“Female conductors no longer attract open-mouthed attention among music lovers or the news media, yet they remain far from being fairly represented.”
Category: music
In A Streaming World, Marketing Music Takes Serious Creativity
“The launch of Beyoncé was a pop-culture event in itself, quite apart from the actual music.”
After 120 Candidates And Two Years, Here’s The Tacoma Symphony’s New Music Director
“Named in 2009 by The Los Angeles Times as one of six younger female conductors breaking the “glass podium, ” the 41-year-old Sarah Ioannides was born in Australia to a Scottish mother and Cypriot conductor father.”
Meet Germany’s Top Contemporary Composer: He’ll Communicate Only By Fax
When David Patrick Stearns set up his interview with Wolfgang Rihm, these were the conditions he was given: “No phone calls. No e-mail. Only questions submitted (in English) by fax and returned by fax, on handwritten pages – in German.” Says Donald Nally, who’s conducting a major work of Rihm’s this weekend in Philadelphia and New York, “I envy someone living in a different century like that.”
Bankruptcy Judge Says NYC Opera Can’t Return Ticket-Buyers’ Money
“When City Opera was forced to cancel the rest of its season on Oct. 1, after its last-ditch effort to fund raise failed, customers had already purchased $323,000 worth of tickets for the canceled performances.”
New York City Opera Staff And Ticketholders Can’t Jump The Creditors’ Line, Says Judge
“New York City Opera will not be allowed to immediately return ticket fees to customers who paid for canceled performances or provide severance to full-time employees who lost their jobs, according to a bankruptcy court ruling Wednesday.”
New Owner Promises Handmade Steinways for Years to Come
“For 160 years, the pianos made by Steinway & Sons have been considered the finest in the world. So when hedge fund billionaire John Paulson recently bought the company, it struck fear in the hearts of musicians: Would the famously handcrafted pianos be changed, for the sake of efficiency?”
How The NY Philharmonic’s New Contract Changes The Orchestra World
“In a blow that is both psychological and economic, base pay at the Philharmonic, which is the oldest symphony orchestra in the nation and one of the most prestigious, has in recent years fallen behind that of orchestras in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston.”
High Notes and Low Tones for Classical Music in 2013
WQXR’s Brian Wise offers citations for Worst Financial Woes (a competitive category), Most Complicated Anniversary, Best and Worst Marketing Ploys, and Podium Pharmacist of 2013 (that would be Michael Tilson Thomas).
12 Pivotal Moments in Opera in 2013
For WQXR, Philadelphia Inquirer critic (and ArtsJournal blogger) David Patrick Stearns cites the Wagner/Verdi/Britten anniversaries (naturally), a thrilling Monteverdian battle, seedy Baroque opera in a strip club burlesque house, and the hot new opera score he stole from the neighbor’s trash.