Category: music

Musicians say contract would have cut pay 92 percent. The orchestra’s board: “We know the clock is ticking on this reorganization. Remaining in a prolonged state of limbo, without a collaborative, good faith effort to create a sustainable symphony organization, depletes our momentum and ability to move forward with a plan.”

“Concertgoers are beginning to shop less like obsessed rock fans and more like picky air travelers, waiting weeks to buy tickets in hopes of scoring discounts, scouting a maze of websites and resellers for the best prices.”

“This may be the Age of the Young Conductor – the domination of older talents is being eroded by, among others, Gustavo Dudamel, now 29, in Los Angeles and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 35, in Philadelphia – but most newcomers still start more or less at sea. ‘There’s no real track for conductors,” he said. “Nobody seems to know how this works. Part of my anxiety is that I have no idea what constitutes a foothold’.”

“You’re going to see a lot of new models, but we have to turn around the business proposition for investors in music, because [otherwise] it becomes a self-fulfilling downward spiral. The less people spend, the less they sell, the less they sell, the less they invest, the less they invest, the less they sell, and it just keeps going down.”

At the Richardson Symphony, “after years of shaky finances, late paychecks and increasingly testy relations with the musicians’ union, the orchestra is trying to bypass the American Federation of Musicians entirely.”

“You have the chance now with this generation of the Bolivar B, to create the first truly great South American orchestra. This is something that I see in the next 10 years, and it is very exciting.”

“Could it be that there are just too many concerts and festivals, and a certain “gig-fatigue” is setting in for music fans?”

“During the first half of the year, the top 100 tours made a total of $965.5m (£636.2m), the lowest since 2005 when gross revenue was $730.9m (£481.6m). It marks a 17% decrease from the same period last year.”

In an open letter, the American conductor confirms that the city’s cultural politics have driven him to decline any renewal of his contract as music director of the Bavarian State Opera.

“Juanjo Mena is to succeed Gianandrea Noseda as chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic. The initial contract is for three years, and begins with the 2011-12 season. The Spanish conductor will lead the Manchester-based ensemble for 12 weeks per season, including concerts at the Bridgewater Hall – where the orchestra is resident – as well as at the BBC Proms, on tour and in BBC Radio 3 broadcasts.”