Category: music

The Birgit Nilsson Foundation said it would begin awarding a $1 million prize, which it is calling the largest such prize in classical music.

Gilbert Kaplan “has established himself as arguably the world’s foremost living authority on the Mahler Second. He “has performed the Mahler Second about 100 times with 57 orchestras, the New York Philharmonic being the 58th…”

Madison, Wisconsin’s city-owned Overture Center for the Arts is laying off 25% of its staff in an effort to stay afloat. “The cuts would save $467,400 in wages and benefits… Only a few months ago, Overture’s fortunes looked different. But then the city settled a labor contract, Overture’s trust fund was liquidated to pay for construction debt, and the national economy tanked.”

The Las Vegas Philharmonic may have to kill off its Young People’s Concert series if the financial picture doesn’t improve, and indications are that the situation will only get worse. “The 10-year-old orchestra had been soaring in the past few years.” But with corporate sponsorships and attendance down, the LVP is taking a hard look at every available cut.

In his first press conference since being named the next artistic director of the Teatro Real, Gérard Mortier described hopes and plans notably similar to those he had for New York City Opera before he walked away from the top job there. He says the Real has “enormous potential”; he wants to open the theater to the city and bring in lots of new audience members, including young people; he wants 35 percent of the repertoire to be 20th-century works (and says that, in his experience, “the public reacts effusively to modern opera”).

“The Virginia Symphony Orchestra submitted a request last month for a $1 million loan from the city of Norfolk, Executive Director Carla Johnson said Thursday. If the loan is not granted, the orchestra’s musicians may miss their next paycheck and the symphony could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.”

“The Charleston Symphony Orchestra announced Wednesday that it had received a challenge pledge worth up to $75,000 from anonymous supporters… Last month, the CSO announced it could be forced to declare bankruptcy if it failed to raise a total of $250,000 by the end of January.”

In the jazz categories, nominees include Terence Blanchard and Chick Corea. In classical, the Chicago Symphony scored multiple nominations for Best Orchestral Performance, and John Corigliano’s setting of seven “poems” by Bob Dylan is up for best contemporary composition alongside concertos by George Tsontakis and Marc-Andre Dalbavie.

“Toronto composer Dean Burry’s newest creation, Pandora’s Locker, is a provocative one-act opera aimed at teenage audiences and commissioned by the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Glenn Gould School.” The work is scored for piano, string quartet, and two DJs with turntables, and aims to do crossover in a whole new way.

The Toronto Symphony has launched one of the the early-evening, words-and-music concert series that have been gaining popularity across North America, and judging by the nearly sold out debut, “it looks like the TSO has found a new niche in our crowded calendars.”