Category: music

James Glicker’s tenure running the Baltimore Symphony lasted only 18 months, and it was filled with controversy. “Glicker said he had managed to increase revenues this season and to lower ticket prices, as well as raising average capacity at concerts to 70 percent from 60. The orchestra said subscriptions increased for the first time in 15 years. ‘I’m kind of a turnaround guy. That’s what I’ve been doing” since the late 1990’s’.”

Universal Music is releasing 100,000 music tracks digitally. They haven’t been available for years. “Records are normally deleted once they cease to sell in sufficient numbers to justify shelf space in stores. It is also not economical for firms to produce low-selling records. No such constraints exist on the net, and both record companies and Hollywood have recognised the advantages of digital content’s “long tail” – they can market a huge back catalogue even if they sell only in small quantities.”

The upstate New York-based Glimmerglass Opera will lose its artistic director this year when Paul Kellogg steps down from the position. Rather than replace him, the company has announced that general director Michael MacLeod will assume the duties of artistic director as well. “While MacLeod has no experience with an opera company, Glimmerglass emphasized in a press release that he had worked with such leading singers as Barbara Bonney, Ian Bostridge, Rodney Gilfrey, and Bryn Terfel while leading the City of London Festival”

Opera Carolina says that its former finance director embezzled nearly $50,000 from the company over the course of the 2004-05 season. Mary Lopes, who resigned from her position with the company last fall, is also accused of using a company credit card for personal expenses. “After an interim finance director took over last fall… the company discovered in mid-December that ‘the financial records were in disarray.'”

Denver’s new Ellie Caulkins Opera House opened last fall. But “because of the tight construction schedule for the Caulkins Opera House and the need to have it ready in time for the 2005 fall season, the paint was barely dry when the hall opened. The first significant tests of its acoustics came during public performances.” They’ve so far proven disappointing, so “tweaks” are being made.

The Philadelphia Orchestra is adding Vail, Colorado to its list of annual summer residencies. “The orchestra has struck a deal to become a resident orchestra at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival starting in 2007. The deal with the Vail festival, whose artistic director is flutist Eugenia Zukerman, runs three years. The orchestra will play six concerts each summer starting in early July.

Los Angeles Opera continues to expand. Next season the company will present 10 productions and 70 performances. “The aggregate number of performances, including the two recitals, is up from 61 in the current season, for an increase of nearly 25%. The total of 10 productions compares with eight this season.”

“The computer can go out on the internet and read a bunch of weblogs and record reviews and get a grasp on trends and buzz and hype and that sort of thing. At the same time, it also can listen to the music – do some signal processing to figure out stuff like dominant key and pitch and rhythm and structure. For record company executives, this raises the tantalising possibility of knowing in advance whether their latest pop act will hit the charts at a strong position. Hit prediction is possible.

Is it time for Ottawa’s National Arts Centre Orchestra to part ways with music director Pinchas Zukerman, who ditched the orchestra in mid-season? “At his best, Zukerman’s a wonderful violinist. We’ve occasionally heard him at his best, too, but, just as often, he just seems to phone in his performance, apparently bored by the music or the audience.”