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In Praise Of No Big Ideas

Is a Big Idea likely to dominate classical music in the next few years? Nope, says Kenneth LeFave. There are plenty of reasons why. “Styles tend to only separate men, because they have their own doctrines and then the doctrine became the gospel truth that you cannot change. But if you do not have a style, you just say: Well, here I am as a human being, how can I express myself totally and completely?”

Milwaukee Symphony Posts Another Deficit

The Milwaukee Symphony had another bad financial year. The orchestra reports an “operating deficit of $2.9 million and a $169,000 decline in ticket revenue for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31. The accumulated debt now stands at $9.8 million. It could have been worse. The orchestra was projecting a $3.5 million operating deficit last January,” but office staff was reduced by 17 positions, about 30%, to save the bulk of the $600,000 difference.

Internet2 – Long Distance Music

The New World Symphony experiments with Internet2, uniting musicians thousands of miles apart. “On Wednesday night, the New World Symphony had experimented with a violin class by a New World fellow via Internet2 with a student in Beijing 8,075 miles away. Then Thursday morning, New World upped the ante with the rehearsal of Turnage’s piece, conducted by Stefan Asbury in Miami Beach. Internet2, which allows high-definition images and CD-quality sound, put composer and musicians in the same virtual space. With satellite technology, the delay is between 30 seconds and a minute. With Internet2, the delay is 100 milliseconds.”

Chicago Mourns Art Star

In Chicago, they’re wondering who might fill the shoes of Ed Paschke – for decades the Chicago art scene’s most visible and charismatic icon – who recently died. “In their view, Paschke’s unique track record of international stature, tireless civic involvement, generous mentorship of the young and commitment to Chicago is unlikely to be approached, much less duplicated, by anyone now on the scene.”

Rehearsal Manners – Boston Audience Needs Practice

James Levine has been using Boston Symphony dress rehearsals to actually rehearse. It will take some re-education though, for the auidences that ettend the rehearsals. “After the grand climax at the very end of the work, the audience burst into applause, which Levine acknowledged, asking the orchestra to rise. But then most in the audience began to leave, quite noisily and rudely, although the music director and orchestra were still onstage with work to do. Ultimately Levine had to whistle for silence, and cried out in mock-agony the dying words of the villainous police chief Scarpia in Puccini’s “Tosca” after he has been stabbed. “Aiuto, soccorso!” (“Help me! Come to my aid.”) More freely translated: “Give me a break.”

Field Scores $17 Million At Auction

Chicago’s Field Museum nets $17 million auctioning some of its art. “Included in the sale were 31 paintings of American Indians and bison by artist and adventurer George Catlin, representing the bulk of the Field’s Catlin collection, which the museum has owned since shortly after it was founded in 1893. The decision this fall to auction the Catlins, which the artist is thought to have painted during his travels in the American frontier in the 1830s, generated controversy within the museum and on the Field’s board of trustees, but museum officials said the sale was part of a strategy to focus its holdings on scientific materials and to expand its collections.”