Category: music

“The 37-year-old podium star, currently chief conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and soon to take up the baton at Germany’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra [as well], had been scheduled to conduct the premiere of a new production of Richard Wagner’s final opera Parsifal this year.”

“If the opera world has changed, VO is trying to change with it. Last year, in a shocker, the company announced that it would be moving after the 2015-16 season to a festival model. While some people understood the rationale and acknowledged the company’s tough position as well as the budgetary – and other – advantages of a festival model, others were vehemently opposed – most notably and vocally, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra music director Bramwell Tovey.”

The Allegra Chamber Orchestra, based in Vancouver and open to musicians who identify as women, gave its first performance this week. (includes audio)

“Pierre Audi, who recently became the artistic director of the Park Avenue Armory [in New York], has been named the next director of the Aix-en-Provence Festival in southern France, … Mr. Audi, a stage director and impresario known for fostering contemporary work and for projects of daunting ambition, has led the Dutch National Opera for three decades. But he’ll give up Amsterdam for Aix in 2018.”

“A British colleague observed that American works, highly celebrated in their own time among musicians, contrast in their current obscurity with comparable works by UK composers that are increasingly celebrated in the UK. This got me wondering: have US musicians and presenters unjustly ignored their own symphonists, or have audiences voted against them?”

“The entire process was flawed and confusing from the start. Ticketmaster emailed people their voucher codes. When people went to the Ticketmaster website to get the codes, they had disappeared without explanation. Another annoying detail: Part of the settlement included vouchers for $2.25, which could only be redeemed as a discount on additional tickets.”

“Stanley’s voice has been called “a force of nature,” “otherworldly,” “elemental,” “eerie.” Try to describe it and you inevitably tumble into a deep mountain mine of contradictory clichés. Trying to capture its singular tone in a fresh way risks foolishness. (“Like a woodwind crossed with a coonhound, turned up to eleven” is a note I just jotted down, before scratching it out.)”

“If jazz is a notoriously tough sell, bass players are even tougher. Essential as the instrument is to time and rhythm, and as voluptuous its presence on the bandstand, it often fades into the background.”

“I was hoping that this project would showcase the importance that refugees continue to play in our culture and society while also raising funds for those in need.”