Category: music

“Harry Bicket, the British early music specialist, is to be the next chief conductor of Santa Fe Opera, starting in October. He succeeds conductor Frederic Chaslin, who resigned last August after just two seasons on the job, saying he wanted to focus on composing and his duties as music director of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.”

The Portuguese-speaking archipelago off Africa’s Atlantic coast “has few exportable resources, but it has a strong musical heritage,” made famous worldwide by the late Cesária Evora. “So making the country’s greatest cultural asset its selling point makes sense” – and the country’s culture minister and its top impresario are giving it a try.

“Back in the 1970s, a ticket to a Rolling Stones concert in Toronto cost around $8. Tickets for the band’s upcoming Toronto stops on its 50th anniversary tour start at $166.50, with the priciest spots listed for upwards of $600 a seat.”

“This new internet paradigm has already enabled some cool stuff — like a website that allows musicians to enter into a dialogue with their peers and their music, and for music fans to have a ringside seat to it all. And that new paradigm will surely enable a lot of other creative reactions to the big changes happening all around us.”

“Any institution that made a habit of spotlighting women would, by default, become a livelier place. It’s possible that the indifference to classical music observed in younger generations has something to do with the musty, clubby atmosphere of the repertory. To outsiders, the typical concert must look a bit like zombie night at the Bohemian Grove.”

“More than nine months out of bankruptcy, it’s still a struggle to get past living hand-to-mouth. A few months ago, leaders believed they had only enough cash to get them comfortably through mid-April. Now the ‘pinch point,’ where cash dips below a safe margin of $1.9 million, is mid-August, chief financial officer Mario Mestichelli said.”

“Frankfurt Opera was crowned the world’s best opera company on Monday at the inaugural International Opera Awards which were set up to promote opera to a wider audience as it comes under increasing financial pressure.” Top singer awards went to soprano Nina Stemme and tenor Jonas Kaufmann; Royal Opera music director Antonio Pappano took best conductor honours.

“An online petition entitled No to the King’s Song had attracted 37,000 signatures. Mr Ewbank has now withdrawn it as the official anthem.”

“I can truly say it is my second home. It’s not a particularly flashy shop, nor hugely contemporary – more council library feel than High Fidelity – but nevertheless … the combined encyclopedic knowledge of the staff and passion for exploring music releases felt like striking gold.”

“Caroline Shaw is different in many ways from previous Pulitzer winners, but it is the sense of enjoyment in being a part of something bigger than oneself that, in my humble opinion, makes her stand out.”