Category: music

“This ability to attract audience through repetition eases the process of filling seats because a limited but dedicated fan base will reliably appear multiple times to hear the same band play the same songs in the same city. Unfortunately, ensembles dedicated to experimental music cannot rely on this sort of repeat business.”

“Touting itself as the world’s only opera house to perform all of Mozart’s stage works every summer, the Warsaw Opera will perform the marathon programme this year from June 15 to July 26, but ensemble officials warned it could be the final curtain come August. With the subsidies cut, the opera house will no longer be able to pay salaries after the summer season, nor will it manage to afford its rent in central Warsaw. Director Stefan Sutkowski has announced he will resign once the Mozart festival is over.”

Andrey Baranov beat out 77 international participants to win the Queen Elizabeth International Competition in Brussels on Sunday. Baranov, 26, from St. Petersburg, will receive a prize of 25,000 euros ($31,300) and use of the “Huggins” Stradivarius (1708), on a three-year loan from the Nippon Music Foundation.

“At one point in [Graham Vick’s] new production of the Mussorgsky opera] the stage at the Saint Petersburg theatre is swarmed by riot police and protesters brandishing slogans, in a clear reference to the street demonstrtations against Vladimir Putin’s rule.”

The co-artistic director of Sydney’s Baroque opera company (!) argues in favor of the notorious phenomenon of stage directors updating and changing (sometimes in quite perverse ways) the settings and scenarios of classic operas.

“The fundamentalists had threatened violence if Lady Gaga went ahead with her Born This Way Ball concert in the world’s most populous Muslim country, saying her sexy clothes and provocative dance moves could corrupt the young.”

“For us the concerts are the public face of what we do. But there really has to be some strategic, intellectual and artistic rigor in how we present that public face. I don’t think anybody, from the start of the A.C.O., ever thought that presenting a good concert was the ultimate end.”

“We’re now entering an era of close co-operation; game developers are employing musicians who love games and understand them. And in return, music is becoming part of the design process.”

The orchestra itself has its eye on annual residencies in a growing country with a huge market for Western classical music. As for the Chinese (and the US State Dept.)? “Call it a pilot project, trial balloon, or infomercial, the residency falls under the larger heading of ‘soft power’ that includes importing and exporting films, artists, and music between the two countries.”

“Less than four months after a double resignation plunged the company into turmoil, the Royal Danish Opera has filled its two top vacancies. Michael Boder has been named as the company’s new principal conductor and artistic adviser while Sven Müller becomes artistic director.”