Cosmic Burst Cafe: July 2013

Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Stephen Stills, Ken Burns, Cary Sherman and David Lowery at Americanafest 2013

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Newport Folk Festival, Josh Ritter, Greensky Bluegrass, Wes Tirey, and more

Monday, July 29, 2013

About Folk Music: Best Albums of 2013 So Far

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Folk Music

Folk Music

Folk Music 101

Artists & Styles

Reviews

From Kim Ruehl, your Guide to Folk Music

The year is nowhere near finished, of course, and there are still some exciting new releases on the horizon (Sarah Jarosz, Neko Case, Amanda Shires, and more). But, as summer starts to wind down, now seems like a good time to look back on the great music that's dropped already this year. Here's a look at some of the best new music of 2013 so far.

Best Folk Albums of 2013 So Far

From Americana darlings like Jason Isbell and Holly Williams, to contemporary folk singer-songwriters like Patty Griffin...2013 has been a great year for truth-telling songwriters. Here's a look at a small handful of some of the best albums of the year so far.

Search Related Topics: best of 2013 folk music albums singer-songwriters

Patty Griffin - 'American Kid'

Patty Griffin always writes the kind of songs that could slay you, but her latest effort is largely a tribute to her late father. Chocked full of songs about family and loss, heartache and wonder, 'American Kid' is easily one of the best albums of the year. Check out my full review.

Search Related Topics: patty griffin american kid robert plant

Aoife O'Donovan - 'Fossils'

Fans of the late progressive bluegrass outfit Crooked Still may be interested to discover that their frontwoman's solo work is a bit of a departure. Learn more about Aoife O'Donovan's full-length solo debut with this full review.

Search Related Topics: aoife o'donovan crooked still singer-songwriters

Profile: Jason Isbell

Jason Isbell may be known by many as a guitarist for the seminal alt-country band the Drive-By Truckers. But, since parting with that band a few years back, he's been making his mark with a solo career. His latest album is a beautiful singer-songwriter affair that you won't want to miss.

Search Related Topics: jason isbell drive-by truckers singer-songwriters

Friday, July 26, 2013

News From Musical America Worldwide

July 26, 2013

In This Issue

Alsop Re-ups in Baltimore

Andris Nelsons Suffers Severe Concussion

Minnesota: Both Sides Reject Blog Claim

NEA Threatened With 50 Percent Cut

James Conlon Honored for Promoting Holocaust Victims' Music

100 Years Ago in Musical America

A Room With A View...and a 1099

Partial View

Latest Roster Changes

Also This Week on MusicalAmerica.com...

Thought of the Day

"Listening is a positive act: you have to put yourself out to do it."

--David Hockney

Quote of the Week

"Trees love to toss and sway; they make such happy noises."

--Emily Carr

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Alsop Re-ups in Baltimore

MarinAlsop_7-26-13

Baltimore Symphony Music Director Marin Alsop has signed a new six-year contract that takes her tenure from September 2015 to August 2021, her second contract renewal with the orchestra. She became music director in September 2007 and ran in to stiff resistance from players who felt they had not played a significant role in the selection process. By 2009, however, she had won them over to the extent that her contract was renewed through 2015.

The new contract is an indication of Alsop's success, not just with the players, but also for her work in the community. She has done much to increase the orchestra's relevance, not least through the establishment of OrchKids, the El Sistema-inspired music program for youth in Baltimore that provides music lessons, tutoring, and life enrichment opportunities for now more than 600 children.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

Andris Nelsons Suffers Severe Concussion

Boston Symphony Orchestra's first concert with Andris Nelsons since he was announced in May as its next music director was cancelled when the conductor suffered a severe concussion in a household accident. He was to have conducted the Verdi Requiem at Tanglewood on July 27. Carlo Montanaro will step in to replace him.

Tanglewood's sick list grew with cancellations by conductor/pianist Christoph Eschenbach, who has an inner ear infection and currently cannot travel by plane, and bass Ferruccio Furlanetto, who has a bad cold and is not able to sing in the Verdi Requiem.

Edo de Waart replaces Eschenbach at the podium for an all-Mozart program today with Garrick Ohlsson replacing him as piano soloist, performing the Piano Concerto No. 27.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

Back to the Alps for the Verbier Festival 2013

Barbara Sukowa, film actor and classical music narrator/speaker

The Alpine adventure continues!

I am thrilled and honored to be taking part in the Verbier Festival's auspicious 20th anniversary summer. I'll be performing with superb colleagues and interviewing some of the most stellar musicians at the festival. I'm excited to be sending a 2nd Verbier Vlog out into cyberspace via MusicalAmerica.com.

See All of Eugneia's Videos

Minnesota: Both Sides Reject Blog Claim

Both sides in the Minnesota Orchestra labor dispute have found something to agree on--they both disagree with arts commentator Norman Lebrecht. In his "Slipped Disc" blog on Monday he suggested that he had seen documents which he "was not at liberty to quote" indicating a management proposal to lift the lockout on Sept. 1 for a two-month period of negotiations. He wrote: "However, if no agreement is reached on a new contract by that time, a two-year agreement would snap into effect with 25 percent across-the-board pay cuts."

