Category: music

It’s a surprising number for an art form that has supposedly hit hard times.

“According to the opera statistics website Operabase, last year 7,230 opera performances took place in Germany, one-third of the world’s total. The United States was a distant second, at 1,730 performances, followed by Russia and France, at 1,441 and 1,288, respectively. Austria ranked sixth, at 1,252 performances, and Switzerland ninth, at 795.”

“Sometime a few years ago some local members of the arts scene decided that it would be fun to start a summer opera company and hold all the productions in an outdoor platz that is part of the ruins of an old milling company, now turned into an educational museum. The next morning, when they had sobered up, it still seemed like a good idea, so they ran with it. The result is one of the most fun and entertaining additions to the Twin Cities art scene in many a year.”

“Now 24, Matthew Aucoin has become one of the most sought-after young voices in classical music. He also is one of the most ambitious, setting himself the goal of transforming opera into something other than musical spinach for a new generation. He is as close as the art form comes to a triple threat, racking up accomplishments as a composer, conductor and pianist.”

“There’s a lot of blame to spread around for our music appreciation downgrade: illegal downloads, corporate record companies missing the digital curve, overly compressed music resulting in fatigue and “digititus,” and the low-res quality of mp3 files, to name only a few factors. All of these things contribute to the devaluing of music as a distinct primary experience. But I think there’s a single phenomenon that’s working harder than all the others: The constant bombardment of music functioning as an aspect of an environment, in spaces from restaurants to government offices to bars to shopping malls, reducing music to just so much sonic wallpaper.”

Sharon Pian Chan: “The Mikado is the same shtick, different race. A black wig and white face powder stand in for shoeshine. Bowing and shuffling replaces tap dancing. Fans flutter where banjos would be strummed. … This is the wrong show – wrong for Seattle, wrong for this country and wrong for this century. And I don’t mean wong.”

Company business manager Pamela Kelley Elend: “Ms. Chan formed her opinion, and it is an opinion not backed up by facts, research, or actually seeing a performance … She wielded that power [of the press] to lob the journalistic equivalent of a flaming bag of dog poop on our door step. We can try to stomp out the fire, and rinse off the residue, but we are still tainted by the stink.”

“The diva’s tour has grossed a reported $54.9 million through the end of its first leg on July 11. A total of 610,812 attendees went to the 49 shows — all of which were sell-outs.”

“Bruce Kallos, board chairman of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, died suddenly Sunday afternoon at Wilmington Hospital from complications associated with a blood infection. He was 79. … Kallos was elected in April to the symphony’s highest leadership post, after former board chairwoman Tatiana Copeland abruptly resigned.”

“Sila is actually five separate scores – one each for strings, winds, brass, percussion, and chorus – that can be performed concurrently in any combination, from one section at a time to all five together. ‘If you just perform it with strings, then it’s pretty delicate, like a Japanese rock garden,’ Adams says. But gather the whole thing into an ensemble that is 80 strong, and the result should be able to hold its own.” It’ll need to – it’s premiering outdoors in Manhattan.