Category: music

The Metropolitan Opera will simulcast its opening-night gala featuring Renee Fleming to theatres in North America as its program of high-definition broadcasts expands from eight to 11 next season.

It was Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez as the lovesick Tonio who brought the crowd to its feet late in Act 1 on Monday night by sailing with ease through the nine high Cs in the aria, “Pour mon ame” — and then singing it a second time.

After 53 years the Beaux Arts piano trio is playing its final round of concerts. At 84, Menahem Pressler, the group’s pianist still seems as vigorous a performer as ever…

“The Fragmented Orchestra’s idea uses recording units set up at 24 sites across the UK to capture their sounds. The sounds will be transmitted back to the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT) in Liverpool for visitors to hear. The different locations will include a football stadium, cathedral and farm.”

“Multiday music festivals, once known mainly as draws for college kids willing to endure blazing sun and porta-potty lines in order to see their favorite alternative-rock groups, have become major profit centers for the music industry. In recent years, they have emerged as an essential platform for A-list acts.”

“The Oslo opera house is one of the most determinedly modern – and different – buildings of its type. To find a warm and traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium gathered around a proscenium stage at the heart of this breathtaking building is unexpected.”

“The legal area they occupy may still be grey, but audioblogs represent a happy medium for industry and fans alike. The range of music available is marvellous, and yet there’s something hugely appealing about being able to concentrate in detail on a single song.”

“Tens of millions of dollars more are pouring into other music schools across the country–in an era when professional symphony orchestras are struggling to survive and jazz clubs are an increasingly endangered species.”

“Thanks to Juan Diego Flórez, opera houses are flinging their doors open to frisky young tenors with agile technique. The bright ones know better than to copy him.”

“Some 3,100 record stores around the country have closed since 2003, according to the Almighty Institute of Music Retail, a market research firm. And that’s not just the big boxes like the 89 Tower Records outlets that closed at the end of 2006; nearly half were independent shops. In Manhattan and Brooklyn at least 80 stores have shut down in the last five years.”