Sarah Canice Funke's Blog
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
It's not too late to catch some of the best snippets from the 2007 BBC Proms this Christmas and New Year season. From December 24 through January 4, listeners can enjoy select performances from the Proms on the BBC's Radio 3. Hear orchestras from around the world, including the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston, the San Francisco Symphony, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. The last orchestra will close the 12-day celebration with its Prom performance of symphonies by Schubert and Bruckner.
The BBC Proms take place every summer in London's Royal Albert Hall. The concerts were established in 1895 and have become an established venue for introducing audiences to new music.
For a concert schedule or to listen online, please visit the BBC website.
For more information on the history of the Proms, please visit the Proms homepage.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Julian Kuerti, a Canadian conductor and son of pianist Anton Kuerti, is set to conduct four concerts with the Boston Symphony Orchestra this coming March. As assistant conductor, he will also be on call to substitute for James Levine or other conductors if illness or accidents prevent them from appearing on a given concert night.
Kuerti will spend three years with the BSO as assistant conductor and has already moved to Boston. The BSO is an unusual major orchestra in that it allows assistant conductors the chance to conduct within the first year. Plus, the prestige of working with James Levine adds a significant boost to the resume.
Though Kuerti is a Canadian, he received most of his training in Germany because he didn't want to succeed in a musical career simply because of his father's fame. He is accordingly having to adjust to the culture of North American orchestras.
For further information, please read the CBC article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
A Flintshire group is using music therapy to help patients improve their memories. The participants play rhythmic patterns on percussion instruments, in the company of friends and relatives. They also sing old favorite songs. So far the activities trigger long term memories, but don't effect short term memory.
The chair of the Alzheimer's Society's Flintshire branch, 67-year-old Lynne Hughes, wants to promote the methods more broadly if they work. The experiment will run for six weeks at five locations in Flintshire.
The experiment makes sense. Often favorite songs become favorites because of all the memories and associations we attach to them. By accessing one thread in the web of memory--the song--the participant can often access the other threads. At the very least, the activities offer an environment for memory loss patients to interact socially with each other and their care-givers.
For more information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Opera singer Maria Field tried to sing opera semi-professionally for 17 years, but finally succumbed to perpetual bad health and left the stage. Even as a child, she was weak and sickly. When she began singing at age 25, she visited doctors, looking for a solution to her health problems. Yet no one could figure out what was causing her poor health. However, two years ago, an x-ray revealed that she possessed two extra ribs which were narrowing her chest cavity.
A rather finicky but successful operation in May removed one of the ribs, and the second rib was removed in November. Now Field can use her diaphragm properly, an essential action for any singer, but especially for opera singers who wish to have their voices carry across stage.
The vascular surgeon who removed her ribs, Mr John Thompson, performed the surgery while listening to a CD of Field's music. Now at the age of 42, Field hopes to return to her passion professionally.
For more information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
As part of an effort to increase revenue, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra plans to record its performances (including this season's Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky). The TSO will then release CD compilations of the best recordings as well as downloadable material. Downloads could even be available as early as the beginning of 2008.
With a deficit at $8.9 million, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has been trying to increase ticket sales and other revenue-generating services. Since record labels typically don't seek out very many classical symphonies, the TSO is taking matters into its own hands and releasing its own records.
Will downloads and record sales decrease ticket sales? Or promote increased awareness and interest in the symphony? The 2007-2008 Toronto Symphony Orchestra's experiments will reveal whether self-published music is a viable aid for classical symphonies in the digital world.
For more information, please read the CBC article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Perhaps many are familiar with the story of Juan and Eva Perón, made famous by the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical Evita. What is less familiar perhaps is what happened after the Peróns died: with permission from Juan Perón's widow Isabel Martínez de Perón, Jorge Rafael Videla used the military to embark on a slaughter of left-wing opponents, eventually ousting Isabel herself.
An estimated 30,000 people simply disappeared during the tortures and killings, several of which were children. Much resistance to the Dirty War (1976-1983) centered in the Argentine town La Plata. Estaba la Madre or The Mother Was There, an opera that opened recently in La Plata, tells the story of the mothers who kept waiting (and searching) for their children to come home.
The one-act opera is by Argentine composer Luis Bacalov. The opera is inspired by Stabat Mater (also translated "The Mother Was There"), a 13th century Latin work that recounts the story of the virgin Mary's grief over her son's death. But despite Bacalov's homage to the Catholic Church's music, Catholic officials are criticized for their role in the injustices.
For a fuller plot description and audio clips of the music, please read the NPR story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Those who want to attend a production of Verdi's Requiem at La Scala Opera House will have to come back another day. A strike involving 800 workers, including 135 musicians and 107 chorus members, necessitated the cancellation.
The strike was staged in an effort to obtain better pay and work schedules for workers at the Italian opera house. Over the course of six years, the number of performances has increased by over 100. The workers have gone on strike twice this week, putting the 2007-2008 season opening into doubt.
Strikes have been successful in the past: in 2005, a strike was staged to protest musical director Riccardo Muti. The director later resigned.
However, the outcome of the current strike is in doubt: La Scala's artistic director Stephane Lissner feels that the demands for salary increases are unreasonable.
The workers, however, want Lissner to reopen discussion and negotiation.
