Archive: news
Monday notes
Norman Lebrecht leads a Web debate on the durability of contemporary composers; the Minnesota Opera revives "Casanova's Homecoming"; final notes on the NEA Opera Honors.
By Anne Midgette | November 16, 2009; 09:34 AM ET | Comments (5)
Classical music has its White House day
Thoughts on the White House's celebration of classical music.
By Anne Midgette | November 5, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (3)
Slatkin recovering from heart attack
Leonard Slatkin, the NSO's former music director, is recovering from a heart attack he suffered on Sunday while conducting in Rotterdam.
By Anne Midgette | November 3, 2009; 10:05 PM ET | Comments (1)
Mr. Bell goes to Washington (again)
The White House opens up to classical music next week.
By Anne Midgette | October 30, 2009; 11:45 AM ET | Comments (1)
News and notes
News roundup: the National Symphony announces four new players; composer Lera Auerbach loses her apartment to fire; Sondra Radvanovsky breaks a toe, and sprains an ankle, and tears a ligament for opening night.
By Anne Midgette | October 29, 2009; 06:36 AM ET | Comments (1)
Weekend roundup, opera version
Notes from the past weekend: the Winspear Opera House opens; Placido Domingo is Boccanegra in Berlin.
By Anne Midgette | October 26, 2009; 04:37 PM ET | Comments (0)
Coming out of Haydn
An unpublished symphony by Haydn gets a rare hearing from a community and student orchestra in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Plus: a preview of a few upcoming weekend events.
By Anne Midgette | October 23, 2009; 07:01 AM ET | Comments (1)
Steinway rolls in
Steinway opens its first exclusive branches in the Washington area.
By Anne Midgette | October 22, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (10)
Alt-Classical Altitude in Chicago
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Riccardo Muti announce two composers in residence starting in 2010: both young alt-classical composers who work in a range of media, for a range of audiences.
By Anne Midgette | October 16, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Another New Step in China
Conductors in China: Michel Plasson becomes the first foreigner to serve as music director of an orchestra in mainland China, while the 80-something Xiaoying Zheng leads her Xiamen Philharmonic in its North American debut in Richmond.
By Anne Midgette | October 8, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Meanwhile, On The Other Coast...
The Los Angeles Philharmonic welcomed Gustavo Dudamel this weekend in a big way. Critics weigh in, with enthusiasm.
By Anne Midgette | October 5, 2009; 10:45 AM ET | Comments (2)
The Future of Arts Journalism (II)
Live feed of the National Summit on Arts Journalism, presenting five projects for new journalism-related models for the arts, including two with specifically musical content.
By Anne Midgette | October 2, 2009; 11:58 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Future of Arts Journalism (I)
The National Arts Journalism Program is hosting a summit on the future of arts journalism today; what are your thoughts on arts journalism and where it might go?
By Anne Midgette | October 2, 2009; 09:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Names in the News
Allison Vulgamore is named as the next President and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra. James Levine's back surgery affects plans for Carnegie Hall's opening night concert with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which takes place tonight.
By Anne Midgette | October 1, 2009; 08:30 AM ET | Comments (4)
Opera for Charm City
In the wake of the Baltimore Opera's demise, Baltimore continues to produce new opera companies at an amazing rate. It's open to question how many of them will stay afloat, but it's a nice testimony to people's love for opera.
By Anne Midgette | September 30, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (7)
A Garland for Blanche's 100th
Saluting Blanche Moyse, the extraordinary Bach conductor, on her 100th birthday.
By Anne Midgette | September 23, 2009; 11:26 AM ET | Comments (2)
Philly's Future
The Philadelphia Orchestra is reportedly close to naming its next CEO: Allison Vulgamore of the Atlanta Symphony.
By Anne Midgette | September 22, 2009; 06:00 PM ET | Comments (3)
Met "Tosca" Opens to Boos
Links to a review of the Metropolitan Opera's new "Tosca" in today's Washington Post, plus other takes from other critics. The Cliff's Notes version: nobody liked it.
By Anne Midgette | September 22, 2009; 05:41 AM ET | Comments (1)
Weekend Roundup, in brief
Events from the weekend: Philip Glass's latest opera premiered in Linz; the Philadelphia Orchestra's financial woes; the death of the composer Leon Kirchner.
By Anne Midgette | September 21, 2009; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
The New Orchestra Tour
Orchestral simulcasts this weekend: the Washington Conservatory will pick up the Philadelphia Orchestra's live broadcasts (in a theater), while Dudamel conducts the Berlin Philharmonic live on the Philharmonic's digital concert hall (on your computer).
By Anne Midgette | September 18, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Gilbert's New Tenure
A review of Alan Gilbert's first outing as music director of the New York Philharmonic on Wednesday night.
