“The Hungarian State Opera has asked the nearly all-white cast … to sign a statement declaring that ‘African-American origin and identity is an inseparable part of my identity’ and made being in Porgy and Bess ‘a special joy.'” – Yahoo! (AP)
Category: music
Germany’s Orchestral Scene Isn’t As Marvelous As It May Look To Outsiders
“Germany might have more orchestras [than other countries], but it also has more musicians (including those flooding in from abroad) looking to fill positions in them. The audition procedure is often archaic, unnecessarily nerve-racking and, with strict voting systems, sometimes deeply frustrating. Musicians go from one temporary contract to the next in the vain search for the security of a permanent position.” – The Strad
Opera-Ballet-Concert House Flooded By Sprinkler System, Closed Indefinitely
The municipal theater in Duisburg, a city in Germany’s industrial Ruhr Valley, saw 80,000 liters of water pour over the stage, the floors, and crucial building infrastructure following a mishap during sprinkler system testing. (No answer yet as to whether the cause was mechanical or human.) The venue is home to the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Ballett am Rhein, the Schauspiel (spoken theater) and the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra. (in German; for Google Translate version, click here) – WDR (Cologne)
Chicago Symphony Strike: In For The Long Haul?
Despite some movement on dollar amounts and percentages, the two parties appear to remain essentially where they were four weeks ago on the basics. – Chicago Tribune
Canadian Indigenous Music Awards Show Disrupted Over Charges Of Cultural Appropriation
Several Inuit singers quit the awards, accusing a Cree singer of appropriating Inuit culture. “Respect for different traditions shouldn’t be impediment to cultural exchanges. That’s how cultures stay vibrant. But there’s a huge difference between sharing and stealing.” – The Guardian
Chicago Symphony Musicians Reject Management’s ‘Last, Best And Final Offer’
“According to the musicians’ statement, the offer from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association would ‘freeze the pension plan at its current level today, thereby prohibiting new hires from joining and denying nearly 2/3 of the orchestra currently in the pension plan any guarantee to increase their retirement benefit, even if they don’t retire for another 20 years.'” – Chicago Tribune
Orchestra Violinist Collapses, Dies Onstage Mid-Concert
“The Symphony of Southeast Texas violinist Yu Zhao Gu, 60, died of a heart attack that struck during the symphony’s Saturday evening performance while sitting beside his wife and stand partner, Ying Zhao, at the Julie Rogers Theatre in Beaumont.” – Beaumont (Tex.) Enterprise
Nashville Symphony Hires First African-American Principal In 50 Years
Titus Underwood has been acting principal oboe for more than a year and has just been awarded the position permanently. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and The Juilliard School, he was previously associate principal oboe of the Utah Symphony. – Nashville Public Radio
The New Faces Of Classical Music?
Many of the best young players coming out of music conservatories aren’t headed for orchestra jobs (there aren’t many of those). Instead they’re forming ensembles with hip names, and exploring music of our time. – San Francisco Classical Voice
The Music Genre Wars: Does It Matter How You Label It?
In the 1920s, with the creation of the record industry that followed the development of recording technology and the pre-Depression economic boom, genre began to shift from function to demographics of consumption. Genre became, in music industry parlance, format: defined by who was buying and listening to the record. Immediately, this demographic slotting took on explicitly racial dimensions. – Pacific Standard