Category: music

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra and the University of Minnesota have signed a deal to tie their programs together. It “includes a shared conductor who will lead several ensembles in the university’s School of Music, as well as join the SPCO staff. Beyond bringing orchestra members into closer contact with university students for hands-on training, the music school intends to develop courses and a doctoral degree program that addresses realistic and sometimes sobering career prospects for the next generation of professional musicians.”

The Tucson Symphony is proposing salary cuts, but the musicians so far aren’t convinced. “TSO Executive Director Susan Franano would face a 10 percent cut of her $82,712 annual salary. Music Director George Hanson, who is paid $92,000, could see an 8.5 percent to 10 percent reduction. Musicians for the 76-year-old orchestra, could face around a 5 percent cut.”

Independent bands are finding that internet “social networking” sites are building audiences for them. “Artists are using the site to build massive social networks and spread the word about upcoming shows and CD releases. Startup bands like My Chemical Romance have launched careers exclusively through MySpace, collecting more than 100,000 fans through the service.”

Promoters are anxious to produce concerts of music found in popular video games. A sold-out concert in Los Angeles this week proved there’s an enthusiastic audience…

“Many commentators have pointed out that the survival of the symphony is dependent on the vitality of the institution that has nurtured it, the symphony concert. This brings up another concern: How is that institution to survive if all that it offers are overplayed exercises in nostalgia? In other words, can a symphony concert succeed without a symphony? A pair of extraordinary concerts at Avery Fisher Hall by a visiting orchestra from Bamberg, Germany, argued persuasively that it could.”

The Philadelphia Orchestra is about to embark on a massive three-week tour of the Far East, and there’s little question that they’re going all out to impress the concertgoers of South Korea, Japan, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Superstar soloists Yo-Yo Ma and Lang Lang will be the featured attractions, and an exhausting set of three complete Mahler symphonies will form the backbone of the tour repertoire, as well as the core of a live-to-tape recording the orchestra intends to release after the tour from concert tapes taken in Tokyo. The cost of the tour, large even by major orchestra standards, is $3 million.

Chinese musicians are everywhere. “For the first time it’s the biggest supplier of pianists in the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which opens Friday at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall. Eight of the 35 contestants hail from the People’s Republic. This from a country that as recently as 30 years ago outlawed Western music.”

Chicago Lyric Opera had one of its strongest sweasons artistically. And it also managed to balance its budget for the 17th time in 18 years. “The season’s budget was $58.2 million. Ticket sales brought in $30,035,108, while the annual fund-raising drive reached a record $21.5 million. The company also reached its goal of adding $50 million in pledges to its endowment fund, which currently stands at about $50 million.”

“With classical music on the defensive, a new breed of maestro has emerged – confident enough to reinvent the past, communicative enough to appeal to a wider audience. But they still have one hurdle to overcome before they pass the test of maturity, and it’s a test 30-year-old Edward Gardner is acutely aware of.”

Two hundred singers entered the 2005 Concours Musical International de Montréal. Now it’s down to the finals. “The competition used to be a triumvirate of voice, violin and piano. But that’s all changed. Voice is undoubtedly the star of the event at the Centre Pierre Peladeau, where music fans mingle with voice teachers and coaches, as well as aspiring singers from the Conservatoire, McGill and the Atelier lyrique of Opéra de Montréal. ‘Voice is where it’s at. Piano and violin are important, don’t get me wrong, but everybody wants to know who the next great tenor or bass or mezzo is going to be’.”