“After a Nov. 22 Inquirer article about the orchestra’s finances, the Philadelphia Orchestra Association reported that in addition to paying $519,319 in 2013 to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, it paid the IRS $227,950 on his behalf for taxes, plus $12,564 for primarily travel-related expenses.”
Category: music
Radu Lupu At 70 – ‘Fresh, Newly Original, Daring, But Never Eccentric’
Kirill Gerstein: “Lupu’s playing, especially when experienced live, resists my professional habit of analyzing the elements of interpretation and performance – exactly how he achieves the results that he does. … The instrument, the craftsmanship, even the compositions themselves recede into the background, and there remains a lone figure communicating not just music, but something deeply humane. “
Leonard Slatkin To Step Down As Music Director Of Detroit Symphony
“Slatkin will be 73 when his tenure officially ends after 10 seasons in 2018, and the changes are part of a broader rethinking of his priorities as he approaches his 75th birthday.”
A First: Institute For Women Conductors
“If you get on the podium in a master class with all males, before you even lay the baton down for the first beat, they’ve already pigeon- holed you as the female conductor. Whereas when we sit down here it becomes more about the music and about the score. At least that’s how I hope it’s seen.”
Minnesota Orchestra Musicians Donate Money Raised During Lockout Back To Orchestra
The $250,000 gift, “which establishes a separate fund and was not included in the 2015 results, came from self-produced concerts and donations that the musicians received during the lockout. Given to the association in memory of orchestra advocate Lee Henderson, the gift will support education and community programming.”
One Of Two Rivals To Revive New York City Opera Withdraws
“Gene Kaufman, an architect and one of the suitors who has been vying to reorganize and take control of City Opera, withdrew as part of a negotiated settlement that calls for granting his group $300,000, according to a court filing.”
Data: What Musicians Earn (And How They Earn It)
A new survey finds 45 revenue streams and reveals what musicians earn.
Despite The Claims, Music Can’t Fix A Broken City
“Music can enhance life’s achievements and console us in our losses, but it cannot repair the holes at the heart of society. El Sistema has fostered a seductive illusion that music is an all-purpose solution. But music has its limits and we need to accept them. It cannot cure cancer, relieve poverty or revive a dying city.”
Early Music Superstar Jordi Savall, Afraid For His Safety, Cancels Concert In Calais’s Migrant Camp
The viola da gamba virtuoso and director of supergroup Hesperion XXI – and UNESCO Artist for Peace – was praised last week when he announced that, in honor of International Migrants Day, they would perform in the “jungle,” the makeshift settlement of refugees looking for some way across the Channel to Britain, where they hope to settle. Then Savall called off the concert, claiming that he hadn’t received sufficient assurances of security for himself and his musicians.” (in French; Google Translate version here)
Philosophically, We Have Misunderstood The Role Of Music
“For centuries, philosophers have got music wrong by making it mysterious, says Lydia Goehr, professor of philosophy at Columbia University in New York. What really matters is what we do with the music.”