California-born conductor Kent Nagano is rumored to be the choice of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra to be its next music director, and, conveniently enough, Nagano is in town to conduct the MSO this week. And while the orchestra may have a long way to go to rebuild its damaged relationship with its audiences following the stormy departure of Charles Dutoit last year, early indications are that Nagano is an overwhelming favorite with public and press alike.
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Interdisciplinary Inspiration
Canada’s National Research Council, a decidedly scientific institution, has appointed two artists-in-residence, in what is being billed as a serious experiment in the connection between creativity and cold logic. “Partly inspired by the now disbanded effort by the Xerox Corporation to incorporate artists into its California research laboratory, the project aims to invigorate two sides of what is frequently seen as opposing halves of the human brain. The linking notion is that inspiration doesn’t know whether it is going to express itself through science or art.”
Bad Trade-Off In Detroit
For years, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra has produced large-scale choral works with the assistance of a polished adult choir based in nearby Ann Arbor, Michigan. This year, however, that choir is absent from the DSO’s schedule, and, in an apparent cost-cutting move, the orchestra is putting on performances of Mozart’s Requiem with a 60-voice student chorus from a state university. The result, says critic Lawrence Johnson, is embarrassingly bad, and an insult to the DSO’s audiences, which pay good money to hear professional-caliber performances.
Perlman To Go Under The Knife
Acclaimed violinist and part-time conductor Itzhak Perlman will be undergoing rotator cuff surgery at a New York hospital in mid-February. Perlman sustained a torn rotator cuff as a result of years of wear and tear from playing the violin, an injury familiar to many musicians. The procedure is a routine one, but the popular soloist will be out of action for at least three months.
Kickin’ ‘Em When They’re Down
Calgary’s city council is not doing much to dispel the popular notion that the city is an uncultured cowboy town. Less than a week after trying to renege on a $250,000 contribution to the bankrupt Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra because of a technicality, aldermen opposed to the bailout are pushing a plan that would force the CPO to repay the entire amount to the city if the ensemble eventually makes it back out of bankruptcy. One alderman called the proposal “a win-win-win situation.” Orchestra officials presumably call it something else.
Low-Tech, Outdated, Expensive, And Still Going Strong
In this age of corporate publishing monoliths and high-tech innovations such as on-demand publishing, is there any room left for those old, traditional leather-bound tomes that lined your grandfather’s library? Boston’s Harcourt Bindery thinks so, and its president is still running a highly profitable business by appealing to the indulgent side of the reading public. “In the world of handmade bookbindings in leather or cloth, tooled with gold, the line between classic and contemporary is hard to find. It’s all based… on ‘the economics of desire.'”
Piling On At The ENO
“Music impresario Raymond Gubbay has attacked plans to axe jobs in the chorus and orchestra at the English National Opera. Mr Gubbay – one of the leading names in his field – described as ‘absurd’ and ‘ridiculous’ the ENO’s proposals to reduce the number of 60 choristers and 83 orchestra members. His outburst followed chairman Martin Smith’s admission the ENO had been saved from going into receivership by a £4.2m grant from the Arts Council of England.”
Final, Clinching Proof That Wagner Was Unreasonable
So you think it’s hard to listen to a 6-hour Wagner opera? Try playing violin in the orchestra pit, your arms and head twisted into a pretzel for the duration of a performance three times the length of the average concert. The health risks are so severe, in fact, that one German opera orchestra has gone out and raised the money necessary to provide its musicians with physiotherapy and muscle training. Some musicians are reported to have increased their muscle strength by 280%.
Colorado Springs Musicians Form Own Orchestra
The musicians of the Colorado Springs Symphony Orchestra, locked in a months-long battle with their management over the decision to file for bankruptcy and demand heavy monetary concessions from the players, have formed the Colorado Springs Philharmonic, which they say will be kept in standby mode, ready to spring from the ashes should the CSSO fold. In the short term, both sides are waiting to see what will occur this weekend, when Ray Charles is scheduled to perform on a CSSO pops series. Charles is an avowed union member, and the musicians have placed the CSSO on the music union’s “Unfair List.” CSSO management is counting on Charles for significant ticket revenue.
How Do We Perceive Art?
“One of the hottest topics of academic inquiry in recent years has been the relationship between art and cognition. This interest is a natural outgrowth of the cognitive revolution that began in the early 1960s, producing a growing body of knowledge about cognitive processes. Little of value is likely to come of all this ferment, however, without a fundamental reassessment of what exactly is meant by the key term, art, in relation to cognition. Scholars must begin by asking themselves whether that term can coherently encompass all the modernist and postmodernist innovations of the past hundred years.”