Category: music

“A Twitter feud in June between the Estonian president and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman who questioned the impact of Estonia’s austerity measures, is being turned into an opera, [said] US composer Eugene Birman.”

“It’s hardly a new concept–during World War I, Stravinsky wrote Histoire du Soldat as a multimedia petit spectacle that could tour on the cheap–but technology and the popularity of black-box theater have given it a fresh jolt of energy.”

“While it’s great that the Royal Opera House intends to put new opera at the heart of its next few seasons, the reasons shouldn’t be the (albeit worthy) ones of doing new opera to safeguard the future of the artform; nor because it makes Covent Garden feel more justified in receiving its proportionally huge grant.”

“‘Our customers sometimes get quite upset,’ says Jon Kelly. ‘Pianos have often been passed through generations of one family and have great sentimental value. We’ve been on jobs where people cry when the piano’s taken away.'”

“The symphony reported Tuesday that it had raised $3.2 million of the $5 million it set as a fundraising goal. That raises the possibility that the group could have to reopen negotiations with its musicians.”

“So far this season, student attendance is up 55 percent and totals more than 18,000 young people. On an average subscription evening at Severance Hall this year, 16 percent of listeners are students.”

“Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti has been diagnosed with an internal hernia that will force him to bow out of the orchestra’s entire 10-day tour of the Far East, Jan. 25-Feb. 3.”

As part of a nine-opera 2013-14 season that will feature nearly half again as many performances as this one, HGO will present the first installment (Rheingold) of Wagner’s tetralogy in the Valencia staging by the (in)famous Barcelona theater troupe La Fura dels Baus.

“Management and musicians of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra met twice at the beginning of January, but those talks appear to have gone nowhere. Management announced Thursday evening that it would cancel concerts through March 23.”

“It’s not the restoration of a national radio presence, but the Philadelphia Orchestra will return to regional radio under the terms of a new deal with WRTI-FM.”