The situation
For more information, please read the AFP story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
A classical musician faces many challenges in the course of his or her career: keeping an audience's attention during performance and negotiating recording studio time crunches are two of the practical real-life challenges that contestants in the BBC's Classical Star competition must face as they strive towards the final performance.
In addition, each potential star must participate in several masterclasses covering topics in composition and performance. Learning how to dance the tango, how to walk on stage, how to sample music, and how to compose film music all teach young musicians insights on rhythms, the body, sound, and mood.
To watch clips of the challenges and masterclasses, please visit the BBC Classical Star Masterclasses website. The final three contestants will perform on Tuesday, Nov. 13. Who will be the next Classical Star? Check out the competition and cast your vote.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Fondly dubbed the "Hoppera," an opera based on five paintings by artist Edward Hopper will receive its first performance in a few weeks. Everyone is familiar with Hopper's evocative Nighthawks, the painting of the urban sophisticates seen through a diner window. Equally evocative are the five paintings that form the basis for "Later That Same Evening," the Hopper opera: Room in New York (1932), Hotel Window (1955), Hotel Room (1931), Two on the Aisle (1927), and Automat (1927). In fact, most of Hopper's paintings are ideal inspirations for drama: peopled with colorful characters located in stark, isolated settings, suggestive of a multitude of story lines, the paintings practically beg to be performed.
For example, "Two on the Aisle," a painting that depicts a theater, provides the story setting for the opera: the characters meet in a theater and even fight over seats. One character, however, stays away: a dancer, based on the painting of a seated woman who is reading a letter, represents an artist who just couldn't make it in the big city. Her letter is intended to be her farewell to her boyfriend and to New York.
A collaboration between composer John Musto and librettist Mark Campbell, the "Hoppera" is set to premiere on Nov. 15-18.
For more information, catch the NPR clip here.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
At 70, Philip Glass is still going strong, adding another opera to the more than 20 already in his repertoire. The latest opera, Appomattox, deals with a theme very familiar to American audiences: the Civil War. The title comes from the name of the courthouse where Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee signed the papers that ended the four-year conflict between North and South. But, Philip Glass notes, the strife didn't end with a piece of paper. Cultural tensions still exist to this day between the northern U.S. and the South. The new opera, while explicitly focused on big names--Lincoln, Grant, and Lee--that died over a century ago, still sets the stage for critical thinking on our own age, such as the more recent 1960s Civil Rights movement.
Philip Glass also draws upon his own experience growing up in a segregated Baltimore during WWII. He recalls the fear and anxiety that the women and children at home felt for their absent loved ones.
The opera received its world premiere during a festival celebration of Philip Glass' music in San Francisco this month.
To hear musical excerpts from the opera, please read the NPR article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
As tenors go, Paul Potts never took the usual routes to professional classical singing. Instead of going to a conservatory, he stacked store shelves and sold cellphones. When he did have some money, he spent three months in Italy studying voice and Italian.
What made him decide to try out for Britain Got's Talent, a reality TV show patterned after American Idol and dominated by pop singers? He flipped a coin, and decided to take a chance. Now he's promoting his first album, One Chance, and giving interviews with major news networks.
Potts' choice to perform "Nessun Dorma" right on the heels of Pavarotti's death may account for his instant rocket to fame. His rags-to-riches story is also a familiar trope that never fails to appeal to Western audiences. But after all the deaths this summer, the opera world could use some new blood.
To read more of Pott's story, please see the CBC article. You can also view the video, if you missed it the first time around.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The Mozart Effect is a term coined after a (debated) study seemed to indicate that listening to Mozart raises a person's IQ. The study was thought to be a break-through in justifying classical Western music lessons at a time when support for the arts was waning. However, many in the academic world felt it privileged Western classical music over several other interesting and worthwhile genres of music.
However, in Kenya, classical music lessons are on the rise. Parents want to give their kids the increased edge in intelligence that the Mozart Effect claims classical music provides. Other students just enjoy the relaxation that playing an instrument brings. Places such as the Kenya Conservatoire of Music have seen increased enrollment over the past few years. But the interest isn't limited to the classical genre: music stores are also selling more jazz instruments.
Will the increased interest in classical music stifle indigenous music forms? Perhaps an ethnomusicologist might worry, but any initiative that encourages personal participation in the music-making seems like a good idea.
For more information, please read the Business Daily Africa story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Born in Edinburgh but currently living in the United States, conductor Donald Runnicles will be returning to his native country shortly. The BBC recently appointed him the successor of music director Ilan Volkov when the latter relinquishes his post with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in September, 2009. Eighteen years have passed since Runnicles conducted regularly in the UK, but the conductor will visit Scotland for a preliminary concert in April, 2008, when he will conduct, among other works, a performance of James MacMillan's Third Symphony. His contract with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra will last for three years and entail at least eight weeks in Scotland every season. His current positions include music director of the San Francisco Opera, principal guest conductor at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and working with the Berlin Philharmonic.
For further information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The opera world is full of prima donnas. The 42-year-old Romanian Angela Gheorghiu apparently felt that she was above the normal work ethic that governs an opera production. Skipping rehearsals and leaving the city without permission damaged her work relationship with managers such as Lyric Opera general director William Mason, who spelled out her truancy in detail. Gheorghiu's actions were perceived to demonstrate a disregard for other performers. And since Gheorghiu was playing the role of Mimi in La Boheme, her absence left a considerable hole during rehearsals.
