Category: music

“Massive job losses are expected at Rome Opera after it was announced that the theatre would go into receivership after debts of 29 million euros ($39m) at the end of 2011 were [revealed].” Union reps have announced that there is “zero chance” that this week’s season-opening production of Verdi’s Ernani (conducted by Riccardo Muti) will proceed.

“Seventy-five Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians joined music director Edo de Waart and guest pianist Ingrid Fliter to play a matinee concert last Friday at the Marcus Center. … Rick Wood photographed the musicians before, during and after the concert, with an eye toward capturing images of what their day’s work is like.”

“When the cassette tape became increasingly significant in the 70s and 80s, a vinyl album fitted neatly on to one side of a C90. For these reasons alone, the standard running time for an album became roughly 45 minutes.”

“Van Zweden was almost unknown in the U.S. when he became the DSO’s music director in 2008. Since then, the Dutch conductor has presided over dramatic improvements in the orchestra.”

“Visiting us is like visiting a cultural hub; it’s not simply a place for purchasing. There’s a relative lack of places [in New York] that allow people to hang out in an environment that celebrates the art, not the commodity.”

“The standing places were empty enough for me to put my back up against the wall and pretend to conduct whole scenes without anyone seeing me while the action onstage appeared to go on among tiny but very loud ants.”

“About 100,000 singers – most of them children – from 640 choirs as far afield as Melbourne and California will sing Britten’s Friday Afternoons to mark the composer’s 100th birthday on Friday, turning the event into one of the largest global community singing projects ever attempted.”

“In a graph-filled presentation, Save Our Symphony Vice Chairman Jonathan Eisenberg and Treasurer Mariellen Jacobson called on MOA leadership to be replaced and called for the governor, state auditor, the state’s attorney general, as well as Minneapolis officials, to investigate financial operations of the MOA.”

“I suggest that audiences of new music listeners separate not because of aesthetic barriers, but due to the specific mechanics through which music is created, presented, and consumed.”

“The bulk of Madge’s millions came from the tail end of her MDNA Tour, which grossed $305 million. She augments her income with heady merchandise sales at concerts, as well as her Material Girl clothing line and Truth or Dare fragrance.”