Category: music

Dale Chapman, author of The Jazz Bubble: “Jazz is presently understood less as a commercially viable expressive form in its own right than as a symbol of something else: as an artistic practice that is seen as both ‘legitimate’ (in other words, as inoffensive to established institutions), and as contributing to multiculturalism, through its links to communities of color. Thus, jazz becomes the kind of genre that can give an imprimatur of both respectability and social inclusivity to a large redevelopment project, even while it may be of little interest to a prospective for-profit club owner.”

Evidently, yes, it is a myth, even if it’s not 100% unfounded. Yes, there was some disapproval of the premiere from the upper balcony (which may have had more to do with social politics than with the work itself), but little more – and crucial evidence to that effect has been lying in plain sight the whole time since. The caused-riots-in-Paris!! bit seems to have come from an American effort to drum up excitement and sell tickets.

“The 1000-capacity auditorium will have a rooftop dome, glass-covered walkway and outdoor terraces, under Sir David Chipperfield’s vision for the £45m IMPACT Centre, which could open by 2021. The complex, which will provide a long-awaited home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, is also expected to become a major new Edinburgh International Festival venue.” The IMPACT Centre “is expected to be open every day, attract more than 250,000 visitors each year and generate £25 million for the economy.”

He pursues height and depth at the expense of breadth and fine-grained texture, qualities which can only be found if one lowers one’s gaze, and deigns to look at music’s everyday reality, amid the muddle of ordinary human life—and beyond the west, to music in the wider world. That stance is more and more the stance of musicology nowadays, but Roger Scruton wants nothing to do with it.

In March 1963, three weeks after the Beatles have recorded their first album, an acoustic quartet wrestles with harmonies and values that Elvis and Chuck Berry have already consigned to the past. As this recording approaches the summit of late style, it becomes the apogee of modernism’s last style. For it is a sad fact of musical history that after Coltrane, there was nothing left to say on the saxophone. But Kenny G said it anyway.

“Cerny was, for seven years, the General Director and CEO of the Dallas Opera. His sudden resignation from there was announced in December 2017. Cerny took charge of the Calgary Opera in January 2018. He begins his [new job as CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony] in January 2019. In the news release, he cites the travel constraints as a big reason for moving back to Texas.”

Demonstrators allied with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement have appeared outside the orchestra’s concerts in Argentina, Brazil, and Peru; in the Chilean capital, Santiago, a poster was interpreted showing conductor Yeruham Scharovsky spattered with blood, which was interpreted as a possible death threat.

“We’re in a very unique position at the art museum to be a tremendous platform or area for churning up ideas and inspirations. So what if we have composers in and say, with very few or no restrictions, ‘This is all here for you. What comes from this?’  And a broader, wider open space to think deeply about what moves us and what can come from that.”

“The day the election was called, the previous minister committed funding to this organization without going through the proper approval process. Unfortunately, Sistema does not meet the criteria for this grant and is not eligible for funding. It is unfortunate that the Liberals put Sistema in this position.”

It takes serious, intense study to become a professional classical musician – but that study doesn’t usually include media training. And being able to communicate with the press is important: the days of the genius artiste who can get away with doing publicity poorly or not at all are over, and a media misstep can be disastrous for a career. Writer Anya Wassenberg gets some experienced publicists to offer counsel.