Category: music

“The Detroit Symphony Orchestra has sued the contractors that installed seats last year which were later removed because they were defective and uncomfortable. The lawsuit seeks at least $1.6 million because, the orchestra claims, Modern Door and Equipment Sales and its subcontractor, American Premier Seating, failed to fulfill their contract to install 1,800 seats, putting in only 500.”

When the Florida Philharmonic filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month, most of its board members, musicians, and managers threw up their hands, passed the buck to each other, and mourned the demise of the region’s only large orchestra. But two members of the Philharmonic’s chorus are refusing to let the Florida Phil slip away, and have raised $900,000 in an effort to get the organization back into workable fiscal shape. Support for the effort has been slow to come from musicians worried about their contracts, but the choruspeople now seem to have the organization behind them, and hope to raise $2 million by this Friday.

“It is hard not to escape the impression that pop is developing a bad attitude.” But it is a bad-attitude facade fronting for “big-budget, marketing-led operations put together by management, production and songwriting teams. In other words, this is just mainstream manufactured pop in a less parent-friendly guise. After a decade of squeaky-clean boy bands and girls-next-door, pop has rediscovered the joys of rebellion.”

The search for a new managing director of the Pittsburgh Symphony is attracting the kind of attention usually reserved for the hiring of a music director. That’s what happens when an orchestra’s major challenges seem to be managerial rather than artistic. “Looming large over the search is the PSO’s $800,000 cash shortfall this year and the effort to stave off a $2.5 million structural deficit next year, not to mention the hiring of a replacement for outgoing music director Mariss Jansons.”

What are the “greatest” 100 songs of the past 25 years? VH1 has made a list…

The new Christian music doesn’t conform to a particular style. “A new crop of bands on Christian-owned labels, many playing Christian-owned clubs, has appeared. Unlike their forebears, who made weak imitations of already-popular music as a way to spread the Gospel, these new bands are making original, high-quality music and attracting fans for their sound, not their message. The Christian-rock underground is now as much a steppingstone to mainstream success as any other music scene.”

The Louisville Orchestra files for bankruptcy. “Employees are still owed their May 30 paychecks and a total of $1.3 million in loans is past due. The orchestra also owes approximately $250,000 to vendors.”

A Korean pianist has turned down the third prize he was awarded at this year’s Queen Elisabeth Music Competition in Brussels because “he felt his performances throughout the month-long competition were demonstrably better than those given by the second-place winner, Shen Wen-Yu, 16, from China. Severin von Eckardstein, 25, from Germany, won first prize.”

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has added some new categories for next year’s Grammys, including an award for best rap song. “The rap arena continues to be strong and growing. There are more releases, more artists, more airplay and sales, and more importantly, there’s more creativity in that area.’ In addition, awards in the world music field have been doubled: Trophies will now go to best traditional world music album and best contemporary world music album.”

The St. Louis Symphony sold a record number of tickets this season, and for the first time box office exceeded $4 million. Still, “even with the strong ticket sales last season, the symphony will show an operating loss for fiscal 2003 of $1.6 million, as predicted by the long-term financial restructuring plan of the symphony. Ticket revenue makes up just 35 percent of the symphony’s expenses, with annual giving contributing 25 percent and concession and miscellaneous revenue accounting for 15 percent.”