Category: music

“The Orange County Performing Arts Center has announced a $4-million donation from one of its board members and his wife — the first report of progress since October on its campaign to pay off the debt on the new Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. The gift … brings the amount raised to $164 million — but it doesn’t represent any widening of the donor pool for the campaign, which still has about $76 million to go toward its goal of $240 million.”

“New York magazine’s longtime classical music critic, Peter G. Davis, will be leaving the publication. Mr. Davis, who had been at New York for 26 years, said yesterday he was asked to sign an ‘agreement of separation’ because the magazine decided it no longer needed a full-time classical music critic.” (seventh item)

“Record companies are using digital technology to turn the volume on CDs up to ’11’. Artists and record bosses believe that the best album is the loudest one. Sound levels are being artificially enhanced so that the music punches through when it competes against background noise in pubs or cars. Britain’s leading studio engineers are starting a campaign against a widespread technique that removes the dynamic range of a recording, making everything sound ‘loud’.”

ArchivMusic is a real-world test of the Longtail phenomenon. The idea is to take old recordings that are no longer part of the CD catalog and make them available on demand. “Its Web site is now at the forefront of the new burn-on-demand phenomenon that is bolstering classical music sales along with the industry’s great strides in digital downloading. The company’s growing specialty is in reissuing discs that you cannot buy except in a used-CD shop, by burning them one at a time for consumers. It may seem like small change, but it adds up.”

Bernard Haitink is principal conductor of the Chicago Symphony, and apparently the match is a good one. Still. “When I started at the Concertgebouw, the conductor was responsible for the music, and that was it; an artistic manager and a business manager took care of the rest. That has all changed. Nowadays the duties of a music director are far too much for one person. And the people who are available to fill those positions never want to give that much time to their orchestras. And the ‘sell-by’ date of a conductor is maybe a little bit shorter now.”

Toronto’s new opera house has been a hit in its first season. But “at the end of the first season in its new home, the COC has hit its limit of productions and ticket sales. Where to find the extra stage and auditorium time? Summer is out. The National Ballet of Canada, the Four Seasons Centre’s main tenant, also needs the stage for its season. The COC’s general director says that one immediate way to enlarge the COC season would be to run opera in repertory with dance so that there is something happening in the house every night of the week.”

Vienna’s Musikverein and Boston’s Symphony Hall may still be the gold standard, but Nicolai Ourossoff says that we are in a dizzying age of concert hall construction and design. “The new halls seek to root classical music firmly in the present and forge an intimate bond among orchestra, audience and music.”

Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music may not have the instant international name recognition of Juilliard, but the school is one of Canada’s beloved cultural institutions. “No other musical institution connects so many people – professionals and amateurs alike – from so many communities.” Now, after decades of making do with substandard facilities, the Royal Conservatory is on the verge of moving into a dazzling new home.

The Montreal International Musical Competition has brought much attention to its host city since launching in 2002, but this year, attention is also being paid to the stunning success of homegrown talent. Despite a blind judging process, more than half of the finalists at this year’s vocal competition are Canadian, and many are seeing it as a sign that Canada has become a leader in the training of top-flight singers.

“Contract talks between the Omaha Symphony and its musicians have broken down. According to a release from the Omaha Symphony Musicians Organization, negotiations ended May 31 without an agreement and no further talks were scheduled… The musicians rejected the Symphony Association’s proposed 2.5 percent salary increase for the 2007 contract. [Another complaint is that] musicians are not provided benefits on par with those provided to the Omaha Symphony administrative staff.”