Anthony Tommasini: “When Mr. van Zweden’s appointment was announced, it was questioned whether he would prioritize cultivating living composers, commissioning major works, bringing in a new generation of conductors and soloists, and reaching out to the New York community to try and become a leading cultural figure here. Yet he has delivered quite well thus far.” – The New York Times
Category: music
Finally, The Met Will Stage An Opera By A Black Composer
The chosen work is Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones, with a libretto by Kasi Lemmons based on the memoir by New York Times columnist Charles Blow, premiered this past summer at Opera Theater of St. Louis. When will it arrive in New York? That hasn’t been worked out yet. – The New York Times
This Orchestra Is Not Going To Announce Its Season. It Will Tell Its Audience What’s Coming Program By Program
“We want to announce little nuggets at a time and build as much excitement as we can,” says Arkansas Philharmonic executive director Jason Miller. This is one of several new initiatives — another is “APOx Small Bites,” a, early-evening 30-40-minute chamber concert with food and drink aimed at working families — undertaken by the orchestra for its 10th season. – Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Orchestras Struggling? These Regional Groups Are Doing Just Fine, Says Anne Midgette
“Are orchestras dying? These smaller groups are alive and well … The … orchestras presented below offer perhaps five programs a year, with freelance professional players, on a fraction of that budget. Yet their programming tends to be strikingly diverse in comparison with some of their larger brethren, and they all maintain strong education and outreach programs in local schools.” – The Washington Post
How Problematic Is ‘Porgy And Bess’ In 2019?
Is it a sensitive portrait of a segregated Black community? Or is it a parade of stereotypes performed in embarrassing dialect? Is it a triumph of the American melting pot, with the sons of Russian Jews teaming with white Southern WASPs to tell an African-American story? Or is it a very model of cultural appropriation? Has it given Black singers valuable and (too) rare opportunities? Or has it caused them to be pigeonholed? Or is the answer to all these questions yes? – The New York Times
Eight Operas About The Black American Experience That Are By Black Composers
“Though they’ve been ignored or underheard, African-American composers have long been crafting ambitious music dramas. Some of the works cited below exist in complete editions, ready to be programmed. Others are still emerging, thanks to the work of scholars reversing decades of neglect.” – The New York Times
Amazon Bets There’s A Market For HD Streaming Music
A Crisis In Leadership At LA’s Top Music Organizations
Mark Swed: “None of this looks good on the surface. But poke a level deeper and what you find are two companies with exceptionally strong No. 2s, trailblazers in their own right who have already proved themselves indispensable in making the L.A. Phil and L.A. Opera what they are today.” – Los Angeles Times
How To Write Classical Concert Program Notes That Actually Engage An Audience
Lara Pellegrinelli writes that, “as a lover of words, I’d once held the opinion that ‘Notes on the Program’ are bound to be mind-numbingly, soul-crushingly boring – or one of the more effective embalming tools for classical music.” After seeing a few – too few – examples of genuinely fascinating notes, she thinks “that this genre of writing about music needs an intervention.” So she provides one, complete with six useful rules. – 21CM
The Struggle For Control Of The Salzburg Easter Festival Is Over
“The fight has pitted two strong-willed artistic leaders against one another: Christian Thielemann, the principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Easter Festival’s artistic director since 2013; and the man tapped last November as his successor, Nikolaus Bachler, who is nearing the end of his tenure as general manager of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.” Thielemann and his orchestra will be leaving Salzburg after 2022, and Bachler plans “to reinvent the festival.” – The New York Times