Category: music

The idea of a woman conducting an orchestra is no longer revolutionary by any stretch, but there still has never been a woman who has approached “major” status in the profession. Generally, the top candidates to bust through the glass ceiling are said to be those who promote themselves most skillfully, but the quiet competence and determination of Anne Manson makes her an attractive candidate as well. In fact, in a profession still plagued by sexist notions of women’s abilities, Manson is a calm and non-threatening rebuttal. Her unwillingness to be cutthroat may hurt her career in the short term, but in the long run, it may just be what vaults her to stardom.

When the Minnesota Orchestra appointed Osmo Vänskä as its new music director, there were approving nods from orchestras around the world, and many murmurs to the effect that the famously stoic and hard-working Finn might just nudge the Minneapolis-based ensemble closer to the top of the American orchestral heap. But no one in Minnesota seems to be interested in nudging. In fact, in only Vänskä’s first season, the orchestra is recording a complete Beethoven cycle, paying a visit to New York’s famously skeptical critics, and embarking on an ambitious 20-day tour of European musical capitals. Andrew Clark sees a distinct strategy in play: “a concerted push for promotion to the orchestral super league.”

Jazz is perhaps the ultimate “melting pot” style of music. It is a serious and difficult genre, steeped in intellectual tradition, and yet it often seems to absorb the best (and, some would say, worst) of popular culture in order to stay fresh and evolve. This mixed bag of musical ideas makes for a great many divisions in the jazz community, and the annual conference of the International Association of Jazz Education functions simultaneously as a way for gripes to be aired, and for the past, present, and future of the genre to be documented and discussed.

It didn’t take long for the vultures to descend in South Florida, where the now-defunct Florida Philharmonic auctioned off its salable assets yesterday, with many items going for far less than their actual value. When the final gavel banged, the Phil had raised only $170,000 from the sale of instruments, music stands, and other musical detritus.

The Florida Philharmonic’s bankruptcy auction marked the final humiliation for an orchestra which, for any number of reasons, never found its niche. In fact, orchestras across the Sunshine State are in similarly dire straits, and many observers fear that Florida is losing whatever tenuous commitment it once had to creating a respectable arts scene as a result.

Months after losing its executive director to Pittsburgh, the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra has plucked its next chief executive from Pennsylvania’s other major city. 40-year-old Simon Woods, currently the artistic operations manager of the Philadelphia Orchestra, will take over the business operations of the NJSO in March. The announcement completes the transition to a new management team in Newark, where the NJSO recently announced the appointment of Neeme Järvi as its next music director.

Now that the Los Angeles Opera has its performance space all to itself, the company is determined to set about revitalizing the genre for a new generation of Angelenos. “While opera may be a tough sell in the shadow of the international movie factory, tapping the city’s entertainment industry is an obvious move,” and artistic director Placido Domingo hasn’t been shy about his desire to give LA Opera’s productions a touch of Hollywood glitz if it will bring in the crowds.

This fall, the Spanish city of Seville will stage an outdoor production of Bizet’s Carmen. You opera buffs already see where this is going: the famous opera is set in Seville, and the city plans to stage it in the actual locations called for in the libretto, with the entire production (and the audience, naturally) picking itself up and changing locations between acts. The ambitious project is the feature attraction of the First Seville International Music Festival, which will also boast appearances by cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the New York Philharmonic.

With the major record labels continuing to downsize or eliminate their classical imprints, an ever-increasing number of orchestras have been taking their recording business in-house. Now, violinist Gil Shaham, dumped two years ago by Deutsche Grammophon in favor of the more photogenic Hilary Hahn, has started releasing independent albums as well, and the movement towards classical independence very likely represents the future of classical recording. As Shaham puts it, “I think of a chef opening his own restaurant. You may take on the risk, but with risk comes an unbelieveable freedom — you can put as much garlic in the hummus as you like.”

The New York City Department of Education has reached an agreement with Harlem Boys’ Choir founder Walter J. Turnbull, under which Turnbull will be allowed to continue as artistic director with the ensemble, despite charges that he covered up an incident of child molestation by an employee. Turnbull will resign as the choir’s chief executive, but his presence at the helm of the choir’s artistic operations “was deemed essential for the survival of the world-renowned singing group.”