Category: music

“Nonclassical, the London-based indie-classical new-music label and club series run by the composer and producer” (and yes, grandson of the composer), “will present the first New York installment of the Classical Club-Nights series it presents monthly in London.”

A majority of the parliament has voted against state broadcaster DR’s decision to shut down the 75-year-old ensemble (recently the star of a popular viral video). On the other hand, DR operates under the “arm’s-length” principle: parliamentary interference in its operations is highly unusual. So the Culture Minister is in a tricky position

“The service, called YouTube Music Key, is a paid subscription service currently in beta, and you’ll need an invite to start using it. For early adopters, it will cost $7.99 per month with the first six months free, and eventually it will cost $9.99 per month, the same price as Spotify Premium.”

Geoffrey Baker: “I went to Venezuela in search of the program’s secret. But to my surprise, Venezuelan musicians and cultural observers told me privately about a different Sistema … Seen overseas as a beacon of social justice, at home the program was characterised variously as a cult and a corporation.”

“I have to wonder if [Baker] spoke to any of the parents of the kids from the barrios, the slums, who are desperate to get their kids into El Sistema because for them the alternative is these kids getting involved in drugs or crime,” responded one Venezuelan.

“The Metropolitan Opera, whose financial struggles led it to cut the pay of its orchestra, chorus, stagehands and other workers last summer after a labor battle, said Wednesday that it was also asking its solo singers voluntarily to lower their fees, including some of opera’s biggest stars.”

“Kevin Smith, who won warm reviews for his performance since taking over as interim president and CEO in August [following the long and bitter lockout], agreed to continue through the 2017-18 season. ‘It was not in my original plan, but I thought: Why not, it’ll be an adventure,’ the former Minnesota Opera chief said Wednesday.”

Facing a 29% cut in funding from Arts Council England, ENO has pulled out of a co-production of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo scheduled for next April at the Bristol Old Vic, which is now looking for a new collaborator for the project.

Someone evidently took two scores and the baton case of Bramwell Tovey shortly after he conducted a Vancouver Symphony performance of Britten’s War Requiem on Saturday.

Says the soprano, now 55, “I’m really happy with my opera life – 54 roles was a lot to learn and perform and so I think I may leave well enough alone. I have another three years of various new productions and so I’m not stopping yet – let’s not put the cart before the horse, but I’m thinking down the road.”