Category: music

Mark Wigglesworth said in his resignation letter, “The plan for the future is one that the Board and Chief Executive have always known I cannot support. I made this clear to them last year.”

“[Hans Abrahamsen’s] right hand had only two fingers capable of playing the [piano], and he could not advance. A family friend suggested he take up the French horn, which could be mastered with one hand, so he did. In his music, Mr. Abrahamsen uses restraints as opportunities for creative exploration.”

“Chapman University opened what might have been a modest, multi-purpose 1,044-seat facility. Instead, thanks to Toyota, the city of Orange now houses an ideal opera house, potentially the best in the West and maybe even something more.”

An “exploratory examination” found 10 weeks of group drumming provided significant benefits for a group of people who had sought help for mental-health issues. What’s more, the improvements persisted for at least three months after the sessions concluded.

“The society has become the largest presenter of chamber music in the country, now giving 60 concerts of major artists each season. It insists on prices from $18 to $24, … though the same concert in New York a few days later goes for three times that.”

“Yes, women can be conductors. I am not against them conducting. But I simply don’t like it. There are women boxing and weightlifting; they can do that. But I don’t like watching. It is only my taste. We all have different tastes. For example, I don’t eat fish.” (includes video)

“The U.S. Copyright Act of 1976 gave songwriters the ability to recapture the publishers’ share of their songs, and in the case of titles written before 1978, writers can recapture songs after two consecutive 28-year terms, or 56 years.”

“Each gleefully took sides. Each sought to kill off suffocating traditions. Each confronted a conservative establishment and created new ensembles in response. Each advocated repertoire that was formerly marginal and later became central. Each yoked the once-growing power of the recording industry to his own purposes.”

“These people are like athletes. … The clothes that they had, the men especially, were too hot and too restrictive. The shirt plackets and jacket lapels, for example, can really get in the way of someone playing a string instrument.”