Gheorghiu claims legitimate reasons for her failure to show. She claims that a cold prevented her from attending rehearsals and she felt that she was already very familiar with the role anyway. She left Chicago without permission because her husband is performing at the New York Met.
Theatrics must attract Gheorghiu: she is married to tenor Roberto Alagna, who stormed off a Milanese stage last December when audiences booed his performance.
For more information, please read the Daily Snack.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
If you are a choral ensemble and want to travel to England, consider entering the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2008 competition. Contestants are invited to enter their ensemble into the competition now, as the deadline closes Nov. 18, 2007. The competition will start the following spring, but runs all year long (Choir of the Year 2006 didn't end until Dec. 10, 2006).
Similar to the American Idol format, judges give immediate feedback to both the choirs and the audience.
There are four categories:
- Open Choirs
- Children's Choirs
- Adult Choirs
- Youth Choirs
The only limit on entering is size and instrument: your group must be composed of 8-100 singers. However, all ages and styles of music are welcomed.
If you are interested in entering, please visit the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2008's website. Even if you aren't a singing group, but just love music, be sure to mark your calendars for this event.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The singers and celebrities that filled Luciano Pavarotti's life paid tribute to the Italian tenor at his funeral on Saturday, Sept. 8. Andrea Bocelli performed "Ave Verum"; Premier Romano Prodi of Italy, U2 singer Bono, and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan were among the 700 guests at the Modena, Italy cathedral. Thousands more watched the funeral from a big screen in the piazza outside the cathedral. The service featured a 1978 recording of "Panis Angelicus," which Pavarotti had sung with his father nearly 30 years ago in that very same building. Among the world figures to commemorate Pavarotti's passing was Pope Benedict XVI, who praised Pavarotti's contribution to "the divine gift of music."
Diagnosed with cancer over a year ago, Pavarotti's battle with declining health ended on Thursday, Sept. 6. His body was viewed from Thursday evening until the funeral on Saturday. After the ceremony, his body was placed in the Montale Rangone cemetery, where his parents also lie.
For more information, please read the Boston Globe article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
At 5 a.m. Thursday morning, one of the opera world's most beloved tenors died of complications related to his pancreatic cancer. Luciano Pavarotti was 71 years old. Hospitalized a few weeks ago for respiratory problems, the singer was apparently on the mend. However, the pancreatic cancer which caused him to cancel his summer appearances last July finally caught up with Pavarotti, who was still teaching pupils a mere few weeks before his death. He had plans to record an album of sacred songs and to finish his Worldwide Farewell Tour. But the world will have to bid Pavarotti farewell without the tour.
In addition to packing out opera halls, Pavarotti also appeared with musicians such as Sting and Bono. His ability to hit high C's was demonstrated in 1972 when he hit nine of them in a performance of Daughter of the Regiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera. Along with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, Luciano Pavarotti was one of the Three Tenors whose renown traveled far beyond the opera world.
For further information, please read the Hindustan Times article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Lose the coat and tails. Now you can enjoy a night at the symphony in the comfort of your own home. Taking advantage of the increasing popularity of the online virtual community Second Life, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is set to perform what the BBC describes as the "first professional music concert" on September 14.
Within Second Life, users can navigate through buildings, shops, and landscapes, communicating with other users via chat. Users choose characters, called avatars, which they then maneuver through the virtual community. Real money is also exchanged, as users buy virtual clothes in virtual shops or purchase virtual islands where their avatars can live.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic won't be the first time that musicians have entered the virtual world of Second Life. Warner Brothers advertises Regina Spektor through a virtual New York loft. Another user poses as U2 and streams the Irish band's music to Second Life. However, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is supposedly the first musical group to actually stream their own music as a live concert.
For a brief introduction to Second Life, please view this short video.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Robert Ward has already performed many of the duties expected of an orchestral principal chair, but only recently was he awarded the official title. The San Francisco Symphony has been searching for a chair since 2000, when principal John Zirbel's tenure was turned down. One wonders why the symphony took so long to fill the chair when they already had someone in their midst. But Ward and Music Director Michael Tilson Thomas were both reluctant to comment on the process of choosing principals.
The principal horn player is responsible for the horn solos within the orchestra, a tall order for an instrument with some difficult pieces in the repertoire. The principal also runs his section of the orchestra. The horn section's unique place as an intermediary between the woodwinds and the brass lends the principal horn player an extra amount of influence.
51-year-old Robert Ward has been with the San Francisco Symphony since he was 24. He is very enthusiastic about this next step in his career.
For more information, please read the article in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The BBC Orchestra's Artist-in-Association, John Adams, will be conducting a performance of American music, including two of his own works. The evening will open with Aaron Copland's Billy the Kid (arranged as an orchestral suite rather than as the full opera). The second piece is John Adams' own Century Rolls, a work commissioned by Emanuel Ax and based on the old piano rolls of the early twentieth century. The concert will close with the world premiere of John Adams' Doctor Atomic Symphony, a work inspired by the life of the man who invented the atomic-bomb--J. Robert Oppenheimer.
If you can't attend the BBC Proms this year, don't worry. Go to the BBC website after Tuesday in order to stream an audio file of the performance. Or listen to a clip of the Doctor Atomic Symphony at John Adams' website.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
One of the three Italian tenors suffered from a slight fever and possible signs of pneumonia, forcing him the hospital on Wednesday, August 9, 2007. Luciano Pavarotti also suffered from pancreatic cancer last summer, and canceled his 2006 summer appearances while he underwent surgery. On Thursday, Pavarotti was reported to be in "stable" condition, but because of his past bout with cancer, he was kept in the oncology ward for observation.
