Backstage staff of the English National Opera said they would go on strike, after the company announced that “up to 100 permanent artistic, technical and administrative staff will face redundancy – a fifth of the company. This figure includes the 20 chorus members threatened with redundancy under plans to shrink the chorus by a third.”
Category: music
A Concerto About Me – And It’s Good!
Toronto Star music critic William Littler was surprised to get an announcement of a performance of a new concerto dedicated to…him. So he had to go and see why an Edmonton-based composer was honoring a Toronto-based music writer. “It turned out that he had been reading my reviews on the Star’s Web site. The concerto, he explained before its world premiere, represented his way of thanking me.” Naturally Littler stayed for the performance, and reports that “the 24-minute concerto turned out to be a piece worth hearing, with a distinctive musical character and an emotional communicativeness.”
What Makes Baz Boheme Work On Broadway?
Opera and Broadway have long tried to mix it up – but rarely with success. Somehow, despite the rising popularity of crossover, one can’t escape the conventional wisdom that opera and Broadway occupy two distinct and conflicting worlds. How, then, is one to react to the surprise success of Baz Luhrmann’s $6.5 million production of Puccini’s La Bohème on Broadway?”
Fire Back – The Art Of Jazz Protest
What’s become of jazz protest? The question is old, but in an era of international emergency, it’s relevant. So poet Amiri Baraka, playwright Sonia Sanchez, Columbia professor Robert O’Meally, and trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater are discussing dissent in jazz — and maybe exercising it — when Lincoln Center hosts “Jazz and Social Protest” on March 18. But dissent against what? And why? How successfully the panelists address jazz activism, and prescribe a course for it, might depend on how clearly they consider Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln’s legacies…”
Community Concerts On The Rocks
Since 1927, Community Concerts brought classical music to the corners of America, to communities that never would have been able to afford to stage concerts. But the organization is in disarray – performances have been cancelled, artists haven’t been paid, and Community’s network of local presenters is falling away…
R&B Awards Come Without Cash This Year
Winners of this year’s R&B Foundation Pioneer Awards didn’t get the cash awards that have accompanied the prizes in the past. “In the past individual acts have received $15,000 and groups $20,000. But this year the R&B Foundation has significantly altered the size of the awards and the way they are paid because of lagging fund-raising and a decrease in donations from record companies and individuals. Donations from our music industry sponsors are down about 60 percent.”
All Together – English National Opera Ponders Future
The English National Opera is a mess. Critics contend that plans to save the company will strip the company of its artistic integrity. “The word ‘ensemble’ is at the core of the debate about ENO’s future. What does it mean, and why does it provoke such intense emotions whenever it seems to be threatened? At one level, the answer is simple. An ensemble performs together. It can be half a dozen actors touring Strindberg in the provinces; or a band of period- instrument specialists bringing baroque concertos back to life; or a company of 500 in an Edwardian theatre in London’s West End. Size doesn’t matter, but shared values, collective experience, training, exploring and changing together – these are what count.”
Why’d They Forget About Bix?
Bix Beiderbecke was a seminal figure in jazz. This week is the 100th anniversary of his birthday. So “where are the sort of commemorative CD reissue series that celebrated Armstrong’s 100th birthday in 2001, or Duke Ellington’s in 1999? The major labels, which rarely miss an opportunity to make a quick buck off sentimentality (not to mention recordings paid for nearly 80 years ago), have apparently missed this one.”
The New Classical Music?
“Alongside the traditional classical realm of Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart, another scene is asserting itself – one in which unconventional repertoire is embraced, new music by living composers is emphasized and being engaged with the cultural present is a priority. This scene isn’t entirely new. But it is deriving renewed energy from artists in their 20s and 30s who grew up listening to the British rock band Radiohead as well as Ravel. And the new sounds are attracting young audiences to a musical genre whose health seems forever at risk.”
Where Are The New Protest Songs?
Peace rallies trot out protest songs that are decades old. “Some mutter darkly that there are more songs out there but corporate radio is keeping them off the air. The notorious list of ‘banned’ songs – everything from John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ to the entire oeuvre of Rage Against the Machine – the radio conglomerate Clear Channel issued after Sept. 11 only adds fuel to such suspicions. But no one names a great song that’s not getting played.” Are they out there?