Category: music

All this shouting by recording companies about getting paid and protecting the rights of the artists. Somehow, writes Lawrence Lessig, the voices of independent musicians have been lost. Take the band Wilco, which dumped its label, went to the net, and found themselves more popular (and profitable) than they had ever been…

The San Francisco Opera has named David Gockley, the longtime head of Houston Grand Opera, as its sixth general director. He will succeed Pamela Rosenberg in January, six months earlier than planned.

San Francisco Opera’s new director has some big challenges to solve. But David Gockley is looking outside the box: “In Houston, we’ve done a lot of outdoor performances and performed in smaller suburban theaters. One of the first things I want to do here is take an inventory of all the performance spaces in the Bay Area, both outdoor and indoor. I want to try to come up with a formula that would access those audiences and give them a taste that would make them want to come downtown, because this is where it really happens.”

Melbourne’s Orchestra Victoria performs in the State Theatre. But its real griowth has been for free concerts outside the theatre. “This year, it expects to increase its audiences at free concerts in regional centres by 10,000, to more than 70,000, a jump of more than 16 per cent. Orchestra Victoria is expanding its pioneering scheme of free concerts supported by charities and philanthropic bodies in regional centres and suburban Melbourne. Now into its fourth year, the community program raised $1.4 million last year from Melbourne-based organisations.

Scottish composer James MacMillan has raised a furor over his comments about music last week: “One can’t listen to classical music and especially serious contemporary classical music with the ears – that rather distracted mode of listening – that one uses for other forms of musical styles. The orthodox and politically correct view that there is no meaningful difference between high and low art, I think, must be challenged anew.”

“Popular music” is no longer a homogenised entity: the very narrow band of commercial pop that is sufficiently ubiquitous to register with national newspaper leader writers is the tip of the iceberg. There has been a great rise in interest in underground, non-commercial music (helped by the availability of information and music files on the internet). Many people are hungry for anything that sounds a bit different, uses sound in a new way and sets itself apart from the naked consumerism of commercial pop.

“The Hit Factory, which opened 37 years ago, has played host to some of the biggest stars in music, including Paul Simon, Madonna and David Bowie. However, the rise in digital recording has affected business at the studio, which is relocating to smaller premises in Miami.”

The Concert Companion, a handheld device designed to accompany orchestra concerts, is heading to the UK after undergoing several tests on audiences in the US. After a flurry of interest by US orchestra, the device has stalled there. Maybe it will find a better business model in Britain?

The Baltimore Symphony establishes a second home in the backyard of Washington DC’s National Symphony. “The orchestra is taking on additional costs to play at Strathmore. It is also establishing a second acoustical home, which risks compromising its sound, a characteristic shaped by the hall in which an ensemble performs night after night. And there is that fascinating subplot: will the center draw audiences away from the National Symphony?”

Should Melbourne get a new state opera company? The government commissioned a study to find out. “The consultant’s final report, handed to the Government shortly after Christmas, outlines five options. They range from increasing Opera Australia’s state government funding and asking it to perform 10 to 11 operas at the Arts Centre (up from the current seven) to setting up a new state opera company that would also perform at the Arts Centre. It is estimated the latter would cost $5 million to $7 million a year. Neither of these options is expected to be taken up by the Government. The option emerging as the most favoured is to fund a new smaller-scale company whose primary focus would be to create innovative new work pitched at a youngish audience. It is believed this would cost the Government up to $3 million a year.”