Category: music

“Matt Catingub, whose last performance as conductor of the former Honolulu Symphony pops was in 2009, said Tuesday he is forming an independent pops orchestra called Hawaii Pops that will launch its first season later this year.” Following the collapse of the Honolulu Symphony, a new Hawaii Symphony Orchestra gave its first concert in March 2012.

“Citing frustration over lack of progress in discussions with locked-out musicians over an independent analysis of the orchestra’s finances, management at the Minnesota Orchestra today announced it has launched a study on its own.” Management insists that the analysis be numbers-only and not include assessments of executive or board performance; the musicians object to those limitations.

“For its third production this season, the itinerant New York City Opera returned to New York City Center, where it was born as “the people’s opera” in 1944 and spent the first two decades of its life. The opera world has undergone major changes since then, and City Opera, still battling back from a near-death experience four years ago, continues to search for a distinctive contemporary identity, one that will attract sufficient audiences and donors to sustain it.”

“Some 91% of digital income in Sweden now comes from streaming sites, compared with just 13% worldwide. The services were the main force behind the Swedish music market’s 13.8% growth last year, marking a return to a level last seen in 2005, according to the industry body the IFPI.”

“This year’s Richard Tucker award – often called the ‘Heisman Trophy of opera’ – goes to mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard. … Each year the nonprofit Richard Tucker Music Foundation awards the prize – plus $30,000 – to ‘an American singer poised on the edge of a major national and international career’.”

“Study participants browsed through 60 songs they had never heard before and were encouraged to use their own money to acquire the ones they wanted. Participants underwent MRI scans as they perused the music selection and specified how much they were willing to spend on each song. Music was available for free, 99 cents, $1.29 or $2.”

“Up in these mountains, they grow so slowly sometimes they stop growing altogether. They just gather strength. There are trees up here that are a thousand years old.”

“Amazing for Americans to hear, the financing was 95 percent public … And public spirit carries into the design.”

“‘Should we allow ourselves to listen to his works with pleasure, even though we know that he was an anti-Semite?’ There’s a bigger issue behind this question: Can Germans enjoy any part of their history in a carefree way?”