Category: music

In a year when orchestra negotiations in many American cities have turned quite publicly ugly, the New York Philharmonic’s new deal was inked with a minimum of acrimony. The contract is also a departure from the recent trend of major cutbacks and artistic compromises that have plagued some ensembles, and though the NY Phil musicians will lose their place as the highest-paid ensemble in the country, they will take no wage or benefit cuts, and are hopeful that their deal will set a precedent for other groups.

Talk with a composer these days, and you likely won’t have to dig very deep to find some serious bitterness over the direction of the classical music industry. Orchestras are deathly afraid of driving away audiences with difficult contemporary works, record labels are only interested in pop-crossover junk, and the spectre of serialism still makes most listeners wary of anything new. Still, with obscurity comes freedom, and “a lot of the dross around composing and what it means has been cut away and people are certainly expressing their hearts more.”

As conductors go, Raymond Leppard is a realist, and he is eager to spread the gospel of performance within an appropriate scale to smaller orchestras across America. For instance, why would an orchestra with 65 musicians ever attempt to mount performances of Mahler symphonies and Strauss tone poems intended for orchestras of 100, when there is an endless supply of music (Mozart, Haydn, etc.) specifically intended for the smaller-sized ensemble? And while new music is all well and good in theory, Leppard stresses that “when you’re so busy chasing notes in a 20th-century score, you can’t pay attention to your neighbors.”

The old European idea of the intellectual salon has combined with the modern concept of marketing to the multitasking generation to create a wildly successful concert series in Toronto. The Off Centre Music Series, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, offers prelude concerts, guest lecturers, social interaction, top-notch pastries, and of course, the main event, presented less as a formal concert than as a gathering of friends around a common love of music.

The Delaware Symphony is not an ensemble most people would think of as cutting edge, but a new marketing technique is being pioneered in Wilmington which larger orchestras probably should have thought of years ago. “Instead of the traditional orchestra pamphlet simply listing programs and prices, which is often geared toward listeners who already know what they want, the Delaware Symphony’s “Guidebook” takes potential ticket buyers gently by the ear and leads them through the season’s repertoire.” The season brochure is accompanied by a 30-minute CD which features musical samples, and the orchestra’s music director talking about the music.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is hoping to fit itself into the busy lives of modern professionals with a new series of concerts aimed at multitasking, sleep-deprived workaholics. The concerts will begin quite early in the evening, and will run no more than 90 minutes, with no intermission. Gone will be the traditional orchestral formalwear, and a host will guide the audience through the program. Another new series will focus on film music, with the CSO providing live accompaniment to a Charlie Chaplin film projected above the stage. It’s all about attracting that elusive new audience that has become the Holy Grail for every American orchestra.

They’re ubiquitous now, but operatic supertitles are actually only 20 years old, and it’s easy to forget how such a simple invention changed the face of the entire form. Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company was the first to try the idea back in 1983, and the practice spread quickly despite the objections of purists, making even the completely uninitiated able to follow the often convoluted plots unfolding on stage. But a technology that most operagoers take for granted now is far more complicated and accident-prone than most of us realize, and it was only fairly recently that supertitles entered the computer age.

This election year has focused the entertainment industry like nothing since the Vietnam era, and after decades of staying out of such debates, pop musicians have penned a stunning number of protest songs and partisan anthems. From classic rocker John Fogerty to blues man Keb’ ‘Mo to a metal band called Lamb of God, everyone in the music biz seems to be getting political, and a lot of what’s out there is actually good music.

The musicians of the New York Philharmonic have agreed to a new three-year contract, ending the speculation over which of the largest American orchestras would settle first. The new deal, which is expected to set the pace for bargaining at the other major orchestras, calls for weekly salary increases which will eventually raise the minimum weekly scale to $2,180, and improvements to the musicians’ benefit package.

The management of the San Francisco Symphony and the union representing the professional members of the orchestra’s chorus have agreed to mediation in an effort to avoid a work stoppage which could have begun this coming week.