Category: music

“Brazil is known as the land of samba, bossa nova and funk. But increasingly, the artists topping the charts wield not just guitars and tambourines but also copies of the Bible.”

“At least six of 17 members of the board of directors did not attend the Tuesday night meeting during which the vote was taken to disband the company.” One frustrated former board member complained of “the unwillingness by longtime members to allow newer board members to help work on the company’s financial problems.”

“On Broadway when the star can’t go on, management simply taps the eager understudy. When classical musicians and singers bow out, an occupational hazard what with all that international travel and all those international viruses, there’s generally no backup waiting in the wings.”

“[It’s] Japan’s AKB48, a group of 92 mostly teenage girls, armed with sugar-sweet pop tunes and sometimes-suggestive lyrics (‘My school uniform is getting in the way’) that has saturated the country’s popular and commercial culture.”

“In Italian, the word maestro also means teacher. As we power toward the final cadence and I exchange glance after glance with the young musicians, it occurs to me that they are bombarding me with unspoken questions and it’s my job to convey answers. That’s what a conductor does: mold an interpretation by filtering the thousands of decisions packed into every minute of symphonic music.”

With the city government desperately short of money, the job of the city organist – who plays free public concerts on Balboa Park’s enormous instrument – was about to be eliminated. Then, just as in a movie, citizens rose up to save a local institution.

“Much of the music that has topped the Billboard charts in the new millennium — Britney, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga — might suggest that America has been one big party since 2001, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, two major wars, a wobbly economy and a bitterly divided government.”

“In short, the CSO plans to undergo nothing less than a complete culture change that rejects music-making offered with “little thought as to whether it truly was of interest and relevancy to a large part of the community” and plays up relaxed, consumer-friendly performances that meet audiences on their own terms and in their own towns.”

“The Romanovs adored composing romances or short classical music opuses as presents for their loved one,” says Bella Abaeva, who led a 15-year research project to find and assemble pieces written by members of the imperial family.

“If the music industry is faltering in England and the US, we start to understand the nature of the crisis that threatens Wales, as this extreme cut in royalty income has coincided with the threat posed by the downloading and streaming culture, decline in CD sales and the economic recession. It’s a crisis that threatens all sectors of the Welsh music industry, and threatens the livelihoods of hundreds of musicians, composers, singers and publishers.”