By Anne Midgette | September 16, 2009; 11:45 PM ET | Comments (10)
Eschenbach's Energy
Christoph Eschenbach, the NSO's music director designate, is offering a punishing range of concerts this season, leading one to wonder how one man can possibly keep so much music straight - and yet this is par for the course for a conductor on his level.
By Anne Midgette | September 16, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Amazing Grace
Grace Bumbry is one of the Kennedy Center honorees for 2009.
By Anne Midgette | September 9, 2009; 10:46 AM ET | Comments (4)
Shanghai I Shall Adore
A fascinating-sounding Chinese co-production of Handel's "Semele" opens tonight in Brussels before going on to be the first-ever Baroque opera performed in China.
By Anne Midgette | September 8, 2009; 07:28 AM ET | Comments (0)
More Music for Monkeys
A colleague in the Washington Post's Science section writes a fuller article about the NSO cellist David Teie and the music he wrote for tamarin monkeys.
By Anne Midgette | September 8, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Music for Monkeys
David Teie, a cellist with the NSO, has won attention this week for writing music for tamarin monkeys, thereby demonstrating that the monkeys respond to specific emotional communication in the music. His goal: to explore the emotional cues in homo sapiens.
By Anne Midgette | September 3, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (7)
Snapshots from Germany
A roundup from Germany: "Moses und Aron" opens Willy Decker's first season at the Ruhr Triennale; Christof Loy's "Louise" leads a critic's poll of best German stagings last season; and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra comes under scrutiny from government accountants who say it costs too much. Also: the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall is open for business.
By Anne Midgette | August 31, 2009; 07:15 AM ET | Comments (4)
Sternumstrahlet
Hildegard Behrens has died.
By Anne Midgette | August 19, 2009; 05:38 AM ET | Comments (0)
Mozarts Tod
A new study demonstrates that Mozart may have died of strep throat.
By Anne Midgette | August 18, 2009; 04:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
Prom Night
The BBC announces that it will send the Last Night of the Proms to movie theaters on September 12. Are Americans going to care?
By Anne Midgette | August 14, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (6)
DC News/Olds
Heinz Fricke pulls out of "Ariadne" and "Götterdämmerung" at the Washington National Opera this fall; the Sonic Circuits Festival (September) announces its program, showing another side of contemporary music in Washington.
By Anne Midgette | August 12, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (2)
Funds Dry Up For DC's New Music
Aaron Grad weighs in on the loss of funding to the Washington, DC chapter of the American Composers Forum, which may force this branch of the service organization to suspend operations altogether.
By Anne Midgette | August 10, 2009; 07:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Fima and Food
Yefim Bronfman appears as a judge on "Iron Chef America" on Sunday, August 9.
By Anne Midgette | August 7, 2009; 04:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
In Search of Creative Programming, and a Bailout
More orchestras tighten their belts. And in these straitened times, can we compile a list of organizations that are actually continuing to do creative programming despite cost-cutting measures - like the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra?
By Anne Midgette | August 6, 2009; 06:31 AM ET | Comments (2)
Next: a "New" Debussy Sonata for Accordion?
More in the ongoing list of "world premieres" by canonic composers: Mozart's childhood piano pieces unearthed, a "new" Brahms piano concerto that's actually a transcription of the concerto for violin.
By Anne Midgette | August 5, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
BSO Belts Tighten One More Notch
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's musicians accept yet more pay cuts and voluntary furloughs.
By Anne Midgette | July 30, 2009; 04:16 PM ET | Comments (1)
Beethoven Tweets
The National Symphony Orchestra Twitters Beethoven (link to my article in today's Post); what are your views on so-called new technology in classical music?
By Anne Midgette | July 30, 2009; 06:35 AM ET | Comments (10)
Radio Waves: Interference Patterns
Further thoughts on WNYC and WQXR, new music,and the dumbing down of classical radio.
By Anne Midgette | July 15, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (16)
Radio Waves
America's largest public radio station, WNYC in New York, has just purchased the city's main classical music station, WQXR, from the New York Times.
By Anne Midgette | July 14, 2009; 03:00 PM ET | Comments (5)
Carpe Dignitas
The conductor Sir Edward Downes and his wife have died in an assisted-suicide clinic in Switzerland.
By Anne Midgette | July 14, 2009; 02:30 PM ET | Comments (3)
Estival Festivals: News Break
Bayreuth's technical staff threatens to strike, negotiates today with the festival administration; and Lorin Maazel announces the Castleton Festival's dates for 2010.
By Anne Midgette | July 13, 2009; 01:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
The Bar-iPhone Voice
Thomas Hampson gets his own iPhone app from instantencore.com.
