Category: music

“Since arriving in L.A. in 2000, Deborah Borda got Disney Hall built, created a $140 million endowment, discovered Gustavo Dudamel, and started YOLA (Youth Orchestra of L.A.) — her version of Venezuela’s highly regarded El Sistema music program — for disadvantaged kids.”

“Today the notion that high art can also be entertainment is anathema to those who think that genius is not suited to accessibility and that opera presentations should be a Spartan exercise. This concept has potentially threatened opera’s very existence, resulting in the staging of some operas over the last several decades that misguidedly deconstruct familiar plots, thereby depriving audiences — particularly new ones — of the satisfaction of being able to follow the original storylines.”

“In an era in which women are told to “lean in” and recognize the inequities that still exist in the workplace, but in which female leadership is also becoming more common, the question is: Does this matter? And the consensus from female leaders seems to be: We’re not sure.”

“The orchestra’s management … requested that the musicians vote on the proposal] by Sept. 9. Later in the day, the musicians responded with a statement that said: ‘The offer management presented is the same offer the musicians unanimously rejected a few weeks ago.'”

“For a one-time payment of $25, students can attend as many concerts as they like during the whole 2013-14 season. A few ‘premium events’ are excluded, but orchestra officials say that still leaves about 90 percent of the scheduled concerts.”

Says Klaus Heymann on his label group’s subscription streaming service, which offers more than 85,000 CDs on 250 labels, “Today more than 60% of music is consumed on mobile devices. I read a sci-fi novel years ago in which you could get your music from a socket in the wall. Now you don’t even need the socket.”

“The agreement seemingly ends a year of fiscal storm and stress for the embattled symphony organization. Still reeling from the setback of the May 2010 flood, the NSO board raised creditors’ concerns earlier this year when it declined to renew a letter of credit totaling $100 million in bonds used to build its gleaming downtown facility, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.”

“Through the prism of literature, art and science. Students who didn’t have a sense of classical music can now compare Beethoven and Debussy. What is remarkable, aside from the technology, is that you get to hear the voice of the performer and the critic. It makes the big ideas audible.”

“Music director Osmo Vänskä has said the orchestra must be in rehearsal by Sept. 30 to be ready for the early November concerts. To make that happen, orchestra management said Wednesday that it would need to reach agreement with its union musicians by Sept. 15.”