Category: music

“Bruised by the weakened economy, Sarasota Orchestra on Monday announced several cost-cutting measures to help it survive the upcoming season, including salary cuts and the cancellation of the popular Manatee Valentine Pops program … and the three-week Sarasota Music Festival.”

“Q. Why do some people’s singing voices have more vibrato than others? Can it be taught?

A. … How to teach singers to achieve a vibrato without exaggerating any component is controversial.”

“Vermeer understood the power of withheld information. Composers have a similar understanding that in shaping sound, a nothing can be just as expressive as a something. It depends on the frame, what it is that echoes in the silence.”

“From the moment he took the job as music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin said he would seriously ratchet up outreach efforts by taking the orchestra into schools, churches, community centers and the like. In September, [they] will begin to make good on the promise.”

The flagship orchestra of classical-music-mad South Korea has given its first concert in Europe at the Klara Festival in Brussels. Conducting was Korean-born Myung-Whun Chung, a familiar figure in Western Europe; the program included well-known scores by Ravel, Debussy and Bartók as well as a suite from Unsuk Chin’s 2007 hit opera Alice in Wonderland.

“The Pacific Symphony in Orange County is offering half-price single tickets to season concerts in a special deal through its website. … Under the discount, a typical orchestra-seat ticket for an evening concert goes for around $92.50, while a grand-tier seat (way up high) will cost you $20.”

“The Orlando Philharmonic has ended its year with not only a balanced budget of $3.1 million but a small surplus.”

“He’s helped usher in a new era of congenial relations between the orchestra’s musicians and management. He’s shepherded the Symphony’s annual budget of almost $60 million through the upheavals of recent years without letting red ink accumulate. He’s been a strong and supportive partner to Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas, and he’s worked to make sure that the Symphony is a good citizen in the sometimes fractious world of the local arts community.”

“The orchestra’s new logo — a circle with a baton-symbolizing line across the middle — repeats across the top of the ads. It stands for the central role that Philharmonic officials hope this young conductor will have in revitalizing the 167-year-old orchestra. He’s the first Asian American to lead the ensemble, the son of two New York Philharmonic musicians.”

“Just when you might think that Canadians would have good reason to stay home and watch TV, they’re streaming out to concerts, club shows and music festivals.”