By Anne Midgette | July 9, 2009; 05:40 PM ET | Comments (0)
Something About Florida
A radio interview about the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's upcoming Florida tour leads to a few thoughts about why orchestras tour so much in Florida.
By Anne Midgette | July 8, 2009; 06:42 AM ET | Comments (2)
Weekend Opera Briefs
Links to reviews (including mine) of "Turn of the Screw" at Lorin Maazel's new Castleton Festival. Plus: Joyce DiDonato really does break a leg on opening night.
By Anne Midgette | July 6, 2009; 08:35 AM ET | Comments (1)
King of the Castleton
Returning to Maazel, since he's returning to us: the Castleton Festival opens tonight, a spate of Britten opera performances, recitals, and orchestral concerts on the conductor's estate in Rappahannock County, Virginia, 1.5 hours (or so) from DC.
By Anne Midgette | July 3, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Opera Returns to Baltimore
Giorgio Lalov finally announces the maiden season of his Baltimore Opera Theater with two performances; in July, Baltimore's Artscape festival offers some other local opera fare.
By Anne Midgette | July 1, 2009; 10:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Hamlen to IMG
After switching careers and devoting himself to fighting AIDS, Charles Hamlen returns to IMG, the company he co-founded 30 years ago, now one of the most important classical-music management businesses, replacing the discredited Barrett Wissman, guilty of securities fraud. Talk about fixing your image.
By Anne Midgette | June 23, 2009; 01:50 PM ET | Comments (0)
DC's Opera for the Young
The Washington National Opera holds its annual summer institute for teenaged opera hopefuls.
By Anne Midgette | June 23, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Music, Institutionalized
How should orchestra's respond to Ivan Fischer's (and other people's) call for change?
By Anne Midgette | June 18, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (12)
China Bound: NSO Tour, Day One
Link to my first article on the National Symphony Orchestra's Asia tour (June 6-20); Day One report from the road.
By Anne Midgette | June 8, 2009; 12:45 PM ET | Comments (1)
Post Links, Posted
Links to articles in today's Washington Post: Marin Alsop extends in Baltimore to 2015; the Philadelphia Orchestra plays the Kennedy Center, leaderless or not.
By Anne Midgette | June 5, 2009; 10:42 AM ET | Comments (2)
Weekend Spotlights
Stanley Drucker, 80, retires as principal clarinetist of the New York Philharmonic; the Manassas Community Chorale waves the flag for the Washington choral scene at Carnegie Hall; the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington sings about crystal meth addiction.
By Anne Midgette | June 5, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
The Soloist: NSO Changes Horses for Asia
Leonidas Kavakos cancels the NSO's Asia tour; Nikolaj Znaider will go instead.
By Anne Midgette | June 3, 2009; 02:00 PM ET | Comments (0)
Weekend Roundup: Notes from All Over
A link to Philip Kennicott's review of "Salome" at the Opera Theater of St. Louis; acknowledgment of Robert Wilson's "Freischütz" in Baden-Baden; and a look ahead at this year's "June in Buffalo" festival, which starts today.
By Anne Midgette | June 1, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Streaming the Competitive Spirit
The Cliburn Competition starts - now. Watch it live on-line.
By Anne Midgette | May 22, 2009; 01:30 PM ET | Comments (0)
In Performance: Local News and Reviews
Links to Mark J. Estren's article about the Fairfax Symphony's selection of a new director; the Summer Opera Theater cancels its summer season. Charles T. Downey reviews the pianist Valentina Lisitsa at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
By Anne Midgette | May 22, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (0)
Salzburg Festival Names New Director
Alexander Pereira, whose contract at the Zurich Opera runs out in 2012, will be the next Intendant, or director, of the Salzburg Festival. It's high time he had a new assignment to take on.
By Anne Midgette | May 20, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Downloading the Classics
Classical Archives, a new site selling classical music downloads, reinvents the wheel but rolls pretty well; and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's classical music podcast The Concert has its millionth download.
By Anne Midgette | May 14, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (7)
In With the Old: New Works by Old Masters
Tonight sees the second North American premiere of the same Mendelssohn piano concerto - the Third, which has been reconstructed in two different versions by two different people. And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to world premieres by the great composers these days.
By Anne Midgette | May 11, 2009; 10:05 AM ET | Comments (4)
The Song Continues, in a New Key
The Marilyn Horne Foundation announces its upcoming merger with Carnegie Hall's Weill Institute; the San Francisco Symphony launches a new social networking site, called, imaginatively, "Social Network."
By Anne Midgette | May 6, 2009; 02:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
Questions of Endowment
For the record: the New York City Opera's press spokesman wrote to Musical America to correct the Bloomberg News story about the company's ongoing woes previously cited on this blog. Pascal Nadon took issue with "a Bloomberg commentary by Zinta...
