Category: music

“Early soundings show strong responses in Europe and Asia, more cautious ones in the U.S. At London’s Barbican Centre, home of the London Symphony Orchestra and a Great Performers series, classical attendances were up 4 percent in the financial year just ended and gross box-office receipts in the current year were 11.2 percent above the 2008 mark, the arts center said.”

What happened to push the Phoenix Symphony to the brink of disaster?

“Better known as a recording company that takes a special interest in American classical compositions, Naxos has recently expanded into movie restoration, reviving semi-legendary documentary films whose musical scores have proven more durable than their pictorial aspects and thematic pretensions.”

“This time, within a few months of the unraveling of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a dozen credible songs have taken up the collapse of the economy or its consequences, and at least twenty lesser efforts have been posted on MySpace and YouTube.”

“It’s cruel to feed a child’s delusions of grandeur, when what he desperately needs is a reality-check. But, unfortunately, “reality” television has other priorities.”

“At a time when other arts organizations are struggling to stay afloat and in many cases curtailing their activities, starting an orchestra and handing out commissions may seem counterintuitive, if not perilous. But these bold endeavors show an old, established organization undergoing profound changes to ensure a viable future.”

The crowd had gathered for the Luminato Festival’s Great Canadian Tune event, an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for largest guitar ensemble by bringing nearly 2,000 people together at Yonge-Dundas Square to play Neil Young’s “Helpless.”

“I visited these two new halls on consecutive days this week and found them to be almost exact opposites in their musical and civic functions. In Oslo, architecture comes first; in Copenhagen, music. Each town probably got what it needed most.”

“Along with axing the polka trophy, the academy also decided to fold the best Latin urban album category into the best Latin rock or alternative album one, creating an omnibus trophy. The board also voted to split the best contemporary folk/Americana album award into two separate prizes and rename the entire folk field ‘American roots music’.”

Stanley Drucker, 80, will “soon enter something bigger than folklore. Legend maybe? History? He is retiring from the Philharmonic after 60 years, the longest tenure of any player in the orchestra’s existence. His departure foreshadows another changing of the guard: the music director, Lorin Maazel, also ends his tenure this season.”