Category: music

American conductor James Conlon, who made his reputation in Europe and has recently become a big name in the U.S. as well, may be near the top of the Detroit Symphony’s music director wish list to succeed the outgoing Neeme Jarvi. Unfortunately, Conlon is so busy that he won’t have time to conduct in Detroit until June 2006, and he is also about to start two new jobs in America (as director of the Los Angeles Opera and of the Chicago Symphony’s summer festival at Ravinia.) Still, the DSO has invited Conlon to conduct its 2005-06 season finale.

The Chicago Symphony says that it has not offered Riccardo Muti the position of music director, despite cryptic statements from the conductor published in the Italian press this week. Muti said he was “considering an offer” from the CSO, but would not elaborate. The orchestra says that it has invited Muti to guest conduct for the first time in a quarter-century, but that is all.

“Deborah Card, president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, confirmed that she and others from the CSO met with Muti last weekend in New York while he was conducting the New York Philharmonic… Card declined to say whether she had extended a firm offer to Muti to become CSO music director when Barenboim steps down at the end of the 2005-06 season.”

Deposed La Scala music director Riccardo Muti has said in an interview that he is “considering an offer” from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which is currently searching for a new music director to replace Daniel Barenboim. Whether the offer is for Muti to be the next podium star in Chicago is not known, and since CSO management has made it clear that it wants Barenboim’s successor to spend significant time in the city engaging the community and raising money, tasks which Muti did not relish during his time as MD in Philadelphia, the Italian maestro might not seem to be a natural choice for Chicago. Muti refused to elaborate on exactly what the CSO offer might entail.

Hot on the heels of the Chicago Lyric Opera’s Ring cycle, the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh has announced plans to present a “streamlined” version of the massive Wagner cycle over the next two summers. The cut-down Ring, which was conceived by Jonathan Dove for the UK’s City of Birmingham Opera, features a chamber orchestra in the pit and minimal costumes and sets. Traditional Ring cycles cost millions to stage, and are considered out of the realm of possibility for all but the largest companies, but the Dove version is expected to cost no more than $250,000.

Terfel’s album Silent Noon – with Malcolm Martineau – has received nods in the album of the year and Ensemble/ Orchestral album of the year groups. He is also nominated for Male Artist of the Year, where he faces competition from Sir Colin Davis and Aled Jones.”

Serving as music director of an American orchestra, even a small one, is a multifaceted job, and these days, there seem to be almost as many fundraising responsibilities for U.S. conductors as musical ones. Still, the Binghamton (NY) Philharmonic may have a first on its hands with its latest moneymaking scheme: a $10 raffle, with the winner getting the services of music director Jose Luis Novo for an evening. No, Novo won’t be making any music in the winner’s home. He’ll just be cooking dinner.

Is it odd that Pierre Boulez has gone from being a subversive on the outside to a revered elder statesman? “His 80th birthday this year is being celebrated by Deutsche Grammophon with new recordings and reissues of his own works. He’s the only modernist, living or dead, whose music is widely available on a major label. Critics love that. Here he is, at the tippy-tippy top, and he hasn’t compromised. We will never see “The Pierre Boulez Tango Album.” We’re talking about a guy whose idea of slumming is hearing Richard Strauss’ symbolism-laden opera Die Frau ohne Schatten.”

Three years ago, the director of the Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado had to pitch hard with an idea to bring the New York Philharmonic for an annual summer residency. But the orchestra has been a huge hit, with sold-out concerts and overall festival attendance up 23 percent. So deciding to renew the relationship with the New York band was easy despite the $1 million annual cost.

The recording business is hurting. “This crucial arm of the serious music industry is not so much in a state of flux as complete turmoil. Technological advances, corporate monoliths and charming (and sometimes wily) cottage industries are all part of a simmering broth of conflicting issues, the outcome of which is, frankly, anybody’s guess. At the moment, the only clear winner is the consumer, offered the widest possible range of attractive offerings at often irresistible prices, but whether there is any prospect of that continuing indefinitely is just one more of those unanswerable questions.”