The musicians' spokesman Blois Olson said there were several inaccuracies in Lebrecht's report. Management spokeswoman Gwen Pappas said in a statement, "Our position is that we are respecting the negotiating process, trying to work out of the limelight, so we have no comment on the Lebrecht piece."

Meanwhile the Star-Tribune has revealed that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell has stepped into the dispute. He met last week in Washington, D.C., with representatives of both sides to encourage a mediated settlement.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

NEA Threatened With 50 Percent Cut

The Performing Arts Alliance is urging arts bodies to lobby Congress following a vote to cut the NEA's funding by almost 50 percent. The House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee voted to cut the NEA's FY14 funding to $75 million, a huge slice from the current enacted funding level of $146 million--disproportionate compared to funding cuts proposed for other agencies, says the PAA.

The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve the $75 million budget, and could consider the bill as early as next week, but the PAA says there is still time for the committee to make changes to the Bill if members hear from their constituents.

In a statement, the PAA said: "it is unlikely that the House's appropriations proposal will be supported by either the Senate or the White House, and we think it is unlikely that Congress will agree on a complete FY14 budget before the fiscal year ends on September 30."

MA.com subscribers read the full story

James Conlon Honored for Promoting Holocaust Victims' Music

Los Angeles Opera music director James Conlon has received an award from a Jewish group for his work in resurrecting music by composers whose careers were cut short during the Holocaust. He was honored this week with the 2012 Cohon Award.

The annual award, worth $30,000, is the gift of the Rabbi Samuel S. and A. Irma Cohon Memorial Foundation in Illinois. Conlon asked for the prize money to be donated to the OREL Foundation, which he founded to help promote the music suppressed by the Third Reich. The foundation encourages the performance of this music by professional and pre-professional musicians and serves as a major resource on the subject.

MA.com subscribers read the full story

100 Years Ago...in Musical America: 26 July 1913

7-26-1913 image

LESCHETIZKY PASSES THE EIGHTY-THIRD MILESTONE

Famous Piano Pedagogue Observes Occasion in Vienna with Supper to His Intimate Friends-His Energy Unimpaired by Age-Modernity of His Teachings-Some of His Illustrious Pupils-Debt America Owes Him

METROPOLITAN AIMS LEGAL FUSILLADE AT THE HAMMERSTEINS[Continued from page 1]

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A Room With A View...and a 1099

To submit a question to GG Arts Law write to

LawAndDisorder@MusicalAmerica.com

Dear Law and Disorder,

I have been in artist management for a long time, thought I had seen it all, but something just came up for one of my artists that has me completely stumped. My client was sent a 1099 for a hotel stay that the presenter provided for an engagement. Most presenters that I work with pay for the hotels, but never once has the value of that hotel been included on the 1099 that the artist was sent. This particular place is a big resort, they too are the presenter. They often trade rooms for fees (it's a very exclusive resort!), or they give small fees plus the accommodations (which includes meals), usually for two nights as a perk to the artist. It gets tricky for the artist, because they don't pay for the hotel, so they have no expense to write off for that income. So that may mean they end up paying tax on that amount, thereby losing money doing this performance. That's where this goes wrong for the artist, in my opinion. Artists obviously do this gig because of the resort. But, this has left a bad taste. What's up with issuing the 1099? They say it is an IRS law that says hotel costs are income for the artist. By the way, they don't tell you this up front...

Searching for the Truth

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Partial View

From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark

I wandered over to Lincoln Center on Wednesday to see the opening act of Kronos Quartet's five-night 40th-anniversary gig. Mark Dendy's new site-specific modern-dance work for 80 dancers, Ritual Cyclical, was being staged in and around the Henry Moore reflecting pool in front of the Vivian Beaumont Theater and set to Kronos recordings on Nonesuch. The Times had given a big spread to it on Monday the 22nd, dominated by a dramatic photo of two dancers in the pool in a balletic pose. Alas, by the time I arrived there were so many people standing on the plaza around the pool that only the tops of the sculptures were visible, and attempting to walk around for a different view without seeming pushy was not possible.

After about half an hour several disagreeable-looking women dressed in army fatigues cleared out a circular area between the pool and Avery Fisher Hall so that a few dancers could run around gazelle-like in an effort to open up the available stage area, but the most interesting choreography presumably was out of view for all but those lining the pool. Eventually, for some reason, the crowd began to shift toward Alexander Calder's Box Office sculpture in front of the Performing Arts Library entrance. The Kronos recordings, which had been easy on the ear up to this point, segued to the 1943 recording of Charles Ives playing piano and singing his antiwar song "They Are There," followed by Jimi Hendricks's electronically distorted arrangement of Kronos scratching out "The Star-Spangled Banner"--a rendition that makes Roseanne Barr's infamous 1990 San Diego Padres pre-game performance seem mellifluous by comparison--and the audience quickly thinned out.

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Latest Roster Changes

Musical America is helping presenters keep up with its advertisers! Managers whose rosters appear in the 2013 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

Anderson, Alissa, mezzo-soprano, removed, Alpha Artists Management

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