http://www.artsjournal.com/music.shtml Copyright 2008 Fri, 16 May 2008 08:12:01 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.33 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss "Earlier this week, the grants committee of the Greater Columbus Arts Council recommended no longer giving money to the symphony, which last year received $261,417. 'We shouldn't be giving operational support to an organization that's not going to be here after June 1'."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/arts_council_to_1.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/arts_council_to_1.shtml music Fri, 16 May 2008 07:54:25 -0800 "The judge in Capitol v. Thomas -- the first of the RIAA's lawsuits against individual file-sharers to go to trial, it resulted in a $222,000 judgment against a single mother in Minnesota -- threw the verdict into doubt today."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/judge_puts_musi.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/judge_puts_musi.shtml music Fri, 16 May 2008 07:48:15 -0800 "Following the introduction of blind auditions in the 1970s, which greatly reduce bias, women now make up about half of the string and woodwind players in American orchestras. Women occupy prominent administrative positions in major musical institutions. Women direct and design productions at important opera houses. Women also make up about 30 percent of composition students in American colleges and conservatories." So where is their music on concert programs?... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/why_isnt_more_m.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/why_isnt_more_m.shtml music Thu, 15 May 2008 18:57:14 -0800 After months of not being paid, musicians and staffers at the Honolulu Symphony can finally breathe again, with the announcement of a $1.175m gift from an anonymous donor. Musicians were given 7 weeks of back pay, and the symphony is expected to raise more money at this weekend's annual fundraising ball.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/honolulu_windfa.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/honolulu_windfa.shtml music Thu, 15 May 2008 05:48:34 -0800 Efforts are underway both inside and outside the Columbus Symphony to keep the orchestra from folding in a few weeks. "Patrons, musicians and others have hosted or plan to host concerts and other events to help the orchestra." But the CSO's executive director says that the money being raised is nowhere near enough to solve the organization's problems.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/too_little_too.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/too_little_too.shtml music Thu, 15 May 2008 05:44:33 -0800 "Glyndebourne is awash with larger-than-life characters. Walking round the red-brick backstage corridors - "round" is the word, as the place is circular - you'll meet nobody prouder of their lot than the volunteer ushers in their gold medallions, unless it's Vince the resident fireman, who once took great delight in extinguishing a picnicker's unauthorised barbecue. Or the polyglot Ingrid, who mans the stage door, translates Norwegian books (including The Bookseller of Kabul), and has been appointed MBE for services to skiing, having coached the British Olympic team."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/why_glyndebourn.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/why_glyndebourn.shtml music Wed, 14 May 2008 18:30:58 -0800 Twenty-five selections were added to the National Recording Registry on Wednesday, part of the library's attempt to save America's aural history by archiving recordings deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/library_of_cong_5.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/library_of_cong_5.shtml music Wed, 14 May 2008 18:26:03 -0800 Glyndebourne, which opens its 2008 season on Sunday, is "a fascinating case study. It's an anomaly in recent operatic history, inasmuch as it both makes a profit and presents top-quality performances without state subsidy."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_glyndebourn.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_glyndebourn.shtml music Wed, 14 May 2008 18:14:06 -0800 "Yesterday the National Endowment for the Arts announced the four winners of the first annual NEA Opera Honors, the first new program of national arts awards since the Jazz Masters awards were established in 1982. The first opera honorees are the great soprano Leontyne Price, conductor James Levine... composer Carlisle Floyd and administrator Richard Gaddes."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nea_launches_op.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nea_launches_op.shtml music Wed, 14 May 2008 06:29:14 -0800 "Asimo, Honda's humanoid robot, made its conducting debut Tuesday at Orchestra Hall, leading the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in "The Impossible Dream" of Broadway fame... An engineer cued Asimo wirelessly." Incoming DSO music director Leonard Slatkin showed up for the event, and joked to Asimo, "I'll believe it when you conduct Mahler 7."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/honda_robot_mak.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/honda_robot_mak.shtml music Wed, 14 May 2008 05:48:17 -0800 "The ordinance as it stands requires independent promoters to apply for a license at a cost between $500 and $2,000 every two years, submit to fingerprinting and a criminal background check, secure as much as $300,000 in liability insurance and be at least 21 years old. These requirements add an additional layer of bureaucracy and expense on promoters who are working at venues that have already met Chicago's insurance and licensing requirements, which are some of the most stringent in the United States."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/chicago_city_co.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/chicago_city_co.shtml music Tue, 13 May 2008 18:54:03 -0800 "The United States government is honoring opera. The National Endowment for the Arts said on Tuesday that it was establishing yearly Opera Honors awards, and named the first four recipients: James Levine, the Metropolitan Opera's music director; the soprano Leontyne Price; the composer Carlisle Floyd; and Richard Gaddes, the general director of the Santa Fe Opera."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nea_chooses_fou.