Category: music

“In January 2011, Peter Mark launched a new opera company in Hampton Roads after being fired by Virginia Opera, where he had served as artistic director for more than three decades. Now, his company, Lyric Opera Virginia, is facing financial difficulties and has turned its 2013 season over to Virginia Opera.”

“Martin Wright, chorus master of the Lyric Opera of Chicago, has abruptly resigned from the post, less than halfway through his first season on the job. In a cryptic two-sentence statement released Saturday morning, the company said that Wright had resigned ‘for health reasons’.”

Charging for virtual goods might be the next big revenue-earning tool for music businesses. “Ads can carry a lot of the load, but not all,”

“In our day and age, it’s almost safe to say that every musical community out there has struggled with its sense of ‘authenticity.’ Is it just about the music? Or does it matter who plays it?”

An invitation to a dialogue around classical music – start your letters ASAP.

“Playing music interpreted from even the most detail-oriented notation includes elements of improvisation (especially when sight reading). So improvisation is ubiquitous; it always comes down to a matter of degree.”

“The landscape is saturated with information, the age of mechanical reproduction that Walter Benjamin so famously worried over is now inherent. One could think of warhorses as the monopolizing surplus of that reproduction, reprints squeezing out the space for new releases. But one could also think of them as watchclock checkpoints — fixed stations in the cultural warehouse, keys that we need to periodically turn in order to keep our bearings among an ever-expanding floor plan.”

“The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra is playing its last two concerts of the year this week, and possibly its last ever. Mismanagement, lack of funding and dwindling audiences have laid waste to the company’s finances.”

“Alann Sampson, interim president and CEO of the Van Cliburn Foundation, abruptly resigned this week, the latest in a string of recent departures from the parent of the prestigious Cliburn International Piano Competition.”