The second episode of my book-in-progress is now online, right here. Please take a look, and, as ever, fire off your comments. The comments on the first episode were both liively and very helpful, so we're making future comments much more visible. The second installment takes the book further than the first one did. (It would have to, wouldn't it?) I'll be eager to hear what you all think. The book, by the way, is going to be read in a couple of college classes, might get on the radio, and excerpts might appear on other websites. If anyone is … [Read more...]

Lately I had the privilege of being in some workshops led by an admirable and charismatic consultant, somebody widely employed by arts organizations, including orchestras, to help them reach out to a wider audience. I know him, and I’m fond of him, but I’d never seen his work before, and I ended up with some questions about it. These don’t reflect on him; they’re more about the assumptions behind his work, assumptions that are shared widely in the classical music business. This consultant works with the idea of … [Read more...]

I was at the College Music Society conference in Quebec City last weekend, to present my thoughts on the future of classical music. (And thanks, everyone there who reads this blog, for your warmth and enthusiasm.) But what I presented at this conference wasn’t what most interested me there. The College Music Society is made up of people who teach music at colleges and universities, and the position they’re in is yet another symptom of the condition of classical music these days. They offer music courses to undergraduates, sometimes … [Read more...]

I've been to two straight conferences, and I've got a lot of things to say, but I'm also tired. So, one quick hit about something both refreshing and fun. This is the start of Allan Kozinn's review of a Turandot performance at the New York City Opera, which appeared in The New York Times on November 3:Listeners of good will may differ, perhaps violently, about why Puccini's "Turandot" has tenaciously held its place in the standard repertory. It has an uncommonly dim libretto, even by operatic standards, and a paucity of great arias nestled amid … [Read more...]

The book has started. The first episode is here. Comments very welcome! Read “What’s Going On Here,” at the right of the book page, for more on how the book will work. Note that I might not post every comment that I get. But all are welcome. This is quite a new adventure… … [Read more...]

I was driving last night, and listening to Bach cantatas, from the latest installment of the John Eliot Gardner series, the recordings he produces himself, and which have the most striking classical CD covers I’ve ever seen. For example: The performances, I’m finding, are marvelous, devotional, but also dramatic and dance-like. They’re true to the covers, or, if you like, the covers are true to the performances. This is devotional music, the covers say, and it could speak to anybody; that’s why we show you people from … [Read more...]

One of the happiest professional moments I had in the last year came when I named a baby llama. I was e-mailed by a llama breeder, Trish Brandt-Robuck, who runs the RBR Ranch in Newcastle, CA. She likes to name her llamas after opera singers, because groups of children often visit, and she likes the llama names to be educational. Her question to me was this. A new and perfectly adorable llama baby was black, and male. Could I suggest a male black opera singer to name him after? I thought a bit and came up with Roland Hayes, the … [Read more...]

From Joshua Kosman, the fine classical music critic of the San Francisco Chronicle, comes this reaction to my post about the Shostakovich ad: The SF Symphony had a marketing director once who was perfectly capable in many areas, just not really as marketing director of a symphony orchestra. She lasted a *very* short time. The best mistake she made -- the one people still cackle over -- was the ad she conceived and approved in connection with the Symphony's performance of Babi Yar on 2/14. I can't remember the details, but it was … [Read more...]

Not long ago I teased — was that the word? —Early Music New York for their CD A Bohemian Christmas. Of course they meant Christmas in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, but I thought people new to classical music wouldn’t have a clue, and might wonder if the CD was for an offbeat artist’s holiday. So now, to be fair, I have to note that the CD is the latest in a series from the group: A Medieval Christmas, A Renaissance Christmas, A Baroque Christmas, and A Colonial Christmas. So if the target audience is established … [Read more...]

I was in a store, and heard an ad on a classical station for a Shostakovich festival put on by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. “Celebrate Shostakovich,” said the ad, “with spectacular performances.” Or something like that. “Celebrate” and “spectacular” were certainly words the ad used. I pulled out my little notebook and wrote them down. This was ridiculous, of course, and almost offensive. Shostakovich isn’t celebratory or spectacular. He’s bitter, wry, and painful. Yes, he’s dramatic, but not … [Read more...]