Category: music

Guitar is probably the least celebrated of all classical instruments – it needs amplification to be heard over an orchestra, it has a limited repertoire, and it’s devilishly hard to play when you’re not simply strumming chords. “But all that may be changing. A new generation of classical guitarists has emerged over the past decade, raising performance standards and pushing the instrument into new realms. These players have embraced the instrument’s eclectic roots, while writing innovative works and digging up new repertoire.”

Record stores drawing their last, gasping breath? Not in Toronto, where some scrappy indies are hanging on despite some high-profile collapses. The key, according to some store owners, is learning to cater to underserved niches, rather than trying to service the broader music market in an age when music of all kinds can be purchased hassle-free online.

The BBC Proms kicked off this weekend, and petty quibbles aside, there’s little doubt that the two-month festival remains the premier summer music event in the world. “For range of concert, the Proms is unmatchable, as audiences from every corner of the globe are happy to endorse. And, if you are willing to stand, as thousands are, you can get in for a fiver.”

Music can be an expensive hobby for young musicians, and even joining a youth orchestra often requires the payment of hefty fees. But a new organization in San Diego is offering the orchestra experience free of charge to anyone who can pass muster at the audition. “East County Youth Symphony wants to attract more members and enough donations to eventually purchase instruments and pay for music lessons for students whose families can’t afford them.”

Big recording companies are furious at Prince for giving his new music away free in copies of an English newspaper. “The giveaway has been roundly criticized as a major blow for an industry already facing rapidly declining CD sales. It has led Sony BMG U.K., Prince’s local label, to pull the plug on its own sales release of the CD in Britain.”

One of the great frustrations of being a fan of a wildly popular band or musician is the necessity of seeing them live only in grossly oversized venues with terrible acoustics and no sightlines. So it’s getting attention that a number of high-profile performers are mounting shows this summer in decidedly scaled-down venues. On the plus side, those in attendance will get a much more personal performance. On the down side, not many tickets are available, and the ones that are will surely cost you…

The BBC Proms is the world’s largest classical music festival, and the unique spirit that permeates the concerts comes largely from the Prommers, a diehard group of music fans who show up early for every concert and take their place in a huge, standing-room-only pit in front of the stage. “It’s hardly surprising that, over the years, the tastes and foibles of the Promenaders have been projected on to Proms audiences as a whole.”

Seattle Opera has announced a whopping set of gifts totaling more than $21m to fund its endowment and daily operations. The donations come principally from three donors, including $15m from longtime supporter Gerald Hanauer.

The North Carolina Symphony hopes to dramatically expand its orchestra in the coming years as part of a $50 million capital campaign called “America’s Next Great Orchestra.”

“The city has recommended a 20 percent cut in the operating subsidies for these and other nonprofit organizations. For the orchestra, the figure could be $80,000 and will translate to fewer outdoor concerts and youth and education programs. The city this year had slated $400,000 in nondepartmental funds for the orchestra. ‘Although the roughly $500,000 overall in recommended cuts is not drastic, it symbolizes the marginalization of the arts’.”