Category: music

‘For the savvy shop owners, it’s not just about the traditional set up of a shop selling CDs. Some have branched out to put on in-store gigs, drawing in a wider client base. Others have established a record label. Of those that have already shut shop, many have continued to trade online, launching an internet store which not only their regular locals can continue to use, but so can clients all over the world.’

What will become of the world’s most ambitious classical-music agency now that its owner has pleaded guilty to fraud?

“Even before Gustavo Dudamel officially takes the podium this fall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new maestro is making it clear that music education is a priority. Tomorrow the orchestra is announcing a fellowship program proposed by Dudamel that will offer [four] promising conductors the chance to work with one of the hottest figures in classical music.”

“The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s 2010 European tour has become another casualty of the international recession. Originally scheduled for next February and March, the tour is being postponed until at least 2012.”

“Kemble and Co in Bletchley has been making pianos for almost 100 years. Main shareholder Yamaha decided that it was no longer viable.”

“There is a long tradition of folk music reacting quickly to events and commentating on them for those who don’t pay much attention to the mainstream media and the flu-inspired songs are delivered in the accordion-based cumbia style which is popular across the Americas.”

Dallas Symphony concertmaster Emanuel Borok, who plays a 401-year-old Amati violin, “has heard many of the theories about what makes Amati and Stradivarius violins so special. It’s the wood. It’s the varnish. It’s the cow’s urine in the varnish.” But, he says, “As an artist, I’m not interested in that too much.” What he was interested in was commissioning a concerto to mark his instrument’s four centuries. So he did. (With audio and video.)

“Film and theatre director Sam Mendes has pulled out of making his opera debut at Glyndebourne in 2010. Mendes was due to direct Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the festival and his appointment was greeted with excitement in the opera world.” Mendes blamed “massive theatre commitments” for his withdrawal.

“[The Duke Ellington Orchestra was] standing on the platform of the 125th Street subway station at St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, about to board an A train – and perform – as the train sped toward the other end of the line, in Queens, picking up regular passengers along the way.”

The ensemble, which suspended operations in January, “has improved its financial picture sufficiently to return to a regular concert season in October. Well, almost regular. The budget will be half of what it would be normally. Music director Markand Thakar has volunteered to work without pay. Instead of five orchestral programs, there will be three, plus one recital.”