In the past two years, more than 30 pilot programs imitating the Venezuelan music education model have arisen in the States, with more in the pipeline, “thanks in part to an award honoring El Sistema’s founder, Jose Antonio Abreu … [who is using] the award money to fund a training program for leaders who will start their own [programs] in the U.S.”
Category: music
Classical Brit Awards Quit Bothering With The ‘Classical’ Part
“As part of a bid to attract a broader audience, the 12 May event will now be called the Classic Brits. … Organisers said the name change ‘reflects the show’s ambition to embrace a more diverse range of music genres including musical theatre’.”
Where Are The Women Composers?
Yes there are more. Still…
A Strad, Then No Strad, Then…
“At 17, soon after winning a silver medal at the 1978 Tchaikovsky competition in Moscow, Dylana Jenson was lent a 1743 Guarneri del Gesu from a Los Angeles philanthropist. The withdrawal of the del Gesu sent Jenson into an artistic and emotional tailspin from which she wouldn’t begin to emerge for more than a decade.”
How A Tiny Outsider Opera Company Beat The Big Guys
“A production of Puccini’s La Boheme, which started life in a tiny pub theatre, has slain the might of five international opera companies. The show, put on by OperaUpClose, won the best new opera production prize at Sunday’s Olivier Awards.”
Detroit Symphony: Even During Strike, People Are Giving Money To Orchestra
“The report also cited a 90-percent increase in the number of individual, foundation and corporate donors, from 1,629 last year to 3,090.”
BBC Philharmonic, Badly Shaken by Quake, Aborts Japan Tour
The Manchester-based orchestra canceled the last four dates of its current 17-day, 10-concert tour of Japan after a terrifying experience: At the moment the magnitude 8.9 earthquake struck, the musicians were in a bus crossing a suspension bridge.
‘Disembodied Performance’: Tod Machover’s Newest High-Tech Opera Concept
“His latest futuristic opus, Death and the Powers, is a 90-minute one-act opera … that requires its star, baritone James Maddalena, to act out almost the entire program out of sight or earshot of the audience – even while a high-tech translation of his performance appears on the stage.”
Robert Spano Hired to Heal Bruised Aspen Music Festival
The festival-cum-school has had a rough couple of years, with the contentious elimination of a week of programming and 11 faculty positions, the abrupt departure of ex-music director David Zinman, and a CEO who “was fired and rehired, given a vote of no-confidence and granted a contract extension.” As the new music director, Spano will have to not only conduct and teach, but also soothe.
Opera Composers Compete
In the American Idol-style semifinals and finals next week, it will be up to the audience to chose the winner. That’s after excerpts from the six semifinalists are performed, then critiqued by a panel of experts.