Category: music

“The last straw appears to have been the introduction of new rules that will allow even countries that fail the semi-finals to vote in the final in Belgrade in May. But will Austria’s absence even be noticed on the night, amid the frocky horrors and life-affirming balladry?”

The dirty little secret of the iPod is that its audio quality is actually quite poor, at least when judged against the quality of high-end stereo systems. “For consumers, easy access has trumped high fidelity.” It’s bad news for audiophiles, but musicians don’t seem to mind.

Opera Colorado recently lost both its artistic director and its president, leaving a leadership void that needs to be filled quickly. “This leadership transition can either be a time of retrenchment or continuing artistic growth. It all depends on the vision and courage of the company’s board and the effectiveness of the leadership team it assembles.”

As the Utah Symphony searches for a new music director to replace the outgoing Keith Lockhart, at least one conductor is making his availability known. Pavel Kogan, the orchestra’s one-time principal guest conductor, is saying all the right things, and clearly has designs on the top job.

Over the years since it formed a partnership with the innovative Naxos label, the Nashville Symphony has quietly become one of the most prolific recording orchestras in the US. The orchestra gave Naxos a foothold in the American scene, and the label’s wide reach has given the NSO an international reputation.

“It’s easy to take a jaded view and see educational outreach merely as do-good public relations operations. How much can be achieved, after all, when a string quartet makes a one-time visit to a public school in Harlem? But increasingly conductors like see outreach and education as central components of a music director’s job.”

“There is a shift away from the more classical music oriented instruments and towards the guitar, kit drum, those instruments in more popular music.”

“The revolutionary aspect of Venezuela’s ‘El Sistema’ is that it doesn’t set out to produce great musicians.” Its spectactular success helpe spur the government to invest in music education.

The Canadian Opera Company has had a great year, and now it has the numbers to prove it. “The company’s most ambitious year ever ended with a 32-per-cent increase in its endowment fund and a small operating surplus of $49,000… Ticket sales, donations and corporate sponsorships were all sharply higher than during the previous year and all shows were virtually sold out.”

The Metropolitan Opera has teamed up with Rhapsody online and launched an on-demand digital music service in which 100 operas from 1937-2006 are available for purchase.