Category: music

What should a new, 21st-century classical-music magazine, especially one published in the United States, be like? “First off, it should address the American experience. What makes the American classical scene different from that in Britain and the rest of Europe? And what is happening not just on the two coasts but in the rest of the country?

“As CD sales decline, advances from record labels dwindle and audience demographics break up into smaller niches, more and more artists from all levels of popularity are seeking to retain fans by including them in the creative process.”

“Salonen has put a spring in L.A.’s step that is likely to last. He has changed us meaningfully, and we have changed him meaningfully. A catalyst in the classic sense, he came to California as a foreign agent — a European Modernist from a country with one of the world’s most homogenous populations dropped down on Tinseltown, one of the most diverse places anywhere. People magazine thought him one of the 50 most beautiful people on the planet, but he resisted cheap celebrity. Instead, he made classical music sexy — and very important. But first he had to find himself.”

“The loss of the Concert Association along with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra going bankrupt in 2003, left the Arsht Center without two of its major classical resident presenters, with only Florida Grand Opera and the Cleveland Orchestra, which presents just six concerts a season.”

“Taken in a broader context, pronouncements of the unsustainability of our business model (and if history is any guide, there will be many more of these in the coming months) are more or less entirely contradicted by the self-evident ability of most orchestras to adapt to changes in our specific economies. The headlines trumpeting layoffs and salary givebacks aren’t evidence of the failure of a business model. They’re a demonstration of how the model bends without breaking.”

“A new report says the same social media sites that threaten the old-school, sales-based approach will eventually save whatever’s left of the music business. Social music may not generate much revenue now, but monetization’s effectiveness must — and will — improve.”

“A decade ago it would have been Luciano Pavarotti, before him Maria Callas. The storm-tossed diva was preceded by Arturo Toscanini, who had 40 percent name-check recognition among adult Americans, and before him there was Enrico Caruso, the first best-seller on record. These four dominated the first century in human history when music was industrialised and reputation manufactured.”

“Spring for May,” launching in May 2011, is a festival “intended to encourage orchestras to program imaginatively, without regard to marketing considerations” and with tickets priced at $15 and $25. The seven bands performing in the inaugural festival are the Albany, Atlanta, Dallas, Montreal, Oregon and Toledo Symphony Orchestras and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.

“Jonathan Pell, longtime director of artistic administration at the Dallas Opera, has been promoted to artistic director. He’s the first person to hold the title since Nicola Rescigno, one of the company’s co-founders, who resigned in 1990.”

The orchestra has eliminated the jobs of three staff members, reduced salaries of the remaining 19 by 10%, and suspended pension contributions. NMSO management also hopes to persuade the musicians’ union to accept voluntary 10% pay cuts.