Category: music

Oakland Opera is a small company that does big things with contemporary work. Case in point – its revival of Anthony Davis’ “X”. “Operating on a shoestring — Sunday afternoon’s performance went ahead with neither lighting nor programs after a series of mechanical mishaps — the company has once again assembled all the elements it needs for gripping musical theater. There seems to be no limit to what these folks can pull off.”

A gala at the Metropolitan Opera has Alex Ross thinking about the attraction of opera. “For a long while, during the macho decades of rock and rap, it seemed as though vocal floridity had been drummed out of pop music. But it turns out that there is an abiding hunger in the heartland for high notes, melisma, fioritura, and the rest. So why don’t more people warm to the grand original? One problem is that there is no way of capturing opera’s elemental thrill on television, or even on a recording.”

“UK music fans no longer face the threat of prosecution for copying their own CDs on to PCs or MP3 players, as long as the songs are only for personal use.” Thus says the British recording industry.

These days major recording labels want to see musical acts demonstrate they have a fan base before being signed. So bands are turning to promotions for mobile phones and other fan-building ploys to build their careers…

June is National Accordion Awareness Month. So is the accordion becoming cool again? “The sound of a piano accordion makes people happy. If I were to join the musicians who played while the Titanic was sinking, I’d grab my Weltmeister piano accordion — the smaller one I use for strolling — and play a nice German beer-barrel polka. It’d be a great sing-along that would put everyone in a better mood.”

Violinist Robert McDuffie wanted a great violin but couldn’t afford the cost himself. “So he incorporated, setting up 1737 del Gesu Partners, L.P., and convinced 16 friends and acquaintances (including himself) to invest in the instrument. The return on equity? Two private concerts a year, a share in any profits when McDuffie sells the violin in 2024 — and the pleasure of seeing and hearing a master play a masterpiece.”

“In its heyday, from the late 1960’s through the 70’s, Fania, like Motown, had a superstar-packed roster, a virtual monopoly on salsa’s A-list.” But the label fell on hard times. “Dozens of its most important recordings are out of print, and others were so shoddily transferred to CD — often directly from the original vinyl — as to be virtually unlistenable. Now, though, a Fania revival is stirring.”

Marshall, Missouri is a small town of about 12,000, but its pride and joy is its symphony orchestra. “Marshall for years has touted itself as the nation’s smallest city with its own symphony. The designation may be apocryphal — contenders include the Red Cedar Symphony in Rice Lake, Wis., population 8,350 — but no one can deny that Marshall is mad about music. More than just the brass and woodwinds, a Marshall Philharmonic concert is a testament to the ties forged in small-town America.”

“If the Chicago owners of the Hyatt Regency New Orleans and their Crescent City partners can pull together $716 million in financing, New Orleans will have a 200,000-square foot National Jazz Center, a 20-acre jazz park featuring live music performances and an under-the-stars amphitheater and band shell. The complex will be home to the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra and the centerpiece of a larger plan to refurbish the hurricane-battered Hyatt Regency New Orleans and erect new government buildings.”

What will Daniel Barenboim do after leaving the Chicago Symphony? “I will play more piano. I always knew that with this job [as music director], I would have a limited amount of time to play the piano. But I won’t have to do that anymore. You know my rhythm here with chamber music and recitals, which I do because otherwise I don’t play for too long. Do I want to overextend myself and play, or take the necessary risk and not play for too long? I don’t want that anymore.”