Category: music

A shocking number of “violin left behind in cab” stories have been popping up of late, begging the question: how could anyone forget about such a valuable possession? Explanations vary, but one prominent instrument dealer is proposing a technological solution – GPS tracking systems.

The Concert Association of Florida, which presents orchestra concerts and recitals in various Miami venues, appears to be in some trouble. “A nose-diving economy, the downward trend in ticket sales and continuing programming problems” are just the tip of the iceberg, and an attempt to form a local professional orchestra has met with public indifference.

Melinda Bargreen is leaving the Seattle Times after 31 years as classical music critic. “It hasn’t been dull… During the past 2 ½ decades, an unprecedented arts boom hit the Northwest and changed the music scene forever.”

“Riccardo Muti is too diplomatic to say so, of course, but the reasons he chose Chicago over New York seem implicitly clear: Chicago has the better orchestra… and he faces nothing here like the podium competition he would encounter on the East Coast.” And while some have questioned the hire, John von Rhein says the CSO unquestionably made the right call.

“Include one of Canada’s most celebrated violinists among the music lovers across Canada who are sad and angry about the sharp cuts to classical music programming at CBC Radio Two.” James Ehnes says that “there are some people at the top who have decided they don’t like classical music, and because they don’t like it, they know best. That’s never a good thing.”

“Christof Perick will remain the Charlotte Symphony’s music director for an extra year to help smooth the transition to his successor… The orchestra plans to choose the new leader in early 2009. But the winner probably won’t be able to devote much time to Charlotte during the 2009-10 season,” so Perick will stick around.

The local critic in Tampa Bay, Florida, has been openly critical of the “safe” programming decisions made by the Florida Orchestra. But can an orchestra really be expected to program music that they already know audiences won’t buy tickets to hear?

The Columbus Symphony may have money problems, but they don’t appear to stem from a lack of public interest in the ensemble. “To date, the symphony has sold more than $2.1 million in tickets for the 2007-08 season. Total sales for the previous year were $1.9 million.”

For a company that is only two years old and slowly emerging from the shadow of the cash-strapped Victorian State Opera, which folded in 1996, surely it would have been a safer bet to stage a popular work such as La Boheme. Richard Gill is adamant on this point. If opera as an art form doesn’t take risks, it will die. “Opera has been sitting in a 19th-century museum for too long.”

“The Wiener Staatsoper, most of whose orchestra members comprise the Vienna Philharmonic, appointed a woman as its concertmaster. Albena Danailova, of Sofia, takes first chair in September. According to custom, if all goes well for two years, she will then move into the position permanently.”