April 6, 2012  |
| | | Thought of the Day | | I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones.
--John Cage
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| Quote of the Week | | What is best in music is not to be found in the notes. --Gustav Mahler
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| | Louisville Orchestra Posts Audition Notices | | 
Louisville Orchestra will start hiring musicians this month with the goal of performing a full 2012-13 season. The current players have been on strike for almost one year and attempts to resume negotiations have been unsuccessful. A notice on the orchestra's website reads, "Now Auditioning for All Positions" and goes on to describe "one year, possibly permanent, contract openings available for qualified symphonic musicians." The terms include $925 minimum weekly salary, plus instrument, life, and major medical insurance, and 30 weeks guaranteed work. "Additional income opportunities may be available."
MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Miami City Ballet Names Artistic Director | Lourdes Lopez, former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, current director of Morphoses Dance Company, is to succeed Edward Villella, founding artistic director of the Miami City Ballet, when he steps down in May 2013. Lopez, 54, Cuban-born and Miami-raised, was chosen by the board of directors over Jennifer Kronenberg, principal dancer with the Miami troupe and Villella's choice to succeed him. There has been a great deal of angst within the company about Villella's exit. Although he is 75 (he founded the ensemble in 1986), he has said publicly that he is not interested in retiring. Nonetheless, he announced his intention to do so last fall. The word is that the former Balanchine star was forced out by a small group of donors. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| | | Musical America Launches Special Reports | | In addition to the annual International Directory, MusicalAmerica.com, and our weekly E-newsletter, we have added Special Reports, created as specific-issue guides for the industry.
Each issue will include Q&As with industry professionals, dos and don'ts, case studies, best practices, resource lists, etc. and is designed to be a quick read for the busy professional.
The first issue focuses on finding solutions to:
♦ Use digital media to drive ticket sales
♦ Identify your social "influencers" ♦ Optimize for mobile ♦ Tap into Pinterest
The Special Report is FREE and may be downloaded as a PDF or viewed on our website. |
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Flips the Model | | 
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is reaching out to its community in a most uncomplicated way: free concerts. In announcing next season, the orchestra unveiled a new plan whereby for a $5 monthly membership patrons were entitled to one free ticket to any and all of the 2012-13 season's 100 concerts.
The orchestra says the scheme was developed "in response to clear audience preferences for flexibility and spontaneity."
Apparently most of the SPCO's revenue is historically not from ticket sales, otherwise the idea wouldn't make much sense. On the other hand, if a member wants to take a friend, it's an automatic purchase. Two for the price of one is certainly better than none. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
ENO Names Media King as Chairman | | 
Peter Bazalgette, among the most powerful international figures in the media world, is to be the new chairman of the English National Opera as of May 1. He succeeds Sir Vernon Ellis, who is retiring after two three-year terms to become ENO president. As opera companies become increasingly invested in transmitting their productions around the world, Bazalgette, with his expertise and contacts, seems the perfect fit. The 58-year-old Cambridge graduate has been described by the BBC as "a pioneer in 'how to' and reality TV." But Bazalgette also has been accused of changing British television for the worse. His TV schedules, according to the Guardian, resemble "a televisual tranquiliser, administered from the top table of British society, down to the TV diners at the bottom." MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Ray Charles Foundation Sues Offspring | The Ray Charles Foundation has filed a lawsuit against seven of the late singer's 12 children in an attempt to block them from collecting publishing royalties from Warner/Chappell Music for their father's songs. In 2002, two years before his death, the children all signed agreements indicating that they would not attempt to collect from Charles's estate after he died; in exchange he arranged for a $500,000 trust for each, to be distributed over four years. They have all received their payments, but then two years ago they went to court for "termination of transfer" papers, seeking to divert the publishing royalties to themselves. "The Ray Charles Foundation gives away millions of dollars for educational and other charitable purposes,"said Foundation President Valerie Ervin. "Therefore, depriving the Foundation of a significant portion of its income could have adverse implications as to the ability of the Foundation to carry on its charitable works."
MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| New Artist of the Month: Conductor Marcello Di Lisa | | BOLOGNA, Italy -- The first time I came across the name Marcello Di Lisa was in 2010, while reviewing some CDs for the 350th anniversary of Alessandro Scarlatti's birth. A compilation of rare sacred works on the German label CPO was followed by an even more impressive anthology of operatic arias and overtures, most of them premiere recordings. What struck me at first sight was the combination of starry Baroque vocalists (such as Gemma Bertagnolli, Sara Mingardo, and Daniela Barcellona) with a wholly obscure conductor and his period band Concerto de' Cavalieri, meaning concert of knights.
Last fall, I heard Di Lisa conduct live in Naples at the world modern premiere of "Erminia," a 1723 wedding serenata by Scarlatti and arguably his last dramatic work. Leading from the harpsichord, Di Lisa flawlessly negotiated the fiendishly difficult vocal parts and the complexities of a particularly rich orchestral scoring. This young man seems poised for great accomplishments.
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| Posting Musical Performances on YouTube |  To submit a question to FTM Arts Law write to LawAndDisorder@MusicalAmerica.com Dear Law and Disorder, What are the copyright issues in posting a performance of a piece of music on YouTube for global streaming? And, since people can easily download YouTube content, what are the implications for the person who's posted it, or the downloaders for that matter? Read the full story
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| Building an Ensemble Step by Step | |  For the answers to the question below, click here. Note from Edna: At a recent conference for career development officers (NETMCDO), I met a dynamic young woman who was invited to participate on a panel of "guest musician entrepreneurs". Her approach to career building and her intriguing website "Chops Beyond the Practice Room" inspired me to invite her for coffee. I discovered that violist, teaching artist, ensemble coach and workshop leader, Jessica Meyer, was a veritable superwoman and the quintessential networker. Not long after we met, I read a glowing review of her composer/performer collective, counter)induction, now in its 13th year and excited to be releasing its first cd, "Group Theory", on April 29. I thought that Jessica's general career insights and specific experience in building an ensemble would be of value to our readers. It is my pleasure to welcome her as my first guest blogger. Read the full story |
American Mavericks, Part 1 | | 
From "Why I Left Muncie" by Sedgwick Clark The American composer has no greater champion than Michael Tilson Thomas. For his first season as music director of the San Francisco Symphony, 1995-96, virtually every subscription program contained an American work. Heralding the 21st century, the orchestra's 1999-2000 season concluded with a three-week American Mavericks festival. This year, to celebrate the orchestra's centennial, Tilson Thomas revived the Mavericks concept and took it on tour, culminating in a week at Carnegie Hall. Darned if these concerts weren't the hottest tickets in town, with hardly an empty seat in either house. Los Angeles Times critic Mark Swed called Tilson Thomas "a fearless musical explorer" when Musical America named him Conductor of the Year in 1995. Perhaps the most notorious of his explorations remains a performance of Steve Reich's Four Organs at a Boston Symphony concert at Carnegie Hall on January 19, 1973. This rather severe example of minimalism -- in which four organs "deconstruct" a dominant eleventh chord for 20 minutes to the rhythmic underpinning of a monotonous maraca beat (Steve's Bolero?) -- provoked a mass walkout, with audience members shouting at each other and at the performers. |
| Latest Roster Changes |  Musical America is helping presenters keep up with its advertisers! Managers whose rosters appear in the 2012 edition of the Musical America Directory should write to listings@musicalamerica.com with the names of artists and attractions that have been either added or removed, and please be sure to indicate "added" or "removed." NEW THIS WEEK Albertson, Kyle, bass-baritone, added, Uzan International Artists Hewitt, Angela, piano, HarrisonParrott (extended to worldwide general management) McDaniel, Maria, mezzo-soprano, added, Uzan International Artists Otey, Louis, baritone, removed, Uzan International Artists Roberts, Irene, mezzo-soprano, removed, Uzan International Artists Sanderling, Stefan, conductor, added, Mark Z. Alpert, Columbia Artists Management (North & South America)
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