Category: music

“Normally the crisis of an orchestra is defined by money — look at what’s happened over the years with the Louisville Orchestra, or most recently, the apparent demise of the Columbus (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra. But every so often nature asserts itself, cascading floodwaters into unprotected basements and lower floors, destroying property, making refugees of staff and musicians. Cedar Rapids’ plight brings to mind what befell the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra after Hurricane Katrina.”

“Si Jing Ye, who now resides in New York City, beat out five other finalists for the gold medal on Saturday night with a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in B-flat Minor. Ye will also get $8,000 US for his first-place finish. Californian Kenric Tam, 18, of California, was second and Jonathon Flori, 18, of Spain, was third.”

“It is time to say farewell to some of the greatest albums ever made, albums that made careers, defined genres, and celebrated the raw power of music. Because the live album, once a rite of passage for every act of substance, is dead.”

“Four-dollar-a-gallon gas prices are eating away at the summer-concert business, with top festivals and tours taking unexpected box-office hits over the past few months.”

Brucs Coppock helped remake the orchestra in a series of radical moves that changed the very nature of how the organization works. Coppock,has been “the longest-serving managing director in the SPCO’s 50 years, and told the organization’s board of directors about the reoccurrence of the cholangeocarcinoma (cancer of the bile duct) in an emotional meeting.”

“The Toronto Symphony Orchestra saw a boost in both single ticket sales and subscriptions in the 2007-8 season with house capacity averaging 88 per cent. Box office revenue was $9.2 million, increasing for the sixth year running. More than 238,000 people bought tickets, an increase of 10,000. Subscriptions rose 10 per cent to 27,500 subscribers.”

“On Monday, Miami Herald Classical Music Critic Lawrence Johnson received an “involuntary buyout” from his newspaper. Just to be clear, the word “buyout” when preceded by ‘involuntary’ means laid off, in this case with eight weeks severance pay. Such is Johnson’s paper parachute.”

“I discovered you can waste an awful lot of time on YouTube and become an expert in useless information. In the process, however, you are participating in a 21st century form of musical assimilation, a creative pursuit that is rooted both in Freud’s method of free association and in the random sampling that John Cage, Witold Lutoslawski and Steve Reich foretold as the basis for a new musical civilisation.”

“For the last four years, Alexander Neef served as director of casting for the Opéra National de Paris, where he worked closely with the renowned artistic director Gérard Mortier. Before that, he was involved with artistic administration at Germany’s Ruhr Trienniale, where he was charged with preparing opera, theatre and dance productions. And before that, he worked at Austria’s Salzburg Festival.”

Would it be hopelessly superficial to market composers based on their personalities, making the case that their traits and quirks necessarily inform their music?