Category: music

“Many casual ticket buyers assume, logically enough, that all classical concerts at Carnegie Hall are in fact Carnegie Hall classical concerts. Not so simple. In fact, two completely different species of events take place inside the same building, even though, as in nature, one species sometimes mimics the other to gain advantage in a competitive cultural ecosystem.”

Striking orchestras put conductors in a difficult position – the guy on the podium has a lot more in common with the musicians than the managers, but as the face of the organization, he can’t really afford to take sides. Traditionally, conductors stay out of labor disputes altogether, lest they burn bridges on either side. So when the striking musicians in Montreal placed a call to conductor William Henry Curry and asked him to lead them in a free concert to build community support for their cause, Curry had to think long and hard. But he accepted, even though he knew full well that his participation would likely cost him any chance of an official guest conducting invitation in the future.

Music retailers are turning to sophisticated computer analysis of music to try to recommend music to consumers. “The listeners classify hundreds of characteristics about each song, including beat, melody, lyrics, tonal palette and dynamics, then plug the data into a music recommendation engine — software designed to find songs that share similar traits.”

Russia’s Alexander Kobrin, 25, has won the gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The silver medal went to Joyce Yang, 19, of South Korea. Sa Chen, 25, of China took third place. “Each medalist wins $20,000 in cash, three years of concert tours and career management and the opportunity to record an album. Kobrin also will perform internationally.”

Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä has signed a four-year contract extension with the Minnesota Orchestra, which will keep him in Minneapolis through the 2010-11 season. In his two years as music director, Vänskä has considerably expanded the orchestra’s national and international reputation, leading it on a high-profile tour of Europe and embarking on a project to record the complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies. Vänskä’s name has recently been popping up on the wish lists of other top orchestras in more glamorous cities, which spurred the Minnesota management to pursue the extension.

The LA County Museum of Art is dropping the residencies of two of LA’s most important contemporary music groups. The California EAR Unit and Xtet — as well the annual Rosalinde Gilbert Concerts, which cover a broader repertory, are being cut loose. “We’re going to concentrate on programs that enhance the core mission of an art museum, which is to present the visual arts to the public.”

Why did the adventurous orchestra Eos fold after 10 years? Conductor Jonathan Sheffer ponders the question: “Ironically, Eos’s decline during the past year happened against the backdrop of the rise of Red {an orchestra} in Cleveland, now entering its fourth season. The opposite trajectory of these two groups perfectly manifested all that was problematic with Eos, and all that is right with Red. With only my programming ideas in common, Red and Eos, each in its own way, embody all the challenges and rewards facing the smaller, more iconoclastic arts groups in America.”

What is it with our enduring fascination with Mozart? “As we near the 250th anniversary of his birth, Mozart still presides as the patron saint of modern child prodigies—and as a talismanic figure in the more mundane realm of bound-for-the-top organization kids, too.”

Contemporary music remains a tough sell in most concert halls, so when flutist Claire Chase decided to found her own ensemble specializing in the stuff, she knew she’d better be ready to take her performances outside traditional “classical” spaces. Three years later, Chase’s Chicago-based International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a bona fide cult hit, performing everywhere from chamber music venues to seedy dive bars, and thriving on a combination of youthful energy (nearly all the Icicles, as members of the group are known, are under 30) and serious artistry.

Most music directors who last more than ten years with a single orchestra don’t wind up leaving under the happiest of circumstances (Seiji Ozawa in Boston and Charles Dutoit in Montreal come to mind,) but as Neeme Järvi prepares to depart the Detroit Symphony after 15 years at the helm, there seems to be no question that the DSO and its home city have been witness to one of the great musical partnerships of the era. “The Estonian-born conductor and this mid-American orchestra have evolved into a championship team. They have changed together, flowered together, triumphed together. Especially over the last half-dozen seasons, they have turned what once were highlights into a lofty new standard of excellence at Orchestra Hall.”