Category: music

“Scotland’s second Sistema orchestra has been given the go ahead in the Govanhill area of Glasgow. Big Noise Govanhill will follow the example of its sister orchestra in Stirling’s Raploch area which was set up five years ago.”

“I think in the long run, that will be the way people consume music – classical music and other music. And if I look at my crystal ball, I would say that in five years, 50% of our business will be in all kinds of streaming.”

“A stage performance by bikini-clad women wearing headpieces styled after traditional Peking Opera has sparked debate in China after photos were made public this week, highlighting divided views on how to preserve the country’s traditions.”

“Conductor Bruno Aprea has left Palm Beach Opera. The Italian maestro, who restored luster, vitality and musical consistency to the West Palm Beach company in the chaotic years following the death of longtime artistic director Anton Guadagno has abruptly left the company he led for the past seven years after rejecting his contract for the upcoming season.”

The rumor was true: Beginning with the 2015-16 season, Nagano will be the music director of the Hamburg State Opera and Philharmonic Orchestra. “This job will keep the 60-year-old Californian in the opera business, and in Germany, after he leaves the Bavarian State Opera in Munich next July.” (He has also just extended his Montreal Symphony contract through 2015-16.)

“There was a very serious possibility that substantial parts of our season would have been canceled, including the (upcoming New York/Mexico) tour. I think both sides realized that that was a catastrophe, and we couldn’t afford that. So they gave a little, and we gave a little.”

“The Minnesota Orchestra offer clarifies and adjusts proposed changes in work rules, but maintains the original deal’s financial package: a cut in average annual salary from $135,000 to $89,000; guaranteed pension contribution of 7.63 percent of base salary, 10 weeks of paid vacation and up to 26 weeks of paid sick leave.”

The musicians’ union spokesman “said a document was produced from Monday night’s round of negotiations. On Tuesday, it was forwarded to the full orchestra for a vote, and the results are expected Wednesday night. … [He added] that the document and the vote did not mean that an agreement had been reached.”

“The relationship the middle class had with north Indian classical music from the mid-19th century onward was hardly lacking in ambivalence. It was identified with the prostitutes’ quarters, and with the bazaar, where its most accomplished practitioners were reportedly found. … By the time the middle class began to show a grudging but genuine curiosity, it had become, by the new standards of 19th-century India, disreputable, and had to, in a sense, be Vedantaised.”

The conductor best-known as founder and director of the Gabrieli Consort and Players “has been appointed principal conductor and artistic advisor of the Lisbon-based Gulbenkian Orchestra from July 2013 on a four-year contract. He succeeds Lawrence Foster, who has spent 11 years in the role.”