“Radio needs to take a leaf out of the hugely successful US streaming service’s book by making content available to listeners when they want it and not tie all output to the broadcast schedule.”
Category: music
The Violinist Speaks Of Musical Guilty Pleasures, And Three Ways To Improve Classical Concerts
Tamsin Waley-Cohen: “Most of all, I would take them out of the modern concert hall (I often find older halls are better for this!) to get rid of the separation between the performer and the audience.”
The Seattle Symphony Is Making Commissions A Major Part Of Its Plan
“This isn’t a random undertaking. We follow a systematic approach and work with young composers constantly.”
A Singer Emerges From Below The Earth
“She was giddy on an evening in late August when she was about to shoot her first video, for ‘Try a Little Tenderness.’ In a few weeks, her record would be released (on Assouline Records). ‘Weee, buddy!’ she said, laughing in Mr. Assouline’s apartment, where she was getting ready. ‘Us country people — we get up and dance.'”
Indianapolis Symphony Reaches A New Contract Deal A Year Early
“After the bitter 2012 contract battle that led to a monthlong lockout for musicians, ISO cites a string of successes, including three straight years of budget surpluses and major growth in ticket sales and fundraising.”
Gramophone’s Recording Of The Year Goes To …
“Igor Levit’s recording of the Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations and Rzewski’s The People United Will Never Be Defeated! for Sony Classical has taken the top prize.”
El Sistema Is Widely Touted As Salvation Through Music. But Where’s The Evidence?
“It is tempting to conclude that Sistema’s greatest success has been in global branding, from Afghanistan to New Zealand, as a one-size-fits-all method of teaching music.”
Opera Needs A Radical Overhaul, Says Director Of Britain’s Most Radically Overhauled Opera Company
Graham Vick of Birmingham Opera Company: “So much is encouraging about opera just now, most of it found in the sense of adventure of performances in pub theatres, supermarkets and car parks. … Making this expensive art form accessible does sometimes mean finding less costly ways of presenting it. … But trapped between tyrannical, unyielding musical values and a theatrical inferiority complex, artists and programmers, artistic directors and marketing departments cling on to outmoded models by the fingernails (or do I mean by co-productions?). They fear the implications of radical change. But we need to bend – there’s no use pretending something’s not broken.”
‘Opera Companies Should Just Bite The Bullet And Start To Use Amplification,’ Argues One Maestro
Conductor and radio presenter Guy Noble: “The houses are too big for many of the voices to cut through and as a consequence audiences are leaving with a less than exciting experience. Amplification is seen as such a dirty word. … I sincerely hope that opera doesn’t disappear in a puff of purist smoke. And if it does, might we not even be able to hear it?”
‘I Think We Should Approach The Operas With More Humility Than That’ – David McVicar On Regieoper
“The debate about production style – a lot of time audiences are unhappy about production style – and I am too when I see some work, particularly in Germany, because what I’m detecting is a director saying, ‘I have to make my mark with this piece. I have to do something that will never be forgotten.’ And I think that’s such a dull way of proceeding because I think we should approach the operas with more humility than that. All of us.”