Category: music

Pasticcio – cobbling together a “new” opera out of arias swiped from existing works – was standard in the 18th century. The Met is reviving the practice with The Enchanted Island, assembled by William Christie from Handel and Vivaldi. The cast includes half a dozen Baroque experts (led by DiDonato and Daniels) and Plácido Domingo as the deus ex machina.

“There’s the sense that Jacques Lacombe’s arrival signals a new era for the orchestra, one that finds the orchestra trying to reinforce its roots in the community and make the case that it is a central part of the state’s cultural life.”

“When this started 30-some years ago, Lee was still a name,” says the chairman of the Liberace Foundation board of directors. “Keeping that brand alive has been very difficult.”

“I am not Toscanini, and I don’t know if I will become 80, but it’s very important that the people in Chicago, especially the musicians, who have invited me, know — I am coming not to make a career, first because what I’ve done, I’ve done. But to make good music, to improve myself. If you are stable, you are dead; there’s only two choices, higher or lower, but there must be movement.”

“After just four months, it’s once again time to fill the director’s position at the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, following Václav Kasík’s resignation Aug. 31. Kasík, the former director of Czech Radio, [had been] named – without a selection process – as head of the Philharmonic by former Culture Minster Václav Riedlbauch in May.”

Don Plácido is currently rehearsing the lead role, Pablo Neruda, in Daniel Catán’s new operatic version of the film Il Postino. When not in rehearsal, he is negotiating an extension of his contract as L.A. Opera’s general director, a role in which his performance has been receiving growing criticism.

Hanna Boender of the Zeebelt theatre in The Hague: “Well, a while back the municipality said we had to work on increasing our visibility. Well, how’s this for visibility?”

Ask the genial Carlton Woods about creating an orchestra in hard economic times, and he hardly lifts an eyebrow. “If you wait for all the stars to align properly, you’ll probably not start anything,”

“The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra will take its first trip to Cuba next month as part of a cultural exchange with the Cuban Institute of Music, the company will announce Thursday.”

“For 14 years, the Intimate Opera Company was on the move, appearing around the San Gabriel Valley in places including a bookstore-coffee shop, a retirement community and a hotel ballroom. No more. The company says it’s becoming the ‘opera company in residence’ at the Pasadena Playhouse.”