This article discusses the beginning of the formation of the semi-opera genre in connection with the history of the development of English theater, starting from the last third of the 16th century and ending with 1674 – the appearance of the first example of this genre. Considerable attention is paid to the polemic, which will largely determine the attitude of the English public to the theater. The author emphasizes the role of Elizabethan drama and productions of Shakespeare’s plays, where music occupied a large place, and notes the influence of the court performances «Masque». In addition, the article defines the role of the activities of William Davenant and his Duke’s Company during the Restoration period, which returned Shakespeare’s tragedies and comedies to the stage and attracted professional composers to the collaboration. All of these factors led to the birth of a new genre in England.

The purpose of this article is to present the exploration of new theatrical and scenic forms in the second half of the 20th century created by Western composers. The article draws upon and synthesizes the experiences from musicological and theatrical publications by Russian authors to depict the changes in the nature of scenic synthesis and the transformations in the «post-opera theatre’s» engagement with the audience. It discusses the main trends in the «neo-opera» interaction of «word-action-music», considering the influences of media technologies on contemporary theatre. Particularly, it is focused on anti-opera (D. Cage, M. Kagel, D. Ligeti), the mystery theatre in the works of K. Stockhausen and American composers (F. Glass, S. Reich, Tan Dun), and performative musical theatre (G. Aperghis, Schnabel, H. Goebbels, M. Monk). The article provides common characteristics of new theatrical models are examined, and examples of their scenic realization. It suggests references to specialized publications on the issues of new musical-scenic forms aimed at creating a contextual approach.

Latin American dance tradition plays an important role in modern popular music, in particular, such genres as rumba, mambo, cha-cha-cha, pachanga, bugalu, salsa. The leading center of Latin American music has always been Cuba. In the wake of the popularity at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries, a new phenomenon arises – timba, which can be called the pinnacle of the evolution of Cuban dance music. Timba attracted wide public interest around the world and in Russia, in particular. Amid the crisis and rapid changes taking place in Cuban society, Timba became a symbol of the national identity of Afro- Cubans, forming a special subculture. At the same time, the timba incorporated key elements of previous genres, becoming the quintessence of the style and genre features of Cuba’s dance music. The article gives a historical excursion into the dance culture of Cuba with the identification of subsequent ties reflected in the modern Cuban timba. Timba is analyzed in detail as a new genre of Cuban from the standpoint of structure, choreography, instrumental composition.

The article is dedicated to the modern Tajik composer Tolibkhon Ziyadullaevich Shahidi, whose name is known far beyond the borders of his homeland. Despite the performing popularity, the vocal work of T. Z. Shahidi has not yet received a comprehensive understanding in domestic musicology, which determines the relevance and novelty of the proposed work. The focus of the authors is on the vocal works of T. Z. Shahidi, written in different years: the cycles «Poem of Wanderings», «Good to You» and «Times of Contrast», the poem «Hafizname», the romance «Devouring Time». It is shown that they find a multidimensional implementation of the theoretical principles of Sufism, its leading ideas and symbols. It is emphasized that the composer, genetically related to the religious and philosophical world of Islam, succeeds at different levels (poetic, figurative-compositional, intonation, genre), masterfully synthesize the traditions of the musical cultures of the East and West.

Musical instrument professional training appeals to the musical text. Educational practice shows learner’ common insufficient attention to score containing concentrated information of the piece itself, and often of the author, of the composer’s school, of certain epoch (the degree of the information density can vary). The current paper offers some ways of solving the task of conscious and deep perception of the musical text from the very beginning of the acquaintance with it. The gist in the professional approach implies the following: 1) forging the skill of adequate sound reproduction of the whole text system – notes as such, the author’s remarks, as well as dynamic and tempo signs and other means of musical expressiveness; 2) providing some of the basic educational principles – from the simple to the complex – to acquire the skill of gradual solving performance tasks, step by step. The paper considers and gives comparative analysis of various concepts of the musical text, covered in different sources. It also demonstrates practice-based educational process of revealing the piece context, bringing the performer’s subcontext to light. The article also illustrates the mechanism of the detailed penetration into the score as a fundamental condition for the substantial, insightful interpreting of the musical piece.

«Children’s» M. P. Mussorgsky is one of the peaks of the work of the great Russian composer. This ingenious work is currently admired by the artist, who managed to reveal the child’s world so subtly, vividly and capaciously by musical and poetic means. As a fairly frequently performed composition, «Children’s» is the richest material in both musical and figurative and artistic significance for the professional development and education of students in the concertmaster class. The author of this article is attracted by the phenomenon of musical expression of the children’s world in the vocal cycle. Attention is paid in detail to the study of poetic text and a fine palette of colors of piano texture. On the example of a number of songs «Children’s», the artistic and technical tasks facing the pianist in the process of work are considered. Methodical comments can be useful for students of the accompanist class of music colleges and universities.

The article describes the existing approaches in the study of the concept of «Internet culture»: ethical, accumulative, economic and professional, simulative, pedagogical, semiotic, axiological and complex. Based on the analysis of different approaches, the author’s definition of this concept has been formulated. Internet culture is understood as a type of information culture that arose as a result of the development of computer technology, synthesizing all previous forms of information. The specificity of information representation in Internet culture lies in the fact that information exists in the form of hypertext and visual images in virtual reality. The specifics and types of information representation in the network are analyzed. According to the cultural discourse, three basic levels of representation are distinguished, depending on the type of information: semiotic, hermeneutic, and axiological. Information is presented as a complex system of signs that needs to be interpreted and understood to determine the value context.