“Hamburg’s spectacular new philharmonic concert hall will reportedly cost up to €20 million than previously planned. The project – which is intended to give Hamburg a world-famous landmark like Sydney’s Opera House – apparently has run into trouble trying to cool the glass structure to be perched atop a massive brick shipping warehouse right on the Elbe [River].”
Author: sbergman
It’s Not The Orchestra’s Fault; It’s The Audience
Florida Orchestra music director Stefan Sanderling likes contemporary music. So do many of his musicians. Sadly, the orchestra’s core audience appears to hate it, to the extent that angry letters are received whenever Sanderling programs something new or complex. What’s a forward-thinking orchestra to do?
St. Louis Symphony Gets Its Download On
“The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and its music director David Robertson have just released their first download-only recording,” one in a series that the orchestra plans to produce. The release, which consists of John Adams’s Harmonielehre, is the SLSO’s first commercial recording in many years.
Earliest Voice Recording Discovered
“For more than a century, since he captured the spoken words “Mary had a little lamb” on a sheet of tinfoil, Thomas Edison has been considered the father of recorded sound. But researchers say they have unearthed a recording of the human voice, made by a little-known Frenchman, that predates Edison’s invention of the phonograph by nearly two decades.”
Something’s Happening, But You Don’t Know What It Is
Nearly everyone acknowledges that a major shift is going on in how music is created, distributed, and promoted, but no one seems to agree on just how the shift will impact everyone involved. “Can controlling how and when music is released backfire on artists and fans?”
The Ego-less Actor?
Famed British actor Paul Scofield, who died last week at 86, was one of the least actor-ish actors ever to tread the boards, shunning fame and public adulation even as his reputation grew. “That he did not commit himself to playing the star – even though he was one – is what made him so fascinating to many of us.”
Canada’s GG Awards Getting Predictable?
The recipients of Canada’s 9th Annual Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts were announced yesterday in Ottawa, and the winners represent a broad swath of the art world, including an infamous performance artist. Still, the list of winners “underlined the award’s increasing tendency to celebrate already established figures.”
D.C. Musical To Make Rare Leap To Broadway
“Signature Theatre’s Glory Days, the coming-of-age musical set on a football field, is moving to Broadway next month… The transfer of a play from Washington to Broadway is an exceedingly rare occurrence.” In fact, it hasn’t happened in 40 years.
Author Hugo Claus, 78
“Hugo Claus, one of Belgium’s most renowned authors despite his often caustic portrayals of his nation, particularly of its ambiguous role in World War II, died on Wednesday. He was 78.”
Tristan Curse Continues At The Met
In case anyone’s keeping track, the Metropolitan Opera still hasn’t pulled off a performance of Tristan und Isolde with both of its billed stars, Ben Heppner and Deborah Voigt, onstage together throughout. The latest is that Ms. Voigt is ill again, and “the Met was still holding out hope that [the two] would finally take the stage together for the last performance, on Friday.”