Category: music

“Part of the job of being a music director at an orchestra or an opera house involves simply being there: that is, being fit and focused enough to provide stability, foster growth and, most essential, bring artistic plans to fruition.”

“Higdon’s Violin Concerto is the first orchestral score by a self-published composer to receive this accolade which also includes a cash prize of ten thousand dollars.” (With a video interview from the archives.)

“Despite the resilient determination of record buyers to return time and again, the future still looks uncertain for the independent record dealer as the recession, downloads, and supermarket and internet giants such as Amazon continue to sell music at discount prices. In 2005 there were 734 record shops in the UK, but in just over three years that figure had fallen to just 305 stores according to the Entertainment Retailers’ Association.”

“One specific problem with this classical chart is that it will be very dull indeed. Tastes in classical music don’t move at the pace of pop and rock, and you can bet your bottom dollar that month after month, we’ll be seeing Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, Albinoni’s Adagio and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons – with the only novelty provided by the latest emanation from Philip Glass or a choir of plainchanting monks. OK, it’s not going to do any harm, but will it do any good?”

Alan Fletcher, who was fired by the festival in October and rehired in November, said that he and Mr. Zinman had disagreed about certain faculty cuts made in response to the recession last year. But he added: “I have never had any problems with David. He raised the level of everything here and left a great legacy.”

“For the musician, wooing potential corporate partners has become as integral to his job as the DJ sets he does on tour at after-parties sponsored by Bacardi. Often will.i.am pitches the concepts himself using “decks” that sum up the Peas’ package, frequently in PowerPoint form. I consider us a brand.”

“The orchestra’s $40 million plan, designed by Toronto architects Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB), would double the size of the lobby, add a multi-use room that could be used by outside groups, and create an unmistakable entrance facing Peavey Plaza and the Nicollet Mall.”

“The Official Specialist Classical Chart, which was launched in February 2009, is compiled on a weekly basis with the results released on Mondays. Radio 3’s Monday afternoon drivetime programme In Tune will countdown the chart and play a track from the album at number one.”

“Symphony New Brunswick plans to expand its orchestra, using the grants worth more than $250,000 announced by the federal government Thursday. The symphony foundation will hire up to five salaried woodwind and brass musicians by as early as this fall.”

“When you hear Meng-Chieh Liu igniting the piano keyboard with his formidable sound and style, you would never guess he once battled a debilitating disease that left his body frail and paralyzed, and nearly cost him his life.” That disease was vasculitis, inflammation of the blood vessels.