|
|
|
NOVEMBER 1999
- DIVA DEPARTURE: Marilyn Horne
announced from a Chicago stage Sunday that that was her final concert after
a 45-year career. Chicago Tribune
11/30/99
- NOT
ABOUT MONEY: New York City Ballet orchestra strike isn't about pay or
benefits. It's about work schedules and rehearsals and making the orchestra
better. New York Times 11/30/99 (one time registration
required)
- THE
FUTURE OF CLASSICAL MUSIC: 28-year-old Brit Thomas Ades has won one of
the composition world's biggest prizes, the Grawemeyer. Washington Post 11/30/99
- CRITIC
FIRED: Baltimore Sun music critic has been fired for plagiarism. (AP) Baltimore Sun 11/26/99
- WILL
PLAY FOR FOOD: The National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia's tour of
the UK wasn't going well and the budget was busted. Musicians quarreled with
the conductor, then took matters into their own hands - they hit the street
to play for money. Compassionate Swansea shoppers helped save them. BBC 11/28/99
- THE GHOST OF THE OLD OPERA
HOUSE: As Royal Opera moves into its new home, Covent Garden is
discovering the headache side of what it's like to be an opera house
again. Financial Times 11/26/99
- CATCHING
UP WITH KISSIN: Yevgeny Kissin is at the top of the piano world. In
person he looks even more frail than he does on stage. "At this point,
I have to perform only in places that are important from the career point of
view," he says. Toronto Globe
and Mail 11/26/99
- HALLELUJAH:
Frank McNamara has rewritten Handel's "Messiah." New version stars
Gladys Knight (without the Pips), Chaka Khan and Roger Daltry. "I just
thought it would be great to do a pop version," says McNamara.
"There are great tunes in it. At the end of the day, music is
entertainment. I don't think it should be challenging." Irish Times 11/25/99
- Atlanta Symphony signs new contract
with its musicians after three years of acrimonious negotiations. Atlanta Journal-Constitution 11/24/99
- REOPENING
OF COVENT GARDEN begins with a closure. Ligeti opera canceled. BBC 11/24/99
- BRITAIN
LOST AN ORCHESTRA LAST WEEK: Bournemouth Sinfonietta goes out of
business due to money problems. Did anyone notice? London Telegraph 11/24/99
- MAJOR
INDEPENDENT LABEL says it will offer free MP3 downloads of its entire
music catalogue online. Wired
11/23/99
- THE
"IDEAL PERFORMANCE IN YOUR HEAD:" Mahler performance with
Boston orchestra is good, but... a review. Boston Globe 11/24/99
- Previously: WALTER
MITTY NEVER HAD IT GO GOOD: Millionaire businessman Gilbert Kaplan
has a thing for Mahler's Second Symphony - though not a conductor, he
decided he must conduct it, hired an orchestra and performed it,
performed it again with major orchestras around the world, made a
recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, created a foundation for
Mahler scholarship and performance, and amassed a collection of every
Mahler photograph, which he published in his book, ''The Mahler Album.'' Boston Globe 11/19/99
- LA
PHILHARMONIC CUTS STAFF: Orchestra, facing budget deficit and dwindling
audiences, has cut employees to save money. Orange County Register 11/23/99
- FOR
SALE - THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC? Venerable Philadelphia concert hall may be
on the block as Philadelphia Orchestra struggles to raise remaining $25
million for its new home.
Philadelphia Inquirer 11/21/99
AND: Philadelphia
Orchestra's new home now under construction - a wildly ambitious plan
with technical bells and whistles that rival any performance space in the
country. And: What
about the acoustics?
Philadelphia Inquirer 11/21/99
- EIGHT
AMERICAN ORCHESTRAS ARE LOOKING for music directors. Never a better time
to be a maestro. Chicago Tribune
11/21/99
- NEW
BATON: Compared to choosing a new music director for a major orchestra,
electing a pope is a public process. For the first time in 25 years, the
Boston Symphony looks for a new leader. Boston Globe 11/19/99
- JAZZ
IN NEW YORK: Still alive and healthy but, says pianist Renee Rosnes,
there are fewer jazz sessions and lot less camaraderie between musicians. Irish Times 11/19/99
- A "LA
BOHEME"-LED RECOVERY: More than $4.5 million in debt two years ago,
Opera Australia embarked on a "populist" season. It seems to have
paid off. Sydney Morning Herald
11/18/99
- RADIO
CITY MUSICIANS VOTE TO STRIKE
CBC 11/18/99
AND: Backstage
story 11/18/99
- "NO
MISMANAGEMENT HERE": Scottish Opera bosses, called up by the
Scottish Parliament to defend themselves after being bailed out of looming
bankruptcy last week, say lavish production hurt but was not extravagant. BBC 11/18/99
- PERLMAN
ON THE PODIUM: First half of concert conductor Itzhak Perlman had the
Detroit Symphony sounding "like a mediocre college orchestra.'' But the
second produced "one of the finest performances of Dvorak" this
Detroit critic ever heard. Detroit
News 11/15/99
- MADE IN
AMERICA: Critic takes a listen to New York Philharmonic's new multi-disc
salute to American music and, harkening back to debate from earlier this
century, wonders if American music is worth it. There's a "paucity of
great music," he finds.
