September 21, 2012   |
| | | Thought of the Day | | I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then. --Lewis Carroll
|
| Quote of the Week | | I don't make music for eyes. I make music for ears. --Adele
|
| | EU Approves EMI Purchase, Save for Classics |  BRUSSELS -- Universal Music Group can buy the famed British music company EMI, including the hugely lucrative Beatles catalog, the European Union's competition regulator said today, but must jettison some of the label's other big acts. It must also sell off EMI's classical music divisions and several other local branches and labels. The $1.9 billion purchase of EMI's recorded-music division still needs to get the nod from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. If it does, the number of major record labels will drop from four to three. Regulators have already allowed a group led by Sony Corp. to buy EMI's music publishing arm for $2.2 billion. ''This has been one of the most difficult discussions in my life as commissioner for competition because of ... the existence of a cultural dimension,'' said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. |
Charles Hamlen to Orch of St. Luke's |  After 16 years, Elizabeth Ostrow has left the Orchestra of St. Luke's, most recently as its vice president of artistic planning. Former IMG Artists Chairman and Co-founder Charles Hamlen will succeed her, starting next month, with the slightly altered title of vice president for artists and programs. Hamlen arrives at OSL as Pablo Heras-Casado begins his first season as principal conductor. The latter noted in his comments the "esteem" with which Hamlen is held in the business and called him "someone with whom I've had a real meeting of the minds." Hamlen left IMG Artists in June, coincident with the return of Barrett Wissman as the agency's chairman. He co-founded Hamlen/Landau Management in 1981 with Edna Landau, of Musical America's "Ask Edna" blog. |
| | | Share Your Visa Horror Story | Have you had trouble getting visas for artists to visit the U.S.? Does the thought of it give you nightmares? We want your stories for Musical America's upcoming Visas Special Report!
Share YOUR STORY with us on MA.com or
|
Former Stagehand Sues Met Opera |  A former carpenter is suing the Metropolitan Opera for sexual harassment, claiming that her male colleagues constantly abused her with unwanted come-ons and crude, dangerous pranks.
A story in The New York Post reports on the recently filed lawsuit by one Teri Orsburn, 53, for sexual harassment. Orsburn worked for three years as the company's only woman stagehand; she claims in the lawsuit that her supervisor called her "girl" from the beginning, and her colleagues followed his lead. "They acted like badly behaved 8-year-old boys," she says. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| |  NEW YORK -- The arrival of Einstein on the Beach, Philip Glass's first opera with director Robert Wilson, stands in hindsight as a pivotal moment in modern music, when a certain avant-garde sensibility that had been percolating in the lofts of downtown Manhattan first took hold of the popular consciousness and never really let go. The revival of the work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, which opened Sept. 15, reminds us that Einstein has it all: while it is off-puttingly static and oblique enough to demand avant-garde credibility, it is also highly attractive on its surface. This many years after Einstein premiered, in 1976, the shock has worn off to reveal a meticulously crafted work, and more surprisingly, a funny, canny entertainment. It's as if it has leapt from "futuristic" to "classic" without ever pausing at "dated." |
Wiener Konzerthaus Names New Director |  VIENNA -- Theresa Jordis, president of the Wiener Konzerthaus, announced on Monday that Matthias Naske, 49, will take over as director of the venue on July 1, 2013. Currently he is director general of the Luxembourg Philharmonie and the Orchestre philharmonique du Luxembourg.
Jordis in her comments noted Naske's "outstanding qualifications" as well as his "record for uncompromising, high-quality artistry and programming."
She also praised Bernhard Kerres, the current director, who will retire at the end of June.
