The Online University

“University of Illinois at Springfield officials say they are working toward creating an online ‘mirror campus’ that will offer all 39 of the degree programs that are available in the university’s classrooms. The plan is one of the most ambitious online projects undertaken by a mainstream institution.”

Deborah Voigt On The Public Attention About Her Weight:

“I remember one review where the critic made some comment about my weight but went on to say the tenor – who by the way was a very, very large man – had ‘the shoulders of a linebacker.’ And I thought, What is that? How come I’m heavy and he has the shoulders of a linebacker? So yes, it’s a double standard – and it shouldn’t surprise any women with a professional life.”

Lane And Broderick Finish Producers Run

Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have finished their second run in Broadway’s “The Producers.” “From its debut in April 2001 until Lane and Broderick left in March 2002, the Mel Brooks show was a perpetual sellout – despite record ticket prices. Sales lagged before the two actors returned late last year as the highest-paid actors in Broadway history. Once again, seats were hard to come by for the show that won a record 12 Tony Awards in June 2001, including Lane as Best Leading Actor in a Musical.”

Denis Stevens, 82 – Musicologist, Monteverdi Scholar

The one-time Grove’s editor was a champion of the music of Monteverdi. “Stevens felt a mission to demonstrate the validity and accessibility of musicology as a discipline, often deploying what one former colleague called a ‘wry and penetrating sense of humour’. He gave it full rein in an essay on the performance of the Monteverdi Vespers, complaining of ‘the cabalistic obscurantism that now surrounds it, fostered by misinformed musicians and pseudo-musicologists’. He had absolutely no time for a misguided veneration of the past.”

Watch The Robot Conduct Beethoven

Let’s see – we’ve replaced musicians with “virtual orchestras” in theatre pits. And more and more movie scores are being synthesized. What’s next? Conductors. A robot has successfully(?) conducted Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Japan. “The 58-centimetre-tall humanoid robot led the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in a unique rendition of Beethoven’s 5th symphony during a concert held at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo on 15 March.”

What If The Music Industry Is Wrong About Downloads?

The recording industry has been fighting music downloads as piracy, saying that the recording business is being hurt by downloads. But “what if the industry is wrong, and file sharing is not hurting record sales? It might seem counterintuitive, but that is the conclusion reached by two economists who released a draft last week of the first study that makes a rigorous economic comparison of directly observed activity on file-sharing networks and music buying. ‘Downloads have an effect on sales which is statistically indistinguishable from zero, despite rather precise estimates’.”