Category: music

The Russian soprano, one of the Met’s biggest box-office draws, “will not sing Violetta in New York during the 2010-2011 season.” The much anticipated new staging “was to be a version of the Willy Decker production the soprano did at Salzburg in 2005,” presumably imported by the Met for her sake. Netrebko said she has “a concern that she might not be as effective in the staging as she was in the well-known DVD release.”

Matthew VanBesien, the 39-year-old executive director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, is leaving his post at the end of the year for a similar job with the Melbourne Symphony. Among the challenges he’ll face in his new job are the 18-month renovation of the orchestra’s concert hall and hiring a successor to departing chief conductor Oleg Caetani.

“The Knitting Factory, which ceased regular programming in TriBeCa at the end of last year after two decades in Manhattan, will reopen in a smaller space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Sept. 9.” The club “opened in 1987 on East Houston Street on the Lower East Side, earning a wide reputation for its mix of rock, jazz and avant-garde music, and in 1994 it moved to … TriBeCa.”

“Slumping CD sales and the increasing influence of iTunes over the music industry have taken a toll on the once reliable revenues of movie soundtracks — and that’s left studios increasingly reluctant to release soundtracks to many films. … The story isn’t much better for the ‘score’ album, once a staple of the industry….”

“The new Brecon Jazz festival has been hailed a success and organisers say its future is secure. Musicians from around the world entertained more than 20,000 visitors during three days in the Powys town. … Its future had been in doubt after poor summer weather in 2008 forced a company running it into liquidation.”

“Under a multimillion-dollar public-private partnership, Copland House will offer composers’ residencies, workshops, and public concert series. The mansion–still furnished with the original four-poster beds, fainting chairs and free-standing bathtubs–will provide the living quarters, while the farm buildings are given over to artists’ studios. A unique characteristic of the program will be its emphasis on collaborative residencies….”

“London’s iconic music venue Roundhouse … has been transformed into a giant steampunk musical instrument by Talking Heads founder David Byrne. An old pump organ in the centre of the circular hall is linked to the Roundhouse’s metal beams, cast iron pillars and plumping pipes, via a sprawling mass of cables. Visitors can ‘play’ the building by pressing the keyboard to make tuneful sounds and vibrations.”

“Outstanding young violinists or chess masters or tennis pros are common. Conducting prodigies are extremely rare, however, because leading an orchestra is a cumulative art that’s rewarded by life experience. It’s about persuading 100 independent-minded virtuoso musicians to take direction and inspiration from the tip of a slender little baton. … Now meet Ilyich Rivas, 16.”

“In a blatant attempt to shake off its fusty image, the Royal Opera House has teamed up with the micro-blogging site to produce The Twitter Opera with a libretto composed entirely of public tweets. The ROH will join the 140-character tweets into a libretto, set them to familiar opera tunes and original music by Helen Porter and stage the result at its Covent Garden home next month.”

“Glenn Donnellan used an electric violin that he hand-crafted from a regulation bat – Derek Jeter model – he bought at a local sporting goods store. A dedicated musician and a baseball fan, the 39-year-old Donnellan was primed to put his two loves together.”