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nea_chooses_fou.shtml music Tue, 13 May 2008 18:45:08 -0800 "In an age when we can create our own album in a few rapid mouseclicks - we'll decide what the best of Radiohead is, thanks very much Mr Hands - the contract-filling compilation seems increasingly obsolete. Few will mourn its passing. It has always been the runt of the album litter; they're not 'proper' albums, after all. Just cheap, cynical exercises in making money from old rope."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/are_best_of_alb.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/are_best_of_alb.shtml music Tue, 13 May 2008 17:12:27 -0800 David Byrne is transforming New York's Great Hall of the Battery Maritime Building by "connecting devices to beams, pipes and other structural features. At the heart of the 'instrument' will be an antique organ which will control vibrations used to make the sounds."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/singer_covertin.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/singer_covertin.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 18:53:55 -0800 Perhaps in few places on earth is music transforming the lives of a new generation more than in this remote low-land section of South America. The biennial baroque festival, which wrapped up last week, draws artists from across the globe who perform a repertoire of classical music that always includes at least one piece from the impressive, sacred archive, begun by the missionaries in the 17th century. It has spurred many of the region's kids to gravitate toward the world of Bach and base clefs. In recent years, some 2,500 youths from area towns, many of them indigenous, have enrolled in music schools, choruses, and orchestras."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/how_old_music_i.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/how_old_music_i.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 18:51:44 -0800 "Coldplay has become the latest band to discover that giving away your music - even a little bit for a little time - may, in the long run, end up being worth more than the conventional model of only selling it."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/bands_finding_t.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/bands_finding_t.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 18:29:01 -0800 "Duke Ellington's Queenie Pie, the jazz opera he left uncompleted at his death in 1974, some infectious music, a strange libretto and a satiric opera buffa style pose a considerable challenge. The consistently ambitious Oakland Opera Theater has taken it on in a fitfully engaging, overstuffed production, under Tom Dean's artistic direction, that opened over the weekend at the Oakland Metro Operahouse."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_new_look_at_d.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_new_look_at_d.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 18:25:20 -0800 iPhone users use their phones for music. Much more than users of other cell phones. The music industry sees big possibilities in mobile music streaming.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nextgen_cellpho.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/nextgen_cellpho.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 17:43:34 -0800 A 12-year-old trombonist last night became the youngest winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year award.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_youngest_wi.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_youngest_wi.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 05:57:01 -0800 "The temperamental violinist Nigel Kennedy pulled out at the last moment when the organizers refused last-minute changes. There was another surprise when the pregnant soprano Anna Netrebko collected her award for Female Artist of the Year in an eye-popping baby-doll white dress complete with floaty fur trim. It looked like a short nightie."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/controversy_on.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/controversy_on.shtml music Mon, 12 May 2008 05:54:48 -0800 "You can't blame City Opera regulars for worrying about what Gerard Mortier has in mind. Not many American opera buffs have direct experience with his work, which has been seen predominantly in Europe. But those who follow the field have certainly heard about him, especially from his 10-year tenure as director of the prestigious Salzburg Festival, which ended in 2001."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/ny_city_opera_a.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/ny_city_opera_a.shtml music Sun, 11 May 2008 19:31:24 -0800 A shocking number of "violin left behind in cab" stories have been popping up of late, begging the question: how could anyone forget about such a valuable possession? Explanations vary, but one prominent instrument dealer is proposing a technological solution - GPS tracking systems.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/or_you_could_ju_1.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/or_you_could_ju_1.shtml music Sun, 11 May 2008 09:21:46 -0800 The Concert Association of Florida, which presents orchestra concerts and recitals in various Miami venues, appears to be in some trouble. "A nose-diving economy, the downward trend in ticket sales and continuing programming problems" are just the tip of the iceberg, and an attempt to form a local professional orchestra has met with public indifference.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/discord_in_miam.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/discord_in_miam.shtml music Sun, 11 May 2008 09:17:19 -0800 Melinda Bargreen is leaving the Seattle Times after 31 years as classical music critic. "It hasn't been dull... During the past 2 ½ decades, an unprecedented arts boom hit the Northwest and changed the music scene forever."... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_critics_farew.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/a_critics_farew.shtml music Sun, 11 May 2008 09:11:40 -0800 "Riccardo Muti is too diplomatic to say so, of course, but the reasons he chose Chicago over New York seem implicitly clear: Chicago has the better orchestra... and he faces nothing here like the podium competition he would encounter on the East Coast." And while some have questioned the hire, John von Rhein says the CSO unquestionably made the right call.... http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_muti_effect.shtml http://www.artsjournal.com/artsjournal1/2008/05/the_muti_effect.shtml music Sun, 11 May 2008 09:03:08 -0800