Category: music

“Opera Atelier is already the busiest touring opera company in North America, but its 30th season will enhance that reputation even further. Already a regular guest at the Opera Royal at the Palace of Versailles in France, the Toronto company will now make it official, appearing at Versailles every other season.”

“The company survived the drama of its board leadership and longtime director trying to kill it and opened its 50th season Saturday night … with La Bohème. There’s nothing like a near-death experience to wake you up, and if the company had an elitist identity before its near-death experience, it now promises to become the community’s opera company.”

Rising young Mexican conductor Alondra de la Parra and mid-career Australian maestra Simone Young discuss learning and shaping a score, keeping your head about you on and off the podium, and why they’d rather not have to deal with the woman-conductor thing. (audio)

“Today the disruption is being disrupted: Digital track sales are falling at nearly the same rate as CD sales, as music fans are turning to streaming—on iTunes, SoundCloud, Spotify, Pandora, iHeartRadio, and music blogs.”

“Living mostly in Europe these days and having to play the role of explaining just what is going on in contemporary American music to my composer colleagues there, I’ve run up against the opinion that seemingly everything is probably minimalist and if not, it’s loud and ambiguously tonal with orchestral tutti upon orchestral tutti, European orchestral music is taut, lean, precise, sophisticated, timbral, and we can go on.”

“Gergiev is known to have close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Gergiev not only voiced his support for Putin after the leader passed anti-gay legislation, he also recently offered a quote to The New York Times Magazine regarding Russia’s annexation of Crimea.”

“Soldiers who had come back from World War II didn’t seem to be as interested in the more complex, challenging kind of popular song, the more jazz-based song. Sentimental ballads and, yes, novelty numbers, suddenly was much more appealing.”

“The current situation, of a fragile status quo, and an orchestra having to run ever harder and harder to stand still, is too precarious to sustain in the medium and longer term.”

“Vetro has lived through the rise of Auto-Tune, and he says it’s never had an impact on his business. He asserts that proper technique and vocal maintenance are still crucial for working artists, and that many singers and producers who record in fancy studios still push to get the most genuine vocal performances possible.”

Be sure to follow the link to the full Twitter conversation about the entire category. To quote one participant, “Sibelius was $1,600. No one got him either.”