Pavarotti is especially known for his interpretation of "Nessun Dorma", an aria from Puccini's opera Turandot. His last opera performance was at the New York Metropolitan Opera in 2004. Pavarotti is 71 years old and still undergoing radiotherapy for his cancer, but his second wife is hopeful regarding his eventual recovery.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
If you have been following the 2007 Proms this year, then you have been enjoying much of the music of Edward Elgar, the English composer who celebrates his 150th birthday this year. To supplement audience appreciation of the "enigmatic" composer, the BBC brings its audience a series of riddles. Correct solutions to the puzzles require some knowledge of Elgar's repertory and the Proms program. Follow along and accumulate bragging points! Readers can also learn about the mysterious counter-melody hidden within Elgar's composition, the "Enigma Variations."
Britain isn't the only country celebrating the composer of Pomp and Circumstance. Bard Summerscape 2007, located in the Hudson Valley is also featuring the life and works of Edward Elgar.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The controversial proposal to build a wind turbine to power the Glyndebourne Opera Company was passed by Lewes District Council. At 230 feet tall, the turbine will hardly blend into the landscape. Local residents of Ringmar objected, as well as the Ringmer Parish Council, the South Downs Society and Natural England. The energy saved by the turbine would be overshadowed by the eyesore of the turbine itself.
Yet advocates for the turbine claim that if beautiful landscape is what residents want, then preventing global warming is the way to go. Nothing will look beautiful if the earth overheats and the ozone fails. Each area of society must do its part to be earth-friendly, and the energy produced by the turbine would be enough to match the opera house's yearly consumption of electricity.
The Glyndebourne Opera Company truly faces a dilemma as it tries to go green: should the company sacrifice the aesthetic beauty of the present landscape in order to preserve our earth for future generations? Is there a way to make the turbine less ugly?
For more information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
He studied with the likes of Dame Joan Sutherland and her husband Richard Bonynge. He played roles in Puccini's La Bohème, Mozart's Don Giovanni, and John Harbison's The Great Gatsby, appearing in such prestigious venues as the Metropolitan Opera and in Vienna, London, and Milan. Though his career had slowed down somewhat in recent years, American tenor Jerry Hadley was still appearing in works such as Madame Butterfly.
His ability to morph into whatever character he was playing made his workshops at alma mater Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. unusual and dynamic. Not only did Hadley have a "rich, full voice," but he was able to adapt it to whatever part he chose to play.
However, July 10, 2007 brought all that to a close when Hadley was found with a gunshot wound in the head. He remained unconscious for eight days before passing away on Wednesday, July 18. He was 55 years old. Friends cite impending bankruptcy and depression as possible causes for Hadley's suicide attempt.
For a sample of Hadley's voice, please listen to Leonard Bernstein's 1989 revival of Candide.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Pete Townsend's vision for rock opera started back in 1969, with the production of Tommy. Though Tommy is called the first rock opera, the title is not quite accurate since the work is not really staged. However, Townsend's latest rock opera, The Boy Who Heard Music, will receive a test run at a theatre festival in New York (presumably the opera will be staged eventually, if reviews are favorable).
The Boy Who Heard Music first emerged as an Internet novella published on a blog, a strategy Townsend claims helped him to establish the narrative thread before adding the music. According to Vasser College's website, the story is "a hallucinatory tale about the rise and fall of a band made up of three teenagers from different ethnic backgrounds as seen through the eyes of an aging rock star."
The rock opera received a test run at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, the site of New York Stage and Films' 23rd Powerhouse Theater festival. Originally scheduled for two performances, The Boy Who Heard Music sold tickets so well that Powerhouse director Ed Cheetham decided to add a third performance. Musicians read and sang through the play on Friday evening (July 13) and twice on Saturday (July 14).
For more information, please read the Yahoo story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The opera world lost two sopranos this week. Thursday saw the passing of French soprano/mezzo-soprano Régine Crespin. But earlier in the week, America lost 78-year-old Beverly Sills. Though the coloratura soprano had never smoked, she died of lung cancer in her Manhattan home on Monday, July 2.
Beverly Sills' career began in 1955 with the New York City Opera. She first performed with the New York Metropolitan Opera in 1975. A mere five years later she retired from singing, but kept active in promoting the arts, including serving a ten year stint as general director of the New York City Opera. She also appeared as guest host on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson."
Beverly Sills became a mythic figure in the American eye. Born in the Crown Heights district of Brooklyn to immigrant parents, Sills played out the rags-to-riches story of hard work and the American Dream. When many divas are temperamental, Sills laughed off her successes and made opera seem accessible.
A full obituary can be found at the International Herald Times.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Forget basketball teams: orchestra teams are the new way to keep poor kids off the streets. El Sistema, a program started 32 years ago in Caracas, Venezuela, has given thousands of underprivileged children access to instruments and a chance to perform in a youth orchestra. Now Scottish officials want to import the idea to the Northern Hemisphere.
Dubbed the "El Sistema" initiative, the program will be tested for five years in Raploch, a district in Stirling known for high incidents of crime. Richard Holloway, interim chairman of Creative Scotland, will head the program. The target children will be under five years old. After the five year test period, the children should be able to train their peers, said Susan Carragher, head of libraries, learning, communities and culture.
