Category: music

“After serving a 14-year sentence for murder, no one would have expected Sarah Jane Coffman to go anywhere near the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center once she was released. But every Saturday she makes the 10-mile drive with a viola in tow for orchestra practice at the prison just north of Anchorage.”

“It has been one of the most difficult years for concerts and festivals in living memory. Biblical deluges washed away tents, punters and profits at outdoor events and gigs have fallen prey to the struggling economy. But one of the biggest challenges music promoters faced in 2012 was picky customers who became increasingly difficult to please, say one of the leading figures in the UK live music industry.”

“With a few people pacing around the gallery, you get tape players sounding off from all sides — an immersive symphony of a near-extinct technology.”

Sufjian Stevens’ new Christmas music collection, “supports the contrarian notion that all meaningful holiday music already has been written, recorded and re-recorded.”

“There is enough evidence of unfair labor practices by the Jacksonville Symphony Association to take the musicians’ union’s complaint before an administrative law judge, the National Labor Relations Board has decided.”

“Don’t let any revisionist historian tell you otherwise — it was a closed system. The battle lines were clearly drawn: tonality versus atonality, serialization versus alleatoric/open form/conceptualism.”

“The move to dismiss Arild Remmereit comes at a critical time for the orchestra. As of September, officials said the deficit for this fiscal year could reach more than $700,000. The RPO also is in negotiations with its musicians on a new contract.”

“Even as the group in fiscal 2012 reduced debt, attracted new listeners and raised near-record amounts, its endowment barely grew and the root causes of past deficits lingered. … One of the brighter spots in the report: the near-elimination of the annual deficit.”

“[The] past few years have been difficult for the Argentine composer: He has missed deadlines for new pieces and was accused earlier this year of plagiarism. On Thursday, Golijov whiffed again with the announcement that his new violin concerto – already delayed – will not be ready for its scheduled performances in January.”

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director “earned about $2.2 million in salary, performance fees, and recording and broadcast fees in 2011.” Says orchestra president Deborah Rutter, “The musicians continue to be head over heels in love with their music director and we have seen that pride extend throughout the city.”