Category: music

“James Mason, who works at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music Library, discovered Norwegian composer Johan Halvorsen’s composition while digitizing the library’s thousands of pieces of sheet music.”

“The filing … does not offer a formal opinion on whether the NYCO Renaissance plan is workable. But it raises serious questions about whether the reorganization relies on overly rosy projections of high donations and low expenses, and argues that the group should offer more evidence that its plan would be sustainable beyond its first few years.”

“Last October, when word first got out about the project to enlarge the central boxes at Paris’s beloved 19th-century opera house, the Palais Garnier, by removing 12 damask-covered partitions, an indignant cry went up that was soon heard around the world. Since then, the scandal … has consumed and divided Paris opera fans, and raised alarm as far away as San Francisco.”

“Italian conductors are everywhere. The fact that Italians a generation younger than Mr Abbado and Mr Muti have followed in their footsteps may not be surprising. What’s more remarkable is that men in their twenties and early thirties have chosen conducting as a career, given that Italy’s opera houses—the bread and butter of the country’s music-making—are in such poor shape.”

“TODAY’s Harry Smith speaks with Los Angeles Philharmonic [assistant] conductor Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla about what it’s like to be a young female in such a traditionally male role.” (video)

With a sharp ear and a sharp pen, er, keyboard, Ross makes his case – and points out Williams’s biggest problem: “After Star Wars, he became a sound, a brand. … He’s been boxed in by the billions that his music has helped to earn. He has become integral to a populist economy on which thousands of careers depend.”

“For the first time, MIT neuroscientists have identified a neural population in the human auditory cortex that responds selectively to sounds that people typically categorize as music, but not to speech or other environmental sounds.”

Yes, the “Are conductors overpaid?” conversations happen there as well – and orchestras are secretive. Here are some figures for both music director salaries and per-concert fees. (text and audio in Franch; Google-Translated version of French text here.)

“‘Musically, it’s kind of depressing,’ Mario Tacca, an accordion player and longtime patron of Music Row, said. ‘I guess it’s part of the new world that we’re living in. The old world is kind of disappearing slowly. It’s kind of sad to see.'”

“Schubert’s songs are a mirror to real life. There really is nothing highbrow about this music, the songs have no sell-by date with respect to the human condition either. Manners and culture change endlessly over time. Human nature never will.”