There’s been a lot of premature applause at Montreal Symphony concerts recently, which may annoy some seasoned concertgoers, but also signals that the orchestra and its new maestro, Kent Nagano, are attracting a new audience for the first time in years. In fact, ticket sales are up 15% in Nagano’s first season with the MSO, and every concert he conducted sold out.
Author: sbergman
SF Opera Fires Soprano; Protests Ensue
San Francisco Opera has fired soprano Hope Briggs from a leading role in its new production of “Don Giovanni” on the eve of the first performance, sparking protests from some who believe that race may have played a role in the decision. SFO director David Gockley says that the firing was based solely on Briggs’s performance in rehearsals.
Making Pops Less Abhorrent To The Young
One of the dirty little secrets of the orchestra world is that the audience for pops concerts is aging faster than the audience for classical, and unless the format changes to accommodate younger concertgoers, its status as a surefire moneymaker will soon be in jeopardy. With that in mind, the Boston Pops is beginning to take steps to shake its image as a light entertainment for stodgy baby boomers.
30-Second Spots? We’ll Give You The Whole Show!
As TV viewers become increasingly innoculated against ads (and more inclined to skip them with DVRs,) advertisers and the entertainment giants they support have been slipping ever more promotional content into the shows themselves. Most viewers will put up with a bit of product placement, but when the sponsor appears to have had a hand in writing the actual script to suit its product, has Hollywood crossed a line?
On The Whole, She’d Rather Be In Philadelphia
After a highly unusual year spent shuttling between principal horn gigs in St. Louis and Philadelphia, Jennifer Montone has informed the St. Louis Symphony that she will be officially departing the orchestra in order to spend full time in her now tenured chair in the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Contest Winners Rewarded With Book Deals
“Two agentless authors will have novels out this fall after winning a contest sponsored by Simon & Schuster, Borders Group Inc. and the social media site Gather.com… [The] contest allowed contestants — at no charge — to submit manuscripts to Gather.com, where readers narrowed more than 2,600 entries to five. “
Warner Takes Big Leap Forward With Free Video
“Warner Music, the world’s fourth largest music group, is putting its archive of music video online and making it available free to fans… Revenue will be driven by advertising, but music fans will be able to download the videos for an additional fee and Warner will also examine syndicating the content to a third party. The deal includes plans to develop subscription-based services and a version to be used on mobile platforms.”
ROM Almost To Its $270m Goal
Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum has raised CAN$262 million towards its Renaissance ROM campaign, following the addition of several last-minute donations totaling CAN$12 million. The campaign’s goal is CAN$270 million.
Selling Early Music To Uninterested New Yorkers
A new organization in New York has launched with the unusual aim of providing support and publicity to the city’s various early music ensembles. “Critics and early-music fans in New York have lamented that, despite a growing number of period-instrument ensembles and vocal groups, and the continuing popularity of early music on recordings, it remains a backwater in the city’s musical life… [The new company] hopes to bring cohesiveness and vitality to the city’s patchwork of early-music groups.”
Covent Garden Buys DVD Production Company
“In opera’s latest expansion into the world of video, the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London said yesterday that it had bought a leading maker and producer of performance DVDs, Opus Arte. Covent Garden’s purchase of a for-profit company is unheard of in the performing-arts world, although several orchestras have begun their own record labels.”