Category: music

— who, if old were measured out in years, would be 57. “It’s got bugger-all to do with time. You’ve got 16-year-olds that are old and 75-year-olds that have kept their childlike quality with the maturity of being older in years, and that leads to somebody very, very hip and spiritual.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Los Angeles’ oldest independent recording studio is closing. “They’ll switch off the last tube-powered amplifier and unplug the last 50-year-old audiotape console on Friday.” – Times of India (AP)

• Since the internet is rapidly transforming the music industry, and some estimates have us downloading our music rather than buying CDs by the year 2010, how will musicians continue to get paid for their songs? “Currently, there are four different ways: when listeners pay to download songs; subscription-only sites; advertising revenue from running banner ads; and cashing in on the musician’s identity by selling tee-shirts or fan club memberships. The most important thing artists can do is remind their listeners that music is worth paying for.”  – NPR [Real Audio file] (Part 1 of a series)

A month ago a Starbuck’s store manager in Manhattan won the Van Cliburn international piano competition for amateurs. Since then, he’s been giving concerts, getting great reviews, and there’s even talk of a recording. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The president of the Van Cliburn Foundation admits he’d be concerned if the amateur competition became known as a stepping-stone to professional careers.” – Dallas Morning News

— former director of London’s Royal Ballet, will take over as music director of New York City Ballet in August 2001. – New York Times

The 37-year-old Leeds International Piano Competition has launched the careers of a surprising number of world-class pianists, and now ranks alongside Russia’s Tchaikovsky competition as one of the world’s most esteemed showcases in the piano world. So it’s no surprise the competition received a record 298 recital tapes from potential entrants this year, each hoping to join the roster of past winners. “Murray Perahia, Radu Lupu, Andras Schiff, Mitsuko Uchida – the list reads like the best-selling rack of classical music stores the world over.” – CNN (Reuters)

This advance of a jazz festival set for St. Petersburg, Russia, takes an unusual turn in the second paragraph – with band members singing songs calling the Russian president “Pinochet,” and taunting the police with “it smells of police near the stage.” Talk about an invitation to getting beaten up (which of course is exactly what happens). – St. Petersburg Times (Russia)

Some thought that the San Francisco Symphony’s just-concluded festival of 20th Century music would be a hard sell. “Well, they reckoned without Michael Tilson Thomas. It’s my belief that people flocked to these concerts in large part because they believed him when he promised that the shows were going to be exciting and fun, and they kept coming back because he made good on that promise.” – San Francisco Chronicle

At the age of 69, after a full career, Alfred Brendel could certainly afford to ease up a bit. But he’s just discovered Mozart. “He still plays around 90 concerts a year – 90 repetitions of the experience he once described as ‘the sudden burst of sweat in a spasm of anxiety’. Last year saw him performing in 53 towns and cities from Tokyo to Minnesota, from New York to Plush, Dorset.” – The Guardian

Who says contemporary music can’t get second performances? In the ten years since John Corigliano’s First Symphony was written, it’s been performed by more than 120 orchestras worldwide and by most major American ensembles. Recordings of it have won three Grammys. It’s one of only a handful of large-scale 20th Century orchestral works to have entered the standard repertoire so quickly. – Chicago Tribune