Category: music

“The Juilliard School’s music-training program for poor minority schoolchildren — a rigorous curriculum that the conservatory holds up as a national model — has been slashed, disappointing dozens of children preparing to audition. The Music Advancement Program will take back about 50 children in the fall to finish the second year of their two-year course. But it has canceled auditions next month for the incoming class….”

“Facing a $3 million debt and an endowment down a quarter, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra announced Monday a second round of salary cuts. Its 95 unionized musicians will see their paychecks drop by 5 percent through 2010, with a 3.8 percent cut in 2011.”

In January, the now-revered Claudio Abbado made Milan’s opera house an interesting offer: he would return to conduct there for the first time since his angry departure from the music director’s post in 1986 if the city government planted 90,000 trees. It seems his sylvan gambit has worked.

“Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will hold a concert in Egypt on April 16, two months after a first appearance was cancelled due to the Gaza conflict … The concert, Barenboim’s first in Egypt, has ruffled feathers in intellectual circles, with music critic Amgad Mustafa describing the visit as ‘sneaky normalisation’ with Israel.”

The 83-year-old conductor’s recording of Mozart’s last four symphonies with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra was named best orchestral recording and Disc of the Year. Said the maestro, “I am absolutely delighted … I’ve spent my whole life trying to get these four symphonies right!”

The Curtis Institute of Music has raised the needed $65 million for a new 10-story building housing dorms, an orchestra rehearsal room, studios and practice rooms. “It is among the last pieces of civic ambition spearheaded by [the school’s board chairman] in collaboration with the Pew Charitable Trusts and Leonore Annenberg, the philanthropist who died in March.”

“The players of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra have given assurance that they will play the fifth Masterworks concert of the season. Todd Jelen, a bassoonist on the negotiating team, said the musicians agreed to play to show good faith — and because ‘the long-term health of the organization might be at risk.’ The players have been on strike since Oct. 1.”

“Will the New York City Opera greet the first season under new general manager George Steel with a strike? The company wants to reopen contracts for both singers and production staff, good till May 2010, as a result of ‘extraordinary circumstances.’ … But the union isn’t budging.”

“The global economic contraction has shaken a guiding principle of orchestras. Ticket sales and annual giving may ebb and flow, the argument went, so great endowments should be raised to provide stability in lean years. Most major orchestras have spent the last decade or two doing just that.”

“We concluded that by utilizing technology wisely we could catapult access to the scores of our composers to a whole new realm. What resulted is SchirmerOnDemand, and I believe that as it evolves, the breath of fresh air through those open doors will stimulate music publishing and, most importantly, the world of recent and new music.”