National Review 11/99
AND: Washington
Post's Jonathan Yardley responds to critic's "misunderstanding of
American music." Washington
Post 11/15/99
AND: New
York Times review of series
- OPERA
IN THE PARK: Reviews are in on the Wendy Wasserstein/A. R.
Gurney/Terrence McNally opera collaboration. An "exceedingly modest
entertainment." New York
Times 11/15/99 (one-time registration required)
- GOODBYE
TO MODERNISM, HELLO TO WHO-KNOWS-WHATISM: As the millennium closes where
have the paths we have gone down in art led us? The Boston Globe looks at
the century of arts.
AND: A
century tells the story of jazz
AND: An
unpredictable century for classical music
AND:
A roller-coaster century of technology and popular music
Boston Globe 11/14/99
- BOCELLI
AFTER THE BOMB: Uniformly negative reviews of his North American opera
debut won't dissuade Andrea Bocelli from pursuing his dreams of a career in
opera. Chicago Tribune 11/14/99
- UCHIDA
AND GOODE TO DIRECT MARLBORO: Pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Richard Goode
have been named artistic directors of the Marlboro Music Festival.
Chicago Tribune 11/14/99
-
-
BEST
COMPOSER OF THE CENTURY? A few years ago it would have been unthinkable
to even consider Benjamin Britten for such a list. Now people are talking...
Toronto Globe and Mail 11/12/99
-
HELP
WANTED: Daniel Hayes plays piano at the local supermarket near his
Maryland home. When he decided to perform on a grander scale he took out a
classified ad: "Senior Citizen ready to perform the Rubinstein D-minor
piano concerto . . . but needs an orchestra. Can you help?"
Philadelphia Inquirer 11/11/99
-
"A
HORRIBLE EVENING": From the cases of Budweiser stacked on stage to
a flying motorcycle, burned-out van and "loser" cast, critic can't
find a nice word for the "vandals" who defaced Handel in a London
Guildhall production.
London Times 11/11/99
-
"VIEW"
FROM THE STAGE: By almost any measure, the Chicago Lyric Opera's world
premiere of William Bolcom's new opera "A View from the Bridge"
was a huge success. The question: is it a big enough hit to find a place in
the repertoire? New York Times
11/11/99 (Registration required
for access)
-
JIMMY &
DOUG'S FARM CLUB: New Seagram website encourages musicians worldwide to
upload their music to site for critique by label execs and fans. Variety 11/10/99
-
CENTRAL PARK OPERA:
Playwrights Wendy Wasserstein, A.R. Gurney and Terrence McNally take on a
different kind of theater with a trio of one-act operas themed around
Central Park. MSNBC (Newhouse) 11/9/99
-
HAVE
GIANT STADIUM/BIG SPORTS EVENT- WILL TRAVEL: Pavarotti, in Australia to
sing in new Superdome, angles for invite to play Sydney Olympics. The Australian 11/8/99
-
THE
SCOTTISH OPERA is deeply in debt. So why has it just decided to stage
Wagner's "Ring," the most lavish project it could think of? The
government is investigating.
BBC 11/8/99
-
TORONTO
SYMPHONY STRIKE drags on. Negotiations "aren't going very
well." CBC 11/8/99
-
MOST
IMPORTANT CLASSICAL MUSIC OF THE CENTURY: This critic nominates the
century's best in chronological order (with explanations).
Orange County Register 11/7/99
-
AT
HOME IN BERKLEY: Last month Kent Nagano turned down a date leading the
Berlin Philharmonic so he could conduct his Berkley Symphony. He's much in
demand these days - how long can he (will he) stay home?
San Francisco Chronicle 11/7/99
-
OPERADIO.COM:
The future of opera on the internet (but for now it's frustrating). Dallas Morning News 11/7/99
-
TV
OPERA THAT ROCKS: Michael Rouse's piece fuses opera, rock and
television, making for some "spectacular fluidity"
Los Angeles Times 11/4/99
-
RECORD
PRICE FOR A VIOLIN: Reports that Yehudi Menuhin's Guarneri sold at a
Zurich auction this week for $3 million. CBC 11/3/99
-
A
"COCKTAIL LOUNGE PARODY OF HERSELF": After a limp Halloween
performance, critic wonders if Diamanda Galas - "among the most
searingly direct and original artists of our day" - has lost it. San Francisco Chronicle 11/3/99
-
POINT
OF NO RETURN: Opera houses were the last bastion of unamplified sound. No
longer. In recent years more theaters have turned to amplification - subtly
yes, but some critics hear a difference. New York Times 11/3/99 (registration
required for access)
-
INTRIGUE
AT COVENT GARDEN: Who's to blame for the mess at the Royal Opera House?
Memoirs from two former directors point the fingers of blame. London Telegraph 11/3/99
-
WHEN
POP ISN'T SO POPULAR: Britain's National Center for Popular Music, a $28
million museum that opened in March is deep in debt and attracting few of
the masses of visitors it hoped for. BBC 11/2/99
UPDATE: Pop
Museum rescued with bailout. BBC
11/3/99
-
FULL
HOUSE/MONEY IN THE BANK: Milwaukee Symphony playing a happy tune.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel 11/2/99
|
|
|
|
|
