“The strike — started on March 10 — is going into its fourth week, with no solution in sight. There is continued deadlock in negotiations for a new labor agreement over salaries and pension benefits. What’s worse, there are no active negotiating sessions, only a series of cancellations.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
Category: music
Constantine Orbelian Fired As General Director Of Armenia’s National Opera House
The Armenian-American maestro, a three-time Grammy nominee (he conducted Dmitri Hvorostovsky’s final album, Russia Cast Adrift), was named artistic director of the theater in Yerevan in 2016 and was given the additional job of general director the following year. The new culture minister dismissed him from the latter post, saying that it is against Armenian law for one person to hold both titles. Musicians and staff, who say Orbelian has raised standards there, are protesting. – Panaorama (Armenia)
The Music Stars Of Social Media
How are these young people, in their teens and young twenties, getting so much streaming play on Spotify? “These artists have virtually no media profile, no radio play, most don’t seem to have a record deal and they barely give interviews.” YouTube. YouTube. You. Tube. – The Guardian (UK)
Let’s Just Dump The Whole Idea Of Composer-As-Genius, Shall We?
Evan Williams: “The persistence of this label is unnecessary to appreciate music by these individuals, and that it is a dangerous myth that great art can only be the product of genius. Such a myth is not only harmful to those of us who write music — poisoning us with constant impostor syndrome and anxiety that our work will never be enough — but it has allowed musical culture to become ossified around the work of a select few composers — those worthy enough to be elevated to the status of genius.” – I Care If You Listen
Anne Midgette Explains Bel Canto
“I could tell you that bel canto operas tend to have dated plots, filled with romance-novel-ish retellings of history, and heroines who keep going mad at inopportune moments. Or I could tell you that bel canto can be intoxicating, and that just trying to find examples to play for you led me to hours of bingeing on old YouTube videos, grinning like an idiot. But I’m not sure that will help you, either. Bel canto, I realize, is a little bit like a drug: Descriptions tend to sound either clinical or loopily subjective.” – The Washington Post
Luis Biava, Longtime Philadelphia Orchestra Violinist (And Stand-In Conductor And All-Around Savior), Dead At 85
“Luis Biava joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1968 as a violinist and ended up staying more than three decades, but he never had a title that fully captured everything he meant to the ensemble and the organization. He was a respected conductor and, sitting among the first-stand players near the podium, was ready to be called upon to lead a concert at the last minute. He was an unofficial diplomat,” once defusing (in Spanish) a very tense labor dispute that broke during a tour rehearsal in Mexico City.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
A Generation Of Women Conductors Is Finally Breaking Glass Ceilings
In England, the US, and elsewhere, a big group of orchestras and opera houses is looking for music directors or chief conductors — and, for the first time, there’s a sizable group of female candidates being seriously considered, “not least, “writes Norman Lebrecht, “because the talent pool has finally exploded with candidates of outstanding communicative power.” – Standpoint
Hawai’i’s Last Monarch Was Also Its Most Important Composer
Queen Lili’uokalani steered her people through the difficult period of annexation and prevented a war — and she was also a highly trained musician who wrote some 200 songs (the most famous of them being “Aloha ‘Oe”) that became the foundation of modern Hawaiian music and a bulwark against the onslaught of mainland American culture. – Smithsonian Magazine
Bournemouth Symphony Started An Orchestra For Disabled People. A Year Later, Here’s What They’ve Learned
One of the aims of the ensemble is to show young disabled people that they can pursue a career in music. As percussion player Philip Howells said: “Don’t lost sight of who you want to be to begin with. When people say that you should be a butcher or a gymnast, just think to yourself ‘what do I want to be deep down?’, that’s my moral.” – ClassicFM
Berlin’s Staatsoper Struggles With Its Barenboim Issue
A person who thinks of Daniel Barenboim solely as an artist might be tempted to explain or excuse his behavior: as a result of the “Latin-American blood in my body” (his, rather offensive, words) or a tortured genius’s quest for perfection. As a manager, however, he has a clear responsibility toward his employees, both musicians and administrators. A good leader honors boundaries and takes setbacks in stride. Barenboim appears to struggle with both. – Van