Cosmic Burst Cafe: September 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

News From Musical America Worldwide

September 28, 2012

Newsletter Banner 2012 Edition

In This Issue

Chicago Symphony Ratifies New Agreement

Schütz Disc Takes Gramophone Recording of the Year

Miami City Ballet Names New Executive Director

Atlanta Symphony Deal Ends Lock-out

Cool reception for Met's new L'Elisir d'Amore

What Are You Trying To Hide?

Tips for Successful Grant Writing

Polisi for President

Latest Roster Changes

Also This Week on MusicalAmerica.com...

Thought of the Day

Cease to inquire what the future has in store, and take as a gift whatever the day brings forth.

--Horace

Quote of the Week

If music be the food of love, play on.

--William Shakespeare

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Chicago Symphony Ratifies New Agreement

Chicago Symphony Orchestra management and musicians have ratified a new three-year collective bargaining agreement, effective retroactively to Sept.17, 2012

The agreement, reached tentatively on Monday, follows Saturday's strike action by more than 100 musicians that cancelled a Riccardo Muti concert at less than two hours' notice.It was the first strike by CSO musicians since 1991.

Steve Lester, chairman of the CSO Members Committee, said: "These were difficult and exhausting negotiations. In order to continue to serve our audiences and to keep providing the very best in the art form of orchestral music, both sides had to compromise. The musicians are glad to be back performing concerts for the people of Chicago and the world."

MA.com subscribers read the full story

Schütz Disc Takes Gramophone Recording of the Year

Lionel Meunier and Vox Luminis

have won Recording of the Year in this year's Gramophone Awards for their recording of Schütz's Musicalishce Exequien on Ricercar, which also won in the Baroque Vocal category. Meunier said: "This was

my first day in London and it has turned out to be one of the most memorable of my life."

Pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, 20, was the youngest artist to achieve a double-award win, taking Young Artist of the Year and winning the Best Instrumental category for his debut disc of music by Ravel, Chopin ,and Liszt on Decca. Joseph Calleja was voted Artist of the Year, Claudio Abbado was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement Award, Murray Perahia won a new Piano Award, and Naïve was crowned Label of the Year.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

October Special Report: Visas and the Journey to the U.S.

Miami City Ballet Names New Executive Director

Daniel Hagerty, 40, has been named new executive director of Miami City Ballet. Hagerty is a top fundraiser at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington and his appointment is seen as part of a strong revival following a tough year.

He starts in late October. His appointment follows that of new Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, who took control this month.

Kennedy Center President Michael Kaiser, who has been consulting with the company since July, said "It's not that there are no financial issues, but we have really turned a corner. We are heading into a very good time."

Kaiser, who engineered rescues of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the American Ballet Theater, and England's Royal Opera House, told the Miami Herald that the moves ensure the company will recover from the most difficult period in its 26-year history.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

Atlanta Symphony Deal Ends Lock-out

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra players and management have signed a new two-year labor deal, ending a lock-out since Aug. 25 and allowing the 2012-13 season opener to go ahead as scheduled on Oct. 4 with Music Director Robert Spano and solo violinist Midori.

The musicians had been demanding that management share the financial pain, and the deal sees a 6 percent reduction in senior staff compensation for the duration of the two-year contract.

Board Chairman Jim Abrahamson said: "These are difficult and unfortunate economic realities we face. However, with this new agreement I am confident we can have the strong future we all desire. We all want the same thing: an artistically vibrant and financially stable ASO that serves this community for years to come."

MA.com subscribers read the full story

Cool reception for Met's new L'Elisir d'Amore

Donizetti's L'Elisir d'Amore has rarely been out of the Metropolitan Opera's repertoire for long, but not until Monday evening (Sept. 24) had it served for opening night. That it did so is due to Anna Netrebko, who has elevated the soubrette role of Adina to a vehicle congenial for her star qualities, just as she has done with Norina in the composer's other great comedy, Don Pasquale.

Overall, despite some absorbing ideas from Director Bartlett Sher -- and sometimes because of them -- this Elisir is short on effervescence, but perhaps that will come in future performances. You might think that the production's traditional take on the opera would have had at least some in the audience shouting approval, but while there were no boos, the production team was coolly received at curtain calls.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

What Are You Trying To Hide?

To submit a question to GG Arts Law write to LawAndDisorder@MusicalAmerica.com

Dear Law And Disorder,

I run a small management company. In addition to our commissions, we bill our artists monthly for their share of expenses (conference fees, publicity materials, etc.) One of our artists is now refusing to pay unless we provide her with an itemization of expenses. Do I have to give her one? In the past, she has always paid and never asked for an itemization before?

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Tips for Successful Grant Writing

From "Ask Edna" by Edna Landau
For the answers to the questions below, click here.

Please submit your questions to askedna@musicalamerica.com

One of the questions I was asked this past summer when I did a live Ask Edna session at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival was about tips for successful grant writing. Unfortunately, the allotted time that day didn't suffice for me to address that topic but I felt I should dedicate a column to it as the question frequently comes up. The points itemized below have been gathered from various Internet websites and from a workshop that was presented to my class at the Colburn School a few years ago by Melissa Snoza and Adam Marks of Fifth House Ensemble. They have always been DIY types and they have developed considerable skill in this area over the years.

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Polisi for President

From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark

Of Lincoln Center, that is.

The announcement on Tuesday (9/25) that Reynold Levy, 67, president of Lincoln Center since 2002, considers his work done and will move on at the end of next year, was a surprise. I figured there would be more total remakes like Alice Tully Hall. Under Levy, all the $1.2 billion renovations of the past seven years were accomplished on time and on budget. (Lincoln Center's detailed press release offers the full official information.) Not in the release is my own observation that the populist move begun by his predecessor Nat Leventhal has bloomed full flower, with summer events never envisioned by John D. Rockefeller and LC's founding fathers.

I never quite believed my friend Betsy Vorce, v.p. of public relations at LC, who has been saying for some time that the renovations are nearly finished. I'll certainly be happy to see the scaffolding removed. But what about Avery Fisher Hall, which I attend more than any other venue at LC? Won't LC be in charge of the inevitable work there, or will the NYPhil be responsible? We all know that renovation - mainly acoustical - is desirable. I speak, of course, as an audience member, not as one aware of day-to-day operating necessities such as dilapidating plumbing, etc. (This is not the time to revisit this difficult subject. I'll just say that I've heard the NYPhil sound magnificent in Fisher under Masur, Maazel, Gilbert, and Davis, and unlistenable under Mehta.)

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Latest Roster Changes

RosterChanges 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."