The Munich Chamber Orchestra visits North Korea and makes a film about the experience. Life in the North is regimented and looks, in this video – a bit grim. But then, maybe that’s one reason the North Korean musicians seen here seem so passionate about the music they make.
Category: music
The Small Town Orchestra Manager That Could
Jane Hill runs the small Eureka Symphony in California. She’s pragmatic, creative, and has strong ideas about what her orchestra’s role in her community is. “Hill’s notion is that a programming strategy must be flexible and relevant but also ambitious. “Any small town orchestra having to focus on Pops concerts, film music, and country and western music to stay alive — I shouldn’t be critical but I really believe this — to me that means they’ve chosen to limit what they think the audience will buy, with the result that no one is paying close attention to broadening the classical-music taste and interests of the audience. Or the potential audience.”
No Instruments? These People In Paraguay Formed An Orchestra Using Objects From A Landfill
Recycled Orchestra and the focus of the documentary Landfill Harmonic. Founded by environmental consultant and guitarist Favio Chávez, the orchestra plays on instruments made from trash. Over the course of 10 years, the orchestra has grown from just a few musicians to over 35. The students have even performed with heavy metal band Megadeth and with Metallica.
Will Yet Another Symphony Strike This Fall? Ask Pacific Symphony Musicians
“The terms proposed by the orchestra’s management are punitive, Neeley argued. To play the minimum number of guaranteed services in their contract, symphony musicians are required to turn down other jobs when they are “on call” for some services, Neeley said. In other words, they might not be used for certain events but must keep those dates open nonetheless.”
The Met Cancels An Opera Mid-Performance After A Patron Scatters Powdery Substance Into The Pit
“The man told other patrons he was there specifically to sprinkle the ashes during the performance, the police said. Mr. Miller said the act may have been a violation of the city’s health code but that there was no criminal intent.”
Jaap van Zweden’s Global Dance
The conductor leads two orchestras on different sides of the world, and the disconnects aren’t just geographic. “The New York and Hong Kong orchestras are not just distant geographically — they are also at very different phases of their development, requiring different types of effort from their shared music director.”
Toronto’s Debt-Free Orchestra Makes It 16 Years In A Row
“Announced yesterday at Tafelmusik’s 2016 annual general meeting, they achieved an impressive 16-year balanced budget streak with an operating surplus of $107,017 on a budget of $5.4 mil. Ticket sales rose by $5,501 from last year’s $1.7 million.”
Furtwangler And Mengelberg, Dudamel And Gergiev?
These four conductors all face(d) political decisions in their relationship to political power. Great musicians all. But their survival strategies differ(ed). Norman Lebrecht suggests some parallels.
Opera Is *Not* Too Posh And Exclusive, And If You Think It Is, It’s Your Own Damn Fault, Says Opera Boss
“I continue to argue incessantly with people who claim opera is for the rich, unattainable, impenetrable, elitist and from a parallel universe,” writes Michael Volpe, general director of London’s Opera Holland Park. “I swear and shout and stamp my feet – well, I used to, but I stopped doing that because it doesn’t work.”
Edmonton Symphony’s New Chief Conductor Is A 24-Year-Old Former Child Prodigy
When he was 13, Alexander Prior wrote a ballet score commissioned by the Moscow State Ballet; when he was 17, he finished a conducting degree at the St. Petersburg Conservatory; he speaks six languages. Now, he’ll take over the baton in Alberta’s capital from William Eddins at the beginning of next season.