Category: music

The Tulsa Philharmonic folded in 2002. Now there are plans for a Tulsa Symphony. “The plans include hiring 60 to 70 musicians. Former members of the defunct Tulsa Philharmonic are being contacted first. If positions cannot be filled that way, auditions will be held. Unusually, the musicians will be responsible for all aspects of governance, including marketing and fundraising. The orchestra will have a staff, but musicians will be expected to chip in and help with day-to-day operations.”

“Musically speaking, the point where pop and classical meet is a no-man’s-land of melodramatic orchestration and trite melody: Il Divo, in other words. Their music is neither classical nor pop but a sort of easy-listening hybrid, and listening to it I’m painfully reminded of the gushy power ballads my Brazilian neighbours are fond of playing. Perhaps this is the true significance of popera, in the UK.”

“A French government crackdown on digital piracy backfired Thursday as lawmakers rebelled by endorsing amendments to legalize the online sharing of music and movies instead of punishing it.”

Pinchas Zukerman’s abrupt decision to skip out on the second half of the sesaon with his National Arts Center Orchestra is puzzling. “During the 5½ months he won’t be performing with the NACO, Zukerman is booked for dozens of guest appearances with 14 orchestras on three continents. In sum, Zukerman is skipping out of his salaried gig, but keeping all the freelance work.” Doesn’t sound like a man “taking a sabbatical”…

“According to Nielsen SoundScan, the information system that tracks sales of music and music video products throughout the United States and Canada, sales of music CDs in the States are down almost 7 percent from last year. Album sales in 2004 totaled 480.6 million; sales through late October of this year reached 446.9 million. Meanwhile, legal digital downloading shows no signs of slowing down. Nielsen reported digital sales in 2004 of 101 million. Spurred by the iPod revolution, that number grew to 264.4 million this year. There are more than 230 online sites where consumers can buy music legally, up from 50 a year ago.”

“Put starkly: since the millennium, the orchestral economy has been under siege on five fronts. Public funding has been frozen or yoked to energy-sapping political impositions – social inclusion, multiculturalism, primary school education. Faith in corporate and private support turned fragile in the aftermath of the Enron and Alberto Vilar scandals when donors failed to deliver cast-iron pledges. Boxoffice has been volatile since 9/11. Any terror or bird flu threat and music lovers stay at home. The over-60s, mainstays of the subscription list, avoid going into poorly lit parts of town on dark winter nights. The young are deterred by formality and predictability.”

“As things stand now the cellist Clyde Shaw and his wife, the violist Doris Lederer, members of the Audubon String Quartet, will have to surrender their instruments to a court-appointed trustee in Roanoke, Va., at 4 p.m. tomorrow.” It’s not just that the instruments are valuable, there’s a special bond between the musicians and their instruments…

Martin Smith has resigned as chairman of the English National Opera. A campaign was mounted against him recently after a series of black eyes for the company. “It is clear my ability to continue helping ENO has been damaged by a campaign against me.”

The Cleveland Orchestra has received a $3 million grant from a local foundation to help the ensemble get back on its financial feet after running $10.3 million in deficits over the last two seasons. “At its annual meeting on November 15, the board of the Musical Arts Association, the orchestra’s parent organization, adopted a plan for financial recovery that includes plans to widen its base of support beyond Cleveland and to cut costs.” The Kulas Foundation offered the grant as a show of support for the recovery plan.

“Music lovers, critics and writers worry too much about acoustics. Truly bad acoustics – whether you hear too little or too much – cannot be ignored, but the imperfect world that lingers between the two extremes just has to be dealt with. The hall is too bright (Walt Disney in Los Angeles); the hall is dead (Royal Festival Hall in London). There are devils everywhere intent on spoiling your listening pleasure. Go to concerts, and hear people cough and cellphones ring. Stay at home, and your CD player skips or an ambulance goes by the door. Relax. Rise above it.”