November 8, 2013   |
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| Thought of the Day |
"Art evokes the mystery without which the world would not exist."
--Rene Magritte
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Quote of the Week
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"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think."
--A. A. Milne
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Audra McDonald Named Musical America's 2014 Musician of the Year
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Musical America has named five-time Tony Award winner and soprano extraordinaire Audra McDonald as its 2014 Musician of the Year. She joins four additional honorees--Composer of the Year George Benjamin; Conductor of the Year Pablo Heras-Casado; Instrumentalist of the Year pianist Jeremy Denk; and Ensemble of the Year the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)--all of whom are being recognized not only for artistic excellence, but also for their thoughtful and innovative contributions to the vitality of the art form.
As is customary, announcement of the awards precedes the early December publication of the annual Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts.
To characterize McDonald as versatile is a vast understatement. In addition to her starring role on television's Private Practice, she has collected Tony Awards for Carousel (1994), Masterclass (1996), Ragtime (1998), A Raisin in the Sun (2004), and The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (2012). The current host of Live from Lincoln Center, the Juilliard grad has sung with virtually every major U.S. orchestra, the Houston Grand and Los Angeles operas, and counts a number of Grammy Awards in her trophy case.
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Met Opera's Top Artistic Staffer to Retire
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The Met Opera has confirmed to MA.com that Sarah Billinghurst, assistant general manager, artistic, is to retire at the end of the current season after 20 years. Her exit is a major event for the company: Reporting directly to General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine, she is the senior artistic staff member, overseeing casting, including conductors and rehearsals; new productions; touring; and special projects, such as James Levine's 25th anniversary gala, pension fund concerts, and the Kirov Festivals.
The Met's organizational chart shows eight assistant general managers reporting to Gelb. She is the sole assistant GM for artistic matters.
Billinghurst, a native of New Zealand, came to the Met from the San Francisco Opera, where she started as assistant to the artistic administrator in 1972 and gradually worked her way up to artistic administrator by 1982.
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Minnesota O: The Other Side of the Story
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Recently, Minnesota Orchestra member Michael Adams [pictured], a violist with the group since 1988, contacted MusicalAmerica.com. He felt that the site had been reporting only one side of the real story behind the continued work stoppage. In addition to the musicians' previously reported claims that they had made countless counteroffers (management's arguments to the contrary), he explained why the players rejected management's final offer, which ultimately led to Osmo Vänskä's departure. He writes:
"It has been widely reported that the musicians unanimously rejected a proposal that would have included a $20K signing bonus. 'How could this be?' you ask. What was NOT reported is that the proposal contained a 'Poison Pill' that management quite intentionally included, knowing that it would be rejected by the musicians. The Poison Pill? A clause that provided no job protection for any musician who did not return to work within two weeks of the agreement, even though management had granted many musicians a one-year leave-of-absence to pursue work with other orchestras. This put about a dozen musicians who are under contract to other orchestras in an untenable position."
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Esteban Gets Major Suisse Romande Settlement, Moves to Universal
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Miguel Esteban is the new vice president of artists and events for Universal Music Arts and Entertainment, an international promoter and presenter of concerts, tours, and events.
The announcement arrives on the heels of his out-of-court settlement with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, from which he was reportedly forced out as managing director in July of 2012 after just six months in the job. Esteban fought the move, suing for the accumulated compensation of his five-year contract. Today, OSR Foundation President Florence Notter issued the following statement:
"The Foundation of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and Mr. Miguel Esteban bring to your attention that they have, by mutual consent, settled their dispute."
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NY Philharmonic Principal Trumpet Makes His Exit
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The New York Philharmonic is to lose another of its major players at the end of this season. In addition to concertmaster Glenn Dicterow, principal trumpet Philip Smith, in the hot seat for some 35 years, is planning to step down to teach at the University of Georgia School of Music in Athens, GA.
Smith has led the brass section since 1988, arriving first as co-principal trumpet in 1978. Prior to that he was for three years with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti, a job he secured while still a student at the Juilliard School.
