Category: music

The 92-year-old pianist Thai Thi Lien founded Hanoi’s music conservatory and convinced Ho Chi Minh to fund it, kept the school going throughout the war (students studied in underground bunkers), and mentored two generations of musicians – including her son Dang Thai Son, the first Asian ever to win Warsaw’s International Frederic Chopin Piano Competition.

“The 80-member Chorus Niagara showed up at the Seaway Mall in November and spontaneously serenaded surprised shoppers with a rendition of the Christmas song Hallelujah. Now, seven weeks after the video was uploaded, it has more than 25.7 million views.”

“A lot of tours didn’t do well last year because of that. It costs a fortune to go to a concert, by the time you’ve paid for the T-shirt and whatever. It’s a big night out. People are being a bit more picky about who they are going to see.”

“Some famous artists are by-passing record deals altogether and signing exclusive contracts with supermarkets to ensure sales.”

“Translating librettos is a time-honored practice that takes enormous skill. It’s not like translating “Madame Bovary” into English, which is hard enough. A translation of an opera libretto must fit exactly the rhythm, bounce and flow of the existing melodic lines, which the composer matched to the words of the original language.”

“Save Our Symphony, is a new group ran a full-page ad in Sunday’s Detroit Free Press alleging Detroit Symphony Orchestra management has been incompetent in managing its finances and intransigent in handling the nearly 12-week old strike.”

“Three people were arrested for stealing a 1.2 million-pound ($1.85 million) antique violin from an internationally acclaimed musician while she stopped for a snack at a London sandwich bar, British police said Thursday.”

“All in all, the evidence seems to indicate that background music has merit from a retailer’s perspective.” Meta-studies have “concluded that background music had ‘small-to-moderate, yet quite robust effects … [on] value returns, behaviour duration and affective response’.”

“Ironically, given the shift to contributed revenue, these seeds appear to be bearing fruit in the form of higher attendance and increased ticket sales. Last season, average paid attendance at Severance Hall rose 9 percent, while concert revenue was up by $1 million.”

“Not only is it the only Christmas perennial that orchestras have, it’s also a great public relations opportunity. … Messiah attracts an audience outside typical symphonic circles, not just because the music is well known, but because the holiday season comes with a hear-this-now imperative. And though such audiences might be outwardly satisfied with what they hear, they won’t come back unless they’ve experienced an inner satisfaction they may not articulate.”