There are plenty of new music ensembles wandering the classical music world, but few ever manage to achieve serious longevity or catch on with any measurable percentage of mainstream listeners. But after ten years of diligently honing their craft and cultivating audiences with a unique blend of high energy and disarming informality, the sextet of young musicians known as “eighth blackbird” are knocking on the door of new music success previously known only by the Kronos Quartet.
Tag: 10.06.05
We Can Think Of Some Poets We’d Like To Send Into Space…
The UK’s Poetry Society has conducted a poll to determine which poem Britons would most like to see shot into space – not as a way to get rid of it, you understand, more as a tribute to the spirit of poetry. The winner, announced in advance of Thursday’s National Poetry Day celebrations, is “Human Beings,” a poem by Adrian Mitchell. It’s worth noting that there currently are no plans to actually shoot the poem into space, and a copy of it will reside at the UK’s National Space Society for the foreseeable future.
Saatchi’s Landlord Wants Him Out
“The landlord of the London art gallery where Charles Saatchi houses his world-famous collection is seeking to evict him in a High Court battle. Japanese company Shirayama Shokusan is accusing the operators of the Saatchi Gallery of continually breaching the terms of its lease. It alleges the gallery hung works of art in off-limit areas and had immediately tried to renegotiate rent. Mr Saatchi is planning to move his main artworks to a new gallery in Chelsea.”
Alsop To Stay On In Bournemouth
The UK’s Bournemouth Symphony has extended the contract of its principal conductor, Marin Alsop, through 2008. Alsop’s contract had been set to expire at the end of the current season, and her international profile was recently raised when she was named as the next music director of the Baltimore Symphony, beginning in 2007.
Inside The National’s Theatre Lab
It’s a facility designed to emcourage experimentation. “This ethos – encouraging people to throw around ideas, and paying them for the privilege – is the driving force behind the whole building. Aside from the two big spaces, the Studio comprises a huddle of small offices in which writers, directors and composers can do anything they like. What these people are given is ‘a room, a computer, a telephone, free coffee and a weekly wage’. What they aren’t burdened with is an expectation to ‘perform’.”
How Starbucks Is Changing The Music Business
“When most stores are slashing CD prices, Starbucks is offering them for at least full price, and shifting millions. Traditional record retailers are both envious and nervous, major labels are rubbing their hands over the prospect of reaching 34 million new customers and industry analysts are wondering just how far Starbucks can go.”
Opera Australia – Caught In The Middle
Opera Australia is caught in the middle of a funding dispute between national and state governments. “The impasse means the company could not sign contracts with its performers for its 2007 season.”
Louisiana Phil On The Road
The Louisiana Philharmonic performed in Nashville Tuesday night. “It may have been the Louisiana Philharmonic’s first concert since the hurricane, but will not be its last. The New York Philharmonic will present the ensemble in a joint concert on Oct. 28 at Avery Fisher Hall. And they are weighing a half-dozen other invitations from around the country.”
New Orleans Classical In Nashville
“Just as most people wouldn’t think of a major symphony orchestra first (or even second) when thinking of Nashville, so too New Orleans brings up images of Louis Armstrong, Fats Domino and the Marsalis brothers–not Rossini, Saint-Saëns and Shostakovich. Still, that’s something of a tourist’s view of the Crescent City, as New Orleans–both past and present–has a rich tradition of European art music too.”