A native of Vienna, Naske graduated from its university with a degree in jurisprudence in 1987. He subsequently worked extensively with the Jeunesse concert series, the Wien Modern festival, Claudio Abbado's Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, and was general secretary of the Camerata Academica Salzburg. He took up his current position in Luxembourg in 2003. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| Correction | | An error in last week's newsletter indicated that the newly named artistic director of the Washington National Opera, Francesca Zambello, would restage her 2006 production of Show Boat in D.C. next spring. The production in fact originated in February 2012 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. |
Enter to WIn a $25 Gift Card | | 
|
| When You're Right, You're Right! | | To submit a question to GG Arts Law write to LawAndDisorder@MusicalAmerica.com Dear Law And Disorder, I wonder if you would mind giving me some advice on a visa situation with one of my artists. To summarise, I represent a British artist who was commissioned to write a 7 minute piece for a university in the United States which will be premiered in 2013. The artist will be traveling to the United States around the premiere for various events, including attending concerts and also one or two workshops led by the artist. Primarily, the new piece will also be conducted by the artist himself. In the past, this artist has always held an O-1 visa to work in the United States. However, the university is insisting that, because it is a university, the artist only needs a visitor visa and they are refusing to obtain an O-1 visa for him. The university is not only paying the artist for the commission (which has already been settled through his publishers) but for his visit and performance as a conductor. Therefore, I should think we need a visa and that it's not really possible for him to travel on the visa waiver scheme - is that correct? If so, am I right in thinking that he really should get an 0-1 visa as he always has before? Read the full story |
| A Most Unusual Recording |  From "Ask Edna" by Edna Landau
For the answers to the questions below, click here. One morning last week, while waking up to radio station WQXR, I heard the announcer introduce a nocturne by Ottorino Respighi, which he said was part of their featured album of the week. I had never heard it before and was spellbound by the beautiful playing. The pianist was Michael Landrum, also totally unknown to me. I decided I needed to know more about the two-cd set entitled Nocturnes and, a few hours later, began to research the recording. I learned that it contained 32 nocturnes by 31 different composers, among them two women - Clara Wieck-Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. I also learned that the pianist is Professor of Music at Roberts Wesleyan College in Rochester, New York, and that he has long been fascinated by nocturnes and the way different composers have approached them. I decided to call Dr. Landrum in hopes of finding out more about the evolution of this project, what drove him to make the recording, and what effect it has had on his professional career. It was quite easy to get through to him via the school's music department and after leaving a message, my call was returned later the same day. The conversation proved every bit as rewarding as listening to his wonderful recording (which I bought the same day). Having assumed that he made the recording to get his name out to a broader musical community, I learned that his motivation was not that at all. He made the recording because he loved the music and realized that so much of it is unknown (e.g., nocturnes by Griffes and Tcherepnin). He felt that he would be making a contribution in his own small way by sharing it with a larger audience. Read the full story |
| Stravinsky Lovers Unite! | 
From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark Alastair Macaulay's review in Thursday's Times reminded me of the two-week Stravinsky-Balanchine mini-festival that opens New York City Ballet's fall season. No performing organization in the world offers so much Stravinsky in a single season -- and so authoritatively. These two weeks commemorate NYCB's 1972 and 1982 Stravinsky festivals; I saw every program of both those festivals. There are only three programs this time around, and every music and ballet fan should see them. I'll have more to say when I have. The Dying Artform on TV I resist hitting the mute button when I hear classical "beds" for TV commercials. Within five minutes last week, a movement from Vivaldi's Four Seasons served as background to Donald Sutherland's Delta commercial, followed by another baroque beauty in the next round of commercials. A couple of hours later on Nightline, the ominous pulsating of waves lapping onto the beach of Rachmaninoff's Isle of the Dead underscored a commercial for The Master, a new movie starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. I'm definitely interested in hearing how the music is used, and reviews were positive, so if it's still in the theaters when my MA Directory deadline is over I won't wait for the video. Read the full story
|
| | 
|
| 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 Bidlack, Andrew, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Bork, Robert, bass-baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Botelho, Luciano, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Bottone, Bonaventura, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Bracci, Tiziano, bass-baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Brookhyser, Erica, mezzo-soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Brugger, Janai, soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Cole, Aivale, soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Dirlikov, Carla, mezzo-soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Dunaev, Andrej, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Elmark, Susanne, soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Francis, Hubert, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Gavanelli, Paolo, baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Hagen, Reinhard, bass, added, Rayfield Allied Hellier, Rowan, mezzo-soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Hunter Morris, Jay, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Miller, Ronnita, mezzo-soprano, added, Rayfield Allied Pohjonen, Mika, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied Rea, Barnaby, bass-baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Rhodes, Phillip, baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Smoriginas, Kostas, bass-baritone, added, Rayfield Allied Thompson, Gerald, countertenor, added, Rayfield Allied Xanthoudakis, Elena, soprano, added, Rayfield Allied
|
| | | | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment