The man who’s spent the past six months roiling the opera world talks about abandoning his New York City Opera job (“I accepted some sacrifices, but there are limits”), his take on that company’s future (“I’m afraid it will disappear”), his bid to run Bayreuth (“a question of principle”), and the great flaw of the French. And he’s very proud of what he achieved at the Paris Opera (lower ticket prices, a younger audience, and a ticket sales rate of 92%).
Category: music
The New Classical Musician Gets Around
“This new generation of classical artists possess all the technique necessary to tackle Brahms or Beethoven, but they would rather perform innovative repertoire that blurs into genres from hip-hop to electronica, rock and beyond.”
George Steel’s First Task: Stabilize The Patient
“The City Opera has been plagued with woes: a failed search for a new home downtown, the disastrously brief tenure of the company’s last director, Gerard Mortier, and an entire season in the dark while its future home — the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center — is being renovated. Whatever else we hope for from Mr. Steel, we hope for stability first.”
Will Your Cell Phone Change The Way You Listen To Music?
“The next great thing in music technology will be smartphone applications that replicate the experience of listening to interactive, customized radio stations at a computer…”
It’s Too Cold! So Forget The Strad.
When Yo Yo Ma and other string musicians perform outdoors at this week’s inauguration events, they’ll leave their valuable instruments inside. Instead they’ll be playing on carbon fiber…
Marilyn Horne Gets Hands-On
“Once, while explaining the vital importance of firm diaphragm support to a young singer who feared that her strapless gown might fall down if she pressed too hard, Miss Horne literally took matters into her own hands. ‘I’ll hold up your dress,’ she said. ‘You get your support going.'”
Dallas Critic Says Steel Was ‘Miscast’ There
Scott Cantrell suggests that the marriage between George Steel and The Dallas Opera is better annulled: “[I]t wasn’t long after Steel’s arrival here, in October, that whispers of discontent became a crescendo of complaint.” And anyway, when he took the Texas job, “there was boo-hooing in the New York media at the loss of one of the artsy crowd’s darlings.”
Battle Of The Chamber Orchestras In Minnesota
The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is hosting its first International Chamber Orchestra Festival, with the SPCO giving joint concerts with the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra.
Report: 95% Of Online Music Downloaded Illegally
“Ninety-five per cent of music available online is downloaded illegally, according to a report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. Despite a record growth in digital music sales last year, and an industry that has ‘transformed its business models’, the report says the majority of music was downloaded for free with no payments made to artists.”
L.A. Opera To Go Ahead With Next Season’s Complete Ring
“But with Wagner draining the budget in an uncertain economic climate, L.A. Opera has an otherwise reduced season of two beloved Italian comedies and two rarities.” There’s luxury casting, though, including a Flórez-DiDonato-Gunn Barber of Seville.