tippett's opera The Knot Garden has its premiere at Covent Garden
Indian sitar-player Ravi Shankar composes the first of his two concertos for sitar and orchestra
95-year-old Spanish cellist Pablo Casals conducts in New York his Hymn to the United Nations
Peter Maxwell Davies moves to the Orkneys, where he founds (in 1977) the St Magnus Festival
Ultimos Ritos ('Last Rites'), an oratorio by John Tavener, has its first performance in Haarlem in the Netherlands
Peter Maxwell Davies's opera Taverneris performed at Covent Garden
Russian composer Alfred Schnittke's First Symphony alarms the Soviet authorities and is denied a Moscow premiere
Elvis Presley performs in Honolulu in the Aloha Concert, the first programme to be broadcast live round the world by satellite
A Little Night Music, with lyrics and music by Stephen Sondheim, has its premiere in New York
The score of the film The Sting revives interest in Scott Joplin and ragtime
The career of virtuoso cellist Jacqueline du Pré's is cut short by multiple sclerosis
The Sydney Opera House opens with a performance by Australian Opera of Prokofiev's War and Peace
David Hockney begins a new career as a set designer, with The Rake's Progress by Stravinksky at Glyndebourne
The British group the Sex Pistols launch punk rock, with their first gig at St Martin's School of Art in London
Frederick Ashton creates a ballet based on Turgenev's play A Month in the Country, to music by Chopin
Polish composer Henryk Górecki completes his Third Symphony
Pierre Boulez establishes in Paris IRCAM, an advanced institute for research into the techniques of modern music
Estonian composer Arvo Pärt completes his choral work Cantus in memoriam Benjamin Britten
Elvis Presley dies, aged 42, at his home in Memphis, Tennessee
Hungarian composer György Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre has its premiere in Stockholm
Beatle John Lennon is murdered by a psychopath on the steps of his and Yoko Ono's apartment block in New York
War Music is the first instalment of Christopher Logue's version of the Iliad
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Thursday from Light, the first of a seven-part opera cycle, is performed in Milan
Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats, based on the Old Possum poems by T.S. Eliot, opens in London
Michael Jackson's releases the album Thriller, which goes on to sell 40 million copies in ten years
