Archives for 2015

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="PvwBKgWAB0PAlhcjdPsdVLJYaA5AIkw3"] About Alan Gilbert leaving the New York Philharmonic: Rightly or wrongly, he wasn’t perceived — at the very least by influential people in the orchestra field, and (from what I’ve heard) by many of the Philharmonic musicians — as someone with heft enough to be music director of such a big orchestra. Here’s an insider’s word about that. A few years ago, before the Philharmonic hired Matthew VanBesien to succeed Zarin Mehta as the orchestra’s CEO, I talked to someone who runs … [Read more...]

As I said in my last post, I ask the students in my Juilliard course on the future of classical music special questions online. I do this to supplement what we do in class, and — in this very complex discussion — to touch on things we might not otherwise get to. In my last post, I quoted the first question I asked, about what classical music will be like in 20 years. The question after that was more personal. It was cued to what we talked about in class this week (follow the link and scroll down to February 4). Which was how classical music … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="29Zq7FWU40yRCu85k42D1dc5YJGymOxu"] Each week, in my Juilliard course on the future of classical music, I email a question to my students. Something to get them thinking, something to take us a little beyond what we talked about in class. Or to go deeper into it. The question I asked two weeks ago was simple, but very basic. It could even have been a way to start the course. And, for everyone reading this — I’d love to know your own answers! Here’s the question: Imagine the classical music world 10 or 20 … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="6PhJHxYsIWndEpWU4MTzxl1UYh3fEc7t"] So last week I did a post I called “Excited audience,” about how the crowd at the National Symphony’s recent club performance shouted in excitement at some exciting music. The music happened to be mixed classical and pop, based on Bach, but with a beat. But the passage that made the audience shout happened to be pure Bach. This led me to ask if we could ever get the normal classical audience reacting like this, in the concert hall. Well, there are many reasons why that’s … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="U9ZKZeEOtHhedFzv5Is4iOgEuSU4DzmA"] The Go-Go Symphony — which plays some of the most exciting music in Washington, DC, a perfect fusion of classical music and funk — is in line for a great honor, and a great opportunity. I’ve blogged about their first triumphant performance with a full symphonic ensemble, and their founder, Liza Figueroa Kravinsky, has done guest posts about how she developed the group. (She talks here, for instance, about the group’s big breakthrough into the heart of the go-go world, go-go being … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="cybmj5APWYlvIbPh5rKDH7ECM2aVCjJt"] Here’s a followup to my last blog post, about music, excitement, and another frontier for classical performance . The post was about an exciting performance the National Symphony did in a Washington, DC club, for an audience of around 2000 people who don’t normally go to classical concerts. Younger clubgoers, to judge from how they looked. On the program were classical pieces, and also some marvelous things — which easily held their own with the classical works — aimed at … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="moT41mYs3aEczDi5WeFRMcssnYagxfl7"] The triumph The National Symphony Orchestra played in a very large club, attracting so many people — more than 2000 — that they had to turn people away. And they didn’t just play classical music. The program did began with the Candide overture, and included the onrushing second movement of the Shostakovich Tenth, plus “Montagues and Capulets” from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, and, to end the evening, the “Mambo” from West Side Story. All of which the crowd — young, white, hip … [Read more...]

Happy new year! I thought I might start 2015 with a few words about myself. Of course this is my online home, and many of you know me. But maybe it’s good to be a little bit comprehensive, partly to sell some of the things I do, but also to have a more me-like presence here. So… The basics I live in Washington, DC, with my wonderful wife Anne Midgette, chief classical music critic for the Washington Post, and our three-year old son Rafa. A smart, enterprising, funny, affectionate kid, and growing into a good family citizen. For 18 … [Read more...]