Category: music

The chief executive of Scottish Opera says that his company will have to endure “fundamental” changes in size, shape and output” because of funding caps by the government. “One authoritative insider last night suggested that the potential job losses in the ‘difficult transition’ at Scottish Opera could be as much as 80 from its current staff of around 200.”

Amazon.com is being investigated by the British Phonographic Industry for selling cheap CD’s acquired outside the UK. “The BPI said it was questioning as routine whether Amazon was selling CDs obtained outside the European Economic Area, contravening UK law.”

“In a move unprecedented among full-time American orchestras, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra is eliminating the position of music director and replacing it with a handful of ‘artistic partners’ of international renown. Among the first batch of partners are superstar violinist Joshua Bell and Italian conductor Roberto Abbado.” The decision to overhaul the SPCO’s business model comes in the wake of a controversial contract, signed last summer, which cut the SPCO musicians’ salaries by more than 20%, but also gave them an unprecedented leadership role in the organization. Orchestras around the country will be watching the new St. Paul model closely.

The Royal College of Music is one of London’s most venerable institutions. But its students and faculty are in an uproar over cuts at the school. “Nineteen salaried staff have been “invited” to reapply for their jobs. The idea is to cut the number of positions, thus saving money, and to weed out those staffers who might undermine the college’s attempts to score high in the next research-rating round. Those who aren’t reappointed will be offered teaching on an hourly rate or redundancy. The students are said to be “up in arms about their favourite teachers being kicked into touch”.”

“Three physicists report in Nature today that they tuned into opera and found a perfectly good reason for not being able to hear the words: the louder the song, the greater the resonance frequency of the vocal tract and the more difficult it is to hear a soprano’s vowels.”

Ann Arbor, Michigan just happens to be home to one of America’s great concert halls, and after nearly two years of construction, Hill Auditorium will unveil its $38.6 million renovation later this month. “The restoration is the first face-lift for the four-story red brick auditorium since it was completed in 1913. Designed by the famous Detroit architect Albert Kahn, Hill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.” Hill is a regular stop for international orchestras touring the U.S., and is renowned for both its architecture and acoustics.

The Gaza Music Institute, in the Israeli-occupied territory of the Gaza Strip, was once a hub of the community, a place where Palestinians of all ages and interests could come to learn, practice, and perform just about any type of music, from traditional regional folk instrumentals to symphonic music. But today, with the Intifada raging, and Israeli restrictions of Palestinian residents growing ever more severe, the Institute has been hit hard. It is down to eight students, and the director is keeping the school running with money out of his own pocket. “Music has many lovers in Palestinian society,” he says, “but unfortunately the search for food has become the priority at this point in time.”

On the list of American orchestras badly hurt by the economic downturn, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is near the top. But Lawrence Tamburri, a Pittsburgh native and the PSO’s new executive director, is eager to turn the organization around, and he believes it can be done without the sort of draconian cuts to the artistic side of the ledger to which some troubled orchestras have resorted. “Tamburri’s perspective on the recent financial problems afflicting virtually all American orchestras is refreshingly devoid of hysteria,” and he points out that the industry has weathered similar storms in the past.

The chairman of the Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario) Symphony Orchestra has stepped down following a wave of protest over the recent dismissal of the orchestra’s principal conductor. However, a group of donors which had gathered 500 signatures opposing Martin Fischer-Dieskau’s dismissal, and had called for the entire board of directors to resign, is still angry, saying that the resignation of one man is unlikely to convince the board to reverse its decision. Most of the frustration seems to stem from the board’s unwillingness even to explain the reasons for Fischer-Dieskau’s dismissal.

Andante records the prominent classical musicians who died during 2003.