The multiple-genre BlackCreek Summer Music Festival, launched in June in an outdoor tennis stadium, has developed some cash-flow problems due to lower-than-expected ticket sales. A soul concert and a classical performance wth Denyce Graves and Lorin Maazel have been called off; an August opera concert featuring Roberto Alagna is on hold.
Category: music
Plan To Revive Historic Rock Magazine Bogs Down In Legal, Money Issues
“A long-running legal battle over who owns Creem Media Inc., the company that ended up with the magazine’s intellectual property rights, has never been settled, according to the principal people involved in the dispute.”
An Unconventional String Quartet That Splits Its Audience
“The audience gathered in the basement of St. Brigid’s was an all-ages crowd: grey-haired veterans of Ottawa’s annual chamber-music blowout mixed with a curious younger set. Every time the Squad announced a song – Smashing Pumpkins’ Disarm, or Nirvana’s Lithium, for example – the younger half of the audience howled with delight while older listeners stared blankly at each other.”
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Costly Bankruptcy
“As of the end of June, the orchestra’s Chapter 11 proceeding had produced $2.4 million in expenses and fees to outside firms and consultants, according to filings with U.S. Bankruptcy Court. With months to go before the case is expected to exit bankruptcy, the cost is closing in on the $2.9 million the association once forecast for the entire process.”
Classical Music Smartphone Apps (They’re Everywhere)
“Androids or iPhones make good music players, and personalized radio apps like Slacker, Pandora and Last.fm offer passable alternatives to conventional radio, especially if you pay for advertising-free versions of the services.” And many individual ensembles are making their performances available, on their own or in partnership with such services as Instant Encore.
Israel Chamber Orchestra’s Wagner Causes Sensation At Bayreuth
Says ICO conductor Roberto Paternostro, “I’ve conducted for more than 25 years all over the world and I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. Everybody was so emotional – and many people came from Israel for the performance.”
Placido Domingo To Represent Recording Companies Against Digital Piracy
The 70-year-old Spanish tenor will chair the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents recording companies worldwide.
Cincinnati Art Museum Finds ‘Spectacular’ Musical Instrument Collection In Its Basement
“For decades, a spectacular trove of more than 800 antique musical instruments languished – untouched, neglected and forgotten – in storage throughout the museum’s meandering undercroft. The discovery means that Cincinnati could possess one of the most important collections of non-Western musical instruments in the United States.”
Swiftly and Amicably, Met Opera Strikes Union Deal
“The Metropolitan Opera has struck a deal with a union that represents its singers, dancers and stage managers, thus sidestepping the sort of paralyzing disputes that some had predicted in light of the company’s fiscal hurdles.”
Seventeen Pianos On The Streets Of Denver
“And then there are the regulars, the men and women, many homeless, who plant a cup and hope their songs persuade passers-by to open their wallets.”