Category: music

Now that the dust has settled, a detailed explanation of how protesters in Berlin managed to save the city’s three opera houses from the government’s proposed consolidation. “Berlin had been a vital stronghold in the war between low-culture politicians and high-brow institutions. To have lost Berlin would have meant that no city in Europe could consider itself entitled to more than one opera house.” – The Telegraph (UK)

A $9 million mega-production of “Madam Butterfly” in Australia scheduled for next season has been canceled. Poor ticket sales and the falling value of the Australian dollar is to blame. “One makes allowances for things like a falling dollar – but you don’t allow it to go down to 52¢,” Coad said. “We’re bitterly disappointed that we’ve now had to unravel it but the acute financial situation means this is the only sensible decision to be made.” – Sydney Morning Herald

People generally like the way Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall looks. But acoustically… it has frustrated musicians for years. Now, “Toronto’s “premier concert hall – which cost $39 million to build in 1982 – will undergo a sweeping $18 million makeover to be completed in time for its 20th anniversary celebrations in the fall of 2002.” – Toronto Star

Organizers of a Metropolitan Opera gala had to scramble when Cecilia Bartoli pulled out because of laryngitis. Then her replacement pulled out. And then… – New York Times

In a demonstration of the new data-transmission capabilities of Internet2, a conference in Atlanta today will “allow musicians from across the U.S. to perform together over the Web. At the Atlanta conference, Dr. Karl Sievers of the University of Oklahoma will play trumpet while the rest of his brass quintet accompanies him – via Internet2 video conferencing – from the university.” – Sonicnet.com

“Article after article about this most vilified and most lauded pasty-faced pimply ‘rapper of the year’ have made the same error, referring to Eminem as a ‘white rapper’ too many times to list here. A crossover artist. Crossing over from what? While we should all pay attention to the vile lyrics of Eminem’s work, we should also pay close attention to the equally vile way the media have focused so much on this one offensive rapper out of hundreds, constantly reminding the public of his whiteness.” – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

The debate over Shostakovich’s reputation raged on at this weekend’s international Shostakovich symposium in Glasgow, commemorating the 25^th anniversary of the composer’s death. A memoir supposedly dictated by the composer himself and smuggled out to the west has “purportedly revealed the composer to have been a secret dissident through Stalin’s reign of terror, and to have encoded that dissidence within his music. The essence of the argument has always been this: one camp thinks it’s authentic, the other believes it to be a monstrous fraud.” – The Herald (Scotland)

Violin bow makers are screaming. Since 1800, virtually all violin bows have been made of pernambuco wood from north-east Brazil. “This wood – nothing else, it seems, will do.” But there is a proposed ban on the export and use of the wood. “This ban will kill the business. Not only will people be forbidden to make new pernambuco bows: it will also be illegal to tour with them.” – The Independent (UK)

The furor over Daniel Barenboim’s role as director of Berlin’s Staatsoper continues. “Should he abandon what increasingly looks to be a no-win situation and leave Berlin, concentrate on his responsibilities in Chicago (where he has been music director since 1991) and devote more time to playing the piano and guest conducting? Or should he stay on at the Staatsoper, possibly in a reduced role – music director without administrative duties – he said earlier he would accept if the authorities agree to give his orchestra players more money?” – Chicago Tribune

Many see the adoption of supertitles in opera as the biggest advance in the artform in a hundred years. Audiences, for the most part love them. “Yet a powerful faction continues to deplore the phenomenon. Notable among the revanchistes are the distinguished critic Rodney Milnes and ENO director David Pountney, who argue that surtitles distract attention from the moment-by-moment reality of the stage and simplify or distort the text, as well as negating any emphasis or colour that a singer is attaching to an individual word or phrase.” – The Telegraph (UK)