To be fair, the MacArthur “Genius Grant” winner only retired from academia. Perhaps that’s why he’s cheerfully working on a five-day opera, a 12-album set of a previous cycle of music, and overseeing his foundation and his label. – The New York Times
Category: music
A Classic Theatre Story, Missing Some Grit
Can you tell the story of Harlem’s Apollo Theater without being a booster? Nope, at least not in graphic novel form. “The remarkable institution is a microcosm of the world of black popular culture in all its highs and lows, achievements and setbacks — not to mention sustaining myths and necessary lies.” – NPR
How Verdi Took Care Of His Friends: A Retirement Home For Opera Singers
Using his own fortune, Verdi built the retirement home for opera singers and musicians, a neo-Gothic structure that opened in 1899. The composer died less than two years later, but he made sure the profits from his music copyrights kept the home running until the early 1960s, when they expired. Today guests pay a portion of their monthly pension to cover basic costs – food and lodging — while the rest comes from donations. – NPR
Edo De Waart Named San Diego Symphony’s First-Ever Principal Guest Conductor
The Dutch conductor, who is currently music director of the New Zealand Symphony and has held the same post with the symphony orchestras of Antwerp, San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Netherlands Radio, will conduct three to four weekly programs each season, beginning in 2019-2020. — Times of San Diego
That 17th-Century Viol That Alitalia Smashed Up Last Year Is Restored And Back In Action
The destruction wrought on Myrna Herzog’s 1661 Edward Lewis bass viola da gamba by the Italian airline during Herzog’s trip from Rio de Janeiro to Tel Aviv last January made headlines internationally. Fortunately, Alitalia readily agreed to pay for restoration, and after a year’s worth of work by luthier Shlomo Moyal, the instrument is repaired and ready for performance. — Classic FM (UK)
NY’s Prototype Festival Shows How Hard It Is To Reinvent Opera
Anne Midgette: “Most of them could be called opera, but most of them have little to do with what you might see in an opera house. Opera houses are looking for ways to connect with new audiences; the Prototype festival shows just how far they need to change the template to really try to do it.” – Washington Post
Opera Roles Are Classified By Voice Types. Also Gender Types. Is This A Problem?
“Imagine a soprano who has just changed her voice type from mezzo-soprano to soprano. She’s immediately at a disadvantage if she lists every role that she’s performed on her resume, because it will immediately cause the review panel to question the legitimacy of her soprano-ness. The next inevitable step is that they’ll question her ability to sing the role for which she’s currently auditioning. This isn’t a gender issue any longer, but rather an issue of the current classification system’s inability to handle change.” – NewMusicBox
Female Film Composers Are Even More Underrepresented Than Female Directors And Screenwriters
“A 2018 study … revealed that for the top 100 fictional films at the box office every year from 2007 to 2017, only 16 female composers were hired, compared with more than 1,200 men.” And yet, says composer Laura Karpman, a governor of the Motion Picture Academy, “The numbers are bleak, but the landscape isn’t. People are reaching out in a way that I’ve never seen it my whole career.” Reporter Tim Greiving meets a few of the women trying to break this particular glass ceiling. — The New York Times
NYC’s Defunct Gotham Chamber Opera Comes Back From The Dead (Sort Of)
“[GCO’s] founder, Neal Goren, is back in business — thanks to an unusual collaboration between his new company, Catapult Opera, and Peak Performances at Montclair State University, which will present four of Catapult’s productions.” — The New York Times
Music That Zigs While Others Are Zagging
One of the defining characteristics of today’s classical music is the ways in which it’s breaking the usual rules. Genre-less, as some call it. So you’re not shunned if you’re writing tunes when those around you stay atonal. Allan Kozinn listens and makes some recommendations. – San Francisco Classical Voice