Studying music in a conservatory is very different from being a professional musician, as graduates of such cloistered institutions as Juilliard and Curtis quickly discover. But an innovative outreach program at Boston’s New England Conservatory is aiming to prepare its young participants for the work they will be expected to do as professionals, as well as bringing high-quality, low-cost music to underprivileged corners of the community.
Blog
Chicago’s Other Top Conductor
Even as the Chicago Symphony prepares to usher in a new era with the departure of music director Daniel Barenboim, one familiar face at Orchestra Hall won’t be going anywhere. Pierre Boulez, the onetime enfant terrible of contemporary music, has made a home for himself in Chicago as the CSO’s principal guest conductor, and some would argue that his effect on the orchestra has been more profound than even the music director’s. “His presence has enlivened the contemporary music scene throughout the city. Some listeners who hear his lucid, highly honed performances of new music with the CSO have been tempted to seek it out elsewhere.”
IS KC Getting Ready To Scrap The PAC?
Kansas City’s plans for a massive downtown performing arts center are in danger of being scrapped or severely scaled back if new funding cannot be found. Organizers announced last week that they are suspending the PAC’s official capital campaign, and business leaders in the city say that the center cut off all contact with potential donors last fall after a proposed bi-state tax failed at the polls.
Conductor Sergiu Commisiona, 76
“Sergiu Comissiona, the elegant Romanian-born conductor who transformed the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from a little-known ensemble into a nationally respected orchestra, taking it to Carnegie Hall and Europe and winning for it the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, was found dead yesterday in his Oklahoma City hotel room. Maestro Comissiona apparently died of a heart attack, hours before he was to serve as guest conductor for the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.”
“Gates” – Does New Public Art Have To Be Banal To Succeed?
The Central Park “Gates” are gone now, attracting upwards of 3 million people. “Give the artists credit for creating a spectacular public event. Yet as the 7,500 orange panels began to come down Monday, I couldn’t help but wonder: Does public art now have to be bad to be effective, accepted, even loved? Because as art, the big-footed, 16-foot-tall “gates” – gallowslike frames hung with pleated fabric panels that arched over 23 miles of park walkways – defined banality. Yet the $20 million installation inspired what amounted to a worldwide pilgrimage to see the latest creation by the world’s most famous wrappers of buildings and girders of islands.”
Low-Carb Opera
It’s called the “Atkins Diet Opera.” “”Opening in Oxford on Friday, the production – which extols in rhyming couplets the virtues of avoiding carbohydrates – is one of the high-spots of an annual tour of Ig Nobel award-winners, given as ironic counters to Nobel prizes for those who carry out research ‘that should never be repeated’.
SF Classical Station – Success Among The Critics
San Francisco critics have been complaining about classical station KDFC. But the station seems to be a hit with listeners. “The station is advertised with such slogans as ‘Relax. You feel different here.’ KDFC has been the top-rated music station in the Bay Area several times in recent years, and the most successful classical station in the country. No other major-market classical station reaches even the Top 20. Listenership, has increased from about 300,000 a week in 1997 to almost double that number today. So, are the letter-writing critics just a snobbish, demanding minority?”
A Better Plan For London?
“Despite all the hyperbole accompanying its Olympic bid, London remains dirty, inefficient and congested. It is aesthetically and architecturally incoherent, and, unlike Manhattan, Barcelona or Paris, essentially suburban. It is also, however, hugely successful and consistently fashionable. So why has London got such useless public space – and will it, indeed should it, ever change?”
Milwaukee Hopes For An About-Face
Even by today’s low standards, the Milwaukee Symphony is struggling mightily at the box office and on the ledger sheet. A new management team has garnered early praise, but the coming season will represent a watershed moment for the orchestra, as it attempts to recoup recent sales losses and reconnect with the city. The desperation for a quick turnaround has led the MSO to program a season made up almost entirely of guaranteed classical hits like Beethoven’s 9th and “Carmina Burana,” to introduce “subtle theatrical elements” to the concert experience, and even to experiment with a video component. On top of all that, the orchestra is cutting ticket prices on a wide variety of concerts.
The Problem With Porgy
George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess is arguably the greatest American opera ever composed. But despite its popularity, the opera is rarely staged, either in the US or in Europe. The sticking point is the Gershwin estate’s insistence that all the roles in any production of the work must be filled by black singers. “At a time of widespread discrimination, the socially conscious Gershwins had no intention of undermining Porgy’s credibility by parading before their audience a white cast crudely disguised in blackface. Admirable as their attitude may have been, it has necessarily slowed down the entry of Porgy and Bess into the standard repertory. Though the situation is changing for the better, most opera companies still have limited access to black singers. Producing Porgy effectively means hiring a second company.”