Category: music

“The savior of classical music” has only been on the job for seven months. Give him a break. He hasn’t yet learned to walk on water.

“[A] rift has formed between the orchestra’s upper management and its players on allegations that company leaders haven’t been honest about the circumstances behind the longtime conductor’s departure. While the company says [Jorge] Mester quit, his representative says he was fired. … One symphony musician was reportedly let go for expressing outrage at Mester’s departure.”

“The city-owned 10,000-square-foot site was the former home of Mart 125 on 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass boulevards, across the street from the Apollo Theater. The RFP is the next step in the city’s long-running plans to redevelop the site.”

“Mr. Abbado, 76, suffered from stomach cancer a decade ago, but La Scala’s spokesman, Carlo Maria Cella, said that tests showed no return of the illness. He said that the conductor had checked into the hospital suffering from extreme fatigue and weight loss after conducting the Berlin Philharmonic in three concerts this month.”

“He is not the first classical pianist to give a solo Albert Hall recital but few of his predecessors brought along in-your-face amplification and multiple screens relaying close-ups of his hands at work. The sonic perspective rendered his Steinway clangorous and the only way to make the sound seem “natural” was to watch the screens, transforming the experience into a TV broadcast rather than a live performance.”

“A backlash against Dudamel’s celebrity (“60 Minutes” caught up with him once more the previous Sunday) had been expected. It stung, but there were compensations. The halls have been alive with the sound of Dudamania.”

“It is a risky gambit for the orchestra and its new music director, Alan Gilbert, who have invested a lot of resources and hopes in the production. They are framing the performances as the signature event of Mr. Gilbert’s first season and a harbinger of things to come.”

“Nearly a decade after “The Producers” introduced the $480 ticket to Broadway, V.I.P. pricing has established itself in the ledgers of rock ‘n’ roll. This summer Justin Bieber fans can pay $350 to attend a pre-show soundcheck. For $800, Christina Aguilera will pose for a picture. (For $900, Eagles fans get dinner but no photo-op; most packages also include plenty of swag.)”

“Charleston Symphony Orchestra musicians have rejected the terms of an interim agreement meant to keep the symphony in business for the 2010-11 season, saying it would have decimated salaries and severely cut the number of scheduled performances.”

“In general, the attendees agreed that the obstacles in translating El Sistema to the United States have as much to do with differing economic and social values as they do with the right-versus-wrong way to cradle a violin or finger an oboe.”