Stephen Brown: “This is the problem that Mozart poses for our contemporary ears. His music is so balanced, clear, rational in its order, especially in comparison to the music that has come after, that it is easy – for performers as well as listeners – to miss the drama.” – Times Literary Supplement
Category: music
Conductor Alan Gilbert On The New York Philharmonic And The Hamburg Elbphilharmonie
“The 2019-20 season will be Alan Gilbert’s first with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester in Hamburg. On paper, a German radio orchestra, with the system’s long tradition of advocacy for new repertoire, would seem to be an excellent fit for Gilbert. Over two conversations, one in a Hamburg café, the other on the phone, we talked about how taste is made, gender quotas for orchestras, self-doubt, and parenthood.” – Van
London’s Philharmonia Orchestra Names Successor To Esa-Pekka Salonen
Santtu-Matias Rouvali, 33, begins his 10-weeks-a-year, five-year contract term at the start of the 2021-22 season. He is also chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony (which is the official national orchestra of Sweden), where he just extended his term for four years), and the Tampere Philharmonic in Finland’s second city, where “the Rouvali effect” has seen extra concerts scheduled to meet audience demand. – The Times (UK)
Butterflies, Roasted Pigs And Radios: Christopher Rountree And The Music Of Anything
And he’s having a moment now, with the LA Philharmonic’s FLUXUS Festival. – San Francisco Classical Voice
This Year’s NEA Jazz Masters
Jazz’s highest public honor will go to Roscoe Mitchell, Dorthaan Kirk, Reggie Workman and Bobby McFerrin at a ceremony in April 2020. Held at the SFJazz Center in San Francisco, it will be the first Jazz Masters gala in California since 2005. Awardees receive cash prizes of up to $25,000. – The New York Times
Before The Kremlin Could Stop It, Rap Spread All Over Russia
It was the Web, and especially V Kontakte (Russia’s Facebook), that made it possible, and, as always in such cases, the old fogeys in charge didn’t catch on until it was too late to stop or co-opt it. So now the Kremlin is nervous. – The New York Times
Study: To Teach Music To Students, Ditch Mozart And Add Hip Hop
A four-year study by Youth Music concluded that too many schools fail to include current musical genres and recommended that lessons should focus on “Stormzy rather than Mozart” in order to engage hard-to-reach young people. – The Guardian
This Opera Company Went Out And Asked Folks What They Want From Opera
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis did some research to find out what could get new people in the door — and, just as importantly, what doesn’t work. – American Theatre
The Artwork That Won The Venice Biennale Is Actually An Opera
“The piece, called Sun & Sea (Marina) (2019), was created by a trio of highly creative women: filmmaker and theater director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė; writer, poet, and playwright Vaiva Grainytė; and artist, musician, and composer Lina Lapelytė. From within Venice’s Marina Militare, the opera’s set is a faux beach, complete with lounge chairs, inflatables, and sand. A troupe of two-dozen performers from Lithuania and Italy sing sweetly and harmoniously, enacting dark humor that reflects on the decaying Earth, through the guise of a lazy, frolicsome beach day.” – Artsy
Making Opera With Homeless People In England’s Rust Belt
“A charity which helps tackle homelessness and mental health issues has been hailed for changing people’s lives. Streetwise Opera runs musical groups in [the North Yorkshire city of] Middlesbrough, giving the singers confidence to move on with their lives.” (video) – BBC