“Internet music services like Pandora, Slacker and Last.fm, already popular with computer and smartphone owners, are being tailored by software developers, consumer electronics companies and even automakers to work more seamlessly with car stereo systems. So, while video didn’t end up killing the radio star, this time the Internet might just succeed.”
Category: music
How Deborah Rutter Talked Riccardo Muti Into Coming To Chicago
“Deborah kept coming and visiting me here and there, so I realized that when she (said she) wanted me there, she really meant that she wanted me.”
New York’s Opera Companies Navigate Difficult Seasons
“Although the Met’s current annual operating budget of roughly $300 million is about 10 times that of the City Opera, Mr. Steel and Mr. Gelb face similar concerns. They are also, understandably, facing critical scrutiny. Whatever may be going on in their board rooms and budget meetings, what matters to opera buffs is what happens on their stages.”
A Test Tube For New Opera
“It usually requires a leap of faith for an opera company to present a new piece. VOX offers both impresarios and opera buffs an opportunity to sample new operas in performance.”
San Francisco To Get A Shining New Home For Jazz
“SFJazz will build itself a permanent home in San Francisco – the first stand-alone major facility in the country devoted to the swinging American art form. The nonprofit organization unveils plans today for the SFJazz Center, a three-story, 35,000-square-foot glass, steel and concrete structure that will rise … just down the street from Davies Symphony Hall and the Opera House.”
Where The Audience Will Write The Opera
“Finland’s Savonlinna Opera Festival has invited the public to help it create an opera entirely from online submissions. The festival launched its Opera by You project on Thursday with the aim of having it ready to stage a premiere of the production in the summer or 2012.”
This Year’s Big Europop Hit Is About Existential Angst
The song is “Alors on danse” by Stromae, a Rwandan-Belgian rapper. “Its blend of French flow, trance stabs, ravey sax and la-la-la vocals offer no less than four melodies perfect for drunken chanting while wiping sick off yourself, so it’s going to be massive. And yet, it’s about the awfulness of existence.”
Santa Fe Opera Chooses New Chief Conductor
“Frédéric Chaslin, who conducted Verdi’s La Traviata in Santa Fe in 2009 with Natalie Dessay as Violetta, confessed to lobbying hard for the job at a breakfast with general director Charles MacKay last August. MacKay was seeking a replacement for Edo de Waart, who stepped down the previous autumn.”
Dawn Upshaw To Direct 2011 Ojai Festival
“Soprano Dawn Upshaw has been named music director of the 2011 Ojai Music Festival. … [She] is the latest in a long line of guest artists who have been invited to help create programming for the four-day summer fest.” In addition, the festival is launching a collaboration with Berkeley’s Cal Performances to be called “Ojai North!”
Minnesota Opera Postpones New Finzi-Continis For Two Years
“The Minnesota Opera is giving [Ricky Ian Gordon’s] The Garden of the Finzi-Continis a little more time to grow. The show was scheduled to round out the upcoming 2010-2011 season, but after a workshop last month Artistic Director Dale Johnson says it needs a little more time.”