Category: music

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra broke a gender barrier when it appointed Marin Alsop to be its next music director. “But management made another bit of history, this one unfortunate, because it hired Alsop over the unusually public objections of its own musicians. By brushing aside the opinion of its artists on the most important artistic decision an orchestra can make, management runs the risk of setting her up for failure. The move has likely stunted the growth of Alsop’s nascent rapport with the musicians, and has alerted listeners to a possibly troubled relationship – two things no orchestra ever wants to do, unless it is acting out of desperation.”

“The botched process by which Marin Alsop was hired earlier this week to be the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s next music director poses a cautionary tale for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which for more than a year has been conducting a search of its own to find a successor to Daniel Barenboim.”

“Tenor Plácido Domingo will create the role of Chilean Nobel Prize-winning poet Pablo Neruda in a new opera, ‘Il Postino,’ by Mexican composer Daniel Catán, Los Angeles Opera company artistic director Edgar Baitzel said Friday.” Inspired by the novel that became the Oscar-nominated 1995 movie “Il Postino,” the opera will premiere in Los Angeles in 2009.

“A male violinist’s discrimination suit against the New York Philharmonic underscores a little-noted phenomenon: women have come to dominate the violin sections of some of the nation’s leading orchestras, or at least hold their own. And their numbers among violin players have also helped raise their prominence as concertmasters, the most important orchestra jobs after the conductors. But men still predominate in orchestras, and the testosterone level rises with the string instrument’s size.”

“Italy’s venerable opera house, La Scala, will rotate through a roster of young conductors instead of replacing its former maestro, Riccardo Muti, who lead the company for 19 years. Stephane Lissner, La Scala’s new artistic director, says he’s in no hurry to replace Muti, who was ousted earlier this year along with top managers after an acrimonious strike by the theatre’s workers… Lissner said he would like to have a lineup of five or six conductors taking over the reigns for the next three years and mentioned the likes of Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Barenboim and Lorin Maazel.”

Classical music advocates are ecstatic over the news that the BBC’s free offer of downloadable Beethoven resulted in more downloads than any of the big pop stars currently topping the charts. But Andrew Dickson points out the flaw in that comparison: the Beethoven was free. Bono and The Beatles aren’t. The BBC is comparing a giveaway with purchased pop tracks. So the real lesson may be that people like free stuff.

England’s Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra has lost a court case it had hoped would allow it to qualify for an exemption from the UK’s Value-Added Tax (VAT, similar to a U.S. sales tax). The court ruled that, because the orchestra has a paid executive on its board, it is not exempt, and the VAT should be applied to its annual income. The case is part of a continuing effort by British charities and nonprofits to gain exemption from the tax – a similar case brought by the London Zoo was successful in the European Court of Justice, which overruled several UK courts on the matter. The Bournemouth Symphony plans to appeal, and eventually to take its case to the European court, if necessary.

The James Levine Era has begun at Tanglewood, which has implications for more than just the Boston Symphony and its fans. Tanglewood is also home to one of the world’s preeminent orchestral training programs for young musicians, a program traditionally overseen by the BSO music director. So far, the center’s administrators and observers have raved about the maestro’s effect on the program, but privately, many of the young musicians have been saying that Levine’s baton technique can be vague and indecipherable. Still, there’s no doubt that Levine is shaking up Tanglewood, and has taken to the role of head mentor.

A 29-year-old violinist is suing the New York Philharmonic for employment discrimination after being was dismissed from the ensemble in 2004. Anton Polezhayev claims that he received strong performance reviews but was denied tenure anyway because the orchestra prefers female violinists. The Philharmonic has no official comment on the lawsuit, but orchestra musicians have called Polezhayev’s charges absurd, saying that “he didn’t get tenure because he wasn’t doing his job.”

Drew McManus says that some critics, notably the Boston Globe‘s Richard Dyer, are not doing their research before sounding off on the Baltimore/Alsop controversy. “[Dyer] makes it seem as though the players are merely crying sour grapes at being outvoted in the search committee process… As the musician’s statement following the board’s vote on Tuesday said, they will work with any conductor who comes to Baltimore with equal skill and effort. They’re professionals, and that’s what pros do. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they aren’t allowed to have their own opinions and thoughts about the process their organization should use to determine their artistic leaders. To say otherwise is to reduce their contribution to the organization as a mere cog in a wheel, easily replaced and expendable.”