Category: music

The music mogul, who founded Vibe in 1993, says, “I’m trying to buy my magazine back now. … They just messed my magazine all up, but I’m gonna get it back. You better believe it, I’m’a take it online because print and all that stuff is over.”

“The Skylight Opera Theatre continues to stagger under the weight of the public relations disaster in the wake of the firing of artistic director Bill Theisen on June 16. The social media, letter writing and e-mail campaigns to reverse that decision have maintained momentum.” The company’s only hope may rest in the man it fired, if he chooses to help it.

“Western classical music, banned in Chairman Mao’s Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, has exploded in popularity. Just as its government is opening economically to the West, China is emerging as an international power in classical music. Millions study the piano and string instruments, and many of the world’s most popular classical soloists are Chinese….”

On June 21st “New York joined more than three hundred cities–including Montevideo, Djibouti, Kabul, Hanoi, and Sydney–in celebrating Make Music, a global sonic bacchanal that takes place each year on the summer solstice. The ritual began in France, in 1982…”

“When the Arts & Science Council decides on the orchestra’s grant sometime after Aug. 31, the reduction might be as much $1.75 million – a 90 percent cut. That would equal nearly a quarter of the orchestra’s budget this season. For the orchestra, closing that gap while contending with the recession’s other blows would be a superhuman task.”

“Part of the thrill of being present at a great concert is knowing that it’s happening in this place and time, among these people, and can never be experienced the same way again. It’s both a celebration of singularity and a reminder that life is finite and lived in one direction only.”

“Whereas music writing was once the province of a few hundred thousand fans and a handful of writers, usually in specialised magazines, it’s now in the bookshop, the red-top and “quality” press, the blogosphere and beyond. The result too often suggests a very modern combination of abundance and short weight. To put it another way: how is it that writing about music now is everywhere, and yet seems to be nowhere at all?”

“Before the curtain has even gone up, the proposed scheme to create a permanent new base for the Royal Opera House (ROH) in Manchester has run into trouble.”

“Archaeologists Wednesday reported the discovery last fall of a bone flute and two fragments of ivory flutes that they said represented the earliest known flowering of music-making in Stone Age culture.” The instrument “was uncovered in sediments a few feet away from the carved figurine of a busty, nude woman, also around 35,000 years old.”

“The 652-seat opera house, which will reopen September 21, was closed in 2007 to overhaul the heating and electricity systems and refurbish technical warehousing at an overall cost of 13 million euros (18 million dollars). Built essentially of wood, it was inaugurated in 1770 for the wedding of then-to-be King Louis XVI.”