Category: music

Pacific Operaworks, founded by lutenist Stephen Stubbs and dedicated to small-scale Baroque and contemporary works, makes its debut this week with the well-regarded (and well-traveled) William Kentridge/Handspring Puppet Co. staging of Monteverdi’s Return of Ulysses. The critics are impressed.

A report for Arts Council England describes the proposed second home for the Royal Opera and Ballet in Manchester with the un-bureaucratic word “spellbinding,” calling the plan “the most significant arts development in this country for a decade.” But the report also says the scheme is “not yet viable” and would require £100m in capital costs and £15m in annual funding from the central government.

The summer home of the Chicago Symphony – which also hosts a full summer program of song recitals, jazz and pop as well as annual semi-stagings of classic musicals (this year, Camelot) – is freezing the price of pavilion tickets at 2007-2008 levels, which average $25.

It’s not enough that the Philadelphia Orchestra finds itself with staff layoffs and a big deficit and without a permanent music director, CEO or board chairman. Problems over the last few years include nasty contract negotiations in 2004, the messy departure last year of ex-music director Christoph Eschenbach (along with his recording contract), continuing questions about the acoustics at Verizon Hall, the scandalous-to-some absence of the Philadelphians from Gramophone‘s list of the world’s 20 best orchestras, and the sense within the industry of “a current of insularity and privilege among the players.”

“At the invitation of the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China, the [Washington, D.C.] orchestra’s principal conductor, Iván Fischer, will lead the ensemble in five concerts in Macau, Beijing, Xi’an and Shanghai. […] The NSO will then continue on to play two performances in Seoul and Goyang, South Korea.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the respect you have shown us tonight,” the 62-year-old tenor, who was audibly struggling with a chest cold, told his audience in West Palm Beach this week as he stopped the music. “But I don’t think you are going to enjoy this. I’m certainly not enjoying myself. I promise to come back as soon as I can to sing for you.”

“Instead of being a venue for one-off flying visits by orchestras, the Barbican said it wants to change the dynamic and develop more lasting relationships with organisations that it today names as international associates.” They are the Los Angeles Philharmonic, “the New York Philharmonic, Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the New York-based Jazz at Lincoln Centre, which will be the first resident next year.”

“Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan came to the Hill yesterday to testify about musicians being paid fairly when AM/FM stations play their songs, as part of MusicFIRST’s coalition to inundate the Hill with artists’ testimony. … (Being paid when one’s song plays on the radio happens in nearly every country in the world, except for a few notables like China and Iran.)”

The western Michigan orchestra, “in an effort to cut costs and balance its budget, has imposed salary reductions of 3 percent for most of its administrative staff, and 5 percent for its senior staff for the remainder of its current fiscal year.”

The gift from Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield “will provide funds for scholarships for student composers and a graduate-level new music ensemble, which will perform in non-traditional venues on campus and throughout the state… The money will also fund a summer composition festival… that will feature guest composers and professional ensembles-in-residence.”