Category: music

“After arduous negotiations, the Pacific Symphony’s management and the union representing the symphony’s 88 musicians announced Wednesday that they have reached a tentative agreement on a five-year contract. The contract – the longest in the symphony’s history – includes a 41.5 percent compounded increase in musicians’ wages.”

Just how will the English National Opera approach the new season. The past few years have been a mess. “The ‘sudden resignations’ of a general director and chairman, another music director who never arrived, senior managerial appointments made without due process, a restoration project that did nothing to increase productivity, box-office dips, redundancies and asset-selling all contributed to slumps in external reputation and internal morale.”

“Enescu is Romania’s most famous composer. Actually, he is its only famous composer. As the 18th George Enescu international festival sweeps the capital, his face stares out from billboards everywhere. Hotel corridors resound to the sound of violinists practising. By the time the three-week festival closes this weekend, 3,000 musicians will have passed through the city.”

“Ladies and gentlemen of the orchestra, be seated. Not so fast, says the conductor. Violins, you may take your places to my left, for the moment. Violas, let’s see. Should you be on my right, or should the cellos go there? Basses, let me think. Winds, brasses and percussion, you know where you need to be. (Or do you?)” These days, there seem to be as many orchestral seating configurations as there are conductors. But how do they decide where they want everyone to sit, and why does it matter?

The general manager of the Pittsburgh Symphony has resigned to take a job as executive director of the much smaller Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony in Ontario. Genevieve Twomey, an Australian native, has been with the PSO since 2000.

Kiri Te Kanawa’s farewell recital tour is causing major headaches in Vancouver, where venue problems have given way to waves of angry ticketholders who are only finding out this week whether their tickets will get them into Thursday’s or Sunday’s show. The Vancouver Recital Society is “desperately worried that a concert that sold out more quickly than anything in VRS history will wind up being a bust – with empty seats at both performances.”

Conductor Ilan Volkov is stepping down from his role as chief conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. “Volkov’s first child, Nadia, was born this August in Israel, where he is co-owner of a new music club. He will pursue a freelance career with orchestras like the Washington Symphony and the Czech Philharmonic as well as keeping ties to the BBC SSO.”

Last season, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s new principal cellist, Hai-Ye Ni, was told that she was not being granted tenure by the orchestra, and would not be brought back for the 2007-08 season. It was a major blow for a cellist who has enjoyed a successful solo career and who had quit a section job with the New York Philharmonic to come to Philadelphia. “But a grievance was filed with the union, lawyers were called, conversations were had, and now she’s back. Music director Christoph Eschenbach has agreed to extend her stay, giving her another year of probation.”

“Our business is poised to rebound because the demand for music is as strong as it has ever been and our determination to meet that demand has never been greater. While it may take some time for the rise in all the new revenue streams to overtake the short-term effect of the decline in the CD, there is no doubt in my mind that the mid-to-long-term future for Warner Music is very bright indeed.”

“Stripping away opera’s glamour, singers are increasingly speaking out about a more sordid side of their world – increased drug and alcohol use sparked by relentless pressure to perform often and well… But insiders agree that heightened competition, unyielding sponsor demands and the weight of stardom are leading to excesses that invite comparisons of opera to sports tarnished by doping scandals. Some attempts to stay on top are relatively harmless, like popping a beta blocker to soothe butterflies before stepping onstage. Others are more alarming.”