Previous research showed that more than 70% of musicians have experienced anxiety and panic attacks. The “precariousness and insecurity” of a career in music can be psychologically damaging, the new report claims, resulting in many experiencing “constant stress” around finding work and being financially stable.
Category: music
Brown University’s New Orchestra Director ‘Relieved Of Duties’ Just Before His First Concert
“‘Brandon Keith Brown is no longer serving in the role he took on this summer when he joined the university as visiting assistant professor of music and orchestra conductor,’ said Brown spokesman Brian Clark. ‘As for the reason, I am not at liberty to disclose details related to personnel, which we do not consider public.'” (That doesn’t mean the students won’t talk, though.)
Classical Music Has Its Own Bunch Of Mini-Harvey Weinsteins
“One big problem is the mindless adulation bestowed on famous conductors and directors. Such sycophancy doesn’t lead just to the tolerance of abuse, it mythologises the misdeeds so that they become part of the mystique surrounding ‘the maestro’.” (For example, Georg Solti, who’d seduce his way through the female choristers at the Royal Opera house and buy them white fur coats afterward.) And, writes Richard Morrison, “that was decades ago, but what has changed? In one acclaimed present-day ensemble female violinists rise up the ranks if they sleep with the conductor. It’s as simple, and jaw-dropping, as that.”
Canadian Opera Co. Extends Alexander Neef’s Contract To 2026
“This means that by 2026, Neef will be the longest-serving General Director of the COC (18 years), after Richard Bradshaw.”
Edinburgh Plans Its First Newly-Built Concert Hall In Over A Century
“The [£10 million] fundraising drive for the £45m New Town project, which will be known as The Impact Centre, has been triggered ahead of the first plans being unveiled next month. The 1,000-capacity venue, earmarked for a site behind the Royal Bank of Scotland’s historic head office on St Andrew Square, will become home to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, but will also be available for performances of all kinds of music.”
St. Louis Symphony Posts First Surplus In 17 Years
Other good news from last season includes new contracts with the musicians and stagehands, the engagement of Stéphane Denève to succeed David Robertson as music director, and an uptick in box office revenue, with a third of attendees at core classical concerts being new to the orchestra’s home concert hall.
Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra Loses 20% Of Subscribers As It Moves To Temporary Venue
While the Tonhalle itself undergoes a major renovation, “the exiled orchestra can be seen in action for the next three years at the Maag Hall, part of an industrial complex in Zurich West … CHF10 million has been invested in the acoustics, but there are 300 fewer seats than in the Tonhalle, and one in five orchestra subscriptions has been cancelled.”
Music In The Museum – Plenty Of Upside (And Some Down-)
“When it comes to presenting music, museums aren’t necessarily ahead of the curve. Yes, it’s great that they do it — and they do it a lot. Most of Washington’s major museums present concerts, from the diminutive Kreeger Museum, which fills its central exhibition space with chairs for a small chamber music festival every year in June, to the National Gallery, where the foliage and statuary of the West Garden Court, despite its distorting echoes and uncomfortable folding chairs, often conspire to make events feel delightful. And yet most museum concert halls lack such charm.”
Are These The Worst Classical Music Album Covers Of All Time?
It’s a crowded category, but here are fifteen “covers from hell.”
Does Cincinnati Music Hall’s Renovation Hold Any Lessons For Lincoln Center’s Geffen Hall?
“A concert hall that was simply too cavernous: hard to sell out and leaving audiences feeling distant from the music. Lobbies that have grown shabby over time. A fortresslike presence, somewhat isolated from the city just outside its doors. These are all problems that Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic have been trying to fix for nearly two decades at the theater now known as David Geffen Hall – and still hope to, after their announcement earlier this month that they had scrapped a $500 million gut renovation in favor of a more modest approach. But Cincinnati faced these issues too – and went ahead and did something about them.”