Category: music

“Interestingly, early indications suggest that about 80% of digital revenue for record labels in Sweden will come from Spotify. And digital is fast heading to half of all revenue generated by recorded music – with physical CD and vinyl sales accounting for the rest.”

“This year, as Italy moves to confront a deepening financial crisis, just as important to Milan’s famed opera house as the success on the stage was the presence in the audience of the head of government, head of state and four Cabinet ministers — which was taken as a signal that culture is taking center stage.”

“Taking the helm of Chicago’s second opera company will be Andreas Mitisek, the artistic and general director of Long Beach Opera, who has built a following for edgy, risk-taking productions of unusual operas, much as [departing COT director Brian] Dickie has done in Chicago.

“Composer James Matheson – whose new violin concerto is a co-commission between the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Chicago Symphony – is the winner of the Charles Ives Living award, a prize organized by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.”

“Clamp on headphones, start up the iPhone app by the musical duo Bluebrain and walk into Central Park. The music does not begin until you pass through an entrance and head into the trees. Then it sounds like an orchestra tuning up, a chaotic jumble of wind chimes, electronic moans and discordant strings. Push farther into the park, and a sweet violin melody emerges over languid piano chords.”

“The shortfall came to $2.9 million on a budget of $30.4 million, for the year ended Aug. 31, breaking a streak of four years of balanced budgets.”

Treemonisha‘s first modern revival, in 1975 at Houston Grand Opera, was in a European-style grand opera orchestration by Gunther Schuller. A new edition, just released on record, is based on Joplin’s scoring notes in his own piano score and on the makeup of old ragtime bands.

The Eastman students say the benefits are manifold, ranging from improved posture and cardiovascular fitness–which help them produce bigger, more precise sounds as musicians–to stress relief. “It does feel satisfying to hit something,” said Thomas Steigerwald, an 18-year-old freshman who can spend upward of nine hours a day practicing the piano.

“Under his leadership, the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra’s concert schedule included performances in Havana, London and Berlin, and he negotiated a yearly residency for the group at the Barbican Center in London. Mr. Ellis also forged a partnership with the St. Regis luxury hotel chain to create a permanent jazz club managed by Jazz at Lincoln Center in Doha, Qatar.”

“New York City Opera announced on Monday that it was seeking the help of a federal mediator in a deadlock with the unions representing its chorus and orchestra.”