Category: music

“Opera is vigorous in ways it never was before. Its future will certainly be unlike its past, but no less resplendent. That has been the nature of opera throughout its long history.”

“With more arms than a centipede, the Philadelphia Orchestra now has the most diverse touring schedule in its history, including coaching sessions and joint concerts with local orchestras” – and a tie-in with Zhou Libo, “a dapper, surprisingly outspoken comic who has rock-star status in China.”

“In the ’70s, the Kronos Quartet made the once-stodgy string quartet stylish enough [for] David Bowie … In the ’80s, violinist Nigel Kennedy sported such a punk look that he was once turned away at the backstage door of a London concert hall … Organist Cameron Carpenter and violinist Amadéus Leopold come across, in their bejeweled fashion statements, as 21st century Liberacistes.”

“The 4,335 singers of all ages and from nearly all of the city’s professional and amateur choirs sang from the steps of St. Isaac’s Cathedral before thousands of spectators under an intermittent rain.”

“The only thing I enjoyed about the piece this time was how much it ‘entertained’ my downstairs neighbor responsible for the second-hand smoke in my bedroom; he had banged on his ceiling during my streams in, say, collaborative response to the work’s anti-patterns.”

“The second reissue was the rare Mozart box set. A collection of the composer’s complete Parisian work on seven discs, directed by Fernand Oubradous, and limited to 300 copies, it will cost you £2,495.”

“A violin thought to be the one played by the band leader of the Titanic as it sank has been declared genuine following a CT scan at a hospital.”

“Some companies are reinventing themselves with complex business models. Others are sharing productions as a way to trim costs and increase production values. No matter what model these companies choose, however, they’re all chasing funds to sustain themselves.”

The orchestra “is buying the iconic Plaza Live Theatre on Bumby Avenue, where [it] will update the 1,000-seat music hall to accommodate chamber music concerts while also keeping a schedule of rock, jazz, comedy and contemporary music shows.”