At a press luncheon this week, incoming Philharmonic Music Director Alan Gilbert revealed some of his plans for the orchestra in the coming seasons, including: Magnus Lindberg as composer-in-residence, a new-music ensemble of up to 50 musicians from the Phil’s ranks, and an opening-night gala with Renée Fleming singing Messiaen.
Category: music
Bayreuth Festival Makes Rare Overseas Trip – To Abu Dhabi
Last weekend Christian Thielemann conducted Bayreuth’s orchestra and soloists in Act I of Die Walküre in a very rare appearance by the company outside Europe. The concert was a milestone in Abu Dhabi’s efforts to make itself into the cultural capital of the Persian Gulf.
New Orchestra Debuts In Qatar
The Qatar Philharmonic, a professional orchestra of 101 musicians from 31 countries, gives its inaugural concert this week under the baton of Lorin Maazel in Doha, the capital of the small Persian Gulf state.
Could UK’s Famous Summer Fests Be Snuffed Out?
“A looming recession, surging unemployment and lack of investors is likely to push many smaller and medium scale events out of business” in the UK, according to experts, and the summer music festival scene could be a major source of casualties. “Estimates suggest the UK festival industry was worth about £900m in 2008.”
Saving South Bank?
“You might be forgiven for thinking that [London’s] ailing South Bank Centre has brought in the Government’s chief spinner to manage its spiralling problems, but that would be an over-simplification. Alan Bishop… will have his work cut out to restore musical confidence and budgetary discipline on the riverside site.”
William Christie To Revive Legendary Production Of Atys
The lavish 1987 staging of Lully’s tragédie lyrique by Christie and director Jean-Marie Villégier at the Paris Opera made history, eventually appearing on three continents and proving that French Baroque opera could be popular enough to attract ticket scalpers. Now Christie has announced that, thanks to the support of an unnamed American patron, the production will be revived in 2010 at Paris’s Opéra-Comique. (No word yet of a U.S. run.)
David McVicar Loathes Traviata, Directs It Anyway
“‘I could never do such a coarse, clumsy, reduction of this woman’ [he said in 2003]. Five years later, though, the curtain is about to rise on McVicar’s new production with Scottish Opera, his first outing with one of opera’s favourite classics. Has he changed his mind? Or changed La Traviata?”
Wigmore Hall And King’s Place Locked In Bitter Rivalry? (Naaah.)
“Rumours have been flying around the classical music industry that London’s Wigmore Hall has been refusing to book artists who accept engagements at Kings Place – the brand-new Wigmore-size recital venue, and potential competitor, in King’s Cross.”
San Francisco Fiddle Fraudster Sentenced To Prison
Joseph Hokai Tang, 29, a pianist and violinist who was arrested last year for shady doings in his violin dealership (he was apprehended backstage after a concert), has been convicted of international fraud and sentenced to three years’ prison and $436,000 in restitution; he faces almost certain deportation upon release.
Task Force To Target A Scourge: Music-Fest Tent Thefts
“Tent thieves, it is time to tremble! No longer will British music festivals sit idly by as you nick tent poles, nab canvases or whisk lean-tos back to your lairs. The newly formed Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has announced its first initiative – a security taskforce that will target tent thefts and campsite crime at the country’s music shindigs.”