For more information, please see the BBC story.
The new initiative begs the question: is there anything about music itself that prevents crime, or are these kids simply too busy to learn pickpocketing? Or perhaps giving kids a useful skill and the ability to work hard helps them transition into a part of society that finds it profitable to obey the law.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The man known for his quirky, depressed characters has decided to take on an opera. Allen was persuaded by the general director of Los Angeles Opera, Placido Domingo to try his hand at a new field. Though he freely admits inexperience, Woody Allen will direct the L.A. performance of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi (pronounced "gee-awn-y skee-ky"). From this opera comes the classical favorite "O Mio Babbino Caro," an aria that showcases Puccini's gift for soaring bel canto melody. The one-act opera is the third in the trilogy Il Trittico. The first two operas will also be directed by a film-maker, William Friedkin (The Exorcist).
The trio of operas will kickstart the 2008 -2009 season for the Los Angeles Opera. What will an opera directed by such an eccentric be like? Will Woody Allen throw a neurotic New Yorker into the tale of family intrigue, star-crossed lovers, forged wills, and impersonations? Audiences will simply have to wait to find out.
For more information, please read the BBC story or the Yahoo article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
A violinist who performed with the 2006 British Promenade Concerts embarks on a five month tour to raise money for charitable causes. However, instead of booking concert halls, he will be performing on the streets (busking). His tour starts from an Underground Station in London and will cover Germany, Sweden, India, Australia and Mexico, ending up in America. Calling his tour Around the World and Bach, Juritz will perform Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, a challenging program. Along the way, he must raise money for his traveling expenses. Anything extra raised will go to charity. Pre-trip experiments showed that audiences seemed appreciative. Juritz anticipates a good turn-out in terms of donations.
For further information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
On Wednesday, June 6, 2007, Austrian police returned a Stradivarius violin (worth an estimated $3.4 million) to the hands of musician Christian Altenburger. The instrument had been stolen a month earlier, in May. Also taken from Altenburger's safe were three bows and another violin. Because other items, such as alcohol and clothes, were also taken with the instruments, the police were able to rule out contracted theft and turned to more local suspects.
The crime methods resembled those of a gang of Georgians responsible for 21 other burglaries, and when Austrian police arrested five members of the gang in Vienna, the violins and bows were found in their possession. The instruments were returned in good condition to their owner Altenburger.
While violin craftsman Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) made over 1,000 violins during his lifetime, only 650 are said to remain, making each specimen a valuable relic.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Zenph, a North Carolina software company, has a new twist on the remaster: instead of taking an old performance and cleaning up the static, why not re-record the performance all together? The first project, ready for release, is a new version of Glenn Gould's 1955 recording of the Goldberg Variations. But Glenn Gould is dead, you say. How will Zenph be able to release a new recording of his performance?
The company has designed software that takes an original recording and reads the pitch, duration, attack intensity, and dynamics. The software is even sensitive enough to pick up acoustical variation. The program is then used to play an acoustic piano. The result duplicates minutely the original performance.
But with any new technology come questions of preference. If Zenph is going to all this trouble to preserve Gould's every artistic nuance, should it also preserve his mistakes? In the interests of artistic integrity, the company opted not to correct the wrong notes Gould played.
Yet the ability to correct wrong notes raises the question: should we do so? There are two sides to the question. To err is human. Recordings already "freeze" live performances, eliminating the dynamic variation that separates one live performance from another. To eliminate mistakes seems to remove the recording one step more from the living human.
Yet on the other hand, such a recording is not totally devoid of human involvement: the programmers are all responsible for the production of this music. Interestingly enough, however, because the emphasis is on one particular human (Gould), who no longer has any active input in production, the reproduction is viewed as a fossil, once a living thing but now gathering dust.
For further information and to hear clips of the original Glenn Gould recordings and the Zenph reproductions, please read the NPR story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The Scottish Opera is currently performing Lucia di Lammermoor in Glasgow. Considering the performance venue, the opera is fittingly based on Scottish author Sir Walter Scott's novel The Bride of Lammermoor. Though the novel is in English, Italian composer Donizetti wrote the opera in Italian.
Sally Silver, performing the title role, injured her calf muscle during the matinee show on Tuesday, May 22. Despite being unable to stand, the South African soprano insisted on carrying on with the show. She managed to finish the remaining two acts in a wheelchair. General director Alex Reedijk borrowed the wheelchair from one of Scottish Opera's regular supporters. For the evening's performance, the opera company called upon Glasgow soprano Christina Dunwoodie to fill in for the title role.
Though singing with a painful injury is a bit unusual, singing from a wheelchair is no abnormal feat for an opera singer. A typical performance might call upon the soprano to sing full throttle while lying on her side, in the throes of a pantomimed death. But now Sally Silver can add "wheelchair performances" to her resume.
The company hopes that she will recover before the opera goes on tour to other major Scottish cities, including Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
For further information, please read the BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
For one day this summer (June 21st), the streets of New York City will be lined with musicians from all genres and styles. Organized by the Citizens Committee for NYC, this celebration of music and summer will be patterned after similar events in France, Germany, Italy, Egypt, Syria, Morocco, Australia, Vietnam, Congo, Cameroon, Togo, Columbia, Chile, Mongolia, and Japan. The hope is to start an annual tradition that gets enough New Yorkers excited about the event to organize it at the grassroots level.
