Coppock, 64, led the orchestra from 1999 to 2008 and retired after being diagnosed with bile duct cancer. He survived the rare and usually fatal condition and returned to the SPCO in 2013, as the orchestra was emerging from a bitter contract dispute that led to a 191-day lockout of the musicians.
Category: music
Lucerne Festival 2016 To Feature 11 Female Conductors
“Emmanuelle Haïm will conduct the Vienna Philharmonic, which, more than any other top orchestra, has been criticized for its slow pace of adding women to its ranks. Marin Alsop will make her debut in Lucerne conducting the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, and Barbara Hannigan will conduct the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Susanna Mälkki will conduct a new work by Olga Neuwirth, the festival’s composer in residence.”
Maria Callas Still Sets The Opera Diva Standard, Even After Half A Century
Peter G. Davis argues that La Divina changed both the way we listen to opera and the ambitions and goals of countless later singers.
English National Opera: We’ve Turned The Page
Cressida Pollock, the former McKinsey consultant who last month was appointed chief executive on a three-year contract, said they were in process of searching for an “artistic leader” to replace Berry, but there was no schedule for the appointment, nor any decision as to what this person’s title or exact role will be.
Study: Streaming Isn’t Killing Recording Industry Revenues
“When looking the top songs each week and calculating how much rights holders were paid, researchers find that streaming usage increases music-industry revenue thanks to the ability to convert those who were either downloading illegally or not listening to tracks at all. But those gains are pretty much offset by streaming’s displacement of permanent track purchases or downloads.”
When Bar(n)-Storming Cellist Matt Haimovitz Colonized Columbia University Campus
“Students eating at Columbia University’s John Jay Dining Hall, an airy den reverberating with undergraduate chatter, were in for a surprise last Wednesday. When they walked in for dinner, they found Matt Haimovitz – the cellist who helped to start a trend by performing in places like an East Village punk club and a pizzeria in Jackson, Miss. – playing Bach.”
Why Contemporary Music Musicians Aren’t Unionized
“The AFM and other unions play a significant role in the realm of larger, more traditional music making—orchestras, musicals, film recording, opera, et cetera—but they are far less visible when it comes to performances of new music.”
Classical Music Losing Its Audience? It’s A Matter Of Relevance
“Might there be a concert a few decades hence in which – God willing – my trio is still performing, but only to an audience of one? And if that listener were to perish mid performance, would we keep playing?”
Is There Still Any Value In Big International Music Competitions?
There is something to be said for weathering the rigour of these competitions without ever actually placing, as victories can take on a pyrrhic quality. “Life is squeezed out of the winner, as he has to keep touring and play his winning pieces.”
Parents, This Is Why Not To Push Your Kids To Become Child Prodigy Musicians
“‘For every ten students, one will attempt suicide, one will become mentally ill, two will become alcoholics, two will slam doors and jettison the violin out the window, three will work as violinists, and perhaps one will become a soloist.’ For aspiring violinists and their parents – including Wagner herself – those are not good chances. Why would anyone choose that kind of life?”