Downes says the “chemistry” between performers, between performers and audiences, and between all people and music explains why — during social upheaval and at times of great joy and heroism — classical music is a natural anecdote or a means of celebratory expression. “People pull out Beethoven when world events happen and they just need something beautiful.”
Category: music
This Composer Writes Classical Music To Subsidize Her Pop Songs
“There’s this assumption that there’s money in pop. No – my contemporary art music funds my burgeoning middle-aged pop sensation career! … It’s made me realise how much support and infrastructure there is for classical music.”
Why Composers Are Writing Music Across Styles
Of course not everyone is writing “in the style of” or explicitly quoting other pieces, but the desire to build perceptible bridges between musical traditions is nearly universal.
‘The Shining’ Is Becoming An Opera
First of all, composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell are basing their work on Stephen King’s novel rather than Stanley Kubrick’s film, so there will be no “Here’s Johnny!” moment (a Kubrick invention). (We’d rather know what they’re doing with “red rum.”)
Virginia Symphony And Opera Are $380K Behind In Their Rent
“Two of the region’s major arts organizations, the Virginia Opera and the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, owe the city of Norfolk a combined $380,000 for unpaid rent and event fees.”
Newly Discovered Handel Cantata Turns Up In Conductor’s Own Library
The piece, just authenticated by a musicologist from Berkeley, shares a title and one aria with one of the composer’s better-known Italian works for solo soprano. The work’s other three arias are entirely different.
National Symphony’s Incoming Music Director Gets Another Plum Position
“The London Symphony Orchestra announced today that as of the 2016-17 season, [Gianandrea] Noseda will become one of its two principal guest conductors – a full year before he officially takes over as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra.”
Branford Marsalis Talks About The Differences Between Classical And Jazz
“Classical music makes me a much better saxophonist than jazz does. Because for saxophone technique, guys end up playing fast stuff. In classical music, you just have to develop a technique to execute melodies and ideas that are beyond the linear ways that we tend to think about music. And that’s the challenge of it for me.”
Revived New York City Opera Announces Rest Of Its First Season (And It’s Way More Interesting Than ‘Tosca’)
“The reorganized company, which began its first, abbreviated season last month with a consciously old-fashioned production of Puccini’s Tosca as a nod to the first work City Opera performed in 1944, chose [Daniel Catán’s Florencia en las Amazonas] and two other contemporary pieces to round out the season.”
Minnesota Orchestra’s Concertmaster On Doing Her Job While Married To The Maestro
Erin Keefe, who married Osmo Vänskä last April: “I haven’t felt any awkwardness. He’s here only 12 weeks a year; I’m here 28 weeks. When we are here together, we don’t bring anything inappropriate to rehearsal.”