The Citizens Committee for NYC is organizing the permits for playing music on the streets, easing the logistics of getting this mass outdoor concert off the ground. The only criteria for musicians is that they have some local connection to their community venue.
For more information, please see Make Music New York.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Opening night for the Boston Pops has perhaps never been quite so eventful.
Attending a concert may have been risky back in the days when the gallery gods pelted unsatisfactory performers with rotten foodstuffs. But in today's modern times, one usually thinks of the symphony hall as a staid place where guests sit in quiet enjoyment of the music. However, a brawl in Boston Symphony Hall on Wednesday, May 9, 2007 proved otherwise. With special guest singer-songwriter Ben Folds to appear later in the night, the Boston Pops continued normally enough for about 20 minutes. But when the orchestra reached a medley from the film Gigi, a loud scream in the balcony section distracted audience members. The conductor Keith Lockhart attempted to continue the performance, but more screams and the sounds of chairs being knocked down brought the music to a halt. Security officials escorted two men out of the concert hall and the performance resumed. A standing ovation celebrated the conclusion.
Apparently one guest's request of another guest for quiet sparked the skirmish, resulting in a torn shirt but no injuries. Charges were not brought against the men involved in the brawl.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The BBC is looking for the best and the brightest. Hopeful UK classical musicians under the age of 19, who have reached a Grade 8 level, will have a shot at television coverage and a possible solo career.
However, "Classical Star" is not just a competition. After initial regional auditions (located at various points in the UK), the remaining students will spend three weeks at the Musical Academy, under the tutelage of cellist Mathew Barley. Student musicians will benefit from master classes and interaction with world quality performers.
Applications can be found online here.
The competition "Classical Star" is distinct from the BBC's other competitions for youth, such as the BBC Young Musician of the Year.
The first round of auditions will take place in May 2007. The second round will follow in July 2007. The Musical Academy session will run in August 2007. Each of the three weeks, the Judges at the academy will chose two performers to send home. The remaining musicians will then perform in a televised program. The winner will receive a recording contract.
Like its pop music sister American Idol (or any of its various spin-offs), Classical Star appears to offer a good chance for budding classical musicians to get that coveted recording contract. Even if a musician didn't win the top prize, the television coverage alone would be enough to effectively boost a career. Here's wishing the best of luck to all those youngsters who participate this summer. Play well!
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Known for his active voice against the Soviet regime (and his support of other anti-Soviets such as writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn), Russian conductor and cellist Rostropovich left a legacy that is political as well as musical. Though he lived abroad for many years, he celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall with a special performance of a Bach suite and resumed residence in his native land. Rostropovich will be laid to rest in Moscow's Novodevichy cemetery. Compatriot and friend, the former President Boris Yeltsin, is also buried there.
Rostropovich studied at the Moscow Conservatoire under other Russian giants of the 20th century, Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich. He boasted quite a concert career, his performances sometimes eliciting standing ovations before he began to play.
However, despite his impressive musical credentials, Rostropovich claims that his most important action was his political dissidence in 1970. But perhaps acting on conscious and professionalism do go hand-in-hand: by moving away from Russia, Rostropovich developed an extensive international following.
For more information, please read the full BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The guests might not be wearing tuxedos or carrying fancy opera glasses, but they sing lustily along to tunes penned by Verdi, Bizet, Mozart, and other great opera composers. Down at Freddy's Bar, a dive bar located off Flatbrush Avenue in Brooklyn, the Opera on Tap program offers monthly recitals of opera classics. Video footage from one such recital shows the bar clientele holding scores of the music, singing along on the chorus of the "Habanera," from Bizet's Carmen.
If the masses won't come to the music (i.e., the concert halls), the program's founder Anne Ricci says that the music can be brought to the masses. Or at least to a demographic of people who would feel stiff and uncomfortable in formal attire. The program also offers the opportunity for classically-trained singers to access another performance venue usually not open to them. After all, if you didn't make the Met, there aren't many other places to sing opera. But best of all, the intimate venue allows for greater audience participation and sparks that charisma between performer and audience. With music sheets at the ready and a classically-trained singer to lead the way, audience members can have a part in creating the music instead of simply listening to professionals. Roland Barthes, a French literary critic writing in the mid-century, once mourned the loss of what he called musica practica. No one made music anymore since they can whatever they like on a record. If Barthes were to pay a visit to Freddy Bar today, the enthusiasm of these beer-and-opera patrons would warm his heart.
The clientele for these opera nights is mainly a group of relatively "cultured" people. That is, attendees are usually somewhat familiar with opera already. But the novel venue draws in a fairly good crowd.
The atmosphere is relaxed and casual. The beer is plentiful. The plots are dramatic. All these factors make for an enjoyable night at the opera sing-along.
For more information or to see video footage, please read the article at NPR.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Finnish-born Esa-Pekka Salonen was only 26 when he first conducted the L. A. Philharmonic in 1984. In an age when classical music is often associated with grey hairs, the youthful energy of Salonen invigorated the west coast orchestra. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Salonen has given the L. A. Philharmonic a reputation for daring and innovative programming. But Salonen's performance interpretations are not his only contribution to classical music: he is a growing composer as well. His interest in composition has led him to announce his withdrawal from full-time conducting after the 2008/2009 season. However, those who love Salonen's youthful bravado need not worry: Salonen will be replaced by 26-year-old Gustavo Dudamel from Venezuela.
