Category: music

“But it was a miscalculation to think that when I came, there would suddenly be enormous fund-raising. People in New York don’t know my name, they don’t know me. I don’t know if that’s my fault or their fault. I think it’s their fault. I don’t want to be pretentious, but in some things I know what I am worth. But you know, that’s New York. It’s a world city, and at the same time it’s provincial.”

“Discord between the two sides escalated when each musician received a six-page letter from orchestra CEO Robert Birman last week outlining a “per-service” pay model without benefits and a 159-date schedule.”

“Take the ‘opera’ out of the Opera Fanatic, and there are still recognizable templates at play. … [You] find that the addicts share much in common – probably to their protestations and their horror – with people who get obsessed about other things, whether that be comic books or Lord of the Rings or certain pop musicians or television shows.”

“The new model, matching repertoire to theater, is promising; but without the unions on board, it is not likely to take place. Perhaps there is a happy medium between the large guarantees and the freelance model, but the two sides will have to talk.”

“As the new director of Glimmerglass, Francesca Zambello has pumped up the 36-year-old summer opera series, partnering with the art museum, the Baseball Hall of Fame, and even a boutique brewery, to create a full-fledged festival. With discounted tickets for opera newbies and docking facilities for kayaks, Zambello means to make it an all-access event.”

“Looking at grim financial reality, Mr. Steel and his board believe they have come up with the only way to keep City Opera going. Yes, this will involve essentially transforming the orchestra and chorus members from full-time into freelance staffers, which is terrible. But is there an alternative?”

At a press conference announcing the endangered company’s 2011-12 season, George Steel “suggested that the union protests were ‘political theater which can obscure more than uncover.’ When asked about the personal attacks, he said, ‘I guess it’s a strategy some people think is effective’.”

“According to the [company], the four-opera Wagner masterpiece staged as 14 performances in June and July sold 44,055 tickets – 99.96 percent capacity – and generated $7,236,673 at the box office.”

“There’s been a rise in narcissism, self-regard, and antisocial hostility at the top of the Billboard charts: Songs have moved from we and us to me and I, and come over all ornery in the process. Surprised?”

“A day before New York City Opera was to announce its first post-Lincoln Center season, the company’s unions charged on Monday that the company had made proposals for a new contract that would gut the chorus and the orchestra, and turn the ‘people’s opera’ into a freelance outfit.”