Category: music

A man was struck by lightning at the Boston Symphony’s summer home in the Berkshire mountains this weekend as he waited to see the Orchestra of St. Luke’s perform. “Officials closed the grounds to newcomers and asked patrons to wait out the storm in the shelter of the Shed.”

“Opera-fan websites devote page after page to a microscopic, bitchy examination of the prospects of the three favourites: a glamorous young blonde and two elderly relatives. While all three are members of the Wagner family, no two share an identical set of parents – and each must carry the baggage of her family’s chequered history.”

Alan McGee of Creation Records says: “The only people who think music isn’t free any more are the record companies.” He gave away the last album by the Charlatans in the hope that it would boost their earnings from live performances. It did, by 400 per cent. That’s where the money is now.

A story last week in the Portland Business Journal doesn’t fit the facts, writes David Stabler. “It doesn’t jibe with the symphony’s recent turnaround. According to president Elaine Calder, ticket sales are up. Private giving is up. Overhead is down. Deficit is down. Endowment is preserved.”

“In 1951, he and his brother, Wieland, were elected to lead the month-long festival their grandfather initially created in 1872 to premiere his epic Ring Cycle. However, he has been the sole director since his brother’s death in 1967.”

“Three self-styled extreme cellists have reached the peak of their art and not content with playing concerts in conventional venues, they have opted to try and climb the highest mountains in England, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Republic to raise money for charity. They have played on the rooftops of every Anglican cathedral in England and just a few days ago scaled Ben Nevis, so they know all the hazards connected to an expedition of this kind.”

“Popular song has long since resumed its lowly status in the public imagination, a village idiot to the educated society of art and literature. That perception is based, of course, on the overwhelming audibility of the lowest common denominator. Where is the legacy Bruce Springsteen identified when he inducted Dylan into the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame 20 years ago?
Gone to ground, is the short answer.”

“Top leaders at the Oregon Symphony are struggling to shore up losses, which totaled $5.1 million between 2002 and 2008, plus pay off a $7 million bank loan that has saddled the nonprofit with $400,000 in yearly interest payments.” Efforts are well underway to cut losses, but the orchestra’s board chair worries that “we might have already lost the symphony.”

The CEO of the San Antonio Symphony, David Green, is leaving his post after 2-1/2 years on the job. He will be replaced by Jack Fishman, executive director of California’s Long Beach Symphony.

A Catholic group of about 30 out of Spring Grove, Pa. rallied Wednesday outside the Studio Theatre in Washington DC to protest the opening of Jerry Springer: The Opera. “The folks from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property just call it straight-up blasphemous.”