NEW RELEASE
"Though Nicks has characterized her own techniques as spontaneous and idiosyncratic, this book approaches her process in a serious manner, pointing out the chord progressions, lyrics, and rhythms that comprise her message of independence and self-assurance. Here, Nicks is re-centered as an artistic presence in her own right, and her opulent attire, seductive mystique, and wide influences become proof of her lasting star quality.
"Written with respect and admiration, Mirror in the Sky analyzes Stevie Nicks’s music with care, noting how it expressed the sentiments of a generation."
— Mari Carlson, Foreword Reviews
Upcoming Events
The Four Romantic Composers: Beethoven, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, Alma Mahler
Beethoven, Berlioz, Tchaikovsky, and (Alma) Mahler: Four composers who between them express the full range of stormy emotions and innovative techniques that define musical Romanticism. Learn the truth and the fiction behind the creation of some of the most alluring, sensual compositions of the 19th century.
The Queen of Spades: Tchaikovsky, Pushkin, and the End of the World
Magic cards; a ghost; visions of the end of everything—these are the elements of Pushkin’s story “The Queen of Spades” and Tchaikovsky’s beautiful, terrifying operatic adaptation of it. In advance of the Metropolitan Opera's 2025 production, this class considers the story in its original context, and the radical changes that Tchaikovsky brought to it, resulting in an opera that Russian aristocrats interpreted as an ominous portent of the future.
The Mendelssohns and the Schumanns: Harmony and Discord
In this course, Princeton University Professor Simon Morrison considers the stunning body of music produced by prodigiously gifted siblings Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn, and the infamously happily/unhappily married couple Clara and Robert Schumann. How did the contradictory nature of their relationships influence their work and their legacies? Take a rare look into this glorious history and music of these deeply intertwined artists.
Simon Morrison Receives Behrman Award for the Humanities
"A brilliant and supremely conscientious teacher, Simon is famous on campus for his beautifully crafted lectures and his extraordinary intellectual range, touching students in music, Slavic [languages and literatures], humanistic studies, and the Global Seminar.”
Featured Books
Bolshoi Confidential
On a freezing night in January 2013, a hooded assailant hurled acid in the face of the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet...
Lina & Serge
Serge Prokofiev was one of the twentieth century’s most brilliant composers yet is an enigma to historians and his fans...
The People's Artist
Sergey Prokofiev was one of the twentieth century's greatest composers—and one of its greatest mysteries. Until now...
Russian Opera and the Symbolist Movement
This second edition explores music and the occult during the Russian Symbolist movement...
Notable Reviews
On Bolshoi Confidential
The insider look in Bolshoi Confidential is incredibly rich and makes this book a page-turner…Breathtakingly complicated life stories of both people and productions parade through the pages…Its central figures, like Plisetskaya, jump off its pages complex and alive."
—Daria Khitrova, New York Times
On Lina and Serge: The Love and Wars of Lina Prokofiev
"Simon Morrison has written a brilliant and riveting tale of love, intrigue, terror, and betrayal that forces us to confront the paradox of how great art can be made by unspeakably cruel and heartless individuals."
—Leon Botstein, music director and conductor, American Symphony Orchestra, and president of Bard College
On The People's Artist
"Simon Morrison has now produced the most definitive study of Prokofiev the Soviet composer in any language, drawing on a wealth of archival material hitherto unavailable...Indispensable to anyone even casually interested in this field."
—Music and Letters
Upcoming Projects
A Kingdom and a Village
An erudite and entertaining history of Moscow, a city defined by its survival and reinvention, and whose rich history offers crucial insight into contemporary global politics
Shostakovich
Morrison is signed with Norton for a book on the Soviet composer and pianist, Dmitri Shostakovich.
Writings
Morrison has published feature articles and opinion pieces in The New York Times, New York Review of Books, Threepenny Review, London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement and more.
Productions
Morrison has been a Director, Musicologist, Project Coordinator, Collaborator for several ballet and dance performances.
Interviews & Lectures
Morrison is an acclaimed public speaker equally in demand by academic and general audiences.