Category: music

The three-time Oscar-winning songwriter and composer led ASCAP for 15 years, during which time “she helped lead ASCAP to several major legislative victories, including the Supreme Court’s decision in 2003 to uphold the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 … [and] the passage and signing of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998.”

“[Tom] Gulick’s three-year contract expires June 30, but he could step down earlier should his ‘next employment opportunity require his presence elsewhere prior to that date,’ according to Peter Shaindlin,” the orchestra’s board chairman, who “called Gulick’s departure ‘amicable’.”

“The Philadelphia Orchestra’s interim leader has revealed another round of cuts. Though smaller than the reductions announced Tuesday to the orchestra’s residency this summer at the Mann Center, the newest contractions curtail efforts to grow audiences and reward loyal ones.” Master classes and next season’s “postlude” concerts are among the casualties.

“In March, with much fanfare, a new orchestra called the D.C. Philharmonic announced its inaugural concert program, scheduled to take place tonight and tomorrow night. Yesterday, it announced that both concerts have been postponed until this fall, scarcely 36 hours before the first was supposed to start.” The orchestra had contracted with musicians from the Washington National Opera and the Baltimore Opera.

“Melia Tourangeau, president and CEO, and music director Keith Lockhart volunteered to take a 10 percent salary cut, while the musicians of the Utah Symphony on March 26 voted to give back 11.5 percent of their salaries and benefits for this fiscal year.” Eight administrative staff positions have been eliminated; all remaining employees have accepted pay cuts.

The popular Mexican tenor, whose vocal troubles in the past few years have led to considerable speculation and worry (and a bit of sniping), has canceled all his appearances in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore at the Metropolitan Opera. (He withdrew from his first two dates in the opera last month.) The reason given is “acute laryngitis.”

“In her performances [Jane] Chapman uses electronic effects and techniques that make the harpsichord sound like a synthesizer by connecting the keyboard to a computer. She also places objects inside the instrument and plucks the strings or uses an EBow, a handheld device normally used by rock guitarists that makes the strings vibrate continuously.”

“The Mann Center, built in 1976 as a summer venue for the Philadelphia Orchestra, has received notice that the orchestra will perform a mere five concerts there this season – the smallest number as far back as the orchestra can trace. … The impetus for the reduction – from last season’s nine – is the financial condition of the orchestra, said executive director and chief executive officer Frank P. Slattery Jr.”

“The 2009 Proms programme was unveiled today, with organisers promising an eclectic programme blending the traditional with Bollywood, drum and bass, and ukuleles. The 115th Proms will include the annual event’s first ever Bollywood concert, as movie ‘playback’ singer and Indian TV star Shaan brings a blast of colour and energy to the Royal Albert Hall with his band and a troupe of dancers. His performance comes at the climax to an ‘Indian Voices’ day….”

“‘If everything goes right, no one pays attention to the page turner,’ said the pianist Joseph Kalichstein. ‘And if something goes wrong, it’s the page turner’s fault.’ … As in so many relationships, the one between musician and page turner can be marked by miscommunication and misunderstandings.” Likewise, there are at least two sides to the story.