Category: music

“Sting is hoping to attract new fans to opera with his latest release, a film in which he and wife Trudie Styler tell the story of composer Robert Schumann. … Backed by musicians and opera singers, their performance, Twin Spirits, was filmed at the Royal Opera House. “

“One-off performances and shoestring productions may not replace what a permanent opera company has to offer.” And yet: “One wonders if so many people would have realized they cared so much had the Baltimore Opera Company managed to stay above water.”

“The lounges of top-tier hotels are a distinct musical niche, a rarefied, murmurous, dimly lit world in which [Antonio] Castillo de la Gala is a highly polished fixture, even a minor legend.” Now, after 12 years, he “ends his run at the Bel-Air, which is closing for a renovation expected to last two years.”

“[T]he happy surprise of encountering something completely different from the Tiny Tim-style hamming or banjo-plucking embarrassment of your imagination doesn’t wholly explain the deep love the orchestra inspires, not just in Britain, but also in Europe and as far away as New Zealand and Japan.”

Amy S. Jensen, “who observed the theater’s turbulent summer, said strong communication with the board, staff, artists, patrons and donors will be an immediate priority” when she takes over as managing director Nov. 16. “The Skylight is still working out how it will handle artistic direction.”

David Ott “was walking across the Mainstage Theatre stage Friday night to retrieve a musical score just after the first performance of ‘The Widow’s Lantern,’ a full-length piece he wrote for the Pensacola Opera,” when he fell “into the basement below the orchestra pit,” landing “flat on his back.”

Endowments are stretched, budgets are tight, and audiences are declining. “So orchestras hope that a new music director will bring in new life, new energy and — more to the point — new attendance.” But how to define the success of such a union?

“He takes virtuosic playing of the organ to a new level and the music industry has taken notice. Telarc released his debut album, also called “Revolutionary,” last year.”

Mark Swed: “[W]e must be cautious with our expectations. [Gustavo] Dudamel is not going to walk on water and he is not going to single-handedly save an art form that has no need of life support. Indeed, were classical music so irrelevant to our times and needs, it could never have produced a Dudamel.”

Anthony Tommasini: “For me her ability to shape a phrase with velvety legato and find the right expressive coloring for each note and each word is the epitome of cultured vocalism.” La Barbra tells him that she never thought much about vocal technique: “I did it intuitively, unconsciously. I kind of like that.”