Category: music

The sooner the industry embraces digital technology, the better off we’ll all be, says Don Tapscott. Not that internet audio is perfect – far from it. But unlike traditional media, the MP3 has created a world full of choice, and that’s what modern society demands. “This is great news for budding musicians, since music isn’t exclusionary in its use. In an increasingly hectic society, almost all of us have less time for the activities we enjoy, except listening to music. Music makes a good experience better.”

What the anti-piracy forces in the recording industry may be missing in their quest to eradicate free download services is that their own refusal to lower CD prices despite indisuptable evidence that the cost of producing the discs is negligible has fueled such consumer mistrust that many reasonable people simply consider the free downloads to be a victimless crime. And the refusal of the industry to come up with a viable music download service of its own has merely added fuel to the fire. Lower the cost of music, say the pirates, and we’ll happily rejoin the system.

Good news has been hard to come by in the orchestral world in the past year or two, and the sorry saga of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, which ceased playing concerts and filed for bankruptcy protection last October, was one of the hardest blows. But as of last week, the CPO is back in business, and out of debt. At the inaugural reopening concert, orchestra musicians greeted concertgoers at the door to the hall, shaking their hands and thanking them for their role in rescuing the ensemble. All told, the CPO raised better than $1.5 million over the months it was inactive to satisfy its creditors.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, America’s only full-time professional chamber orchestra, has laid off ten administrative employees in an attempt to balance its books in the face of a shrinking endowment and below-average donations. Observers were surprised by the layoffs, since the SPCO finished last season in the black, one of only three American orchestras to do so. The ensemble survived a brush with bankruptcy a decade ago, but has operated without deficits for nine straight seasons.

At a time when American orchestras are struggling to keep operating, the Dallas Symphony has made the acquaintance of a generous benefactor. Said anonymous foundation has given the orchestra $10 million for its endowment, and others have already matched the gift to bring the total to $20 million. That brings the orchestra’s endowment to $86 million.

In Houston, news of the Dallas Symphony’s newfound endowment largesse has further exacerbated the tensions between the Houston Symphony musicians and management. Within hours of the Dallas announcement, Houston musicians had issued a press release demanding, for the umpteenth time, that the management embark immediately on an endowment drive. (Houston has the smallest standing endowment of any year-round American orchestra.) The Houston Symphony Society responded that such a drive would be impossible until the contract situation with the musicians is resolved.

“Conductor Ingo Metzmacher says he will step down when his contract as general music director in Hamburg expires in 2005 because he is disappointed with the attitude of city officials toward arts and culture… Metzmacher, who heads both the Staatsoper and Staatsorchester in Germany’s second-largest city, told a newspaper that the city was unwilling to make adequate commitments toward the arts. He said that subsidies for the arts have remained stagnant for a decade while expenses have climbed.”

Just when you thought you’d never have to hear the word Napster again, another lawsuit has been filed over the now-defunct song-swapping service which led the record industry on a merry chase through the courts over the past couple of years. Of course, Napster isn’t around to be sued anymore, so this time, a coalition of songwriters, composers, and publishers are suing German media giant Bertelsmann for ‘prolonging’ the existence of Napster by investing $100 million in the company as it fought for survival. The suit is in US court, and the plaintiffs are asking for a whopping $17 billion in damages.

Several cellists in the New York Philharmonic could have solo careers. Some have. But there’s something special about being a member of an elite orchestra. “Ask cellists to define the part the cello plays in an orchestra, and they describe it as subtle but essential. ‘It’s a foundation role. It provides stability and structure.”

Music purists are protesting the decision at Dresden’s famed Frauenkirche to replace the organ there with a more modern instrument. “The board of trustees of the foundation in charge of reconstructing the cathedral, which was destroyed at the end of World War II and left as a ruin during more than four decades of communist rule, decided on Monday to give the contract to an organ builder in Strasbourg. In doing so, they rejected a competing proposal for an exact reproduction of the original organ was described by a number of prominent supporters as ‘historically correct’.”