“These days, one of the tasks with which orchestras find themselves saddled is the nearly impossible one of educating audiences. Schools aren’t doing it, and neither are most parents. Orchestra musicians themselves may resent the kind of musical spoon-feeding they are called on to do by the organization for which they work. But even many of them realize that it’s a question of self-preservation; for better or worse, you don’t have to wait for Aunt Buffy to will you her orchestra subscription to get a seat at the Academy of Music.” – Philadelphia Inquirer
Category: music
THE NAKED STRING QUARTET
The women of the classical string quartet Bond (billing itself as the Spice Girls of classical music) were prevented by their recording company from using a picture of themselves posed naked on the cover of their latest album. – BBC
WHEN FLATTERY GETS YOU NOWHERE
A regularly outspoken critic of the Royal Opera House’s former management, Raymond Gubbay has applied to run the institution after Michael Kaiser’s departure. In his application Gubbay called the Opera House “the preserve of the rich, the influential and those concerned with corporate entertainment.” The Times (UK)
I CAN FIX THIS: Gubbay “calls for a higher status for the Executive Director which would put him or her above the Music Director and the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet. He also wants more performances, longer production runs and cheaper seats.” – London Evening Standard
RACHMANINOFF IN PASADENA
A major new international piano competition is planned for Southern California. The competition, scheduled for March, 2002, invites pianists ages 18 to 32 to compete for cash prizes, as well as the chance to perform with the Moscow Radio Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra and the State Capella Choir of St. Petersburg. The competition is expected to cost $3 million. – Los Angeles Times
FAMILY FUGUE
JS Bach had 20 children, and it’s natural to ask how he managed to find time to fit composing in amongst his parenting duties? “For him, children were not an unwelcome distraction from other responsibilities. On the contrary, his role as a parent was a central part of his life and was intimately entwined in his aesthetic outlook. Indeed, understanding Bach’s attitude towards parenting can in turn help us understand his musical attitudes in general.” – The Idler
BACH – A RADICAL MOVE?
There’s been a sense of rising panic in Melbourne in the countdown to the 15th Melbourne Festival. The artistic director’s decision to turn much of the festival’s program to the music of J.S.Bach, played by many of the world’s leading exponents, is an “idiosyncratic, if not radical move.” – The Age (Melbourne)
WHAT PHILOSOPHY SOUNDS LIKE (NOT SO PRETTY)
“If Milton Babbitt and John Cage are to be believed, it is almost beside the point to talk about whether their music sounds good or sounds bad. For both composers would admit that their music does not ‘sound good’ in the ordinary sense: instead, they would challenge that notion, and replace it with highly philosophical views that are meant to undermine our ordinary aesthetic judgments.” – Boston Review
BEETHOVEN’S DEATH
How did Beethoven die so young (he was 56)? Why did he go deaf? New analysis of hair trimmed from his head moments after his death may reveal the reasons…or so claims a newly published book released this week. – Discovery
PATERNITY LEAVE
Bass-baritone Bryn Terfel has upset opera fans at Covent Garden, Salzburg and Munich opera houses by canceling his next four months of performances to be with his wife for the birth of their third child, due in January. – BBC Music Magazine
THE OPERA CALENDAR
With opera attendance across America up more than 42 percent since 1982, the opera world is in pretty good shape. Here’s a roundup of opera highlights for this season from around the country. – Sonicnet