Archives for 2005

Here's something that happened at a concert at Symphony Space in New York, given jointly by the Ying Quartet and the Turtle Island String Quartet. It was a brave event for the Yings. The Turtle Island String Quartet plays jazz and improvises, the Yings normally don't. But (though only their cellist improvised at this concert) they stretched themselves very happily into Turtle Island territory. This in itself is a sign of changes happening in classical music, but that's not the only thing I want to mention here. What especially struck me is … [Read more...]

On January 8 I spoke on a panel at the National Opera Association convention. This was a panel of very diverse composers -- myself, Ned Rorem, John Eaton, Eric Salzman, and Jack Beeson. I don't want to diminish what anyone said (Ned, as always, was adorably Ned; Jack was wonderfully witty; Eric had forceful things to say about music theater that isn't opera, and doesn't use operatic singing), but I was especially taken with John, whom, alone of this group, I'd never met before. His presentation fell into three parts. First a fetching anecdote … [Read more...]

Happy new year, everyone. I didn't think I'd be coming back from my holiday to news of a strike (or lockout). St. Louis, everybody always says, is a happy orchestra, and at least, in the middle of this sad news, it preserves its reputation in one way -- all the reports I've gotten, from the press and from personal sources, tell me that management and the musicians have remained friendly. I'm hardly going to take sides, or try to sort out every major detail of all the issues involved. But one thing seems clear. Management thinks it's more … [Read more...]