By Anne Midgette | May 4, 2009; 05:21 PM ET | Comments (0)
Weekend Roundup
The Washington National Opera's "Siegfried" has an unexpected but successful opening; my review is posted here. On the same night, the Vienna State Opera premiered "Das Rheingold," the last opera in Sven-Eric Bechtolf's "Ring" cycle; according to one report it...
By Anne Midgette | May 4, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (1)
Blythe Spirits: Washington Weekend in Voice
Upcoming weekend concerts in Washington: Stephanie Blythe, Placido Domingo, et al.
By Anne Midgette | May 1, 2009; 02:06 PM ET | Comments (0)
Baltimore, redux
Baltimore gets Turandot for a night; the BSO musicians donate to the orchestra.
By Anne Midgette | April 29, 2009; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (0)
Opera Notes: New Opera for Baltimore?
Since the demise of the Baltimore Opera, other companies have been springing up to fill the gap. Now, Giorgio Lalov, who has for 20+ years run the touring outfit Teatro Lirico d'Europa, is attempting to create a permanent home for cut-rate opera in Baltimore.
By Anne Midgette | April 28, 2009; 06:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
Opera News
Lewis Spratlan's 30-year-old, Pulitzer-Prize-winning opera will finally get its world premiere in 2010; Bloomberg News skewers New York City Opera; the Royal Opera House announces its 2009-10 season.
By Anne Midgette | April 22, 2009; 11:30 AM ET | Comments (3)
News and Reviews: 2009-10 Season's Greetings
Local news and reviews: Strathmore announces its 2009-10 season; Joan Reinthaler reviews David Grimal and Georges Pludermacher.
By Anne Midgette | April 22, 2009; 01:17 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Reich Stuff
Steve Reich finally wins the Pulitzer Prize for music, an honor long overdue and richly deserved.
By Anne Midgette | April 21, 2009; 06:10 AM ET | Comments (2)
Film: "The Audition"
The Metropolitan Opera's film "The Audition," showing in theaters on Sunday, will make you love the young singers, but doesn't reveal as much as it could.
By Anne Midgette | April 18, 2009; 11:20 AM ET | Comments (3)
Recession Watch: More Cuts
The recession's latest unkind cuts.
By Anne Midgette | April 17, 2009; 11:01 AM ET | Comments (0)
Crossover to Susan Boyle
The classical charts are not especially meaningful, first because sales of a few thousand is enough to shoot a recording to the top of them, and second because the term "classical music" is adulterated with the kind of "Il Divo" thing that purists declare isn't classical music at all.
By Anne Midgette | April 16, 2009; 04:41 PM ET | Comments (4)
The Viral Orchestra: Final Thoughts on YouTube's Symphony
Final thoughts on the YouTube symphony: YouTube's real value to classical music lies in its ability to stimulate music-making on a grassroots level.
By Anne Midgette | April 16, 2009; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
News Briefs
The new Richard Tucker Award winner; another classical critic bites the dust; Tan Dun's Internet Symphony unveiled.
By Anne Midgette | April 16, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
Music Video Today: Vevo and the YouTube Symphony
Universal Music and YouTube's new joint venture, Vevo.com, looks to me like another one of those desperation moves spawned of panic as our familiar media outlets implode around us. The YouTube Symphony offers an alternate model of how music videos can be harnessed to real-world energy - but, alas, not a financially profitable one.
By Anne Midgette | April 15, 2009; 07:00 AM ET | Comments (11)
Competitive Instincts: the Cliburn's Composers
The Cliburn Competition, for all its faded glory, has found a nifty way to include classical music in the mix without forcing a new work down people's throats.
By Anne Midgette | April 15, 2009; 05:50 AM ET | Comments (5)
Listen: Words on Music
The other day, I found in my mailbox a glossy new magazine about classical music. Listen's problem is that it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be liner notes or music journalism.
By Anne Midgette | April 9, 2009; 06:45 AM ET | Comments (5)
In Performance: Local News and Reviews
The DC Philharmonic cancels its maiden concert tonight.
By Anne Midgette | April 9, 2009; 06:00 AM ET | Comments (2)
News, Notes, and the NYCO
The New York City announced its 2009-10 season last night. The real news is that the company has a season to announce.
By Anne Midgette | April 2, 2009; 05:10 AM ET | Comments (2)
Jackson to Reno - and Fairfax?
Laura Jackson, the newly appointed music director of the Reno Philharmonic, is still not out of the running for the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra.
By Anne Midgette | April 1, 2009; 12:30 PM ET | Comments (1)
