Category: music

Although the term “protest music” conjures images of Baez, Dylan, Marley, Molotov, and many more, its roots lie in the classical traditions represented by La Solfónica, a rabble-rousing group that plays at demonstrations across Madrid.

“The board for the bankrupt New York City Opera said Thursday that it still wanted to sell the company’s name and few remaining assets to its preferred suitor, even though another bidder offered $250,000 more for them at an auction in court earlier this week.”

With promises of a “revolutionary piano” and its strapline “Sound Beyond Time” (I have literally no idea what that means) comes the Bogányi piano, named after its creator, the Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi.

Helga Schmidt, who has long been criticized for lavish spending – on her lodging and travel expenses as well as on such expensive artists as Lorin Maazel, Plácido Domingo and Zubin Mehta – has been accused of manipulating contracts and accepting commissions on artists she engaged at the Palau de les Arts, part of the futuristic arts-and-sciences complex designed by Santiago Calatrava.

“The chairman of [ENO], Martyn Rose, will step down from his position on 15 February, reportedly because he believes that a full-time commitment is required to guide the organisation through its £5m drop in Arts Council England funding.”

“I think the organization is extremely well positioned right now,” Fine said. “It’s financially solid.” The orchestra spent about $3.1 million in the fiscal year ending in 2013, according to audited financial statements. It reported a surplus of about $1.8 million for the year. Fine said the orchestra is forecasting another surplus for the current year.

“When one of these kinds of bands sells 1000 LPs, it’s doesn’t look like much in the scheme of the entire music industry. But in terms of the personal economy of the sort of band I’m talking about, it can be significant. That’s why this sector doesn’t need to grow to 1970s levels to be a small but significant part of a healthy music business ecosystem.”

The Inspiring Performance campaign, launched quietly in 2007 and publicly in 2012, raised $172.9 million to “fund world premieres, new productions of established operas and the company’s first staging of Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung.”

“The orchestra had been facing closure but a deal was announced this week to provide funding – reportedly in the region of £400,000 – giving the body a reprieve.”