Category: music

David Dubal is back on radio, spinning his musical comparisons. “While much of classical radio these days seems to consist of little more than DJs dispensing tuneful wallpaper, on any given Wednesday evening, “Reflections From the Keyboard” invites the listener to deepen his or her musical experience. “Where else, within a six-minute span, can you hear a movement of Schumann’s ‘Carnival’ played by Rachmaninoff, Cortot, Hess, Arrau, Godowsky and Michelangeli?”

“How can you possibly have your mind open to a brand new piece of music if the only music you’ll allow into your life is music that you already like?” That’s why Frank Oteri goes out of his way to collect music he despises…

For the first time, the First Night at the Proms will be telecast live in Trafalgar Square. “A big screen will be erected, beaming live footage from the concert at the Royal Albert Hall.”

The Metropolitan Opera is planning a reduced 90-minute version of Mozart’s “Magic Flute”. “The short version (the full version runs more than three hours with intermission) is a test of what could become a new way of attracting audiences, said Joseph Volpe, the opera house’s general manager. The performances, to take place in the winter holidays of the 2006-7 season, will be aimed at both children and adults.”

The Metropolitan Opera has new contracts with the unions that represent musicians, singers and dancers. “Both are five-year contracts that freeze wages for two years, then provide for a 4 percent increase in the third year and 2 percent increases in the fourth and fifth years.”

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s “Impromptu ticket program aims to fill empty seats while also giving time-starved music lovers the flexibility to catch a show on short notice. But rather than buying deeply discounted tickets online or through Web-based auctions, patrons would pay a monthly fee in exchange for getting the “best seat available” at the 2,056-seat Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center – seats that went unsold or were turned back to DSO at the last minute by subscribers.”

“The New Orleans Opera Association’s artistic director was fired this month — for reasons that remain unclear — by the president of the board of directors, only to be reinstated a few days later by a board that refused to accept its president’s action. Before Robert Lyall’s reinstatement this past week by an overwhelming vote, one angry board member sent a letter to her colleagues denouncing those responsible for Lyall’s dismissal as “nincompoops” and canceling a $135,000 pledge for the opera’s coming season.”

Tan Dun is writing a new opera for the Met. “One thing is certain: it will be unlike anything that has ever been seen or heard on the Metropolitan Opera stage – and will contain sounds that many have never before realized could be music. If this ambitious and experimental project succeeds, it could widen the possibilities of opera as a whole, expanding its entire future. It may also allow the Met, an august institution with an aging fan base, to expand its own future by reaching out to a significant new audience. And the process of the opera’s creation will shed light on the ideas and methods of one of the most uncommon composers at work today.”

Orchestras are declining? Don’t tell it to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which is continuing to ride a wave of popularity that got a major boost with the opening of the spectacular new Disney Hall. For the second year in a row, the Phil sold more than 97% of its available seats for the season, up from 60% capacity in its huge old home across the street.

When the San Jose Symphony folded back in 2002, a new orchestra, Symphony Silicon Valley, quickly rose in its place. But the new ensemble was nothing like the full-scale professional operation that the old one was, even though many of the musicians were the same. These days, though, the new orchestra seems to be coming of age, and a recent grant from the San Jose Symphony Foundation should go a long way towards solidifying Symphony Silicon Valley’s position in the community.