Category: music

McGegan came to the Bay Area-based ensemble in 1985 and built it into the largest and most-recorded period-instrument band in the U.S. He becomes music director laureate at the end of the 2019-20 season: “I feel like I’m giving up being a parent to become a grandparent. I can still take everyone out for ice cream without having to pay the school bills.”

An electrical fire in the theatre’s backup power system broke out briefly on Monday and was quickly extinguished. In 1996, a fire set by contractors working on a renovation burned the entire building to the ground.

Hospitals and psychiatric institutes have long employed music therapists in treating patients. While many doctors agree that it can be an effective form of therapy, it’s difficult to explain, qualify and quantify results. But that’s changing. With advances in neuroscience and noninvasive brain scanning, there’s increasing interest in the scientific community in exploring the ways music and the arts affect the human brain. This is leading to new enthusiasm in exploring music’s capacity to heal.

The report fleshes out details of the alleged activities for which trumpeter Mayfield and orchestra CEO Ronald Markham face wire fraud, money laundering, and other criminal charges. The audit found that Mayfield spent $28,000 of NOJO money at the Ritz-Carleton in New York and that he and Markham diverted earmarked state and city money into NOJO payroll and operations.

“This week the orchestra … extended [Michael] Francis’ contract another three years, pushing his commitment through the 2023-2024 season. It’s a major step for the fourth music director in the orchestra’s history, coming on the heels of a record-breaking 50th season.”

“One of the biggest messages that we found personally was that we’re trying to tell people that we’re still here because a lot of people still view us as not being real – that Native Americans are made-up or that we’re extinct by now. We really want people to know that we’re not the Indians that they portray us as on TV, and we’re not the Indians that they come to sight-see. We’re actual people. We’re our own sovereign nation, and we’re trying to be a part of modern society if people will let us.”

Francesca Zambello will remain artistic director of the Washington National Opera. On Friday, the company made a long-expected announcement that the director’s contract has been renewed, for three more years, through the 2020-2021 season. The company will have a new musical leader, as well: Evan Rogister will take over as principal conductor for a four-year term, through 2021-2022.

Though a federal court jury ruled in 2016 that “Stairway to Heaven” wasn’t plagiarized from the Spirit’s instrumental song “Taurus,” the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that that jury was “wrongly instructed.” So Spirit’s lawsuit is back on.