Category: music

“The Schermerhorn Symphony Center, silenced for months by May’s flood, finally will reopen its doors for a concert on New Year’s Eve. The sold-out performance by the Nashville Symphony … will be the Schermerhorn’s first since rains ravaged Music City.”

“At 6pm on a cold winter’s day earlier this month, musicians and singers converged on Leeds town centre and started playing the Mission Impossible theme tune. The flash mob orchestra carried violins instead of placards but they came to protest as surely as the people who took over London’s streets earlier this month to rail against tuition fee increases.”

“Of all the classical music competitions around the globe, including the Van Cliburn, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, and Operalia, the Naumburg Competition has one of the best track records of selecting young musicians who, in short order, build significant careers.”

“A federal bankruptcy court denied the Louisville Orchestra’s request to escape its contract with musicians on Wednesday, complicating the financially beleaguered organization’s bid to reorganize through Chapter 11.”

Anne Midgette: “Hearing the quintet Sybarite5 the other night made me think of a new stereotype that’s emerged in recent years: that of the contemporary chamber music ensemble that doesn’t sound quite as good when it plays traditional classical repertory. The question is: does it need to?”

“The top 50 North American tours combined for an overall take of $1.69 billion, down about 15% from $1.99 billion in 2009. The story was only marginally better throughout the world, where the top 50 total tour gross of $2.93 billion was off about 12% from $3.34 billion a year earlier.”

The Star-Tribune: “With the Minnesota Orchestra, [the conductor] astonished critics at Carnegie Hall, electrified audiences on a tour to the BBC Proms in London, the Edinburgh International Festival and Amsterdam’s famous Concertgebouw, and released two critically praised CDs.”

“Franz Liszt invented the whole concept of the pianist as star: a virtuoso who takes centre stage for an entire evening, … [As] a general rule in earlier times, composers either played their own music or it just didn’t get performed. But Liszt would habitually programme music by other composers in his concerts. He pretty much created the idea of the masterclass, too: piano teacher as guru in a set-up that would lure students from all over the world.”

“Through November 21, total track sales (both albums and individual tracks) are up about 5 per cent (assuming 12 tracks equal an album). That gain of 95 million tracks pales in comparison to the 277 million-unit gain achieved in all of 2009. And the revenue those 95 million tracks generated is tiny compared with the financial impact of 47 million fewer CDs sold through November 21.”

“Winnie is believed to be the first opera fully composed and orchestrated in South Africa. The historic language of the form, Italian, will be jettisoned in favour of a libretto combining English and Xhosa, with a 60-piece orchestra performing a fusion of western and traditional African music.”