Category: music

“At a time when symphony orchestras and opera companies are marching proudly into the brave new electronic future of classical music, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra seems content to dither on the sidelines as the parade passes by… Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of the orchestra’s discontinuing its locally and nationally syndicated radio broadcasts because of a lack of funding. That same year, 2001, the CSO and then-music director Daniel Barenboim lost their recording contract with Warner Classics.”

The cancellation of a German production of Mozart’s Idomeneo because of fears that it could inflame Islamic fundamentalists has the arts world debating its role in an increasingly dangerous world. “Artists are raising important questions, but we as a society are a bit frightened to be open to these ideas. We need a safe place to discuss them, and it’s unfortunate that the arts are being attacked in this way, when they really are a place for exploration.”

Deutsche Oper says it would consider reinstating the cancelled production of Mozart’s Idomeneo if it receives security assurances. “At a government summit Tuesday with Islamic leaders, Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble proposed that the participants go to see the opera together if it is ever staged again, [and] Berlin’s top cultural official, Thomas Flierl, said that he wanted the opera brought back.”

Joshua Kosman points out that Idomeneo is a strange opera to be causing such a storm of controversy. In fact, the scene giving such offense was inserted by a director looking to stir the pot, and has nothing to do with Mozart. “The irony is that there are a handful of familiar operas, including two that are performed regularly as part of the standard repertoire, that have anti-Muslim sentiment — or at least comedic disrespect — built into their very DNA.”

The New Jersey Symphony has always had a tough time making itself heard above the roar of the high-profile New York orchestras just across the river. But thanks to a new deal with New York radio station WQXR, the NJSO will shortly be heard in concert across the country on a new weekly broadcast series. Not only that, but thanks to WQXR’s well-respected brand name, the NJSO broadcasts will debut in six of the top ten media markets in the U.S.

“Washington-based SoundExchange released a list of 9,000 recording artists with unclaimed royalties in what it described as a last-ditch effort to distribute $500,000 worth of checks to the musicians for digital broadcasts dating from the late ’90s. And the clock is ticking: The artists forfeit the money to SoundExchange if they don’t claim it by Dec. 15.”

Conductor Andrew Davis won’t renew his three-year contract as artistic advisor to the Pittsburgh Symphony. The job was an unusual one for the orchestra. “We are not wedded to this model. It is a new model for an orchestra in America to be trying. We have found parts of it that have been interesting and enlightening and parts that don’t work as well. We will either have to find ways to make it work within the model or work outside of it. We want to do what is best for the artistic future of the organization.”

Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt has been named Gramophone Magazine’s artist of the year. “”Hewitt was competing for the fan choice award against conductors Valery Gergiev and Sir Simon Rattle, cellist Steven Isserlis, soprano Veronique Gens and fellow Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley.”

“What is a band if not a brand, composed of three product lines: singles, albums and tours? Record companies generally lose money releasing and promoting singles – they are little more than adverts for albums. When you consider that most musicians do not really make serious money from album sales unless they are shifting units like James Blunt, then albums begin to seem like nothing more than adverts for tours, where artists can really start to coin it in.”

“The singles market has largely moved online – and it has happened almost overnight. A couple of years ago there was no such thing as a legitimate digital singles market. But now digital makes up something like 80% of the singles market as a whole.”