Category: music

The San Francisco Symphony is visiting London, and Geoffrey Norris says thaat the orchestra under Michael Tilson Thomas is vibrant in the way that the City of Birmingham Orchestra was under Simon Rattle. Says Tilson Thomas: “What I felt was important was to give the audience a wider view of what contemporary music could be. I introduced contemporary music that was much more tonal, established some of the minimalist composers and figures from neo-classicism and neo-romanticism, and, now that we’re turning to Ligeti, Boulez, Murail, Scelsi and Berio, people are excited, amused, outraged by what they are hearing, but they have something to talk about.”

Critics are blasting the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, saying the organization is in deep trouble. But Simon Crookall, the orchestra’s executive director deflects all worries. “His robust attitude permeates every aspect of his analysis of the orchestra: denying players are deserting the RSNO; defending his choice of programmes in the new season; resisting the accusation that he is sacrificing any need for freshness, challenge, or innovation in the RSNO’s repertoire at the altar of the box office; and that the orchestra is being led inexorably down the road of commercialism.”

An Opera Colorado production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni has been ordered ‘toned down’ after a group of home-schooled students viewed a dress rehearsal, and complained about the overtly sexual nature of a scene in which “a woman – dressed in a one-piece bustier, fishnet stockings, garter belt and high heels – [cavorted] with a sometimes shirtless Don Giovanni.” Since the entire plot of this particular opera is based on the sexual exploits of its title character, one might have expected the company to tell the complainants to get bent. But the president of the company was apparently similarly shocked to discover that there is sex in opera, and ordered that the show be sanitized for audience protection.

The latest hot spot in the increasingly shaky world of American orchestras is Louisville, Kentucky, where musicians of the Louisville Orchestra are filing for unemployment (in tux and tails, no less) and refusing to attend rehearsals after the orchestra’s management missed payroll and demanded that a permanent pay cut be adopted immediately. The musicians insist that they were willing to play regardless of whether payroll was met, but balked when management refused to allow them leave to seek other employment while the crisis continues. The orchestra is looking at an estimated $800,000 deficit on a budget of $6.1 million for the current season.

“The Louisville Orchestra’s musicians have asked the National Labor Relations Board to cite the orchestra’s board for unfair labor practices. They allege that — by not paying them or giving them immediate permission to seek other jobs — orchestra management is illegally locking them out… Meanwhile, the orchestra’s cash position is becoming ever more desperate. As of yesterday afternoon, only $3,240 remained in its bank account.”

Strapped for cash, the Pittsburgh Symphony is trying to sell its home – Heiz Hall – for $40 million. “That amount would erase the symphony’s pending deficit and revive its falling endowment, which has dropped from $132 million in 2000 to $90 million. The plunge is due to the stock market and a 6.5 percent annual draw that goes into the symphony’s budget. The symphony, which has owned Heinz Hall for 32 years, wants the new owner to lease the structure back to it at a very nominal rate. Sources said that token gesture called for $1 annual rent. The problem is finding a buyer.”

Several musicians have fallen in love with Dubya’s voice and have sampled his words into dance music. “Bush’s speeches to the American people, particularly those concerning the Iraq war and September 11, have proved a popular source of material for a number of dance music producers and a host of releases featuring the voice of George W are now available.”

“In just a few years, the commercial recording studio has become an endangered species. Between a troubled record industry and new technology that makes studios and their expensive equipment all but obsolete, only a handful are still able to stay in business. With the extraordinary capabilities of the digital recording system called Pro Tools and the rapidly dropping cost of hard disk storage and blank CDs, musicians can set up their own recording studios for a fraction of what it used to cost to make albums at commercial facilities. The days are over for a pure music recording studio.”

In its first week, Apple’s new music download service (99 cents a song) sold one million downloads. “In less than one week we’ve broken every record and become the largest online music company in the world,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO.

The Dallas Opera has chosen Karen Stone – an English native now Intendant (general director) of the combined opera and theater operations of Graz, Austria – as its new general director.