Pianist Kirrill Gerstein and composer Thomas Ades have been in a musical conversation of the sort that happens only when two people intrinsically seem to understand what the other is trying to say. – The New York Times
Category: music
In Search Of The Next Music Director Of The Fort Worth Symphony
With Miguel Harth-Bedoya stepping down after 20 “transformational” years, Tim Diovanni talks to musicians and observers about potential successors and finds that there is, as yet, no clear favorite. – The Dallas Morning News
What Will Concert Life Look Like When Things Reopen?
In New York—and likely everywhere—the venues best able to answer these questions are the smallest ones. They are so because they present music often at the edge of economic and cultural viability, and are geared to survive with limited audiences. Reopening for tiny, restricted crowds would be pretty much par for the course. – Van
Pandemic Is Spurring Operatic Innovation
The covid-19 crisis has forced a sacrifice of so much of what makes opera so powerful — the massive casts, booming orchestras, elaborate staging and singular thrill of being present to experience it all. But it also presents an unlikely opportunity for the form itself to get more intimate and accessible, reach new audiences and evolve in different directions. It’s an art form in survival mode, and it may well come back stronger. – Washington Post
How Did The Last Pandemic Affect Music In The U.S.? Not That Much
“The [Spanish] flu did not transform the American cultural scene, as the new coronavirus threatens to; when the outbreak eased, in 1919, musical life returned swiftly to normal. A columnist … estimated that the financial damage to music from the influenza outbreak amounted to around $5 million nationwide, the equivalent of approximately $85.5 million today. In 2020, the Met alone stands to lose that much, or more.” – The New York Times
How Do You Play A 45-Foot-Long String Instrument? Like This
“Flanked by 20 strings on each side, her fingers coated in rosin, [Ellen] Fullman, 62, walks a central aisle while rubbing the strings lengthwise, conjuring thrumming minimalist drones and quickly shifting overtones. … A typical performance requires four or five days of laborious installation and tuning to adjust to spaces that have included a Romanesque cathedral in Cologne and a museum in Tasmania.” – The New York Times
Violinist Offers Free Lessons Online Culminating In A Big Virtual Concert. 800 Take Her Up On It
Nicola Benedetti already offered online music classes through her own Benedetti Foundation. But the lockdown made her wonder whether they could reach an even wider audience on social media platforms. Although the sessions are free, donations are welcome. Nearly 800 people have signed up so far to teach or play, including fellow musicians The Ayoub Sisters. – BBC
How The COVID Crisis Is Changing Classical Music Performance (No, It’s Not About Zoom)
Musicians and their audiences may be physically separated these days, but they’re closer emotionally, writes David Patrick Stearns. “The old sense of ‘us’ and ‘them’ — each side with its respective definition of excellence — is now more of a collective ‘us.’ We’re part of the same extended family, because artists are delivering something less filtered, and audiences are listening past questionable sound quality, faulty computer connections, and superficial biases. Listeners are likely to embrace, with fewer or no conditions, whatever the artists have to give us each day. The rewards can be huge.” – WQXR (New York City)
Glyndebourne Opera Festival Bows To The Inevitable, Cancels Remainder Of Summer Season
“[Festival management] had previously cancelled all performances up to and including July 14, but the festival was due to continue until August 30. A virtual festival, Glyndebourne Open House, has been announced in its place, which will begin on May 24. Opera fans will be able to stream a free, full-length past production at 5pm every Sunday.” – The Telegraph (UK)
‘The Central Park Five’ By Anthony Davis Wins Pulitzer Prize For Music
“[The work,] which debuted last June at Long Beach Opera, … chronicles the racially and politically charged New York trial and conviction of one Latino teenager and four black teens — who were later all exonerated and freed — in the 1989 rape [and beating] of a young white female investment banker in Central Park.” – The San Diego Union-Tribune