Category: music

Accusations of steroid use, normally a controversy limited to pro athletes, are now hitting the world of hip-hop, as news of an investigation by a New York district attorney leaks to the press. The news “struck a chord about the increasing pressure on these performers to maintain perfect, even superhuman physiques as a part of their overall image and brand.”

The lockout of Jacksonville Symphony musicians is now two months old, and the two sides are preparing to come back to the bargaining table for the first time since before Christmas. Management officials say that they were close to a deal at that time, and the musicians are reported to be “guardedly optimistic.”

A £20m deal to finance the Manchester-based BBC Philharmonic is in danger after a round of government grants fell through, meaning that the deal might have to be financed with taxpayer money.

When the Milwaukee Symphony began searching for a conductor to replace outgoing music director Andreas Delfs, it “expected to land a young up-and-comer, as Delfs was 11 years ago. The slate of young guest conductors on this year’s schedule pointed that way. Instead they got a seasoned pro, and they got him for at least three years.”

To mark the opening of its new home next year, Dallas Opera will present the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s new opera Moby Dick. “The new opera will be only the third world premiere in the Dallas company’s history, and is a co-production with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera and Calgary Opera.”

“Much sweat and ink has been spilled over the perceived lack of interest in classical/new/art/experimental music for decades now. But what if it is this profound effect that music has on the plasticity of our brains that is primarily responsible for this?”

“EMI will be split into two main divisions, one handling the creative side of the business and one dealing with back office.The aim is to reduce the division’s British marketing budget from 40 per cent of sales to the industry norm of 20 per cent.”

“The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra will become the first orchestra in America to operate three venues, with Encore Park as inventory” added to the 6,000-seat Chastain Park Amphitheater in Buckhead and the 1,750-seat Symphony Hall in Midtown. The result is that we’re becoming the largest music broker in the Southeast, with 20,000 total seats to fill and a year-round schedule of performances.”

“While overall music sales were up 14 percent in 2007, most of that growth was due to the sale of digital tracks. More telling, album sales were down 9.5 percent, and every genre suffered a sales decline, from rap (down a whopping 30 percent) to rock (12.5 percent) to country (16.3).”

“The National Symphony Orchestra’s Leonard Slatkin, who will step down from his directorship in June, is not in the Bernstein-Karajan camp. Nevertheless, he has been a significant figure in Washington’s musical history for more than a dozen years now and his overall effect on the NSO is likely to be the subject of controversy for years to come.”