Category: music

“The [Baltimore Symphony Orchestra] academy was a kind of fantasy camp, better known to rock and baseball fans. But unlike air-guitarists or flabby softball players, we faced a high level of intensity from the start. The music was difficult, even for the pros many of us hoped to keep up with. Virtually all of us were there to improve our technique and musicality, not merely soak up star power.”

“Figures released by Swedish recording industry association GLF show that revenue from streaming music online jumped 79.4 percent to $40 million (SEK 252.7 million) compared with the first half of last year. Digital music sales now account for 89 percent of total music revenues in Sweden.”

Despite extended protests, the state-funded network – strapped for money, like most state entities in Europe these days – has decided to merge the ensemble based in Freiburg and Baden-Baden into the larger orchestra in Stuttgart.

The letter was sent by a group representing more than 6,000 artists across the EU, including Robbie Williams, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Annie Lennox and dance producer CJ Bolland.

Some might ask “What difference can a folk singer from the Blue Ridge Mountains make in a tortured place like Afghanistan?” It’s a valid question–partly answered by one of the State Department officers who said our visit did “more for diplomacy between Afghanistan and the United States than any diplomat had done, more then any road that was built, or any power plant that was constructed in the last year.”

“Seeking to bring increasing expenses in line with revenue, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra laid off six full-time administrative employees last week. None of the 82 orchestra musicians, who work under a union contract, are affected by the cuts.”

“[A] recent study compared the lifespans of 286 sopranos, altos, and mezzo-sopranos (the latter two were combined into one unit), born between 1850 and 1930. … [C]ontrolling for birth year (people born in 1850 were at a disadvantage!), sopranos lived about five years longer than the lower-voiced female singers.” The key? Higher estrogen levels, apparently.

“‘Burn the Quran! Burn the fucking Quran!’ [an Iraqi] woman screams hoarsely, over and over again. Tinny guitars course beneath her howls, sawing away at any semblance of melody. Sampled snippets of fundamentalist Islamic rhetoric filter through, and muffled voices exhort their unseen audience to praise Allah and to destroy the infidel.”

“After selling over one million copies on the Kindle and becoming the fastest print novel to sell one million copies, 50 Shades of Grey has also caused an increase in the sales of a piece of classical music. The piece Spem in alium, sung by the Tallis Scholars is this week at number 7 in the official UK Classical Singles Chart.”

“The French Canadian [maestro], 48, … has renewed his contract as music director of the New Jersey Symphony through the 2015-16 season. He has been in that post since 2010.”