Both Michael Hodges at Detroit News and Daniel Wakin at nytimes.com report on a possible deal. The deal may salvage the summer concert schedule.
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a tentative deal, per Wakin @ nytimes.com.
Category Archives: Classical Music News
Dino Anagnost, 1943-2011
Anagnost was the music director of the poineering New York City chamber orchestra The Little Orchestra Society, and equally at home before audiences of adults and children. He had an amazing knack for adventurous and innovative programming. Margalit Fox has more details at nytimes.com.
Aw, Jeez — Yakov Kreizberg, 1959-2011
I was in such a rush to get to my first appointment this morning that I skipped looking at the music headlines, so I learned from Jeffrey Tarlo at J&R that conductor Yakov Kreizberg had died at the far-too-early age of 51. Obituaries are live online at NPR and The Oregonian, and Stephen Hough has a personal reminiscence at the Telegraph (London). His recent recordings with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra for PentaTone showcased both his extrovert, dramatic interpretive style and his skill building a very good orchestra into an even better one. A longer tribute in Dutch has been posted to the official Web site of the Netherlands Philharmonic.
James Levine to Step Down as BSO Music Director
The press release just arrived in my email inbox: “BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe announces that James Levine will step down as Boston Symphony Music Director as of September 1, 2011.” It’s not live on the BSO’s Web site yet, so here are excerpts:
Continue reading James Levine to Step Down as BSO Music Director
Eugene Fodor, 1950-2011
Margalit Fox breaks the bad news at the NY Times. He made a handful of fine recordings of virtuoso repertoire for RCA and a few independent labels. I met the affable, easygoing Fodor on a number of occasions before and during my tenure at BMG. His longstanding battles against chemical dependency were well known in (and outside) the classical music world, and Fox details the usual “cautionary tale” spin that one would expect from his death. And yes, I have to question the role of his early management in the path that his life took.
Research tool for musicians collides with property rights
Go read Daniel Wakin’s NY Times article on the Internet Music Score Library Project, which is having completelt predictable travails over intellectual property and copyright issues. IMSLP is an indispensible tool for classical musicians, particularly orchestral players and students tracking down parts, and those crazy obsessives (including yours truly) seeking out obscure music or divergent editions.
A Tactful Panning
I’ve never warmed to Andrea Bocelli’s opera recordings, but I am that rare classical snob who likes his pop and Neapolitan offerings. Zachary Woolfe’s negative review of Bocelli’s MET recital in the NY Times spreads the blame quite properly. Woolfe did not make mention of Bocelli’s management, which has also done an extraordinary job, at least up until now. The talented, likable crooner should sack whoever it was on his team that persuaded him to do a MET recital.
Blanche Moyse, 1909-2011
The NY Times has the obit for a pioneering festival founder and pedagogue.
CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti Gets a Pacemaker
Johannes Somary, 1935-2011
Somary, a specialuist in Baroque and early Classical works, was particularly active in New York and London. He eschewed period instruments and the “historically informed’ interpretive approach when it was on the rise, and made a number of excellent recordings, particularly for Vanguard Classics — many of which are still available. William Grimes’s NY Times obituary is now online.