Category: music

“With digital compilations like ‘Bleeding Chunks of Wagner’ and ‘Music for the Zombie Apocalypse,’ Naxos is aiming to connect with listeners beyond the classical crowd.”

“It traditionally enjoys a surge in summer listening on the back of the Proms, the world’s greatest classical music festival. But BBC Radio 3, which recently introduced changes to its schedule in a bid to broaden its appeal, lost more listeners than any other BBC national radio station in the three months to 18 September.”

Mixed.

“Even though its new four-year labor contract with musicians will compel the Philadelphia Orchestra Association to raise $5.9 million more than it had anticipated, the association Wednesday sought approval of the pact from U.S. bankruptcy court. Hearing no objections, Judge Eric L. Frank said he would approve the deal.”

“A 60-year-old Manhattan musician at the center of an age discrimination lawsuit [against Young Concert Artists] is trying to get the judge handling his case booted – because he’s too old. Violinist Martin Stoner admits he sounds like a big hypocrite for knocking 88-year-old Manhattan Federal Judge Robert Patterson as “‘slow-witted and unable to function’.”

Violinist Hilary Hahn has commissioned them. Twenty-seven of them. “I remember thinking that I didn’t want to do what so many people had already done. And then I thought, there haven’t been any new encores written lately, so that might be a good idea.”

L’Adresse symphonique may be a great improvement over the notorious Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, but critics from Montreal, Toronto and even Paris have begun complaining that Artec’s acoustical design for the hall is, at best, not settled yet.

“The future of classical music is full of complexity, but the fact is these are very misplaced arguments. There is no ‘orchestra crisis’ that has anything to do with this. If there’s a crisis, it’s about cultural attitudes, not about rental fees.”

“A lot of churches have been opening up their doors recently for the arts. They’re beautiful places and they’ve always had music in them. And also, they’re losing money. They take a lot of money to maintain so it makes perfect sense.”

“Citing a breakdown in negotiations with its musicians, the Louisville Orchestra said Monday that it would ‘begin the process of hiring permanent replacements for our musicians’ as early as next week.” Management has informed the players that “they each have until next Monday to decide if they want to preserve their positions.”