Category: music

“Sure, there have been and continue to be tons of great composer/performers out there. But if no one else ever performs your own music except for you, are you a composer? Is a singer-songwriter whose material never gets covered by anyone else a composer?”

While some larger orchestras have struggled to survive, the Kentucky Symphony has been growing since its birth 15 years ago. “The first concert, Nov. 21, 1992, in Greaves Hall at Northern Kentucky University, drew 165 people. From a start-up budget of $20,000 and four concerts, the organization has grown to a budget of more than $600,000 and 34-40 concerts a year.”

“The major record labels by and large insist their music must have some sort of digital rights management protection before they’ll license it for digital distribution. Increasingly, the wisdom of this stance is coming under scrutiny. DRM, they say, simply forces consumers to buy hardware with proprietary technology that enriches software companies rather than artists or labels.”

Ticket prices for pop concerts have been going down in the past year. “Nationally, the average ticket price for the top 100 tours tracked by Pollstar magazine dropped to $50.27 last year, from $53.55 in 2004.”

This past year the orchestra had “stronger than expected ticket sales, subscription renewals, fund-raising and deficit reduction. In an environment of concern about the future health of classical music, executives and board leaders of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association almost seemed surprised at the good news.”

Donald Palumbo is “widely considered to be one of the best opera chorus masters in the world, with many impresarios, including the Met’s Peter Gelb and Lyric’s William Mason, saying that he is tops in the difficult field.”

Peter Gelb is making wholesale changes in how the Metropolitan Opera does business. “Some critics no doubt will be waiting for the Met’s new GM to cross the line between selling that art form and selling it out. Gelb addressed that recently when he recalled seeing one of those “Euro-trash” productions that try anything to connect. It was a “Rigoletto” conceived by a German film director as “Rigoletto Meets the Planet of the Apes.” Set amid the shattered remains of the world’s opera houses, it had the singers dressed, yes, as apes. ‘There will be no ape suits in our new productions’.”

“Since 2004, Musicians on Call has regularly serenaded those in Britain unable to attend concerts and, according to its mission statement, draws on scientific research that suggests that listening to live music lowers blood pressure, anxiety and depression. The orchestra seems eager to establish a footing in New York, where it spends about 10 days a year, and its members are starting to treat the city as a second home.”

“This season there are four — count ’em, four — major trombone premieres in the United States. The others are at the New York Philharmonic, the Harrisburg Symphony and the Hartford Symphony. The premieres suggest that an instrument that has rarely been invited into the spotlight has finally hit the big time…”

Attendance at Cincinnati Symphony concerts has plummeted this season. “Does the orchestra have too much “product” for its customers? Does it need a massive marketing campaign? Will a planned renovation of Music Hall, to add patron amenities such as a café and an attached garage and create a smaller auditorium, improve the attendance?”