Category: music

The Italian maestro saved the Met’s bacon – sometimes breaking contracts to do so – repeatedly over the past couple of seasons when ailing Met music director James Levine withdrew from performances on short notice. Now that Levine seems to be back, Luisi indicates that he will have to honor his existing commitments, even if Levine should fall ill again.

Conductor Doron Salomon came to the Beersheva orchestra “in 2005 when it was almost bankrupt, in financial collapse … without a musical director, without a home concert hall worthy of the name.” In seven years, he’s turned the band “into a likable chamber orchestra with a lovely sound, a lively and enthusiastic presence on the stage and the ability to attract an audience.”

“The chief executive of the Welsh National Opera (WNO) has defended the decision to put on a Gordon Getty opera after a donation from the Getty family.”

“With this growing emphasis on HD-quality realism, what physical skills must an opera singer have to make it today? Is opera becoming too dangerous?”

“The tradition of Italian brass bands playing at Chinese funerals on Mulberry Street arose out of the proximity of the Chinese and Italian communities in Manhattan. As Chinatown stretched into Little Italy, Italian funeral parlors were taken over by Chinese owners. Because it was traditional for Chinese dignitaries to have brass at their funerals, the Italian bands remained a staple.”

The Philadelphia Orchestra may be having some money troubles, but they’re nothing compared to the trouble 9-year-old Aidan Milligan was in after someone took his trombone. So the orchestra is fixing Milligan’s problem.

Because, at least in the UK, you’re probably not going to want a hymn. And that Eric Idle song “Always Look on the Bright Side” gets a surprising amount of play.

The £1.2 million ($2 million) gift comes with at least one string attached: “The works planned for the next five years include one by composer Gordon Getty, son of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty.”

“Solti knew well that a World Orchestra for Peace, no matter how noble its intentions, could do little to make world peace a reality. But he was a musician, not a diplomat; he could contribute only through his music-making, and he viewed this orchestra as a symbol of how the world could change if the mentality of enough people could be turned around.”

“Defying opera world doubters who thought he was too ill, weak or disengaged, the longtime and much loved music director of the Metropolitan Opera plans to return to the podium for the first time in two years, for a May 19 performance by the Met Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and for three productions at the opera house next season.”