Category: music

The celebrated Baroque specialist ensemble “is losing the support it has received for 25 years for performing and teaching in Caen, where the city and regional French governments are cutting back.” But, says founder/director William Christie, the group is better situated to absorb the shock than many other French arts organizations.

“Groupmuse – started in 2012 and run by [Sam] Bodkin, Ezra Weller and Kyle Nichols-Schmolze – matches Groupmuse users looking to host a concert with willing musicians needing a venue to perform. Once a match is set up, other ‘Groupmusers’ are invited to attend, creating an event that’s part house concert, part party, part social platform.” (includes video)

Composer and musicologist Stef Conner means to try. “The reason I think we can do this is that the language of the poems – their stresses, intonation, and rhythm – provides clues about musical style.”

“The symphony’s problems arguably go all the way back to 1962, when more than 100 of Atlanta’s leading arts patrons embarked on a museum tour of Europe. Heading home, their plane skidded off a runway in Paris and burst into flames. Atlanta’s then-Mayor Ivan Allen Jr. acknowledged that almost the entirety of his city’s ‘old money’ philanthropic class perished on that plane.”

That is, are you addicted to binge-watching? You can – and should – overcome it by understanding the way TV plots work.

Or not? “The fractured communication seemed to have reached its zenith on Saturday night when the administration and players released contradictory statements about their acceptance — or lack thereof — of the help of a federal mediator to restart stalled negotiations.”

“Despite the increased public demand for vinyl records, spanning mass reissue campaigns of premium-quality vinyl by classic bands such as Pink Floyd to small seven-inch runs by local bands to sell at gigs, press operators say that profit margins are narrowing because of the increased costs involved in locating, refurbishing, installing, operating, and ultimately repairing machines that are no longer made but are pushed harder and faster than they were in their heyday.”

“According the Recording Industry Association of America, which collects sales numbers from the major record companies, just under $3.2 billion in music sales was recorded in the first half of 2014. That is down 4.9 percent from the same period in 2013, the association reported on Thursday. But a closer look at the numbers shows how much music consumption patterns are changing.”

“Having been troubled by the ill health of its previous musical director, James Levine, the orchestra endured a long interregnum of guest conductors while a replacement was sought. The selection of the ebullient Mr Nelsons seems calculated to banish memories of that period.”

Nicola Luisotti, known in the U.S. as music director of San Francisco Opera, has resigned from the same post at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Unlike other recent departures, Luisotti’s statement was soft-spoken and cordial, saying only that his other commitments don’t permit him to stay on. Yet things are rarely so simple in Italian opera houses, and two other senior staff members have left recently as well. (in Italian)