Clive Gillinson has had enough careers for three musicians, and the new director of Carnegie Hall shows no sign of slowing down. “When you are running an orchestra, you’re hearing everything in relation to your own orchestra. Now it’s a wonderful experience, and quite relaxing, when you don’t have the responsibility for everything happening in that orchestra.”
Tag: 10.04.06
Selling Less, Making More
U.S. concert promoters have been in a ticket sales slump for the better part of three years now, and many are saying that sales will likely never return to the levels of five years ago. “Nevertheless, the concert industry is taking those lemons and learning to make lemonade. Despite the decline in ticket sales, Pollstar reports that last year the industry saw a 10.7 percent increase in profits over the previous year’s total of $2.8 billion, for a record $3.1 billion.”
Defending ENO’s Sean Doran
Sean Doran has plenty of detractors who are making life difficult. But, writes John Rockwell, Doran is responsible for some excellent work. “His few, lonely supporters in London see him as the victim of byzantine, not to say operatic, machinations within the English National Opera, abetted by hostile critics still loyal to Mr. Payne.”
Ayckbourn After The Stroke
Six months ago playwright Alan Ayckbourn suffered a stroke. “After a summer of recuperation, Ayckbourn, on a sofa at his Scarborough townhouse with a view of sun-glittered sea, is recognisable as the friendly, energetic presence of interviews before his illness, although his enthusiastic, actorly voice occasionally snags, like a tape played on dodgy sprockets in his long-ago days as a studio-manager for BBC radio.”
How Online Is Revolutionizing The Music Biz
“The popularity of social networking sites such as Rupert Murdoch’s MySpace, which last night won the award for best innovation, has turbocharged the rate at which artists get their first break and has democratised the A&R process.”