Archives for March 2008

Paul Moravec and I will be spending the next few days sitting in a midtown rehearsal studio, helping a group of professional singers learn the first six scenes of The Letter, our Somerset Maugham opera-in-progress, in preparation for a pair of private workshop performances that will be presented later this week by Santa Fe Opera.
Paul and I saw the first run-through of The Letter on Saturday morning. I can’t begin to tell you how exciting an experience it was. No details just yet, but suffice it to say that things are going very, very well.
I’m going to be tied up tight all week, so forgive me in advance for my absence from the blog. I’ll fill you in when I return.

The auld aik’s doun:

The auld aik’s doun:

Twa hunner year it stüde, or mair,

But noo it’s doun, doun.

The auld aik’s doun:

The auld aik’s doun:

We were sae shair it wud aye be there,

But noo it’s doun, doun.

William Soutar, “The Auld Aik” (The Old Oak)

I stirred up quite a storm with my two columns in The Wall Street Journal about the New York Philharmonic’s visit to North Korea. Now the trip has come and gone, and a fair amount of nonsense is being talked about it, both by Lorin Maazel, the orchestra’s music director, and by the arts community in general. So my “Sightings” column in today’s Journal returns once more to the subject. Here’s a sample.
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Now that the New York Philharmonic has paid its long-awaited visit to North Korea, the floodtide of justificatory gush has begun. Lorin Maazel, the orchestra’s music director, intoned that “in the world of music, all men and women are brothers and sisters.” A South Korean newspaper described the trip as “an overture to peace between the North and the United States.” The Los Angeles Times called it “a publicity coup for an institution…much in need of a lift.” And Eric Clapton says he’s been invited to play in Pyongyang.
Eric Clapton?
Things are starting to get a little silly here. So before any more 62-year-old rock stars decide to hop the next plane to Pyongyang, allow me to point out five mistaken ideas about the Philharmonic’s concert….
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To read the whole thing, go here.