For further information, please read the Rueters article.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Tis the season to enjoy good Easter music. To celebrate, the BBC will be airing several performances of Easter works. Enjoy the Lutheran Protestant St. Matthew's Passion by J. S. Bach. Or experience the Roman Catholic or mystical interpretations composed by Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
For further suggestions on classical Easter music, please see Easter Oratorios.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
British composer Edward Elgar turns 150 this year, prompting the BBC to run a special series featuring the works of this composer. However, the BBC network is calling for listener/viewer participation to determine how the pieces should be ordered in the series. The most popular piece will be featured first in the series and so on. To help determine the line-up, simply go to the BBC's website and cast your vote. However, choose wisely. You can only vote once. Unfortunately the BBC does not provide brief clips for each piece, making participation difficult for anyone but aficionados of Elgar's music. However, everyone who has ever been to a graduation will be able to pick out Pomp and Circumstance, so hurry up and get your vote out today!
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
A clash of performance cultures resulted in a lawsuit, and the classical music representative won.
Back in 2005, New Zealand opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was scheduled to appear with Australian rock star John Farnham in a joint concert touring across their native countries. When she watched a promotional DVD of Farnham's performances, she discovered that his fans threw their underwear on the stage. Unable to condone a practice entirely inconsistent with classical music performance etiquette, she refused to appear with the rock star and canceled her end of the tour.
The concert promoters Leading Edge Events sued Dame Kiri for losses sustained on publicity costs and ticket sales. However, New South Wales Supreme Court Judge Patricia Bergin ruled that negotiations between Dame Kiri's agents and Leading Edge had not yet reached a finalized stage at the time of Dame Kiri's refusal. Accordingly the claim was turned down.
The final verdict on Underwear Vs. Classical Music? We find the defendant not guilty, your honor.
For further information, read the BBC Story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Why don't boys sing? The answer typically given is that boys don't want to "sound like girls," a reason that appears to associate the activity of singing with femininity.
However, the study found that the activity of singing itself was in fact much more highly regarded among boys than researchers were prone to expect. Rather the problem appears to lie in a fundamental shift surrounding the definition of "boy" and what the "boy" voice should sound like.
A high, pure tone was once expected from boys aged 10-15. Now, however, boy bands contain members far past adolescence. The singers in these bands have deeper voices that pre-adolescent boys can't match. Intimated by this inability to achieve the sound and range of boy band singers (natural as the inability may be), pre-adolescent boys are disinclined to attempt singing in public. Boys' choirs, dramatically distant from the ideal projected by the boy band singers' lower register, are the singing groups avoided most. So what is a distraught choir director to do? Hope that some primary school boy bands make the big time, making the high voice the cool voice? The study doesn't offer many solutions, but suggests that getting boys involved in a choir early on may nurture a love for singing that otherwise might have gone unnoticed.
For further information, read the full BBC story.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Music can be a powerful political tool (as the Nazi appropriation of Wagner proves), but music repression can be an even more powerful political tool. During the Third Reich in Germany, the Nazi government not only persecuted Jewish musicians, but censored music exhibiting "Jewish" characteristics.
Albrecht Duemling, a German musicologist, is on a quest to find and restore the music lost during the Holocaust persecution.
There is debate surrounding Duemling's project: should he focus on recovering works by musicians such as Hollywood film composer Eric Zeisl, who fled Nazi occupation and later became famous as an ex-pat? Or should his group try to bring lesser known concentration camp artists to the public eye. After all, the concentration camp inmates experienced the Holocaust much more vividly than those who managed to emigrate did. However, in the interests of raising funds, expanding the scope of the project to include the well-known emigrants appeals to a wider audience (and thus to a larger collective pocketbook).
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
William Barrington-Coupe, the husband of British pianist Joyce Hatto, wanted his wife to be remembered as an overlooked classical music genius. The only problem is that she is being remembered for music she never made: some if not all of the recordings Barrington-Coupe submitted to the BIS Records for release have been faked, passing off the performances of other pianists as the interpretations of Hatto.
BIS Records has released a diplomatic statement that gives the credit for Lizst's Transcendental Etudes where that credit is due.
However, later news stories reveal that the plagiarism might be more widespread than originally suspected, as more recordings are matched with the work of previous artists.
Barrington-Coupe had simply wanted to overdub the sections in which audible groans came through on the recording (Joyce Hatto was extremely ill when she made the recordings), but gradually began to incorporate more and more material from other pianists. Apparently, the iTunes feature which retrieves album information first tipped someone off that the recordings allegedly by Joyce Hatto might in fact be by someone else.
Now the classical music world is buzzing over the repercussions this hoax will bear on Joyce Hatto's memory.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The Cardiff Singer of the World competition heats up as the 25 finalists have been selected from over 1,000 auditions. The competition was founded in 1983 and is held every two years. Several singers have gotten their international start from this event, including Bryn Terfel. Held in the Welsh city of Cardiff, the competition is open to singers aged 18-36. After five preliminary rounds, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will accompany singers in the final. Competitors hail from all over Europe, Asia, and North America.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Though unable to attend the ceremony in Los Angeles, Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel nevertheless celebrated the recognition his album Simple Gifts received in this year's Grammy Awards. Terfel's second album to win a Grammy, Simple Gifts features the works of several composers (including Mozart, Pergolesi, Sondheim and a duet by Welsh composer Karl Jenkins) as well as the talents of various performers from the classical music world, including guitarist John Williams.
