October 25, 2013   |
| | | Thought of the Day | "The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows." --Sydney J. Harris |
| Quote of the Week | | "Art is either plagiarism or revolution." --Paul Gauguin |
| | | Nico Muhly as Opera Composer: Not Ready for Prime Time | | 
NEW YORK -- A deft, polished opera on a very peculiar subject indeed, Nico Muhly's Two Boys clearly misses greatness. But that doesn't mean it's less than entertaining (it held my interest more consistently than any "new" opera I've heard since Satyagraha), and even the work's obvious flaws don't distract from its eerie brilliance. What's more, the successful moments of the opera--and there are many--indicate that Muhly's future as a composer for the stage may well be glorious. Unfortunately, he hasn't reached the rarefied level yet of, say, a Richard Strauss, who could generally turn out a dazzling opera even when saddled with a muddled or emotionally vague libretto. And it's the book of this opera (by playwright Craig Lucas)--viewed at its Met Opera Stateside premiere Oct. 21--that's the primary problem here. Muhly sets the words very well, so that at least the gist of the text is comprehensible without supertitles. But the recitative-parlando sections sound perfunctory, like something to get out of the way before moving on to the good stuff. Happily, the good stuff is very good indeed. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Andris Nelsons on the BSO Podium, at Last | | 
BOSTON -- The Boston Symphony Orchestra has been without a music director since Sept. 2011 following James Levine's resignation because of multiple health problems. And it will remain so until the 2014-15 season, when Andris Nelsons [pictured, with former music director Seiji Ozawa] takes over. But on Oct. 17 in Symphony Hall, there was an almost palpable feeling that the long wait was over, as Nelsons stepped onto the stage to a standing ovation and proceeded to lead his first concert with the orchestra since being named its music director in May. With Nelsons in Boston, all three of America's premier orchestras on the East Coast have a member of the younger generation on the podium; at age 34, Nelsons is younger than Alan Gilbert, 46, in New York, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 38, in Philadelphia. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| | | Paris Opera Aida Booed, from Start to Finish | | 
Aida hasn't been seen at The Paris Opera since 1939. And the production that opened last week wasn't worth waiting for. "The booing started in Act I and reached tumultuous levels by the time director Olivier Py and Pierre-Andre Weitz, the set and costume designer, stepped in front of the curtain at the Bastille," writes one reviewer. The high point of the evening was the orchestra, under Philippe Jordan. Otherwise, the singing was "so-so" according to Bloomberg's star-rating system, and the production--the realization of Py's take on the opera as "a great reflection on political violence"--is outrageous. A young man waving the Italian flag [pictured ] is brutalized during the overture; there are machine guns and tanks, racist demonstrators during the "Triumphal March," and Radames is tried by the Ku Klux Klan. Just a little light entertainment, regie-style. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
| Ann Summers Dossena Leaves Artist Management | | 
Ann Summers Dossena is stepping down from artist management after 55 years in the field, many of them representing some of the top artists of the day, from George Shirley and Louis Quilico to the Dorian Wind Quintet and Claremont String Quartet. Named Manager of the Year in 2012 by the North American Performing Arts Managers and Agents (NAPAMA), Summers Dossena first arrived in New York in 1957. Under her birth name, Ann Suthons, she had come to be secretary to Actors Equity Association President and famed actor Ralph Bellamy. From there she moved to the William Morris Agency, then to Herbert Barrett Management as Barrett's secretary. It was he who suggested she change her name to Ann Summers. "Each move was a learning curve," she writes in an email. She launched her own business, Ann Summers Management, in 1960 and, over the next decade took on a variety of ambitious projects, including producing the first concert series at Carnegie Hall after it was saved from the wrecking ball. It was the Visiting Orchestra series, still extant today. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
Pianist, Disoriented, Exits Stage Mid-Recital | | 
