Category: music

“The Philadelphia Orchestra could end up in pictures. And sound. In a deal with SpectiCast and Bryn Mawr Film Institute, nine of the orchestra’s 2010-11 concerts will be offered live starting this fall to North American movie houses with high-quality projection and audio systems.”

“For the first time, a concert of the Berliner Philharmoniker is broadcast live in more than 60 movie theatres all over Europe.” The Aug. 27 gala, with Simon Rattle conducting, will be shown in cinemas in 12 countries, from the UK to Spain to Russia.

Conductor Alexander Briger (a nephew of Charles Mackerras) is creating a Sydney-based festival-style ensemble of 90 players, about half of whom will be Australians who play in such top overseas ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony. Conducting the Australian World Orchestra’s first concerts next August will be expat maestra Simone Young.

Opera Australia’s new artistic director, Lyndon Terracini promised new things. But “Terracini has announced a 2011 season that includes new productions of La Boheme, the American opera Of Mice and Men, The Merry Widow and Verdi’s Macbeth.”

“At first glance, it looks like a CD with unusual cover art … It’s not a CD at all. It’s a simple electronic circuit glued inside a clear plastic jewel-box case, terminating in a headphone jack on the right spine. ‘It isn’t a recording,’ says Tristan Perich, the New York composer who created the device. ‘It’s a performance’.”

“Just two years after arriving as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s president and CEO, Doug Adams is resigning, effective in 30 days. … ‘It’s about lifestyle,’ Adams said. ‘For two years, I’ve been in a commuter marriage, … [and] at this stage of my life, I didn’t expect to be living in an apartment’.”

“Opera Australia is about to gain a worldwide audience following a deal to screen its Sydney Opera House performances in cinemas around Australia and overseas.”

“It has become commonly accepted in the 21st century that until the post-war period string players did not use much vibrato … But there is a problem with taking that particular [pre-war] historical practice and simply copying it in today’s situation. There are three other, crucial differences in string playing today which have to be taken into consideration.”

“In a high-tech twist, laptops, cameras and smartphones are not only allowed, but encouraged. As the troupe’s young singers rehearse a section of the opera with full orchestra, spectators are invited to blog and tweet their reactions as they follow the score online.”

“New York’s Metropolitan Opera has established a record for its box office opening day, selling more than $2.6m (£1.6m) million worth of single tickets for the new season.”