“Without ever having spent a night there, the pope ordered the apostolic palace and gardens at Castel Gandolfo, about 15 miles from Rome, be turned into a museum.”
Tag: 10.21.16
Tom Stoppard’s First New Play In a Decade
The profound question being debated here — is consciousness no more than brain tissue and, if so, is altruism merely the product of evolutionary biology? — has brought Stoppard into public colloquies with scientists and philosophers investigating this quintessential 21st century conundrum.
Cincinnati May Festival Gets A New Conductor
Currently the chief conductor of the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, United Kingdom, Juanjo Mena has made several recordings with that orchestra, including a Falla album named Recording of the Month by BBC Music magazine His previous posts are artistic director and principal conductor of the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra (1999-2008) and principal guest conductor of both the Bergen Philharmonic in Norway and Teatro Carlo Felice, in Genoa, Italy.
Orchestra Pay, Orchestra Prestige, And Just Making A Living
Norman Lebrecht: “Isaac Stern told me that when he was growing up in 1920s San Francisco ‘a musician in the orchestra was a person‘ – even if he earned a pittance. He had social status. As that status declined it had to be replaced with other compensations or orchestral life would have ceased to exist. So wages rose.”
Do Orchestra Musicians Deserve To Be Paid More? Of Course. Should They Be? That’s A Different Question!
“In 1967, classical music still occupied a central position in our high culture. Now it doesn’t. Most Americans don’t care about classical music and don’t go to orchestral concerts. I think they should, but it doesn’t matter what I think. They’ll do what they want to do—and one thing they don’t want to do is go out of their way to hike the salary of a violinist in Philadelphia who already makes over $2,400 a week, especially when the median weekly household income in the U.S. is $1,073 (which is roughly what the average London orchestra player earns per week).” [click on “The Money Pit” after clicking this link]
English National Opera Finally Gets A Music Director
“An experienced conductor with over 120 recordings to his name, [Martyn] Brabbins will join ENO in a troubled time for the company. Attempts to recoup the company’s losses have led to clashes between management and musical staff. [In March,] Brabbins’s predecessor Mark Wigglesworth resigned the post after disagreements with the executive panel over the future of the company.”
We May Have New Sculptures By Donatello And Verrocchio (And Maybe Even Da Vinci)
“The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo [in Florence] presented two little-known 15th-century terra-cotta sculptures on Thursday as the possible work of Donatello and Verrocchio (with, perhaps, the help of Verrocchio’s erstwhile assistant Leonardo da Vinci), proposed attributions that are expected to stir debate in Renaissance art scholarship.”
New York Philharmonic Awards New $30K Piano Prize
“[Benjamin] Grosvenor, 24, won the first Ronnie and Lawrence Ackman Classical Piano Prize – which, in addition to the prize money, comes with opportunities to perform with the orchestra. He will play with the Philharmonic in April 2018, the orchestra said.”
“I’m Full Of Adrenaline So I’m Great, But In One Hour, I’m Going To Drop”: Talking To A New ABT Principal Minutes After His Debut
“After the final curtain on Wednesday, still drenched in sweat, feet red and raw, [Alban] Lendorf sat down in his dressing room to talk about his first night as a full member of the company. Below are edited excerpts from that conversation.”