Category: music

Last week La Scala announced it will produce Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical “Phantom of the Opera”. “It is not so many decades since Arturo Toscanini’s decision to perform the works of Wagner at this temple of Italian opera was met with consternation. Even today, there is a faction of the Scala audience still sniffy about that Austrian interloper Mozart. Many opera lovers want La Scala to be faithful only to its great Italian traditions.” – The Age (Melbourne) (The Guardian)

Later this week a delegation from the New York Philharmonic heads to Milan to try to talk conductor Riccardo Muti into signing up to run their orchestra. Says Muti: It is a love affair,” he said, in his trademark style: equal part arrogance, equal part charm. “But it is not yet a marriage.” And besides, the charms of La Scala and his current job aren’t easily overlooked. – Sydney Morning Herald

New York’s Lincoln Center announces it will build what it says will be  the first concert hall built specifically for jazz. It’s “a 100,000-square-foot complex at Columbus Circle with two auditoriums, a club-size jazz cafe, two rehearsal studios and a classroom, all wired for recording, broadcast and Webcast. – New York Times

An Israeli orchestra announces it will play Wagner on its season next year, ending a country-wide moratorium against performing the composer because of his anti-Jewish views. It’s time, writes one critic. – Chicago Tribune

On tour in Europe, the Philadelphia Orchestra stops for a concert in Birmingham England’s acclaimed concert hall. The hall was designed by the same architect who is designing the Philadelphia’s new home. The verdict? “For many, the concert had been tough. The strings could hear neither in front nor in back of themselves. ‘The rehearsal was frightening. Ensemblewise, we were all over the place. It feels like you’re walking on eggshells.’ ” – Philadelphia Inquirer

London Evening Standard

— one of the century’s most popular flutists, has died in Paris at the age of 78. – Dallas Morning News (AP)

Opera in Los Angeles has long been an iffy proposition. The LA Opera company lacks personality, and new artistic director Placido Domingo figures to give it some star power. But he’s so busy with other commitments, he won’t be able to do it himself. – Los Angeles Times

Boston’s Symphony Hall has some of the best acoustics in America. But it was built for a different time, so the BSO is looking at ways to (carefully) update. – Boston Globe

Aaron Copland would have been 100 years old this year. “Listeners who think of Copland’s style as bland or ingratiating are relying on the faulty filtering of memory, compounded by an awareness of the composer’s famously warm and congenial personal demeanor.” – San Francisco Chronicle