The Composer’s music moves people, and he is not characterized in the book as necessarily a bad person; he meets with every fan who stays after the concert to chat with him, and he knows his work provides comfort to people going through the hard years after September 11. And his CDs are his own compositions. It’s just that if you were to pay to see a performance by the Composer’s ensemble, it might not necessarily be a “live” rendition by the musicians on the stage in front of you. – New York Magazine
Category: music
Chicago Opera Theatre’s New Director: Chicago To Lead New Opera Revolution
Ashley Magnus: “Right now, we’re in a golden era of American opera. Significantly more operas have been written in the US between 1997 and the present than in the 100 years prior. I would love for people to take risks and support new opera the way that they support exciting new projects in other art forms.” – WFMT
The Naked Pharaoh Speaks! Anthony Roth Costanzo On How Playing Philip Glass’s Akhnaten Has Changed Him
“In fact I have the show to thank for discovering electrical muscle stimulation (EMS), which uses electric current to amplify your workout and actually builds muscles much faster than I could on my own. I liked it so much that I gathered investors and started one of the first EMS companies in America (seriously).” – The Guardian
See What The Sydney Opera House Would Have Looked Like If They’d Chosen A Different Architect
The Herald offers visualizations, in situ on the tiny peninsula in Sydney Harbor, of half a dozen of the runners-up in the competition to design what was meant to be Australia’s new national opera house. (Personally, we think the panel made the right choice.) – Sydney Morning Herald
Chicago Symphony Musicians Vote To Authorize Strike
“Chicago Symphony Orchestra musicians voted on Wednesday evening to authorize a strike that would begin on March 10, if contract negotiations are not resolved. … At issue are pension, health care and salary.” – Chicago Tribune
Boston Symphony And Principal Flute Elizabeth Rowe Settle Equal-Pay Lawsuit
“A landmark pay-discrimination lawsuit filed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s star flutist, Elizabeth Rowe, has been settled out of court after successful mediation between the two sides. ‘While the details of the resolution are confidential, all those involved in the process are satisfied with the result,’ according to a joint statement from the BSO and Rowe issued by the orchestra Thursday afternoon.” – Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, MA)
This Man Could Have Been The Great American Impressionist Composer
“When composers die prematurely, it’s tempting to imagine what they might have produced had they lived to a riper age. … Consider, for example, the life of Charles Tomlinson Griffes, a man largely — and unjustly — forgotten by the general public today.” – The American Scholar
Could Daniel Harding Finally Hit It Big In The US?
The English conductor, who started out as a wunderkind protégé of Simon Rattle in Birmingham, has a solid career in Europe, but he had a difficult time when he debuted with the big American orchestras in the ’00s. Now 43, he’s in the States leading the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on its tour. Can he find success here? Zachary Woolfe talks to Harding, and to such observers as Rattle and Deborah Borda. – The New York Times
Abridge Too Far — Is It Ever Okay To Perform An Opera Cut Down By Half Or More?
Taking as a jumping-off point an 80-minute Idomeneo in Pittsburgh last month, Jeremy Reynolds and several opera professionals discuss whether and when cutting an opera to half its length or less is a good way to serve 21st-century audiences. (“Never in Verdi, of course, no one’s that barbaric.”) – San Francisco Classical Voice
Suddenly, Kalamazoo Symphony’s CEO Is Gone
“[The orchestra] announced on Tuesday, February 12, that CEO Peter Gistelinck is no longer there but didn’t give a reason for his departure.” Gistelinck came to Michigan in 2014 after eight years as chief executive of the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. – WMUK (Kalamazoo, MI)