"My simple goal over these many years has been to give my best, using the gifts given to me by God, for the beauty of the universal language of music," he said in his comments.
A world-class artist, Smith, 61, has played with a range of ensembles, from his hometown band, in which he's appeared as soloist for some 220 concerts, to the Salvation Army Band.
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| 100 Years Ago in Musical America: 8 November 1913 |
GERMANY WORSHIPS THE "ALMIGHTY PFENNIG" SAYS DAMROSCH
"I Want to Hear No Longer of American Desire for the Almighty Dollar" Declares Conductor, In Discussion of Musical Conditions Here and Abroad--An Estimate of Richard Strauss's Music--France Working Along Most Promising Lines in Orchestral Music
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| On Unselfconscious Stupidity, Loving Music By Hating It |
 From in Albert Babbling On by Albert Innaurato
On Saturday evening, Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducted The Philadelphia Orchestra in a stunning, almost unbelievably thrilling account of Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, written for the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1941. It seemed the most modern and challenging work on a program containing two world premieres. Yannick (as he introduces himself to audiences) had an amazing grasp of this piece--surprising phrases, agogic mastery, finding the sting in no longer familiar modulations, all floating along on a magic carpet of inevitability. It was feverish, reckless, and the orchestra responded with astounding virtuosity.
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| Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam.... |
From Law and Disorder by Brian Taylor Goldstein
Dear Law and Disorder:
If I am doing a fee split, am I entitled to the emails of the people who purchase tickets? Our group booked a show at a venue where we are supposed to be getting a portion of the ticket sales. We have asked for the names and email addresses of everyone who purchases a ticket, but the presenter says that this is against the law because it's the presenter's confidential, proprietary information. But if people are buying tickets to our shows, why aren't we entitled to their names and contact info?
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| Some FAQs About Artist Management |
From Ask Edna by Edna Landau
One of the seminars I have led most often in recent years is entitled "A Backstage View of Artist Management". Here are some of the questions I am most frequently asked:
How will I know when I am ready for management?
The hardest thing about this question is that in order for an artist to accept the answer, they must be able to view themselves as a "commodity". Artist managements are businesses and they must believe that the artists they add to their rosters are marketable. There must be enough things going on for an artist to help them craft a convincing sales pitch about them. Their talent and ability are fundamental, but they are hard to quantify to others without some public manifestation of the artist's potential success with audiences, as well as at the box office. This might consist of a collection of impressive reviews, significant awards or competition wins, one or more distinctive recordings, a concert series or festival created by the artist, or programming that is compelling and perhaps coordinated with presentations in unusual venues. If an artist can't make a convincing case for why they might be an advantageous addition to a management's roster, they really can't expect a management to be receptive to a direct approach or one made on their behalf.
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| Opening Nights and Otherwise |
Fr om Why I Left Muncie by Sedgwick Clark
Deep thought of the day: Every performance is different.
Second deep thought: Every listener hears the performance differently.
Two weeks ago I wrote at the end of my "Valery the Variable" blog that opening-night critics had lambasted Valery Gergiev's conducting of the Met's Eugene Onegin (9/23) as unbearably slow and stodgy. Having found in the past that the last performance in a series is his best, I deliberately waited for the sixth and last one (10/12) and found that I "couldn't imagine more effective, naturally flowing tempos." Last weekend I heard the beginning of Gergiev's Met broadcast of Onegin on SiriusXM Satellite Radio--obviously an earlier performance--and it was indeed unbearably slow and stodgy.
Is Esa-Pekka Salonen the anti-Gergiev, by which I mean that one should try to attend his earliest performances? Jay Nordlinger in The New Criterion and Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times rhapsodized about every note of E-P's excellent program with the Philharmonic, based around his new Violin Concerto and performed five times. Ravel's Ma Mère l'oye Suite gently opened the concert, and Sibelius's Fifth Symphony brought it to a roaring close.
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