Category: music

“I’d venture a guess that most people, if asked who their favorite author is, would probably name a living author, if they have a favorite. Same goes for favorite baseball player, favorite singer, favorite movie star, etc. Yet ask someone to name their favorite composer and I’d also guess that those who don’t give you that baffled ‘what’s-a-composer’ look will more often than not mention someone both long-dead and from another country.”

“With rehearsals for the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra’s fall season scheduled to begin on Sept. 8, conductor and artistic director Douglas Sanford and a group of orchestra members are embroiled in a bitter dispute. A report by the union steward earlier this year was highly critical of Sanford, alleging a long list of abuses from haranguing players to choosing wildly fast tempos. Sanford, in turn, filed a $200,000 defamation suit on Aug. 14, arguing against the allegations.”

Researchers say perfect pitch may be traceable to a single gene. “Only 1 in 10,000 people have perfect or absolute pitch, the uncanny ability to name the note of just about any sound without the help of a reference tone. They also found that perfect pitch tends to deteriorate with age.”

“The Berlin Philharmonic became a privileged servant of Nazi propaganda after Adolf Hitler’s 1933 takeover. The pact with the Nazi regime resulted from the terrible financial situation of the orchestra since the middle of the 1920s, a certain feeling of superiority on the part of the orchestra collective and Goebbel’s vision of cultural propaganda.”

“Many musicians, like other New Orleanians, are struggling with life since Hurricane Katrina struck nearly two years ago. Many venues that offered live music have not reopened or offer the stage as often.”

“Two years after Katrina, the landscape of New Orleans music, like the landscape of the city itself, is radically different. Where the scene was dominated by party tunes and decades-old standards, where some of the most popular local acts could count on weekly gigs without having to stretch too much, now there’s something deeper.”

So Opera Cleveland is off to a fresh start. “Hmm. Haven’t we been here before? A year ago, Opera Cleveland was preparing for its first season with an artistic director, Leon Major, and principal con ductor, Richard Buckley, who were eager to cultivate the new company, a merger between Cleveland Opera and Lyric Opera Cleveland.”

Venezuela’s youth orchestra wowed London this week. “Music that is too often dismissed as difficult and elitist is being recognised for its ability to transform damaged lives. This initiative needs to be extended across the rest of the UK. Instead, we see cuts in spending and depressingly little time devoted to collegiate music-making in most of our schools. This must change.”

This year’s big pop concerts are bands who have been playing for decades. And they’re huge business. “In the past, many veteran bands played almost exclusively for fellow baby boomers – fans who literally grew up with them. Today, these acts are increasingly drawing multi-generational audiences.”

“This hottest of hot tickets is an Edinburgh band called the Really Terrible Orchestra. And were you to ask what it does, the answer would be that with true Scottish candor it lives up to its name, or rather down to it: an orchestra that plays terribly.”