Canadian pianist and Beethoven specialist Anton Kuerti, 75, became disoriented at the keyboard during a recital in Florida last week and had to be taken by ambulance to the hospital. The Friends of Chamber Music evening concert was in the Coral Gables Congregational Church. Reviewer Dorothy Hindman reports the pianist started the Beethoven Rondo in G major, in fine form but then "suddenly deteriorated into multiple repetitions of the closing theme, which some interpreted initially as a private musical joke. As Kuerti's playing continued, however, it became painfully evident "that something was terribly wrong." One week ago he was still in the intensive care unit; no word since. MA.com subscribers read the full story |
100 Years Ago...in Musical America: 11 October 1913 | | 
WITH THREE COMPANIES CONTENDING FOR ITS FAVOR, NEW YORK FACES UNPRECEDENTEDSITUATION IN OPERA [continued from previous week] See the Original Page and Read the Full Story
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| The Band That Stood Up To God...and Lost | |  From Law and Disorder by Brian Taylor Goldstein
Dear Law and Disorder, We recently has a situation where one of our groups showed up at a festival, but just before they were to go on stage, the police shut down the event due to an approaching electrical storm. The presenter had given the group a deposit for 50% prior to the event, but is refusing to pay the balance even though our booking agreements have a specific clause that says that, in the event of cancellation, except for Acts of God, the artist gets the full fee. The presenter signed the agreement. The band showed up and were ready, willing and able to perform. Aren't they entitled to the full fee? They need this money to cover their costs for flying, driving, and internal costs. Isn't the presenter supposed to get event insurance to cover these sorts of things? |
| A Master Concertmaster |  From Ask Edna by Edna Landau Dear Edna: I am a violinist with a Bachelor's and Master's degree from a major American conservatory. I have won top prizes in some competitions and have always expected that I would be able to attract management and enjoy a solo career. As of late, I have begun to have my doubts about that as it seems that managements are only interested in signing immediate moneymakers. I have been told that I stand a reasonable chance of winning a concertmaster position with a good level orchestra. I did serve as concertmaster in my conservatory orchestra but I am not sure that experience would suffice to qualify me for a professional concertmaster position. I have also regularly played chamber music but I am not sure how relevant that is. In addition, I am hesitant about going the concertmaster route for fear I would have very few solo opportunities in the future. What advice can you offer me? - H.P. Read the full story |
| Valery the Variable |  From Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark "He's so variable." That's the first thing critics say about Valery Gergiev. He conducted his Mariinsky Orchestra three times at Carnegie Hall in an eight-day period early this month, interrupted by four Met performances (two on Saturday) and runouts to Newark and Washington, D.C. Even when he was busy at the Met, the orchestra was moonlighting under the leadership of Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Evidently, the man and his musicians never rest, to wit this link listing his next month and a half of concerts: Stravinsky Each of the three Carnegie concerts was devoted to a single composer: Stravinsky (10/10), Shostakovich (10/11), and Rachmaninoff (10/15). Gergiev seems to me most unpredictable with his own orchestra, the Mariinsky, which by all reports is subject to his rehearsal and programming whims. His performing of Stravinsky's first three ballets in order of composition was a great idea but in practice overly ambitious. The Firebird (complete) was best, right up with Boulez/New York Philharmonic (1975) and Dutoit/Montreal (1986) as the best I've heard in concert--dramatic, dynamic, gorgeously played, with a sparkling color palette. But Pétrouchka (1911 orchestration) was thickly textured, monochromatic, often too loud in quiet passages, and, most alarming, humorless. The Rite of Spring's huge dynamic range was squashed, with the fat forte of the opening winds--Stravinsky's "awakening of nature, the scratching, gnawing, wiggling of birds and beasts"--totally without mystery. The Mariinsky players were exhausted, and it showed in their spotty ensemble. When Gergiev returned to the stage for his second bow he turned to the audience, announced that it was Verdi's 200th birthday, and proceeded to conduct an electrically charged overture to La Forza del destino! Who says they were tired? |
| 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 Alberghini, Simone, bass-baritone, added, Rayfield Allied (North America)
Durkin, Rachelle, soprano, added, Rayfield Allied (worldwide)
Pichon, Raphael, conductor, added, Rayfield Allied (worldwide)
Tanner, Carl, tenor, added, Rayfield Allied (worldwide) |
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