Archives for 2016

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Hiphop and arts organizations… Suppose the Kennedy Center, instead of naming Q-Tip as its Artistic Director for Hiphop Culture (see my last post), had named Kanye West instead. Or Jay-Z, or Dr. Dre. I’m not saying that, artistically, these would have been better choices, Or that these stars would even want the gig. Kanye, so famously, launched his new album with his own shown at Fashion Week in New York, giving him a more elite audience, and much more media, than the Kennedy Center could ever get. But … [Read more...]

"…Makes we wonder, sometimes, if arts institutions, trying to stretch beyond themselves, take time to ask who they’re stretching to. Which people, which subcultures, what these people and cultures are like, what really goes on the city the arts orgs are reaching to." [contextly_auto_sidebar] The Go-Go Symphony rises from the streets and clubs of Washington, DC, combining pop and classical music. And because of that poses — or ought to pose — a sharp challenge to the Kennedy Center, precisely because the Kennedy Center wants to reach past its … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] There’s something I miss at classical new music concerts, even if I like the music I’m hearing. So yes, many of us in the classical biz think new music is important, crucial to support, deserving any prestige and funding it might get from major institutions. But… I miss a connection to any larger culture. Which I did get when I was a pop music critic, and for a while went to three, four, five shows each week. Of course not every band was good Many were meh. But two good things were always happening. Two … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] My show, aka my reemergence as a composer, with a concert of my music on April 14. At the Strathmore Performing Arts Center, just outside Washington, DC. You can buy tickets now. I’m busy producing, rehearsing, promoting. And, soon, raising funds. Here’s a link to the program. The heart of the first part, as you'll see, is my wife: It starts with triadic music. An arioso from an opera I’m writing, based on Shakespeare’s As You Like It. Soft and wistful, for tenor. Never performed before. My wife is the … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Had a marvelous time last weekend at the Sunderman Conservatory of Music, a school just 10 years old at Gettysburg College, which is in — where else? — Gettysburg, PA, of Civil War fame. One quick tidbit: a major donor who writes a terrific march! That would be F. William Sunderman, a local physician whose money made the school possible. And who lived to be 104. And who wrote a march played on a gala concert I heard, which turned out to be a spirited, well-written piece. Clearly a man of many parts. Time to … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] An oratorio about lynching! About one of the great horrors of American history. Premiered by the New York Philharmonic in 1940. And now, as far as I can see, largely forgotten, though there’s a recording. And you can hear it all on YouTube. (The link takes you to the first movement, where you'll find links to all the others.) The composer was William Grant Still (1895–1978)(Wikipedia here, website for him here). Still was the first African-American composer with a major career, the first to have an opera performed … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] In my Juilliard course on the future of classical music, we’ve been looking at how classical music was in the past. Why? Because it was looser, more flexible, with the audience applauding during the music, and musicians improvising. This can inspire us today. Not that everything from the past needs to come back, but studying the past can free us from preconceptions about classical music now. Nothing about our present tradition is written in stone. Things were very different when many of the great composers … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Or, worse,  if it has more empty seats than people, as appeared to be the case at the Budapest Festival Orchestra’s concert at the Kennedy Center on Monday… But wait! The concert, on the whole, was blah, a disappointment, since on home turf this is, from everything I’ve heard, one of the most imaginative orchestras around. But they thrilled me with their encore. In which they sang! The entire orchestra stood up, and — led by their music director, Ivan Fischer — beautifully sang a Russian liturgical piece, in a … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Here's an indispensable book — Black Classical Musicians in Philadelphia: Oral Histories Covering Four Generations, by Elaine Mack. It brings to life what once was a thriving community of classical musicians in the Philadelphia black community. We forget, I think, that such things existed, that in the past there was active, eager interest in classical music among African-Americans. Which, of course, was part of an active, eager interest in the U.S. population as a whole. Though there's an irony. As Michael Morgan, … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I’m sure we’d all say that, if we’re musicians, or producing musical performances, that art is the focus. The music is what matters. Everything else — marketing, how the ushers behave, how we dress for our performances — all that is secondary. But is it? Here’s a recording of a presentation I gave a month ago, in which I argued just the opposite. I suggested that your art should infuse all aspects of performance, to deepen the experience, to help you brand yourself, and (quite important) so promotion for your … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I thought I’d do a few blog posts to honor Black History Month. Which I don’t think is honored enough in the classical music world. And where better to start than with Roland Hayes, a tenor born in 1877 who in the 1910s and 20s became the first African-American classical star. He died in 1977, a greatly honored man. His parents were former slaves. He worked to support his family, even though his talent was recognized when he was young. He sang in silent movie theaters — from offstage, so no one could see he was … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Here are four links, to some fabulous music. Even if you don’t read further in this post, even if you just follow listen to what I’m linking here, I’ll be happy. Sarah Vaughan, stupendously singing “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.” Ettore Bastianini, the mighty baritone, going all out in a 1957 performance of Verdi’s Ernani. Mario Del Monaco, the huge-voiced and hugely passionate tenor, just about jumping out of his skin, in the same performance.  (Start at around 2:15 to skip the recitative the track starts with, and go … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] I was having a preliminary session with a possible client. Someone I could really help, but who — and I completely respect this — may not have the money to pay me. This is someone who, like me, has what’s called a portfolio career. He does many things. He’s a performing musician and a composer, and he also does something that’s not music, in another kind of art. He’s had notable success in all three areas, but would like more. The preliminary session, for which I don’t charge, is a chance for a possible client … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] Here’s something I’ve mentioned before. But now it’s time to get serious. My reemergence as s composer is just two and a half months away, with an evening of my work on April 14, at the Strathmore Performing Arts Center, just outside Washington, DC. Details? They’ll come in future posts. But you can peek now at the concert program, and at Strathmore’s webpage for me. For now, I’ll just say this. After so many years, doing so many things in classical music — being a critic, teaching; consulting, being a point … [Read more...]

[contextly_auto_sidebar] As we head into 2016, we — meaning we in classical music — have to focus more than ever on the future. We have to! Because here are some truths, truths that can’t be said strongly enough: The old audience is going away. It won’t be replaced. We need a new audience. And: The new audience isn’t coming to old-style events. Not in numbers large enough to keep things going. The world has changed. People have changed. We have to do something new. If you think I've said those things before, it’s because I’ve said them … [Read more...]