Category: music

“Most of Lloyd Webber’s musicals have been recorded at Abbey Road. They include the classic Jesus Christ Superstar and Love Never Dies, his upcoming sequel to The Phantom of the Opera.”

“[I]t’s relatively rare that a[n] orchestra’s season announcement generates genuine excitement. They’re received, often, with the mien of a greedy child: what are you giving us, and how good is it, and are you playing my favorite piece?”

“The legacy of Django Reinhardt enjoys a currency that those of comparable jazz icons do not. In recent months, the centennials of both Lester Young and Art Tatum came and went almost unnoticed, but Reinhardt,” whose centennial was last month, “is omnipresent–more so than during his lifetime.”

Charles Dutoit, chief conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, is stepping down this August as director of the orchestra’s summer season at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, which he has led for 20 years. At the same time, his new bride, violinist Chantal Juillet, is resigning as director of the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, which she founded in 1991.

After decades of wandering from one rehearsal space to another, the company has begun “moving into the Betty Van Andel Opera Center, a $2.5 million building erected to become the company’s first permanent home in its 42-year history.” The Betty includes “a costume shop, prop storage, rehearsal rooms, meeting rooms, a library, offices and a permanent box office.”

“[B]oth orchestras are moving on parallel tracks in what appears to be an attempt to put their money where their mouths are in terms of bringing each organization into a more active role in the life of its city — and into the 20th century. It’s fair to say that the New York Philharmonic has farther to travel to attain this goal.”

“In the past, identically named acts often carved out livings in separate regions, oblivious or indifferent to one another. Now, it takes only moments for a musician to create an online profile and upload songs, which can potentially reach listeners around the world. … The Internet has become a battlefield for acts squaring off over the same name.”

“The orchestra’s 2010-11 season … will include 12 subscription weeks conducted by Dudamel at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the return of Esa-Pekka Salonen and the premieres of 19 new works, 12 commissioned by the Philharmonic. Two composer-focused festivals, a European tour, new music concerts and an expanded education program will also compete for attention amid dizzying myriad programs and activities.”

Mark Swed thinks so. “Many of the [2010-11] New York season’s highlights given top billing in the orchestra’s press release read like L.A. Philharmonic redux.”

“The San Antonio Symphony will announce today that German conductor Sebastian Lang-Lessing will become the 70-year-old organization’s eighth music director, bringing a three-year search to an end. Lang-Lessing, 44, … is music director for the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra in Australia.”