Mark Swed has been taking in “The MTT Files,” Michael Tilson Thomas’s new radio program that promises to bring the general public back into the classical music fold. “The series is personal. It recognizes that music demands paying attention, not multi-tasking. It takes great leaps of imagination, which can be accomplished much more effectively on radio than on television. And given that MTT is an inspired mimic, his voice brings to life the likes of Stravinsky and Heifetz. He can also be very funny.”
Tag: 04.07.07
Do Summer Concerts Demand A Summer Venue?
The Montreal Symphony is moving a summer series of concerts out of the cathedral that has housed it since 1980, and into the same concert hall it uses for its winter season. Arthur Kaptainis is left wondering why: “It is hard to create an aura of specialness around summer concerts given in the same room where the regular season happens. Whatever the weather, it always feels like February in dark, womb-like Salle Wilfrid Pelletier.”
Paris To Get Nouvel Concert Hall
Architect Jean Nouvel has been tapped to design a new €200 million concert hall in Paris. The hall, which will be home to the Orchestre de Paris as well as several other groups, will seat 2,400, and is expected to be completed by 2012.
Movies Are Nice, But Being There Is The Thing
The success of the Metropolitan Opera’s high-definition movie theatre simulcasts notwithstanding, William Littler says that there’s just no substitute for the power of a live Met performance. “The deadliest criticism of opera has long been that it is too expensive to be anything but caviar for the elite… [But] the reason people are gladly buying tickets at such prices is that they are not just watching a movie, they are participating vicariously in a live event.”
Also, The Contestants Have To Know How To Sing
China is getting its own version of American Idol, but government authorities, who have apparently been watching the US show with growing horror, are placing strict limitations on the content of the televised talent show. Regulators have dictated that the show “should include only ‘healthy and ethically inspiring’ songs and avoid scenes of screaming fans or losing contestants in tears.” And self-esteem will be protected, as judges will be barred from “mocking or humiliating contestants.”