Category: music

“The New York Philharmonic said that Esa-Pekka Salonen, … the outgoing music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, had withdrawn from a series of concerts scheduled for Wednesday through Saturday with the New York orchestra because of back trouble.” David Zinman will step in.

Fans of The Next Generation will recall that Lt. Worf was a great fan of his planet’s Gesamtkunstwerk. Now a Dutch group is using the techniques of historical performance practice research and an ancient Klingon treatise called paq’jachchcu (“the book of the perfect scream”) with the goal of “mount[ing] the first authentic performances of Klingon opera here on earth.”

“Consider that China produces more instruments than any other place on Earth, more than 40 major orchestras have sprouted across the country and some of the great stars of the industry now hail from China, including pianist Lang Lang and composer Tan Dun.”

“Results showed that happy music ‘significantly enhanced the perceived happiness of a face.’ Further studies of the volunteers’ brain waves revealed that the effect of the music was almost instantaneous. It took just 50 milliseconds for changes to take place – too fast to be under our conscious control.”

“The benefits stack up socially, economically and culturally – and hopefully some of those young people will pick up valuable skills and go on to work in one of our fantastic creative industries.”

“Pimooteewin is the first opera written in Cree. Tomson Highway, one of Canada’s best-known native writers, took the traditional tale of Weesageechak (the trickster spirit) and turned it into the libretto for an opera set to the music of Montreal-based composer Melissa Hui.”

“Classical music institutions throughout the world are embracing the notion of female conductors more than ever. In addition to appearing regularly as guest conductors and in assistant conductor positions with top orchestras, women are now commonly in the running for — and occasionally winning — music directorships.”

“Classical music groups both large and small are tightening their belts so much that it hurts. Budget cuts, salary reductions and hiring freezes are as commonplace as the sound of an orchestra warming up before a performance.”

“Classical music came late to the digital-music revolution, but the genre is poised to play catch-up as a crop of specialty music sellers jockey to meet the demands of core listeners.”

“Ever since the Three Tenors lit up the 1990 World Cup in Rome and began counting their fortune in millions, expectations have been artificially inflated in the higher reaches of the human voice.” But who’s actually a contender now?