Terfel's specialty is Mozart, but he has also performed roles from Wagner (Tannhäuser ) and Stravinsky (The Rake's Progress). In 2006, he received the Queen's Medal for Music.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
There are conflicting reports regarding the merit of Gian Carlo Menotti's work, ranging from the condescending to the celebratory, but they do agree on this: Menotti influenced Americans and their relationship to opera. Given that much of Menotti worked in a century when opera maintains less and less popular appeal, this contribution is significant. Menotti did not shy away from utilizing new means of distribution, either. His Christmas-themed Amahl and the Night Visitors is thought to be the first opera composed for television. Two of his operas, The Consul and The Saint of Bleecker Street, have won Pulitzer Prizes.
Born in Italy in 1911, Menotti moved to America in 1928. Nearly all of his operas are in English (three are in Italian), quite possibly another reason for their popularity in America.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Feb.1-Feb.3, Trafalgar Square in London will be the site of an interactive art exhibition called Flock at Trafalgar Square. In conjunction with the ongoing BBC special featuring the music of Tchaikovsky, the exhibit allows participants to enter into the Russian composer's ballet Swan Lake. Stepping into the square activates a personal spotlight which reflects onto shadowy swan images. The exhibit attempts to blur the line between fantasy and reality by situating the ghostly light and movement show in the heavily trafficked, "mundane" Trafalgar Square. Flock at Trafalgar Square was commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Arts (along with ROH2 at the Royal Opera House) and is free to the public.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Singing baritone is nothing new for Placido Domingo, who began his career in the lower, richer voice range. But that was nearly 50 years ago. In 1960, he switched to tenor, and it is in that capacity that the singer has made his career. His collaborations with fellow tenors José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti are famous world-wide. However, his dream of performing the title role in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra means that he will sing baritone in what the 66-year-old Domingo notes may very well be his final performance before retirement. He will appear at Berlin's Staatsoper Unter den Linden in 2009. Other scheduled performances include La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London.
Now that Domingo is dropping down a notch, will that make the famous trio Two Tenors and a Baritone?
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Beginning with Swan Lake, the BBC is planning an in-depth look at the life and work of Piotr Tchaikovsky. The series will span several of the BBC's television channels, so be sure to check the listing for times. If you are unable to get the BBC in your area, never fear. The BBC also offers the chance to listen to and vote for your "favorite tune" by Tchaikovsky. The BBC also accommodates all tastes: those with a busy schedule can listen to shorter excerpts of each work while those with a more purist bent can sit down and enjoy the entire piece.
So there is no excuse not to get out your Tchaikovsky vote. But be warned: with choices ranging from The Nutcracker to the Symphony No. 6 or "Pathetique," decision-making may be difficult.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
The BBC recently aired an interesting program detailing how Gilbert and Sullivan innovated the stage conventions of their day, in order to make music theater more dramatic, engaging, and, of course, satirical. The pair lambasted every authority structure in British Victorian society: the police, lawyers, politicians, upper crust society, and even the Queen.
Despite being rather topical in criticizing the popular movements of the day (movements that have since passed out of vogue), Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas nevertheless appeal to modern day audiences because the characters depicted are realistic: though comic, the characters are for the most part good-natured human beings trying to negotiate their place in society. Such is a theme that can translate rather easily from century to century. And since England still carries a very strong class consciousness, the underlying critiques Gilbert and Sullivan offered are still relevant.
As an example of their continuing appeal even to American audiences, Gilbert and Sullivan still occupy a very familiar place in the popular consciousness, appearing everywhere from Star Trek episodes to the Simpsons's TV show.
Gilbert and Sullivan were innovative in their approach to theater, with precedence only in the 18th-century's Beggar's Opera (whose attack on prominent politicians of the day was so severe that the sequel was banned from production). The innovations of The Beggar's Opera were its subject matter (lower class characters instead of gods and goddesses) and its tighter integration of narrative within the musical material. Gilbert and Sullivan would return music theater to that integration and concern with "normal" or "natural" characters. They would also give the chorus a more dramatic role (instead of simply using the chorus as part of an immobile set). But even with their progressive treatment of music theater, Gilbert and Sullivan were still firmly entrenched within the plot conventions of bad villians, perfect heroines, and courageous heros so characteristic of Victorian melodrama, using the forms to poke further fun at establishment institutions.
A number of subsequent adaptations of Gilbert and Sullivan's works have attempted to modernize the duo's works while preserving the original social themes: there is The Black Mikado and The Gay Pinafore.
But perhaps the element that will keep Gilbert and Sullivan popular is simply the cleverness of their music. Gilbert, the lyricist, was skilled at manipulating the English language in sometimes preposterous ways. The patter song (fast songs with polysyllabic lyrics) was Gilbert's particular specialty.
Posted by Sarah Canice Funke
Born in 1857, English composer Edward Elgar would be celebrating his 150th birthday this year, if he were still around to blow out the candles on his cake. Elgar is perhaps best known for his set of five marches Pomp and Circumstance, the first of which has become famous as a graduation processional. Yet Elgar is also responsible for several sacred works such as cantatas and oratorios. Elgar died in 1934, along with his contemporary Gustav Holst.
Several commemorative performances are scheduled for this year, including a concert given by an orchestra that Elgar helped found: the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.