Category: music

“German archaeologists revealed yesterday that they had discovered one of the world’s oldest musical instruments, a 35,000-year-old flute carved from the tusk of a now-extinct woolly mammoth. The flute was dug up in a cave in the Swabian mountains in south-western Germany, and pieced back together again from 31 fragments.”

BBC3 Radio plans to broadcast every note Beethoven wrote. “The schedules will be cleared for a week in June, the Radio 3 airwaves will be unsullied by music by any other composer, and listeners will be treated to such little-known delights as Beethoven’s 100 or so settings of Scottish, Irish and Welsh folksongs. Over the six days and nights some of Beethoven’s works will even be heard twice. ‘There are about 100 hours of Beethoven’s music, but we are devoting 136 hours to him’.”

Matthew Epstein, for 24 years associated with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (the last six as artistic director), won’t have his contract renewed at the end of this season. “While few dispute Epstein’s gifts, his blunt manner can ruffle feathers. His lusty “bravos” regularly punctuate Lyric’s performances, but he can make his displeasure known with equal force. “He’s a genius,” said one opera world insider, “but he’s an abrasive genius.”

With no new symphony orchestra in sight, some former members of the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic have banded together to form the Renaissance Chamber Orchestra, with the aim of filling the classical void while maintaining enough organizational flexibility to stay afloat in an area that has not shown a great deal of interest in the genre. The Fort Lauderdale-based group is showing early signs of success, and is already being booked for concert dates as far north as Georgia.

The new Scottish minister of culture says she supports helping the beleaguered Scottish Opera. But as to what exactly that help might be, she’s vague. Still, she has attended the company’s first two operas of the season and claims to love opera…

Norman Lebrecht was asked recently to appear on the Metropolitan Opera broadcast as a commentator. Then he was disinvited. “The Met’s curse is unlikely to blight my life, as it did the careers of many artists. My only surprise was that it hadn’t happened before. In a quarter of a century of reporting musical affairs and commenting on them polemically, I have never been censored. I have been threatened with legal writs and, once, with a fist in my face, but no arts organisation until now has ever felt it necessary to shut me up.”

A demonstration of the “virtual orchestra” by the Brooklyn Opera was canceled at CAMI Hall in New York Tuesday after CAMI withdrew use of the hall. The New York musicians’ union, which is bitterly opposed to the use of the machine to replace live musicians, had planned protests outside CAMI Hall.

Chicago Lyric Opera has decided not to renew artistic director Matthew Epstein’s contract. General director William Mason: “Matthew and I have enjoyed an excellent relationship for many years, but our visions for the company diverged. I thank him for his many valuable contributions to Lyric and wish him the best with his future endeavors.”

The Phoenix Symphony has chosen Michael Christie, a 30-year-old American, as its new music director. Christie has been artistic director of the Queensland Orchestra in Brisbane, Australia for three years. He succeeds German-born maestro Hermann Michael, who retired last year at age 66 after seven years with the symphony.

The Chicago Symphony commemorates 100 years in its home at Orchestra Hall tonight. “In 1903, CSO trustee Daniel Burnham designed Orchestra Hall, an eight-story building of brick and limestone; the building was built for $750,000 over seven months the following year.”