Category: music

In his first year with the Boston Symphony, there is no question that James Levine has made a distinct mark on the city’s musical life, garnering praise but also creating controversy with his devotion to complex and dissonant music. “Whether he can carry the audience along with him is still an open question, although one is tempted to say that if he can’t, nobody can. If he is driving some people out of the hall, there is a gratifying new component of young faces and prominent members of Boston’s musical community who didn’t make a habit of attending [former BSO director Seiji Ozawa’s] concerts.”

Jessye Norman has pulled out of the $2 million premiere of a new opera written with her in mind. “Composed by Richard Danielpour with a libretto by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison, “Margaret Garner” tells the story of a fugitive slave who kills her children rather than raise them in bondage. Norman was slated to sing all five performances as Cilla, the sympathetic mother-in-law to Margaret. Danielpour tailored the role for Norman’s dynamic voice and dignified carriage, and he said in an earlier Free Press interview that the moment the opera became real to him was the moment she agreed to participate.”

Riccardo Muti has resigned as musical director of Milan’s La Scala opera house, following months of bitter recriminations and behind-the-scenes power struggles. The announcement comes weeks after the musicians and staff of La Scala called publicly for the 63-year-old conductor to be ousted. Muti had been the face of Italy’s most famous opera house since 1986.

Placido Domingo has made his mark not only as a singer but as a developer of opera companies. In Washington and Los Angeles he has taken companies to new heights. “While other American opera companies, such as San Francisco and the Met, have struggled through financial or political turmoil recently, Domingo’s houses have sailed along relatively unscathed. “I am very happy and proud of my companies,” he said. “We are just behind the Met and Chicago in terms of artistic quality and importance. That’s not to say that we don’t have problems. One of the biggest challenges is raising money. It’s not easy; especially since Sept. 11, things have become more difficult. But we have been working miracles in comparison [with other U.S. houses], and we are in good shape.”

With Riccardo Muti officially out, the race to find a successor is on at La Scala. But there aren’t many realistic candidates. “Muti’s successor will almost certainly have to be Italian and will be hard to find. The front-runners are probably Daniele Gatti, who is both music director of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and of Bologna’s Teatro Comunale, and Riccardo Chailly, who has recently left his post in Amsterdam to become music director in Leipzig. He has not yet arrived in Germany, however, which might make him more easily available… Another name being mentioned as a successor is Antonio Pappano, music director of Covent Garden.” And then there is the contingent that actually wants to convince Muti’s predecessor, Claudio Abbado, to retake the reins.

“The crisis in Milan, which has been front-page news around Italy and become the talk of the classical music world, is rooted not only in the politicized, sometimes anarchic atmosphere of Italian opera houses but also in the complex personality of Mr. Muti… The question of what happens next for this celebrated maestro has both immediate and long-range implications not just in Europe but in America, too.” The New York Philharmonic, which publicly courted the maestro for its open music director position several years ago, may do so again when Loren Maazel steps down. And with the situation in Milan so volatile, what conductor of stature will be willing to step into Muti’s shoes?

This weekend, on the Allegheny River in Pittsburgh, “artist Michael Pestel performed improvisational tunes while seated at a baby grand piano, floating on a section of a dock going down the back channel of the [river]. The performance art, which lasted about an hour, was videotaped… for showing during an exhibition that will open Friday at Chatham College, where Pestel is an assocate professor.” The event was inspired by composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, who once wrote of dreaming such a scene. Was it particularly groundbreaking? A window to a new breed of performance and/or photographic art? No, not really. But you’ve gotta see this picture.

The Smithsonian is opening a new music download store to offer music from its collection as MP3’s. “Folkways will offer music that ranges from the earliest American folk songs to contemporary groups doing traditional music from Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. The music includes the songs of Woody Guthrie; the music of Mwenda Jean Bosco, the late guitar pioneer from Congo; the sound of the Turkish saz, a stringed instrument similar to a lute; playground songs by Suni Paz of Argentina; and the rich North Indian music of Kamalesh Maitra. Global Sound will charge 99 cents a song, which are available in MP3 format. The Smithsonian will pay royalties to the artists, as its recording label has done with records and CDs.”

Why did the Jersey Opera House close this year after only six years in operation? Some wonder if a loan negotiated when the house opened proved to be a crippling move. “There are questions over the terms on which the loan deal was granted – whether we launched the project with a total financial liability around its neck with the circumstances of the loan deal, whether it was a mistake to launch the scheme in the first place.”